Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers (the comics, movies, characters etc.) or any of the characters; I only own my OC Art.
7. Helicarrier
The plane shuddered as it took off. Art gripped the edge of her seat, knuckles turning white. Steve sat beside her, and while he made no outward signs of discomfort, she could hear him inhale and exhale heavily. It would seem that between the two, Art was the most uncomfortable on planes; so uncomfortable, in fact, that she actually thought might be sick for a moment. The feeling passed, however. It wasn't even a plane––they called it a quinjet, Art believed. It was the smaller of the fleet they seemed to have of such aircrafts, with just three or four seats installed into the wall and a small loading bay. The harness attached to the seat––which neither she or Steve had opted to wear out of comfort and confidence––dug into her spine unpleasantly. Steve's hand found hers, prying it off the edge of the seat so he could hold it in his lap. A thankful smile quirked at the edges of her lips as she shut her eyes and let her head rest against the wall behind her.
"You look nice today," he said quietly. Art's eyes flicked open as the fluttering in her stomach began to fade as the quinjet evened itself out in the air. Steve was smiling and his thumb was rubbing the back of Art's hand. Looking down at her maroon colored skirt and white blouse, Art arched an eyebrow as though she doubted the statement. Sometimes she thought she dressed too much like she used to, like she was trying too hard to fit herself into forties fashion; but she did look quite good in such styles.
"It's not too 'old fashioned?'"
"I happen to love old fashioned."
Art bent her head to press a kiss to Steve's shoulder before resting her cheek against it. Steve rested his cheek against the crown of her head, his nose buried in her hair, which smelled of the shampoo she'd deemed her favorite. Pomegranate. His attempts to keep her distracted seemed to have worked; and it had kept him distracted as well. The previous night he'd been plagued with one of his nightmares. It wasn't a solidified image. It was always a constant ebb and flow of memories he never wanted to think about, from that day on the train to particularly hard battles they'd been through. Explosions, deathly silence, red hot pain, cool blue sadness. The day hadn't gotten any better when Fury popped up at the gym to tell him about the Tesseract. Now there he was, on a mission again, but, at least Art was there at his side.
"Here, you both might want to have a look over this," Coulson said, standing and holding something out to them. It was one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s electronic tablets that was essentially just a slab of glass that worked like a computer. Both soldiers had been briefed on the situation; how and when the Tesseract had been found, how it had been stolen, how agents had been compromised… but they didn't need to be told twice how dangerous it all was. "These are just some, uh, files on who you might be working with. Just, uh… tap on whoever you want to read about." Coulson gestured to the screen vaguely as Steve took it from his grasp, knowing full well that the two were still adjusting to modern technology… he'd been reading the reports as they came in.
"Right, thanks," Steve said with a friendly nod and smile. Coulson nodded back, returning the smile brightly, standing there a moment too long before he returned to his seat on the opposite side of the loading bay. The names listed on the screen were:
Bruce Banner
Artemesia Knoll
Steven Rogers
Natasha Romanoff
Anthony Stark
After a moment of consideration, Steve tapped the screen where 'Anthony Stark' was displayed, finger pressing against the glass harder than necessary. Files zoomed into focus on the screen, including a video of Tony zipping about as Iron Man, making public appearances, and showing off. There were so many files on Stark that it would take well over a day to read them all, so after skimming through what they were allowed to read, they moved on to Romanoff, a former Russian assassin, and, finally Banner. Steve and Art watched a video on the screen with creases forming between their eyebrows. A video of a large, green being that Banner apparently turned into when his heart rate got too high; the Hulk, they called it. The video depicted the Hulk attacking a squadron just outside Culver University.
"We're about forty minutes out from base, sir," the pilot told Coulson, who had stood up to stretch his legs. Steve and Art had been quietly reading and chatting for the last hour, leaving the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to twiddle his thumbs and wait––hope––one of them asked him something. Turning away from the cockpit, Coulson approached the two soldiers with a residual smile on his face.
