This is based off the Avengers Academy video game, but it will contain aspects of Avengers/Marvel media. There will be obvious spoilers for comics, movies, video games, etc. This is episode based. Warnings will be posted with each chapter.

This wasn't how he thought his first battle would go. He had imagined flying in, showing off his amazing fighting skills, and putting the bad guy down. He would then wave to his adoring fans before flying home. He didn't, however, expect to get his butt handed to him by a guy with whips for hands. He probably should have finished the armor before rushing into a battle half-cocked. But, hey, he was Tony Stark. He was known for his impulsiveness.

Tony groaned and rubbed his head where it had met the concrete wall of a building. Yep, definitely should have finished the armor. He sat up to the sound of laughter. "You should have stayed home, little boy," Whip-guy sneered. "Leave the heroing to real men."

An armored hand raised and shot at his tormentor…and missed. Tony made another mental note to work on his aim. The whip-guy laughed. "You're not very good at this, are you?'

Tony gritted his teeth. He did not like being teased. "Good enough to beat you."

"I doubt it." The whip-guy replied. He lashed at Tony, who ducked and returned fire. The shot hit whip-guy in the gut and he went down hard. "You little punk!" He spat rising to his knees. "I'm going to-" His threat was cut short as a loose piece of concrete broke off from the building and struck him on the head, effectively knocking him out.

Tony stared in bewildered amazement before he fist-pumped. He had officially taken out his first bad guy. He grinned down at the k-oed man. "Not so smug now, are you?" He was content to stand there and gloat when the sound of sirens reached him. As fun as this was, he didn't want to get into trouble for the mess this guy made. With a mocked salute to his adversary, he shot into the sky and headed home.

The door swung open and Tony exited his shop, zipping up his jacket. Today had been good. The first field test had been a success. The repulsors and boot jets worked like a charm, though there were a few bugs that he still needed to work out. But he took down the bad guy and that's what mattered. He had even passed his Literature test. He grinned. Today was definitely a good day.

His attention was suddenly pulled toward the office where a gruff voice resonated from the cracked door. Tony's good mood plummeted. Dad was home. He had hoped he would stay late at the office but he supposed his luck had to run out sometime. The voice suddenly turned harsh and Tony shuddered involuntarily. He unconsciously rubbed his left arm. It was still bruised from the last time his dad was angry. He decided to bypass the office and entered the living room, turning on the T.V. as he passed. His attention spiked when he saw the news station was covering his battle. As the anchor woman spoke, his mood slowly rose. When a grainy recording appeared on the screen, Tony's eyes drifted to the office door hoping, just a little, that the door would open. So, he turned up the volume.

Tony sat there for a moment, watching the battle in third person, when there was an angry shout. "Turn that shit off!" Tony rolled his eyes and hit the power button on the remote. So much for that. He stood and went back to his lab.

"Hey Jarvis," Tony greeted.

"Good afternoon sir." A disembodied voice with a British accent returned the greeting. "Your confrontation this morning was quite entertaining."

"Glad I could make your morning." Tony replied as he slid onto his stool. "How goes things with the suit? Did you finish the diagnostics?"

"Diagnostics of the repulsors and boot jets are complete. There seems to be a bit of lag in the right boot, most likely a result of damage from the fight."

"Yeah, I got that." He replied as he rolled to his desk. He grabbed the offending apparel and began to pull it apart. Time almost seemed to stand still as he worked, his mind running through equations and blueprints as his hands and fingers danced over the complicated machinery. He was pulled out of his own world when JARVIS chimed in.

"Sir, Directory Fury is at the front door."

Tony's head shot up. "Director Fury? As in Nick Fury, from S.H.I.E.L.D?"

"Yes, sir."

Tony cursed and began to hide anything that resembled his suit. He grabbed a random unfinished project and began to tinker with it, hoping to look nonchalant. The door to his shop opened and Mr. Eyepatch himself walked in. "Hello, Tony."

"Hey Nick, what brings you down from your castle in the sky?" Tony asked spinning around on his stool.

"This," Fury replied pulling out his phone. On it played a crappy recording of the battle. Tony cursed himself silently hoping his "whatever" attitude masked his rising panic.

"What about it?"

Fury smirked. "I have to admit, I was impressed you even held up against him. Especially with no training."

Tony scoffed. "You seriously think that's me?"

