Warnings: This chapter will contain language and maybe sexual references
Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers
Chapter 7
The second Steve walked into the kitchen he was greeted by a formally dressed Acacia. She had her black glasses on and was wearing a light pink suit jacket and black polka dot top. The only reminder that she was young was the matching pink shorts that showed off her legs. A clip board was in her hands with a pen secured to it. It seemed like last night's activities had caused them to move back into their awkward formal relationship.
"Good morning," he said. She looked at him and nodded her head before jotting something down. He felt slight disappointment and annoyance at her.
"Please eat something," she then said. It startled him to hear her voice so gentle. "I can't have you getting sick now. I know your immune system is better than a normal person, but I don't want to risk anything. Is this the usual time you wake up?"
"Yes it is." Steve was surprised when she jotted down what he had said.
"Okay," she stated. She flipped a page and glanced at a sheet of paper. "You have about four hours of free time until you have a meeting with a magazine who wishes to conduct an interview. Do you have any plans?"
"Yes, I was hoping to go to the gym?" Acacia kept her eyebrows from rising at his question. She admitted it felt slightly uncomfortable that he was phrasing things carefully not to offend her. She also felt guilty about snapping at him.
She had been living multiple lives for three years now, but that never made things any easier. One would think that being able to make connections with others was her god given talent, but it wasn't. Her god given talent was to be a monster, whether it meant things were destroyed or she lied to those around her. This was the first time she was living a life with other people so close to her. She wasn't used to the constant human interaction. She had actually forgotten what it meant to actually be nice to people and not just fake politeness.
"Steve," Acacia started. He seemed to be surprised at the use of his first name. "I'm sorry about yesterday. Don't feel like you have to be careful about what you say to me. I ended up arguing with my friend. Instead of taking it out on my friend I took it out on you. I apologize."
"Ah, no it's okay!" he quickly said. His usual smile had returned to his face and the whole atmosphere felt lighter with it. The way it caused her heart to swell was surprising. It was rather puppy-like of him. "Would you like to come with me?"
"Honestly, I wouldn't mind as long as I didn't have to ride on your motor cycle. I also have a bit of work to do too." He frowned at that, but nodded his head in understanding. She sighed to herself inwardly. "I could take a cab over there after I'm finished though if you leave me the address. Do they have a shower there?" He nodded his head. "Then I'll bring you a change of clothes, so you can go straight to the interview after you're done."
"All right then." He stood up and Acacia swore that his smile got, even brighter, if that was possible. "I'll leave it for you before I head out. Don't overwork yourself."
"Yeah you too," Acacia muttered. Nice people sure were weird. There's no way that she deserved that warm reaction.
OO00OO
"Hello," Acacia said. She was expecting to hear the voice of Tony Stark on the other end, but it wasn't. It was a very familiar voice, but not his.
"Hey this is Agent Evergreen I'm wondering if we can talk for awhile," the voice on the other end said. Acacia knew that this wasn't a personal call for her otherwise she would be yelling at her. SHIELD must have something to do with it.
"I'm on my way to meet Mr. Rogers right now, but I could probably spare thirty minutes for coffee. I'll just text you the address of the one closest where I'm supposed to meet him."
Acacia didn't wait for apply and just hung up the phone. She began to question the taxi driver and he was able to change their course. Acacia texted the number back. She'd communicate more when they met.
OO00OO
"So what was up with the sudden call?" Acacia asked. She was sipping on herbal tea while Elaine had ordered a latte.
"The director wants me and Kathy to cozy up to you, so they can recruit you," she responded. She ignored the way Acacia scowled at her. "Don't worry they're not watching this by my request. Seems like the director has really taken a shine to you."
"Well, maybe I would still be with SHIELD if they weren't so eager to rip apart my body and study it the first time I came in." Elaine shot her a sympathetic look.
"That experiment was unauthorized…" Acacia looked at her with a raised brow. "The head doctor as wells as the rest of the team was eliminated after that incident."
"It wasn't unauthorized. That would mean you hacked and dug around in the file about me to find that out. I was knocked unconscious from a drink a SHIELD agent had given me before being taken there. Don't believe everything that agency tells you."
"You have major trust issues…"
"Do what I do and blame my parents." Acacia shrugged her shoulders before taking a drink of her tea. "Is Agent Goldberg all right? I hit her pretty hard."
"The only thing with serious damage is her pride." Elaine let a smile come over her face. "Although the whole building is in an uproar because of you. You just had to beat one of the terrific three."
"Who the hell is that?"
"Me, Aiden, and Kathy," Elaine answered offhandedly. "We're pretty famous for completely skipping over the academy. Including us, we make eleven agents total who have skipped training in SHIELD's history. The fact that you beat her makes everyone curious to know about you. Aiden is especially raving about it."
"Who exactly is Aiden?"
"Ah, he's probably one of the few coworkers that I get along with. He works in medical science and—"
"Don't want to meet him. I mean I have trust issues with scientists, but add to that medical and I'm done."
"Well, then…" she trailed off looking for another topic. "How are things with the Captain?"
"We're polar opposites." Acacia avoided Elaine's eyes and her smiling face.
"You're feeling guilty. How long has it been since you felt that? High school maybe? Look you always wanted reminders that you're human isn't this perfect?"
