Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel; only Rebecca and the world surrounding her.
Smile - Mikky Ekko
Welcome to Lithe from the To Build A Home Series!
Thanks to BlackcatLover13, MickeyMarceline101, Guest, Taylor Noelle Hood, Kadence1, peygoodwin,
and everyone that reviewed, favorited, and subscribed to this story so far!
Thanks to everyone who is on this journey with me! This is the longest story I've ever written and I'm excited to keep it going. Let's go!
Smile
I'll smile, the worst is yet to come
We'll be lucky if we ever see the sun
Got nowhere to go, we could be here for a while
But the future is forgiven, so smile
May 2012
When you get hit with bad news people always think of two reactions: devastation and uncontrollable emotions or no reaction becoming withdrawal. And either of these reaction gets their own answer by someone critiquing said emotions. It was a never ending circle. If the bad news has something to do with a person then you think of the last conversation you had with them or lack thereof. Someone could stay this is the first step of grief, but what if this isn't any of that. Because this isn't the end, at least in this situation.
As soon as Becca received the phone call she wasn't sure how exactly to react. She always and would always remember the immediate desperation and depression that flowed through her body when she was told her father was missing. That was by far the hardest moment so far in her short life. She was just on the verge of 25 and she had seen the world at its worse, yet she continued to try to be positive each day at a time. But this right here was a type of emotions she didn't know exactly how to deal with.
In the four years that she had known Clint now, she had seen him in different lights. Obviously first as her handler but that had been the building block for teammate, father and husband, joker, competitor, companion, and friend. There were so many layers to a person, and Becca felt like she was only a mile deep. And in those years, she hadn't prepared herself for this moment. Sure, they had close calls time and time again but she knew this was much more than that.
After she hung up with Coulson she had gone into overdrive. She remembered Steve asking if she was okay, but she didn't remember how she replied or how she had gotten back to her office. Or how long she had been wearing a path in the floor as she spun her knife around her fingers. She couldn't do anything until she is briefed on what the situation is. So, this was all she could do. And this was how her commander found her.
"How worried should we be?" Becca's first words in hours.
Coulson didn't reply just yet. He closed the door behind him, keeping his face emotionless toward the situation. He stalked over towards her, folder in hand. "This is bigger than we've ever seen."
Her brow furrowed, taking the folder from him. On the inside was a picture of bright blue cube. "The Tesseract?"
"We believe it is the first step into unlimited sustainable energy." The older man leaned against Natasha's desk, arms crossed against his chest. "This is the item Hydra used in World War II to create enhanced weapons."
"This is what Steve and the Howling Commandos were fighting for?" She flipped the page to see the Hydra symbol next to an older photo of the cube clearly from the 40s when it was in use.
"Exactly. Your grandfather fished it out of the ocean when…"
Becca eyes looked up from the report at understanding what Coulson couldn't finish. "The Valkyrie. This powered the plane that Steve crashed?" All he could do was nod, watching her put all the pieces to the story together. "Christ." The young girl cursed dropping the folder on the desk, not being able to look at it any longer. How many more things were going to fall onto her shoulders today? "What does this have to do with Clint?"
"That," he pointed at the folder next to her, "is what he had been doing the past few months. He has been watching over it while we have been studying and doing research with NASA to see how we can use it to our advantage. But it was taken."
"By who?"
"His name is Loki. He is the brother of Thor from Asgard. We believe he wants to use it for the power, essentially what we have been trying to research." He was stalling to tell her exactly what she wanted. It was a lot to explain it to Natasha, but now again with Becca would be more concerning. Natasha was cut and dry. She severely angry with the situation, ready to put a bullet into whoever's head she needed to get Clint back. He knew Becca would be a completely different reaction. "Loki has a few SHIELD guards, our scientist Dr. Erik Selvig...and Clint under mind control."
The words made her blood turn to ice. When Coulson originally said compromised, it could have really meant any number of things. But mind control, that was a whole different animal to work with. "What do we know?"
