Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers or Spiderman!

Chapter One

The temperature in the room was stifling. Reyna looked around the room at the others, seeing if anyone else was as affected by the heat as she was, forcing herself not to fan her face with her gloved hands. The other men looked just fine so she tried to focus on her work again.

'Guess it's just me…' she thought to herself.

It probably had to do with the fact that she knew she was being watched. The lab she was in was surprisingly vast and she could see many cameras littered around the ceiling.

When Reyna found out about the job opening, she knew something like this; a research job was what she wanted to do. Having a lab practical as part of the interview process, however, was not what she had anticipated. A straight-faced woman, who didn't seem too pleased with her job, had informed her and the two other grown, professional-looking men- probably doctors or professors with years of experience- that they were to be put to the test in an actual lab to see their brilliance in action. Reyna's stomach plummeted at this. Put to the test?!

The instructions were simple. They were each given a blood sample to work with and were given free liberty to do whatever. Reyna immediately drew a blank, wishing she had more instructions. She put the white lab coat they provided her over her blouse and pencil skirt she had specifically bought to look qualified for the job, and pulled her shoulder-length black hair out of her face. She then gloved up and put on a face shield to protect herself from blood-borne pathogens sometimes present in blood. She looked around and saw the other men weren't as suited up as she was. She almost 'tsk'ed out loud- that was not proper lab protocol.

Her brown eyes glanced at the supplies she was given, surprised by the fact that they covered all the bases; sodium chloride buffered saline, microscope slides, various antisera.

Using a sterile pipet, she extracted a drop of blood onto a microscope slide and placed a coverslip over it before looking at it under the microscope.

Reyna was completely caught off guard by what she saw. She might not have been a scientist for very long but she had seen her fair share of different blood related diseases- this was in a league of its own. The red blood cells, usually round and small, were much larger than they should have been and were completely green. Green?! Was this some kind of joke?

"I've never seen anything like this," she heard one of the men mumble. He was an older man, a professor of biology, with a balding head and a large gut. "Perhaps it's an immune response to some kind of disease."

The other man looked doubtful. He was actually a doctor in his fifties with graying black hair and dark stubble on his chin.

"Haven't you heard about those mutants that are showing up everywhere?" he asked the professor. "The X-men, they call themselves. This seems like something of the sort. A genetic mutation, perhaps?"

Reyna was sitting in silence, shaking her head as if to disagree with what they were saying. She had been forming her own conclusion. The two men had ignored her at all costs but for some reason, she felt that she should voice her opinion on the matter.

"I can't help but feel like it's a mixture of both," she said. She had taken off her face shield and her eyes were still focused on the oculars of the microscope. She didn't look to see if the others were listening to her or not. "I feel like maybe a mutation might have occurred and there is an immune response because of it. Antibodies were formed to protect the body from the mutation but now they are having a reaction with the antigens present on the cells."

Reyna looked up now and saw the men were giving her incredulous looks. It was suddenly warm in the lab again.

She continued on. "I would do an elution procedure on the cells to determine what antibodies are causing the red cells to act this way, which could probably then lead to what caused this in the first place."

The doctor, Dr. Sullivan, stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Elution process? I'm not familiar with that."

Reyna gave a shy smile. "I used to work in the blood bank so I'm used to blood and all the terminology. Elution is the process of taking the attacking antibodies off the cells to determine what they are. You need to wash the cells with saline and acid- it's a long process but I think it's a good first step."

The professor, Mr. McConnell, did not look impressed. "I was leaning more towards an antibody titer."

The brunette disagreed again. "I'm not so sure about that. An antibody titer won't tell you what it is. Just that it's present." At their raised eyebrows, she tried to shrug nonchalantly. "I worked in the chemistry lab before blood bank."

The two men looked shocked. "You can't be more than eighteen."

Reyna gave them a deadpanned look. "I'm twenty-four."

It was this moment that the straight-faced woman entered the lab, holding a clipboard with a stagnant frown on her face. Reyna glanced at her Stark Industries nametag. Mary Willis, it read.

"Reyna Morales," she snipped, "would you please come with me?"

Reyna's body felt warm again. Had she really messed up? What made her think she could even try to get a job in research at Stark Industries? They were kicking her out for sure. She didn't make the cut.

She stood up and took off her lab coat before straightening her skirt and following behind Mary Willis.

The walk was deafeningly quiet, except for the sound of her heels clicking against the floor. Dead girl walking.

After a couple of minutes- it felt more like a couple of hours- Mary Willis led her to what looked like another la, filled with different screens and equipment Reyna had never seen before. There were two men in the lab that looked up when she entered. One was a stocky guy with dark, yet graying hair and glasses over his dark eyes. He studied her for a moment before going back to his work on one of the screens. The other man was undoubtedly Tony Stark. She had seen what he looked like in magazines and he was better looking in person. He watched her come in but didn't take his eyes off of her. It was unnerving. She hadn't decided if it was in a good way or a bad way.

Without another word, Mary Willis backed out of the room leaving Reyna alone with the men. The door clicked closed menacingly behind her.

Reyna never imagined Tony Stark would be staring at her. She guiltily wished it was under sexier circumstances.

"Am I…in trouble?" she asked unsurely. What else should she say?

Tony Stark shrugged. "I don't know. Are you?"

Reyna gave a bashful smile, trying to show that she wasn't as scared as she really was. "No one's telling me anything."