"It would be perfect if he wasn't so god damn…" Acacia trailed off her words.
"Were you going to complete that with sexy?" Elaine teased. She watched as the other girl flushed, but only for a second. "I'd have to agree. It just might be fueling Kathy's obsession with him."
"Wait so that's why she hates me so much?" Acacia asked. "And her I thought she hated me for the bitch I am, but it's over some guy? I must really be losing my touch."
"Oh hush! You're snarky at best not a bitch. And yeah, she has a bit of a thing for him. Her grandfather was among the troops he saved the first time he went into war. She really respects him. I believe her first mission was headed by him too, but I'm a little foggy on the details. Basically, she's pissed that someone like you was picked to stand by him. To her and the rest of SHIELD you're just an untrained nobody who got lucky, at least for now."
"Well if they ever want me to prove them wrong I could slice them in half, but that's not really my style." Acacia glanced at her phone and gasped. "Shit I stayed here for too long. I got to go." She stood up before glancing at Elaine and smirking. "Also I was going to finish that sentence with nice."
Elaine couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. Somehow that compliment gave her a longing to go back to high school. That way she could see the Acacia when she was the one that was too nice, and see her put her heart into everything. It felt like it had been too long since that time.
OO00OO
"Sorry I was late…" Acacia said. Steve stood dumb struck at her position. She had naturally bowed her head to him and he felt confused.
"It's umm fine…" he replied. "Why are you doing that?"
"Oh!" Acacia shot up out of the position with a slight tint to her cheeks. "Actually it's habit from my home. I'm half Taiwanese and this is what my mom made me do when I did something wrong."
"You see me like your mom?" Acacia looked at him in confusion. "That was a joke…"
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to update your humor a little bit." She handed him the change of clothes she brought. Right now Steve was clad in his workout clothes that were clinging to his body from his sweat. Normally, she'd find it disgusting, but for some reason it made Steve more enticing. "Get showered and changed you have about forty-five minutes until we have to leave."
Steve nodded at her before disappearing into a back room. Acacia took the time to glance around. Tony had told her Steve didn't like the SHIELD facility and that had caused them to acquire an old style gym. From what she could tell the place had been cleaned, but not updated in equipment. It gave off an old feeling. She realized this must have been Steve's only sanctuary from the modern world.
Before she knew it Steve was walking out dressed in a grey suit and simple white dress shirt. He was holding his tie in his hand and looking at her.
"Can you help me with this?" he asked. Acacia frowned.
"I have no idea how to tie it," she answered. He smiled at her before doing it himself. She could only guess he asked just to start some type of conversation.
"Is it straight?" Acacia nodded her head at him. "You picked these out right."
"Yep, I figured I'd go with the stereotypical red, white, and blue stripes." Acacia looked him over once again. "It really suits you."
"Thank you…"
OO00OO
The roof top restaurant was buzzing with activity. People were chatting dressed in fine clothing without being bothered by the light, classical music being played in the background. The aroma of fresh flowers dominated the air, and Acacia could see the many delectable dishes being severed to customers. Overall, it was exactly the kind of place she never wanted to be in. And sitting across from her was the exact type of woman she didn't want to meet.
Jade Delaney was a woman in her mid twenties who perhaps looked a little younger than she actually was. She was dressed in a business fashion with an emerald blazer and black pencil skirt. However, she was fully using her womanly assets by keeping the top few buttons of her white blouse undone and letting her skirt ride up on her long creamy legs. Her smile could be sincere, but there was a hint of deviousness hidden in it. Her dark red hair hung at her shoulders in a neat way and it seemed to bring out her shapely lips. She was overall enticing and dangerous. The thing that made her dangerous though was Steve was totally falling for it.
His eyes had been practically glued to Jade and his cheeks were flushed. Acacia couldn't blame him. If she swung that way she'd probably be doing the same thing. It was still a little annoying though. She just hoped that he remembered her warning about protecting the secrets of SHIELD. Acacia saw the girl lick her pink lips and noticed Steve stiffen. Maybe she should have given him a warning to protect his chastity as well.
"So tell me about SHIELD," Jade started.
Acacia was right. This woman was dangerous indeed.
OO00OO
So I just finished my finals this week and I have to say I was slightly shocked to find out that not only did I pass my physics final, but I got an A-. So maybe I haven't mentioned this, but I'm definitely not a math or science kind of person (Yeah I know this story is called Statistics and I don't like math…) so I have been scraping by in it just barely. Well I now passed the class and am really excited. My class load this semester is really light as well. I only have three classes out of seven that require work and I have two study halls. Fingers crossed that I'll start updating more.
Thank you for reading!
Love or Pain: Please cut Acacia some slack. She's still learning. I make her kind of horrible and moody so she seems more human. As chapters appear you'll start to realize why she is distrusting of people and why she hates to answer questions. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter
Chelsea Di Marco Macbeth: So you're going to have to wait to see who finds out about her powers for a little longer. Maybe in like four chapters (I hope). Sorry about taking so long with updating. I appreciate the support you have shown for this story. I hope you liked the chapter and if you have anything you'd like to see more of than let me know.
Please drop me a comment to tell me what you think or would like to see! Thanks again for reading!