"At the moment, not much." Coulson stood up, checking his phone for any new information but not finding any. "Fury is currently talking with the World Council to get things going."
"To get things going as the Avengers Initiative?" She raised an eyebrow in question.
"One way or another it's going to happen. I called Natasha, she's on her way to get Dr. Banner. After his talk, Fury is off to see Steve and I have the luxury of going to see your father." He folded his hands in front of his hips, knowing fully well that will be a fight.
"Good luck with that."
"You want to help me with him?"
Becca snorted, the idea of double teaming her father. "Absolutely not."
"Good, cause I'm going to need you here to round up artillery for Delta." He used the team name to officially gage her sense of reaction to what was happening around her. He knew she could handle the situation, but what was unknown was where exactly her head was. Especially knowing how important this team was to her.
"Will there still be team Delta?" Her hazel eyes looked up from under her eyelashes at him.
With a deep sigh, the agent stepped closer to gently squeeze her shoulder. "There will always be team Delta. You understand me?"
It took a very deep breath, but she nodded. "Absolutely."
Coulson would settle with that answer for now, giving her another squeeze before stepping back. "Meet me at the hanger to take the jet to Helicarrier at 7AM tomorrow morning. Not a second later."
"Yes, sir." Becca rubbed her hands on her jeans, letting the nervous sweat settle in. "Hey Coulson?" He stopped in the doorway at her call. "What about...umm...what his…" She couldn't say the real words. She couldn't say Clint's family and not feel grief for Laura and the kids.
His eyes softened, dropping his head with a nod knowing where she was going with that. "There is no need to worry them unless we absolutely need to." She nodded back, letting that end there. "Tomorrow. 7AM." He gave her one last look before leaving the office.
Once again, she was alone in these four walls. Her eyes traveling over to her left, the side of the room that was Clint's. To her right was Natasha's side. Two very different atmospheres on either side. Clint was a mess, but as he called it an 'organized mess' while Natasha's was clean and strategic. She was somewhere between the two. Everything that was out in the open was staked nice and neat while her drawers were a jumble of what she needed at any given time. Someone could probably start a therapy session about how this might explain her as a person as well but she didn't have time for that.
She needed to get their gear together. She needed to attempt to get a few hours of sleep. She needed to focus on whatever was about to come to them tomorrow.
She needed to become Lithe.
Becca stood tall on the tarmac. Her calf high, black boots complimenting her cuffed black shorts with a v-neck, navy shirt under a black bomber jacket. One hand held her coffee cup while the other was wrapped around her stomach. It was only 6:50 AM, or to her it was finally that time. After grabbing and double checking and triple checking the equipment, Becca attempted to get a few hours of sleep on the office couch. But all she really did was stare at the ceiling for most of the night when sleep didn't want to take over.
So here she was. First at the hanger, except for their two pilots, watching the sun come up over the water. She didn't turn around when a car pulled up and the sound of someone getting out interrupted her peaceful morning. She had thought it was Coulson finally getting here, so she was very surprised by the voice behind her.
"Lucky meeting you here."
Becca spun her head over her shoulder, locks flying about her head. It was the first smile in 12 hours at seeing her very own super soldier standing behind her. "You should play the lottery."
"Lottery?" Steve squinted down at her, moving to stand next to her.
"Gambling. Betting money." She quickly explained, taking a deep drink of her latte. "I take it you agreed to Fury's proposition."
He nodded, looking over the jet that sat in front of them. "Price tag is too big not."
"Wait! You're getting paid for this! Damn...I need to reevaluate my contract." Becca smirked at the side eye he was giving her over the attempt of the joke.
"You know that's not what I meant."
"I know, just diffusing the tension." Her fingers played with the cup lid as another thought crossed her mind. "Hey, I just wanted to apologize for last night-"
Steve shook his head, cutting her off. "You have nothing to apologize for. Fury explained. It's Clint." He watched her. Her small fingers tracing every outline that she could find on the plastic cup, trying to read where she was at with the mention of the name. "I know I don't know him personally, but he meant a lot to you. Which means he's worth saving."
