Chapter Seven

Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine proved to be more than a competent second in command; she was whatever Steve wanted her to be. In what Steve chalked up to European bluntness she told him over lunch that they should become lovers in order to get to know each other's minds better.

"As lover's I will get to know you so well that I'll be able to anticipate your needs and orders in the field. We will be of one mind," she suggested to him.

Steve paused over a forkful of his spaghetti Carborana not believing he heard what he heard.

"Excuse me, Agent de Fontaine, did you suggest we become lovers in order to become a more efficient command unit?" he asked her.

"Ci," she smiled.

"I see," he said then cleared his throat. "I find this a rather odd suggestion and I believe it goes against SHIELD's regulations on fraternization."

"Ah, well, affairs between agents is not so much a regulation as a guideline," the raven-haired stunningly beautiful agent said. "And please, Steve, call me Allegra."

"Well, Allegra, I like to keep a more traditional leader and second in command relationship," he said.

She smiled at him as if he was being a stubborn child, "Then we must teach you how to open your horizons and think outside of the box."

"I think we should table this conversation for another day," Steve replied uncomfortably.

After lunch, Steve requested a pickup to take him to the helicarrier. His intention was to speak to Director Fury and have de Fontaine replaced. When he finally was able to corner Director Fury later that day on the helicarrier at the firing range, he explained his situation and got an amused grin from Fury.

"Allegra has a unique way of developing chemistry," Fury said. "Be honored, Cap, she doesn't make this offer to all her CO's."

"Director, I am honored, but I am also uncomfortable with this," he said.

"Cap, we are spies not soldiers. We tend to do things a little different," Fury told him. "Anyway, you probably could use a little loosening up. Even a super soldier needs a release value as the pressure builds up. She is offering to be your release value, Cap. Consider it an honor. Also, consider her your second in command."

Once again, Steve was reminded that he was a visitor to this time not born to it. Anyway, he found the perfect release value and more in Agent Romanov. Unfortunately, she didn't feel the same for him, though Fury's words at least gave him a better sense of how she felt towards him. The Black Widow merely used him as a release value.

"I'll think about it, sir," said Steve.

Yes, he was definitely never going to completely this period of time. In many ways, he felt like Mark Twains' A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, except in reverse. He had fallen into a more advanced and definitely more confusing time period, one he just didn't understand. Steve started to walk away.

"Oh, Captain," said Fury in his best I am in charge voice.

"Yes, sir," Steve said after he stopped and turned and faced him.

"Agent Hill has the specs on the Destroyer the Avengers took out. Our R&D boys believe the energy directed weapons will have success against them. Why don't you take a look at them and have Hill run some simulations with you," Fury said.

"Right away, sir," he said then snapped a turn in best military fashion and headed off leaving Fury with a smile on his face.

Avengers

The Red Skull used the life force, or souls as Thor put it, of forty of his men to fuel four Destroyers then released them off to devastate Washington DC. After destroying a section of the Museum of Natural History, the Avengers had managed to corral the four Destroyers on the National Mall. As the new leader, Tony issued his orders. Giant Man, Henry Pym, wrestled with one until a visor blast knocked him unconscious sending his enlarged form sprawling on the grass. It had been decided by Tony to leave Bruce at home, a decision he was regretting once Giant Man took an extended nap. He feared a rampaging Hulk destroying the Destroyers and most of DC.

Tony had Thor battling one Destroyer, while Hawkeye and the Black Widow held their own against another. This left Iron Man and the Wasp to battle the remaining two until Giant Man woke up. The Wasp was about to be decimated by a blast from the visor of one of the Destroyers, when Tony put on the after jets and took the blast for her. The power of the energy blast sent him skidding and skipping into the reflecting pool.

When Iron Man exited the water, he saw two quinjets hovering over the battlefield and Captain America leading his team against the two destroyers Tony had been fighting. With precision and under the command of Cap, his team began the assault using a combination of RPG's and Energy Directed Weapons, which had been provided by Stark Industries.

"Allegra, have Henson and Moore set up a cross fire with the EDW's, while Collins, Rondo, and Hallestrom pepper the Destroyers with RPG's," he ordered. "Have everyone else fall back as our second line of defense. I'll get the Destroyers attention and bring them to the cross fire."

"Be careful, Steven," she said.

"Get ready," he said then ran at the Destroyers.

Iron Man watched for a moment as Cap dodge and avoided visor blast after visor blast. He then watched as Cap threw his shield at one Destroyer hitting it in the visor at just the moment it was going to blast him. His shield caused it to turn its head and blast the other Destroyer send it back and make it begin self-repairs. Iron Man flew over to him.

