[Hello one and all! This is my first fanfic that I wrote basically set if I was in control of Marvel right after Siege. I hope to do a series of these Avengers posts then perhaps I'll move onto other things. Hope everyone enjoys and reviews!]
ALL CHARACTERS AND SETTINGS ARE THE PROPERTY OF MARVEL INC. AND THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, MY CONCEPT, NOT MY CHARACTERS.
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“So, I guess this is a new beginning, huh?” Asked Tony Stark sitting in a casual suit next to the Avengers meeting table. He’d turned to the man looking out towards the skyscrapers on New York, in his brand new uniform, Steve Rogers. They were both nervous about today. There had been decisions made and a lot of expensive international visits. These two men, one a founder and the other practically one were about to see the next generation of a team they created. The Avengers, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Though there had been several different ‘assembles’ over the course of the years, this one was different. Steve Rogers was no longer known as Captain America and had become an official in the Government. Now he was literally known as the “Super-Soldier”, Commander Rogers. SHIELD has disbanded and instead, Steve led security on a super human front. This was a responsibility he didn’t take lightly and now, he was dedicated. That meant his Captain America spandex had been put away in the Museum. One that he had to the keys to. Bucky was the one who would inherit the shield of the Star Spangled Man. He’d been doing it very well since Steve’s death too.
“Do you think I’ve picked the right people, Tony?” Steve asked not looking away from the window.
“Nah, all these guys knows what they’re doing. You should know that.” Tony replied. “Besides, if they get unruly, they have me on the team.” He grinned, boasting about him being one of the oldest Avengers.
“Remember though Tony, Sharon’s in charge.”
“I know, I know…But we all know why you did that.”
“Oh and why did I do that?” Steve raised an eyebrow and actually turned to his friend. Tony snickered slightly before answering.
“C’mon, you’re using your power to get you somewhere with her!”
Super-Soldier rolled his eyes and decided to take a seat, putting his hands together. Tony of course would have thought about that side of it. But he knew that Sharon was more then capable at doing this job. The fact that they had a…complicated history on romantic level meant nothing. Not to say that his time with her was nothing, just the idea that he’d done this just for that was ridiculous. Though, that wasn’t to say the idea of ‘wooing’ Sharon again wouldn’t be a bad one…He trailed off that thought as the first Avenger entered the room. Nervously with a five o’ clock shadow wearing a lab coat, shirt & tie and his traditional purple trousers. His shoes were dirty and his hair was straggly. And, he’d forgotten his glasses too.
“I know, I left them in my apartment.” He said before Steve got a chance to say. Taking a seat closer to the man formerly known as Captain America, he put on a half smile. Obviously, Bruce Banner had a rough night. But, Bruce still kept on his half-smile even when he was around Tony Stark. Things had been a little uneasy between the two after recent events but luckily, everything was about to change. Everyone who had fallen out because of the act would be standing as allies again. Heroes wouldn’t be treated as criminals any more. Super-Soldier turned to the famous Gamma expert.
“Glad you could make it, Bruce. Are you looking forward to a new age?”
“Yes, yes…I’m uh—slightly nervous, I’m scarred things might be uneasy—”
“Everything has gone behind us, Bruce.” Tony entered the conversation with a smile putting out his hand for the scientist to shake it. After a frantic hand shake, another member of the soon-to-be Avengers entered.
“Sorry I’m late; I had to contact Fury about something.” Sharon Carter hurried in and sat on the opposite end of the table at the chairperson’s seat. Steve was lucky he didn’t rise out of his seat. Tony then had to stop him from staring for a moment.
“Uh…Steve?”
“Oh, what? Oh right, yeah, sorry about that. *Ahem* Welcome Sharon, I’m glad you accepted this.” He told her and she smiled.
“I’m honoured that you offered, I think I’m going to enjoy this, Commander Rogers.”
She said, keeping on a good poker face and a formal tone in her voice. Smiling and moving a bit of her hair back, she was wearing a white costume. Her SHIELD uniform would hint that she still wanted to be apart of the organisation. She had to make a good impression on these guys. After all, when the meeting was done she was leading the Avengers. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the super team of them all. And, though Sharon had known so many of these members for a long time, there was still an unnerving sense that she wasn’t superhuman. In this room sat an agent, a Super-Soldier, a man with a great huge piece of armour and well…The Hulk. Who Sharon was still concerned that Steve suggested they put him on the team. But, he told her to trust him and for now, she did. They all sat in silence; Tony watched the clock go by as Banner just looked down. Steve was staring at the door in hope that someone would arrive.
