A/N: Hey guys! Wow, I am so excited over the response that my second story got! Thank you for all the favorites, alerts, and reviews. Here is the next chapter and please, review ;) Oh and I am currently working on a cover for this, so if anyone has ANY ideas for it, please don't hesitate to leave a quick comment or a private message. Thanks!
Chapter 2: A Second Chance
I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.- Nathan Hale
It was surprisingly quiet. Of course it was still pretty noisy since it was New York, but there was less yelling and cars honking. Everyone was probably getting ready for the unveiling of Howard Stark's newest creations. There was no doubt in Jade's mind that that's where her mother wanted to drag her to after their dinners. Sure, Howard Stark's inventions were quite impressive, but Jade saw no use for them. Things were fine the way they were.
Jade found herself passing by an alley. She glanced over at two men. Jade stopped and stared. One man was beating up the other guy, who happened to be quite scrawny, pretty viciously. The scrawny guy tried to fight back, on time using a garbage can lid as a shield. Jade looked closely at them. The larger guy she definitely did not know. But the other one seemed oddly familiar. He glanced over at her with unmistakable blue eyes.
"Steve?" She gasped out questionably. Yep, it was definitely him. The guy punched Steve again. Jade quickly ran over to them, Steve hunched over in a corner. "Hey, leave him alone!" Jade shrieked when the man pushed her back and continued his assault on Steve. "I said, leave him alone." The short and incredibly skinny girl jumped onto the man's back. Jade was fairly short and weighed almost nothing. But still the man ran around in circles.
He yelped and yelled out, "Hey, get off me lady! What are you doing?" Jade was abruptly flung off his back, landing on the concrete ground. She wasn't far from the ground in the first place, so it didn't hurt as much. She groaned in slight pain and moaned when another muscular man in an army uniform approached them. Probably this guy's friend coming as reinforcements. To Jade's surprise, the man picked up their attacker by the collar.
"What do you think you're doing? What kind of a man hurts a woman? Apologize!" He yelled with a triumphant smirk.
"Sorry, ma'am." Their savior dropped the man onto the ground, "Get lost and don't let me catch you near these two ever again." The now scared man scurried away in fear. Jade looked up at the man. He had neat brown hair and all harshness vanished from his strong facial features. "Are you alright Miss…?
"Jade? Is that you?" Steve got up from where he laid. He was trying to see if it really was the girl he knocked over.
"You two know each other?" She took the man's outstretched hand and propped herself up on her feet. Jade looked down at her clothes and tried to brush off as much dirt as possible.
"Yeah, we kind of knocked each other over at the recruiting office today. I'm Jade Callaway." The man saluted Jade. He's lucky he can do that as a soldier. Jade thought to herself.
"Sergeant James Barnes ma'am, but you can call me Bucky. Pleasure to meet you."
"Pleasure to meet you too, Bucky." The name sounded weird coming off her tongue, like it was more of a children's radio character's name. Jade heard the chiming of nearby clock. "Oh shit, it was great to meet you Bucky and to see you again Steve but I really have to go." Jade quickly ran out of the alley leaving a speechless Bucky and a laughing Steve behind.
"Steve, is it just me hearing things or did she just swear?" Steve patted his best friend's arm.
"Nope, she did just swear buddy." He began to walk away with a still speechless Bucky running to catch up with him.
"And you find that normal?"
Jade walked back down the streets only to find her family walking out of the restaurant. Guess I'll be skipping dinner tonight. Allison turned around and took in her sister-in-law's appearance. Her eyes widened, staring at the brunette's cheek. Jade lifted her hand up and felt the warm, sticky liquid. A gash had formed along her high cheek bone. It wasn't deep though and would stop bleeding soon.
Jade's mother finally looked over to her wounded daughter in absolute shock. "Oh my god! What in the world happened to you?" She yanked out the white handkerchief from Jasper's coat pocket, licked it, and began to clean the blood off of Jade's face.
"Oh mother, stop babying me!" Jade was about to answer her mother's question when she realized saying 'I got in a fight with a big, tough guy' wouldn't exactly go over well. So she came up with the first thing that came to mind. "Actually, the strangest things happened." She moved her eyes to each side of her vision and bit her lip in anxiety. "I-I was in a shoe, no dress, I was in a dress shop and there was this mirror, a three panel mirror that surrounded me and it just…uh, exploded." She said it like a question while she made a gesture that meant explosion as the lie slipped horribly through her teeth. It was way obvious that her mother didn't believe her, but the woman continued on about Jade arrived just in time.
"We're going over to the Technology of the Future expo." She led the way to the parking lot while the three young adults lagged behind some. "And do you know who will be there Jade?" She leaned over and looked at Allison and Jasper, mouthing the words "Howard Stark." She rolled her eyes and Allison giggled mother practically squealed like a teenager. "Howard Stark! Oh Jae, he's an absolute genius, so creative too. Plus he's strikingly handsome! Now he is husband material!" No, to Jade he absolutely was not. Howard Stark cared about his inventions and looking good on stage. Jade would feel like the little housewife she never wanted to be. The one she tried desperately to avoid becoming.
"Howard Stark is not my type mother." They were directed by the older woman to a brand new car. It was black, shiny, and had all the bells and whistles.
"When did you get the new car ma?" Jasper whistled in approval as he walked in circles, his hands in his pockets. To Jade's surprise, her mother walked over to her. She took her hand, palm upward, and gently placed the keys to the car in her possession. Jasper stopped and stared at them, his jaw practically hitting the concrete. "Why does she get a car and I don't?"
JoAnne looked at her youngest son with narrowed eyes before turning back around to her daughter. "This is not from me. It's a gift to you from, uh, Howard Stark. He didn't know where you lived so he dropped it off at my house and told me to give it to you." At the mere mention of his name, Jade moaned in frustration. There he was again.
