AN:

This is an Avengers multiverse fic, where the OC jumps from our reality to the Avengers reality, so bear with me. The OC comes into the story at the very start of the AoU movie. I don't think I want this to be a romance because the OC is so young, so it'll most likely be a family/humour or adventure sort of thing. IDK hopefully there's a sequel in 2018. Leave suggestions if you please.

There won't be much dialogue until the end of the chapter. Bold is thought. Italics is emphasis or branding. Language warning. Spoilers for AoU.

I hope you enjoy!

Chapter One

Cold.

That's what I woke to. It felt like I'd been submerged in an ice bath. I opened my eyes to find myself lying on snow.

Well, that explains it.

The ground was freezing against the side of my face and I bolted up in shock. The next thing I registered was that I was in a woodlands. Tall trees with dark wood trunks topped with crystalline white snow towered over me in every direction. I stood quickly, the snow burning against my bare feet. The cold nipped painfully at my exposed arms and legs.

I then came to the unfortunate reality of what I was wearing, what I was when I went to bed; a red singlet and black undies.

The events seemed to hit me hard at that very moment. I was just in my bedroom. In Australia. Now I was standing, near naked, in the middle of God knows where, and it sure as Hell wasn't in Queensland because it was snowing!

What the fuck is going on?

I was on the verge of a total melt down when I heard the first gunshot. It was loud, but distant. Even though the thought of strangers carrying serious firearms in an isolated forest scared me, I was more worried about getting out of the wood before I died of exposure.

I trekked through the snow, shivering and shaking, arms crossed over my chest, in search of the sound. My nose started running from the cold and I sniffled every few seconds. I was scared, more scared than I can ever remember being in my entire life. Tears escaped without my consent, but they kept my eyes from burning dry so I let them.

I was alone, freezing, and, above all else, terrified.

That's when I heard the next few gunshots. They were louder, so I knew I was closer.

I didn't know what was happening over there but my desperation to get out of the snowy woods drove me forwards. I kept walking, listening to the symphony of gunshots and explosions. Picking up my pace, I soon heard the sound of an engine. It sounded like a car. Closer and closer I travelled until a mighty roar stopped me in my tracks. It was powerful, as if bellowed from the deep of a gargantuous set of lungs. It wasn't human, but it was awfullt familiar.

I kept walking. The noise had mostly settled.

In the distance, I saw through the trees a giant green mass tumble to the ground and roll before uprighting itself. I watched as it threw a tank.

I got a not so safe distance away and hid behind a tree.

It was the Hulk. A real, living, breathing, smashing version of the fictional green Avenger, right in front of me, and let me just say he was much more terrifying than the little green version of him in the movie poster on my bedroom wall. I gripped the tree I was holding to stop me from falling over in shock.

The Hulk.

The.

Hulk.

Bruce fucking Banner.

HOLY MOTHER OF SIN!

I realised, in that second, where I was. The snow, the trees, the mountains. This was the opening scene to the Age of Ultron movie I'd only seen fifty million times, which meant I was in Sokovia.

How the fuck?

I shoved aside my disbelief and silently walked forward. I was dangerously close now, only about ten meters or so away. It was a distance I knew Bruce could clear in a matter of seconds. I finally stopped walking, and froze.

What do I do now? Wait for him to notice me?

I stood on the spot like an idiot, shivering, too scared to speak, too scared to get closer, too scared to walk away. The Hulk turned on the spot, glaring, and stomped towards me. He stopped within his arm's reach, let out an angry snort, and looked me dead in the eyes.

It was at that moment I realised how fucking stupid I was.

We both stood, unmoving, staring, and I wished with all my might that the towering mass of green muscle couldn't see me, that somehow I could magically just escape the tense situation.

His head jolted up and he looked around, surprised, as if searching for something, and then looked back to where I was standing. We didn't make eye contact, he just looked at the area around me, as if he actually couldn't see me. I stood there, still unmoving, waiting for him to rip me limb from limb, throw me far away, or do something… well, Hulk-y. But he didn't. He just snorted again and walked over to the tank, ripping off the weapon's barrel on top, acting as if I wasn't even there.

The burning feeling in my feet came back and I realised I'd been standing on one snowy spot for too long. The snow made my feet feel like they were on fire, but at the same time I couldn't feel the tips of my toes.

Fucking snow.

Cautiously, I took a single step back. Bruce didn't notice me, so took more, and more, until eventually I was safely behind a tree again on the outskirts of the small clearing.

