Avengers 1 part 1

I own nothing. Story idea and oc belongs to sketchywolf, the rest belongs to Marvel.

Six months have past now and construction of Stark Tower was very nearly complete.

Tony was currently in his Mark VI suit on the bottom of the Atlantic, near the city, placing an energy reactor on one of the transition lines. Once this was done, he shot out of the water and began flying home.

"Okay, good to go on this end," Tony said. "The rest is up to you."

"You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?," Pepper asked over coms and her face appearing in his helmet.

"Yup. Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy."

"Assuming that the arc reactor takes over and actually works?," a now fifteen year old Max said.

"I assume," Tony replied as Stark Tower came into view. "Light it up."

Instantly, the lights on the tower lit up bright.

"How does it look?"

"Like Christmas. But with more... me."

"We've gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards-."

"Pepper, you're killing me. Remember? Enjoy the moment."

"Then get in here and I will," Pepper said smoothly, and a groan of disgust was heard.

"I'm gonna pretend I don't know what that implies," Max said and his parents chuckled. "Dad, can you take a picture of the building?"

Not a moment later, his phone received a photo of the Tower from the outside. He quickly left to talk to Shuri and send her the photo.

"I present to you... Stark Tower," he said then sent the photo.

"...Wow. Incredible and the largest testament to anyone's own ego I've ever seen," she joked, making him chuckle a little.

They had been messaging each other more frequently since he left Wakanda, more than they had before. Max now looked more like his father since he woke up two years ago. He was now his father's height and had grown slightly more muscular. He still had the scar over his eye but now he also had the cut across his cheek from his fight with Jacob as well, as it never properly healed, even with Shuri's help. Then he saw on his phone that someone was coming up the elevator. Then he saw two others behind him, one of which Max had not seen in years.

"I gotta go, someone just arrived."

"Okay. I'll talk to you later."

He quickly walked back out just as the elevator door opened.

"Security breach," Tony said then looked to Pepper. "That's on you."

"Phil!! Come in!," Pepper said getting up to greet him.

"Phil...?"

"That's his first name," Max said walking up to them.

"Uh, actually... his first name is Agent."

"Good to see you again, Phil," Max said shaking his hand and ignoring what his father said.

"You as well, Max," Coulson said then turned the agents behind him. "I believe you all know each other."

"We do indeed," Max said shaking both of their hands. "Terry and Alice Scott."

Terry and Alice were both about Max's height, both well built with blue eyes and black hair, but both were obviously older than he was. Terry was wearing what must be SHIELD assault team armor, just modified and Alice was wearing a similar outfit but with no padding, (they look like Taron Egerton and Daisy Ridley).

"Nice to see you again, Max," Alice said, hugging him as well.

"Yeah, it is, kid," Terry said

"Uh... how do you know these two?," Tony asked curiously.

"I met these two at MIT, both very intelligent people. So now you're with SHIELD, huh? Moving up in the world."

"Yeah, something like that."

"Well, come on in, all of you. We're celebrating," Pepper said.

"Which is why they can't stay," Tony said, trying to get rid of them.

"We need you to look over this," Phil said, holding a file up to Tony. "As soon as possible. And we'll need Max to come with us. Agents Lion, Lioness, bring him up to speed."

They nodded and they led him out of the room as Tony began going on about disliking things being handed to him, causing Alice to look to Max for an explanation.

"Trauma and trust issues," he said. "Now what's going on?"

"You're familiar with Captain America and HYDRA, right?," Terry asked.

"Yes. My grandfather made Steve Rogers's shield. What about it?"

"There was a small glowing cube found by your grandfather when he was looking for Rogers. The Tesseract. It's been stolen by this guy calling himself Loki. Agent Barton and Eric Selvig have both been compromised."

This caused Max's eyes to widen greatly and he quickly nodded.

"...When do we leave?," he asked.

"You will leave, we'll stay here and help your father in his research on the situation," Alice explained.

"Okay, just don't go into my room. I value my privacy."

She rolled her eyes but nodded all the same.

"So... since we have time as my mom will start up a conversation with Coulson, how did you end up working at SHIELD?"

"We were recruited by the Black Widow a year ago," Terry said. "Said we both showed promise. Also gave us the names Lion and Lioness cause we're a team and family."

"Hmm... yeah, that sounds like Nat," Max said and then Coulson came over, gesturing that it was time to go. "Time to go. It was good to see you both again."

