So it's settled then.
The chopper ride was a long one. Moving from Africa to the United States meant plenty of stops in between. If the team wasn't refilling tanks and eating, the ride itself was pleasant, thanks to their pilot, the ghoulishly odd one. Even through his mask, he could smell the hot musk that radiated off Logan and the woman's bodies as soon as they boarded the chopper. He doesn't say a word. He already knows Logan, well enough to assume that things had gotten messy, as they always do.
The helicopter ride hadn't been as unpleasant as she had expected, it wasn't much different from when she had taken flights to patrol the island for predators or to hunt prey in the air. She had even gladly helped in refueling the vehicle or assisting in any way she could to get them to where they were going.
Logan spent the entire ride silent and looking away from her. Not even a word or a 'sorry for attacking you'. He knows that she's a tough woman. What Logan had done was part of the job. She could understand that right? But there's one thing she may not understand: he's not looking at her, because he'd hate to have his one-track train of thought reverse back to when he had almost reached his climax. Even the smallest glance at her will bring back memories of their fight. Logan spent the entire flight with his hands at his sides and his legs crossed at the ankles. That's just the way it is. It's not that he doesn't like her: he just can't look at her. If only she knew that he isn't the sour-puss that he may come off as.
She had been trying to build up the guts to apologize to Logan, him being quiet and avoiding contact with her the entire time. She assumed he was still angry about the fight, and decided to leave him be until his demeanor wasn't so... Menacing, especially after she had to lose her white torn shirt when it had caught on fire during a refueling session.
Normally, the woman wouldn't feel so naked, she being used to the lack of clothing. But being around human beings in her makeshift leopard print underwear made her a little uncomfortable as everyone else wore ten times more than her. But she tried to not let it bother her.
Her face was pressed against the window in anticipation, gazing about the city as she hadn't seen a city, let alone this one, in over 12 years! How could it have grown so much?! It was mid day when they had arrived and the city was bustling with life! It was exciting!
They eventually landed on a heliport near the mansion, in New York City, that all too familiar place, near that all too familiar park bench on 5th Ave~
When the double glass doors open, though, familiarity trades with new faces. Agents, dressed in dark colors, all wear the insignia on their vests, some wear it on their arms. Even the simpler desk workers and receptionists also wear the badge. No service is too small when fighting for world peace. Once the team gets inside, Logan will be the first one to tear off a lab coat from an unsuspecting worker and drape it over the woman's body. He won't do much else after that, lest he wants himself to swell to such a degree that it'll hurt-a bad case of a clogged pipe.
Then she felt a pair of calloused hands place a soft white material over her shoulders. It was a lab coat, and she gratefully accepted Logan's gift and put her arms inside the sleeves, wrapping the flimsy but thicker material around herself, tying the string around her waist, tossing her long brown hair down her back while she tried to keep a serious composure among these people, trying to look as heroic as possible.
After leading the team of two down a flight of stairs and into his office, he spins around and faces them. Logan stays in the corner.
"You don't need to treat me like I'm foreign, Colonel Fury. I speak over 10 languages fluently."
"Alright. Let's start with your name. What do they call you? After you tell a bit about yourself, I'll leave you free to explore the place. Meeting will begin in two hours ".
When he looked at her questionably, she took a deep breath, and explained everything she could about who she was, where she came from, and how she came to be who she is now.
Out of all the potential agents he had his intelligence team muster up, this woman had remained illusive. Nothing. Not even a drop of a blood sample or a fingerprint. She's a rare one. Fury's desk is messy, smothered in photos, news paper clippings and old, dead cigarettes.
"I hardly remember anything about my past. I get flashbacks occasionally, but… other than that, I know only that I had a family once. And they abandoned me and left me to die." She explained, a little pained to ponder on her past.
"… we took a vacation to Africa. It was so beautiful, and I loved every moment of it, wandering through the brush and smelling the forestry... But when I awoke in my sleeping bag one morning... I had been abandoned... Left for dead," she said, growling a little at the memory.
