Child Avengers

Prologue:

After a great battle, when The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. believed the world to be safe, they moved on with their lives. Natasha and Clint fell in love, Tony and Pepper got married, Thor returned to Asgard where he met his wife, Bruce Banner fell in love with a girl named Christi, and Steve married a woman named Trisha. Eventually The Avengers had kids and decided to get together so their children could meet. Even Thor came down from Asgard with his child. Little did they know that a great evil had been forming and had plans to destroy the world. This great evil forced the Avengers to fight. During this fight, the Avengers had to make the ultimate sacrifice to defeat this evil. Just as the last Avenger, Clint Barton was taking his last breath, he asked Thor, an immortal Asgardian, to take the children to Nick Fury so he can hide and protect them. Unfortunately the great evil did not die with the Avengers. Many people died, including the spouses of the Avengers and most of the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Thor was forced back to Asgard when his father died so Asgard was his main priority. Nick Fury did as he was told and took the young children somewhere they could never be found.

Chapter 1:

Jayden Rogers awoke early in the morning, and got dressed. He neatly combed his bleach blond hair and looked at the clock. He realized he was going to be the first one there. He raced out of his room and into the fresh morning air. The coolness stung his blue eyes for a second, but he didn't care. Jayden loved their home, even though all of the kids didn't feel the same way. They each had their own separate cabins that lead out into a huge courtyard with a fountain and a monument to their parents in the middle. Down a small path to his left was the main building where they did most of their training. There was also a game room, the kitchen and dining room. It's also where Nick lived. The whole place was surrounded by a forest with a creek that snaked through it into a lake. Jayden was told that James's dad, Tony, helped designed the place. Jayden raced down the path and into the kitchen, where he would be the first one to get fresh pancakes made by the house's computer, J.A.R.V.I.S. He took a huge plate full and sat at the table. Slowly, the other kids began to awake and get breakfast. First to come after Jayden was Mary Ann Banner. She was the daughter of Bruce Banner. She had short, curly brown hair and bright green eyes. Then after her came the twins, Lily and Blane Barton, the children of Natasha and Clint Barton. Even though they were identical, both with brown hair and blue eyes, the twins were complete opposite so it's weird when they agree on something. After the twins came, Tori showed up. Tori was the daughter of Thor and sometimes felt abandoned because, her dad left her here on Earth rather than taking her back to Asgard with him. Tori had blonde hair and lightening blue eyes.

Once they had all sat down with Jayden, they realized that someone was missing.

"Hey, where's James?" asked Lily.

"Sleeping in as usual. Duh." Replied her brother Blane.

"Nick's going to be mad at him again." Mary Ann put in.

"It's his own fault for being so lazy." Jayden said.

"That is true. Nick does not appreciate it when one of us is late" Added Tori.

"Shouldn't we get him up then?" Lily asked.

"Eh, let him get what he deserves." Blane said.

"Well that's not very nice." Lily said.

"James isn't very nice." Her brother remarked.

They sat in silence as they ate. The problem with these kids is that even though they were raised together, they couldn't get along with each other. Nick Fury realized this and hoped that with age, they'd become more of a team like their parents, but the outlook wasn't good. Fury thought about this as he entered the silent dining room.

"Hey Nick," greeted Jayden.

"Hello children" Nick said, "Today you will not have any training because someone broke the training facility." Fury turned to look at James, but frowned when he saw that he wasn't there.

"Where's Stark?" Nick asked irritably.

"Still sleeping." Blane commented.

Nick rubbed his temples, "fine. Jayden, get him up."

"Yes sir." Jayden agreed though he didn't look too happy about it. Nick nodded his head, and left the room. Jayden stood up at the table.

"Try not to kill each other while I'm gone." Jayden said as he walked to the door.

Blane stopped him when he spoke, "You're not our leader you know. You're dad may have been the leader of The Avengers, but we don't need you to keep us stable. You can't tell us what to do."

Jayden said nothing and walked out the door.

"That was mean." Lily said.

"I don't care." Blane retorted.