"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me––us?" Steve inquired, referencing something they'd read in a file moment before. Coulson nodded his confirmation.
"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superheroes. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to Erskine's original formula," Coulson explained, gesturing to them both, "which, of course, led to Schmidt's version of the serum." Their attention was brought back to the screen as the Hulk roared and slammed his fists into a jeep.
"Didn't really go his way, did it?"
"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, guy's like a Stephen Hawking." Art and Steve stared up at him with confusion shining in their eyes, a look that was starting to leak into their expressions. Steve's lips were parted and Art's brows were pulled together. "He's like a… smart person." The soldiers slowly nodded, and Coulson thought that he might have seen a twinge of embarrassment for not knowing what he had been referencing. "I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, both of you, officially." His comment drew a smile from his idols, a humble but happy look. "I sort of met you guys, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping."
Steve and Art's smiles waned and Steve looked down at his hands. Art scratched at the back of her neck, pushing hair over both her shoulders. They both found Coulson to be quite kind and very helpful, but his last comment was just… odd. Steve set the tablet aside and rose to his feet, walking towards the opening that led into the cockpit so he could stare out the pilot's window. They were speeding over the ocean, the water glittering beneath them in gentle, rolling waves. Art stretched her legs out, knees popping as they were moved from the position they'd been in so long, still avoiding Coulson's eyes. The agent quickly began to stutter out random syllables as he attempted to correct his words, which had definitely come out creepier than he'd intended.
"I mean I was… I was present while you were unconscious from the ice." The correction drew a chuckle from Art, who shifted to sit on the edge of her seat, leaning her forearms on her knees. "It's just a huge honor to have you both on board."
"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job," Steve said, bracing an arm just above the door that lead to the cockpit. Art smiled a bit and raised a hand.
"And I the woman," she added on. Coulson smiled brightly and looked between the two, standing beside Steve, which situated him between the two soldiers.
"Oh, you are. Absolutely. We've, uh, made some modifications the uniforms," Coulson suddenly informed. A proud smile appeared on his face and he offered a little shrug. "I had some input."
"The uniform?" Steve asked, sounding surprised. He shared a look with Art, who looked equally as surprised. They hadn't even seen their uniforms since they'd woken up. Art figured they had been thrown away or, at best, achieved. Besides… Steve had always figured his uniform was more of a costume, just a symbol. "Aren't the stars and stripes a little… old fashioned?"
There was a beat of serious silence as Coulson gave a slow nod and quirked a smile. "With everything that's happening… the things that are about to come to light… people might need a bit of old fashioned." His words were so serious, so truthful, that it brought them all to a thoughtful silence. Art tucked hair behind her ear and then rested her chin atop her clasped hands, only bringing her gaze up from the floor when Coulson turned to her, smiling once again. "I––we––particularly had fun with refiguring your uniform, Lieutenant."
"My… my uniform? It… it was just a blue tailcoat and black pants," she laughed. "The only… 'iconic' thing about that uniform was the little wing patch." Each of the Commandos had gotten a small, silver-white patch in the shape of a small wing that were exact copies of the wing pattern on the temples of Steve's headgear. Bucky and Art wore them on their left jacket sleeves. Falsworth put it on his breast pocket. Dugan tucked it into the band of his bowler cap since he wasn't sure where he wanted to put it yet. Coulson chuckled and shook his head, like she had said something wrong.
"Each of the Commandos' uniforms were iconic. For example, Dum-Dum Dugan with his bowler cap. Falsworth with his red beret and scarves… Bucky Barnes with his double breasted coat, and you with your tailcoat. We vamped off that, though, you will find it's a smidgen different. The comics liked to take liberties with it throughout the years, but we made sure it was functional."
