Rating: T
Pairing: None so far, mentions of one sided Steve/Peggy
Summary: The Universe stared at the boy for what seemed an eternity to him, only to change into a decrepit, dirty alley, and that was the last thing Steve saw before loosing consciousness. The small frail boy banished in a flash of blue flames. Be warned VERY AU Young Time Travelling genius tech savvy Steve.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, I'm just borrowing them. I'm using a good number of the movie dialogs, even if I added bits and pieces so some of them. So if something looks familiar they are obviously not mine, and belong to their respective owners.
Warnings: NOT SLASH, AU, _Completely totally AU, Time Travel, Younger Steve, Violence, Adoption, Smart Steve, Technopaths, Technopath Tony, Technopath Steve, Canon Character Deaths, Minor Character Deaths, OOC-ness, there are quite a lot of movie dialogs which I decided not to change but I did add my own twists and turns to make them a bit more interesting.
Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Thor, Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Maria Hill, Sarah Rogers, mentions of Bucky, mentions of Peggy Carter, mentions of Howard Stark, mentions of Colonel Phillips, mentions of the Howling Commandos, Jarvis, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey
Timeline: Pre Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers, Post Avengers. I use the Marvel Cinematic Universe Timeline in Wikia for all date purposes.
Author's Note: Another long chapter. I've been working and editing all the chapters I've already written for this fic. I originally had 17, covering the whole Avengers movie; but they were really too short about 2,500 words average, so I decided to merge them to get at leas 4,000 words chapters. I think the number will go from 17 to 13 or 14.
I'll also keep trying to post once a week or week and a half. None of the chapters are beta'ed so any errors are my own. If you see any I would appreciate a word so I can correct them.
Thanks to those reading the story, and I'll appreciate some reviews (comments) just to see how you're liking the story.
For any of you reading my Avengers/Harry Potter crossovers, The Secret Life of Steve Rogers is on hold for the time being. I just can't get chapter 10 to work even though I have a lot of ideas for the next chapters. Two for the Price of one is moving, FINALLY so I expect a new chapter would be out soon.
Total size without notes: 5,939
Keys:
"Speaking aloud."
'Thoughts'
'Name: /Mental interfacing between technopaths and/or tech\'
Enter Tony
Tony had been coming into the bridge with agent Coulson, and had halted in shock when he heard the Capsicle come to the same conclusion he did. The younger man actually got him to chuckle by snarking at them, while proving he did know what he was talking about, when he mentioned the Iridium.
Of course the reference got lost on most of those present, but Banner did understand it, and surprisingly so did a few of the agents manning the ship. Then he had trouble to keep himself from gaping when he heard the explanation for the knowledge. It was... astounding to say the least.
What he had read and heard about Rogers had never led him to believe the man actually had a working brain, or an interest in science. Hell, his father never mentioned Captain America could be a snarky son of a bitch, or a bit of a troll. But the interlude they had on the quinjet should have clued him in as to Rogers not being as history and memories had painted him to be.
Howard had compared him a lot with Rogers since he was a child, during his many drunken episodes. At times he had indeed mentioned the Captain was a very intelligent man; but his father had never told him to what extent. Rogers was clearly a genius, and Howard knew it. They had scienced together, and on top of that Rogers had also been a soldier.
When his father, aunt Peggy, and the Commandos got together they spoke about the missions they participated in. Tony now had to wonder why the science was never mentioned. Why had they not used Rogers notes to study the Tesseract after Howard found it? Everyone but Peggy Carter was dead, and unfortunately she had Alzheimers, so they might never find the answers.
His curiosity was piqued, and he could see Banner's was as well. Romanoff was looking at Rogers like he was a bug she had not encountered before, or she was thinking of jumping the man right then and there before everyone's eyes. The Capsicle was a very handsome man, even he could tell. Who knew what Natashalie thought behind that impassive mask of hers?
The big blond Asgardian was clueless, but it was to be expected. Tony doubted he had been given a dossier like the rest of them. Hill, Fury's second had stared in shock, but then something akin to respect and curiosity showed in her face. For his part poor Agent was about to swoon... or have a hysterical fan boy moment.
