Steve Rogers was alone in the old boxing gym. He was pleased that it was still here. The city was so different from when he was last here. There were some old pictures on the wall some of the people he had known others he had heard of now that he was out. It was an old-fashioned gym with a boxing ring and other training equipment. To Steve though it was normal. He had tried the gym at S.H.I.E.L.D., but it was too loud and busy. Here it was quiet, and he was able to be alone. Steve punched the bag to the beat of the explosions that hunted his memories. Sleep was something that he did his best to avoid. The thought of falling asleep and waking up in a different time again made him sick. Even if he ignored all the nightmares, it was hard to close his eyes at night. So, he would come to the gym and burn off some energy. As the memories flooded his mind, he fought to turn them back. He could see it Bucky's face as he fell. Peggy's voice as Steve crashed the plane. He had lost so many people, and he could never get them back. Giving into his frustration, Steve punched the bag so hard that it flew across the room. Sighing he turned around and grabbed a new bag setting it up. Taking a deep breath, he settled back into the rhythm.
"Does the boxing help with the sleep." Steve looked up and saw a woman leaning against one of the pillars by the entrance. Her black hair was in loose curls that contrasted with her deep blue eyes. She was pretty apart from the dark circles under her eyes. Steve shook his head at that thought. He hadn't thought about any woman since Peggy. She had told him to move on with his life the last time he went to see her. Peggy had gotten married and had a family. She like the rest of the world had moved on without him. He shook his head at the thought and turned back to the punching bag.
"I slept for seventy years. I think I've had my fill. You're an agent sent to help me get back in the world." Steve said punctuating his words with his punches.
"I'm Dr. Jennifer Shylow." She said flatly causing him to glance at her. She didn't look like a shrink, but you never knew with S.H.I.E.L.D. Steve was still mad about the mind game they had played on him when he first woke up.
"You should be out celebrating, seeing the world." Director Fury said walking into the room, glancing at Jennifer, before continuing over to where he stood. Steve turned and started to remove his boxing tape excepting the fact that he wasn't going to finish his workout.
"When I went under, we were at war. When I woke up, they said we won, but they didn't say what we lost." Steve said fighting back the memories.
"We've made some mistakes along the way some very recently," Jennifer said pushing off from the wall and walked a little further into the room.
"You here with a mission Sir," Steve asked the director without letting his eyes leave her. She was looking at some of the pictures on the wall.
"I am," Fury replied.
"Trying to get me back in the world." Steve laughed.
"Trying to save it." Fury said, handing him a folder. He opened it recognizing the picture was of the tesseract.
"Hydras secret weapon." He said mainly to himself.
"Howard Stark fished it out of the water while looking for you. He thought what we think, that the Tesseract could be the key to clean, sustainable energy. That's something the world severely needs." Fury explained.
"Who took it from you." Steve handed the folder back.
"His name is Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we are going to have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has got a whole lot stranger than the one you use to know," Fury said glancing over at Jennifer.
"At this point I doughty anything would surprise me," Steve said letting his frustration show slightly.
"Ten bucks says your wrong," Jennifer said before clamping her mouth shut. There was a slight blush to her cheeks making him think that she didn't mean to say it out loud.
"There's a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment." Fury called out as Steve started to leave. "Is there anything that you can tell us about the tesseract that we need to know."
"You should have left it in the ocean." He called over his shoulder at the two spies.
Jennifer walked over to Fury after Captain Rogers left.
"He's right you know, you all should have left the thing alone. No good comes from trying to recreate things from the past." Fury glanced over at her. She was still looking in the direction Steve had left. There was a flash of anger the crossed her face before she was able to shove it down.
"Tell me is he in any condition to help." Jennifer rubbed the back of her neck letting out a low breath. She didn't look at him but gave a small nod.
"I will need to look over his file a little more, but I think he should be fine." She said glancing at the destroyed punching bag that was in the corner shivering slightly.
"You better be right." Fury said shaking his head.