Here's the second update of the day! Hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters that may be used or any Marvel storylines or arcs.
Claimer: I only own the character Elizabeth Jones (Lowri Jones and any other names she uses) and her story past, present and future.
Recap
"I've got radio contact with our team heading out. The three that came with us are joining them, the more the merrier I told them." Phil said.
"So, in less than an hour we can know what's in there?" Lowri asked.
"Hopefully." Phil confirmed. "How was the Russians?"
"Scared mostly. They've signed their silence and I sent them back to their camp." Lowri replied. She watched as a group of people rushed past, talking quickly about something. "They're preparing for something big."
"Yeah. We don't know what they're gonna find down there." Phil said.
The wait was long and drawn out, the hours slogged and the minutes ticked away slowly. Lowri and Phil found a small office in the building and claimed it as their own, they set up the equipment and then waited. They alternated coffee and tea runs between them.
Updates from the team through the radio was regular. It took some time for them to actually get into the plan for them to establish that the plane wasn't going to fall under the Arctic's whim any time soon. Eventually, the small team managed to get inside with a light and they explored.
Finally, after hours of waiting, the update that Lowri was desperately waiting to hear came through.
"We have found Captain Rogers, I repeat, we have found Captain Rogers." Came the voice of Agent Adams.
Lowri was stunned into silence as soon as those words were spoken but Phil still kept his cool. He reached for the radio and kept an eye on Lowri.
All colour was gone from her cheeks and she felt weak. She knew that there was already a high chance of finding Steve onboard the plane, but hearing it was still hard.
"Bring him in." Phil ordered.
"Will do, Agent Coulson." Agent Adams replied and that was it.
Lowri's mind was reeling so fast that she felt the room spin and she had to lean against the wall and she slowly slid down. Her head went into her hands and she tried to control her breathing, which was picking up speed alarmingly fast.
"They've found him." Relief soared through her body and she felt like bawling her eyes out at how happy she felt.
Phil immediately got Fury on the line.
"I'm sorry about the late hour sir, but you wanted to know when we found something and we have, we've found him, sir," Phil said calmly. "Yes, sir. We're working on extraction right now with a team of medics on standby to treat our agents for hyperthermia. She's in shock, I believe. I'll make sure she gets something to eat."
Nick must have been talking about her and Lowri looked up, but she didn't want to take the call. She placed her hands on her knees in front of her, breathing hard.
"Yes, sir. I will." Phil hung up the call and looked down at her. He dropped to one knee in front of her. "Are you alright, Ri?" He asked slowly.
She nodded her head.
"Good, they're bringing him in." Phil said, he placed his hands on her shoulders "Stay here and I'll get something for you to eat. Just stay here."
He grabbed the radio set and dashed off down the hall, that was probably a good idea since she was in deep shock and not thinking clearly.
She forced herself to breath slower, and she looked around her. Her mind was going crazy at the thought of seeing Steve again, what would he look like? Would he have been preserved? Would he be decayed? She felt slightly disgusted at the last thought
Her heart raced at the thought of seeing his body.
Phil was back in minutes with a sandwich and a chocolate bar for her.
"They've got him out and he's being moved to the medic centre to defrost. He's been iced over." Phil said.
He wouldn't have aged at all. He would look exactly the same and Lowri's heart almost cracked.
"Eat this. Come on, Ri." Phil pleaded.
Lowri nodded her head and picked up the sandwich, she bit into it numbly, eating for the sake of eating but the sandwich and the chocolate did help calm her nerves. But the wait was almost killing her.
"What did Nick say?" Lowri asked, looking at Phil as he hovered over her.
Phil looked down at Lowri, a mixed look on his face. "He said he wants to work with you to give Captain Rogers a proper funeral. Everything funded by S. H. I. E. L. D., since he was working with the SSR when he went down, and besides, he's a hero to every American." Phil said.
Lowri nodded her head and glanced at her watch. They'd been there for ten hours, only yesterday she was in Central Park, less than twenty-four hours. It's crazy how fast the time has gone but now it was only a matter of time before Steve would be brought in and from there, Lowri doesn't know where she stands.
"Well, that's good." Lowri said, she kept her eyes downwards. "Phil, is it normal for me not to know what I'm feeling?" She asked.
"In a way, yes." Phil said. "You love the man and you're gonna get him back. You never got to say goodbye to him properly and now you have the chance to give him the burial he deserves."
"Agent Coulson. You need to come to the medic wing, there's something you gotta see." Agent Brown said over the radio.
"On our way." Phil replied, "You good to walk, Ri?" Phil asked, looking down at her. Lowri nodded her head and pushed herself to her feet.
