Steve

The alarm went off at five o'clock in the morning. I sighed and sat on the bed. It was still dark. I looked out the window and saw that agent, Victoria, asleep on her bed through the blinds of my window. Turns out, our apartments are mirrors of each other's. Slowly, she began to move in her bed until she sat up.

I stood up and got dressed with khaki pants, my boots, a white tank top and over it a blue squared button up shirt. I stuffed my gym bag with everything I might need, brushed my teeth, and grabbed my sunglasses just to place them in the pocket of my jacket before heading out of the apartment.

I locked the door and got out of the building. I looked through the opposite window's apartment and saw movement, Victoria was up and walking around her place. I looked at my watch, 5:15. I walked down the street towards this...Starbucks place that's open 24 hours and is located four blocks away from the buildings.

  After I had walked in and greeted everyone, I ordered what I always get: cappuccino with whole milk, double shot of espresso and sweetened with vanilla. I bought two of those, asking the cashier to keep the change and walked back towards the entrance of my building. I'm not a big fan of this establishment's coffee, the café I frequent in Brooklyn is much better, tastes homemade, but they don't open until 8:30 in the morning.

I sighed and looked at the watch on my wrist again. 5:30. All I had to do now was wait, so I walked to the opposite side of the street and reclined myself on the black AUDI car Victoria was driving last night and waited for her, tossing my bag to the ground. The whole time I wondered how to strike a conversation with her, what could we possibly talk about. I also wondered why did I get her a coffee like mine. What if she doesn't like it? Idiot. You should've asked first, at least.

At six o'clock, I watched her walk out of the lift inside of the building. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans, black knee high combat boots, a white button up shirt and the same black leather jacket she was wearing yesterday. Her dark damp hair fell down to her collarbones, her sunglasses on; she was playing with her keys in one hand, spinning the keychain around her index finger. Her lips, adorned with dark red lipstick, curved up in a smile as she looked my way, sending a wave of nerves all over my chest, which caused me to stand up straight.

"You're on time." She said, using a tone of surprise. I shrugged, her vanilla scent hitting me with a soft breeze the second she stood in front of me.

"Thought I had to make a good first impression." I said and she chuckled. Again, the nerves fluttered in my chest. The first and last interaction I had with a woman was Peggy, and here I was, standing with someone who looked extremely alike to her, not really knowing how to have a conversation with this woman. With any woman, as a matter of fact. I may be good leading operations and battles, but this is not my forté. "I didn't know how you take your coffee, so I just brought what I drink." Victoria placed her sunglasses over her head with a smile. "I hope you don't mind." And I hope you don't think is a douche move.

"You didn't have to get me coffee, Captain."

"I know, agent. But I assumed this could be a good peace offering for how we...left things off last time we met." She chuckled and took the cup when I offered it.

"Thank you." She took a sip of the beverage, I mirrored her movement as she looked at me with disbelief.

"What?"

"That's two shots of espresso and vanilla?" I nodded. "Exactly how I take it." I scoffed to hide my relief and surprise.

"Funny." She nodded.

"Funny, indeed. Now, we must get going. The people we're meeting don't like it when I don't show up in time, which is slightly often. I'm sure you understand that." I chuckled and she unlocked the car.

"Unfortunately, I do." I moved quickly to open the door for her, which caused her to look at me with shock, her eyebrows furrowing together like last night.

"Thank you." Victoria said, softly, as she got in the car. I nodded formally as I smiled at her and, thankfully, she smiled back at me as I closed the door. I breathed in and out before picking up my bag from the pavement and walking to the opposite side of the car.

"You're welcome." I said once I had gotten in the car and was sitting on the passenger seat while she sat as the driver. I placed my gym bag behind her seat as she clipped her seatbelt on, her perfume making itself more noticeable and intoxicating, in the good way, due to the proximity. I felt myself blushing. Why the hell are you blushing? I asked myself as I sat properly.

"What?"

"Hm?"

"Did you say something?" I felt my cheeks turning red. Shit.

"Uh, no. No, I didn't." She shrugged.

"Thought I heard you say something." She took a sip of her coffee, leaving a lipstick stain on the top of the cup, and smiled at me. I chuckled, nervously.

"Oh, no." I drank from my coffee and clipped my seatbelt on as she started the car and began to drive down the streets of Manhattan.

Soon enough, we reached a tall building. I recognised the street because I had ran through it when I tried to escape them, escape her, a year ago. She got the car in the parking lot and we got off the vehicle once she had parked.

As we got in the building, I noticed many people had their eyes on me, it was unsettling. They were watching someone everyone thought to be dead walk around their place as if not a day had gone by for him, which was true and terrifying. I tightened my grip around the leathered straps of my bag as we neared the elevator.

"I know what it feels like." I looked at the brunette lady beside me.

"Ma'am?" Her eyes met mine through the tinted sunglasses she had over the bridge of her nose before she slid them up to set them on her head.

"All the eyes on you." I sighed and nodded as we waited, my eyes going back to the metallic doors. "I know it's hard, but...try to ignore them. Truth is, they look at you with shock and admiration. Mostly admiration. And respect. After all, you're their most honoured hero." I looked back at her and smiled.

"Well, that- that depends on the...definition of- the definition that you-" Her hand fell upon my arm, gently.

"Steve," she called my name, sweetly. There was a time in which my name would hit my ears as such an awful sound because it was used here and there when I was parading a suit with blue tights. It was meaningless at a point in my life, but now that I've heard it from Victoria's mouth, the awful feeling evaporated, fading away into a delighting tune. "you are a hero. I don't need a definition." I smiled at her, shyly.

"That's nice of you to say that, I appreciate it." She nodded, pulling her hand away, leaving the phantom of her heart over the leather of my jacket, and the gates of the elevator dinged open. It felt nice to be seen by someone. Understood by someone. Even if she's a stranger. I noticed myself smiling again as we stepped inside and she clicked the button that would take us to the rooftop. "If you don't mind me asking," she nodded. "why would they look at you?" I wondered as the gates began to close.