Art slowly nodded and leaned back in her seat, tracing the vague shape of the wing patch against her thigh as Coulson chattered on about one S.H.I.E.L.D. regulation or another about uniform requirements or something of the sort. True to the pilot's word, it took another forty or so minutes to get to what appeared to be a very large battleship Coulson had called the Helicarrier. The process of landing was much rougher for Art than the take-off had been. The pitfall feeling she got in her stomach as the descended was much stronger than what it had been at take-off and reminded her of plummeting towards the ocean. But she grit her teeth and made herself stand tall and hold her chin up. As the pilot flicked some switches to drop the ramp at the rear of the quinjet, Coulson stepped up on her right and smiled at her.
"You see? I told you it'd be alright," he said. She returned the smile thankfully and pushed hair behind her ears again.
When Coulson, Steve, and Art exited the quinjet via the ramp, they were met by a woman with short, curly red hair. Steve and Art immediately recognized her as Natasha Romanoff, thanks to the snooping they'd been allowed to do on the way there. She wore all black, save for her red-orange shirt, which Art supposed was a habit of assassins both current and former; but, despite the carefully composed look on Romanoff's face, Art got the feeling she was a good person.
"Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers and Lieutenant Knoll," Coulson said, gesturing to the World War two veterans. Natasha offered a smile.
"Ma'am."
"Hi."
"A pleasure to meet you," Art said. Natasha nodded to her and gave her a once over, a curiosity present in her eyes.
"The pleasure's all mine." She turned to Coulson then, nodding to the massive expanse of the ship. "They need you on the bridge. Face time." The agent dashed off with a 'see you there' to the three he was leaving behind. The trio as they casually began walking towards the edge of the ship, Art smoothing her hands along the sides of her legs to keep her skirt in order. "There was quite a buzz around here, finding you guys in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Has he asked either of you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" Steve's brows shot upwards and a small smile appeared on his ips.
"Trading cards?"
"They're vintage. He's very proud," Natasha informed with an amused smugness in her voice. "One of his favorite cards is the two of you posing together––apparently it's one of the rarest ones to find nowadays." Steve made a sound in his throat, shoving his hands in his pants pockets.
"Imagine that; you and I on trading cards," Steve said to Art, who smiled and shrugged.
"I've seen a couple of them. They're amusing, actually. Some of them barely look like you," Art commented, recalling the framed cards Kenny had in his apartment. Steve smirked and shook his head.
"Can't wait to see how they depicted you."
They approached a man wearing a brown suit jacket, matching pants, and a vivid purple button down; he was trying to walk forward, but found that people kept getting in his way. He skirted around them, clearly nervous as he rubbed his hands together and avoided any and all bodily contact. Sensing his discomfort, Art put on a friendly smile and approached him confidently.
"Dr. Banner," she said in greeting. Bruce stared at her for a moment before accepting the hand she had proffered. Blinking he added in a nod as well, swallowing the thickness that had gathered in his throat.
"Oh, yeah, hi. They, uh, told me you'd be coming," he said, eyes ficking between Art and Steve. Steve stepped forward and shook the doctor's hand. He was standing a bit taller, his face was a spell more composed, and his movements were all very measured; it was clear that Steve had slipped back into Captain mode.
"Word is you can find the cube," he said as they shook hands. Bruce chuckled and clasped his own hands together again, briefly glancing down at the tarmac. There was a cautious suspiciousness in his movements.
"Is that the only word?"
"Only word I care about." Bruce nodded and then gestured to everything around them. There were aircrafts all around them and men and women in uniform jogging about the deck in formations.
"Must be strange for you both, all of this," Bruce commented. Art and Steve watched as a number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents jogged by in a manner that reminded them of boot camp. Art clasped her hands behind her back and smirked a bit and Steve resisted the urge to chuckle. Instead, one of his eyebrows arched skyward and he smiled a bit.
"Well, this is actually kind of familiar," he admitted, sounding surprisingly relaxed. It was true. The atmosphere was so familiar it was nearly eerie; both Art and Steve actually felt comfortable, relaxed, and at home, even. A recruit walked passed Art and nodded to her respectfully, touching the brim of his cap as he passed, uttering 'Lieutenant.' She smiled and laughed quietly while returning the nod.