"I never knew." Phil muttered to himself awe struck. "Why was there no info about this? I thought I'd read everything the SSR had on Captain America. But this might explain how he knew about Hawkins theories." He was having a very hard time not to go into fanboy mode in front of so many people at discovering something previously unknown about his childhood's hero.
Rogers comment about fondue made Tony snort. It was an inside joke, and one of the anecdotes his father had actually shared with him during one of his good moments. Howard had enlightened the Captain about what fondue was, since the man thought it meant sex, when they met in his lab for the shield. That had been the beginning of their friendship if he was not wrong. They probably began to science then.
'Enough with the reminiscence!' Tony told himself, it was not the time for it, and remembering Howard was never a good thing. It tended to inhibit his genius, and he would be needing it to find the Cube. With his grand entrance disrupted by Rogers' just discovered abundance of brain cells, Tony decided not to be deterred.
"Having the iridium means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD." He walked into the room like he owned it, and this was not the first time he had been in it, which it was.
He had not been 'invited' on board of the helicarrier before. Not that he could blame Nick's paranoia. Tony had to admit he was somewhat impressed with the helicarrier, though he could see there was room for improvement, a lot of it. He would get the schematics and see what he could come up with; once he got JARVIS to hack into their servers and download their databases.
"No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing," he told the Asgardian tower of muscle patting his arm, and he could hear the Capsicle's snort. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long, as Loki wants."
"You might have a point there Stark." Steve mused. "The portal the Tesseract opened by itself when Schmidt touched it was not big enough to transport the Valkyrie, nor did it remain open long.
"I suppose it was not stable. It did not even reach the size of half the cockpit," he said thoughtfully. "The Valkyrie was a big aircraft, but nothing like this one. If Loki's moving an army he needs a portal large enough that won't bottle neck his own forces at the entry point. But I think there might actually be a size constraint," Steve mused to himself.
His mind was already working on the logistics of such an event, and how large the portal needed to be in order for the troops to effectively access Earth. Steve believed this would narrow the search for the Cube to big cities within range of large power sources like a nuclear reactor, or large hydroelectric plants.
Steve got lost in thought, and forgot for a moment where he was. He absently pulled the back pack he brought with him to the bridge from under the table. He needed to make notes so he took out Thelma and the stylus that came with her.
He opened one of the better handwritting note taking apps and began writting like using technology was something he had done all his life. Which Steve had for most of it anyway, but no one but his mother knew, and he wanted it to remain that way.
He had an exceptional memory so he did not forget, but it helped to organize his ideas to write them down. There were lists, questions, equations, and even a rough sketch of the portal on the Valkyrie. Steve also began switching between the note taking app and the very advanced scientific calculator app he downloded the previous night. Once again something he did got people staring at him, but this time he did not notice.
"Captain Rogers?" Maria called the soldier, who just ignored her. "Rogers!"
"Leave him be," Bruce said as he studied some of the calculations the younger man was working with. "Those are some pretty interesting equations he's making..." he mused.
"Really?" Tony asked curious and moved to where Rogers was sitting to read over his shoulder like Banner was doing. "That... damn those are very interesting points," he agreed. "But how did he reach..." Tony trailed off looking for the validity of some of the arguments.
"Oh... I see... well yeah, he would know that if he has worked with Cube powered weapons," Bruce mused finishing for Stark.
"Still..." Tony said thoughtfully, "there is not enough data to solve the equations..."
"Yet, we don't have those yet," Bruce corrected.
From what they could understand Rogers was trying to calculate how much power was needed to open a portal of about one hundred yards in diameter. He had insuficient data, but he had already concluded a nuclear reactor, or a very powerful hydroelectric plant would be needed. He had even added a note about finding if there was something else which generated more power than a nuclear reactor.
"Captain Rogers!" Maria called again once the man seemed to take a break. She had gaped at seeing both Stark and Banner looking so interested and impressed.