Hey hazel eyes were soft as they found his in the early morning sunlight. "You put a lot of faith in my judgment, Rogers."
He shrugged, giving her a smile. "You haven't lead me wrong yet."
Those words making her think of how close she was to telling him the truth last night. It made her cement her feet into the ground. Getting on this plane, no doubt, would change everything between the two of them. Good or bad.
He, however, couldn't stop looking at that smile. He knew she was running on empty since yesterday morning when he had originally seen her. But she still put on that same smile he remembered seeing the first day he laid eyes on her. If the sun wasn't out right now he swore she could always light up the night with a simple grin.
"Good, you both are early."
That steady eye contact that the two could easily hold for hours was broken by Coulson walking up behind them. Becca could swear she saw the older man hesitate for a split second when Steve looked at him. He was officially meeting his idol for the first time. If Coulson didn't have sunglasses on she was sure he wouldn't be able to handle the eye contact.
"What, did you sleep in?" She finished her coffee, knowing there was a playful glare coming her way.
"Glad to see you're in a better mood."
Becca just gave him a tight lipped smile before looking up at the blonde man next to her. "Captain Steve Rogers, Agent Phil Coulson." She motioned to each man.
"Captain," Coulson stepped forward with his hand out, "it is an honor to meet you."
"Likewise." Steve nodded, shaking his hand. In all honesty, he's been living as just Steve Roger's now for a while thanks to Becca, so the mantle of being Captain America needed to start making its way back. Especially if they were about to gear up for a mission.
"Well, let's get going then." The older agent started his way up the ramp into the jet.
Becca grabbed the artillery bag at her feet, refusing Steve's offer to carry it, and the two followed the same path. Becca stashed her bag in the rack above the side seats while Steve took a second to look around. She watched him closely. His hands deep in his pockets, while she could see his teeth clenching in his jaw. Then it all clicked with her. This was the first plane he had been on, awake at least, since he crashed.
She casually took her spot beside him, looking over some equipment to play it off to the other three passengers. "You good?" Her voice was barely a whisper, but he heard her perfectly.
Steve glanced down at the girl, knowing she was doing her check in. "Definitely." He had a feeling it was about the plane, and quite honestly it was affecting him as much as he thought it was. When he got the word from Fury the night before at the gym he went through a process in his own head. But this is what he was good at. This is the only thing he knew, so he wasn't going to say now.
The one pilot announced their take off, so Becca and Steve buckled into the two seats on the left of the plan while Coulson took his spot at the control panel up front. Becca grabbed her own tablet from under the seat. "So, what'd you do for the rest of the night?"
Steve watched her fingers move over the tablet. "After you left, I went to the gym for a few hours."
"Break any more bags." She joked, but with the silence she got in return she knew it was anything but a joke. "Seriously?" She gave him an incredible look which she got a shy shrug in response. "In all honesty how many do you go through in a week? For real."
"3 or 4...maybe 5."
"You're reckless, Steve."
It was going to be a bit of a flight to get to the helicarrier, so Becca took it upon herself to fill Steve in a bit more on the crew that they were meeting up with. Explaining to him a bit more of Natasha's background, details about Thor and Loki that she knew, and showing him videos on Dr. Banner in his other form. She didn't know exactly if her father was showing up so she stayed clear of that subject.
"So, this Dr. Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on me?" Steve asked watching The Hulk destroy.
"A lot of people were." Coulson stood up from his spot, coming to stand next to the two. "You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."
"Didn't really go his way, did it?"
"Not so much. That's also why Bex was trying to keep you away from General Ross."
Becca, who had been minding her own business, had her head jump up at the mention of the encounter.
"Who?" Steve looked back and forth between the two SHIELD agents.
"You didn't tell him?" Coulson looked over to his agent.
Becca shook her head. "No, I didn't tell him. It's literally been a day. How do you even know about it?"