"Well, let's just say I was found by S.H.I.E.L.D. the hard way. Building up trust around trained spies isn't easy when you've been where I had been." She shrugged, clearly not invested in talking much about it anymore. I nodded and didn't ask any follow-up questions. That's when a hand with a black glove stopped the gates and pushed them open.

"Don't let her tough words fool you, Captain." Said a man with black hair and a beard as he walked in, grinning as if we had been friends for years. He had brown eyes, tanned skin, and was almost as tall as me, perhaps a few inches shorter. He was wearing a black tactical suit that read S.T.R.I.K.E. on his shoulder. "People tend to look at her because she's one of the most good looking agents in the building." He added, winking at Victoria as he chewed some gum. I frowned, annoyed, same as her. The doors closed.

"Rumlow." She greeted with a sigh. "Can't say I'm very pleased nor flattered with that comment." He chuckled as he clicked the fifth floor button.

"Oh, come on, Victoria. It's about time you are." He placed his arm around her shoulders, she was clearly upset but tried to keep her cool.

"Please, remove your arm." He moved even closer. "Remove it or I'll break it."

"Hey," I placed my hand on the man's shoulder and pushed him away from her, gently, making him face me. "you heard the lady." I said, calmly. The guy smiled, cynically. "She doesn't want you near her."

"With all due respect, Cap. You don't know the history the lady and I have." I shrugged.

"You're right, I don't know it. What I do know is that, if she doesn't feel like being complimented or touched by you, you should respect that instead of pushing it." He looked at me as I spoke.

"Is that how it was back in the day, Cap?" I looked back at him. 'Back in the day', I clenched my jaw as his comment stroke a nerve.

"Yes. It was. We were gentlemen." He scoffed. "And, given the tone she used to say she'd break your arm, I'd be careful. I've seen girls breaking guys' noses because they tried to have it their way with a clean punch to the face. I don't doubt she could do it." The doors opened on the fifth floor with a ding.

"Yeah." He nodded as he sighed. "Neither do I. I've heard she's capable of much worse, so...I'd be careful, too." He added before walking out. "Nice to meet you, Captain." His hand stopped the door again as his eyes traveled to Victoria beside me. "I'll see you around." He let go of the door.

"Ugh." Victoria clicked the button that would close the doors and soon, that man was gone from our sight.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Brock Rumlow, head of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team. And an asshole." I shot my eyebrows up at the tough introduction Victoria provided me. I nodded my head, though.

"He mentioned you had history." Victoria just looked at me. "So you two...do you..." Victoria looked at me with questioning eyes. "fondue?" She tilted her head to the side as a small and amused smile formed on her lips again, making me feel nervous again. Butterflies fluttered in my chest. After the sentence left my mouth, I scolded myself. Why would you ask that? Again.

"Fondue?"

"Yeah, fondue." She giggled.

"I mean, we did have cheese fondue when I went out with him."

"Cheese?"

"Yeah. You know...fondue." I frowned as she made a motion with her hand, as if she was twisting a fork into something and bringing it to her mouth.

"Fondue is something you eat?"

"What exactly did you think fondue was?" I shrugged as I sighed.

"Something not...made out of cheese?" She giggled, it was such a beautiful, melodic sound. I smiled. "So, you went out with him?" I asked after a short pause.

"I did. Once. Worst date of my life. The guy could not stop yapping and bragging about himself and his team. I swear he's worse than Narcissus himself. Never let me talk, explained the world to me as if I didn't know how to use a goddamn spoon, and he split the bill before calling a taxi that would take me home instead of driving me there."

"Oh, he's a jerk." She chuckled.

"He is. And he's still hitting on me, as if I liked all of that shitty treatment. Takes all my strength not to break his nose, which is tough because I go on plenty of missions with him and his team when I'm not deployed with my own team."

"I think you should do it, though. Would set him in his place." She laughed.

"Next time, I will." I looked at her side profile and smiled. A short silence fell between us.

"Um, if you don't mind me saying..." She looked at me and I felt my tongue dry, suddenly too big for my mouth. "I mean, I know you don't want to be complimented at the moment, or in general, but I have to say that...you're a beautiful dang." Her eyebrows shoot up. Why would you say 'dang'? This is the twenty first century, for God's sake. No one says 'dang' anymore, idiot. My own voice said in my head. I shook my head and sighed. "A woman, J mean. An agent." Idiot. Dumb idiot. I sighed as I looked at the elevator gates before us, suddenly too nervous to meet her gaze. "You are beautiful." I looked back at Victoria and found her still smiling, not only with her lips but with her eyes, which calmed my nerves.

"I'm guessing you haven't had much practise talking with women since 1943." I laughed.

"That obvious, huh?" The brunette shrugged.

"Only a little." We looked at each other.

"This is probably the second time I've held a long conversation with a woman, so..." She scoffed.

"Well, thank you, Captain. I do appreciate your compliment." I smiled and nodded at her as the lift stopped. Victoria held her wrist at the motion of the lift. "Please tell me you're not scared of flying." I chuckled.

"I don't think I am." I answered. "I mean, I haven't set foot on a plane or a jet of any kind since...well, you know. So, I don't really know if I have some buried trauma of any sort." She scoffed.

"Hopefully you don't." The doors of the lift opened. I narrowed my eyes due to the sunlight while she placed her sunglasses back on as we stepped out. I took my glasses out of my pocket and placed them over the bridge of my nose.
    On that heliport was a jet waiting for us, a man wearing a black suit and sunglasses standing by its entrance. "See? I'm not late. 6:40 sharp." I chuckled and took a sip of my almost finished coffee as Victoria pointed at her watch.

"Finally happened." The man mocked her.

"Captain, this is agent Philip Coulson. One of the heads of our squadron, Director Fury's most trusted agent, and your biggest fan in the world." Victoria introduced us. At the mention of him being my biggest fan, both Coulson and I smiled at each other, he shrugged and I chuckled as I held in one hand the bag and the cup of coffee to shake the man's hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Captain. I'm glad to have you with us." He said.