"I wandered the jungle for hours, hungry and afraid, only 11 years old, completely defenseless and open to any predators. When, from the bushes, out comes this tigress... Huge and fierce! So beautiful but frightening at the same time. I was so scared, I trembled and couldn't run, knowing she d catch me before I could make it three feet away. I just stood there, panicking, when three tiger cubs came out of the brush behind her, almost newborns," she mused, smiling at the mention of the cubs.
"One of them came right up to me, sniffing my tired legs and rubbing against them like your normal house cat. When the mother saw this, she approached me and smelled me, my hair, my legs, chest, everywhere. She put her head against my own, and when I thought she was going to swallow me whole, a soft voice spoke in my mind, female and motherly. All she said was 'Come with me,'"
"I got onto her back and she carried me to the heart of the forest, to a little run down hut. On the porch of the hut was a old Amazonian woman, still tall and strong, not frail and weak. She welcomed me in with open arms and nursed me back to health. She spoke to me of a legend, the legend of the 'Guardian', a human with the power to change their form into creatures of the earth to protect this precious and sacred jungle. She said that I was that guardian. She trained me for a few years, how to hunt and battle intruders, and then she grew ill. She passed on, becoming a swarm of glowing dust that flew straight into me! Filling me with the power of the Guardian!" She exclaimed, her voice having grown loud.
"So I abandoned the memory of my past life, reforged myself and put my powers to use, vowing to protect the jungle whatever it took, forgetting my old name and creating a new name for myself. A name that the old woman bestowed upon me before she died. A name meaning 'beautiful creature', in the language she taught me to speak. My name is..." She stopped, taking a deep breath as Fury looked at her with wide eyes but a composed expression, Logan still quiet behind her in the corner.
"... is Xyta Albrooke."
"So an old amazon, who I'm guessing was the previous 'guardian', gave up her powers to you since she was about to die anyway? Hmm. She must have spoken to you through the tigers and made them carry you to the center of the forest. Who knew how long the Guardian was waiting on a successor? You probably got forced to live out a destiny that wasn't meant for you"
"O' maybe it was destiny that brought 'er there..."
Logan cuts in. He silently stands there, looking elsewhere, eyes half-closed, hurting, thinking, but somehow, focused. When he isn't a hot head, he's distant, almost melancholy and perceptive at the same time. Judging from his words, he seems to know a little bit about the word 'destiny'. If anyone were to ask him about his past, though, he'd suggest he shouldn't waste his breath. Not even he remembers much of anything about himself. What he does know, is this:
"Yeh jus' gotta take whateva life gives you an' make it yer own".
Xyta looked at Fury a little angrily when he said that she wasn't meant to be the Guardian, and was about to lash back when Logan cut in, suggesting otherwise. She turned to the gruffy man-beast and gave him a soft smile, mouthing "thank you," to him before turning back to Fury.
Fury looks at Logan, then at Xyta. Finally he just shrugs and dismisses them both. "We'll meet again in two hours. Logan can show you around"
When Fury turns around to sort more files, Logan leaves the room first, slumping, in pain. He'll try his best to put his needs to the side...just this once...c'mon Logan. Don't look at her. Don't smell her!
He sent them away for Logan to show her around, and as expected, Logan slumped out like it was a chore. Xyta noticed him limping a little, regardless of his ability to heal himself. She immediately felt a pang of guilt and was about to apologize for everything when he started throwin in random names about the different people who worked here in this organization. It was almost humorous.
"Th-this...this is where all the legal mumbo-jumbo goes on" Logan points inside of a random room, filled the men and women discussing politics. The next few rooms look the same: just people in uniforms, talking and answering phones. Endless cubicles and halls that break off into intersections; one could get lost here easily, and from the looks of how busy everyone is, nobody would have the time to guide Xyta around. Their next stop is a larger room with several monitors hooked in the walls, showing news forecasts, daily reports and recent mishaps in the world.
"Here's one o' the briefin' rooms. Lackeys come 'ere an' get the scoop o' things"
Lackey. Logan always had funny names to describe the Agents here. If one works the telephones or the computers, they are 'techno rats'. If one is a proud S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, they are just 'lackeys'. Logan has an easy dub for everything and everyone. A little further down is a few more rooms. Typical. One particular hallway leads into a locker room. Once inside, the smell of manly musk, aftershave and body sprays waff through the air. A few of the lockers were left open, inside of which sits a round shield, decorated in circular bands of red and white, but no star in the middle...