"Quite familiar," she agreed.
"Gentlemen, Lieutenant, you may want to step inside in a minute," Natasha casually said from behind them. "It's gonna get a little hard to breath."
The Helicarrier started to shake, and an alarm started to blare. Agents ran about to start clipping tow cables from quinjets and planes to the runways they sat on. Steve laughed in disbelief, pushing his hands into his pockets as they ventured towards the edge of the Helicarrier to get a better look at what was going on. The sea around them was beginning to roil and bubble, something that was not a very typical sight to see on a battleship. Art tilted her head curiously, falling into step with the two men.
"Is this a submarine?" he asked, almost to himself.
"Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurized, metal container?" Bruce snorted and shook his head; honestly, was S.H.I.E.L.D. stupid? The lives they were endangering by even bringing him on board was ludicrous. Finally standing at the very edge of the ship, they saw that the water was bubbling so violently due to a set of massive lift fans that were appearing out of the water. The blades within them spun, churning the water into a frothy, bubbling mess. Water splashed up against the Helicarriers sides and it slowly began to rise, the wind kicking up. Steve and Art stared in awe and Bruce just shook his head with a dismal chuckle. Clenching a fist full of her skirt so it bunched up around her legs to protect her modesty, Art just shook her head and let out a laugh.
"Oh, of course… it flies," she called out over the wind.
"This is much worse," Bruce added on wryly.
Once they were inside, Art found that she didn't feel that nervous roiling in her stomach, like she might have thought she would. The Helicarrier was vastly larger than Schmidt's plane and the quinjet, which was actually quite a comfort; that meant that they probably wouldn't feel the tiny turbulances that made other planes shake and shudder. And that was, indeed, a relief. The inside of the Helicarrier was like a mash of something old and everything new. It felt like a military craft, and everyone around them addressed them by proper titling as they passed. It had that distinct, timeless, military feel that made Steve and Art feel at home, and yet all of the new technology made it feel foreign, but not foreign enough to make them shy away from it.
Led by Natasha, they were brought to the bridge, which was a vast space filled with agents sititng in front of monitors and screens just below an elevated level that must have been the command station. There numerous screens around sat spot, which had a full view of the entire room and jutted out slightly so that Fury could be seen. Behind said spot was a large, glass table probably meant for consultations and planning missions. Agent Hill was giving out orders from her station on the floor, relaying something to Fury once everything was checked and ready to go. Everything was gleaming and glittering, brand-spanking new, and completely awe-inspiring to the two soldiers who froze to take it all in. Art, finally forgetting that they were in a flying hunk of metal, smiled in wonder and stopped at one of the railings to lean against it.
"We're at level, sir," Maria told Fury, who smiled with a pleased expression.
"Good," he said, "let's vanish."
"Reflective panels engage!"
"Vanish…" Art murmured under her breath, shaking her head in complete dispbelief. This massive ship could vanish. What else would the world think of next? Fury turned around and gave them a nod of greeting.
"Gentlemen, Miss Knoll." Steve stepped forward and dug a ten dollar bill out of his pocket. With a risidual smile on his face, Steve handed it to Fury, who smugly took it and fitted it into his pocket. He knew he'd win that bet––all of this had always been bound to surprise the Captain.
Steve noticed that Art had walked down a thin walkway that cut directly through the room and towards the windows at the very front, so he followed. She was staring out at the expance of sky before them, which was still a vibrant, bright blue in the late afternoon sun. Clouds drifted past them in puffy, cotton-candy like lumps, disappearing from their line of vision as they glided forward. It was surpising to see that Art was smiling; she was biting her thumb nail, but she was smiling.
"You know, it's really beautiful," Art commented, gesturing to the sight before them. "When you stop and look at it all… it's so beautiful. Nevermind whatever happened before… To feel like you're flying––and when you actually are––is just… brilliant."