"Pleasure's all mine, agent Coulson." I commented.

"Shall we? They're waiting for us at base." We nodded and followed Victoria into the jet. I left my bag on the floor and sat on one of the seats by the left row, Victoria sat right beside me, while Coulson sat on a chair near the cockpit in order to communicate with the pilots easily. "We're ready for take off." The ramp and entrance of the jet closed and we buckled up. It's safe to say I felt my heartbeat picking up, as well as my breath. It did make me anxious being in a plane again, but I wasn't sure if I should voice it.

"Here." Victoria told me as she placed her glasses over her head again, offering a tablet for me to take. "I'm sure you did read the files I gave you last night, but this is for you to go through any information you might've missed or want to read again." I took a tablet from her hands. However, she placed her arm close to mine as for them to be brushing against each other, calming me down, as if she had read my mind. Her touch suddenly calming me down.

"The files of the team you're assembling, right?" She nodded. "There were three files easy to get through. Agents Romanoff and Barton's, and yours, most of the information was classified." She chuckled.

"Well, all you need to know is on that paper. Once you get clearance, more information will be released." I nodded. "We should arrive in about an hour."

"Alright, thank you." I spent my time re-reading all the files, even my own, to catch up with everything that was going on. The file that I found most interesting was Doctor Bruce Banner's. To understand the duality of a person was something, but to understand the duality between a human and what seemed to be some sort of mutation was an entirely different thing.

"We're about forty minutes out from home base, sir." One of the pilots informed agent Coulson. I looked at Victoria from the corner of my eye and she was shooting texts to somebody as Coulson stood up and turned to face us.

"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on me?" I asked, gaining the attention of both of them.

"A lot of people were." Coulson answered. "You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."

"Didn't really go his way, did it?" I asked as I watched a video of him turning into a huge green...something.

"Not much." Victoria answered with a sigh. "The secret to that formula is hidden in your blood, and with you under water and the last samples of your blood lost, there was no way to replicate it." She added.

"When he's not that thing, though, the guy's like a Stephen Hawking." I looked up at Coulson with an arched eyebrow. "He's like a really smart person." He added when he understood I was asking who the hell was Stephen Hawking. Victoria released a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. I nodded and returned my eyes to the video. "I gotta say, it's an honour to meet you officially." I smiled at him and at the agent sitting beside me, she smiled back at me. "I've sort of met you. I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping."

"Jesus fucking Christ." Victoria whispered beside me and I suppressed a laugh.

"We both did, actually." He pointed at Victoria and himself. "For over- I mean, we were present while you were unconscious from the ice." I sighed and stood up. "You know, it's really just a huge honour to have you on board of this..."

"Alright. That's it." Said Victoria, standing up as well, placing herself in between us. I noticed she's quite short, Coulson and I are a head taller than her, and I'm still taller than both of them.

"What?"

"You're fan-girling, and you're overwhelming the guy. I told you I'd kick you out of my operation if you did it." I turned to the left and looked at the landscape from behind the pilots.

"This is no longer your operation. I mean, that operation."

"Fury left me in charge, alongside you, but Rogers has always been my mission." I frowned. "Chill, Phil. We know you're a fan, just...calm down." Coulson sighed but the three of us remained standing. I chuckled.

"I just hope I'm the man for the job." I spoke, calling their attention and sort of redirecting the subject.

"Oh, you are. Absolutely." Coulson assured. "Uh...we made some modifications to the uniform, by the way. I had a little design input."

"The uniform?" I asked. "Aren't the stars and stripes a little...old-fashioned?"

"With everything that's happening, and the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned." Coulson got a phone call. "Excuse me." He moved to the bottom part of the ship, sat down and answered.

"Throughout all those months you were asleep we were in charge of surveillance. Make sure you were okay while you slept out of the ice." Victoria told me, clarifying what Coulson had said just a moment ago. "We had this log to keep of you, but there wasn't much to log and inform, so we used the journal for other things like playing games or gossiping, but we spent most of our time sketching an ideal suit for Captain America. Phil's not very good at drawing, but I am, so he wrote down ideas for the suit and I sketched them out." I chuckled. "They're rusty, but at the end he liked one and the organisation liked it too."

"And you?" Her deep brown eyes met my sight as she shrugged with a smile.

"It's a bit too old-fashioned for my taste," I chuckled. "but it's alright. I drew some other options I can show you after all this is over." I nodded with a smile. "Sorry about him, by the way." I shrugged and shook my head, taking importance off it. "He really is your biggest fan in the world." I chuckled.

"Glad to know someone actually likes me that much." She chuckled, too.

"Believe me, a lot of people do."

"Do you?" She smiled.

"I do." I smiled back at her and nodded.

"We're closing in at base, agent." The pilot informed as I spotted a structure on the water.

"Alright. Prepare for landing." She said and we sat down to buckle up. Coulson finished his call and sat across from us, clipping his seatbelt on as well.

Ten minutes later, we landed smoothly, got up and prepared to get off the jet. When we started to walk down the metallic ramp, Victoria put on her sunglasses as two members of the staff wearing yellow jackets approached us, greeted us and entered the jet.

  I looked to the left and spotted a red haired woman with green eyes wearing black jeans and boots, a red t-shirt and black leather jacket approaching us. She greeted Victoria with a hug. The woman was Natasha Romanoff, one of the faces and names in the files I had to study, she was as tall as Victoria and she was smiling at us.

"Agent Romanoff, this is Captain Rogers." The brown haired woman introduced us. 

"Ma'am." I greeted and we shook hands.

"Hi." She said after she had eyed me for a second and let go of my hand, then, she looked at Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace." She informed him.

"See you there." He told us and walked away and into the ship. That's when agent Romanoff turned to me and folded her arms over her chest.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice." She commented as we walked around.

"You know about that?" Victoria asked her. "Thought you were busy with other mission."

"I was, but news travel fast." Victoria chuckled and nodded. "I thought Coulson was gonna swoon."

"He did." Romanoff scoffed while I chuckled.

"Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" I smiled, tilting my head.

"Trading cards?" I asked.

"They're vintage. He's very proud." I looked at Victoria and she nodded, taking the last sip of her coffee. I looked back to the front and spotted a man in a grey suit looking around, not really knowing what was going on, like the rest of us.

"Doctor Banner?" I called, his eyes turning to me. I offered a hand that he approached to shake.

"Oh, yeah. Hi." He greeted me. "They told me you would be coming." His eyes moved to my right.

"Hey, Doc." Victoria greeted before her phone beeped and she turned away to answer the call. Banner nodded his head at Victoria and then at Romanoff.

"Word is, you can find the Cube." I told Banner.

"Is that the only word on me?"

"Only word I care about." He half smiled at me.

"It must be strange for you, all of this."

"Well, this is actually kind of similar."

"Got it." I heard Victoria behind me. I turned around and she kept her phone in her pocket. "Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute." She told us as she walked back to us. "It's gonna...get a little hard to breathe." I frowned as we heard the crew rushing from one side to another, then the way a machine started to whirr.

"Is this a submarine?" I asked.

"Really?" Said Banner. "They want me in a submerged, pressurised, metal container?" Both women looked at each other as Banner and I walked to the edge of the bay we were standing at. Right before us was what seemed to be a propeller getting out of the water. The turbines started to power up and we started to move up. This thing wasn't going down, it was going up. "No, no, this is much worse." Banner said. I looked behind me and spotted agent Romanoff on her own, Victoria was gone, and the people that were staying on the bay had oxygen masks on.

"We should get inside." Romanoff nodded at my words and guided us into the ship.

I stood in the bridge of the Helicarrier completely amazed. There were plenty of agents, all of them wearing navy blue or black with white suits, the uniform of this organisation. Some of them were sitting down on their respective stations taking care of their assignments while other made sure everything was working properly. It was incredible, I walked around in awe of what I was seeing, specially because I knew what it once was and how it looked back in the day.

"Preparing for maximum performance takeoff. Increase output to capacity." Said someone from the deck below me.

"Power plan performing at capacity. We are clear."

"All engines are operating. S.H.I.E.L.D. Emergency protocol 193.6 in effect. We're at level, sir." A woman with short black hair told Director Fury, who had just walked in and stood in the middle of the bridge. I recognised him from last year, he was the one to tell me I had been asleep this whole time.

"Good." He said. "Let's vanish."

"Engage retro-reflection panels." We gathered by a conference table that's right behind the Director's station. He turned around and walked up to us.

"Gentlemen." He greeted once he had seen us, then frowned. "Romanoff, and...where did she- ah, agent Carter." My heart skipped a beat as I turned around, hoping to find Peggy for some reason, but my eyes fixed on Victoria quickly. She was wearing a tactical suit which was dark —almost black— navy blue, on the right shoulder rested the Eagle of S.H.I.E.L.D., 'CARTER' printed on her sleeve. She had a special holster clipped over her chest that kept what seemed to be batons on her back, and her utility belt around her hips, two holsters clipped around her thighs where two guns rested, she was finishing clipping a set of bracelets around her wrists in her gloves. Her hair was dry and was tied into a small braided bun.

"Sorry, had to get in uniform, sir." I pulled out my wallet as I approached Victoria, and took from it ten bucks, then gave the money to her. She chuckled as she took it and kept it in a pocket of her utility belt. "Told you."

"I guess I owe you another coffee." I said to her.

"Are you asking me out, Captain?" She asked with that flirty tone of voice she used back at the gym, the kind of voice I only heard when I was around Bucky as he asked a random girl out on a date, a tone women never used to talk to me unless I was wearing the uniform. After my muscles had been boosted with that formula. I felt my throat dry and chuckled nervously as I smiled at the ground.

"Uh..." She chuckled and looked away as well when I looked at her. "I- I don't know. Maybe. Yes." Victoria's eyes landed on me again. "If you'd like to, of course."
Would you like to?"

She shrugged and smiled. "Hill, where's my station?" She asked as she patted the right side of my chest and walked away to meet with the woman that had informed Fury we were at level while I stayed by the table. I blinked as my eyes remained glued to Agent Victoria Carter.

"Doctor, thank you for coming." Fury told Banner.

"Thanks for asking nicely." Banner said to him. "So, how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind."

"Where are you with that?" Fury pointed at a station where Coulson was, we walked there at a steady pace.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops." Agent Romanoff made her way towards us, as well as Carter, their eyes pinned to the picture of Clint Barton on one of the computer screens. "If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"That's still not gonna find them in time." Said Romanoff.

"You have to narrow your field." Victoria nodded at Bruce's words. "How many spectrometers do I have access to?"

"How many are there?" Fury told him.

"Call every lab you know." He said the Doctor. "Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays." Fury looked at Coulson and he nodded as Banner took off his blazer. "I'll fought out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Romanoff, could you show Doctor Banner to his laboratory, please?" The redhead nodded.

"You're gonna love it, Doc. We've got all the toys." I took off my jacket and looked around.

"Where can I leave this?" I asked, lifting the gym bag and the jacket.

"Carter, show the Captain to his quarters, please." Fury commanded.

"This way, Captain." I followed Victoria down the halls of this ship, just a level below were the rooms for us and the crew. "Here." She slid a door that said S. Rogers on it and the small room revealed for me. "Any issue with confined spaces? We could switch you to a room with a window." I chuckled at her joke.

"No need, this is fine." The room wasn't as small, it was of a good size and comfortable for the stay in this place. It had one bed, a small closet, and a private bathroom with a small shower, sink and toilet.

"Alright." I threw the jacket and the bag on the bed and we walked out. When I had closed the door, I realised her bedroom was across from mine.

"Why didn't you tell me you're Carter?" I asked as we made our way back to the bridge.

"I didn't think it to be relevant."

"I knew someone that goes by that name."

"I know. She told me all about you."

"She's still alive?"

