Chapter 4 (Steve):

Steve stared at the 1940s news report on the television. A pain rose up in him as he thought of all his friends and comrades, most of whom were now dead. He shut the TV off and the silence was gratifying, but he couldn't drown out the voices in his head. He turned to another torturous pursuit – reading the status reports Nick Fury had given him about some of his comrades. Bucky…Peggy… Peggy! He missed her more than he could say, but now… He stared at the paper. She was alive, unlike most of the others. There was even a phone number. The cellphone he'd been given, the one that had too many buttons, seemed to appear in his hand like magic, and he looked down at it. He could call her. He should call her…

Steve stood up abruptly and walked out, letting the front door slam behind him. What was he thinking? She probably didn't even remember him.

He walked down the busy streets, trying not to gawk at the strange technology he saw and not brood on his past too much. This was his life now. It was 2012 now.

A few minutes later, he sat in an outdoor seat at a restaurant he'd recently discovered and decided he liked, even though he only went there for a drink, something called Sprite. He sat there for a while, doodling on his homework and missing the 1940s.

"Waiting on the big guy?"

Steve jerked out of a daze and looked up at the pretty waitress who stood over his table. He thought she looked vaguely familiar, as though he'd seen her at school or something, but he wasn't sure. "Ma'am?" he asked in confused.

She smiled. "Iron man. A lot of people eat here just to watch him fly by. Refill?" He nodded, glancing up at the Stark Tower in the distance as she refilled his Sprite.

"Right," he muttered, thinking about how this information would make Tony Stark's head inflate even more. "Maybe another time." He wondered if he should leave and give someone else a chance to desperately stare at that ugly building waiting for an arrogant "superhero" to fly by.

"The table's yours as long as you like. Nobody's waiting on it. Plus we've got free wireless."

"Radio?" Steve wondered. The girl gave a confused smile and walked over to another table.

A man at the table beside him turned around to frown at him. "Ask for her number, you moron." Steve jumped. Wait, cellphone number? It was all too confusing.

…

Steve was in pain. But it was mental pain, and no matter him many times he hit the punching bag, it didn't take away that pain. The war. Punch. "There's not enough time. I've got to put her in the water." Harder. "You won't be alone." Peggy! "Oh my God. This man's still alive!" Slam. The punching bag hit the floor. He stood there for a moment, breathing hard, before bending down to pick up another.

"Trouble sleeping?" Steve didn't look up.

"I've slept for 70 years, sir. I think I've had my fill." He kept hitting the bag.

"Then you should be out celebrating, seeing the world."

Steve stopped and turned around to face Nick Fury. "When I went under, the world was at war. I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost." A lot of good men. Good men who did nothing wrong, were only defending their country.

"We've made some mistakes along the way. Some, very recently." Steve frowned, because that didn't sound good. And Fury never came over just to talk.

"Are you here with a mission, sir?" he asked wearily. At least a mission would be a distraction. High school wasn't quite distracting enough, even with his work for S.H.I.E.L.D. to contribute to his load, or a couple of new acquaintances he might one day call friends.

"I am."

"Trying to get me back in the world?" Trying to make up for the feeling that I've missed something very important?

"Trying to save it."

Steve looked up in surprise, finally giving Nick Fury his full attention and taking the folder he was offered. The first picture brought back very bad memories.

The Tesseract. "HYDRA's secret weapon," he said. It wasn't a question.

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think, that the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited, sustainable energy. And that's something the world sorely needs."

Steve pushed away the bad memories and focused on the problem at hand. "Who took it from you?" If Nick Fury was worried, then it must be bad.

"He's called Loki. He's…not from around here, but I think you know him." Steve frowned slightly as the image of a quiet, dark-haired teen came to mind. How common a name was it? "There's a lot more we'll need to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me," Steve said heavily.

"10 bucks says you're wrong." He paused as Steve gathered up his exercise things. "There's a debriefing packet back at your house. Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we should know?"

"You should've left it in the ocean," Steve said flatly, walking out.

…

"Hey, it's the mysterious guy from the restaurant." Steve looked down to see the waitress from earlier sitting on the subway seat next to where he stood. "So," she asked, "Can I at least get a name?"

"Steve," he said finally. "What about you?"

"Melodie Branch."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am," he said politely. For some reason, this made her laugh.

"You know, you don't have to call me ma'am. I'm the same age as you." No, he thought bitterly, I'm about 70 years older. "Are you okay? It's fine, I mean, you can keep doing it if you want," she said, looking at him worriedly. He quickly composed himself.

"My apologies, it's just been a long day." She smiled.

"I guess it has. Anyway, this is my stop. It was good to meet you!" she smiled at him as she got off. He nodded to her politely, wondering how a person could be so smiley.

Author's Note: Please review! I'm not sure how good this chapter was. Oh, and next chapter is from Tony's perspective. Thanks for reading!