"Yes Ma'am?" Steve asked realizing he had got lost in his mind, and in front of a bunch of strangers. He tried not to blush, but he was sure his ears were bright red.
"Now that I have your attention back. You witnessed the Tesseract opening a portal by itself before you crashed, and you did not see it fit to inform us of it when you were debriefed Captain?" Hill demanded not at all pleased to be hearing that. She glared at the blond soldier.
"I have not been debriefed Ma'am," he informed her. His voice taking a slightly hard edge.
"Of course you have, agents Wilkins and Frampton were in charge of it."
Steve could not help his reaction to the mention of that 'meeting'. He froze for a couple of seconds as he tried to fight the memories of his encounter with Kraft and his minions, but he was not successful. His control was getting frayed by lack of proper sleep and rest, as well as food. Being reminded about it more than once since he boarded the helicarrier was not helping either.
He tried to take a deep breath, but it instead came in short gasps that Steve tried to control to avoid hyperventilating. As the memories started to force themselves to the fore of his mind, he began trembling, and he actually hugged himself protectively. Steve unconsciously curled up slightly, like he was trying to make himself smaller. His eyes looked lost and haunted.
'No no no, get a hold of yourself Rogers!' he told himself. 'You can't afford a panic attack, not here, not before these people. Don't let them see you weak and vulnerable, you idiot!' Steve berated himself. 'Just... Get a grip man.'
It took all he had not to have a panic attack just then. He had been trying really hard not to remember. Steve did his best to pull himself together, to avoid showing a vulnerability those people could use against him. Unfortunately Steve had given away too much already, and it was quite obvious how shaken he was by the mention of the meeting. He raised a hand to rub his temple, but put it back down when he realized how badly it was shaking, and all had seen it.
"Captain?" Maria asked alarmed. That reaction was so unexpected. What had those idiots done? Torture Captain America?
"Doctor Kraft was there Ma'am," he said dully. "Whatever you want to call it, a debriefing it was not." He took a few deep breaths to steady himself; to keep from curling up into a tight ball to protect himself, but it was hard. "It was not a pleasant meeting."
Steve had been blocking what happened to him then. He had been doing so well the past two weeks, and he could not allow himself to loose it in front of all those people he did not trust. The torture he had been able to take, he had been captured a few times but either he escaped or the Commandos rescued him.
But that other thing Kraft and those people did... it... it had been too much. More than he could deal with, Steve even refused to name It, much less think about It; and yet, it crept on him when he least expected it. The fact he had been unable to defend himself, to fight against the agents, and Kraft only made it worse.
That immobilizing pen had rendered him helpless. It had been worse than the drug they used later, because he had been conscious and completely lucid even when his body was out of his control. Steve had been at their mercy for several hours, which to him were an eternity.
The fact he healed so fast, only added to his problem because there was no evidence of what Kraft and those agents did. By the time Fury bullied him out of the room, everything was healed. Not that the worst they did to him would have left any physical evidence after what they did before. So he had refused to think about It.
"WHAT?" Maria asked in shock.
No, no no no no! Kraft should not have been able to get his hands on the soldier. Director Fury had forbidden the doctor to be even on the same floor as Captain Rogers. The man had wanted to disect the Captain when they first discovered he was alive. He had not cared what he wanted to do might have actually killed the young man.
Keeping Kraft away from Rogers was the reason why Coulson had been stationed with the Captain before he regained consciousness. He was to protect him from the scientist. When he had no access to Rogers, Kraft then had the gall to present a schedule for what could only be describe as torture. Which he pretended to pass as tests to be practiced on the young man.
The Director had been furious, he was not going to allow the doctor to torture someone he wanted on their side. But they had left him alone with Wilkins and Frampton, trusting the senior agents would do as they were instructed. Clearly, Kraft had a longer arm in SHIELD than they thought.
"It should not have happened Captain," Maria told him.
"Yet it did, right after the Director himself told him no," he sounded accusing and much as he tried, the hurt at the action was there as well. It left no doubt he believed he had been betrayed.