At that moment, a curvaceous form with red hair, dressed head to toe in black, slinked gracefully by me. My heart stopped as I recognised her.

Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow.

She passed me so close that if I stuck my arm out to the side she would have collided with it. She didn't even look at me, and I realised that neither of them could see me. I let out a small breath after she passed.

Somewhere from the back of my mind I recalled this scene from the movie.

"Hey, big guy."

I watched as Natasha said the lullaby to Bruce, and my inner fangirl did a triple backflip. I shipped them so hard.

Not the time, Riley.

They never noticed me though. It was like I was watching through a Pensieve; I was there, and I was watching, but I was invisible.

This is so weird.

Taking a risk, I stepped out from behind the tree and waited. Neither looked up, so I cautiously walked forward even further, slowly picking up my pace until I was standing directly next to Natasha's crouching form as she caressed Bruce's gigantic hand. I expected her to hear me or sense me, but she remained oblivious to my presence. I waved my hand in front of her face.

Nothing.

I looked down at my numb hands, my freckled skin was still there as it had always been. I figured I could see myself, but no one else could.

Odd.

I stood beside her and we watched the Other Guy shrink down and transform into Banner. It looked painful, that was for sure.

I felt a sense of security knowing they couldn't see me. Perhaps this is a dream, I thought. But the burning sensation on my feet, the cold against my scarcely covered body, told me that it wasn't. If I was invisible, maybe I could follow them to the jet, stash away for a ride back to Avengers' Tower and finally get out of these fucking freezing woods, consequences be damned.

Nat walked over to Bruce and I let my uncomfortably tense muscles relax. She helped him to his feet. When she looked up, her eyes met mine and her free hand had a gun aimed smack bang at the center of my forehead before I could blink.

I fumbled through my mess of a brain looking for what to say.

"You c-can see m-me?" I stammered out, stunned. She nodded her head ever so slightly and said nothing, so I continued. "Nat, I won't try anything."

As soon as her name left my lips her perfect jaw clenched a little more than usual. Her gaze hardened and she kept her gun aimed at me.

Fucking idiot! I scolded myself.

"Who are you?" She asked in her usual calm tone as she gave me a second once-over.

I realised now that she could shoot me at any time. Fear shot down my spine. This was real. And I could actually die.

The next words tumbled from my mouth as my stinging lips struggled to form words.

"My n-name's Riley R-Rose. I'm f-f-fifteen. I don't k-know how I got here. I'm not gonna try anythin'. Just please," my voice broke on the last word as I choked on a fearful sob. "Please, I'm so fucking cold. P-Please help me."

My gaze dropped to the ground, arms still crossed over my chest, trying my hardest not to cry in front of the very woman I'd deemed my role model for power and confidence.

When I looked up again Natasha had an arm around Bruce (who watched me curiously), a watchful eye on me and her gun still held steady. "Start walking." She gestured in the direction behind her with a tilt of her head.

She wasn't exactly kind about it, but I'd have taken any opportunity to get the frickfrack out of there.

I slowly made my way around them, staying an arm's length away from the firearm that was pointed at my brain the entire time. I walked on shaking legs, teeth chattering.

I could hear the two walking wordlessly a few paces behind me, and I realised how they must see me; a young girl dressed in her underclothes, in the middle of an isolated, snow-covered forest filled with battling Hydra agents and superheroes, freezing from the cold, her freckled face and pointy ears pink, fat lips turning purple, brown eyes full of fear.

Gee, don't I sound so bloody delightful?

We walked in silence.

I lay curled on my side in a stretcher near the back corner of the jet. My head of brown hair popped out from an assortment of grey heated blankets. In one hand I held a black heat pack to my chest and my other was cuffed to the frame of the stretcher.

The moment the Bruce, Natasha and I arrived on the jet, she helped Bruce to a bench, then walked over and told me to sit on the stretcher, which I did. My legs almost gave out as I sat down. She cuffed my hand to the bed and hooked her gun to her belt. She then handed me a stack of blankets and said in all seriousness "Don't try anything."

I didn't think she thought I would try anything, but I guess it was a precaution just in case anyone was stupid enough to fuck with her. We then waited silently for the others to return.

Tony was the first. He walked in without his Iron Man suit, carrying a black case which I recalled contained Loki's sceptre, and therefore the Mind Stone.

