Hello my fellow humans! Thanks much for clicking on this story, that's a pretty cool thing for you to do, much appreciated on this end of the computer vortex. I've never written a Captain America story before, so this is my attempt at one. There will be characters from the Avengers as well, as you'll see in this prologue.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of this except for the OC. Everything else belongs to Marvel.
"One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be family."
― Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything Is Illuminated
"No." She was the only person in the world who would dare say that word to Captain America.
"Alana, please." Steve begged his friend from his spot on her living room couch. She ran a calloused hand through her dark blonde hair, letting out an aggravated breath.
They had known each other for years now.
When Steve Rodgers had woken up from being in the ice for over sixty years, she had been there. She was the one who was sitting by his bedside.
"Morning, Captain." Gentle words made Steve glance over to his left. His eyebrows coming together in confusion as he saw the young blonde occupying a plastic chair not even three feet away from him.
Her attire was clearly a uniform of some sort, but Steve had never seen anything like it before, he didn't recognize the emblem on the front either.
"Where am I?" His words came out slightly panicked as he sat up, and he noticed her muscles tense at his movements.
"Easy there Cap, you're fine. Perfectly fine, actually. Let's keep quite, because I'm not supposed to be in here, and I just want to save you some hassle." Her words made him even more confused, and Steve glanced out the window before looking back to her.
"All do respect ma'am, but who are you?"
"Friends call me Alana." She told him, her arms staying crossed over her chest as she spoke slowly, watching his every move for any indication he was going to make a run for it. "And you, you're not in 1940's anymore."
She had helped him adjust to modern day life after that first day. She had even fought by his side in the Battle of New York two years ago.
Now, Alana would take a bullet for Captain Rodgers in a heartbeat.
She had done that actually… twice, but this? This was something she really didn't want to do for the super soldier.
"I know it's not what you want to do-"
"I wasn't trained to do anything like this." She cut him off, her voice sharp. "I was trained to kill people, Steve. Plain and simple, if you haven't noticed, I'm an assassin. Not a goddamn therapist."
His eyes glanced up and down the woman in front of him. Even through her oversized sweatshirt he could make out the strong muscles that toned her whole body. He knew what she was trained for, had seen it first-hand, hell, he had experienced it first hand as well.
The two sat in silence for a few moments. Alana tried to calm herself down, while Steve tried to collect his own thoughts. Director Fury had recommended Alana for the job, but since he was in hiding in Europe, he asked Steve to make the offer in person. Steve knew Fury could've just asked her over a phone call, he knew she'd been asked to do more than this over a simple phone call. The fact was, Fury knew Alana would listen -more or less- to Steve.
"You helped me." Her head snapped up at his words, her green eyes narrowing at the man who she considers a friend. She rolled her eyes a moment later, letting out a huff.
"That's cheesy." She muttered in a low voice, looking him in the eyes again a moment later, "And this is different."
"How?"
"He's not you, Steve." She pointed out, "He was turned into a weapon, he doesn't know who he even is!"
"Neither did Barton." Steve countered, and she was on her feet in an instant, pacing the floor in front of him. Steve sat back further into the leather couch, knowing she would react like this when he brought up her supervising officer.
Clint Barton being compromised by Loki was one of Alana's worst memories, and even the mention of it brought back the surge of fear. She thought she'd lost him then, and she even still had nightmares about it.
"It's a miracle that he didn't put that bullet through my brain." She remembers how terrified she was in that moment two years ago. Clint not in his own mind, aiming the barrel of a gun down at her head. He was her S.O, her partner, her teacher, and after almost seven years with SHIELD, she considered him a brother. She loved and trusted Clint and he had threatened to end her life.
"Barton! Clint!" Her throat was closing up and she could feel the tears pricking at the back of her eyes. "Clint, it's me! It's Alana! I know you're in there брат." (brother)
She had seen the flash of recognition in his eyes when she'd said her nickname for him in Russian. He had fired a few moments later, barely missing her head. That was how she knew she had really gotten through to him.
Barton never missed.
Her eyes drifted to one of the photographs framed and mounted on the wall nearby, and she stopped pacing. It was of her and Barton a few months after she agreed to join SHIELD. Natasha had taken it one night, while the three of them were sitting around in Alana's apartment, which was in the western portion of the Bronx. Clint had a baseball cap on his head and a smirk on his face as he had his arm wrapped around Alana's shoulders.
"I know," Steve nodded, his words brought her attention back to him and away from the picture, "Which is why you'll be able to help this time." Alana let out an indignant noise, her gaze drifting out her living room window, looking out over the Chicago skyline. "You've had experience, and if he relapses-"
"I'll be able to handle him." She finished Steve's sentence, and the super soldier just nodded. "That's what this is really about isn't it? If your friend attacks? Well," Alana let out a sardonic chuckle while she rolled her tense shoulders backwards once to loosen them, "tell me Captain, why can't you do it?"
"Did I offend you somehow?" Steve asked, confused at her lashing out at him. He knew it had been coming, but hadn't expected the words to be directed at him specifically. Alana did have a reputation regarding her temper.
"More the whole of SHIELD. They're putting one of their top agents on babysitting duty? I get I've been on leave for the last few months. I couldn't fight, I know that. I just thought they'd have a little more respect for me and put me on an actual mission as my first thing coming back." Alana lets out a breath, composing herself so she doesn't start yelling at Steve.