If Xyta asks Logan about it, he wouldn't know. He hasn't been around here long enough. Right above the starless shield, marked on the walls inside the locker, are red words.
"Here's the locker room fo' some o' the higher level lackeys. Some o' 'em ain't around no more. Some o' 'em are still here. That's jus' the way things are. They come an' go. Like High School o' somethin' Let's get outta here"
Logan explains and turns around to lead Xyta out, leaving the opened locker behind like a fleeting thought. The words above the shield had said: "The John who walks...watches you...right now"
When they crossed the starless sheild, she just raised a brow at it, wanting to say she had seen it before but couldn't remember where...
Moving on...
One of Logan's favorite places, naturally, is the Training Room. Many brave men and women had stepped in here to be tested. If one asked any agent about their experiences here, they'd share war stories. Most of everyone will say that this room is the worst place to pay your dues, but to Logan, this room is just a theme park. Beep-bop-bleep-boop! Logan punches in the code on a pad next to the Training Room's entrance and steps in, still limping in pain.
And they arrived at the Training Room, where Logan's scent grew a little more relaxed. She figured now was the best time.
"Hey, Logan?" She asked, stopping in the middle of he hallway until he turned back to look at her, grudgingly.
"I'm sorry for what happened back at the forest..." Is all she can muster before she marches right up to him, looking down at the spot on his thigh where she had bit him, the wound still a little swollen and oozing with healing fluids, why hadn't this healed yet?
Taking her hand, she raised it to her lips and coated her fingers with saliva, cautiously reaching down and brushing it into the wound. He hissed a little, but soon the wound cleared completely, all of the pain gone, and she did. She did her best to ignore the bulge right above it.
The very moment her fingers touch her pouted, glossy lips, Logan's mouth went dry once more. Then, the moment he feared: Xyta rubs her wet fingers into his thigh! Immediately, right in front of her, Logan's hand grabs his bulge so tight, that his own grip forces it to pop and swell over his fingers! His hand is twitching and his chest spasms! What had just happened was obvious, but at least Logan spins away from her so she won't actually see it, despite them both knowing very well.
When he had looked at her a little dumbfounded, she judge gave him another smile.
"No hard feelings?" She asked. He just snorted and turned away, continuing to walk down the hall. Xyta just shrugged behind him and followed him, adjusting the tie on her lab coat. What was his problem?
Why does Xyta do this to him? Can a woman be this cruel? Why hadn't she just killed him back there in Africa? She might as well! At least he won't have to suffer though this. After they enter the Training Room, an oh-so-alluring, carrying a shield, figure spins around...
...and Xyta is face to face with a skull! With protruding cheek bones, an empty nose, a lip-less smile and hollow eyes, his jaw droops open to drop his first few, chilling words.
"Wanna hear a joke?"
Who's this male? Was Xyta expecting someone else? Is she being toyed with? This man is also dressed in shimmering, navy blue spandex that hugs the topographical map of his body, but there's no star-spangled theme to his attire. Instead, his skull face is hooded, while his entire back is draped in a blood red cape! In the place of a star on his shield, there's the letter "T". The "T" stands for...
"Taskmaster's the name! Wanna hear a joke?"
Cold, sterile air slithers from his open jaw. One can never tell who Taskmaster is looking at. Within those hollow holes in his 'eyes', lie deception, but at the same time, it's his gift for observation. There isn't a single trick known to man that Taskmaster hadn't seen and was able to copy right down to the muscle fiber of it. With the martial arts prowess of Iron Fist, swordsmanship of Silver Samurai, aim of Hawkeye and marksmanship of Captain America, he's been a nightmare for both heroes and villians alike!
Oh and he's also a little creepy.
"Knock-knock! Say 'who's there!"'
"She ain't got time fer games, Skin an' Bones!" Skin and Bones is what Logan had dubbed him, and it fits well. Taskmaster 'looks' at Logan.
"Why are you holding yourself like that?" Without being given an answer, Taskmaster faces Xyta, then back to Logan.
"Has a joke already happened before you arrived here?"
"Yeh...a cold one" With his final words, Logan slouches away, leaving Xyta with the hollow-slulled, Jack-o'-Lantern face.
