This is my first Avengers story, and I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, they would be Marvel's, however sad that makes me. But Zoe's all mine! MINE!

Chapter 1: Scared

I walked out of school, doing my best to not meet anyone's eye. Everyone around me fit into a group that they were stuck in at that moment. The smarter-than-me nerds, the cooler-than-me Goths, the scary cheerleaders and jocks, and the prettier-than-me everyone else.

I just did my best not to interrupt their loud conversations. My backpack was weighing me down with the multiple books my classes required. It hurt my shoulders, but I didn't complain, I never had. My hands busied themselves in my hair, twirling the dingy black strands around their digits. The ground beneath my feet was covered with red and orange leaves that crunched with every footfall.

My house was just under 4 miles away from school. But my parents were always so busy I couldn't get a ride from them, and I didn't have anyone to carpool with. So I trudged on while the sky was cloudy and gray.

High-pitched giggles penetrated my ears at a regular basis until I had gone several blocks away. From there I went to my favorite place. Not home. No one would miss me there, no one would even be home for another few hours. Instead I went to a place no one else seemed to know about. My place to read and sit in silence.

Everyone in the books was so much more interesting than me. There were angels, demons, ghost, and girls that all of a sudden became popular. TV was good too, with the good movies and those Avengers that had been on lately, but I couldn't bring TV to my place.

This place was a creek that ended in a heavily wooded area. There was a tree that was perfect for climbing and reading a good, exciting book. As quickly as I could, I climbed as high as I could and pulled out my book.

I was fully absorbed into a scene where a girl and her brother found a place to call their own. It was heartwarming and sweet, and the two of them were so happy to have somewhere to call home. Even though it was a book, I was committed to those kids and was physically smiling. Because I was so absorbed, it took me awhile to hear the crunching of leaves getting closer.

I was always really quiet and reserved, so I was observant and picked up on small noises. But I heard the footfalls much later than I expected I would have. When I heard them closer than I wanted to, my head shot up and my eyes wretched away from the text. Two people were at the base of my tree. Fear coursed through me. Was I on their property? If I left could I go without talking to them?

The woman wore a long sleeved black shirt and dark skinny jeans, and the man wore a black T-shirt and baggy jeans. He had something odd around his shoulder, and she had a weird belt. Both of them just stared up at me.

For the longest time, we just stared at each other. I was extremely uncomfortable and marked my page, put the book in my heavy green backpack, slung it over my shoulder, and shimmied down the large tree. With my head down and my eyes focused on the leaves, I mumbled out an apology as I passed them. A hand landed on my free shoulder and I froze. I was going to get yelled at, I knew it.

Very slowly, I turned to look at them. Something about them was very familiar. I could feel my eyes twitching as I looked at them. My instincts were telling me to leave before I got in trouble for trespassing on previously unowned land.

Then it clicked. They were all over television. Hawkeye stood 3 feet away from me. Black Widow had a hand on my shoulder. My eyes widened and I felt fear go back through me all over again. They were carrying weapons. Hawkeye had a bow and a sheath of arrows, Black Widow had her other hand on what I assumed was a loaded gun.

I started to shake uncontrollably. "Please don't hurt me," I whimpered in the most pathetic voice I'd ever heard. It made sense that my voice shook so much, it was mine after all.

Black Widow and Hawkeye shared a quick look. Hawkeye stepped forward. "You are Zoe?" All I did was weakly nod.

"Well Zoe," Black Widow said in what seemed like too casual of a tone, "we have somewhere to take you. You're not like everyone else."

That was absolutely ridiculous. I was nothing. Absolutely nothing. If by 'not like everyone else', she meant 'total loser no one wants to hang out with', she was right. So I wasn't going anywhere. Instead I was going home and not coming back until spring.

But I couldn't say any of that out loud. All I could do was shake my head and start walking away. Black Widows hand went back to my shoulder.

"Zoe. You have to come with us. Now." As she said that, trying to make me do something against my will, it's like I snapped.

I've always been the one that didn't stand out. Blending into the background. But I've had my complete unoriginality boring into my brain, as well as knowing that my parents valued work and vacations over feeding and bonding with me. And that hurt. Bad.

So when this stranger wanted me to do something else I wouldn't enjoy, it was the last straw.

"NO!" I screamed louder than I ever had, even louder than when I broke my arm in 3rd grade. All I wanted was to get away, to get out of the Avengers' reach. The ground beneath me shook and quivered and rose. Something spun and rose out of the ground, taking me with it. A tube fit under my feet and I clutched at a random tree trunk. The curious feeling that I was rising went through me. Looking back at the hostile heroes, I saw that they were at least 50 feet below me.

All of a sudden, I was back in a tree where there had not previously been a tree. The only branch was the one that I sat on, and there was no way down.

What happened? Did one of them do something? Was it me? If it was me, what did that make me? Not to mention, how did I get down?

I'm sure my eyes were as wide as humanly possible. Tears spilled over onto my cheeks as I realized I was A) Stuck in a tree and B) A freak.

"Clint?" Black Widow asked. Hawkeye took out his bow. Terrified of being skewered with an arrow I flattened myself against the tree and watched emerald green leaves start to form a cocoon around me. Once I emotionally freaked out about it, they stopped. Hawkeye fired an arrow that stuck firmly in the tree bark. He never missed. He aimed there for a reason. Maybe it would explode.

Instead, it turned out to be like a grappling hook and he was rapidly coming closer. My breathing quickened. I was going to die without ever learning why I was such a freak. He was going to strangle me.

But he didn't. Instead, he wrapped his thick biceps around me and slowly descended, dragging me with him. I gave up. There was no way to get out, to get away from these people who saved the world by murdering an alien army. Their presence alone made me quiver in fear. My death seemed imminent, especially now that I was strange and freakish.

That isn't what happened. As I cried on the ground, Black Widow wrapped an arm around me and awkwardly patted my back. Hawkeye slung my floral backpack over his free shoulder and started walking. Black Widow followed him and I had no choice but to go with them, scared for my life and sanity.

Thanks for reading, the next chapter should be up in a few days.

-CLWB