"I think you might be getting over your fear of flying," Steve chuckled, smiling down at her. Had it not been for the professional setting they found themselves in, he would have taken her hand, draped an arm over her shoulder, or kissed her head. But they were stood in front of dozens of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and they both knew that wouldn't exactly fly––or, perhaps it would. But none the less, they simply shared a smile and kept on walking, dropping down a level as they approached Coulson, who was explaining how they were going about finding the Tesseract.
"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessable camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops… if it's connected to a satellites, it's eyes and ears for us," Coulson explained to Bruce. Natasha was crouched down by one of the screens that displayed a picture of Clint's face. Her own features were twisted into a look of deep concern, her hands wringing themselves together as she thought over what they'd just been told.
"That's still not gonna find them in time," she commented.
"Narrow your field," Bruce instructed. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"
"How many are there?" Fury asked.
"Call every lab you know and have them put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places," Bruce said, further laying out what plans they should follow as he removed his jacket. Art stared at him with both her brows arching for her hairline. Coulson hadn't been kidding when he said he was 'like a smart person.' She barely understood half of the words that had come out of his mouth. "Do you have somewhere for me to work?"
"Agent Romanoff, will you show Doctor Banner to his laboratory, please?" Fury asked, making a step towards the command consoles.
"You're gonna love it, Doc. We've got all the toys," Natasha told Bruce as she led him towards the door they'd entered through.
"Agent Coulson, why don't you show the Captain and Lieutenant to their quarters? I'm sure they'd like to rest; it's been a long day."
"Of course, sir." Coulson turned to Steve and Art, smiled and gestured to another door. "If you'd both please follow me."
The rest of the afternoon was spent getting the two aquainted with their new surroundings. Their rooms were all situated in what they called 'R-Hall,' which was just an abbreviation for 'Residency Hall.' There were a couple kitchenettes and leisure rooms, though Art had to guess that those wouldn't exactly be thoroughly used during this mission. Perhaps on other days and other missions that weren't as dire they might find an agent or two sipping coffee in the comfortable chairs, but everyone was still buzzing about, preparing the Helicarrier, doing maitenance, or situated at their stations to get their locators on Loki and Clint. Steve and Art each had small locker rooms that held their uniform and their equipment, two rooms that they didn't dare push into yet. Once their initial tour was done with, and a little bit of coffee was had, night had fallen and they found themselves back on the bridge.
"I mean… if it's not too much trouble," Coulson was saying, in reference to the conversation they'd been having about his––apparently infamous––trading card collection.
"No, no! It's fine," Steve assured from his spot beside the contented looking Agent. His idols flanked him on either side, and it was practically a dream come true.
"I'd love to," Art added on sincerely, but distractedly. She was eager to find this bastard, track down Clint. She'd easily slipped back into Lieutenant mode, just as Steve had slipped into Captain mode. There was a lull in conversation before Coulson said,
"It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint. Slight boxing around the edges, but––" His description was cut off as a computer began to ping insistantly, and an agent sprung out of his seat.
"We've got a match! Sixty-seven percent. Wait, cross-match––sixty-nine percent."
"Location?" Coulson asked, crossing to the computer.
"Stuttgart, Germany. Twenty-eight Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding…" the agent said, gesturing to the video feed he'd pulled up.
"Captain, Lieutenant," Fury called from his post. They turned around to face him, an expectant look on their faces. "You're up."
Afterword: So, I went on a writing binge for this story the last few days and wrote about three chapters. Seemed a shame to not get this one up. :) I'm having too much fun with this story… far too much fun.
Review replies!
R.S. Dobs: I'm excited to get into the Avengers, too; I'm really excited to finally write out what I've had planned. We meet Tony next chapter––that's gonna be real fun! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
Princess Jacqueline Chess: I figured that Art and Steve aren't ALWAYS together, so it made sense if she got the mission seperately. And Tony may or may not end up acting kind of asshole-ish in a couple chapters… oh what fun that'll be! I hope you enjoyed the chapter; thanks again!