Meanwhile Jayden walked to James's cabin like room grumbling. He banged on the door.

"James! Get up!" Jayden yelled.

No response. Jayden sighed and walked in. He saw James, asleep on his bed. Jayden carefully stepped over his various junk scattered about his room and to his bed. He looked him over then sighed. He grabbed James's sheet from underneath him and pulled up. James yelped as he fell out of his bed and on to the floor.

"Up and at em' Stark!" Jayden said.

"You know there are nicer ways to wake people." James said as he peeled himself off of his floor.

"I know." Jayden said, and then he walked out of the room.

James grumbled as he sat up and watched Jayden leave. He stood up and changed out of his pajamas and into a white shirt with a black leather jacket, black long pants and biker gloves. He went into his bathroom and went to the sink which was covered with various hair products. He spiked up his strawberry blond hair into a mohawk, put in his top ear piercing (he leaves his eyebrow piercings in overnight) and left the bathroom. He walked to his door but stopped before he left. His brown eyes scanned the dresser by his door and focused on the photo of his parents on their wedding day. He put his hand on the photo and sighed.

"I'm sorry I failed you guys." He said softly then he exited his room. He walked down to the main building where all the other children were. They were all standing in a line with Fury standing in front of them, ready to start their exercise for the day.

"Nice to see you this morning James." Fury said as James entered.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Fury." Mumbled James as he went to stand next to Jayden.

"Today we are just going to do basic drills because most of the training facility is still repairing itself due to the prank that was pulled by one of you." Fury explained. James and Blane exchanged a mischievous glance.

"You can start now." Fury said as he stepped away from the obstacle course and let the teens through. They went in pairs from oldest to youngest, so James and Jayden would have to go first. After them went the twins, followed by Mary Ann and Tori. The point of the obstacle course was supposed to test their combat and evasion skills along with their team building skills, but they mostly just used it to mess with each other. As Jayden and James ran through the course, they were constantly bickering. James "accidently" pushed Jayden into one of the obstacles.

"Watch where you're going Rogers!" James laughed.

"Very mature Stark!" Jayden yelled back sarcastically.

When they finally got out of the course, Blane and Lily went in. Blane knocked his sister down so she grabbed his ankle and pulled him down with her. They both got up and made it through the overused obstacle course. Then Mary Ann and Tori went in. Tori knew better than to mess with Mary Ann so they made it through the course faster than everyone else.

Once they had all gone through the course they lined back up. Fury looked displeased.

"Did we do something wrong Nick?" Lily asked, "You look disappointed."

"Your performances in the course were the worst yet."

James rolled his eyes. Blane scoffed.

"We'll do better next time." Jayden promised for the group.

"Yeah right." Mary Ann muttered under her breath.

Fury shook his head and walked out of the training facility.

"We have displeased Nick." Said Tori.

"So what, he'll get over it." James said.

"You would say that Stark. You don't care about anyone else's feelings. Fury is counting on us to-" Jayden started.

"To what? To save the world? To do what even our parents couldn't do? Face it Rogers, Fury is disappointed because HE failed to shape us into what our parents were. He is upset because he has realized that the world is fucking doomed because its only hope is a bunch of teenage super freaks who can't even do a stupid obstacle course!" James walked out of the facility, slamming the door behind him.

"James has a point. We'll never be what our parents were. We can't even get along with each other. You and Stark can't be in the same room together without starting an argument." Blane said.

"So what if he has a point?! Listen Barton, we are going to prove him wrong." Jayden said.

"And how will we accomplish that?" Mary Ann asked, "Sorry Rogers but it's not going to happen because no one here can stand anyone else."

"I don't know how, but we will. And we'll give Nick hope again." Jayden replied.

"That may prove difficult to do without James's cooperation in the process." Tori put in.

"Yeah, if James isn't willing to work as a team, we will never be a team." Lily said.

"Look I said I don't know. But Mary Ann is right about one thing,"

"One thing?" Mary Ann asked.

"We all can't stand at least one other person here. And that's something we all need to work on." With that, Jayden also walked out of the training facility. The other children dispersed shortly after.