"Yes. Peggy resides in Washington, has a lot of love for you still." I smiled as we arrived at the bridge and we sat at the table, Victoria was working on a laptop instead of a station. Coulson arrived and stood behind us.

"Captain?" He asked and I stood to face him. "If it's not much to ask, could I have your signature? If it's not too much trouble." I heard Victoria's soft chuckle behind me and I forced myself not to smile.

"No, no. It's fine."

"We could do it later." I nodded. "It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint. Slight fixing around the edges, but-"

"We've got a hit." Said a bald man that's located to our left. "A 67% match." His computer beeped. "Wait. Cross match, 79%."

"Send it over, Sitwell." Victoria commanded and the intel was sent to her laptop. We approached her, I placed my left hand on the table beside her laptop and my right hand on the back of her chair as I leaned in to have a look at the screen, suddenly realising our proximity, the scent of her perfume invading my senses as I focused on the image of a man wearing an expensive suit on her screen, his hair slick back. "That's him."

"Location?" Asked Coulson.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain," Fury called my attention, I turned around to face him. "you're up." I sighed through my nose and nodded.

"Two levels below, first room to your right." Victoria told me as she turned off the laptop and stood up.

I got downstairs and into the room she told me to go to. Before me, the shield I wielded long, but not so long, ago and a navy blue suit with white and red straps. I got rid of my clothes and put on the soldier suit. I grabbed the shield, the weight still familiar to me. I found a small box next to the helmet of the suit, it was an earpiece. I turned it on by tapping it once and put it into my ear before placing the helmet over my head.

"Hello?"

"Captain, can you hear me?" Asked Victoria.

"Loud and clear, agent Carter." I said.

"Agent Romanoff and I are waiting for you at the bay for takeoff. We're in a Quinjet, the same transport that got you here."

"On my way." With a deep breath, I walked out of the room and made my way to the top of the Helicarrier.

In minutes, I found myself in a jet piloted by agent Romanoff, who was wearing her own tactical suit but hers was all black. She took us to Germany and we arrived by nighttime. When we got there, we spotted a lot of people kneeling down before Loki.

"Is it just me, or are there multiple Lokis in the area?" I asked as an old man stood up when the rest remained on the ground.

"I thought it was just me." Victoria confessed.

"Well, we can confirm there are four for them. The question is, which one's the real one?" Said Romanoff.

"The one speaking." I said. "It's always the one giving a speech. Open the hatch." Romanoff did as I asked and I jumped down, landing in front of the old man right on time to shield him from Loki's attack, which backfired on him.
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." I said as I stood tall before him.

"The soldier." Said the God before chuckling. "The man out of time." I frowned.

"I'm not the one who's out of time." Romanoff flew the Quinjet closer to us, staying right behind me.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." Romanoff commanded through the ship's PA but he tried to shoot them down. That's when I threw the shield at him, hitting his chest and approached him with quick steps as I caught the shield.

I punched Loki's face but he was quick on defending himself. We engaged a fight in which he punched me good with that spear he had, his right hook also strong. Loki managed to make me drop the shield, forcing me to fight with my fists only, but he brought me down quickly.

"Kneel." He demanded, placing the edge of the spear on my head.

"Not today." I added, pushing the spear away and standing up to kick his face. He grabbed me and threw me across the square. That's when a rock song started playing loudly through the speakers of the Quinjet.

I looked up to find someone in an armour flying towards us. He blasted Loki and pushed him against the stairs of the square. It was Howard's son, Tony Stark. He aimed at Loki the multiple weapons of his armour as I grabbed the shield and approached them.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games." Said Stark. Loki placed his hands up and his armour, as well as the other versions of him that disappeared in seconds. "Good move." Stark kept the weapons in an instant as we just watched the bad guy.

"Mister Stark." I greeted.

"Captain." He greeted back and Romanoff parked the Quinjet behind us. Victoria emerged from the Quinjet with a set of special handcuffs and placed them around Loki's wrists. Then, she made him stand and grabbed his right arm while I grabbed his left arm and we guided him into the ship.

"Tap twice your earpiece." She told me. "Even over the helmet." I tapped twice and I soon heard Fury's voice. "That's how you change channels, alternate between command and the ones on the field." I nodded.

"Thank you." We sat him down and Victoria started to take his fingerprints. He started talking to her, but she ignored him until he moved forward and whispered something into her ear, which caused her to give a step back quickly. I frowned as I watched them.

"One more word and I'll cut out your tongue." She clicked a few things in the tablet before tossing it away after she had taken his fingerprints on a seat near where I was standing by the cockpit.

"Everything alright?" I asked her and she nodded as I took off my helmet, her eyebrows furrowing and crossing her arms over her chest.

"He likes to talk a lot, that's it." And she tapped twice her earpiece to switch channels.

"Has he said anything?" Asked Fury.

"Not a word." Answered Romanoff. I looked at Victoria but her glance was pinned to the front, her features somber. Clearly, she wasn't going to mention whatever Loki had just said to her.

"I sent the fingerprints to the database, can you confirm you have them?" She asked Fury.

"Positive, Hill is crafting a file for him. We'll send it to you shortly. Just get him here. We're low on time." I turned around and faced Loki, who was looking at the opposite line of seats.

"I don't like it." I confessed in a whisper, Victoria nodded beside me, her brown eyes looking at me.

"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Asked Stark, not really bothering to whisper.

"I don't remember it being that easy."

"It's not." Said Victoria. "I suggest we don't trust this situation, anything he says or does."

"Why? Just because he's the super villain?" Stark asked her

"Precisely, Mister Stark. If you read what you were sent, you'd know that Loki is the God of Mischief." Stark nodded. "He lies and deceives, everything he does must be a part of a plan he has that will fuck us up."

"Language." I said.

"Did you really just say that?" Asked Stark.
"Alright, Grandpa." Victoria said at the unison. I scoffed. "What I'm trying to say is that he wasn't hiding in Germany, it was as if he wanted us to find him. And now we have him, just like that?" She shook her head. "Too simple."

"You're right. This guy's packs a wallop."

