October 14th, 2011

Rhea woke up with her phone beeping. "Mission alert."

She groaned. "Can't a girl get some rest?"

Rhea reached the base to find Clint in his tac gear. "This is child labor you know."

Clint chuckled. "You are eighteen, kid." Clint froze realizing his mistake, "No, no don't,"

"See you said it. I am a kid." Clint groaned. She noticed a tight smile on Hill's face. She sent a quick text to Steve.

"Need to cancel our Saturday plan. Work emergency. Don't know if I can text back at the base"

Her phone beeped. "Take care, I will miss you."

"That was fast Cap," She smiled realizing he texted faster than normal.

"Learning my ropes," She giggled, Clint raised an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes. "Should I be concerned?"

"No, Dad," Rhea shot back.

"Okay, Stark might need a heads up."

"He isn't my boyfriend,"

"Potential one,"

"Fuck off," She grunted as she settled on her seat on the jet.

May 2012

Steve was feeling restless. It's been months since Rhea left for the base in New Mexico. She might text him occasionally but most of it was her asking about him. Wishing him holidays. Once a month he would receive a letter from her, explaining the things at the base.

He was surprised when he saw her text.

"Things, have gone south here will be there soon." He tried to call her only to say that her phone was no longer in the network area. He decided to hit the gym.

One after other memories flooded him. Peggy's voice, Bucky's fall, and Rhea's message everything went on a loop on his head. He was scared the worst had happened to Rhea. The thought made him sick. He didn't want to lose the one person who was slowly becoming home. He hit the bag so hard that it flew away.

"What did the poor bag do to you?" Her voice rang through the empty gym. Steve felt he was imagining things before he noticed her leaning against the doorframe.

Steve rushed to her and scooped her up, squeezing her.

"Steve can't breathe," He noticed a bruise on the side of her cheek, a cut on her forehead. "Are you okay?" He asked, she was disheveled.

"Yes, just a few bruises and scratches it will heal,"

"Ahem," They heard Fury clear his throat. Rhea could hear the question well written on his face. "Just friends eh?"

They broke away. "Director," Steve greeted him.

"Trouble sleeping?" Fury asked as he shook hands with Steve.

"I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I had my fill." Steve sassed back. Rhea rolled her eyes.

"Then you should be out, celebrating seeing the world," Fury continued, Steve continued to remove the bandages we wound around his knuckles. "When I went under, the world was at war, I woke up and they said we won. They didn't say what we lost." He grunted out. Rhea walked up to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder. Steve gave her a weak smile.

"We made some mistakes along the way, Some very recently," Steve's eyes fell on the file in Fury's hand.

"You here with a mission sir,"

"I am,"

"Trying to get me back to the world,"

"Trying to save it."

"Hydra's secret weapon,"

"Howard Stark fished it out of the ocean when he was looking for you," Steve's eyes shot to Rhea, she looked at her feet. "He thought what we think; the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy, That's something the world sorely needs." Fury continued.

"Who took it from you?"

"He is called Loki. He's not from around here,"

"There is a lot we have to bring you up to speed on if you are in. the world has gotten even stranger than you already know,"

"At this point, I think anything would surprise me,"

"Ten Buck says you are wrong," Rhea shook her head at both the men.

"There is a briefing packet waiting for you in your apartment," Steve grunted as he went to pick up his bag. Rhea scurried off to him.

"Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury asked Steve as he continued to walk away.

"You should have left it in the ocean,"

Rhea fastened her pace to catch up with Steve. "Steve please, he has Clint," Steve froze, he knew how much the agent meant to Rhea. "I will help Ri, but I want you to tell me what SHIELD was doing with the Tesseract,"

"All I know is something about energy harvesting; Selvig and I weren't allowed to do anything else. I tried snooping around," Steve's eyebrows shot up.

"I don't trust SHIELD," She stated, "Fury tried to recruit me at 15, the only reason I joined was that my Dad painted a target on me by declaring he was Iron Man. I could be close to threats. SHIELD was more of a straightway than hacking into the Pentagon," She shrugged her shoulders. Steve chuckled as he wrapped his hand around her shoulder.

"Ewww, you are sweaty," She pushed him.

"Says the person covered in dust and sand," Rhea snorted, "Got me on that one Cap," She drawled as she dragged him to the exit of the gym.

Steve looked through the tab that Phil had given him. He could see Rhea sitting across with her lips pursed as she went through the surveillance footage looking for Clint. Her eyebrows scrunched together as she tried to zoom in to footage.

"Iss ki ma ki'' She cursed under her breath. "Urghh!" She flipped the tab to the seat next to her.

Steve got up from his seat and sat down next to her, "Hey he is going to be fine,"

"I am scared Steve, He looked into my eyes as if he didn't know me," Rhea bit her lips to prevent the sob from escaping. Steve pulled her close to him.

The quinjet landed on the hangar. Coulson introduced Steve to a redhead whom Rhea seemed to be murdering with her glares. Steve chuckled softly before steering her away from the Agent. Steve continued his conversation as Rhea started to head towards the entrance of the Ship.

Rhea noticed Dr. Banner before her. "Oh my God!" She squealed, "That's doctor Banner, Oh my god!"

Steve smiled softly as Rhea went on rambling about how much a fan she was about doctor Banner's work. Banner smiled at the young stark before turning to Steve.