"I can assure you the Director does not condone whatever Kraft and his accomplices did to you Captain. Be assured he, Frampton, and Wilkins will be detained and questioned."
Now Maria could understand why the soldier did not trust them. To be subjected to some of what Kraft wanted to do to him after he had been assured he would not be used as a lab rat did not speak well on SHIELD's behalf.
"Just leave me an hour with each of them, no cameras, no mics, and specially not their drugs, as well as their little sonic paralizing device," he practically growled. No one needed to guess what he planned on doing to them, it was clear violence would be part of it.
Maria gasped shocked, because menacing was the least thing she thought Captain America would be, but at those words he practically oozed menace and the threat of violence. Then she said, "SHIELD does not have a sonic paralizing device, or anything similar. I don't think something like that exists."
"It does," Tony had been shocked at hearing about the dratted prototype. He really hated the thing after Stane used it on him, the fact it was his creation only made things worse. "Although I believed all prototypes had been destroyed. It seems it was not the case.
"I would like to be present during your hour with them Cap," he told the younger man who was still looking shaken, but no longer near a panic attack, "so I can ask questions while you have fun with them. I'd like to know how they got their hands on a Stark Industries rejected weapon, specially since we are no longer on the business of making weapons. All prototypes were supposedly destroyed two years ago."
Tony glared at Agent. He had been there during the debacle with Stane, and was the obvious culprit. Agent shook his head, clearly seeing where his thoughts were going. It seemed he had not 'lifted' the weapon for SHIELD. He then glared at Natashalie, but she too shook her head to let him know she had not taken the weapon either.
"No one is torturing anybody," Maria stated firmly.
"Now," Steve added, "no one is torturing anybody now Ma'am," he added accusingly, and the woman flinched as did Coulson.
"Why don't we get back on track, we can deal with those three later, once we have the Cube back; and they will be dealt with Captain. I give you my word. You mentioned you saw the Tesseract activate a portal by itself?" Maria tried to get everyone back to the matters at hand, finding the Cube as soon as posible.
"Yes, it created a portal in the Valkyrie's cockpit when Schmidt accidentally touched it. The portal showed an image of deep space, but it was not stable and only lasted about five minutes. The Red Skull went through it," Steve summarized welcoming the distraction. Anything was better than allowing his mind to wander back to Kraft.
"So, Schmidt is loose somewhere," Tony began. "Do you happen to have an idea where? Not that we want that psycho back, more like... we'd like to know he's not returning."
"He's not coming back. He touched the Tesseract, and it desintegrated him before the dust left behind was sucked into the portal," he explained. "As to the where...
"Well I'll probably have to look at what deep space images are available in hopes to find a star configuration that matches what I saw. I doubt I'd find it though. At that moment it was more of a wormhole, and probably not to our galaxy."
"And you would know what a wormhole is, don't you?" Tony said. Rogers just raised one eyebrow in reply.
Would the guy stop shocking them for a minute? He had Hill, unflappable Hill gaping, and Coulson looked faint. He was leaning against the railing, so Agent probably had swooned already. Then they learnt he had actually been subjected to some type of unauthorized experimentation by someone from SHIELD.
Rogers' body language had said it all. It clearly had not been good, and even he felt a little protective towards the Capsicle. Perhaps a session with his repulsors would teach this Kraft fellow not to mess with a National icon, one that had looked like a very hurt and lost puppy a few moments ago.
Tony had wanted to hate Rogers because of Howard's obsession with finding him. His father had ignored him all his childhood while he looked for the guy. Tony had been compared to him time and again, and found lacking. But he was beginning to realise there might have actually been more reasons to want the guy back than just because of his patriotic ass.
"Of course you do," Tony snorted, then he turned to face the large windows up front, and spared a look at the monitors arrayed in what was Fury's command station. "Raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails," he said facetiously and just to break the tense atmosphere on the bridge. He looked around and his eyes settled on a monitor displaying something at odds in a control room. "That man is playing Galaga, he thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."