"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow." Stark told me. I looked at him with a frown. "What's your thing, Pilates?"

"What?"

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a Capsicle."

"Stark." Victoria warned as I clenched my jaw.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." I told him.

"Yeah, there a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you, right agent Carter?" I looked down at Victoria, who turned to Stark with dark eyes and confusion, but she didn't say a word. That's when thunder rumbled outside of the jet and blue lightning illuminated the clouds outside.

"Where is this coming from?" Asked Romanoff as she looked at the radar and scans, neither showing a storm forming up around the area. I looked around and realised Loki was looking at the ceiling, scared.

"What's the matter?" I asked. "Afraid of a little lightning?"

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Said Loki. We looked at each other and, a second later, the jet shook with a thud. Something had landed above us.

"The hell was that?" Asked Carter. I rushed to get the helmet on and my shield while Stark put on the helmet of his armour. When he was fully armoured, he opened the Quinjet's hatch and the cold air came in.

"What are you doing?" I asked. When Stark gave a few steps forward, a tall and blonde man wearing a cape and clothes similar to Loki's and wielding a hammer landed inside. Stark aimed at him, but the man hit his chest with the hammer, sending him backwards and taking me to the ground with him.

Victoria started firing her gun at him, but the bullets made no harm at all. He approached her with quick steps, disarmed her, grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the opposite side. Victoria's back hit the side of the entrance, quickly, she began to slide down the open ramp until she fell out of the jet, screaming. "Vic!" Agent Romanoff yelled as I quickly grabbed a parachute that I started to clip on as ran out of the jet following the screams of the agent.

I got to her fast and caught her in the air, when her arms found my neck, she pulled me in tightly and closer to her. I released the parachute that slowed our fall until it got broken due to the thick trees of the forest. As we got closer to the ground, I covered our flank with the shield, hearing above us how someone flew away.

We landed and hit the ground, roughly. Surviving the fall thanks to the shield's protection and the parachute, the air still getting knocked out of our lungs, though. Both of us coughed I knelt to stand up while Victoria was still laying on the ground, breathing in and out.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Nice catch, Captain." She said as she made an effort to breathe. I groaned and took a deep breath as I stood up while she sat up.

"You alright?" I exhaled.

"I owe you one." She said to me and I shook my head.

"You still haven't answered if you're alright, agent." Victoria blinked twice as I offered her a hand, she took it and I pulled her up, soon she was standing close to me.

"Yes. I am." I nodded and we took a moment to recover our breaths. "I really do owe you one. You just saved my life." I shrugged.

"Who's that guy? Another Asgardian?" I changed the subject.

"Seems like it." Carter sighed. "I believe that's Thor, Loki's brother."

"That guy's a friendly?"

"I don't know, he seemed pretty angry. And he threw me off the jet, so..." We saw Stark flying out of the Quinjet. "If he frees or kills Loki, the Tesseract's lost, we gotta get to them." We started to run towards a clear in the woods.

"We need a plan for attack." Victoria shook her head.

"These guys come from legends, they're basically Gods."

"There's only one God, Agent. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." She scoffed.

"Anyhow, what kind of plan can you come up with to hurt a godlike guy?" I shrugged and we continued walking. Everything was too dark, we couldn't see anything.

"Where-"
"Shh." We remained quiet, listening carefully and picked up on a conversation.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with." Said a guy with an accent.

"Shakespeare in the park?"

"That's Stark." I said. "Come on." We followed the voices down the thick forest.

"Doth Mother know you wear-eth her drapes?"

"This is beyond you, metal man. Loki will face Asgardian justice."

"He gives up the Cube, he's all yours. Until then, stay out of the way. Tourist." We soon heard commotion and tree branches snapping, a fight was breaking. We saw lightning being called to a specific sector and ran up to that place only to see them fly the other way.

"My god." Victoria complained and we ran to the area where we saw Stark crash. I ran up a broken tree and threw the shield at them, hitting both on the chest, calling their attention.

"That's enough!" I called and jumped down. I saw Victoria moving behind the tree trunks from the corner of my eye as I jumped down to level up with the God and the genius man. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here." I told Thor.

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes." He replied, angrily.

"Then prove it. Put that hammer down."

"Uh, yeah, no. Bad call. He loves his hammer." Star said as Thor hit him with the hammer on the chest, sending him backwards. Victoria rushed to check on him.

"You want me to put the hammer down?!" Thor said as he looked at me. He ran at me, jumped and tried to hit me with the hammer but I placed the shield up to cover myself. When the hammer hit the shield, it send an expansive wave down the perimeter, throwing Thor and I backwards.

Each one of us stood up with difficulty, but we were all alive. We looked around and saw the trees destroyed, we were now standing on a clear.

"Are we done here, gentlemen?" Victoria asked us, the three of us looking at her. "You, hammer guy, get your brother and bring him here. Now." Thor hesitated for a second, but he flew away, in a couple of minutes, he returned, dropping Loki onto the ground. Stark aimed at Loki, same as Victoria. I noticed her aim at Loki with the gun trembled, certainly an after-effect of the adrenaline caused by the free fall she experienced not long ago. Loki did, too. He started to laugh. "Shut up." She called before loading the gun with her thumb, Loki fell silent. "Romanoff, pin my location."

"Done. On my way to pick you and the boys up." In minutes, the Quinjet arrived and we all got inside. Afterwards, Romanoff piloted back to the Helicarter.

When we landed, and a squad was already there to receive Loki into the base. We walked in, Stark, Thor and I made our way towards the bridge while Romanoff and Victoria guided the team to the lower levels, followed by Fury, they wanted to see how Loki got locked up. Minutes later, they arrived, joining us at the table, while the Director stayed in the detention level.

Victoria sat down and pulled out the laptop, then she turned it on and clicked a few buttons on the screen. Soon, the footage of the security cameras from the glass cage where Loki was locked up was projected onto the glass table for us to watch.