“Man, I hope I turned up at the right place and not some nerd conventi—Hey everyone!” By the second the hero had talked, everyone knew who it was. Wearing his traditional Red and Blue uniform, probably a smile under his mask was the friendly neighbourhood superhero Spider-Man. He was joking around and took a seat next to the frail scientist that was Bruce Banner. Obviously the wall crawler was nervous but just not admitting it.
“Hey, where is everyone?” He asked, Steve was the first to reply.
“People are late, Spider-Man. They’ll be here shortly—And talking of people, come in Strange!” He said enthusiastically and thus the great Wizard entered. He did not bother to lift a finger, Stephen phase through the door and took a seat next to Tony Stark. Nodding to everyone in the rooms and putting his hands together on the table, he smiled at both ends of the table.
“I presume that you, Ms. Carter, shall be leading this new team?” He asked, it was simple table manners that the primary head of the table sat on the left while the secondary was on the right. Steve Rogers was not leading the Avengers of the latest generation. And this highly intrigued Doctor Strange.
“All in good time, Stephen.” Super-Soldier replied obviously keeping the other in mystery. Strange left it behind and waited for an explanation, he had no problem this at all. Keeping his mind focused, he looked around the room. He was happy to be sided with such great men. All with their flaws, including him obviously but nonetheless, they were great men. Smiling at Bruce Banner, surprisingly there were no hard feelings on his side. This surprised strange after what they did, after everything that had happened. But of course with the rise of Norman Osborn’s power and the attempt to Siege Asgard, that was all forgotten. Stephen Strange was looking forward to being a contributing member to such a group. He had a feeling this would be the most different roster of Avengers there had been in a very long time.
With one magic, entered another. This man was wearing a grey suit with a red tie and had blonde hair. He was the familiar site of Brian Braddock, Captain Britain. To those in the room, no one remembered if Brian had ever joined a team of Avengers. Perhaps he was an honorary member of some sorts but there was no time where he had been on the team. When the older members (Steve, Tony and Sharon) were going through selections, it was the former Captain America who picked the UK Defender. He had been serving as a superhero for a very long time and the Avengers had always needed a push to the more international side of things.
“I have to say, thanks for inviting me here. Thanks for the opportunity.” He said whilst sitting down and turning to everyone in the room.
“We’re all happy that you can be here, Brian. And we’re also happy to see our next guest rejoin this team.”
Tony replied and looked to the door. Everyone else copied and saw a blue furry creature infamously
known as Beast, Hank McCoy. He’d been a member years ago, it seemed. And now Steve had decided it about time that he rejoined the team with his brains and brawn, it was definitely an excellent combination. Having a mutant on the team also strengthened the relations between humans and mutants. Cyclops was of course sceptical but Steve promised him things wouldn’t go wrong. Residing next to Stephen Strange, he simply turned to the leader of the Avengers and nodded his head.
“Thank you for having me here.”
As everyone started to chit-chat about what was new and old amongst themselves, Ms. Marvel eventually entered the room and closely following her was Bucky Barnes. To which many an eyebrow was raised when he turned up in the Captain America costume. Though, people didn’t try and judge. He had worn that costume shortly after Rogers’ death proudly. Everyone knew that he had been Captain America for a long time and given the title. But people still felt slightly strange not seeing Steve in the costume and shield.
“Sorry we’re late; we had to deal with an attack of a rogue Doombot, would you believe.” Carol explained as she sat down. And so the group was complete and after everyone settled in and socialising was circulating, Steve coughed loudly to grab the attention of his audience. He stood up wearing his Super-Soldier uniform and put his hands on the table leaning slightly upon it. On the table in front of was a file concealed under his arms. Grabbing it, he opened it and handed around sheets of paper.