"I may only have one eye, but I'm not blind."

Tony sighed, "I never could keep anything from you." He said fondly and Fury's face softened. "You going to stop me?"

Fury shook his head." No Tony, I've come to help you." The boy's eyebrow raised. "There was an idea to put together a team comprised of incredible individuals, who would be earth's last time of defense."

"You know I don't play well with others."

"Then learn." Fury placed a file on a table in front of him.

Tony picked up the manila folder and flipped through it. "You want to start a school."

"An academy," Fury clarified placing his hands behind his back. "To teach those individuals how to use their abilities to help the world."

Tony was silent as he read the rest of the file. "What makes you think I'm going to your little boy band?"

"You don't have to do this alone, Tony." Fury replied.

Tony sighed. He knew he was inexperienced, but he was figuring things out. But if that battle this morning told him anything, it was that he needed help. "So, where is this school exactly?" He asked. "Please don't say it's on your flying boat."

Fury smirked, "Don't worry, you'll feel right at home."

"You know, when you said I would feel right at home, this isn't what I had in mind." Tony stated as he started up at the building in front of him. His mother's mansion looked smaller than he remembered but maybe that was because the last time he was here, he was eight.

"Feeling nostalgic?" Fury asked.

"Quite the opposite actually. I didn't think everyone would be bunking done in my old house." Tony replied climbing the steps to the front door, bag in hand. "And doesn't someone else have dibbs on that whole 'a school for special kids in a mansion' thing?"

"Your father lent it to us to use."

Tony looked at him surprised. "My dad knows about the academy?"

"Of course," Fury replied. "It was his idea in the first place."

Tony took a moment to digest this. His father started this academy. Why? Did he know about what he has been doing? If so, why hasn't he said anything? "Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to come in?"

Tony turned toward the voice that originated from the top of the steps. There stood a boy who seemed just a year or two older than Tony's sixteen years. He had short, sandy blond hair and his eyes were hidden behind the purple tinted sunglasses. He wore dark jeans and a red and black sport jacket. "Tony Stark, meet Clint Barton, one of our best agents." Fury introduced.

The two boys shook hands. "William Tell?" Tony teased.

"Legolas actually." Clint replied without missing a beat.

Tony smiled. "We're going to be best friends." He pushed past Clint and stepped into the foyer. "I would say 'make yourself at home' but it seems you've already done that." He gazed around the entry way, eyes hard yet warm. "Wow, this place hasn't changed in eight years."

"Have you been here since the funeral?" Fury asked softly.

"No, Dad didn't want to be around anything that reminded him of Mom." Tony replied. He tapped his chin. "Hey, I wonder if his workshop still has the scorch marks from when I blew up Dad's welding gear." He walked to the halls, ignoring the memories that were trying to surface. He entered the workshop and flipped on the lights. A lot of the equipment was still there but dusty and unused. He smiled when he saw the blackened scars on the far wall. Dad had been so pissed that day, but Mom had thought it was hilarious. He shook his head and moved to the desk. The computer was outdated but that was an easy fix. He was going to enjoy fixing this place up.

Tony was crouching in front of some of the wiring, replacing the those that were worn, when he turned and nearly jumped out of his skin. He glared at the red-headed girl standing in front of him. He hadn't even heard her come in. "Jeeze, don't do that. You're going to end up giving someone a heart attack." He complained, hand on his chest.

"I'll keep that in mind." She deadpanned.

"So," Tony said leaning against the table with a smirk. "You're Natasha."

Natasha's eyes narrowed. "How do you know my name?"

"I hacked S.H.I.E.L.D.'s data base. They really need to update their security."

"And what did you find out?"

"Oh, not much really. Unfortunately, most of your file is considered classified so it's more of a challenge then others, but don't worry," Tony shot her a grin, "I'll get in eventually."

Natasha walked around to the other side of the table. "Do you normally look up the people you work with?" She asked.

"No more than you."

Natasha shrugged.

Silence stretched between them before Tony broke it. "Is there a reason you're down here?"

"I saw the video of your battle."

Tony perked up. "Oh, you did, did you? Where you impressed?"

"Disgusted actually," she said nonchalantly. "Your aim is terrible and your form is horrendous."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Please, don't hold back, tell me how you really feel."

"You need training."

"I know, why do you think I'm here?" He replied. "That battle was just a test run. I'm not finished working out the kinks."

