Darkness... Cold... So cold... Wait... Feeling was seeping into my limbs and warmth was creeping up my legs. Slowly, the darkness ebbed out of my vision and I could see people walking around me. 'Lab coats' I thought in annoyance. It was always lab coats. This was the third time I'd been thawed. I guess they don't want the good meat to spoil or something. As my body became what I assumed to be room temperate, the Labbies swiftly began checking my vitals. My joints suddenly felt like they had no friction and I began to fall to the ground. Several people rushed to catch me and set me on a table.
"Damn, I thought that by now I'd be used to this." I sighed in exasperation. Someone started shining a light in my eyes and I felt the familiar tingle of a needle in my arm. "Careful, it's been a while since I've been around pricks! Speaking of which... Where's Fury?" I chuckled, sitting up.
"Ma'am, please don't rush yourself! You've been in Chryo for a long time!" a man tried to keep me from getting up.
"Young man, I've fought during the Cold War. I'm pretty sure I can handle standing with oily joints." I scolded, pushing him away gently and swinging my legs off of the table. I stood unsteadily, leaning on the table for support.
"Enjoying the twenty-first century?" a familiar voice asked. I looked over my shoulder to see the very bastard who got me into this.
"Well, well! I assumed you were dead, considering everything you get into." I remarked, pointing at his eyepatch. He rolled his good eye and walked over to me.
"Yeah, yeah. Lately I'm not the only one getting into trouble. The entire world was attacked by gods and aliens while you were away." he explains.
"You're shitting me." I chuckled in disbelief.
"Nope. Walk with me, there's a lot to catch up on." he motioned for me to follow him into the hallway.
"Hell, Fury, if you'd thawed me a while ago I could have lent you a hand with all this stuff." I sighed, turning the information over in my mind. A lot sure does happen when your away. Like when you are at school all year except one day and on the day you're absent, two people get in a fight and someone bites a teacher.
"Well, I didn't think we needed you yet." Fury set his hands on his desk. It's been lord knows how long and this guy still has the same swivel chair.
"Yet? From what I hear, these Avengers of yours can handle everything you've thrown at me tenfold." I raised an eyebrow. Fury offered a smile.
"Exactly. You were our go-to agent when the going got too tough. Now, we've got an entire team of heroes to take the bad guys down. Key word team." he stood from his chair and walked over to the window, looking out over the city. "We're dismissing you from chaos control."
"You're pulling my leg right now. You're gonna give me the pink slip now!?" I chuckled dryly. "I've been in that refrigerator for 52 years of my goddamn life, only getting glimpses of this world in battle and ruin because you all done fucked up again and can't clean up your mess! My friends and family are all dead or dying. I never got to see my big brother get married. Or have children. I didn't get to comfort my father when he was on his deathbed." I raised my voice, slamming my fist on the table. Fury remained silent, turning around and motioning for me to join him at the window.
"You see this?" he asked, gazing at the vast concrete jungle. "This isn't what we're protecting here." he shook his head and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a stack of photos held together with rubber bands. "That is." Fury pointed at the people in the pictures as I unbound them. The top one was of my brother, Edward, and a woman in a white gown. On the back of the photograph, it said 'Eddy and Veronica wedding 1987'. I shuffled it to the back, looking at the next picture.
"Who is this?" I asked, looking down at the couple. The two seemed familiar and they were surrounded by four children.
"Your friend, Harry Mullins, and your cousin Lucinda." Fury replied.
"Lucy did always have a thing for redheads." I smiled sadly, tracing my finger over each of their faces. "Where did you get these?"
"Your family kept a box of things to give you whenever you were let out of chryo to help catch you up on what happened while you were asleep." Fury opened a drawer in his desk and lifted out an old shoebox with my name on it. "We're letting you off because we have more people willing and able to sacrifice themselves for the world. They're in large supply lately, so we don't need to preserve them. You don't have to watch the world grow old around you, now."
"What am I supposed to do?" I sighed, looking at the box.
"We're moving you to a response team. Hopefully, you'll show capability of being a team player. Considering Stark's relationship with his teammates, you may not even need to do that." he explained. "Just try not to be too independent. Your fellow agents are going to depend on you in the field and vis versa."
"You're really growing to be an old fart." I shook my head in amusement.
"Damn straight." Fury laughed. Geez, this adjusting shit was gonna be hell.