"Welcome to the battle, Cap," he said.

"Stark, help Hawkeye and Black Widow. My team has this handled," Steve told him.

"Are you sure you can handle both of them?" Tony asked.

"If you Energy Directed Weapons work as well as you send they would then we should be able to do more damaged then the Destroyers can repair," Steve said.

The Wasp landed on Steve's shoulder.

"What about me?" she asked.

Steve smiled at her. He immediately liked Janet Van Dyne fighting spirit.

"You can help me draw them into our cross fire," he said.

"I like you, Captain America," she said then flew at the Destroyers and started peppering them with her stinger blasts.

Confident that Captain America and his team could handle them, Iron Man flew off to help Hawkeye and Black Widow, who were doing damaged but not enough to stop the Destroyer. Now that Iron Man joined them, they had the firepower to stop the Destroyer.

With the world watching live as every news channel and network showed the battle live, the four Destroyers were stopped. Yes, the National Mall was worse for wear and in need of a great deal of repair, but the threat was over.

"Captain," Allegra drew Steve's attention as he stared at the two fallen constructs.

He turned and looked at her.

"Yes, Agent de Fontaine," he said.

"Fury is sending a cleanup crew. He wants us to return to the helicarrier for a debriefing. He said we should let the Avengers handle the media," she smiled seductively.

In her one-piece black jumpsuit, Steve had to admit she was a difficult woman to ignore. She walked up to him and looped her arm through his left arm, as his right arm carried his shield. The Wasp, who was sitting on his shoulder, mumbled, "Tramp."

Steve turned his head towards her, "Huh? What did you say?"

"Nothing, Captain," the Wasp said. "Gotta go check on Hank."

She flew away towards Pym, who was finally awake and had shrunk down to his normal size. Thor. Iron Man, Black Widow, and Hawkeye were surrounded him. Janet landed beside Hank and grew back to her normal size. He looked at her and smiled.

"You're alright," he said.

"Fine. I fought with Captain America. That's one for the scrapbooks," she said.

The Avengers turned their attention to Cap and his team. The quinjets returned. Ropes dropped from the back of them and Cap and his men started climbing the ropes with their equipment on their backs.

"They kicked some butt," said Clint as he looked at the two destroyed Destroyers.

Tony's facemask lifted up exposing his face, which had an annoyed expression on it.

"They did it with weapons supplied by Stark Industries," he groused.

"It is good to see the Captain," said Thor.

Natasha didn't speak. Her eyes were fixed on Allegra. She knew de Fontaine well. The Contessa liked to seduce men who interested her and it appeared that Captain America interested her. She didn't even bother to hide the snarl that twisted her lips. Clint didn't comment, but he did place a hand over his mouth to hide his amusement. The Black Widow was jealous.

"Stark, Thor!" they heard the cries coming from a throng of media headed their way.

Tony sighed. Even with all his experience dealing with the media, he never relished the encounters. Thor smiled.

"Pony up, everyone," Tony said. "Time to make nice nice for the cameras."

Slowly standing up, Henry Pym said, "I don't know if I'm up for this. I'm still dizzy and my chest hurts."

"Don't worry," said Tony. "Considering you slept through most of the fight, they probably won't have many questions for you."

Janet was about to open her mouth to defend Hank, when he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder to stop her. Thor gave a reassuring slap on Hank's back then followed Tony as he approached the media. Clint and Natasha walked up beside Hank and Janet.

"Don't worry you get used to Stark," said Clint. "Just like you get used to a rash."

"He's right. I didn't last very long," said Hank.

"You need training," stated Natasha, whose mind was still on Agent de Fontaine and her obvious interest in Steve.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Hank said quietly, as he rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand.

"We'll get you trained up," said Clint, who watched Thor and Tony field questions from the media.

Janet looked over at the tore up grass and damaged areas of the National Mall. She then watched the quinjets fly away.

"He was more handsome than I thought he'd be," Janet remarked almost as if she was talking to herself.

"Who?" asked Hank.

"Captain America," she smiled. "I fought with him. He is a really nice guy."

"Oh," was Hank's only reply.

Hawkeye glanced over at Natasha and caught her glaring at Janet. This time he didn't bother hiding his smile. She might have convinced herself that she was through with Captain America, but he knew better.

"What do you think, Tasha, is Captain America handsome?" Clint asked him.

"Stop being an ass, Hawkeye," she growled calling him by his code name, which was a sign she was pissed at him.

He watched as she stormed away. His smile grew.

