Prologue
Two S.H.E.I.L.D agents were in the plane that the two superheroes were frozen in. Everyone thought that Captain America and his partner were dead until now.
"What is this place?" One said.
"Careful." The other said when the other almost slipped on the ice. The previous agent kneeled down by the ice where the two heroes were in frozen. He wiped the snow off the block of ice and looked at Captain America's shield and Mystic America's shield.
"Oh my god. Come look at this." The other agent came over and was shocked by the way both shields were next to each other. Almost like they were trying to protect each other from the impact of the crash.
"Lucky sons of guns." The other said and soon the two super heroes were being transported to S.H.E.I.L.D. headquarters to be defrosted. A few days later Steve and Melody awoke in the same room to the sound of a radio. They both sat straight up in a matter of seconds and looked at each other. A Woman that looked a lot like Peggy came in the door and Steve asked her a question.
"Where are we?" Melody asked.
"Healing ward in New York City, New York." Peggy answered. Melody didn't listen to Peggy and Steve's conversation until Steve grabbed Melody's arm and busted through the wall. They both looked around frantically and ran down the hallway, at the same time and speed, while most of the people started to try and catch them. Soon the two super soldiers were looking over the new city when they were blocked in by a lot of black cars. Melody held onto Steve while a darker skinned man stepped out of one of the cars and walked closer to them.
"At ease soldiers," A darker skinned man called out. Both super solders turned their head to the speaker. "I'm sorry about that little show back there, but, we thought it would be best to break it to you both slowly."
"Break what?" Both soldiers turned asked simultaneously.
"You've both been asleep, Captain, Sergeant. For almost seventy years. Are you going to be ok?"
"Yeah, yeah. It's just, I had a date." Steve said looking at the sky with Melody looking at the ground.
Chapter 1
Both super soldiers were in the gym, Steve at the punching bag and me on the ground watching him with memories of the war flooding my brain. Like the time when they went to save Bucky from behind enemy lines, the time when he fell to his death. I hit the bag so hard that it flew off the chains it was suspended from. I felt tears fill my eyes when the I saw the memory of Bucky falling, and screamed trying to get it out of my head. Steve came running to calm me down and said to look into his eyes, I did and immediately felt safe and calm as he wrapped his strong arms around me.
"Having trouble sleeping, too?" Fury called out to us. I wiped my eyes and walked over to my gym bag.
"We were asleep for almost seventy years. I think we have had enough for a while." Steve said while unwrapping his knuckles. Fury knew I wasn't going to leave his side for a while even though it has been a few months and we have started getting used to the new era.
"Then you should be out, seeing the world." Fury told us. I rolled my eyes and sat on a bench next to my gym bag.
"When we went under, the world was at war. We woke up, they said that we won. They didn't say what we lost." I said.
"We've made some mistakes along the way. Some very recently." Fury corrected.
"Come here with a mission, Sir?" Steve asked.
"I am."
"Trying to get us back in the world?" I asked.
"Trying to save it." Fury handed Steve a folder when he sat next to me and I looked on with him. What I saw was not what I wanted to.
"HYDRA's secret weapon." I declared.
"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think. The Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs." Fury said.
"Who took it from, ya?" Steve asked.
"He's called Loki. He's ... not from around here. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."
"At his point I doubt anything could surprise us." I said and got up with my gym bag in hand. Steve followed after he went to get a punching bag.
"Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a deep briefing packet waiting for you at your apartment if you're interested." Fury said and we started to walk to the locker rooms.
"Is there anything about the Tesseract that we need to know now?" Fury called after us.
"You should have left it in the ocean." Steve and I said in unison, as we walked out of the room.
~Line Break~
The next day Steve, Coulson and I were on our way to the helicarrier in a Quinjet. Coulson was trying to make conversation with us, which frankly was making me uncomfortable.
"So this Dr. Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on us?" Steve asked while looking at the tablet. I looked over at the tablet and saw two pictures, one of a small curly haired man and one of a giant green thing with similar looking curly hair.