Natasha hummed before exiting the shop without a word. That was slightly strange, Tony thought before going back to his work.

He was pulled back to reality a few hours later by an alarm that resonated throughout the workshop. "Hey Jarvis what is that?"

"There seems to be an incident at an S.I. building in Chicago, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied from his recently installed speakers.

Tony looked up. "An S.I. building in Chicago?"

"Yes sir. The others are gathering in the den."

Tony shrugged as he stood from his stool. "Might as well join them."

As he entered the room, he noticed Clint and Natasha gathered around the television, watching the news. There was also another girl that Tony hadn't met yet. The girl noticed his entrance and ran up to him. "Hi!" she greeted enthusiastically. "I'm Hope Pym. It's nice to meet you."

He was a little taken aback by her seemingly boundless energy but he returned her greeting. "Um, hi, I'm Tony. You wouldn't happen to have any relation to Hank Pym, would you?"

Tony watched as her body language suddenly turned guarded. Her face was smiling but her eyes turned cold. "Yeah, he's my dad." She replied. She made it seem like she was happy about that but Tony could hear the bitterness in her voice. After all, he knew all about dead-beat dads.

"That's cool." He said letting the matter drop. "What's going on?"

"There was a bombing in Chicago." Clint said watching the broadcast. "The building belonged the Stark Industries."

"A bombing?" Tony tapped the glass side table and a computer screen came up. "Did they say what the motive was?"

"No, only that it's the fourth Stark Industries building this month."

Tony was silent for a moment as he checked the system when he came across an anomaly. His brow furrowed. "This can't be right." He mumbled.

"Did you find something?" Hope asked looking over his shoulder.

"Maybe," He replied. "Hey Jarvis, run a check on the whole Stark Industries system. Look to see it any anomalies like this one appear."

"Right away, sir." The screen began to flicker so fast that no one could read what appeared.

"What did you find?" Natasha asked.

"There's a break in the security code that shouldn't be there."

"How do you know it shouldn't be there?" Hope inquired.

"Because I wrote it." Tony replied. "I know it better than anyone and it looks like someone punched a hole in it."

"Sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. called, "I have found five other breaches in the wall similar to the first."

Tony's eyebrows raised, "Five?"

"Yes sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. brought up five different screens all showing a different breach. "They all seem to coincide with one of the four bombings." Time stamps appeared on four of the five screens.

"What about the first one Jarvis?" Clint asked pointing to the first screen.

"That particular breach occurred two months before the first bombing."

"That's strange." Tony commented as he sat back and gazed at the five screens.

"Something isn't right here." Natasha said. Something about these bombings and breaches poked at her spy-sense.

"I agree," Tony replied. "Jarvis, I want you to go through every piece of data and find me anything that could possibly be related to these bombings."

"Of course, sir."

"What are you thinking Tony?" Natasha asked.

"If we can see where the hacker breached and how far they got, we could possibly figure out what they were looking for."

"Sir, it seems that the hacker was headed toward your father's personal server." Tony's brow pinched. "Also, there is a hidden ghost drive on the server."

"Jarvis, give me the wheel." Tony commanded. A key board appeared on the table and he began to type. It took him a little longer to break in but soon files were flickering across the screen. The others leaned over his shoulder to get a better look. "Phase two?"

"What is the 'tesseract'?" Clint asked.

"Sir, the hacker is in the system." J.A.R.V.I.S. informed urgently.

"Let's get out of here, Jarvis." Tony said as fingers flew over the keys. "Cover our tracks. Make sure that the hacker can't get in here through us."

"Sir, the hacker is attempting to bypass the security."

"Stop him, J."

The others waited anxiously as Tony and his brilliant A.I. battled the hacker. Hope even began to chew on her finger nails. "Damn, this guy's good." Tony commented. "But, of course, I'm better. He's locked out."

"Do you know what he was looking for?" Natasha asked.

"Not specifically, but whatever he wanted, it's definitely on my dad's server."

"Sir, servers for the S.I. building in Washington D.C. have just gone down." J.A.R.V.I.S. announced.

"Pull up the news feed." Everyone stared in horror at what they saw. The building was ablaze as first responders worked to put out the fire. "Casualties?" Tony asked softly.

"Twenty people dead and one hundred and eight are injured. They are still counting for the upper floors."

Tony's eyes narrowed. "Where's the closest S.I. building?"

