Captain America stared out the window of the observation deck of Stark Tower, looking over the destruction caused by the battle with HYDRA. Cap still couldn’t believe how much control HYDRA had over the world, how easily they had deceived everyone. Their reign of terror had resulted in massive damage to most major cities around the world, with New York being no different.

It had only been a few weeks since HYDRA was defeated, but the people of New York had already begun rebuilding. Captain America admired the tenacity of the denizens of his hometown, and that everyone around the world as they moved past this crisis. But said crisis had left permanent wounds. SHIELD could no longer be trusted, so the UN had dissolved the organization. This action had left the world in an insecure state, but Cap was planning to remedy that.

“They’re ready for you,” said Iron Man as he entered the observation deck.

Cap turned to face his longtime friend. Without the support of Tony and the rest of the team, there would be no way that Captain America could have pulled off what he was planning. Cap followed Iron Man to the elevator at the far end of the deck, before entering it. With a very smooth glide, the elevator took them many floors down to the bottom level of Stark Tower.

Outside the glass doors of the lobby of Stark Tower a mass of reporters, cameramen, and other paparazzi had formed. Cap sighed as he made his way toward the flashing lights. Iron Man nodded to his secretary, giving him the OK to unlock the doors to Stark Tower. Captain America exited the tower, walking up to a podium located right outside. Taking his place, Cap waited for the media to quiet down.

“As many of you are aware, in recent days the peace keeping group known as SHIELD had been shown to be controlled by the terrorist group HYDRA,” Captain America stated, “While this issue has been dealt with, due to efforts of the many, SHIELD is now no more. Without SHIELD there is a void in the safety of the world. Today, we plan to fill that void.”

Captain America paused for a second, “Starting today, the Avengers shall begin an expansion, one that will lead to our organization becoming the preeminent peace keeping group. To that end we are pursuing a massive recruitment drive, as well as the hiring of many technical staff, agents, and other necessary persons. From today onward, the Avengers will be there to save the Earth.”

As Cap finished his sentence, a barrage of questions came and him. For a while he didn’t respond, instead taking in the gravity of what he had just announced. He truly hoped that he and the Avengers were up to the challenge.



Six Months Later

Captain America stood in the conference room of Avengers Tower, formerly known as Stark Tower. For the umpteenth time he went over the files again. The NEO Initiative had been one of the biggest undertakings of the Avengers expansion plan, and was finally time to see if it paid off. It was finally time to give these Avengers recruits an actual mission.

Closing the files, Captain America turned to the other Avenger in the room, “Vision, can you open a link to Avengers Mansion?”

“Certainly Captain,” Vision replied, his eyes glowing as he made a wireless connection to the Avengers’ systems, “Link established.”

A holo interface appeared in front of Cap, who then began to speak, “Initiates, this is Captain America with a priority call. Please assemble in the mansion’s control room.”

As Captain America waited for the initiates to follow his order, he became curious to how they would fair out in the field.



Lukas was milling about in the arcade of Avengers Mansion, a room Tony Stark had insisted be added to the building back when it was Avengers’ HQ. For several days now, Lukas had been trying to beat the high score on an old Captain America pinball machine. Lukas figured that whichever Avenger had set the current high score must have some kind of reflex powers, as even with tons of practise, Lukas was nowhere near the score.

Sighing as he lost his last ball, Lukas considered the fact that maybe he should be doing something better with his time as an Avenger. Perhaps he should go to the training room, sharpen up his powers, as he did seem quite frail in relation to some of the other initiates he’d seen at the mansion.

Lukas started to make his way to the elevator to go to the training floor, only to notice that the theatre room was currently empty. This was incredibly rare, as now even Avengers support staff were allowed to use it when they weren’t on the clock. Lukas darted inside before anyone else had a chance to go in and pick a movie.

Luckily for Lukas, there was no one nearby to challenge his right to pick a movie. Grinning as he entered the darkened room, Lukas sprinted to the screen on the wall that allowed for a movie to be picked. As Lukas scrolled through the options, he realized that he had literally nothing in mind. His indecision would then be cut short from a beeping coming from his pocket.

Fishing around his pocket in the dark, Lukas managed to pull out his Avengers’ ID card. A light indicating an incoming call shone, Lukas tapping it. The image of Captain America appeared in the top left of the card.

“Initiates, this is Captain America with a priority call. Please assemble in the mansion’s control room,” the message stated.