"Fuck you, Logan..." The woman gritted under her breath as he left her behind in the room with this creep of a guy... Creature, whatever he was! Frankly, he scared the crap out of her, and when he cackled and asked her his joke, all she did was snarl menacingly, baring those sparkly whites.
"So, wanna hear a joke or not!? Knock-knock!"
Whether Xyta would answer him or not, the joke never reaches its punchline, because at that moment, Taskmaster raises his bow and shoots an arrow past Xyta's face! Sheew! The arrow will whizz past her ear and hit a blunt object in a soft plunkt!
But then he drew a bow! And Xyta was ready to shift into a rhinoceros to smash his bony body to pieces when he shot the arrow right past her face and it crashed into something behind her. Turning around, she came face to face with destiny.
"Nice shot".
The voice comes from behind her. She saw a walking, moving mass of rocks, sculpted into a herculean man, and dressed in a cream skinned finish. His chest heaves out when he breathes, and when he exhales, his body relaxes. A living fortress on two legs and crested with blonde hair, Steve Rogers had just entered the training room, topless and holding his starred shield-with Taskmaster's arrow in it! A man without ego nor malice, he only nods to Taskmaster with a smile, and when his sapphire blue eyes meet Xyta's bright crystals...
...he shyly looks down! Underneath the War Hero, still lies the timid, artistic, weak child of old. Nobody knows that though. That boy had died almost seventy years ago.
"Ma'am..."
A huge Herculean built soldier with wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes stood there with a star spangled shield… Regardless, the man before her stood without a shirt, his gorgeous torso rippling with muscle and firmness. Xyta stood breathless in front of him, simply breathtaken by his beauty.
Steve bows and keeps his professional distance. He thinks about it, hesitates, then swoops in for a quick, soft handshake. It's impossible for him to hide his dimples and the blush of red on his cheeks. Nearly a century on duty can tarnish one's social skills. After the handshake, Steve will stand there in awkward silence, until Taskmaster speaks up:
"For a sick, dying man, you still got it, aye? Now THAT'S a good joke!"
Steve wants to defend himself, but he can't. He only frowns, then steals a short glance at Xyta.
"Well, I'm not dead yet...there's still a job to do"
Steve finishes in a weak, tired tone.
"Yeah!? Well, lemme give you a joke, old timer! You'll love this one! Knock-knock!"
"...who's there?"
"Takin' Oveh!"
"...'taking over' who?"
Taskmaster walks up to Steve, face to skull, trumping the blonde's height.
"After you kick the bucket, old timer, I'm gonna be the one takin' oveh! Gahaha! They're gonna be callin' me Cap' Task from then onward! Gahahaha!"
Taskmaster laughs all the way to the sliding doors and steps out. His cold cackles will haunt the halls, then fade. Steve and Xyta are alone now, but this doesn't make Steve feel any easier. He only bites his bottom lip and looks at Xyta from the corner of his eye. Despite what just happened, Steve still puts duty above all else and gives Xyta a proper introduction:
"Apologize for that ma'am. Name's Rogers. I know we just met...but please...ignore what that man had just said. Please…"
Steven frowns. He might've just made a bad impression on her: asking her to do things when she barely even knows him. He doesn't mean to. It's just...he doesn't want her asking questions about himself. He'll keep his pain to himself. It's what a leader should do, right? No matter how bad it hurts...
Damn, these people. Why couldn't anyone just look her straight in the eye?! Was there something wrong with her? A million questions raced through her mind as Rogers, the super soldier, turned to her.
She could smell the tension on him, restraint. But she couldn't let her guard down so easily…
"He's lucky you were here to save him. I was about to ram him like a bull." She said, tossing a strand of brown hair out of her eyes, her lips a tight line. Glancing at Steve, she could practically smell the emotions he was withholding, and it almost bothered her. She softened her demeanor a notch, and turned her whole body towards him.
"Hey, it's alright. I won't bite you. Unless you pull a stunt like Bones over here and tick me off." She said with a light smirk.
