Hello, people! My name is Lexi Blaze, and I'm here to entertain you with my new brainchild. I went out and saw The Avengers twice last week, and quite frankly, I fell in love with it. After hours of sitting in science class and not being able to fall asleep at night . . . this story was born.

I'm not so sure if this chapter will make sense, but don't worry – it's just the prologue :P As you know the summary is this: Back on the helicarrier, the weapons weren't the only thing Nick Fury was hiding. There was also a girl - a teenager. Not a normal one, though. Samantha was forced to become part of the Avengers, but her impact on the team was so much greater than anyone could have imagined. She ended up changing the heroes' lives - whether they wanted it or not. TONYxOC friendship and STEVExOC.

Just a warning, the STEVExOC stuff won't come in for a while. I want to make this story as realistic as possible (besides the fact everyone's running around in tights with superpowers while fighting aliens). What I mean is that I'm going to do some heavy character development stuff, and not only with my OC. And people aren't going to fall in love overnight xD

This story will take place during the movie timeline, and it'll start a little less than halfway through. Anyway, thanks so much for reading! Please leave a review if you do read – I'd love to know if anyone is going to read this story :) Tell me how I'm doing, what you think of this prologue, and if my writing is okay. Anonymous reviews are accepted, but please guys, no flames.

Readers, assemble!

Tony Stark's POV

"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show."

Those would be the words of Charles Dickens, in David Copperfield. I've never liked Charles Dickens, and I've never understood his stories. But now, all of a sudden, that one quote seems so . . . personal.

Let me introduce myself. I'm Tony Stark: a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist . . . and a superhero. Yes, I'm Iron Man, the greatest hero to ever roam this earth. Seriously, not even that prick Captain America is better than me. But that's another story (okay, not really – it's this story. I'll get there).

Anyway, since I'm the best Avenger, I've gotten the job of - oh, you don't know what an "Avenger" is? Have you been living under a rock for the past year? The Avengers is a group of superheroes - a group that I'm part of. You know, Earth's Mightiest Heroes. All that stuff. There aren't many of us, but we all have our own individual skills. Except dear Captain America, of course. He's useless.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Since I'm the best of the best, I've been given the job of writing everything down. What is everything, you say? Well, "everything" is pretty much all that's happened since the Avengers first joined, up until now. All the fights and all the shawarma; all the planning and training and biting and yelling and shampoo fights (don't ask).

I don't remember who suggested that we write this stuff down, and quite frankly, I don't care. I've simply been handed a brown leather journal along with an ugly pink pen, and I've been told to write. I think it's a stupid idea. What's going to happen, some random teenage girl is going to find this journal and post it on a fanfiction website? Please. If anything, I think I've been told to write this down so we don't forget what we've been through, and how we've felt.

Okay, so, I lied. I'm not supposed to write everything down. We're all going to switch parts - I'll write some of this story, bloody Captain America will write some more, Thor will probably hit me with his stupid Wal-Mart hammer if we try to get him to write something, etcetera. I don't think there are many Avengers who want to record our story, so the burden has fallen on my shoulders. For now. Before I threaten someone else to do it – my hand's already cramping up. Like, seriously – couldn't we have typed this thing on a computer?

It's hard to say where our story starts. I could start from the beginning - way back when I first became Iron Man. I could also start from when Agent Coulson first called me in to join the "Avengers".

But instead, I'm going to start halfway through. You wanna know why? Well I'm not going to tell you. Suck that.

Okay, okay, never mind. I like to speak out loud while I write (it's my only flaw), and the Captain's yelling at me. "Tell the whole truth," he's saying in that annoying high-pitched voice of his, "even if we don't like it and you don't want to write it."

Fine, you want me to tell the truth? I think the Captain is a useless piece of glamorized crap who needs to drop the "I'm perfect" act, and who needs to slim down. Seriously, buddy, the "strength of a hundred soldiers" thing makes you look fat.

Okay, okay, ow! That hurt! You didn't have to hit me do damn hard, I'm sorry, all right?

(Actually, I'm not sorry, but the Captain is so gullible and trusting he'll believe anything anyone says, even me.)

OKAY OW I'M SORRY, I guess I took it a little far that time.

Now I don't even remember where I was in this damn story. Oh, right – I was talking about the beginning. Hell, I hadn't even started the beginning. This is going to end up as the longest story ever. Maybe I should just give the journal to Agent Romanoff, she'll make the story short. I'm pretty sure it'll just read "Tony is an idiot, I kicked everyone's asses and now 'there's no more red in my ledger', the end."

Okay, Cap's giving me a look. I should probably get back to work.

I'm going to start this story at the beginning - which could also count as the middle. It's going to begin with me and Bruce Banner - you know, the big green angry monster guy, except in normal human form. It's going to begin with the two of us, standing in the lab on the helicarrier. It's going to begin with Captain bursting in on us, doing our work. It's going to begin with both me and Bruce agreeing that Fury is keeping something from us. It's going to begin with Captain storming out of the room while I hack S.H.I.E.L.D's files.

And what I ended up finding was so much more than the weapons Cap found (that's 1 for Tony, 0 for the loser in tights). It was definitely much more – because I found an actual person.

And now I'm back full circle. That quote at the beginning of this was there for a reason. Let me refresh your dimwitted memory: "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show."

I always thought I'd be the hero of my own life. I mean, come on – I'm Tony Stark, synonym for awesome. I'm the coolest Avenger and the best hero. No one is better than me.

And that still rings true . . . but that person I found on the helicarrier is the real hero in my life.

No, they didn't save me or something when I was about to die. They didn't save the world all by themselves, either. But they saved the Avengers.

Now I'm getting confusing. I'm even confusing myself, and that's a hard thing to do - I'm just too damn smart.

This mysterious person that I speak of didn't technically "save" the Avengers. They didn't save Iron Man, and Cap, and Thor and Hulk and the two assassins. They saved the people we are - Tony Stark and Steve Rogers (such a boring name) and the other losers who I'm too lazy to mention.

I can confidently say I would not be the man I am today if not for the mysterious person on the helicarrier. I mean, sure, I'd be a cool guy . . . but I wouldn't really have soul, you know?

Okay no, you don't. This entire introduction probably didn't even make sense. Maybe I should just start the damn story - and then you'll understand what I mean when I say this person "saved us." And you want to know who they saved us from?

Ourselves.

Tell me what you think, guys! The more reviews, the faster I'll update :3 Nah, who am I kidding – I'm too excited for this story to leave you guys hanging for long. Please leave a review though, and tell me what you think! Remember, this is just the prologue :P

Readers, assemble!

- Lexi Blaze