Hello all. This is my first Avengers fanfic, and I kind of wreaked havoc on the canon. Bear with me. It's worth it.

K.S.

"And now," Fury said, "I'd like you to meet someone very special."

The Avengers were gathered in one of the many hallways of SHEILD's ship, standing outside a laboratory with a iris scanner sealing it shut. They had just finished a long tour of some highly classified areas, and Hawkeye had to wonder what was left that was supposed to impress them.

Fury continued, "This woman is undoubtedly our very best scientist. At the age of twelve, she had completed high school. By the time she was fourteen, she had a PHD in physics. When she was sixteen, she had Master's Degrees in six fields of highly advanced and specific technology. At eighteen, she designed and created the ship we are standing on. She is now twenty-two, and responsible for the vast majority of the technology we rely on. Gentlemen, Agent Romanoff; as our specialist refuses to be adressed by any of her well-earned titles – may I present, Miss Riven Lange."

He stepped up to the door and the scanner read his one remaining eye. The doors hissed open, revealing a state of the art laboratory, populated by a single young woman with spiky black hair, dressed in a white lab coat. She was in the middle of a conference call, manipulating several touchscreens at once.

"No, no," she said, "How many times do I have to tell you, that just won't work." She reached across her body with her left hand, tapping a screen on her right side. "This," she reached back to the left with her right hand, selecting a molecular sequence. "And this," she pulled both hands toward each other, slinging the data onto a central screen. "Have to fit together like this."

She tapped the central screen, grabbing and rearranging several molecules. "There. Really, Lawrence, do you remember anything I tell you?"

The man on conference call had on spectacles and a harrassed expression. "Yes, Miss Lange," he replied patiently. "I am sorry, Miss Lange. I see you have visitors."

Riven waved a hand behind her back, acknowledging her company. "Yes, Avengers, be right with you. Now," she adressed the screen once more. "You try to wrap your head around what we did today, and I'll call you tommorrow."

"Yes, Miss Lange," Lawrence replied, and closed his communications window.

"Don't call me that," Riven muttered, and smacked the countertop with her open hand. She closed her eyes, sighed, straigtened up, opened her eyes, and turned to face the group assembled behind her.

"Right. Avengers. Fury. Morning. How are you all?"

There was a momentary pause, and then Captain America, ever the gentleman, replied, "Fine, ma'am, and you?"

She sighed a little, and ran her fingers through her spiky black hair. "Stressed. And call me Riven, anything else makes me feel old."

Fury cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Miss Lange, I thought perhaps you might show our Avengers your communicators?"

Riven's eyes widened, showing brilliant grey irises. "Oh, uh, yeah. Those are ready to outfit. Um… over here, everybody."

She ushered the group across the lab, to a side table set out with eight tiny black specks of technology. "So, um, these fit behind your ears, they are waterproof, fireproof, shockproof, and," Riven glanced up at Dr. Banner, "As far as I can tell, Hulk-change-proof."

He gave her a small smile.

Tony Stark scooped up one of the tiny communicators and squinted at it. "How do you power these?"

Riven smiled. "Baccardium. I'm sure you're familiar with its properties."

Stark glanced at her. "You do know my suit uses Ramidium for a lubricant?"

She shrugged. "Of course. But I've triple-checked the data, and there should be no problems as long as you don't actually drop your communicator into a bunch of Ramidium."

Seeing the confusion on the faces of the other Avengers, with the exception of Dr. Banner, Riven added, "Baccardium and Ramidium make one of the most volatile explosives in the world."

Captain America raised his eyebrows. Riven hastily continued, "The communicators use clamps the size of atoms to grip skin cells, so you won't be able to feel them, but they won't come off unless I use the override code."

Hawkeye picked up one of the miraculous black specks. "How does it read what we're saying?" he asked, and Riven lit up, grey eyes sparkling.

"Vibrations in the bone structure of your skull are translated, and transmitted," she replied. "It's practically perfect. Try it."

Hawkeye glanced at her for a long moment, then placed the communicator behind his ear, where it stuck easily. "Is it on?" he asked, and Riven nodded, eyes shining.

Hawkeye looked at Stark, who shrugged, and stuck his own communicator into place. Hawkeye said quietly, "Testing."

Stark's eyes went wide, and then he whistled. "These are nice," he said, and Riven smiled.

"I'm glad you like them," she replied. One by one, the other Avengers, and Fury, picked up their communicators and placed them behind their ears. Riven scooped up the last one and placed it behind her own ear.

"So," she said, and they all heard her as clearly as if she was speaking directly into their ears, "These are for instant communication. They don't wear out, and if you should lose one, although I can't imagine how, I can track it's signal from here. They double as locators, but are pretty much undetectable without my passcodes. The channels are adjustable, so just say the name of the person you want to talk to for a private line, or the command all for the general channel. Oh, and, to avoid conversational mistakes, you have to start with the keyword command."

Fury nodded. "Very impressive, Miss Lange. I think we'll leave you to your work now."

Riven pursed her lips. "Don't call me that. And, uh, yes, thank you all for coming."

The Avengers thanked her and filed out, leaving Riven standing alone her lab once more. She sighed a little as the doors hissed shut, and her shoulders crumpled. "Command, off," she muttered, and then added, "God, I hate doing that. They must have thought I was ridiculous."

Riven jerked upright as her communicator chimed a sound that only she could hear. Natasha Romanoff's voice echoed in her head as the Black Widow said, "Well done, Riven."

She smiled, and replied, "Thanks, Nat. Do you think they liked me?"

Natasha laughed. "How could anyone not like you? You were charming, as always. But Fury needs to update his paranoia – he didn't even know we knew each other."

Riven's smile turned sad, and she said, "Well, thanks for the check-in. You should probably get back to the tour."

Natasha groaned. "God, what haven't we seen? Talk to you later, then." And Riven's communicator chimed a sign-off.

The spiky haired young woman ran her hands through her black locks, making them even more alarming. "All right, Riv," she muttered, "Back to work. We've got a lot to do before dawn."

What do you think? Don't worry, there's more. Now, review. Always review! K.S.