"My name is Xyta, by the way. Xyta Albrooke." she said with a shrug at the last two words, trying to ignore attractions she was beginning to have towards the patriot, as to avoid further hurt that she had experienced with Logan. By the smell and stature of this man, he was resistant to any kind of unprofessional social action, like a guard constantly. A fellow guardian...
Xyta. Such a brash attitude. She's different from the women of his time. Where she still carries herself as a strong woman, there's a unique taste of masculinity in her. He can smell her fearless and blunt attitude. It's just a shame she has to see him out of his element. He hadn't been the same, as Taskmaster pointed out. Despite that, Steve is a still a man. It's in a man's demeanor to be firm, strong and unmovable. He won't say a word of his pain.
By his smell, she could tell many things... He had been alive for nearly a century, but yet he still looked young... He was pure of heart and body... And regardless of what Taskmaster had said about him dying, she could see a great fire burning inside of him that intended to keep him living for a great number of years to come. This man was truly remarkable. But many things still remained a mystery to her...
He hadn't always been this way, big and strong... No... He had once been small and frail, such as she... But he was born with a sense of courage that had stayed with him through his whole life, after a transformation had occurred...
They were so alike and yet so different... And just by looking at him and smelling him long enough allowed her to discern that much information. Sometimes her powers still amazed her.
"Pleasure to meet you ma'am. Really. It is."
Steve gives her his earnest feelings while keeping away. He tries his best to not look at her as woman, but as another partner in The Great Fight against evil. She's beautiful, though. A man can never ignore that.
"So you're the new girl, then? That changes everything..."
In that moment when he learns that she's a new member, the frail, shy boy vanishes. With a glint in his eye, Steve straightens his stance and locks gazes with her. There is no time for his tender moments-not anymore.
"Well, ma'am, you're going to be addressing me as your 'Captain'. You can drop the 'Steve'. Do I make myself clear?"
His voice is firm and strict; a tone that he expects Xyta to immediately yield under.
Whatever attraction she had felt towards the Captain dropped like a pin as soon as he took his commanding stance, indicating that she addresses him as 'Captain'. She lowered her eyes in a menacing gaze, even curling a side of her lip to show him her fang. She submitted to NO ONE. Especially someone she hardly knew. She thought this was a team, not a fucking drill line!
"You want to know about the Training Room? 80-by-80 floor space, perfectly cubed, bullet-proof glass and impenetrable walls. Any more questions, ma'am?" Captain gives her another stare. When he had first entered the Training Room moments ago, something had been on his mind. He wasn't...his 'professional self'. He'll have to make sure that he'll never let his weakness slip out again. Don't ask, don't tell. Xyta doesn't have to know anything.
She didn't say anything to avoid any major issues, and she was sure she made a point by glaring at him in such a manner, which he stayed completely unfazed at. It only made her angrier.
The rest of the tour will be in silence, but even though he's strict with her, he still opens the doors and helps her where ever he sees fit. He may be the "no-nonsense" Captain, but Xyta is a still a lady.
The frustration pent up inside as he finished her tour, giving her strict commands, none of which she obeyed. When he would tell her to move it, she'd deliberately stop and refuse to move until he asked politely. She'd make it clear to him and anyone in this godforsaken fortress that she relied on nobody, and she lived by her own virtues and rules. She'd just give him nasty glares when he would hold doors open for her, but would walk through them anyway.
She could tell it was annoying him, and she got a good kick out of it. Finally, they arrived to where the meeting was, and they sat as far away from each other as possible. Had Xyta really been attracted to that son of a bitch? Ugh! His body was still amazing, though…
The Meeting Room, 12 hundred hours.
"So...how'd you find your little tour?" Fury starts off by asking Xyta. She just glanced towards the Captain and rolled her eyes, walking to her seat and not saying anything otherwise. Fury seemed to get the hint. At the round table, sits Taskmaster, Maria Hill, Bob, a few lesser agents, and finally, a wheezing Captain America. Wolverine is no where to be found.
"Though we're missing some people, I might as well start the briefing anyway-"
"-Hey! Wanna hear a quick joke?! Knock-kno-"
"-%^%& it, Task, if you say one more Knock-Knock joke, I'm gonna have to give YOU a Knock-Knock joke! Matter fact, Knock-Knock!"
Fury's tone is hot and seething. Taskmaster takes the bait anyway.
