A/N: So, I hope I'm not moving too fast for you all. I was having trouble setting this chapter up and then it sort of took off. I'm trying to set up a spectrum of relationships between Lilliana and the others, but I'm not sure just how far I want to go with some. Right now I'm researching a few pairings and such, I'm not sure where I'm going to go with it, and I think I'm going a little OOC in a few places, so I might edit later to change things.

Yesiamweird: Glad you like the Mary Jane idea!

Disclaimer Still Stands! Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 3: The First Assignment

Lilliana Hudson found her quarters to be overly shiny, and almost uncomfortable. She felt like she was in quarantine every time she was in her room for more than twenty minutes, and often found herself wandering around the headquarters, sometimes with a notebook as she began writing down everything she thought she could somehow use in the future. They had been in transit for two days, and the only thing she had done was meet Clint and Natasha, completing the Avengers available to her. No one really spoke to her much, but she understood they had to be fully informed of the situation before she could. Finally, on the third day, after traveling through a bizarre lightning storm, she was summoned into the conference room to be formally introduced to the avengers.

"This is Lilliana Hudson, she is an aspiring writer, and willing to put it all on the line to get us some power in the press, and hopefully convince people to not take advantage of a good thing, let us do our job, and be thankful." Tony announced, beaming and throwing an arm around her.

"She has no purpose other than scribbling in that notebook? No training?" Natasha questioned. "Is that even safe?"

"Tony underestimates her. She's physically apt to the challenges of this lifestyle, and we plan on, after getting agreement, getting her some basic training in. She at least needs to know how to shoot a gun." Agent Hill piped in.

"In the meantime, Thor's gotten us some important information, so let's give him our attention so we can figure out what we're doing about this Thanos." Fury ended all discussion of Lilliana for now, calming her nerves and she scribbled 'Thanos' in big letters on the top of her page. She looked up at Thor, a large, muscular blonde man, wearing some sort of mythical armor, and he smiled at her. She immediately looked back down and scribbled his name in her book, her cheeks slowly turning pink. She certainly was not used to being the center of attention, and wasn't about to be distracted by a dashing smile from a superhero, so instead she listened.

Thor described in detail this Thanos, a criminal from the Saturn moon Titan, of a race called Eternals, who had terrorized worlds. Thanos, driven by what Thor was speculated was insecurities like his own brother Loki, wanted to punish Earth by obtaining and using a 'Cosmic Cube' and then destroying the Earth with its power. Lilliana panicked for a second at the idea, and she felt her skin prickle. All of these people, that don't know, and maybe never would, about this threat. Dr. Banner must have noticed her panic, because he reached a work-worn hand over to her arm and squeezed. She looked at him, and his brotherly reassuring glance, and while she was still scared, she knew he was telling her they would make it right. She looked around the room, and saw a lot of the same determination in the eyes of the other Avengers. It was quiet, almost solemn, in the room as everyone absorbed the information. Then Fury stood up again.

"So, we need to get a plan together, and I'm calling in some more help. We also need a strong press reputation, hence Miss Hudson. If for some reason this Thanos lets word slip to the civilians through some sort of transmission, people are going to panic, more than they did with Loki, because he's not even human in appearance from what I understand. The more people that have confidence in the Avenger Iniative, the bigger we make it, the better." He told the room. "You need to give her whatever information she needs to get people to like you. You need the trust of the little grannies on the streets if we are going to keep control."

"What exactly do you need Hudson?" Natasha asked. Lilliana felt her anxiety rise, she wasn't prepared for this. She thought she would be summarizing events, not creating, and she had no plan.

"Well, I, well… um… okay, so I'm going to need a synopsis of your backgrounds. No personal identifying stuff for sure, but, like, why you're here. What makes you an Avenger? A hero even. Then maybe, any sort of unclassified info we have on the Loki thing. Thor if you could prepare something on his punishment? Then just, maybe more notes on Thanos, so I can prepare a press release on the situation in the event of a transmission." Lilliana rambled ideas, she noticed that her nerves made the pitch of her voice rise.

