a promise.

[manwithaplan]

The Avengers Initiative was founded on the idea that a group of extraordinary people could unite to combat the foes that no individual could face alone. There was a need for them, when they first came together that day in New York. And there is a need for them now, here in Darrow. Perhaps not immediately, not today, but eventually that time will come. The events that took place here a couple of weeks ago impressed that need upon Steve.

He doesn't know what will happen next. But he's lived in Darrow for long enough to know that there will be something. There always is. The best that they can do is be prepared. And for that to happen, they need to get organized. He doesn't call them together right away, however. He figures they could all use time to themselves. He needs it, certainly, to get his bearings back after losing his abilities. He imagines that Banner will need time to readjust as well. And although neither would ever admit to it, he suspects that Stark and Romanoff could use the extra time to settle in.

After enough time has passed, he reaches out. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, reads the text message, because he couldn't resist. Below the call to action are instructions to meet at his place.

Eventually, there are three Avengers trying to make themselves comfortable in his living room. He jumps right in, no point in keeping them waiting. "I called you all here today because it's become clear to me that there is a need here in Darrow for the Avengers. By now we've all seen for ourselves the sorts of strange things that occur in this city. I want us to come together, to get organized, and to be prepared the next time that something happens."

Comments

[matterofcircumstance]

The response Natasha sends to Steve's text is brief: aye aye, cap'n ;).

Truthfully, she can't say she's surprised at all. It just makes sense. From what she's figured out so far, what happened a couple weeks ago may have been the first incident of its specific kind, but there have been plenty of others. What's more, there are other superhero types around the city making themselves known, and she neither knows nor trusts them. Even if they are good guys, as it were, where those exist, foes to combat tend to follow. Maybe, back home, she'd intended to drop off the grid for a while, escape the media frenzy and figure out a new cover after exposing her old ones, but she's never been one to sit idly by and let things happen, no matter what team she's playing for. Here, that's no exception.

It leaves her, a little while later, in Steve's apartment with the other three Avengers, occupying his living room like it's her own. She sits angled on his couch, leaning back against its armrest, one leg drawn up underneath her; it gives her a good position to watch the others, too, as she takes in what Steve says. Doing so, she holds back a smile. Of course he'd be the one to get them all organized. She'd have been surprised if it were anyone else.

"You know we have no government support here, and I mean both financial or otherwise," she points out, brow arching. It's hardly a sticking point for her, but someone has to state the obvious. She does, then, start to smile, a slight lift of one corner of her mouth. "Ready to take another turn at vigilantism, Rogers?"

The question is a needless one; she knows what its answer will be. After everything that happened before they got here, the events they've lived through that Stark and Banner haven't, and how he handled it, it speaks pretty well for itself. She has to ask, though. Not just for him, but so they all know what they're getting into.

[thesacrificeplay]

Rogers' apartment is the same brand of tiny and generic that all of the apartments seem to be, except that his somehow manages to look like it hit the expiration date a couple decades ago. There's a shocker. All the same, it's interesting to look around, or revealing, at least. There's not quite as many retro looking chachkies to fiddle with as I was hoping for, but it already sounds like this talk alone is going to give me plenty of ammo.

This is all starting on a slightly off note for me, anyway. Assemble? Really? We sound like Voltron.

All the same, everyone in this room has proven themselves to be more than capable, despite my best efforts to forget this fact, so I keep my mouth shut about the questionable choice of words and the creepily cheerful emoticons. Steve Rogers, Bruce, Romanoff, Pepper... I'd take all of them over fire bees, but since I can't do anything, apparently, about the city and its weird powers, when life gives you lemons, smash the shit out of them and sell them, I guess.

I grab the first book I see off of the coffee table before I sit myself down on the opposite end of the couch, next to but, uh, far away from Romanoff.

"Vigilantism," I mutter, flipping through the book idly, "is that what we're doing now?"

[the_other_guy]

"It's what we were doing in New York." Bruce pointed out from his place, idly pacing behind the couch as his hands wrung together restlessly. Truth be told, his control was markedly improved after the power swapping incident, a thing he chalked up to a reduction in general anxiety. His brief respite had allowed him to engage with others on a level he hadn't experienced in years.

Human contact did wonders for the mind...

"No offense, it turned out well," Bruce continued, glancing at Steve, then Natasha, and finally Tony, "but you guys and Clint went off the reservation that first time. The government may have thought up the Avengers, but nothing the Avengers did was an on-books operation until after the fact."

He paused, wondering if he ought to be wrestling with himself more. After all, any sort of permanent need for the Other Guy was flirting with disaster. Control was control, but it was nothing that could be relied on. That would come when he had the means to not only summon the Hulk, but to put him down again, or find a surefire way that the others could knock him out if needed.

...or maybe, if the reports of his last incident were any indication, he just needed to...let the Other Guy get to know the team.

Bringing himself back to the moment, he surveyed the group with a small, tight smile.

"Relax, that's not a 'no.'" he assured them all. "Just making an observation...and, of course, being on the wrong side of a government run operation, I don't necessarily condemn a little vigilante behavior. I mean...we did pretty well on our own back in New York."