A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, friends. Didn't mean to make you think I was crippled by arthritis. I just can't sit and type for hours like I used to.
Going No Place Fast
"That was fast," Leslie commented, seeing the new treadmill, obviously made specially for the Super Soldier. Then she remembered Hill had said much the same thing whens he was talking to Fury.
"This is for me?" Steve asked. "Won't I just break it?"
Carlos handed over a cellphone. "Fury sent this. It's got an explanation on it. One that I don't have clearance enough to listen to, but if you need any help operating this Maserati, I'm fully briefed on that," he said with a smile. He sketched a salute and went back to work, shutting the door behind him and putting up a privacy notice.
The burner phone showed an icon for an audio file labeled "Rogers Reynolds." Leslie reached around Steve to press her finger on the icon.
They heard Fury's voice. "Tell me how you managed this in two days," the director said. "Explain it for someone who is … intelligent, but had little formal schooling and no money for all the gadgets the kids love today."
He was answered by a young man with a soft Scottish accent. "Yes sir. The assignment brought to mind a chassis dynamometer. That's a device used to test vehicles. Basically you put the car on rollers, then you can drive it as fast as you need to without going anywhere. I also started thinking about the history of treadmills. Today they have motors that move the belt requiring the person …"
"... or dog or horse," a young woman's voice interjected at a distance from the recorder. Steve's sharp ears could hear water running and clinking glassware, as if someone was washing dishes.
"... or horse or dog," the Scot agreed. "To move to keep up with the speed of the belt. But in the old days, people or dogs or horses walked a treadmill to generate power to grind grain."
"Or simply for punishment," the woman said with disapproval. Steve thought she had an English accent, though it was hard to tell with how few words she'd said.
The young man took a deep breath, "So," he said, forcing the discussion back on topic. "I could put a treadmill belt on rollers and just let it freewheel, but the faster your hypothetical enhanced speedster runs, the more dangerous a stumble would be."
"People get flung off regular treadmills all the time," the woman said.
"I have bruises to prove it," the Scot agreed. "This treadmill can freewheel, but only up to a point, then the gears kick in and the runner is running against resistance. It has, well, an automatic transmission. Or the runner can use the controls to shift manually, like a motorcycle."
Steve perked up and began studying the controls as he listened. He understood motorcycles.
"You not only designed it, but you built it here in the lab in just two days," Fury said.
Steve revised his mental image from washing dishes in a kitchen to washing test tubes and beakers in a lab.
"Yes sir."
"He was a bit bored, just hanging about, waiting for an assignment, you see," the woman said with studied innocence.
"I'll take that under advisement," Fury said dryly. "What kind of tolerances does this have?"
There was a pause. "Well ..." the man said.
The washing up noises stopped and Steve heard a deadbolt turn in a lock.
"I built it with Captain America in mind," the Scot said.
Steve and Leslie stiffened and imagined Fury would have done the same, if he hadn't been unflappable.
"Why's that?" Leslie knew the director would be angry if news of Steve's resurrection had reached the academy. Everyone in the New York headquarters knew, because of Steve's dramatic escape, but no one outside the building should know, except Coulson in New Mexico and Natasha in Russia, or wherever she was spying now.
"I recognized him," the woman said. She was closer to the microphone now. Steve pictured her standing at the young man's side. Her accent reminded him of Peggy.
"Peggy Carter is her idol," the man said.
"I have a photo, taken from a newsreel, of her and Captain Rogers together. His head is turned and he looks surprised and alarmed by something she's said. A few days ago I happened to be online when I got an alert about an incident in the vicinity of New York headquarters."
"She's a bit bored, too," the Scot interposed dryly.
"I saw the photos of a man running and stopping in Times Square. He looked shocked and alarmed and I recognized him immediately."
"The photo is on her desk, right next to the computer. It was easy to compare the two men in the few moments before all the photos suddenly disappeared," the man said.
"Everybody knows there was some kind of alert in the building, but none of my friends at headquarters are talking about what happened, which is commendable though frustrating," the woman said.
"We thought, 'Well! SHIELD found Captain America and he's alive. Job well done.' But since no one was talking about it, we didn't either," the man said. "Then several of us were offered an extra credit assignment, a test, to design a treadmill that could accommodate a super speedster."
"It made sense," the woman said. "You can't exercise in public if you're super fast, not if you want to stay undercover."