Cap’s image disappeared off the card, the light dimming, and the beeping stopping. Sighing, Lukas put away his ID card, and left the theatre room. Luckily, he was already in his costume as he was still pretty big on the secret identity thing, so he wouldn’t have to go to his room and change. Instead, he entered the elevator, taking it to the control room.

“So what’s up?” Lukas asked as he entered the room, only to see that he was the first to arrive.

"Well, dammit." Hank Martin felt the vibration of his Avengers' card in his shirt pocket - right as he was relieving himself against a tree near the Appalachian Trail in eastern Pennsylvania. One of the advantages of flying at supersonic speeds was the ability to take instant vacations. Having grown up on the Illinois prairie, Hank was fascinated with mountains, and for him it was a hop, a skip, and a jump to get to the Appalachians.

“Initiates, this is Captain America with a priority call. Please assemble in the mansion’s control room.”

That sounded serious. Cussing as he hurriedly zipped up, Hank took a moment to look and listen before becoming airborne. Confident that there was no one else around – he hadn't seen another soul for two hours, but Ms. Danvers had stressed the importance of making sure - he slipped his aviators' cap out of his backpack and donned it, adjusting the goggles. He crouched down and then shot straight up in the air, gaining fifteen-hundred feet of altitude in a matter of moments. Once there, he hovered while going through the challenging act of changing into his hero togs in mid-air.

It seemed like the most secure way to do it, and after some practice where he had to race down after his pants when he dropped them, he'd gotten the hang of it. Once in his flight suit, he secured his backpack and sped off towards New York.

He quickly arrived at the mansion. Landing on the roof, he went through building security and sauntered down towards the meeting room, rehearsing the best way to say "What took you so long, slowpokes?" to the other team members. He should have time to raid the snack trays that were always put out for meetings. There was always competition for the chocolate chip muffins...

Hank was slightly crestfallen to see Lukas already ensconced in the meeting room. "Aw, Lukas, how'd you get here so quick?"

Four months ago...

3:35:51 Me:
Uwaaaaaa! I'm in!!! The paperwork just came through!


3:36:42 Me:
Yeeeess... But it says nowhere on the form that it has to be your guardian to sign you up. All you need is AN avenger...


3:37:25 Me:
So instead, I got unca James to sign it. It looks like there aren't that many people signing up, so I guess they didn't need to do the talks in person.


3:40:01 Me:
Nah. If anything dad seemed a bit angry with himself that he didn't think about it. So I suppose you're no longer the only one with a team! although I suppose the Champions are what is eating into the NEO's candidate pool xD


3:51:45 Me:
Well, good luck. Holler if you need help lifting heavy things :D Who knows, maybe in a few years you'll have a warmachine of your own ;P TTYL, one of them just arrived, back to being a receptionist.

Alex refocused on the person approaching the desk, "Welcome to the Avengers mansion! Here is your badge. On the back is the reception's number, feel free to call with any inquiry!" she chirped happily, handing over the card.

Now...

The last couple of months have been... interesting. Alex found it extremely amusing to continue hiding her true identity from the other initiates and most of the Avengers themselves. During the day, she worked the reception desk and ran errands for the residents of the mansion - everything from fetching someone a hot towel to driving their sick grandma to the hospital so they wouldn't have to miss training - they knew that if they called the number at the back of their ID card, it would get done one way or the other. For her part, Alex enjoyed providing the services. A simple job that allowed her plenty of processing power for whatever she was currently thinking about. She finally managed to crack the problem of her dissertation on they drive back from one such errand.

As for being part of the team, she managed to do that covertly. All cameras in the Avenger's mansion and the training equipment were accessible to her, so she observed the training sessions to learn the team dynamics (what existed of them), and she caught up on her own training during the night when unlike everyone else, she didn't need to sleep. As for socialization, she joined the team after work when their training ended. All in all, she was successful save for that one time she had to change her skin color to blend with the wall when one of the initiates dropped in for an improptu training session. She set alarms and watched the hallway cameras since then.

She wondered how many suspected something was not genuine about her. Part of her training was to learn to fit in better with human society after all.

Right now though, her own card buzzed with summons. "Kate, can you mind the desk for a while?" she asked her co-worker.

"Another errand? They're making you their personal servant. I can't fathom why you put up with it. Well, off you go I guess."