Tony covered one eye, badly immitating Fury, while he surveyed the monitors. "How does Fury even see these?" He turned to face Hill.
"He turns," was her non plussed response. Like she was getting fed up with the non SHIELD people in the room's antics. Not that he blamed her. Rogers on his own seemed a handful, and he was not much better... probably worse on a good day; and they hadn't started using science-speak yet.
"Sounds exhausting." Then he went back to the problem at hand while 'playing' with the displays. "The rest of the materials agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density," and while everyone was distracted he stuck one of his gadgets to a terminal. "Something to kick-start the Cube."
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill had to ask.
"Last night. The Packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Rogers is not the only one who did the reading and some homework you know?"
"And it seems we did not all get the same Packet." Steve only knew about Selvig's notes because he hacked into SHIELD. "Does Loki need a particular kind of power source? If what he needs is high-energy density, then I'm inclined to think he will go for nuclear, unless there is something more powerful than a reactor that I'm not aware of." He asked Stark, but Banner responded instead.
"He would have to heat the Cube to 120 million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier."
"That is not easily achieved," Steve mused.
"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunnel effect." Stark proposed.
"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Banner added.
"Finally, someone else who speaks English," Tony said giving a meaningful look at the Captain.
"Is that what just happened?" Steve mused. He understood most of it, but he was not as well versed in modern nuclear physics, or astrophysics as he would like. It seemed there were a couple more subjects he should probably investigate later on.
Steve opened another of the note taking apps on the tablet, this one allowed him to keep track of lists, and added to the increasing list of subjects to investigate. Plus a little note about asking the two scientists present for proper research material.
"It's good to meet you doctor Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalled," Stark told the scientist. "I'm also a huge fan of how you loose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster."
"Thanks," Banner said looking rather uncomfortable. Fury chose that moment to enter the room.
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the Cube." He had been hearing what was said in the bridge, and was grateful he had not been there.
Frankly Nick had gaped at hearing Rogers, and he had not found anyone capable of getting that particular reaction out of him in a very long while. But it did explain the Cap's behavior, as well as some of his actions, since they woke him up.
Nick was going to find out why two of his agents disobeyed orders and allowed Kraft access to the younger man. After unsupervised time with the Doctor, there was no way Rogers would trust SHIELD, specially when he had personally assured him he would not be experimented on. Then less than two hours later that was what happened.
Being at doctor Kraft's mercy would also explain the flash of unidentified emotion he had seen in the young man's eyes last night, it had been fear. He knew Captain Rogers was a brave man, and had witstood torture, as well as several medical procedures without anesthetics, so whatever those fuckers did, it must have been bad enough to get that reaction out of the younger man.
Nick could even understand why Rogers had not said anything until then, the younger man did not trust them. He was trying to escape SHIELD, because they had hurt him, he might even belived they had betrayed him. So the Captain could not be sure they would actually do something to Kraft and his sycophants.
They had also clearly underestimated Rogers, but who could blame them? There had been nothing in the sanitized files they had in the database to indicate there was a brain capable of decoding Starkese and speak it. He had not known until he started reading all those reports which for some reason had not been digitalized.
Not only that, but Nick concluded from what was just said, Rogers had been the one to design most of the weapons SHIELD had assembled for Phase two. Nothing he had read so far indicated the Captain had worked on the HYDRA weapons, but there were still more reports and memos to go through. Perhaps the information was in some of them.
Nick had to wonder why none of that information had been included in the files they had about Captain America. He, Hill, and Coulson had gone meticulously over what was on the mainframe when they first got him. There had been nothing, absolutely nothing, indicating Rogers was a genius before the Super Soldier Serum.
Once again it had not been mentioned in the paper files so far, although Nick did find mentions of the young Captain's above average intelligence, they just had not called him a genius for some reason. Although... his penchant for taking things apart and putting them back together again, and operating in a more efficient way was well documented.
It should have clued him in. Hell, there were memos from mechanics bugging their superior officers as to when Rogers would return from missions, because they absolutely NEEDED the man to fix something they could not.