"I know everything."
"Obviously." Her eyes narrowed at her handler before they softened to gaze back at Steve. He was looking at her with complete confusion. This was so not a good time for this conversation, but they were here now. And those blue eyes weren't letting up. "Yesterday, when I needed you to get to my office?"
"Yeah…"
"Okay, well that's because Ross was there. He was the one that reopened the program for the serum. We're worried he's going to try to use you for testing."
Steve nodded, but she could tell it was bothering him. That was not something he was going to let on to anyone else on this plane though.
"It's nothing we can't handle." Coulson attempted to wash out the awkwardness that was surrounding the plane. "Banner though, he's good. When he's not that thing, though, the guy's like a Stephen Hawking." The name getting an eyebrow raise from the soldier sitting in front of him, clearly not understanding. "He's like a...smart person."
"Think Nikola Tesla." Becca saved the situation, comparing Dr. Banner to a man that Steve would have known from his time period. This received and 'ahh' from Steve and a pleaded thank you look from Coulson. While Steve was trying to catch up from what he's missed in the past few decades, Becca had taken it upon herself to familiarize with the 30s and 40s. It was the least she could do for her friend.
Coulson hesitated for a split second, wondering if he should go back to his control panel or continue talking. This was his time to truly say what he has always wanted towards this American hero. "I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you officially." Becca knew this was his time to shine, so she gently took the device from Steve to allow Coulson his moment. The words brought a smile smile back to Steve. "I've sort of met you. I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." And the awkward was back. "I mean, I was...present while you were unconscious...from the ice."
Steve took this moment to stand up and take a look out the cockpit. Becca however stayed in her seat wide eyes at Coulson, making a giant 'cut it out' motion with her hands. She understood this was a huge moment for her superior and she also knew Steve was a nice man who wouldn't call out the weirdness of the situation. The young woman was just trying to make it semi easier for the fanboy.
The agent nodded, clearing his throat to try again. "You know, it's really just a-just a huge honor to have you on board this…"
Becca dropped her head in her hands, feeling so bad for him. She had never heard Phil Coulson stutter before. Ever.
"I hope I'm the man for the job." Steve confessed.
"Oh, you are. Absolutely. We made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input."
Steve finally looked back to him, bewilderment plastered across his face "The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little," he hesitated looking back at Becca for a second, "old-fashioned?"
"With everything that's happening and the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned." This was the Coulson that everyone else saw.
"Sir, we're coming up to landing." The pilot announced, breaking the conversation. Coulson nodded, taking his place back at the control panel while Steve took his seat next to Becca again.
The soldier began to realize how real this situation was again. Once they step off this plane he was back in the world. No more hiding out. "I guess we have to play our counterparts now."
Becca's side smile was placed over her lips, gearing herself into the situation. "Guess we should have role played before going on a mission together."
He chuckled, feeling some of the weight fall from his chest at her light air that she carried around. He knew she was beyond worried about Clint, her fingers hadn't stopped twitching since he had met up with her an hour ago, but she still could play easiness well. "You are something else."
"Thank you." She knocked his shoulder into hers. "Just good ole' Captain America and Lithe at your service."
"Lithe?"
"My codename."
He thought about it for a second, but otherwise agreed with it. "Makes sense."
The jet made a landing on the helicarrier. Becca could make out agents doing drills and working on other jets along the landing from the cockpit window. She was officially back to work. The pilots landed the plane and proceeded to lower the ramp for the passengers to get off. She gave Steve one last supportive smile before the two stood up, following Coulson off the platform.
"Stow the Captain's & Lithe's gear." Coulson order the two men that were assigned to their jet from the helicarrier.
"Yes, sir." They both nodded, walking up the ramp.
Stepping out into the bright morning light, Becca took a second to breathe in the ocean air that they were surrounded by and catch her bearings. Making a 180 degree, what she saw first was the fiery red hair, that had been cut several inches shorter since the last time they had seen each other, along with the swagger that only Natasha could pull off.