Grinning, Alex picked up her handbag and left for the meeting room. Two others were already there. Garnet and Hyper. She went through all the data she gathered on them in a couple of seconds almost on instinct, refreshing herself on observed strengths and weaknesses. "Hello!" She greeted, "Only you here? I believed this was an all out call... Everything in order?" She asked, keeping up her lackey persona.

Slamming into the wall with great force, Osvald hit the ground in a heap. He groan as he rolled over to push himself up off the floor. The Hulk roared at him as he finally made his way to his feet. Spitting a little blood onto the floor. He clenched his fists and yelled.
He knew it was just a simulation. That the HARM room wouldn’t really do him any real damage.
Osvald was running a program where he could fight the Hulk. Trade blows with the strongest there is. Of course the safety protocols toned down the immense strength of the Hulk.
Ducking under an larger emerald arm, Osvald threw out a couple hard jabs.
Feeling his ID card vibrate he let his guard down. “Pause.” He said. The whole scene froze. The Hulks large fist mere centimetres from Osvald’s face.
The Half Asgardian looked down at his card and saw the message. “Ha. A real mission.” Wiling blood from his lip, “end training.” The scene around him dissolved to reveal the empty white room of the Holographic Augmented Reality Machine. Leaving the room he brushed his fingers through his hair to give it some semblance of order.

Arriving in the briefing room, he saw the other three who were already there. “Sorry I’m late.” They all knew of his grudge match. Being a Gamma Mutate, he had this thing where he wanted to prove himself as the Hulk’s equal. Even if he kept turning down the safety thresholds and hurting himself. He grunted as he took a seat. He suspected he had cracked a rib or two. Not that it would be a lasting problem. He had inherited some of the healing from being a Gamma Mutate, and Asgardians did tend to heal a bit faster then humans. Though it would be quite tender for a week or two. “So, does anyone actually know why we were summoned?”

"I think so, ma'am," Hyper replied to Alex as he took off his flight cap and ran his fingers through his hair. "Don't know why we're here, though, Viking," he added with a grin and a shrug. "Got the buzz and away I flew. Nice day for flyin'. Course, every day's a nice day for flyin'."

Garnet saw Hyper enter the briefing room next, which made sense as he was the fastest of the initiates, “I was already in the building, down in the arcade.”

Astra entered next, followed shortly by Viking. Garnet decided to not ask about the little bit of blood on his lips. Garnet was aware that he had powers similar to the Hulk, but wasn’t sure if had his rage. In fact, Garnet felt a little insignificant in regards to his powers compared to the other initiates. Shooting gems seemed to suck compared to supersonic flight, super strength, or a bad ass power armour.

Garnet was snapped out of his mental ruminations when the holo-projector in the centre of the briefing room powered on. A second later the holographic image of Captain America appeared. The impressive looking hero took a few seconds to allow everyone to stop talking and focus on him.

“Greetings initiates,” the star spangled hero said, “I trust that your time at the mansion has been pleasant. Now onto business. It is time for your first mission. Don’t expect it to be an easy one either.”

The Captain’s friendly face then turned a little grim, “As you know, the Avengers have dismantled most of the infrastructure of the terrorist group known as HYDRA. While we have captured most of HYDRA’s leadership, some of their elite agents are still at large.”

“That leads us to your target,” Cap said as a picture of a black haired woman wearing green appeared next to him, “This is Ophelia Sarkissian, formerly known as Madame Hydra. She was one of their top agents for many years. But during the fall of HYDRA, she managed to escape without a trace. But a few days ago she popped back up when footage caught her working with the Serpent Society, a team of augmented super-villains. Apparently she has joined up with them, now going by Viper.”

The image of Viper disappeared as Captain America turned back to the initiates, “Your mission is to capture Viper, as well as the Serpent Society if possible. We have intel that they have just recently entered Sokovia. You will take a Quinjet to Sokovia, where you will receive further instructions. Any questions?”

Garnet held his tongue. While he was excited to finally go on a mission as an Avenger, or almost Avenger, he was worried about going after one of HYDRA’s top agents. After all he had seen the destruction caused by the battle between HYDRA and the Avengers. But, he now had a team to rely on, as before it was just him and Opal, so he would have some back up.

Well, here we go, thought Hyper. Fighting super-villains was serious enough, but going to another country on an official mission? That was big-time serious! Hank wondered how long they'd be away, and if the food would agree with him.

Hank raised his hand when Cap asked if there were questions. "Do any of us speak Sokovian?"