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.