"I was hoping you might join him," he went on telling Stark. When not in that flashy suit of his the man was actually useful in a lab.
"I would start with that stick of his," Steve interjected. "It might be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."
"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube." Fury commented; and of course Rogers would know how a HYDRA weapon operated. "And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn, two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
'Of course you do!' Steve thought sarcastically. They wanted weapons after all, and the staff not only seemed powerful, but efficient. There was apparently no need to recharge the scepter.
What worried Steve more about the weapon was the fact it was able to control minds, because the HYDRA weapons were not able to, that much he knew, as neither Schmidt, nor Zola would have passed that opportunity. He really needed to find a way to work on the scepter.
"Monkeys? I don't understand," Thor was confused by the reference.
"I do," he said a bit surprised Fury chose to make a reference to the Wizard of Oz, specially because he had used a reference from the movie when they first met.
"Really Capsicle?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow. "Do you really know how he did it?" The younger man actually blushed and looked embarrassed.
"I mean, I understood the reference. It's from the Wizard of Oz."
"You've seen it?" Tony asked a bit surprised. The movie was old, but he was not sure if it was that old. Which clearly it was if the affronted look on Rogers' face was anything to go by. "No offence meant," he said placatingly, "I just can't remember the year it came out."
Steve took a couple of deep breaths, his control was not as tight as it used to. "None taken," he finally said, "it is... Was," he changed the tense once he realized he would be giving away to much, "one of my mother's favorites, so I've seen it more than once." Then he looked at the still very confused Asgardian. "What Director Fury means Thor, it that Loki turned those men into his personal and unconditional slaves," he explained .
"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asked Banner, he was rather eager to work with the physicist. He truly found his published work interesting, never mind the fact he turned big, mean, and green.
"This way, Sir," Bruce said moving toward the lab they had assigned him.
Before they exited the bridge Tony turned and pointed a finger at Rogers. "You, the lab, ASAP. We geniuses must stick together."
"Later Stark," Nick told the annoyance. "You are full of surprises Captain," He began when Rogers, Romanoff, and Thor were the only ones who remained at the meeting table. He started walking towards the younger man. After what he heard about Kraft, some small things about the Cap's behaviour were bugging him, and he really, really hoped he was wrong. "Not quite what we were led to believe from the evaluations and reports the SSR had on you."
Fury invaded Steve's personal space, and he visibly tensed. While he tried not to give anything else away, it really took a lot not to stand to put distance between them. With a huge effort he shrugged. "I'm suspecting they wanted a symbol Director. They wanted more my body than my brains," Fury, Romanoff, Coulson, Hill, and even Thor snorted.
Dread filled his stomach. Nick knew Kraft was obsessed with creating super soldiers, if he could not recreate the serum, then he wanted them cloned, or... bred. Obtaining what he needed for the later would result in the behavior he just witnessed.
The two days Rogers spent in bed had not been grieving, like he believed, or perhaps it only partially was. Then there was the younger man's shocking interest in Biochemistry, the basics, which he was told was necessary to learn before moving towards DNA studies. The young Captain was most likely researching what doctor Kraft could do with what he took from him.
"From what you mentioned, the SSR did make use of your brains as well," he pointed out. He was still standing very close to the Cap. Nick could actually see the tension on the younger man's neck and shoulders.
"Captain America was a character the USO created to sell war bonds, and raise morale back home. But I did not agree to be experimented on, to become an actor, a lab rat, or..." a stud used for breeding. He did not say those last words aloud, so Steve just trailed off feeling his breath coming short.
He would not panic, he would not. But then Fury placed a hand on his shoulder and Steve could not help it. He bolted, jumping out of his chair, sliding across the table, and he was at the other side of the bridge before they could blink. Steve put as much space between them as he could. He looked a bit wild eyed, but when no one approached him he calmed down slightly.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' He berated himself angrily, as he tried to get himself under control. He could have taken Fury down, in fact it had become a trained response, but instead he fled, confirming whatever conclusions the one eyed spy had.