"Mother, I told you before when you forced me to call him and go on that stupid date with him, I. Am. Not. Interested."
ooo~Several Months Earlier~ooo
Jade and her mother walked down the street as they stopped at various stores, enjoying a simple girls' day out. Jade fiddled with the new dress her mother thought was perfect for her and paid no attention to where she was walking. As a result, she ran right into someone. (Seems like she has an act for doing that) "Whoa, sorry there Miss." The voice was deep, but a little rough. Jade looked up at the man as he placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her. He was average height with dark brown locks of hair. "I'm Howard Stark."
Oh yes, Jade had heard of him, but wasn't entirely impressed. Being polite, she smiled. "Hi, I'm Jade Callaway." Howard Stark gave her a dazzling white grin.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Jade. Maybe we could meet each other again." He handed Jade a business card, flashed a grin, and walked on. Jade threw the card onto the sidewalk, only to see her mother pick it up and scurry over to her.
"Oh Jade, that was Howard Stark. The Howard Stark! And he gave you his number! Oh, you should call him and go out together." Jade directed her mother into a store and looked at their selection of scarves.
"Eh, I'm not exactly sure he's my type mom."
"Well then what is your type?" Jade sighed as she ran her hands over the warm silk over a green scarf with gold accents. It was a rare thing to see this good of quality of silk during the war. Jade knew she had to have it. She picked it up and tried it on. Her mother nodded in approval and the gestured for her to answer the question.
"Well, I want a guy who's not all about looks. Of course I'd love someone good looking, but he shouldn't be self obsessed and wrapped up in himself. I want a guy who will be there for me but treat me like an equal, not like a housewife with no rights. He'll let me work and will help out and then eventually we'll get married and we'll move to a beautiful house in the suburbs with a white picket fence and we'll have kids, but in the end I'm still equal to him. I'm his partner." Jade noticed she was in 'la-la land' and quickly recovered. "Um, he'd be brave and would be a fighter. I'd love a soldier. I guess they're pretty easy to find nowadays." Jade stopped talking when she saw her mother smile widely.
"Jade, he sounds perfect. But for now, you should at least give Howard a chance. Call him, see how it goes." And so Jade had the phone shoved into her hands that night. Her date with the genius started off fine; she wore a stunning rose pink dress. It was floor length with a shirred bodice. Decorative buttons lined down the front of the bodice. It was completed with a matching short sleeve jacket of the same color. But the date quickly went downhill. It became as boring as she thought it would be. But ever since then, Howard Stark had been trying to make her swoon and fall head over heels for him with gifts.
ooo~ooo
Jade snapped out of the memory and took the keys from her mother. The car was definitely going to be returned tonight.
Jade stood in the crowd, looking up at the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Howard Stark!" The music played and the five show girls gestured to Mr. Stark as he came on stage next to an ordinary car.
"Ladies and gentlemen, what if I told you that in just a few short years, your automobile won't even have to touch the ground at all?" The girls removed the car's tires and then Howard pulled a lever. The car began to actually float.
"Whoa," Allison whispered, completely amazed. And then suddenly, the car let off sparks and fell to the ground.
"I did say a few years, didn't I?" Was that all he could say? He laughed it off and after a few more inventions Howard Stark left the stage for an 'intermission.' Jade groaned as he walked straight up to her family. "Hello Mrs. Callaway. May I say you look gorgeous tonight as usual?" Jade's mother smiled and winked at Jade. "Allison, it's nice to see you again. Please, tell me Jacob is alright."
Allison smiled at the nice way Howard put, 'So is your husband still alive?' Allison nodded and said, "Yes, he's stationed somewhere in England. Thank you for asking."
"Jasper, how are you?"
"I'm well Howard." Jasper didn't really get along with Howard. He tolerated him, but thought he wasn't best for his sister.
"Well that's good. Listen, I've got an extra ticket to the Yankee's game. I was wondering if you would like to accompany me." So that was his play, he was trying to win over Jade by being friendly to her brother. But Jade knew Jasper was her favorite (don't tell Jacob) for a reason.
"Thanks Howard, but I'm more of a Dodger's fan." Howard nodded and turned to Jade last.
"Hello Jade, you just look lovely tonight."
"Hello Howard," Jade grumbled out.
"I'm so glad you came to the show. Please, tell me you received your gift." Jade nodded mindlessly, looking around until she spotted a sign for recruiting. Why not give it another shot, she thought. "Well listen, maybe we could go out to dinner sometime. I know this great little restaurant that serves the best-"
"Uh, Howard," Jade interrupted, "I just realized that I have to be somewhere so I'll have to take a rain check on that date." By the time she finished her sentence Jade was already walking off towards the recruiting tent, hoping for a second chance.
A/N: Thank you to all that reviewed!
Ali: Thank you for being my first reviewer of this story! I came up with this idea and looked at the collection of Captain America stories. I was quite surprised I hadn't found something like this so I figured, why not? I actually have figured out Jade's superhero name but it shall only be reviewed when the time comes! Thanks for reviewing!
TA-twinArmageddons: Thank you and I'll be sure to update soon!
Guest (but under the name Ali): Thanks for reviewing. I promise that I will not give up on this story. Now if you excuse me, I must go apologize to the children now, lol
TenebrisSagittarius: Thanks you for reviewing, I enjoy every review no matter how small. Now that I'm really out of school I should be updating more often.
DarkRulerKida: Thanks for reviewing. I like to do stories that you don't see a lot so this definitely worked out.
Now just because they reviewed doesn't me that you (because I know you're reading this) shouldn't. It barely takes a minute. I appreciate every word. So review and please, no flame. I like to improve my writing not be totally bashed. That doesn't help me at all. Ciao!