Nik1804: I loved writing Matt and might try and fit him in later :) It was nice taking a step back with Art last chapter, but now we're thrown in to the thick of things! We meet Tony and Loki next chapter, so that'll be great fun––we also get to see Art's suit! I finally devised what it looks like. We also get some tension in the next few chapters… I'm so excited, oh my god. Steve and Art getting cutesy will also happen at some point soon, and it's just gonna be great. I love reading and replying to your reviews, darling! They're always amazing to read! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, love! Thanks again!
R.J. North: I totally agree; and I'm glad I'm not the only one who just hopelessly has endless story ideas. The ideas just rattle around in my head near constantly. I had such trouble trying to figure out 'Lieutenant Libert' that when it hit me, I had a happy spaz attack. And I love that song dearly! I think I might make a playlist of songs for these stories because I do have a list of songs I listen to while writing this story. Also, I think it would be hilarious for Art to meet Foggy––I think he'd understand who she was pretty quickly, and then freak out about it. I don't know about an Agent's of SHIELD episode… I hadn't thought of that! Art meets Tony and Loki next chapter, and it's personally one of my favorite chapters of this particular story so far; and I have some real good feelsy ideas for a Bucky story… 'cause I just love writing feelsy stories! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
shugoke: I'm glad that I'm keeping Steve and Art realistic! That's always my ultimate goal :) I hope you're enjoying the story! Thanks again!
weasleylover10: Super pumped you loved the bit with Matt! It was a lot of fun to write; I toyed with writing a Daredevi story a little while back… I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks again!
grapejuice101: Movie plot-line time! So excited for what's to come. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
LMarie99: There's gonna be a lot more Coulson! :D Maybe not a LOT but there will be more of him, because he's a sweetie! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
shadowhuntingdauntlessdemigod: There will be more interactions with Bruce and Nat in the next few chapters, 'cause their greetings are fleeting here; and I will follow the plot of the movie with a couple of my own little tweaks and twists because Art's gotta fit in there some how :) I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
Aice Gone Madd: I'd love to have Lucky as a pet, he's just so sweet. I might have her meet Spiderman; I have an idea of how she could… stay tuned to find out if she does ;) I love writing Superhero cameos, they're so much fun! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
sarahmichellegellarfan1: I'm glad you enjoyed last chapter! Thanks again!
Jo: I couldn't remember if in the second Avengers Clint had a dog at the farm, so I was like 'screw it, Lucky's gonna be in this story whether he was in the movie or not!' And if he wasn't, well, I have plans to keep him involved; also, Steve and Art should totally have a dog. Steve would cuddle with it like mad, and we all know it! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
OmuiYumi: Since Avengers takes place about a year or so before the Daredevil series… I'm assuming Matt is in his mid/late twenties/early thirties. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
Anna (Guest): I'm very, extremely flattered that you consider this one of the best Capt. America fics! Also, thank you for the corrections on the German! I'll go fix them! :) Thank you so much, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
tkczombiepe: I think Art and Matt are/will be great friends; they've both got things they're hiding from each other and I think that oddly brings them closer together, able to bond easier. I dunno. I think they're both sweetiepies and desrve good friends. And Steve'll come around and get friends, as is evidenced by Sam, and, who knows, maybe he'll befriend Matt too :) Also, Coulson, our resident angel… you'll have to stick around and see what I choose to do. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
And to those who have added this to their favorites/follows, it means a lot! Thank you!
And that's it for this chapter; next time we get to see Art's suit! I finally devised what her suit will look like, and, if I could draw bodies, I'd draw that thing and upload it to tumblr. But, unfortunately, I can only do portraits of people from the shoulders up, and even then I'm not that good. *sigh* such is life, right? Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
~Mary