James walked back to his cabin and to his back wall where his closet is. He inconspicuously placed his thumb on one of the closet door knobs. The knob scanned his thumb print with a high pitched beep, a keypad popped out of the closet door. James entered 0418, his parents wedding anniversary. At age 16, James was one of the oldest children, so he was one of the few who actually remembered his parents, and he missed them, a lot. He was only 6 when they died. His closet doors opened and a stairway led down where his closet floor should have been. James walked down the stairs and the doors shut behind him. The stairs led down into his secret lab underneath his cabin. This is where he went to let off steam. It relaxed him, building stuff like his dad did. He had even managed to build an arc reactor, but that wasn't his prized possession. He had made his own version of the Iron Man suit, fitted for him of course. He had built it, painted it, and tested it. It was the equivalent to the Mark VII suit his dad had. Sometimes James would put on the suit and be tempted to show everyone else that he was actually a genius like his dad, rather than just the lazy sarcastic kid they all thought he was. They thought he was lazy because he hardly ever left his room, the assumed he was sleeping or playing video games, but actually he was down in his lab, working. He hated that they always assume the worst and they called him a pessimist. James shook off the thoughts of the others and started tinkering with his machines. He had one machine that he called Dummy because he remembered being on his dad's work table in his lab and his dad having a robot named Dummy.

James sat down unable to get his mind off of everything he hated in this world. He hated that his dad had to fight all those years ago. He hated that his mother got caught in the cross fire. He hated that S.H.I.E.L.D. had let his parents down. He hated that The Avengers had been broken. He hated that he had to grow up without his parents because S.H.I.E.L.D. had let them die. He hated that everyone thought he was just a sarcastic punk when he was actually a genius. He hated the way he was feeling. He hated that he missed his parents. Unable to contain all of these negative thoughts and feelings, James began to cry. At that moment, he felt like a 6 year old again. He wanted his parents back. He wanted a normal life where he didn't have to live in hiding. He wanted to reverse time and save his parents. James knew that wanting all of these things was pointless. He had no way of resurrecting his parents or turning back time. So James sat there, and cried.

The next time any of the other children saw James was at dinner. He sat at the table with Jayden to his left and Tori to his right. Directly across from him sat Blane. Across from Jayden sat Lily and Mary Ann sat across from Tori. Unfortunately for James, his eyes were still red from crying.

"James have you been crying?" Lily asked.

"Don't be stupid Lily, only babies cry." James snapped back.

"Yeah he's probably just been getting high." Said Blane with a laugh. Anger flashed across James's face. He picked up his knife and threw it across the table straight at Blane. Blane caught it with surprise and smirked. He then picked up his plate and threw it like a Frisbee with food still on it. But his aim was off, the plate headed straight for Jayden's face. He blocked it with his arm.

"Grow up you two." Jayden said irritably. James raised his eyebrows and looked at Blane. Blane smirked once more and threw his spoon at Jayden. He caught it unimpressed and glared. James used his spoon as a catapult and launched some of his dinner at Blane, Blane threw his drink at Jayden. James threw his milk at Jayden as well. Jayden threw his food at Blane but it hit Mary Ann who glared, picked up her plate and went to her room.

"Pretty bad aim for a super soldier." Said Blane

"That's it!" Jayden yelled

Tori and Lily got up and stepped away from the table sensing something bad was about to happen. And it did, Jayden flipped the table towards Blane and it didn't take long until James, Jayden and Blane were fist fighting on the floor, covered in food. They continued fighting until Fury came in and pulled them off of each other.

"That's enough! You three, get to you rooms now!"

"They started it!" Blane remarked

"Well I'm finishing it. To your rooms now!" Fury commanded

"We're not children anymore Fury! You can't control us! We don't work for you like our parents did! You don't give us orders!" James argued

"No. You don't work for me, but I have practically raised you and if you don't want to be treated like children, stop acting like children" Fury looked between Jayden and James, "You two are the oldest. I expected so much better from you. Especially you Rogers. Now get to your rooms"

Jayden looked hurt. He turned around and walked outside. James was surprised at Jayde's action and his anger fumed. He followed Jayden outside.