They nodded and he walked towards Coulson and soon enough, they were driving towards the outside of the city, where a Quinjet was awaiting them.

"Be prepared, you're about to meet a legend," Coulson said, sounding like a child on Christmas.

"...Okay... well I've met a mythological man, so I doubt I'd be surprised."

The Quinjet opened to reveal a man, about six feet tall, well built and short brown hair. Max immediately knew who it was from old World War II films he'd studied during his free time.

"...Captain Steve Rogers. ...Wow!! It's an honor to meet you."

"Do I know you from somewhere?," he asked, as he walked on and they began flying.

"N-No, but you knew my grandfather, Howard Stark," he said, sitting across from him and reaching his hand out. "Maxwell Stark."

He smiled and shook Max's hand.

"Good to meet you. If you don't mind me saying, but based on your face, you've been through hell recently."

"Yeah... it's a been a rough four years."

He began to tell his story, trying to explain as best he could. When he was done, Steve said nothing right away, but looked at him.

"Wow... that is rough. Almost as rough as my fight against HYDRA was."

"Yeah... I know I've already said it, but it truly is an honor. You were my idol growing up."

"Oh yeah?," he asked and the boy nodded. "Well, I'm glad I could inspire you."

"Yeah. Because of you, I was actually able to meet my best friend, Princess Shuri."

"Princess?"

"King Azzuri of Wakanda's granddaughter," he explained and Steve nodded and went back to the tablet in his hand. "What's that anyway?"

"Doctor Bruce Banner."

"What?"

He quickly got up and sat next to his hero and saw a footage of a great, big green monster.

"...Whoa," he said.

"You don't remember hearing about this?," he asked.

"Max was in a coma at that time," Coulson explained, walking over.

"So this Banner was trying to create the serum that made me?"

"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation was the key to Erskine's formula."

"Didn't exactly go his way," Steve concluded.

"Not so much. But when he's not that thing, he's like Stephen Hawking or something."

Steve just looked at him strangely as he didn't know who Stephen Hawking was.

"He's like uh... a smart person," Phil explained. "I've gotta say, it's a real honor to to meet you. Officially. I did see you while you slept. I mean... when you were frozen, I'm not a creep. I mean, I must say, it's a real honor to have you aboard."

"You already said that, Phil," Max said, looking at the tablet Steve had handed to him as he stood up, not even looking up to say it.

"Well, I just hope that I'm the right guy for the job."

"Oh, you are, don't worry about that. We've have done some adjustments to the uniform, I myself had some input in it."

"The uniform? Are the stars and stripes a little... old fashioned?," Steve asked.

"You know, with everything going on, with everything that's coming to light, people might just need a little old fashioned," Phil said as they drew closer to an interestingly designed aircraft character.

"So, how are you alive, by the way?," Max asked.

"We found him in the Artic ice, frozen solid."

"Hmm... well, if you ever meet him, don't expect a warm welcome from my dad, Tony."

"Why not?," Steve asked

"He told me once that my grandpa wouldn't ever shut up about you."

He simply nodded at this as they landed and as they got out, they were greeted by Natasha.

"Agent Romanoff," Phil said and turned to Steve. "Captain Rogers."

"Ma'am."

"Hi. You're needed on the bridge, sir," Nat said and received a brief hug from Max, which she returned. "Been a little bit huh?"

"We need to stop meeting like this," Max joked and they both laughed at this as they walked with Steve.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Has he asked you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?," both Steve and Max said.

"They're vintage. He's very proud of them."

Then they began walking over to a rather timid looking man who Steve and Max quickly recognized.

"Dr. Banner," Steve said and he turned to see them coming over to him.

"Oh, yeah. Hi," Bruce Banner said, shaking Steve's hand then Max's. "Wait, you look familiar. Have we met?"

"No, but I've been on tv before. Maxwell Stark, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Ohh... that's right. Nice to meet you both. They said you'd be here, Captain."

"Well, word is that you can locate the cube."

"Is that the only word on me?"

"Only word I care about," Steve answered.

"...Must be strange for you. All of this," Bruce said, gesturing everything around them.

"You know... it's actually kind of familiar."

Then some sirens went off and Nat walked up to the boys.

"We best get inside soon. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe," she said as they began to hear machines turn on.

"Is this a submarine?"

"Really? They want me in a pressurized metal container?"

"No... I think it's something else entirely," Max said, looking down.

Steve and Banner did as well and saw a massive turbine beginning to emerge from the water as the carrier began to go up into the air.