"Look what the cat drug in." The assassin smirked, looking only at Becca.
The brunette smile back, crossing her arms across her chest. "I'm not a cat person. Usually prefer dogs." And if that 'hello' to each other didn't explain their entire relationship to someone, then they never would.
"Please excuse their nonsense. You get used to it after a while." Coulson explained to Steve. He had his sunglasses on but the two women were sure he was rolling his eyes at his agents. "Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers."
"Ma'am." Steve nodded at the women who he had heard unless stories about from Becca, now he could put the stories to a face.
"Hi." Natasha gave him a quick once over, before glancing back to Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace."
"See you there." Agent Coulson nodded at the three before heading in the direction to take him inside.
"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice." Natasha guided the two, walking next to Steve while Becca took his other side. "I thought Coulson was gonna swoon."
"Correction, he did swoon." Becca chuckled. "Thought he might have a coronary."
"Did he pull out his Captain America trading cards yet?"
"Trading cards?" Steve looked back and forth between the two women on either side of him.
"They're vintage. He's very proud."
That's when Becca, along with Steve, noticed why Natasha had them walking this way. In front of them stood Bruce Banner, checking out of of the jets. His movements were all around nervous and anxiety ridden. But other than that, in person, Bruce was not at all what Becca was expecting.
"Dr. Banner." Steve walked forward, going in to shake the man's hand.
"Oh, yeah. Hi." Bruce shook the outstretched hand, looking over the living legend in front of him. "They told me you would be coming."
Becca took this as her time. "Dr. Banner, I'm Agent Bex. I work directly with Agent Romanoff."
He shook her hand as well, giving her her own quick look, that she was sure was something he had always done since he became the other guy. "You as...convincing as her as well?"
She grinned, knowing he wanted to use another word to describe Natasha. And she understood. "If I have to be."
"Word is you can find the Cube." Steve got on topic.
Bruce looked back and forth, clearly ready for a threat to break out. "Is that the only word on me?"
A worry that Steve could sense as well. "Only word I care about."
Becca stood back a step, letting the interaction between the two men play a role in how she saw them. It was something that was easier for her to pick up on when watching people. Especially people she would need to be working with.
"It must be strange for you...all this." Bruce gestured to their surroundings.
"Well," Steve shrugged, hands going into his pockets, "this is actually kind of familiar."
Becca felt Natasha come up next to her, listening to her ear com. "Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breath." Becca took Natasha's words and watched as the words finished strapping everything down, getting ready to take off.
"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked.
"Really?" Bruce chuckled darkly. "They want me in a submerged, pressurized, metal container?" They both walked forward to see what was happening.
Natasha smirked at the interaction between the men in front of them, weaving her arm through Becca's. "How's it going?"
The brunette couldn't help the chuckle, squeezing her friend's arm. "You mean, how's it going because we haven't seen each other in 3 months? Or how it's going because Clint's missing? Or how's it going with my current history lesson?"
"How does it feel to play house with a super soldier?"
"I wouldn't call it house but it's good...despite lying to him about my identity."
Natasha paused their following of the two men, giving her a bemused look. "You've been what?" All Becca did was give her a knowing look. "Oh my God! He doesn't know you're a-"
"Hey, how was Russia? Meet up with any family members?" Becca cut her off with narrowed eyes.
The redhead opened her mouth to compete but nothing came out. "Touché. But, how's that going to work when your father decides to make his grand appearance?"
She shrugged. "We'll get there when we get there, I guess." Becca looked back over to Steve and Bruce who looked so opposite of each other, but in a way very similar. "How'd it go getting him onboard?"
"It was," Natasha looked over at Bruce her head bending back and forth, "intense."
"Clint would be beating both of over the head right now." Becca crossed her arms, slightly knocking into to her companion.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to get him back to do that."
Up Next: Fighting against Clint and Loki, and Tony shows up to 'save' the day.
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