"Here in New York, sir."

"That will be his next target." Tony stated. "Jarvis, monitor the building. I want to know everyone who goes in and out. I'm going to back hack this guy and see who he is." He turned to address the others. "In the meantime, you need to get to the S.I. building and wait for him."

"Who made you leader?" Clint asked.

"No one," Tony replied. "But I'm not willing to let anyone else die."

Natasha and Clint had not trouble getting in the front door. Hope shrunk and buzzed around the lobby, looking for anyone suspicious. "Alright Tony, where are we headed?" Natasha asked.

"The server room is on the third floor, east wing." Tony's voice filtered through their commlinks as the elevator stopped at the third floor. "Guard change happens every hour and you'll have approximately twenty seconds to get in when that happens. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Guard change happens…now."

The door opened and an S.I. security guard stepped out. As the door began to close behind him, he didn't notice a throwing dart logged in the door frame, preventing it from closing. The two agents slipped in and Clint whistled. "Anyone else have the sudden urge to watch Tron?"

"Hello no, Jeff Bridges gives me the creeps. Okay, the main terminal is directly a head. If he wants to bypass the security's firewalls, he'll want to get in from there."

Clint pulled himself onto the catwalk directly above the terminal and settled himself to wait. He had a bird's eye view of both the entrance and the terminal. "We're in position."

"Good, the hacker's name is Douglas Ramsey. He's a former employee of, get this, Stark Industries. He was 'let go' after trying to hack into Dad's personal server. 'Atta boy, Doug. Sticking it to the man. It was just a few weeks later that he unleashed his fiery vengeance on the branch of S.I that fired him."

The door opened and a worker in an S.I. uniform entered. The two spies watched as he walked up to the terminal. "Hold it," Natasha called, her twin pistols trained on his back. The man jumped and spun around with his hands in the air. "Douglas Ramsey, you're under arrest."

"U-um," the man stuttered, "m-my name isn't D-Douglas. It's A-Austin, Austin Campbell."

Natasha lowered her guns. "It's not him."

"Ah, Tony," Hope's voice came through the speaker. "We have a problem. There's a bomb underneath the big glowing machine thing in the lobby. What should I do?"

Tony cursed. "You need to evacuate the building. If that bomb goes off, the whole building will go with it."

"Got it." Hope replied as she buzzed to the fire alarm and pulled. Alarms sounded throughout the building and people looked around puzzled. Employees began to usher everyone out. "The evacuation's started."

"Good, I'm headed over to diffuse the bomb." Tony replied as he got up from the table.

"Sir,"

"Now is not the time Jarvis." Tony replied pulling on his repulsors and boot jets.

"Sir, the hacker is attempting the break in."

"What? From where?"

"Howard Stark's personal computer."

Tony placed a finger to his commlink. "Wasp, Ramsey is in my dad's office. I need you to get up there and stop him."

"How, the elevators are shut down?"

"Use the vents. They'll take you straight to the top."

"On my way."

"Jarvis, keep Ramsey busy. Don't let him leave that room until Wasp gets there." Tony ordered powering up the boots.

"Of course, sir."

Tony shot out of the lab and into the sky. Time to test the boots' speed.

The buzzing of her wings echoed around the vents. Her inner germaphobe shuttered at the dust and dirt that lined the metal walls. Once she reached the right floor, she peered through the vent cover and surveyed the room. The office was empty except for a middle-aged man typing at the computer. He was obviously not Howard Stark. He wore a baseball cap and gray hoodie in an effort to blend in.

Wasp sipped through the vent openings and buzzed over to the intruder. "You know, it's rued to mess with other people's stuff." She commented before stinging him on the back of the neck. The man shouted and fell out of the chair, attempting to get away from the energy bolts. He swatted at Wasp and ran towards the door. Said door suddenly opened as the two assassins entered. Ramsey froze as both gun and arrow were trained in his direction. "Going somewhere?" Clint asked with a smirk.

"Stark, we have Ramsey." Natasha stated.

"Good, I'm at the bomb now." Tony replied as he crouched in front of the device. He gently prided off the cover and whistled. This thing was a lot more complicated than he thought. A flash of red caught his eye and he cursed. "This thing is on a count down. How clear is the building?" He asked as he began shedding his gauntlets.

"All of the civilians are clear. How much time do we have?"

"Less than five minutes."