“Aw, homework already? It’s only the first day, c’mon Mr. Rogers!” Spider-Man joked as he was handed his sheet. The headline was ‘THE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE: RECRUITMENT’ and following that was a long form of various things that needed to be filled in. In Steve’s eyes, this had been far too disorganised. Though he didn’t agree with how Tony had created his system, it did work for quite some time having such order to the Avengers. Since two teams were running about, it was easier for them to have a working system. The only person who would see these papers were the Avengers, Steve Rogers and Maria Hill. Apart from Spider-Man, Hill knew everyone’s identity as it was. They were just to keep tabs on who was a member and who wasn’t. Just in case one day Ant Man turned up and declared he was an Avenger but turned out to be Skrull. Again.
“This isn’t going to be seen by anyone else but myself and Hill. You can trust her since she’s listening to my every word. If she goes behind my back then I’ll make sure that she’ll never be working again.” He operated on loyalty and Maria better keep to her word. Everyone quickly filled in the sheets and handed them in. Spider-Man was the only one who didn’t take the task seriously, but Steve knew he wouldn’t like this for his own reasons. This also came in use if anyone died they had a small record. But it was never to leave the Superhero community and not touch the government. Steve was the closest these papers would ever to the White house. Ordering them, he put them to one side and actually stood up with his hands behind his back.
“You all are the Avengers from this minute on. Not me, Thor, Ant Man or anyone else. You guys. The only people who are Avengers apart from you are the New Avengers/Thunderbolts. They’ll of course be operating on a street level and not be working on some of the stuff you guys are doing.” He explained and everyone nodded. Super-Soldier could tell Peter was nervous. “You’re all here for a reason. But as you look around I hope you don’t see brawns but…Brains. We all know Bruce’s scientific capabilities, Sharon and Carol’s strategic skills alone beat my own, Beast has of course become an expert geneticist, Iron Man is a brilliant engineer and inventor, Dr. Strange is the most knowledgeable man around when it comes to the mystical arts. And Spider-Man’s understanding of chemistry is truly amazing.” He smiled around the room. They were all slightly doubtful of their capabilities.
“Captain Britain and Captain America are also fantastic additions. While Bucky is a brilliant marksman and has the mind of a spy, Captain Britain is an expert by now in the Mythological side of things and like Stephen, he knows his way around magic. I’m not needed on this team any more. And that is why, as Stephen so publicly said earlier,” he joked, not minding Strange’s deduction.
“She’s your team leader. Looking around this room, she’s got one hell of a job.” Steve said and the others laughed slightly turning to Sharon. Many were upset by the news of Steve not joining the team. He seemed like the soul of the Avengers to a lot. But with so many new things to do as a superhero security government guy, he couldn’t just squeeze in the Avengers. For now, they would be in the hands of Sharon Carter who was definitely good as a leader. Spider-Man was the first to react to Steve’s speech.
“So…Even though you and Thor are back and stuff, you’re not being on the Avengers?”
“Thor has Asgard to help out now that it’s in San Diego and I have duties of my own now. Do you have a problem with Sharon leading, Spidey?”
“What? Nah, I was just thinkin’ that you go ‘AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!’ and get the old group back and stuff.” Peter lied back a bit put his hands behind his head. It was a different chain of command but he didn’t mind. Sharon would let Spider-Man be Spider-Man, so he was happy. Though it sucked he wasn’t working with Steve and Logan any more. But things changed, Peter had gotten use to how the way things were ran in the hero biz.
“Um…I’m honoured that I’m here and all but I won’t be much help and clever as the Hulk.”
Banner told Sharon and Steve. Bruce was still nervous, which wasn’t a good sign.
“Then you’ll be good in battle. We want you here Bruce.” Sharon replied with a warm smile trying to comfort him. Doctor Strange and Captain Britain were quite happy with what had just been arranged and decided to let the others question things. For the rest of the meeting, the two sat and talked about magic and various other things that the two shared.
“You’re all for a new beginning, led by the Avengers like it should have been years ago. We’ve been too busy focusing on our paths to realise that this one is the most important to us as super heroic entities. So, I ask you, is everyone ready for this?” Steve asked the group, whom all turned to face him. Each member took a nod and suddenly, Steve turned his eyes to Sharon.
“Care to do the honour?”
“Of course…” She paused, getting ready to raise her fist in the air. “AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE!!!”
And so the others joined in and, a new age for the Avengers had just begun to unravel before them…
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