"I can't," Steve said, answering her previous question, "I can't do it because I was rejected."
"Rejected?"
"SHIELD agreed with Doctor Tracel that my involvement this early on in the recovery may shut him down more. The last time he saw me, he was trying to kill me."
"So I was the next choice?" She asks rhetorically, "Who's next on the list?"
"No one. I want it to be you with him. You know the languages he speaks now, you have experience with compromised soldiers, you can handle yourself." She raised her eyebrows at him, and Steve sat up, resting his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped in front of him, "And I trust you." She lips pulled upwards on one side a little, and Steve smiled, knowing that was a good sign.
"Didn't Fury tell you not to trust anyone?" Steve shrugged his broad shoulders once.
"He mentioned it." he admits, and the woman standing across from him nods knowingly, "Natasha did say you were a good one to trust though."
"She's a bit indebted to that answer." Alana pointed out quickly, walking over to the small kitchen adjacent to the living room and grabbing a glass from the cupboard. "Especially since Madrid."
"What happened in Madrid?" Steve asks curiously, and he gets a smirk and a wink in response.
"That's classified, Rodgers." She tells him through a grin, turning on the faucet and filling her glass with water. "You want a drink?"
"You're avoiding the topic."
"Am I?" She asks with feigned innocence.
"Yes, and I need an answer." She lets out a sigh, turning back to face Steve, leaning back against the granite counter.
"I just hope everyone knows I'm not the same person I was when SHIELD unfroze you from the artic." She tells him, her tone serious again. "Tegucigalpa, Syria, New York, Madrid," She lists off her major missions, hesitating before adding the source of almost all her nightmares, "Batswana."
"There's others back at headquarters who agree with me on this. You're the best choice." Steve stays silent as she mulled his words over in her mind. "We could be in DC and have you debriefed by tomorrow morning."
"And after?" Alana asked carefully, "After this is over?"
"You're full status."
Alana's boots made her footsteps echo down the halls of SHIELD's new headquarters. The counter-intelligence agency had been forced to downgrade after it was infiltrated by HYDRA and the Triskelion was destroyed. Now, headquarters was based out of one of the emergency offices. An old brick building on the outskirts of the city, that looked mundane on the outside, but had almost all the technology that had been in the Triskelion on the inside.
Alana stopped in front of what appeared to be just an office wall. A picture of Howard Stark was there, and she pressed her hand to the photograph, an electric pad hardwired underneath. Howard Stark's face dissolved away as the device swiped her handprint, registering her for clearance.
'Agent Mercer. Level Eight. Strike Team: Delta. Clearance approved.' The worlds appeared just above her hand; the wall parting a moment later to reveal the SHIELD operation that was hidden inside the building.
Other employees of SHIELD glanced over as she walked by, some adopting surprised faces, while others carried on like they didn't just see one of the country's top assassins. As usual, most wore suits, clean cut and professional in style.
Her combat boots, jeans, gray t-shirt and brown leather jacket made her stand out from the others.
It only took her a few minutes to find the housing complex inside the base. Located right next to the medical wing, she remembered what was written in her debriefing packet, and headed down to office number 438 to find Doctor Tracel.
She found him in his office, filing away documents while the radio filled the silence. "Doctor Tracel?" She asked, leaning in from the open doorway and knocking her fist against the doorframe before entering the room.
The stout, round-faced man perked up instantly, his lips spreading into a smile as he made his way over, offering an outstretched hand. "Hello! You must be Agent Mercer."
Alana nodded, shaking his hand once. "Mr. Rodgers told me you'd be arriving today. I have your charge's file right here." The doctor retreated back to his desk, glancing over his shoulder and waving her inside further, "Please."
"How has he been?" Alana asked, her head tilted to the side slightly as she questioned the eccentric doctor, hands clasped together behind her back.
"Same as the first day he got here." He told her in a disappointed voice, as she watched the doctor shuffle through some papers, picking up and putting down multiple files as he muttered to himself. "Barnes, Barnes, I just had it right here. Barn- ah! Here!"
"With all due respect, Doctor, I won't be needing his file." The corners of Doctor Tracel's mouth dropped slightly, his eyebrows coming together in clear confusion. "I prefer to learn about him through what he tells me himself." Alana explained, trying to sound respectful.
"But his mental stability, you-"
"I'm more than capable of assessing that myself." She interrupted the man with a raise of her hand. "I just need to know where he is." The doctor nodded, placing the file back down again before he spoke.
"Down the hall, around the corner, second room on your left."
"Thank you." Alana turned to leave, but the doctor calling out her name made her stop and look back.
"How are you doing?" He asked politely, and Alana's hand clenched into a fist, "I heard you were on medical duty due to-"
"I'm fine now." She cut him off before he could say it. Alana knew if he said it aloud, then she'd be forced to think about it again. That was something she never wanted to think about, never wanted to relive.
She wouldn't wish that upon anyone, not even Loki. "If you'll excuse me, I have a patient to see."
So, uh, hi! I really hope someone liked this, I'm hoping to keep it going, this was just the prologue. I'm not sure when I'll be updating, it's kinda busy finishing up high school right now, but I really like the ideas I have for this story! Tell me what you think!