"I'm good." Lowri said, she walked beside Phil, heading to the medic wing. As they neared, it was clear that something big was going on inside.
People were rushing about, on the phone, checking tablets and plain panicking.
Agent Cole came out of one of the rooms, a look of complete shock on his face. "Ma'am… Agent Coulson… it's unbelievable." He stammered.
"Why? What's going on in there?" Lowri asked, looking at the double doors from which Agent Cole had just come out of.
"It's so against nature, ma'am." Agent Cole breathed, "He's still alive."
Shock ran through Lowri's body as soon as Agent Cole said the last three words, her breath left her body and her eyesight dimmed considerably, her knees gave way momentarily and she almost fell to the floor but Phil caught her quickly and supported her.
"What do you mean, 'He's still alive?'" Phil asked sharply.
"I mean, he's breathing. When they set about defrosting him, they realised he was still breathing. Even through the ice. His breathing is lowered a lot but he's still breathing." Agent Cole said.
"I need to see." Lowri said, pushing herself from Phil and stepping towards Agent Cole. "I need to see this for myself."
Agent Cole nodded his head numbly and led them through the double doors, now they were in the medic wing and there was even more panic in the air.
Lowri and Phil were led down the corridor to the door right at the end. "There's a viewing room just in here, no one is allowed in the actual room just yet." Agent Cole said.
Lowri and Phil disappeared through the door and inside was the other agents, all watching the window in front of them
She stepped up to the window, her eyes scanning the room on the other side of the window and all of her breath left her body. The window was one of those viewing ones, allowing those on one side of the glass to see in as if looking through a window and the other side acts as a mirror.
Inside the room, there were three medics working feverishly around a large steel table, cabinets were shoved crudely against the walls and the table looked as though it had been wheeled in quickly. There were large heaters sitting on the outskirts of the room, blasting heat into the room.
Lying on the table, still in his battle-worn stars and stripes combat uniform was Steven Rogers.
Lowri's breathing caught in her throat as she peered into the room, he looked like he was sleeping. How the hell could he have survived almost seventy years in the ice?
She stared at him, her heart racing as she tried to understand how the man she came to love is still alive with no known reason, after putting the huge plane into the water. It's not logical and she certainly can't get her head around it.
Phil was asking the same question into the phone, asking Fury who had no answer. It was mind blowing and confusing.
"They're defrosting him right now and they say his heart is still beating." Phil said, the speakers above them stirred to life, reporting that the heartrate of the iced Captain was now at a healthy rate of someone in a deep sleep. "I don't know how he's still alive, sir, but it's a miracle."
Fury began listing off things he wanted to know and wanted to happen and as this happened, Lowri had a breakthrough.
"Give me the phone." Lowri ordered, Phil passed over the phone and Lowri cut off Fury's orders, "Nick, it's that serum he got in '42."
"What are you talking about, Ri?" Nick asked.
"The Super Soldier Serum. It did more than just make him strong. The serum replaces cells at an insane rate and that might be how he's still bloody breathing right now. If his body was frozen for this long and now we're defrosting him, maybe the cells making up his heart are remembering their job. By some mad luck, he's alive." Lowri explained.
"I want you to bring him back to DC as soon as he can be moved." Nick ordered.
"Will do, Nick." Lowri said before hanging up and passing the phone back to Phil.
"What does he want us to do?" Phil asked, sliding the phone away.
"We're bringing him back with us." Lowri said firmly, her eyes locked on the iced man.
Hours passed before Steve was fully defrosted but he seemed to be in a very deep sleep. He was strapped to a stretcher and placed in the back of the jet with one of the medics just in case he woke up and Lowri flew them back to the Triskelion.
Her nerves were driving her crazy, how in the world could she be in this position? She would never have imagined that she'd be flying the unconscious body of her love from seven decades ago.
Lowri landed back in the bay and a team of agents boarded the jet and immediately wheeled Steve off out of sight.
Nick was waiting for her as she got off the jet, his eye searched hers and jerked his head. She fell into step with him and he began asking her questions.
"Are you alright with us trying to wake him?" Nick asked straight off as they stepped into the elevator. Nick stuck his key into the lift and they began bypassing every other floor. "My office or your office?"
"Mine. I need a drink." Lowri said, she called out for her office and they shot up. "Yes. We should wake him, or at least try to." She said.
The elevator opened up to the hallway leading to Lowri's office and she swiped her card over the scanner by the door and it opened for her.
"Besides, Steve gave his life for this country and he deserves more than anything to live in this country, to live the life that he lost. If he can adjust." Lowri said as she paced into her office. She went straight for her desk where she had a bottle of whisky stashed away. "Want some?" She asked as she unscrewed the lid. Nick shook his head at her.