"They will pay Captain, Kraft went too far." The anger in his voice was unmistakable. He was furious.
"So you say," Steve said dully. It was clear he did not believe Fury's words.
"I meant it when I said I respected your choice not to be an experiment. I give you my word they will be questioned and brought to justice." The younger man nodded after a searching look. But he was clearly not fully convinced, and he could not blame him for it.
"I want what they took from me destroyed," Steve could not help the slight shudder. "I want to be sure some things haven't been used already, and I want to be present while its being done." He paused. "I also want to be left alone by your people."
"I can agree to all but the last." Nick was going to make them pay. As it was clear Rogers was not going to work for SHIELD any time soon. Unfortunately he could not just let him go out into the world on his own. "I had planned for agents Lozano and Johnson to bring you up..."
"No thank you," Steve stated firmly. "I did quite well on my own and with only the assistance from regular civilians," he had already known, but he had kept visiting Pete for at least an hour daily to back up his knowledge. "I suppose they omitted to report I stopped attending their so called lessons after the third one.
"It got tiresome to be treated like I was a caveman from the last ice age, specially by people who have no clue what they were talking about," he actually sneered at that. "People who do not take their job seriously enough to actually do research on the subject.
"People who are so ignorant they probably think my war was fought with rocks and sticks, since they clearly had no idea electricity and the telephone had been around for at least a couple of decades by the time I enlisted. Why did you assign them to me in the first place?"
Nick sighed, what the fuck was going on with SHIELD's personnel? They were not incompetent, far from it, but it was just one clusterfuck after another in regards to the young man before him. "They were chosen because they had a background in education before joining SHIELD," Nick explained. "They were also certified to teach several subjects at one of the academies for promising youngsters we have."
"Well, they clearly are not well versed on the early 20th century. As I said, I'm self taught, and quite capable of doing research on my own. I'll acclimate at my pace. If you are willing to provide me with adequate IDs, ones that do not say I'm ninety-three, as well as a High School Diploma, I'll work on getting admitted into College and get a job to support myself."
"I see..." Nick said with a sigh.
What was wrong with his people? Things were really fucked up beyond recognition if Rogers was actually contemplating civilian life. It was a waste of the Super Soldier Serum, although... letting him take full advantage of that genius mind was intriguing. A soldier with the mind of a scientist, a very odd combination. Someone who would have been even more valuable for SHIELD.
Unfortunately, because of the people who kept disobeying orders, and alienating the young man, he was probably only there because he knew the threat the Tesseract represented. But maybe... With time they might work on convincing Rogers to be a consultant, much like they did with Stark.
Nick sighed. "We'll see about it once this business with the Cube is over. In the mean time, find Stark and Banner Cap. You have more insight into how the Cube operates than we previously knew. I believe you might provide them with a different outlook, and perhaps a better reference than doctor Selvig's notes." That might start appeasing the young man.
"Yes Sir... Is there a posibility to have access to the files in Stark's, and I suppose Banner's packets? I would like to familiarize myself with them."
"Coulson?" Nick turned to his best handler.
"Hard copies Sir?" He asked the Captain, although he had seen the man had no trouble with the tablet.
"No, the tablet is fine." Steve preferred it actually. "It's not complicated to use," he added.
"It'll be there ASAP Captain." Phil was in a bit of a shock at all the revelations he had been privy to. He also wanted a few hours alone with Kraft and Co. Although he clearly was not the only one, in fact, suspected there was a line forming to have a go at those bastards.
"Thank you," he said standing and getting his bag from under the table. "Also is there a posibility for secure access to the Internet? I might need to do some research on some subjects. As I said, my nuclear physics are a bit outdated."
"That can be arranged as well," Nick granted.
He really needed to know just how smart the man actually was, and from his words earlier it was not due to the Super Soldier Serum. Then Rogers took out that skateboard of his from his back pack, and was on it before he managed to say a thing.
"Don't you dare use that fucking thing on my ship Rogers!" He shouted half heartedly a bit too late, as the young man was already rolling away from the bridge.