"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superheroes. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula." Coulson said. A roar came from the screen and I leaned back a bit.
"Didn't really go his way, did it?" I asked.
"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, the guys' like a Stephen Hawking." Coulson said. When we both gave him confused looks, Coulson clarified. "He's like a really smart person." I nodded and looked at the tablet again. "I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you both. Officially." We gave him a suspicious look and he quickly tried to explain, so as to not sound creepy. "I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." I turned my head quickly and I am guessing Steve did the same. "I mean, I was- I was present while you were unconscious from the ice." Steve walked up to the front and I followed. "You know, it's really, it's just a huge honor to have you on board."
"Well we hope we're the right people for the job." Steve said.
"Oh you both are. Absolutely. Uh, we made some modifications to your uniforms. I had a little input in the design." Coulson said excitedly.
"A uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little… old fashioned?" Steve asked raising an eyebrow. I nodded in agreement.
"Everything that's happening… the things that are about to come to light… people just might need a little old fashioned." Coulson said. Steve and I shared a look and I went to sit back down. He followed and sat next to me.
When we got to the helicarrier we all got off the jet. "Agent Romanoff, This is Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes."
"Ma'am." Steve and I said at the same time. The red haired woman looked a little confused at us.
"Hi. They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face trace." Coulson left without a word and I was glad he was gone. He was starting to creep me out a little. "It was quite the buzz around here, finding you two in the ice. Thought Coulson was going to swoon. Did he ask you both to sign his Captain and Ms. America trading cards yet?" She asked when we were walking.
"Trading cards?" Both Steve and I turned to look at her with our eyebrows raised.
"They're vintage. He's very proud." Romanoff said. I looked straight ahead to see a man with curly hair shuffling to foot to foot. He looked nervous, and faintly familiar.
"Dr. Banner." Steve called. Dr. Banner turned around and started to walk towards us.
"Oh, yeah, hi. They told me you two would be coming." Dr. Banner said and shook our hands.
"Word is you can find the Cube." I said and smiled at him.
"Is that the only word on me?" He asked nervously.
"Only word I care about." Steve said. I nudged him and he looked to me and I sent him a look that said, don't be rude.
"Must be strange for you two. All of this." Dr. Banner widened his arms for emphasis.
"Well, this is actually kind of familiar." I said.
"Gentlemen and lady, you may want to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breathe." Agent Romanoff said. The sound of hydraulics came from the boat and I stumbled a little into Steve. Dr. Banner, Steve and I were all looking around at the tasks the crew was doing. Sirens were blaring and that meant nothing good.
"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked. Agent Romanoff watched us cautiously as we walked to the edge of the ship.
"Really, they want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" Banner asked. Steve, Banner and I started walking to the edge and stopped when we reached the white line. An engine was coming from under the water and a three of us took a few steps back as the turbines spooled up and the ship started to rise out of the water. Steve protectively held on to me so I would not fall. "No no. This is much worse." Dr. Banner said with a wry smile. I smiled a little still looking at the engine.
We followed Agent Romanoff into what seemed to be the bridge. Fury was there. I looked around in amazement and followed Steve onto the bridge.
"All engines operating, S.H.I.E.L.D. Emergency Protocol 193.6 in effect." Said a woman who seemed to be high up in the chain of command. She then turned to address Director Fury. "We're at level Sir."
"Good, Lets Vanish." Fury ordered.
Fury turned to us, "Gentlemen and lady." Steve and I walked up to Fury and each gave him ten dollars which he gladly took. I followed Steve as he made his way to the front windows. A few minutes later I was standing by the rail with Coulson and Steve.
"I mean ... if it's not too much trouble." Coulson said to Steve and me.
"Oh, no. It's fine." We looked away from him and around the bridge.
"They're Vintage sets. Took me a few years to collect them all. Near mint slight foxing around the edges, but... " Coulson said and Steve and I looked to him.
"We got a hit." An agent said. Our attention was turned to him. "67% match. Wait, cross-match 79%."