"So, you're good with us trying to wake him?" Nick asked slowly.
"As long as you've got a careful plan with like three back up plans, then yeah. Wake him." Lowri reached for her glass and then looked up at Nick and put the bottle of whisky down. "But, you can't just shake him awake and tell him that it's the twenty first century and that everyone he knew is either dead or in a nursing home."
Lowri picked up the bottle again and poured herself a generous double shot of whisky.
"We haven't got a plan yet." Nick said slowly.
"Well, we better think of one fast. Now is not the time to wait around." Lowri said, she paused and breathed in deeply. "He's gonna freak. He's gonna refuse to believe that he's in a different century completely. He's gonna think we're Nazis playing tricks on him. And he's strong. Like, incredibly strong. This isn't an easy task."
"We probably have something, some sort of procedure, similar to this situation deep in the paper files. We can do some digging." Nick said.
Lowri turned to him, glass in hand with a calm look. "Never, ever, in S. H. I. E. L. D. history has anything like this happened. There will not be a procedure for a man sleeping in ice for almost seventy years and how to wake him." She downed the whisky in her glass and reached for another.
"Then we'll just have to be careful about the entire thing." Nick said carefully. "You knew the guy, what's the best way to wake him up?"
"I don't know." Lowri said before knocking back her second double shot. She looked down at her desk and let out a sigh. "New York. He grew up in New York and he told me once that New York would always be his home. I want him to be in New York when he does wake up. And we've got a good medical wing there. The city has changed but there may be something there that can jog his memory." Lowri said as she poured her third helping.
"I'm gonna have to send you home if you keep drinking like that." Nick said humorously.
Lowri raised an eyebrow at him as she measured her third double shot. "How would you react when you found out someone you knew almost seventy years ago is still alive?" Lowri asked before knocking that one back too. "It doesn't bloody help that he looks the same too. Bloody handsome man."
"I can't have you drunk at work." Nick added.
Lowri rolled her eyes and poured her fourth as she rounded her desk and sat down in the seat.
"When have you ever seen me drunk? Never." Lowri said firmly. "Back to the issue lying down in our medic centre-"
Nick wheeled around and looked at her sharply.
"Hold up, did you just call the man you love 'the issue'?" He stared at her, waiting for her to answer but Lowri poured herself another drink. "Right, that's your last drink. I need you clear headed. He is more than an issue."
Lowri placed her drink down on the table and looked up at Nick with a serious look in her eyes. She was in no mood to be playing around, if she wanted more of her aged whisky, then she would have some of her damn whisky.
"In the last 48 hours, I took my leave from S. H. I. E. L.D. to go to the memorial that I set up for the man I never got to say goodbye to because he sacrificed his life to save this country and his best friend, only to be called off leave a day early to be told that the plane he was in had been found and when I got there, it turns out that they've found him and that he's still alive." Lowri said, she took a large gulp of her whisky. "How am I supposed to react?"
"Happy." Nick said firmly. "I don't think anyone got down to writing the rulebook but I guess being happy must be a start, ya know, you get to see him again. I'm pretty sure that the way to go is not to down the entire bottle of a forty-year whisky in one sitting."
Lowri smiled and sipped at her drink.
"Okay. I think I got a plan." Nick said, he pressed his hands on the table and looked her dead in the eye. "You're off this. This is all on me." Nick said, Lowri opened her mouth to protest but Nick shot her a look and she clamped her mouth shut. "This case is far too close to you. I'd suggest you find something to keep you busy for the unforeseeable future while we deal with Captain Rogers and figure all this out."
"Just make sure you do nothing ridiculous." Lowri said, tipping the contents of her glass down her throat.
Nick smiled, "No promises." He turned back to her.
"Well, while you work on our issue downstairs, I think I'll start training those new recruits we've brought in." Lowri said, she pushed her glass away and got to her feet.
"Are you sure that's wise?" Nick asked, shooting her a careful look as they headed back for the elevator. "You just drank like half the bottle of whisky."
"And I'm 100% sober." Lowri said firmly. "Honestly, Nick, I can't get drunk. The whisky hasn't taken effect at all."
They went their separate ways, Nick headed down to his office to continue working on Project Stripes and Lowri headed down to the training rooms to help with the training.
That was her way to help deal with the issue at hand. She has no idea how she's supposed to act now and she was sure that every agent that knew her history with the unconscious man lying in their medical bay was eyeing her carefully, watching her reactions and it set her on edge.
Helping with the new recruits certainly helped keep her mind busy but the six weeks that passed from finding Steve alive to him finally waking up, it was exhausting.
And that's the updates for this week, next update will land on the coming Monday!
Thanks all for reading, hope to hear off some of you
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