A/N: I needed to de-stress from the strain of writing my other stories, so I went with something light, and a fic of the Avengers gathered as a team seemed to fit the bill :)

Apologies if characters are slightly OOC...


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Chapter 1: A Wish is Made

The comm buzzed, alerting Maria Hill to an incoming message, and earning a weary look accompanied by a long suffering sigh for its pains.

"Leslie," she informed her young assistant tiredly. "If this is another call complaining about Thursday's conference, then I don't want to hear it." It had been a long day, one that had dragged her spirits down more than usual. And while Stark's lawyers were brilliant in their profession, there was little they could do about the juvenile tendencies she was forced to face.

"It's not," Leslie reassured smoothly, tone never escaping from the cool, business-formal tenor she typically spoke with. "It's a representative from the Make-A-Wish Foundation requesting to speak to Mr. Stark."

"This is coming through to me?" Hill demanded bluntly. An eyebrow rising into a smooth arc was the only outward sign of her incredulity. Her past as a former agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. was well known (as her identity wasn't exactly a secret), but this was the first case where it made a difference to her work at Stark Industries.

"You worked for S.H.I.E.L.D.," Leslie replied plainly. "I thought you would know how best to handle it."

The girl wasn't far off the mark, Hill mused. "Send it through," she consented. Ending the comm transmission, she picked up the flat, concave body of the wireless phone, listening to the clicks as the line went through. Hearing the open silence of the other end, meaning it was connected, she introduced herself.

"This is Maria Hill, how may I help you?"

"Yes, my name is Eric West from the Make-A-Wish Foundation," a warm male voice replied. "And I was hoping to speak with Mr. Stark on behalf of a child's wish."

"I'm Mr. Stark's communications representative, along with the rest of the Avengers, and I'll be handling your call," she informed.

"I thought the Avengers quit when S.H.I.E.L.D. was shut down?" he queried mildly, reminding her that the Avengers Initiative had been a S.H.I.E.L.D. program.

"The position stands," Maria replied curtly, slightly irked at how casually he mentioned that fact. "As long as there's still a team, it's my job to help keep them out of the public eye when they're off duty, and to monitor outside communications for them. This isn't the first time Mr. Stark has been approached on the grounds of fulfilling a wish, and while I'm not trying to be harsh," she continued honestly, "what makes this one special?"

"Ms. Hill, I think once you see the terms of this one, you'll understand why I brought this one forward. Would it be all right if I faxed or emailed it to you?" Though she'd been brusque with him, the timbre of his voice never wavered from pleasant, clearly having experience from dealing with a variety of people.

"Email is fine," she answered, rattling off the email address.

"I'll send it now," he returned.

Waiting patiently, in which the phone was silent, a few minutes passed before the info bar dropped from the top of her screen to let her know that a new email had arrived.

"I got it," she confirmed, opening it up on the computer screen. Skipping the first paragraph (stating the history of Make-A-Wish, their policies, and the details for who to contact), she skimmed over the first words to the main body, eyebrows lifting as she did a double take, swiftly reading the words over again. Pressing the phone closer to her ear, eyes locked on the screen, she kept herself in check long enough to not end the conversation right then.

"Look over the details, discuss them with your employer if you need to," Eric West was saying. "But I must ask that you don't share this with anyone else until a decision has been made. For our discretion, along with yours. It's just our policy. And I hope to hear back from you soon," he concluded.

"I'll let you know as soon as we have an answer," Hill confirmed, finishing with a polite good-bye and hanging up. Immediately switching to comm, she instructed Leslie, "Put Tony Stark on for me, and get Pepper in on this too. Tell them it's important."

Satisfied that the girl was carrying out her instructions, Hill held the phone loosely to her ear, elbow propped on her desk as she leaned forward, caught up in her work. Clicking the print symbol, she moved to the printer, ready to catch the papers as they came out.

"I assume this isn't a mission," Tony said by way of announcing his presence on the phone. "Because I'm pretty sure you're not authorized to give those anymore."

"Mr. Stark," Hill returned formally, ignoring his comment. "If I could talk to you in person for a moment, there's something we need to discuss."


-§§§-


"'Anonymous child'…" Tony read aloud, still picking apart the details of the email. "Is there even such a thing?"

Fifteen minutes had passed since Hill had left her office in the Human Resources department on the second floor, making her way up to the pent house of the Avengers Tower where Tony had agreed to meet her (Pepper had been unable to make it, being caught up in a prior engagement). Since she'd arrived and informed him of the call from Make-A-Wish, he had spent the entirety of the time criticizing the nature of the request as posed in the email.

"And what type of wish is this?" he continued disbelievingly, squinting at the paper, though the font was easy enough to read. "There is not a single request for a day to hang out with Iron Man on here," he complained.

"It's an 'I wish to give'," Hill replied, folding her arms. "An anonymous child wants to give to the Avengers, and certain former members of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Okay, so maybe hanging out with all of the Avengers for a day would be cool," Tony conceded, persisting in being troublesome about the nature of the wish. His unspoken continuation to his words was that Iron Man was still a lot cooler than the rest of the team. "But some of these people on this list are dead, and the rest I've never heard of," he pointed out, flapping the pages to emphasize his statement, giving her a look.

Shaking her head, not amused by his characteristic arrogance, she answered impatiently, "Just go with it, Stark."

"Ah," he retorted sharply, waving a finger at her. "You work for me now, I could have you fired for such insolence."

Smirking, she replied smoothly, "Sorry Tony, but Pepper's the boss. I'm afraid she won't like it if you decide to fire me."

"I'm still the one who signs your paycheck," he grumbled, kicking the dramatics up a notch.

Subtly rolling her eyes, she gestured to the email in his hand with a nod of her head. "Well, you're going to have to decide how to answer that so I can get back to work. Wouldn't want to be wasting your money now, hmm…?" she added wryly.

"I'm going to have to talk to Pepper about why she hired you again," he muttered himself. "But fine," he decided, tossing the papers aside. "Go ahead and tell them yes."


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A/N: Please note, there is no specific timeline, event, or movie/show/universe in which this is happening. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be referred to, as will all of the movies, and anything else "Marvel" that happens to find its way in. It started as a challenge to see if it was possible to list something from the Avengers for each letter of the alphabet. From there, it grew, and in the end result a small plot appeared. As such, the story is already mapped out, and I will be updating when I can.

Next chapter will feature more of the others.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it, and I'm open to suggestions if anyone has an idea for a scene they'd like to see! Until then.