Chapter Two:
"You did hear about the plant that was studying the Tesseract, yes?" Fury looks at me with a beady eye. The helicopter shakes as he asks the question. I think the pilot was remembering what happened there.
"I do, sir. I was close by doing a study for the government with Dr. Selvig. But I have not heard from him since the accident. Is he dead?" Another dead look from Fury and he reveals to me pretty shocking news.
"Dr. Selvig is just fine. He is under the control of Loki, the Asgardian..." My eyes widen and my breath hitches in my throat. I put up my hand and signal to Fury to stop talking. My hands start shaking and memories flash.
"Stop right there. I know who Loki is." I clench my jaw and start ringing my black t-shirt. I look down at my tattoo covered legs and they start glowing, the vines from my roses moving along my skin in a flurry of anger and redemption.
"I am surprised you did not catch that I know Loki. And Dr. Selvig is not fine if he is under that bastard's control! How fucking dare you let this happen! What were you doing with the Tesseract anyway, building weapons, thinking of a new way to kill other people? I know many things about your work, Fury. And you are so fucking lucky I decided to come with you. But since this is Loki and Dr. Selvig we are talking about, I am doing you a favor." Fury, well, he looks furious whenever I start badgering his work with the Tesseract. His jaw clenches and his hands turn into fists.
"We are almost to New York, Fury." The pilot says, and Fury goes up to the cockpit, leaving me to seethe. I start chewing on the barbell in my tongue and try to calm my nerves down. My vision is flickering back and forth and the tattoos on my legs are squirming.
My powers erupted from something I was studying a couple years ago. I was studying in the Everglades and found a piece of shrapnel that was believed to be from space. I hadn't noticed anything strange about it except a few different markings, similar to the ones found at the pyramids. But it cut me. It was sharp as a diamond, and I got a giant gash in my leg. There was apparently something about it when it reacted with human blood. My partner called the agency and the paramedics arrived. I was taken to the lab and probed and prodded like a science experiment.
When I woke up a few days later, my legs were covered in vine tattoos that followed my main arteries. I started panicking and all of a sudden my vision changed to the type of "eagle vision", as I call it. The vines on my legs start moving toward my arms, and all of a sudden in a panic, poison thorns shoot out from my finger tips and nail the scientist in the throat, and he falls over, dead as a doornail. I am not particularly sure about how this all happened, but I panicked and ran away.
After a few months the scientists caught up to me, and they told me that my powers needed honing. I had hidden myself away from everyone. But in the time I was away I tried to alter my appearance as much as possible. My hair turned a fire red and my eyes turned emerald as a reaction to what had happened to me. I had someone tattoo roses on my vines, and I got a few more as tribute to my work and family. I added a few piercings to my face, and a couple more to my ears. Not many people take me seriously anymore, but I work for a major government agency, so I think I do pretty okay.
"Dr. Montgomery, we have arrived." I didn't even notice the helicopter had landed, but soon Fury pushes me into a cab and we head into the center of New York City. I see the giant Stark tower looming in the sky, but we soon pass it.
"Aren't we picking up Tony?" Fury just looks straight ahead, still sore about my comments earlier. But he brought Loki into this, and that is just a sore spot I don't want to talk about with anyone, let alone Fury.
"Guess not," I mumble to myself, and look at the passing buildings and skyscrapers. We get to the edge of the city in a run-down area and I see an old-fashioned looking gym. I turn to Fury and he silently gets out of the cab. I follow suit and step onto the sidewalk. My combat boots bang against the concrete, and the buckles clang with every step. I wrap my arms up in my sweater and we enter the gym.
The gym is kind of dark and I hear someone punching vigorously on a bag. It smells of dust, sweat, and blood. I look around and it feels like I stepped back in time. An old boxing ring with red, white, and blue all across the bottom mats, blood and sweat stains on the floor. I hear a chain break and see a punching bag fly across the room, sand falling in a straight line behind it.
My heart does a little flutter as my body reacts to the strength of another human being. My hormones are still a little out of whack because of my accident. Yeah, we will go with that.
I look at the man who starts putting on another punching bag, and I recognize him immediately; Captain America, aka Steve Rogers. What a hunk.
His body is glistening with sweat and I feel my jaw drop, and my eyes widen. His muscles are taut from the work out, and his bangs are stuck to his face. He's punching the bag over and over again, anger filling every hit to the bag full of sand. I follow each fluid movement to a T. My breathing starts to get heavy as I channel my flow with his, but suddenly Fury starts talking and I get snapped out of my trance.
But man, he is gorgeous.
"Having trouble sleeping?" Fury asks Steve. Steve doesn't look up from the bag and continues punching it with tons of power.
"I've been asleep for 70 years. I think I've had enough rest." Fury does a small chuckle and walks closer to Steve. I watch him carefully as my boots loudly bang across the wooden floor. Steve looks up then, his eyes a brilliant blue. His eyebrows knit together and he looks between Fury and I. I lick my lips at his intensity, and look at Fury, hoping he will say something.