He gave a questioning glance at me, then Bruce – who wasn't paying attention – and then Natasha, who walked over to him and quietly talked into his ear. I assumed she was filling him in about how I came to be here.

Tony set the sceptre down on top of a large case a meter from my head. He looked down at my eyes popping out from the heap of blankets, cocking an eyebrow. He knew I wouldn't be able to reach it even if I tried.

The other Avengers followed suite. Each of them cast me a similar look, but still no one said anything, not to me anyway.

After they set Clint down on a stretcher in the centre of the room, Steve and Thor sauntered over to Tony, who was manning the jet, and Natasha, who was beside him. The four of them conversed in a conversation about me, which I knew for certain this time because I heard Natasha say things like "…appeared there, I didn't even hear her coming…" and "…didn't look like a threat, but I can't be certain…", and things from Tony such as "...she doing out here in the first place?"

Even I didn't know the answer to that question. But despite everything that was happening around me, I felt safe with these people; because I knew them, though the reverse was not true.

Eventually Natasha strode over to Bruce, who was listening to opera, his usual nervous nature about him. I felt for him, I knew that he didn't like it when they called a Code Green, but I thought it was lovely how Natasha was always there to consult him about how he felt.

Tony joined macho men Steve and Thor at the head end of my stretcher, and began discussing the sceptre. It was now that I actually started to listen.

"But this… this brings it to a close." Thor declared in a very pleased voice.

Steve, looking troubled, added "As soon as we find out what else this thing has been used for. I don't mean weapons." Tony and Thor both scrunched their brows at Steve's remark as he continued. "Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?"

From my horizontal position cocooned in sheets, I added my voice to the conversation.

"Only two of his experiments survived." All three heads swiveled to the side, then down towards me. "They're twins, ya know?" I caught Steve's eye, "That girl you saw was one of them."

Tony looked at me curiously. "Riley, right?" he asked me, pointing a finger as he leisurely strolled closer. I could tell, just from those few words and gestures, that he wanted something, because I'd seen him act like that countless times.

"Yeah, that would be me."

"What accent is that?"

"'Strayan'."

"There's lovely weather there, or so I've heard."

My lip twitched in a mixture of annoyance and amusement. "Better than this fuckin' snowy slice of hell. Not that I don't appreciate the small talk, but if you want to know something just ask." It was an odd thing for me to say from their perspective, me being so open, but I couldn't help but feel like I was talking to old friends; I'd grown up watching them.

His brows shot up at my frankness, but he got the point. "Twins? Did you say?"

I nodded.

"Okay then, kid. How much can you tell us about these Wonder Twins?"

My face grew thoughtful as I decided how much to say. It was very apparent to me that eventually the Earth would be attacked again by Thanos because he wanted the Infinity Stones, so we needed Vision and Wanda on our side. That meant Ultron needed to be created. Maybe I could even save Pietro, but the only way I would be able to do that is if I stayed with the Avengers. And the only way to stay with the Avengers was to be important, useful.

Deciding I had to prove my worth, I sat, crossed my legs and started talking. "Their names are Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. When they were ten years old their city was attacked." I looked around to see everyone's attention on me. Even Clint has his head craned to the side to listen in, so I took a breath and continued, paraphrasing how Pietro described their life changing incident. "A bomb exploded in their apartment building and killed their parents. Another bomb lands but doesn't go off. They were trapped for two days until they were rescued." I decided, with disdain, that Tony should know it was his technology that caused it. "It was one of yours, Tony." I looked directly at him when I spoke. "The bomb; it was a Stark."

Tony stared at the floor for a moment, and I couldn't see his face. An uneasy silence fell upon the group for no more than a few moments until Thor broke it.

"I do not understand how this has anything to do with Strucker or their enhanced abilities."

I glared at him. "Dude, I literally just told him some depressing shit. Give him a minute, please."

Steve, Bruce and Clint looked a little shocked that I would scold Thor for interrupting. Natasha tried to hide her smirk and Thor almost chuckled once he realised I wasn't actually being rude. Despite the seriousness of the conversation, it felt good being able to talk so bluntly. It seemed that I had lifted Tony's mood a bit and I took it as my cue to keep talking.

"They wanted revenge, so they volunteered for Strucker's experiments. After years of experimentation they developed abilities. Pietro has super speed, as in faster than the eye can process, and Wanda has telekinesis and she can get in your head, make you see things, like your worst fears." I tapped my temple with my free hand as I said the last few words, giving Stark a sidewards glance "They're good people, deep down, just misguided."