"We'll never make it to the lobby in time." Clint stated.

Tony began to mess with the wires pulling one out and reattaching others, taking care not to jostle anything. His hands where steady as his heart pounded in his ears. He's never done this before. Sure, he's rewired circuit boards hundreds of time but never to this extent, especially not after… He shook his head. Now was not the time. He reattached one last wire and the countdown froze. Tony let out a relieved sigh. "We're in the clear." He heard their relief through the comms.

"We're coming down with Ramsey now. Fury will want to question him"

Fury stepped out of the interrogation room and stood in front of his team. "Apparently, he wanted revenge on Howard Stark for having him fired. He planned to hack his privet server and sell the designs to the highest bidder."

"And look at how well that turned out." Tony jested.

"Did he ever manage to get in?" Hope asked.

"No, Jarvis kept him busy before you took him out."

Fury nodded. "Ramsey will be turned over to the proper authorities."

"What about his partner?" Tony asked.

Fury's eyes narrowed. "What partner?"

"I looked up Ramsey's file from S.I. His expertise is soft-ware not hard-ware. The bomb was way more sophisticated than anything Ramsey could have built by himself. That would require some serious nerdage."

Fury hummed. "Shield will look into it. In the meantime, good job."

Tony's brow furrowed as he glanced through the files. Some were what he expected, designs for new weapons and better robotics, but then there where others that confused him. Clean energy wasn't really suspicious but for it to hidden in a ghost drive on his father's server was strange. Then there was research on Norse mythology and something called, the Tesseract. When he tried to click on the file, it wasn't there. "Jarvis," he called.

"Yes, sir."

"See if you can recover any files on this 'tesseract' project. I want to know what my father's been doing." Tony said leaning back in his chair. "And make sure we keep this between us."

"Of course, sir." Jarvis replied. "Sir, your father is on the way down."

Tony quickly swiped his hand through the screen, closing out of the window. He pulled a piston off his desk and began to clean it. He heard the door open but didn't acknowledge the entry. There was a moment of tense silence before his father cleared his throat. "I heard there was an attempted bombing at S.I. today."

"Yeah, it was the same type of bomb used in the four other bombings at S.I. over the past month. But you would have known that had you actually paid attention." Tony stated sarcasm spread think over his words.

Howard's eyes narrowed. "Don't take that tone with me, boy. I was well aware of what was going on."

"And yet you didn't do a damn thing!" Tony hissed as he stood, throwing the piston back on to his desk. "People died. Your employees died and you just sat on your ass twiddling your thumbs."

"There was nothing I could do. The bombs where in another state-"

"That's no excuse!" Tony cried. He stomped up to Howard, desperately trying to control his anger. "You're a billionaire. You have a fucking jet, for Christ-sake! There was nothing stopping you from getting there."

Tony paused to get his breath back and calm himself. Howard just stood there stone faced. "The least you could have done was compensate the families of those killed and injured, but then again, Howard Stark is just a cold-hearted bastard that doesn't even care about his own family."

It came so fast the Tony didn't even see it. The was an audible smack and his head whipped to the side. His jaw throbbed and his cheek stung. "You will never speak to me like that again." Howard hissed before he marched out, slamming the door behind him.

Tony stood there for a moment breathing harshly. His hands clinched and unclenched over and over till they started to cramp. He would have done the same to his jaw, but it hurt too much. "Sir," Jarvis called almost hesitantly. "Are you alright?"

He took a shaky breath before answering. "Yeah J, I'm fine."

"I am going to have to disagree with you, sir, considering that you are bleeding."

A hand touched the sting in his cheek and fingers came away bloody. "So, I am." Tony said laughing bitterly. "You know how it is J."

"Unfortunately,"

There was a beep and Tony looked up to see Dummy coming toward him, a first aid kit held firmly in his claw. He let a small smile slip onto his throbbing face. "Good boy," he said patting the claw as he took the kit. Dummy cooed at him. He began shift through the kit when a flash of blue caught his eye. He turned to see his make-shift, red, white, and blue shield resting almost reverently on his desk. He sighed. "I bet he would have never done this to you." He whispered.

The door to the warehouse opened and Howard strode in. Fury stood beside an observation window, watching machines and men working. "Does he know?" He asked as Howard stopped beside him.

"No," Howard replied as what looked like a mechanized hand was assembled below them.