"Location?" Coulson asked.
"Stugartt, Germany." The agent replied. "28 Kˆnigstrasse."
"He's not exactly hiding."Another agent said.
"Captain, Sergeant." Steve and I looked to Fury. "You're up." I nodded and went to go get my new suit.
It was basically the same as before. Whereas Steve's is blue with red and white stripes with a white star on the chest with red boots and gloves, mine is red where his is blue with blue and white stripes. Also a white star on the chest. My boots and gloves are blue and whereas his mask is blue, mine is red and also we have the exact same shield. It was pointless to change that design.
Once we got to the gala, we saw that Loki was about to shoot an old man who had stood up to him with his staff. I jumped in front of the old man before the blast could hit him. It ricocheted off my shield and hit Loki .
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing." Steve said. The people who had been kneeling started to stand. Loki stood up, he looked concerned, but as he spoke he smiled as he got his confidence back.
"The soldiers, the men out of time." Loki said still smiling.
"Excuse me, but we're not the ones who are out of time." I said. I could tell half of the people were amazed by a girl voice. Natasha then decided to let the jet show with a gun pointed right for him.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." Natasha said over the PA system. Loki took aim at the jet and tried to blast it out of the sky but the pilot steered it out of the way. Steve threw his shield at him, which Loki swatted away like a fly. I then joined the fight and punched the god in the face. He hit me with his scepter thing and I went flying. As I got to my knees, he put the scepter on my head.
"Kneel." Loki said. I smirked as I said, "Not today." I grabbed the end of the staff and pushed it away as I roundhouse kicked him in the face. He quickly recovered and grabbed me. Once again, I was thrown away. Then AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill started blaring over the speakers. Next thing I knew, Iron Man came flying in and shot Loki in the chest before he landed next to us. I got my shield and went to stand next to him.
"Make your move reindeer games." Stark said and in a display of force, he activated every weapon on his suit. The armor on Loki shimmered away and he put his hands up in surrender and Stark said, "Good move." With that he deactivated all of his weapons. Steve came by and stood on the other side of Stark with his shield ready.
"Mr. Stark." Steve and I both said at the same time.
"Sergeant, Captain." He greeted us both.
We all got back onto the Quinjet to bring Loki back to the Helicarrier. Tony, Steve and I stood by the cockpit. "I don't like it." Steve said.
"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Stark asked.
"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop." I said.
"But still you both are still pretty spry, for older people. What's your thing, Pilates?" Stark asked.
"What?" Steve and I asked together.
"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things, doing time as Capsicles."
"Fury didn't tell us he was calling you in." I said.
"Yeah, well there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Stark said. Thunder and lightning came unexpectedly and I grabbed onto Steve's arm. We all looked to Loki to see him looking at the roof with a scared expression and I smirked.
"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Steve asked him with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Loki said and a few seconds later a bang came from the room making Steve grab hold of me. Stark grabbed his helmet and put it on while Steve and I did the same with our masks. Stark opened the hatch and a really cute guy landed there. But, he had a giant hammer. Loki looked at him in fear. Tony tried to stop him but the guy with the hammer hit him and grabbed Loki and flew off with him.
"Now there's that guy." Stark sighed and moved to the open hatch.
"Another Asgardian?" Natasha guessed.
"Think it's a friendly?" Steve asked.
"Doesn't matter, if he freezes Loki or kills him the Tesseract's lost." Stark said and moved closer to the edge.
"Stark, we need a plan of attack." I yelled.
"I have a plan… attack." And Stark flew off into the night. Steve and I went for the parachutes immediately.
"I'd sit this one out Cap, Sarge." Natasha said.
"I don't see how we can." I said.
"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods."
"There's only one god, Ma'am. And I'm sure he doesn't dress like that." We both grabbed our shields and ran to the hatch and we jumped. I saw a full blown fight going on when we got there and I threw my shield.