"In case it's unclear," Said Fury as he clicked a few buttons on a panel. "if you try to escape, if you as much as scratch that glass, it's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap." The gate beneath the cage opened. I noticed Victoria's hands were still trembling. She was holding her own hands, knuckles white, as she tried to stop it with no use. Her face was serene, though. As to not let her emotions show.
"You get how that works?" I looked around and found a coffee and tea station near us. I filled a cup with hot water and grabbed one bag out of the three flavours there were, not knowing if she drinks strawberry, black or green tea, also taking with myself small bags of sugar and sugar supplement. I walked back and handed her the mug, then offered the bags. Victoria looked up at me and smiled as she took the strawberry bag and the supplement bag. I nodded and walked back to the station to leave the remaining bags on the trade and took a mixing stick. "Ant," Fury pointed at Loki behind the glass. "boot." He pointed at the panel and closed the hatch bellow the cage. Victoria chuckled as I sat beside her and offered the wooden stick for her to mix her tea.

"Thank you." She said and I nodded.

"It's an impressive cage." Said Loki. "Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh, I've heard." Loki looked straight at the camera. "A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man." As a reflex, our eyes found Bruce Banner. Banner crossed his arms and fidgeted in his place, anxiously. "how desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate." I reclined my chin in my fist and watched the interrogation, I realised agents Carter and Romanoff were studying it meticulously. "You might not be glad that you did."

"Ooh. It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what?" Loki laughed. "A warm light for all mankind to share. And then to be reminded what real power is." Fury scoffed.

"Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something." When Loki looked at us through the camera, the transmission was over and the image disappeared from the table.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Asked Banner.

"Oh, you have no idea." Said Victoria to my right.

"Loki's gonna drag this out." I said.

"Yes..." She sighed.

"So, Thor, what's his play?" I asked the Asgardian.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any world known." Thor turned around to face us. "He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army from outer space." I said, trying to make sense of what I had just heard, but even repeating it won't make it make sense. Romanoff sighed and shrugged. "I might owe you another ten bucks if I see that." I said to Victoria, whom shot her eyebrows up as she took a long sip of her tea, shrugging.

"Likewise. I can't wrap my head around aliens coming to our world to conquer." She said as she nodded, placing the mug on the glass.

"So he's building another portal." Said Banner as he played with his glasses, tapping them on his fist. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Asked Thor.

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell." Victoria commented.

"Along with one of ours." Romanoff added.

"I want to know why Loki let us take him." Victoria added, thinking just like me.

"Me too. He's not leading an army from here." I said as I looked at the stairs that would take us to where he is.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki." Said Doctor Banner. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him."

"Have care how you speak." Thor threatened. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days." Agent Romanoff informed Thor.

"He's adopted." He added after a minute. Victoria coughed a laugh before clearing her throat, regaining her composure, the serious agent poker face returned.

"Adopted or not, I believe we should keep an eye on him, nonetheless." Said Victoria. "Because, even if he is beyond reason, he seems pretty sane to have us as well studied as he does. He just talked about you, Doctor; he told me some stuff that a very narrowed amount of people know about me in the Quinjet when I got his fingerprints...he might know a lot about everyone here and that can be dangerous."

"He also called me 'the soldier', he knows about my past as well." Victoria nodded.

"And I don't think he would've let us catch him that easy if he wasn't up to something."

"I agree."

"Of course you do, Rogers." Said Stark as he walked in alongside Coulson, making us frown.

"I think it's about the mechanics." Banner returned us to the matter at hand. "Iridium...what do they need the iridium for?"

"It's a stabilising agent." Stark answered before anyone could. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D." He added as he walked past Thor. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long, as Loki wants." He added as he stood in the middle of the bridge. "Raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails." Every agent that was working at their respective station looked at him, confused. "That man is playing Galaga." He pointed at someone and my eyes followed up to a guy that closed a window on his screen fast. "He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." He covered his left eye. "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns." Agent Hill responded, dryly.

"Sounds exhausting." Victoria shook her head and sighed.

"He's a child." Victoria muttered as she took another sip of her tea.

"What was that, agent?" Stark turned around, abruptly, and stared at Victoria as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I said you're a child, Mister Stark." Victoria told him loud for him to hear every single word as she placed her mug down.

"Says the child in question."

"I'm twenty six." Stark shrugged.

"A child."

"Show her more respect." I said and Stark scoffed.

"Oh, my apologies, Queen Victoria." Tony mocked, causing Victoria to roll her eyes and me to remember how Peggy once broke the nose of the guy who called her that. I believed Victoria could easily break Stark's nose as well. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily."

"Right, so the only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density." Victoria told him as she finished her tea, her hands no longer trembling.

"Trying to prove something, kid?"

"No, just pointing out the obvious." Stark crackled a laugh.

"The obvious." He echoed. "So the child is smart." Stark clapped his hands together with a smile. "Yes, precisely, he needs something to kick-start the Cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Asked Agent Hill. "'Cause I know Carter got her astrophysics degree last year."

"Impressive." I said to Victoria.

"Thank you." She replied.

Stark yawned and cleared his throat. "I got mine last night."

"From where? Stark Industries, the Academy version?" Carter asked.

"Precisely. In Campus S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier." Victoria scoffed, annoyed. "Where'd you get yours?"

"Harvard."

"That's the best you've got?"

"I have a Psychology postgraduate as well, specialised in criminal behaviour analysis in NYU. And I'm about to enrol in a Law minor at Washington University." She smiled with triumph.

"Whatever. We gotta focus here. Don't get sidetracked, Carter." He dismissed her in a second. Victoria sighed.

"I would kill for a drink right now." She whispered as she laced her fingers before her face and reclined her forehead on her hands. "He's giving me a headache."

"To all of us, I believe." I whispered back and she chuckled.

"The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Maybe. Do you want a golden star on your forehead, sir?" Victoria mocked.

"Yes, please, agent." She scoffed again.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" I asked.

"He would have to heat the Cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Banner commented.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tuneling effect." Stark commented as he approached us.

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally, someone who speaks English."

"Is that what just happened?" I mocked Stark, causing Carter to chuckle. I looked at her and smiled, her eyes met mine and she gave me a gentle nod.