"And I thought, why not?" Steve could almost hear the man's shrug. "If it was just a test or if it was meant for someone else, the captain's statistics are as good a benchmark to shoot for as any. And his statistics are on file in the SSR papers, so I used those parameters and then tripled them. Her suggestion."
"Tripled?" Fury asked curiously.
"Yes, with wartime rationing, long days in the field and general stress, he can't possibly have reached his full potential in the 1940s," the woman said. "He's bound to get stronger and faster with proper nutrition and a scientific exercise program. And if I may say, sir, you rather confirmed our hypothesis with your description of him as intelligent but not educated and with no experience with modern technology."
"I can't confirm any of your guesses," Fury said, with amusement evident in his voice.
"Of course not," the woman agreed.
"But I will tell your instructors to pass you with the highest marks allowed for your ingenuity and for going beyond the instructions to actually build this contraption."
"Thank you, sir," the man said with satisfaction.
"And about our permanent assignment?" the woman asked hopefully.
"Patience is another lesson to master," Fury said. "And, yes, that's another test."
"Yes sir," the Englishwoman said with obvious disappointment.
The recording cut off there.
"They made it for me," Steve said, as delighted and incredulous as a kid with an unexpected birthday present. "Not just any super fast person, but me in particular."
"Sounded that way," Leslie said with a grin.
"Do you know who they are?" Steve asked. "They sounded really smart. As smart as Howard Stark, but with better manners."
Leslie chuckled. "Howard Stark, Suuu-per genius," she joked, getting a puzzled look from Steve. "It's from a cartoon," she explained. "One of the Looney Toons, but a little later than your time."
"I remember Bugs Bunny," he offered.
"Yep, same studio. We'll find some and I'll show you. In fact, I think the Super Genius line is from a Bugs Bunny cartoon, because the character, Wile E. Coyote, doesn't usually speak in his regular Roadrunner cartoons. We'll find it. Want to try your new toy?"
Steve noticed she hadn't answered his question about the man and woman, but he respected the operational secrecy and didn't ask again. "Yes, please," he said instead.
Steve took off his button-up shirt while Leslie pretended to fan herself and swoon. He maturely stuck his tongue out at her. She laughed and called Carlos for treadmill instructions.
"It's pretty easy," the concierge said after he returned. "There's no motor. Your feet provide all the power. Step up."
Steve climbed on. He put his hands on the handlebars.
"First you need to unlock it," Carlos instructed. He handed Steve a key and pointed out the "ignition switch." When Steve turned the key, he felt the treadmill shift slightly under his feet.
"This is the brake," Carlos said. The lever by Steve's right hand looked like a motorcycle handbrake brake. The Super Soldier squeezed the lever and the treadmill went still again.
"Where's the shifter?" Steve asked. "Wouldn't be safe to have a foot pedal they way a motorcycle does."
Carlos shuddered. "Imagine hopping on one foot at top speed while you tried to shift. No, the shifter is where the throttle would be on a motorcycle."
Steve nodded. "I get it. There's no engine so it doesn't need a throttle." He twisted the right handgrip and felt it click.
"Right now it's set to revert to midrange when you let go," Carlos said. He pointed at set of dials and push buttons. "When you find your most comfortable gear, you can set it as the default using this switch."
Leslie didn't know diddly about motorcycles, but she understood that midrange would be safer than full stop or freewheeling.
Steve started cautiously. (Bucky would be proud of his caution, he thought with a pang that he set aside with willpower.) He ran the gearshift up and down, as if he was revving an engine, feeling the way it made the treadmill change under his feet. He tested the brake, too cautiously at first because nothing happened. He was afraid of breaking the lever at first, but remembered it had been calibrated for his super-strength so he squeezed more firmly, bringing the slowly moving treadmill to a halt.
"Step back," he instructed. "I'm going to speed up."
Remembering the flying punching bag, Leslie and Carlos stood well back and off to the side where they hoped to be out of the line of fire.
But Steve handled the new machine like a pro. He sped up until his legs were a blur, like a Roadrunner cartoon, Leslie thought. Then he shifted gears until the treadmill forced him to slow, as if he was running up a steep hill. His legs began to burn and sweat beaded on his forehead. He grinned with fierce joy as he pushed himself — actually pushed himself!
He needed to write the mysterious builders a thank you note.
A/N: But we know who the builders are, right? Good guessing JuliaAurelia.
I have had a page on chassis dynamometers bookmarked on my cellphone for nearly two years! Glad to be done with it.