"Dr. Banner,"

"Hi, I was told you would be coming,"

"The word is that you can find the cube,"

"Is that the only word you heard about me,"

"Ii is the only word I care about,"

"This must be strange for you,"

"No, this is kinda familiar,"

Steve turned to Rhea, who was busy glaring at Agent Romanoff. "Gentlemen you might want to step inside in a minute, its gonna get a little hard to breathe."

"Is this a submarine?"

"Really, they want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" Banner asked amused. The two men walked towards the edge of the ship as Rhea and Natasha waited for them to come back.

"Oh no, this is worse".

They walked into the ship control room. Steve watched around in awe. Rhea went to Natasha who was looking into a monitor scanning for Clint.

"Did you find anything?" she asked, hopping down replacing the tech in the seat. "I will take over," She smiled at the tired

"None, you?" Natasha replied in a clipped tone.

"Same," Rhea replied. Natasha sighed. "We will find him, Kid,"

"We should find him, Romanoff," Rhea replied, "Still not my fan,"

"Nope,"

"You are being ridiculous,"

"I don't think so," Rhea snapped, Natasha chuckled and walked away.

Rhea noticed Steve sliding ten bucks into Fury's hands. She smiled before she continued scanning for Clint. She could hear Romanoff mutter something under her breath in Russian. "What happened?"

"He is collecting shields enemies,"

Rhea blanched, "What is that monster making him do?" She gasped.

"Doctor thank you for coming," Rhea heard Fury thank Dr. Banner. She turned back to her screen. It hurt her to find Clint this way. She was trying to locate him. The last contact vanished somewhere in Eastern Europe. She could hear Banner give instructions to Coulson.

"Ms. Romanoff show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please." Romanoff squeezed her shoulder before getting up and leaving with the doctor. Rhea rolled her eyes as she heard Romanoff flirt with the doctor.

Just then she heard Sitwell.

"We got a hit. 67," She jumped out of her seat. "Wait, cross match, 79%."

"Location," Coulson asked, "Stuttgart, Germany 28 Konigstrasse. He is not exactly hiding."

"Captain," She heard Fury, Rhea looked at Steve who straightened his stance. She felt her phone buzz, "Rhea Durga if you are not picking up the call now young lady you are grounded," She heard her dad's voice through the Bluetooth.

"Dad I am working," She muttered.

"Why are you in the pacific where I am pretty sure there is no land? And when were you going to tell me your dear friend Grant was the Captain Stars and stripe?"

"What? I thought we promised there would be no tracking."

"What about the second part?"

"Dad I am working, I gotta go, love ya bye,"

Rhea waited for Steve to return. She was at the bridge. She saw the quinjet land on the bridge. She saw Steve step out of it. She ran towards him and hugged him. She heard someone clear their throat.

That was when she saw her dad.

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

"I would like to ask the same to you. Is this the charity foundation you were working for?"

"Maybe you both can sort out the family matters later. Now we have a prisoner to take care of." Natasha said. Tony sent a glare towards her direction.

"Dad, I can explain." Tony just turned and left the other way round

She stood there shocked. Steve came near her and squeezed her shoulder.

"He will come around." He whispered, wiping away her tears.

Loki saw the girl hug the soldier. Stark was rather angry with the exchange. He went forward to the pair. Loki was observing the girl. The way she held herself, the way she talked walked said it; that she was Royalty.

"Dad please listen to me shield approached me a few months back to help with the tesseract project and that was how I ended up here."

"But you are a biochemist."

"Dad, I did a double major in physics. They wanted all the help they could get."

"You still lied to me, Pepper and Rhodey. This isn't right. You think your mom would have wanted you to risk your life?"

"Don't drag Ma into this. And you put me at stake from the moment you declared I AM IRONMAN. And yes I lied about joining SHIELD a few months ago. I joined years ago after I graduated."

Bruce was looking between the father-daughter duo. The girl's eyes were shining with anger he could see the Stark stubbornness in her. She was trying to assert her argument with Stark, yet she was talking softly

"But this is different. You are now in a global catastrophe. I promised your mom to keep you safe."

"STOP BRINGING MY DEAD MOTHER INTO THE ARGUMENTS JUST TO WIN YOUR POINT." She shouted at him. Bruce winced. It was the first time she shouted and Bruce saw her storm out slamming the lab's door at Stark's face.

"Well, that ended better than last time."

"Last time?" Bruce questioned.

"Last time she threw a hammer at me."

Rhea bumped into Steve while exiting the lab. He steadied her before she could stumble back.

Steve could see the anger simmering in her eyes. He could also feel the pain in her eyes. "What happened?" Steve asked her, slowly drawing circles with his thump on her shoulder.

"He is being a hypocrite!" she exclaimed

"Who?"

"Dad!"

"Why? What happened?"

"Apparently I am risking my life here. Well, he had already risked my life the moment he declared I Am IRONMAN." She said sarcastically. "And he drags my dead mother to win the argument. That's one thing I can't put up with." Steve winced.

"But you know then the threats were just humans, but now it is extraterrestrial. I would support your dad."

"Thanks for those words of wisdom Captain Rogers." She replied sarcastically. "I am not a damsel in distress, I fought murder robots my father's copycat created. I know to fight."

"You have never been in a real fight,"

"Where you? When you went pout for your first battle?"

"I am a soldier,"

"Your problem is you want me in a glass case like a porcelain doll. Stop thinking for me, I will do what I deem fit for me," She stormed off, leaving Steve gaping at her.