"Your theory on the blood sample was very interesting," he commented. Tony and the other man exchanged looks at this. "Haven't heard that one before. You don't even have any experience. What are you, eighteen?"

Reyna shook her head, surprisingly not as annoyed at him for getting her age wrong. "Twenty-four. I worked at a hospital for my clinical internship so I do have a bit of experience working with patient specimen. I just graduated after all."

Tony nodded. He then touched the screen that was nearest him and pulled up what looked like a profile all about Reyna. Her driver's license picture pulled up and she tried not to visible cringe. That wasn't exactly her best picture.

"Bachelor's degree in clinical lab science. Graduated…bottom of your class? You know, most of the people who have applied have years of experience in research. They have Masters or Doctorates. Top of their class. What makes you so special? Besides the fact that you're small, young, and have a pretty face."

Reyna had been expecting his question, but what came after caught her completely off guard. She blinked and tried really hard to recover from that random burst.

"Tony…" the other man groaned. Stark paid him no mind.

"Well, I'm not sure about the last bit, but since I'm young, I'm well versed in the new techniques and procedures in the lab today. I've come to see that those with years of experience in the lab stick to the old ways and aren't fond of new changes. As for…being at the bottom of my class…I'm not going to pretend that I'm some sort of genius, because I'm not. But I'm good at what I do and I love being in the lab." She mentally crossed her fingers, hoping that was enough.

"Did you hear about the alien invasion a couple years ago?" he inquired suddenly. "Where the Avengers valiantly fought and saved the day?"

Of course Rayne knew of that incident. She may not have been living in New York City at the time but it was all over the news. She nodded.

"Remember that pretty bad-ass green rage monster?" he continued. The man next to him unexpectedly squirmed in his seat, watching Reyna carefully as if to gauge her reaction.

"The Hulk, right? My brother couldn't get over how awesome he was. What about him?"

Instead of answering directly, he pointed an index finger at the man next to him. It took a moment for it to click, but when it did, she was absolutely shocked. This ordinary looking man was really the incredible Hulk?! She raised her eyebrows as if asking for confirmation. When the man gave a curt nod, she gave a nervous laugh.

"Whoa…not what I was expecting." She turned back to Tony Stark. "What does that have to do with anything, though?"

Tony's index finger now pointed right at Reyna's face. "We want you to find a cure for our dear friend, Dr. Banner here. You've been the most interesting and prettiest applicant so far. What'd do you say?"

Reyna's eyes widened. "A…cure…? That sounds really ambitious. Didn't you say I was bottom of my class?" She added what she hoped sounded like a careless laugh at the end of her sentence to try to calm her nerves.

Dr. Banner frowned and turned towards his friend. "We shouldn't even have tried. There's no curing the other guy. Besides, she shouldn't be in this environment. She's young and being around me isn't safe for her."

Reyna inwardly groaned at the guilt trip. He probably hadn't meant to do it but she was feeling pressured into it now. This man's life depended on her finding a cure for him so now she felt she had to.

"I'm not afraid of you," she started. "If that's what you were thinking. I'm just not sure I'm qualified to legitimately come up with a cure. I barely passed microbiology in school and now you want me to remedy some kind of mutation?"

"You'll be working with Brucie here," Tony explained. "And for the record, showing a lack of confidence isn't the best way to win over your interviewers. Just remember that next time you're trying to find another job. We'll see you tomorrow bright and early, okay babe?"

Reyna tried to recall the beginning of the day as she picked up a large pepperoni pizza on her way home. So much happened during that interview that it was just a complete blur. She barely even processed that she got the job and would be working closely alongside Tony Stark's- THE IRON MAN- good friend, the incredible Hulk! What a strange turn of events!

As she neared the entrance to her apartment, she saw a figure heading towards the same place she was. She recognized his tall, lanky figure immediately; her next door neighbor, Peter Parker. He was a few years younger than her and attended college nearby. He was slightly awkward in a goofy, yet charming way and mostly kept to himself since the death of his girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. It was very tragic but Reyna secretly hoped he would get over it in time. It had been a couple years since her passing… He was young. He should be living his life.

"Hey neighbor," Reyna greeted cheerfully.

He was very distracted and didn't notice her until he almost ran into her. "Oh, hey…" He had earphones in his ear which is why he didn't hear her.

He made to walk past her when she stopped him instinctively. "Whoa, what happened to your face? You okay?" His left eye was bruised and starting to swell and his lip had a giant cut on it.

Peter looked very distracted, refusing to look her in the eye and looking like he just wanted to go home and crawl in bed. "I fell off my bike. No big deal."

Reyna raised an eyebrow at his statement. He didn't even own a bike but he obviously didn't want to tell her so she let it go.

"Right, well, if you're hungry I've got this big ol' pizza I probably won't finish. You're welcome to come over and have a slice or two."

He glanced at her now before going off ahead not even holding the door open for her. "Maybe some other time." Peter marched on like he was on a mission to get to bed and left Reyna in the dust.

"Dinner for one then," she mumbled to herself before making her way to her small, cheap apartment to eat her celebratory pizza on getting the job.

A/N: My first Avengers story! Oh my goodness, I'm excited! I hope you guys like this! I'm really busy with summer school though so I'm not sure how frequently I can update but I'll try to make it reasonable. Also I hope the science talk made some sense. I was sitting in class and while learning Blood Bank I was seriously trying to apply it to Bruce's blood. No idea why, and bam! This story was born!

Please review! It'll be greatly appreciated!