"Oh no!! This is much worse!!!," Banner yelled as they went inside.

"Race you to the bridge!!," Max yelled and then sped way ahead of them, leaving Banner in shock, Steve already knowing as he had been told on the way to the carrier. Nat just chuckled at his reaction before speaking again.

"It's a long story. He'll tell you about it later. Just don't mention anything about it to his father when you meet him. Let's get to the bridge."

They then walked to the control room where Fury was guiding the launch.

"All engines operating," Maria Hill, second in command of SHIELD, announced to Fury. "SHIELD emergency protocol 193.6 in effect, were at level."

"Good," Nick Fury said. "Let's vanish."

"Engaging particle reflection panels."

As she said this, the ship began to vanish from the mirrors on the bottom of the craft, like a camouflage system.

The three of them turned to see Max sitting at the table and Fury walked over to them.

"Gentlemen, welcome," he said and Steve handed him a ten dollar bill.

"Hey, Nat?," Max said as he walked over to her. "Is it true? About Clint?"

"...Yeah. Loki is mind controlling him or something."

"Damn."

He then walks over to Fury.

"It's been a long time huh?"

"Two years. You've changed a lot," Nick said, shaking Max's hand. "New additions to the collection huh?"

"That's one way of seeing it."

They laugh a little as he walked over to Banner and shook his hand. Max then saw Hill glaring at him before finally nodding, which he returned.

"Maria Hill," Natasha said. "Second in command. She's just distrustful of new people."

"Doctor, thank you for coming."

"...Thanks for asking nicely," Bruce said timidly. "So, uh... how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."

"Where are you with that?"

Nick Fury turns to Agent Coulson to explain, while Natasha and Max eye an image of Clint Barton on a computer screen.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops," Phil said. "If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"That's still not gonna find them in time," Nat said.

"She's right," Max said. "What about eyes and ears on the ground? Intel coming from the dead zones?"

"We have agents on the lookout in all various locations all over the world," Maria answered. "The adults know what they're doing."

"Oh yeah? Well, I'll do my best to explain what we are doing and to you later on then," Max countered, earning a snicker from Nat and Steve.

"Enough," Fury ordered and looked back at Banner. "Continue, please."

"You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?"

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays," Bruce said to the agents at the computers. "I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please."

Natasha nods and walks off, leading Banner down the hall.

"You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."

"I'll go with them. See if I can help at all," Max said, following them.

They reached the lab and the two geniuses got to work right away. Banner then looked to Max once Nat was gone.

"You seem quite close to SHIELD," he stated.

"Yup. SHIELD offered to help me when I was in a coma for two years. Then they helped my dad when he got sick from palladium poisoning. Nat was sent to keep an eye on him and we became friends fast. She's been like a big sister to me ever since."

"And your... gifts?"

"Result of the exposure to arc reactor energy. Been calling myself Arc, if you're interested."

"That's actually a pretty cool name. Does your father know?"

"Neither he nor my mother or my uncle will ever find out about it," Max said. "I don't want them to know. Don't really know why, just feels like something I need to keep secret from them."

"It'll eventually be revealed, you know?," he said.

"I'll cross that bridge when I get there," Max answered then his phone went off. "I gotta take this."

Bruce nodded and Max walked off and began talking with Shuri. First though, he messed around with his phone and it said that the phone was secure and security wouldn't pick up what he was typing.

"Hey, how's your day going?," she asked.

"Working with SHIELD again," he said. "Remember that Loki guy I told you about?"

"Yes."

"Well, he's alive and he took something called the Tesseract. It is considered the Jewel of Odin's Treasure Room. A door to the other end of space. He also is mind controlling a couple of my friends, including one who's like a brother to me."

"Wow... you've got your hands full," Shuri said. "Do you need any help?"

"I'm good right now. Guess what? Captain America is a alive and he's here helping us. I got to talk to him and everything. Doctor Bruce Banner is here as well."

"WHAT?!!! Lucky!! You will tell me all about it when you're done!!"

"I promise. I gotta go now, bye," he said

"Bye," she said and Max walked back into the lab.

"Who was that?," Bruce asked curiously.

"My best friend, Shuri."

"Sounds like an African name."

"Well, she's an African princess, so it would make sense."

"Wait, what?!! Princess?!"

"Princess of a third world country in Africa," Max explained. "Wakanda. Let's get back to work."

Banner nodded and they quickly got back to work.

Hope you liked this. I'll try to have the next one up as soon as possible. Until then, see ya later.