"Hey! That's enough." I stated I put my shield back on my arm and jumped from the tree Steve and I were on. Steve followed in suit and we walked up to the other pair. "Now I don't know what you plan on doing here-"
"I have come to put an end to Loki's schemes."
"Then prove it. Put the hammer down." Steve said and pushed me behind him a little.
"Uh yeah, no. Bad call. He loves his ham-" Tony was cut off by the hammer being hit on his chest and he flew back.
"YOU WANT ME TO PUT THE HAMMER DOWN?!" Thor yelled and jumped to where he was about to hit us with his hammer when we raised our shields and it hit them instead. Everything within a 100 yard radius was knocked down including me and Steve. I fell onto a knocked down tree and groaned in pain.
"Melody. Hey, come on. That a girl. Get up." Steve came running and helped me off the tree.
"Well, that hurt." I said and Steve chuckled. "Are we done here?" I asked the other three men in the group and they nodded. Thor went up to get Loki while Tony was going to give Steve and me a ride back to the jet.
As soon as we got back to the helicarrier, we all went to the bridge, except for Tony of course. I sat next to Steve; Natasha sat on one end while Thor and Banner stood. Thor wasn't watching Loki and Fury's conversation but I could tell he was listening. My back still hurt a little from being thrown into a tree but it hurt less. Steve and I put away our shields but kept our suits on. Soon the conversation was over.
"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Banner asked smiling.
"Loki's going to draw this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve asked.
"He has an army called the Chitari. He means to lead them into battle. He means for them to win him the earth for in return I guess for the Tesseract." Thor said.
"An army, from outer space?" I asked slowly with an eyebrow raised.
"So, he's building a portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Banner said.
"Selvig?" Thor questioned.
"He's an astrophysicist." Banner said immediately.
"He's a friend." Thor said.
"Loki has him under some kind of spell. Him and one of ours." Natasha said.
"I wonder why Loki let us take him." Steve said.
"He's not leading an army from here." I finished. Everyone looked to us and I sunk into my seat a little bit.
"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him." I chuckled at Banner's metaphor.
"I don't care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard and he is my brother." Thor defended his brother. I would do it too if mine wasn't dead.
"He killed 80 people in two days." Natasha replied bluntly.
"… He's adopted." Thor responded looking down. I felt my heart go out for him. I really did.
"I think it's about the mechanics. What do they need the iridium for?" Banner asked.
"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony said coming into the room with Coulson. That guy still freaks me out a little bit. And I just drowned out the rest of what Tony was talking about.
"Does Loki need any particular kind of energy source?" Steve is what brought me back into the land where Tony is talking.
"He would have to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin to break through the barrier." Banner said. Stark opened his mouth again and I groaned inwardly. Yay, more science talk. I am a soldier. Not a scientist people.
"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tuming effect." Who would have known Tony was so much like Howard.
"Well, if he could do that he could that, he could achieve the heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Banner said.
"Finally, someone who speaks English. It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on antielectronical divisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." Tony said and I rolled my eyes.
"…Thanks." Banner said embarrassed.
"Dr. Banner is only here to locate the cube. I was hoping you might join him." Fury said finally getting here.
"I'd start with that stick of his…" Steve started.
"It may be magical but it works a hell of a lot like a HYDRA weapon." I finished. Everyone in the room turned to look at us in amazement and I just sunk back in my chair again.
"How do you do that? And will you stop it; it's getting kind of creepy." Tony asked. I rolled my eyes.
"We've been able to do it since we got the serum put in us. It's something that's a part of us. We protect each other." Steve answered.
"So that's why you're always following each other around?" Banner asked. I nodded and sunk lower in my chair.
"I don't know about the stick being like a HYDRA weapon, but it is powerful and controlled by the cube. And I would like to know how he used it to make two of the smartest men I know into his personal flying monkeys." Fury asked.
"Monkey's? I do not understand." Thor said.
"I do! I understood that reference." Steve and I said happily at the same time again. Once again, everyone turned to look at us.
"Shall we play Doctor?" Tony asked Banner.
"Let's go play some." Banner said and they left the room.