Avengers

Since he no longer lived at Stark Tower, Steve took Fury's advice and rented an apartment in DC. He had found a place in the U Street Corridor above a jazz club. Originally, he considered giving Brooklyn another chance, but in the end, he decided it was best not to be in New York. A quinjet could pick him up as easily in DC as New York.

After the debriefing and a quick discussion with his team, he had Hallestrom, who was the best pilot on the team, dropped him off in DC. With his shield in a bag and his uniform in a garment bag, he took a cab home. Once there he showered, changed in a jean and a black tee shirt then he went down into the club. Although he liked jazz music, he enjoyed the food even more. The hostess, who had gotten to know Steve well, smiled.

"Hi, Steve, are you here for music or food?" she asked.

"Both," he smiled.

"Want a table?"

"No, ma'am, I'll eat at the bar," he replied.

"Steve, I keep telling you to call me Wanda," she said.

"Okay, Wanda," he smiled then he walked over to the bar and sat down on a stool.

After ordered with the bartender a double cheeseburger with onion rings and a beer on tap, which he ordered mainly to fit in with the crowd, he sat and listened to the music. The quartet was playing Nature Boy.

The pianist started to sing, "There was a boy, a very strange enchanted boy. They say he'd wandered very far, very far over land and sea. A little shy, and sad of eye; but very wise was he."

As Steve's drink arrived, so did Tony Stark. Dressed in a black Armani suit with his tie loosened and the top button of his dress shirt unbutton and a pair of dark glasses with brown lenses, he came strolling over to Steve.

"I see you've upgraded since Stark Towers," Tony smirked.

"I like it," said Steve.

"So you mind telling me what the hell made you show up today? The Avengers were handling it," Tony started the conversation.

"Fury ordered me to assist you and I did. Washington DC is too important to stand by and wait," Steve told him.

"Listen, Capiscle, we could have handled it without your help," said Tony.

Steve looked at him with ice cold blue eyes. Tony opened his mouth to speak, but he stopped. Steve was in his full super soldier mode.

"Listen, Stark, first up, get that Dr. Pym some hand to hand combat training. He has no fighting skills. He is useless to you unless he improves his skills. Next, always work as a team and always have a plan of action, a backup plan, and a fallback plan. Next, never leave your most powerful weapon at home when you are facing that powerful an enemy. If you can't control the Hulk then learn how to control him," Steve told him in a cold even voice.

"Are you going to give me dating advice, too?" asked Tony. "I saw the hot, dark haired chick hanging on your arm."

"Agent de Fontaine is my second in command," said Steve, "she isn't my date."

"Yeah, anywho, I just dropped by to let you know that if and when the Avengers need your help, we'll ask for you it. You walked away from us, Capiscle; we didn't walk away from you," Tony pointedly said.

Steve clenched both his hands into fists, which Tony noticed. He didn't walk away without regrets or doubts. In hindsight, Steve realized Agent Romanov and his feelings for her might have had more to do with his leaving the Avengers then their lapses at listening to him. He had regrets and doubts.

Tony backed away. Without his armor, he didn't want to deal with an angry Captain America. He put his hands up to show he didn't want any violence.

"I came here so we understood each other, Captain," said Tony. "I'm the leader of the Avengers now and I'm looking out for what's best for my team and being shown up by SHIELD agents isn't best for the team."

Steve looked at Tony with an icy glare. He picked up the mug of beer by its body not its handle and took a drink in the hopes of keeping his hands occupied and not reaching out to grab Stark.

"Talk to Fury," he quietly said.

"Are you Fury's lapdog now, Cap?" asked Tony.

Reflexively out of anger, Steve clenched his hands again shattering the mug in his hand as it had exploded. The people sitting around him and the bartender jumped when they heard the sound of the mug shattering. Tony smirked.

Tony looked down at his hand, which was bloody and had glass sticking in it. He picked the glass out piece by piece then looked at the bartender.

"Can I have a towel?" he asked.

"Sure," the bartender said and handed him a clean towel.

Instead using the towel for his hand, Steve used it to sop up the beer and glass. He looked at the bartender.

"Sorry," he said.

Tony took out his wallet and then he pulled out a hundred dollar bill and placed it on the bar top.

"This is for the glass," Tony said then he turned his attention back to Steve. "If the Avengers need your help, we'll let you know."

Tony turned and walked away. Steve sat for a moment breathing in deeply. He wasn't Fury's lapdog. Without the Avengers, though, he wasn't exactly sure what he was, except Captain America, and with the Red Skull returned, that was enough for now.