"It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner." Stark greeted Bruce. "Your work on antielectron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster."

"Oh, my God." Romanoff whispered.

"Thanks." Said Banner, clearly uncomfortable.

"Doctor Banner is only here to track the Cube." Fury informed as he entered the room. "I was hoping you might join him." Stark nodded.

"I would start with that stick of his." I suggested. "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"It does look like the footage recovered from the 40's, but I'm not entirely sure. Although I can assure it is powered by the Tesseract." Victoria commented.

"I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys." Said Fury.

"Monkeys? I do not understand." Said Thor and we all looked at him.

"I do." I said proudly. "I understood that reference."

"You're a child, too, Captain." Victoria told me and I scoffed.

"The Wizard of Oz is a great novel. And movie." I said as I shrugged.

"Oh, I know. Personal favourites, but that doesn't excel you from behaving like a child." I smiled at her comment. Victoria smiled back and, for an instant, I got lost in her eyes.

"Shall we play, Doctor?" Victoria sighed and looked away, breaking the eye contact that was bewitching me.

"This way, sir." I sighed as well when everyone began to walk away from the table.

  "Hey," Said Victoria beside me after a short pause, my eyes meeting hers once again.

"Yes?"

"I realised I never thanked you." I frowned and tilted my head to the side, questioning her, slightly confused. "For saving me."

"Oh," I shook my head. "it was nothing." I added with a shrug. Shit. "I mean, not that it was 'nothing', like, actually nothing. It was a lot. Not 'a lot' in that way. I mean, it meant a lot to-" Victoria began to smile, coyly and tenderly. I chuckled, nervously, inviting her to do the same. Then, I took a deep breath and exhaled with a smile. "I guess that, what I'm trying to say is, saving you was my pleasure." Her smile was so ridiculously cute. I noticed Carter's cheeks were tinted red as she looked away for a moment and a giggle left her lips.

"I appreciate it. It was an honour being saved by you, if you don't mind me saying." I chuckled with her as I felt my face rushing red as well. I nodded.

"Let's not make it a habit, though. I wouldn't like you risking your life just for me to catch you." She laughed, then sighed.

"And here I was, thinking about the many ways you could catch me." She added, flirtatiously.

"Oh." We chuckled. "Well, in that case, I'll be ready to catch you if you ever fall." I added, trying my best to imitate Bucky's flirty tone of voice whenever he asked out a girl. When her cheeks turned slightly more red, I knew it had worked. Victoria nodded, her eyes glued to mine. Again, I felt myself getting lost in that sweet and wide gaze. 

"Good." After a hot minute we spent looking at each other as our laughter ceased, she sighed. "Well, I need a nap. I'm exhausted, it was too much adrenaline for one night." I nodded.

"Have a good sleep." Victoria smiled at me, her hand falling on my shoulder as she stood up.

"Thank you. If you need anything," My hand moved, with a mind of its own, towards her hand. But I realised this before I held her hand, so I just scratched the side of my jaw and the back of my ear, nervously. Hoping she hadn't noticed how my hand twitched, switching directions in order not to hold hers.

"I know where to find you." I said before she could and we smiled at each other again. Carter nodded before walking away, sliding her hand from my right shoulder to the left one, across my back. I felt my skin tickling with nerves, on fire, and the well known butterflies fluttering my chest. As she walked, my eyes were glued to her. I stood up once she was out of sight and walked towards the lab a moment later. At my arrival, I saw Stark poking Banner's ribs with an electrical tool.

"Ow!" Banner complained.

"Nothing?" Stark asked Banner as he looked into his eyes.

"Hey!" I called as I walked in. "Are you nuts?"

"Jury's out." Stark said to me. "You really have got a laid on it, haven't you? What's your secret?" He turned to look at Banner. "Mellow jazz, bongo drums, hug bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" I asked.

"Funny things are."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." I looked at Banner. "No offence, Doc."

"It's alright." Said Banner. "I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"You're a tip-toeing, big man." Stark told him, then he looked at me. "You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mister Stark." I said, harshly.

"Do you think I'm not?" He asked me. "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?"

"He's a spy. Captain, he is the spy. His secrets have secrets. That's why I can't even trust his team. Do you even know who those two agents you're working with are? Carter and Romanoff?" I frowned. "There's a reason those files were mostly crossed out. Barton's another story, he's mostly clean, but those two women...they're assassins. Trained assassins that spy for him as well." He threw a blueberry into his mouth. "It's bugging him, too." He added pointing at Banner as he chewed the fruit. "Isn't it?"

"Uh...I just want to finish my work here, and..."

"Doctor?" I asked. Banner was silent for a minute before he took off his glasses and sighed.

"'A warm light for all mankind'." He repeated Loki's words. "Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube."

"I heard it." I said as I crossed my arms over my chest and nodded.

"I think that was meant for you." Banner added, pointing at Stark, who offered the dry fruit bag to him. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news." Banner added as he took blueberries from the bag.

"The Stark Tower? That big, ugly-" Stark sent me a glare. "building in New York?" Stark's eyes were still on me, I shrugged.

"It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for, what, a year?"

"It's just the prototype." Said Stark. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."

"So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Banner asked as he shrugged. "What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that" Said Stark. "once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files."

"I'm sorry, did you say-" I spoke, but he cut me off.
"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide, including the classified details of the agents onboard." He offered me the bag. "Blueberry?"

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around." I told him.

"An intelligence organisation that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."

"Following's not really my style." I sighed.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room, which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit; and, B, not of use?" He pointed at me.

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you." Said Banner and I did think about it for a minute. It did sound odd and something felt off, I felt like I could trust the people working on this, but this woke certain uneasiness on me nonetheless. However, I'm a soldier, and I was taught, trained to follow orders, not question the people involved in the mission.

"Just find the Cube." I said and walked out of the room with plenty of thoughts swirling in my head.

I was about to get to my quarters, but stopped halfway down the hallway and decided to go to the archive room instead, see what I could find.