"Really? You're walking away?!" James demanded

"Fury's right Stark. Leave it alone" Jayden kept walking with James following close behind.

"No he's not right and you know it! You're just refusing to fight back!"

"I said leave it alone!"

"All you do is follow orders! You never stand up for what you think is right! You're just like your dad! Maybe the fact that he refused to fight back against some ones stupid plan to defeat the enemy is what got him killed!"

That set Jayden off. He turned around quickly and tackled James to the ground. They rolled around fighting. Punching each other over and over again. They ended up rolling down a hill and fighting in front of the monument to their parents. They wrestled for a good ten minutes before Jayden kicked James off of him and sent him flying right onto the monument. James fell to the ground, bloody and angry. Jayden was in the same condition. James launched himself at Jayden and they began to fight again but they were halted when they heard a low humming noise and the shrine to The Avengers began to glow. James stopped his fist mid-swing, his other hand holding Jayden's hair.

"What, is, that?" James unclenched his fist and released Jayden's bleach blond hair. Jayden rose to his feet.

"I-I don't know" the super soldier stuttered. Within a few minutes, everyone was gathered around the monument. Nick Fury was the last to show up.

"What did you two do?" He asked looking at Jayden and James, who still looked pretty beat up, despite the fact that their bleeding had stopped. The two teenagers both started stuttering excuses.

"Enough!" Fury yelled, and the two boys stopped making excuses, "You two have no idea what you just di-" Fury was cut off by the monument shooting a beam from the top that went straight through the sky, revealing it to be just a computerized dome.

"Wait, the sky is fake?" Blane asked

"That is not good" Nick commented, staring at the real night sky above, "Children! Prepare for battle!"

"What?!" Mary Ann screeched

"What do you mean 'prepare for battle' Nick? You mean like real battle? Real enemies?" Lily asked, trying to make sense of the conversation.

"Yes! That thing just gave away our position! The enemy will be here in-" He was once again cut off, but this time by the sound of gun fire.

"Move!" Fury commanded. The children scattered, all to their cabins to get their various weapons they used for combat. Nick went to the main cabin and grabbed his gun. The twins went into their separate rooms. Lily grabbed her bow and arrows and guns. Blane did the same. Jayden ran to his cabin and smashed open a glass case that was holding his dad's shield. Tori grabbed her sword and Mary Ann grabbed her knife. James sprinted to his cabin and down into his lab. Alarms were blaring everywhere. He quickly suited up in his replica of the Iron Man suit and flew into battle with the rest of the child avengers. All the children were stunned to see the Iron Man suit James had built, but they didn't have time to stare. Enemy soldiers were quickly moving in. They all circled around Nick in a small clearing.

"You guys need to get out of here." Fury whispered, "You're the world's last hope. There is a small jet capable of holding all of you in the main hanger. It requires two pilots. Barton, you two know how to fly?"

"Yes sir." Lily answered

"Yes sir" Echoed Blane

"Good. Now go all of you."

"What about you?" Mary Ann asked Nick

"I'll be right behind you. Now go!" Fury answered, pushing them along.

They all ran towards the hanger. The twins were in the lead, followed by Tori, Mary Ann, Jayden, James, and Fury in the very back. They were almost to the doors when they heard a single shot go off and someone dropped to the ground. They all stopped and whipped around to see who was hit. To their horror, they saw their mentor, trainer, guardian, and good friend Nick Fury lying dead on the ground. A single bullet in his head.

"No!" Lily cried

"Nick!" Mary Ann screamed. Blane was stunned into silence

Jayden fought back tears, "Keep moving"

"What?! We can't leave him here!" Tori protested

"We have to! Unless you want to end up like him! He died so we could get away! Let's move!" James commanded. The others obeyed and got to the hanger. They found the jet and quickly boarded it. They took off in two minutes and headed for the hole in the dome. The jet was closely trailed by gun fire but the twins managed to avoid being hit. They made it out of their old home and headed into the real world.