Hey, everyone. This is my first fanfiction, so be kind. Constructive criticism is welcome. If I don't explain something, or you have a question, feel free to ask. Please enjoy!

*Disclaimer – I do not own Avengers, or anything that is actually owned by Marvel. No characters, no storyline, nothing. This is just for fun.

Chapter One: The Call

As Director Fury left the conference room, he knew that this was his one chance to bring the Avengers Initiative to life. He would have to find a way to bring them together – all of them – to form the response team that he knew they could be. Truthfully, he'd never really been banking on Phase Two, as his superiors had been. He was no fool. Bigger guns might deter an enemy for a while, but, ultimately, it brought only a new level of warfare. From rocks and spears to swords to cannons to guns and missiles, it was all the same. People, however, were different.

People could not be recreated, their powers and talents could not be exactly reproduced. With people, there were no blueprints to steal, no formulas to follow. While this was an advantage, since there was no point in making a big weapon if the enemy could do the same thing, there was also the matter of the unpredictability of people. This was what worried his superiors. The individuals chosen for the Avenger's initiative were certainly a – volatile – mixture, but they were also uniquely gifted and powerful. Given the right incentive, they could become earth's strongest defense against the armies of other worlds.

He sighed and rubbed the scars that peeked from under his eye patch, trying to will away the headache he could feel coming on. Getting them together would be the hardest task. Captain Rogers knew his purpose, knew he was a soldier, and knew how to follow orders. Even Barton and Romanoff could follow orders. However, there was the matter of how the Avengers related to each other. Rogers didn't care for Stark, who he saw as irresponsible. Stark, of course, saw Rogers as a "goody two shoes" and loved to jab at him with sarcasm and snide remarks. Stark also did not like Agent Romanoff, which was a shared sentiment. On the other hand, Stark treated everyone like that, which certainly didn't endear him to any of the Avengers. Dr. Banner had no desire to be an Avenger, an understandable feeling considering his condition. Thor was practically impossible to contact because he resided on Asgard. The final member of the Avengers also had difficulty relating to the others simply because of her bloodline. None of them really knew how to react to having Satan's daughter around; Rogers could even be outright hostile because she stood, in his mind, for everything that was wrong.

Fury stopped rubbing his scars and continued down the hall, calling orders to his second in command. He had a team to call in. They would iron out their differences, eventually. He hoped.

It's time for Animaniacs! And we're zany to the max! So sit back and relax, you'll laugh until you collapse, we're Animan-iacs! Avani groaned as her phone continued to ring. It was loud enough to permeate through her dream – which she couldn't quite recall - and wake her from a restful slumber. Opening her bright blue eyes, she quickly located the vibrating and glowing device in the harsh afternoon light. Closing her eyes, she made a grab for it, missed, and after some fumbling brought the thing to her ear. "Hello?" She mumbled sleepily, still not quite awake. "Beauchene, this is Agent Coulson. We have an –" the voice on the other line said, before she closed the phone and rolled over to fall asleep again.

It's time for Animaniacs! And we're – She snatched the phone up again, "What the f-!" Agent Coulson cut her off, saying, "You have three minutes to get dressed and be in the car waiting at your door. I'll brief you on the way to the airport. This is important." Click. He hung up on her. After her sleep-muddled brain process the message, she quickly jumped out of bed. Rushing, she pulled a shirt over her head before pulling on a pair of jeans. A pair of socks and black combat boots completed the outfit. As she exited her room and made her way to the front door of her small home, she grabbed a backpack out of the coat closet and picked up her wallet and keys from the entry way table. She looked at herself in the small mirror in the hallway, trying to make herself look presentable. She ran a very tan hand through her short ash-blonde hair, slender fingers carding through the soft locks. She was, she thought, a fairly attractive woman. She had the same features as many people of mixed parentage. Her fair hair and blue eyes stood out in sharp contrast to her dark golden skin. There was an abundance of people like her in the city. New Orleans had a long standing tradition of wealthy white men taking pretty young black women as mistresses, so she blended well. With a minute to spare, she closed and locked her door behind her and made her way to the black Lincoln that sat in front of her home. With a final glance back at the house, where her bed was certainly calling to her, she climbed into the back seat next to Agent Coulson.

Smiling, he looked up from his watch – the arrogant sneak had been counting the time – and he handed her a folder and signaled for the driver to continue. Glancing through the papers, she saw brief summaries on the people who were to make up the "Avenger's Initative." What a stupid name, she thought. What, are we out of a comic or something? Next they'll want us to form a "Justice League" or some shit like that. The first "Avenger" she came across was the team captain, Steve Rogers. He looked as prissy as ever. The next was Dr. Banner, a man that she knew was reasonable and down to earth, for the most part. Bruce, at least, had an idea of what it was like to be a monster and to fight the monster inside. It would be good to know that she had a friend along for the mission. Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton were part of team, as expected. While they did not have the powers that she, Rogers, and Bruce possessed, they made up for that with breathtaking skill.

She frowned as she turned to the page on the next Avenger. Tony Stark. While she didn't hate him, exactly, he had a way of getting under people's skin with sarcastic comments and "endearing" nicknames. Sure, she was sarcastic enough, but she usually had the good sense to keep some of those comments to herself for the most part. He was just obnoxious. The final member was someone that they couldn't really count on: Thor. While he was very strong and an excellent fighter, that didn't really count for much if he wasn't here. She'd heard that commuting from Asgard to "Midgard" could be a real bitch since required lots of energy, etc., and then there was the matter of trying to get back home . . .

The next few pages were on a block of energy or something called the "Tesseract." S.H.I.E.L.D. had been looking to use it as a clean, sustainable, and efficient source of energy, and it had apparently been stolen when Thor's brother, Loki, came through a portal thing made by the Tesseract from the other end of space. Loki made off with the Tesseract, several key scientists that had been working on it, and Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye. Loki, according to the report, had a "short, spear-like weapon of unknown power" that could turn people into his servants by tapping them on the chest with said weapon.

Avani paused at this.

So the enemy could, allegedly, turn good guys into bad guys, to put it in simple terms? Well, shit. Were there restrictions on that sort of power? How did he control them? Mind control? What if there were no limits? Then this guy, Loki, could just tap everybody in the world and BOOM. World domination. She'd have to bring that up to Fury and pray that Loki could only control so many people at a time. The last page of the brief was a very short paragraph on Loki, accompanied by a picture. She didn't think he looked like the evil type. Mischievous perhaps, a sort of prankster, but not someone to want to take over or destroy the world. His bright green eyes seemed haunted. His face was made for smiling, not for the look of scorn that she saw on his features.

She closed the folder and looked up to find that they were on an airstrip, pulling up to a large jet. As the car slowed to a stop, she handed the folder back to Coulson and exited the vehicle. The sooner she got this done, the sooner she could get back home.

To Be Continued . . .

Hello again! As I said earlier, please let me know what you think. I didn't have anyone read this over for me so if you see a typo or mistake, please let me know I can correct it. Thanks!