"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world." Fury and I slowly approach Steve.
"When I went under," he moves from the punching bag and closer to us, "the world was at war. I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost."
I start nibbling on my lip and look between the two. Steve then looks at me and my heart flutters. I feel the vines on my legs start moving and he looks down at them and gets a confused look on his face.
"We've made some mistakes along the way. Some, very recently." Steve looks up from my vine covered legs and back to Fury.
"Are you here with a mission, sir?"
"I am." Steve comes out from behind the punching bag and steps closer to Fury. He starts undoing his hand wraps and gives Fury a stare down.
My arms cross as Steve gets closer, the vines on my legs definitely freaking out now. I feel the energy pulsate from them and up to my arms. I should really learn to control this.
"Trying to get me back in the world?" Steve remarks, stealing glances at me, making my heart flutter.
"Trying to save it." Fury then pulls out the file involving information about the Tesseract. Something Steve is very well acquainted with.
"HYDRA's secret weapon."
"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."
"Who took it from you?" Steve's eyebrows knit together as concern fills his features. He should be a god.
"He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."
"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me." Steve grabs his duffel bag, and another punching bag while Fury continues his pointless bantering.
"Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a debriefing packet waiting for you at your apartment. Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?"
"You should have left it in the ocean." Steve starts to leave, but by the sound of Loki's name my vision starts to change and the vines creep up my entire body and reach my neck. I start breathing heavily and Steve looks at me, worried. I'm guessing my eyes have started glowing by now.
I feel a pair of hands on my arms and suddenly my whole body shuts down. My eyes start fluttering closed and I see a pair of warm blue eyes staring at me, concern filling each line within his perfect, scruff filled face.
"Are you all right, ma'am?" I try to mumble out my name but the words won't come out. Fury's features soften as he sees my state and says, "This is Dr. Montgomery. She has new abilities that her body isn't fully used to yet. She has a past with, well, with the man that took the Tesseract. Do you mind carrying her back to the cab?"
And that's the last I hear before my body shuts down, and I fall into darkness.
Steve Roger's POV:
The doctor's body is limp in my arms, but she feels light as a feather. I feel small shocks every time my skin brushes hers, and I can't help but feel an odd closeness to her.
"I can take her back to my apartment; it'd be easier for her to recover there than in a small cab, then back on an aircraft." Fury looks at me and raises his eyebrow. He nods then walks out, leaving the file on the floor next to me. I pick up the file and then pick up the woman. Her hair is damp with sweat, but the vines on her legs have stopped moving. I wonder how she got those. I have never seen such a thing in my entire life, which isn't saying much seeing as I have been frozen for seventy years.
I look down and her eyes start fluttering open; her warm breath trickling my face. Emerald spheres look up at me and my breath hitches. She's truly stunning.
Annabel Montgomery POV:
His blue eyes look down at me, and my breath starts getting heavy.
"Are you all right Doctor?" I slowly nod and sit up from his arms. As soon as no skin contact is left I feel a sudden chill.
"I'm all right. I'm just not very used to my power. It takes a lot out of me." I sheepishly look up at him and he gives a nervous chuckle.
"My name is Annabel, by the way." I hold out my hand and he grabs it softly.
"Steve, it's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Montgomery." I smile and feel a blush creep onto my face.
I look around and notice that Fury is gone and the Tesseract file is left on the floor. Where did he go?
"Where is Fury?" I attempt to get off of the floor, and Steve grabs my arm to help me along the way.
"He left, and I offered to bring you to my apartment so you could, uh," he starts to stammer and a blush creeps onto his face. How adorable is he?
"Recover?" I finish his sentence and he nods, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.
"That's perfect. Thank you, Steve. Do you have a spare room or couch I could sleep on? And a good freaking meal; I haven't eaten properly in months." I look down at my full figure and realize that I look like I stuff my face all of the time.
"I can cook you something, if you'd like. But first we need to get to the apartment. Are you okay on motorcycles?" I nod and tell him how I biked across Europe about five months ago searching for galactic artifacts.
"No Steve, it's okay. I can cook my own meal, and you one if you'd like. But, I want to hear more about the adventures of Captain America during our time together." Steve gives a small smile and he holds the back door open for me and I see his motorcycle out back.
"What a beautiful creature." I mumble and trace my fingers along the chrome bars and leather seat.
"Very beautiful." Steve mumbles, and I feel a blush come onto my face.
"Let's get rocking, Steve!" I hop on the back and pat the front. Steve gets on and I wrap my arms around his torso. His muscles twitch and I internally sigh. He starts up the bike and the vibrations go throughout my body, and we ride to his apartment.
My first night with Captain America; Oh Captain, My Captain, I am in for a treat.
A/N: Ahhh, I hope everyone is liking the story so far! I would love some feedback, criticisms, anything. I'm just happy people are reading it though Thank you everyone, I love you!