Steve spoke next. "Is that everything you know?"

I scooped around inside my brain for a moment before adding on a whim "He's twelve minutes older than her."

Tony let out a small laugh at my oddity.

"Do you know them personally?" Thor asked, rubbing his chin, then reiterating. "You speak as if you know them personally."

"No, I've never met them before. I didn't even know they existed until about an hour ago."

Which was kind of the truth, I guess. I thought they were fictional until I appeared in the woods.

"Then how do you know all of that stuff?" Clint asked before anyone else could.

I looked around at each of them. The Avengers. I couldn't tell them the truth, not yet. That road goes to a very weird place that I wasn't ready to deal with at the current moment.

"I just know things." I said with a slight shrug, as if trying to rid the matter of its seriousness. "I know all about you guys, too."

They looked between each other, a bit unnerved.

"It's okay," I added with a grin. "Your gosh darn dirty secrets are safe with me." Thinking a joke would relieve the tension, I raised my free hand to my cheek and leant on it with a smile. "Are you proud of me Cap, I didn't curse."

My response was a hearty chuckle from Thor and a smirk from Tony and Natasha. The rest of them smiled in amusement and that helped me relax.

Steve looked to the ground awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck, mumbling something along the lines of, "Even the new girl knows about it."

I didn't think it was meant to be overheard, but I replied anyway with an overly innocent look on my face. "I told you, Steve, I just know things."

I knew they all had questions about me, but none of them asked. Perhaps because they knew they would only get another vague answer. But I was grateful for that.

I felt like I fit among them, even if I wasn't sure they felt the same. The feeling was indescribable, yet the best I could pin it to was that I just gelled right between the group.

"Oh, by the way." All the heads snapped back up to me. "I never asked, which was really rude of me, but is it okay if I call you all by your first names?" I looked down nervously and played with the hem of a blanket. "It's just who I know you all as."

A chorus of "yes" and "that's fine" from the group and a "sure thing, kiddo" from Tony was my reply.

Score.

Eventually, after an awkward silence, they all went back to what they wanted to do. Tony and Cap went to the front of the jet, Thor and Natasha went over to chat with Clint, and Bruce placed his headphones back over his ears.

After about half an hour, Bruce, who was giving me odd looks every now and then, removed his headphones and walked over. He sat down on the bench by the stretcher and spoke to me for the first time.

"I'm Bruce Banner." He said as if he was introducing himself. "But you already knew that."

"Yeah, name's Riley, but I already told you that." I said with a grin in response.

"So, what are you? An enhanced?" He looked at me thoughtfully.

"No." I said with an amused smile. "I'm just your average Joe, run-of-the-mill human being."

"No you're not." He said bluntly. It wasn't unkind, but I looked up at him in surprise before sighing.

"You remember."

I knew he was talking about how I disappeared in front of him while he was the Hulk. I hoped he wouldn't remember so I would have time to figure out how I did it and what to do about it before I told anyone else.

I guess that plan's down the shitter, I thought almost bitterly to myself.

"Look, Bruce, I don't know what to say. I don't remember how I ended up in Europe, when last night I went to bed in Australia." I left out the part about the reality jump. "I don't know how I turned invisible. It wasn't on purpose, and I didn't even know it was happening until I stood centimetres from you and Natasha and neither of you could see me."

I breathed in, then winced out "Please don't tell anyone yet. I'll tell them eventually but I need to figure some stuff out first."

He looked torn. He thought of me as the victim of something I couldn't control, that I didn't understand, yet he was against going about behind his friends' backs.

"Please, Bruce." I begged, giving him my best puppy eyes.

"Fine, I won't tell." I breathed a sigh of relief. "But if you do anything to endanger any of my team…"

He didn't need to finish his sentence. I understood completely. I was so relieved I almost hugged him, but I realised it would be weird for him considering he doesn't know me.

Instead I looked him in the eyes and said with as much sincerity as I could, "Thank you."

He chuckled. "You're welcome."

We both looked forward, sitting in comfortable silence.

"Now that that's cleared up," I said, shaking my hand and rattling the chains against the stretcher frame. "Is there any way I can get out of these bloody cuffs?"

AN:

Thanks for reading the first chapter! I hope it wasn't too boring.

I plan on getting Riley to have one on ones with each character (including Ultron, Wanda, Pietro, Vision and Fury) as the story goes on.

As for her 'abilities', well, that's a secret *evil face*

Reviewww :)