To say that SHIELD was a high-tech organization was an understatement. Ash found herself surprised with each turn she made through the government system. Though she had only been with the group for two days, she had learned more about the world than she had in the whole of her lifetime. That was a truly impressive feat for someone fresh out of medical school.
Which was why now, as she looked at the huge air-craft carrier before her at the landing dock, she was a bit confused. Fury thought he was going to keep clear from Loki in this? The red-headed agent (Who Fury had introduced as Natasha Romanoff) stepped up next to her, arms crossed and a gun strapped to her thigh. "Fury wants you onboard now," Romanoff said curtly to her. "We're about to leave port." She tossed her chin-length red hair out of her eyes. She squinted up at Ash, who was nearly a head taller.
Ashley nodded, grabbing her one backpack that she had been using as a suitcase and walking up the gang plank. Salt air hit her and she inhaled. It really was nice at the beach. She hadn't allowed herself time to go there in a while. Her patients had been her top priority. Now she found herself on the top of the flight deck. Men and women walked around, making the final preparations for the ship's departure.
Natasha stood right next to her as the ship left port, every so often placing a hand to the communicator in her ear. The sun was very bright and Ash found herself squinting constantly. She wanted to go below deck. Soon. Her fair skin was probably already burned after being on the docks for so long. SHIELD was efficient when they wanted to be, but today she had been waiting for what felt like hours. Her comfort was clearly not a priority anymore.
"Doctor Wilson," she heard a deep voice call to her from the door. She turned her head to see Director Fury and a small, tan man with glasses and dark curly hair making their way to her. She walked up to Fury, Natasha never far behind. "You've already met Agent Romanoff, but this here is Doctor Banner. He will be helping us locate the Tesseract. You two will be spending some good quality time together if I understand your effect on the cube correctly."
Ash nodded briefly. "I'll do my best," she replied smoothly. Then she turned to the other doctor. "So you're a doctor too?" Banner nodded as they shook hands.
"Bruce Banner," he said quietly. Ash remembered the name from the file she had read. His name had been by the green boulder… he didn't look so big now…
"Ash Wilson," she replied. He nodded, looking back over the deck. She kept her mouth shut about the files she had read on him. His name had actually been tabooed in the medical community after the stunt he had pulled with gamma experimentation. Ash had never fully understood why he had been so keen to study it further, but she did not question him about it.
The ship was further out to sea now and Ash could hear the jets of a plane overhead as it got nearer to the landing portion of the flight deck. Ash looked up to see a black jet touch down gently on the bright deck.
She could make out Phil Coulson coming out as the backdoor opened with a hiss as well as another man. Ash had to force herself to stop staring as a very well-muscled, very good looking man with dirty blonde hair stepped from the plane behind Coulson. She was about to follow Bruce over to meet the new arrivals when Natasha informed her that Fury wanted to speak with her.
With a little huff, Ash nodded and turned on her heel, following an agent that had come up top to retrieve her.
Ash had been called to speak with Fury on the bridge.
"Nice to see you again, Wilson," Fury said as he stepped away from the control panel at the bridge of the aircraft carrier. Ash had never imagined aircraft carriers to look like this. She had been on one when she was younger on a school trip, but this was entirely different. This one looked like something out of Star Trek.
Ash nodded to Fury. "What can I do?"
"The results of your blood tests are in," he said swiftly as he placed a file folder down on the round table of the bridge. It looked like it was fit for a meeting of sorts. Ash took the file.
"I told you there wouldn't be anything, Director," she said swiftly… and her jaw dropped when she looked through its contents. Her blood toxicity levels were off the charts when it came to… Iridium?
Fury kept his eye on her as she read through the results once… then twice. "This… this wasn't here before…"
Fury raised an eyebrow. "Doctor, SHIELD is privy to exceptional medical analysis that civilian hospitals cannot provide. Were you exposed to this substance in any way, shape, or form when you were younger? As a child, perhaps? It may be the cause of your powers if they do not run in your family."
Ash shrugged. "Honestly, Director, I can't tell you. I truly don't know. I barely knew my mother. All I know is that she was a scientist. She may have been exposed to this and it was passed on to me during her pregnancy." Ash knew it was a long shot, but it was all she could think of. Her father had told her that her mother had trotted the globe searching for abnormal scientific anomalies. It was quite possible that this was the case now. Maybe her mother had been tampering with the element.
Fury nodded. "Well, we'll get to the bottom of it. In the meantime I want you to focus on using your talents for finding the Tesseract. You'll be assisting Dr. Banner when he gets down here. Sitwell?" Fury said to a dark skinned man sitting at a computer. "Run a background check again on Doctor Wilson's family." He turned back to Ash.
Ash nodded. "I met Doctor Banner just a moment ago. He seemed nice."
Fury seemed to let out a light snort. "Just make sure he stays that way, Doctor." He took her file back from her, slipping it into the inner pocket of his jacket. "We also just received word that Captain America has arrived. You'll be meeting a man from history here in a moment, Wilson."