"What if, like, we don't want people knowing all of this?" Clint challenged her. Natasha flashed him a smirk. Lilliana knew that she wouldn't be everyone's favorite person, but she wasn't prepared for mocking.

"Whatever you want in there then, is fine. I'm not going to push anyone. If I don't feel like it's enough I'll do my own digging, just keep that in mind." She snapped back at him. Tony smiled at her, recognizing even more the spunk that had made him choose her for this. Lilliana barely noticed, as she started scribbling frantically in her notebook, trying to organize the ideas in her head before they vanished. Fury dismissed the group, but Lilliana kept writing in the board room, she didn't look up to notice the line in front of her until Fury finally cleared his throat.

"Hudson, I'm going to give you a very limited synopsis of SHIELD and ask that you work with what I give you, because it's important that only what I provide is revealed." He told her as she looked up at him.

"Yes Sir, no problem Mr. Fury." She replied, noticing Thor, Steve, and Bruce behind him.

"Also, I'm working on getting Spiderman to sign on with us, have you worked with him before?"

"No Sir, as much as I have tried, he won't sit for me. Only Peter Parker."

"Yea, I asked Mr. Parker, and he said he would talk to the web slinger for us, see about breaking tradition a little. I will certainly keep you posted. "

"Thank you Sir. It's an honor to help." She smiled as he turned, satisfied, and walked away. She reflected on her arguments with Peter about talking to Spiderman, and wondered if he would really change his mind about asking. She was jealous of Peter and his connections, and his relationship with MJ, she always felt like him stepping in the picture had changed everything for her. Thor waved a hand in front of her face, drawing her out of her thought pattern.

"I don't write." He said simply. "Not your writing at least."

"Oh, um, okay then. We will, I don't know. Do you use a tape recorder? Or could actually interview you?" She was a little shocked, but optimistic about an actual sit-down interview.

"Yes, tomorrow."

"Okay, just find me wandering and we'll work it out, whenever it's good for you. I know you'll be busy with training and planning and stuff." She replied, writing in her book about interviewing him, so she wouldn't forget.

"You don't look at me. Why?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm just rude I guess. Thoughts don't stay in my head. If I don't write them down right away, I forget them." She looked up and locked eyes with him. He smiled at her.

"You should look at people. You're pretty. See you tomorrow." He told her before walking away. She looked after him with the same raised eyebrow that Steve approached her with.

"Well, that was quirky." Steve commented, smiling. "Anyway, I didn't know how much you wanted about my public domain, so, where do you want me to start?"

"I'd like to have as much material as you'd let me Steve, your story is legend, it's incredible, Captain America saves the world years after he's thought to be dead… outstanding. I'm dying to assemble it all." Lilliana gushed.

"Okay then, I will get something together for you, and get it to you as soon as I can little lady." He shook her hand and walked off with a bounce in his step. Bruce didn't look pleased as he approached her.

"Listen, I don't want people knowing me and the big guy are one person. Can we do that?" he asked, concern overwhelming his face.

"Yea, no problem, should we maybe create a character, or do we want to give Hulk a back story?" She asked, scribbling in her notebook again.

"Well, people have seen me go green, so I guess, maybe just make up some guy and some accident or mutation or something."

"Yea, totally doable. No relation to the truth, sound good?"

"Perfect, thank you, and are you okay with all of this? You look a little young to be dealing with all this on your own."

"I'm a little nervous, but I'm okay. If it goes over well it will look AMAZING on a resume."

"Listen, not everything in life is about resumes. Don't forget to be normal once and a while. You look like a sweet girl, don't let this change you into some sort of over focused monster that doesn't do anything for yourself."

"Yea, okay, thank you. I mean, my whole life has been pretty normal, but I don't want to change much, and it's nice to hear that it's okay."

"I'm around, if you need something, okay? Adjusting to things is tough, and I don't know how much they let you tell your friends and family."

"Thank you Dr. Banner, it means a ton." She smiled at him. He nodded and walked away. Lilliana figured that he was feeling guilty about the way Natasha and Clint were treating her. She shook her head, and started writing again; trying to figure out what she was going to do.