At that, the ship began to lurch, the sound of gears on gears meeting Ash's ears. She held onto the table she had been at for stability, never taking her eyes off of the window in front of her. was it just her, or was this ship rising?
Another look out the window confirmed her suspicions. She should have known SHIELD wouldn't have just used any old aircraft carrier. This was something Ash never would have dreamed of in her wildest dreams.
"Impressive, isn't it, Doctor?" Fury asked from his place at the control panels.
Ash nodded absently. Her mind was still reeling from the new tests she had gotten back. Those tests had not been any different from the ones that she had seen in any other doctor's office. She had changed since the last time she had been tested. She wondered briefly if it had something to do with the blast she had sustained from Loki's spear.
"Captain," she heard Fury say as the same tall, blonde man she had seen on the flight deck walked into the room. "Glad you could make it."
Ash watched the man from her seat. He had passed her as he entered the room, and his back was to her now. She watched as he looked around dumbstruck- more than she was anyways. She watched as the two shook hands and Steve seemed to slip a ten dollar bill into Fury's hand. She tilted her head, smiling a bit in confusion.
Ash remained where she was, taking the tall man in. He had a beautiful face- for a guy anyway. He had dirty blonde hair, a strong chin, and dressed like he was from another decade. Ash had always liked men that dressed well… She shook her head as she found herself daydreaming about a man that had just walked into the room. She never did that. That had always been Lauren's thing.
She stood up after a while. He seemed to be cordial, but it didn't seem like he was all there. She had read about the Captain America project while studying the effects of steroids on the body. When she looked this guy over, he was the prime example of the perfect effects of such high dosages.
"Oh, uh Rogers, this is Doctor Ashley Wilson. She's helping us locate the cube alongside Dr. Banner." Fury's voice seemed far away as Ash finished her subtle survey of the man in front of her. The captain looked at her for a whole two seconds before his eyes darted away quickly.
"So… you're a super soldier," she said casually in an attempt to lighten the thick atmosphere. If she was going to be stuck on a floating airboat with these people she may as well make friends, right?
"Project Captain America, if you prefer," he said quietly. Steve looked down at the girl in front of him. He had been taken off guard when she had been introduced as a doctor. Women weren't doctors, were they? But he quickly reminded himself that this was the twenty first century and things hadchanged. Her mannerisms had thrown him as well. The only woman he had ever seen carry herself like that had been Agent Peggy Carter. But her mannerisms were where the likeness to his- what would she be? Ex-girlfriend?- stopped. She had dark brown hair, but there were streaks of red in it. Her eyes were also green and her face was more oval shaped than Peggy's had been. Still. Her head-strong tendencies were already showing through and he had just met her.
Ash looked at him for a moment. "So, do I call you Cap? Or Steve?" she deadpanned, mimicking his serious tone.
Then he smiled, laughing at her. "Steve works for me," he replied.
She smiled again. "So, how has it been… adapting to the twenty-first century?" she asked by way of small talk. She liked this Steve fellow.
"I am getting there. People don't seem to change all that much. It's the times that do, doctor."
Ash nodded. "Ash. Call me Ash," she said shyly.
Steve nodded, the smile still touching his face. "Ok, Ash."
Doctor Banner walked up to the two, rolling up his sleeves as Natasha crouched down to look at a screen. Ash was able to make out a picture of Agent Barton pass under the agent's fingertips as she looked through the files. Her fingers hovered over the picture slightly longer than the other files.
"Alright, we need to focus on finding the Tesseract. That is our top priority," Fury said as he spoke aloud to the group. "Scan every cell phone, computer, anything that is connected to a satellite to find this Loki guy."
"That's still not going to find them in time," Natasha said quietly.
Banner looked over at Ash. "I'll rough out an algorithm and see if I can start tracking the gamma emissions of the cube."
Ash's eyes went wide. "I'm not that kind of doctor," she said blatantly. "Tell me who to stich up and I'm good, but I am not a specialist in that arena."
Fury nodded as he looked over to Ash. "As for you, Wilson, just keep your senses up for anything funky. You will remain at the bridge with us until further notice."
Banner nodded in agreement. "Do you have somewhere for me to work?"
Fury looked at Natasha. "Agent Romanoff, show Doctor Banner to the labs."
"You're gonna love it, Doc," she said to Banner as she passed. "We got all the toys."
OK! First interactions between Ash and Cap. Honestly, this chapter was a (insert not nice word) to write. It felt kind of… awkward? Yeah. Awkward. On the plus side, I have a bunch of stuff already written for what's coming up so updates SHOULD be more frequent. I apologize for the long wait, but I got involved with other stories as well as work life. You would think school being out would give me plenty of time to write but, alas, no.
But seriously, how was this? Was it good, bad? Should I continue it? I have a lot of drama and romance stuff ready for later on, but it has to build off of what I write in the beginning chapters (as you all know).
Leave me a note? :)
~Sirius