"Who's there?"
" #$* your #$%! Now let me get started with the briefing!"
"..."
"Thank you. ANYWAY..."
Fury starts his briefing, which lasted nearly two hours of him pointing on a map of Africa, drawing graphs, and flipping through projected images of the continent with the press of a button. Names were brought up. Names such as Emma Frost, Juggernaut, and another name that sounds familiar, like something that had came from the locker room. The briefing was soon over, and everyone, but Captain, is dismissed. He seems to have a hard time getting up!
The next two hours consisted of Taskmaster being annoying and Fury briefing the people who had showed up on her island and the plans that were aware to them of the opposing team. It wasn't very detailed and it was rough, with the lack of teammates and the tensions growing in the room. Fury eventually dismissed everyone, but as Xyta found herself following Maria Hill out of the room to find the female living quarters, she noticed that Captain wasn't standing, in fact, he seemed to be struggling.
"You're ok?" Fury asks. Captain doesn't respond. Instead, the pain only gets worse. On Captain's attempt to stand up, coffee spills over and burns his leg!
She had walked out of the door by then, but she hid just outside, listening in onto what may have been going on. She could smell pain in Roger's body, almost feel it… when Fury inquired of him, she could hear an attempt to stand up, but then there was a blast of coffee smell and a grunt of pain, and her instincts over took.
She dashed in to see Steve doubling over, holding his leg, which was steaming. She could smell burnt flesh as Fury dashed over to help him. She copied Fury's actions, dashing to kneel in front of Steve, a sudden nurturing instinct overcoming her as she moved his hands to investigate his injury. The coffee had been so hot, it had burnt right through his uniform! It wasn't ordinary coffee…
She grabbed a few napkins that were sitting nearby, and dabbed away the remaining liquid from his burnt thigh, some blood beginning to mix in as well.
Fury suggested the infirmary, but Xyta waved him down. "No, no! Here, let me…" she said softly but urgently, raising a hand to her lips and coating her forefingers with saliva, very softly placing them over the Captain's wound. If it had worked for Logan… would it work for him? It did, the burnt skin patching back up with her healing properties, and soon the skin was still a little red, but otherwise healed.
She didn't bother to look at Rogers as she stood up and stalked out of the room, not wanting to face the Captain's likely scolding expression as to why she did something like that. Doing it had obviously had led Logan to leaving her alone in a room with Task! She had done the deed, healed the injury, and there was nothing that anyone could do about it. Her anger only built up some more as she met Maria Hill down the hallway.
After the small accident, Xyta had healed the burn on Captain's thigh and left suddenly. Both men stared after her in awe. Fury more so confused than Steve, who seemed sad. But they were alone now. This is good. There's something Steve needs to get off his chest.
"Colonel. Don't I get special priority for this mission?"
"..."
Fury looks at him and takes in a deep breath. This won't be easy to say, but he'll say it, anyway.
"Rogers...I didn't put you on the roster because you can't fight. Not like this…" Fury bites his bottom lip after he said that, because he knows that Steve wouldn't like what he just heard.
"Colonel in all due res-"
"-Need I remind you, Captain, that you're a product of the Super Soldier Serum? It's half of what made you who you are: a hero. One of the best. But, the damn thing's been in your body for decades! Your body overtaxed the serum's ability to replenish your physique. If you keep fighting, there's a guarentee that you won't be fighting much longer! The thing's eating you out from the inside! It's over, Rogers. It's over"
Silence.
Fury had dropped the truth, as powerful as any nuclear bomb. His pending death: the very thing that Steve had been trying to ignore. Steve's eyes glimmer wetly, then freezes cold. He doesn't speak. He can't speak. He's just stiff, cold, not breathing, not thinking.
Fury senses his discomfort, but he still continues.
"That's why I'm going to assign Taskmaster in your place. He's going to lead Xyta and the rest"
"So I should just sit here and watch?" Steve's voice trembles weakly.
"Rogers, we already have a team that's ready to be dispatched and lead by Taskmaster. You could relax, soldier. Take it eas-"
"-Colonel! Don't do this! I can still fight, don't make me sit this one out!"
A bitter mix of pain and desperation shakes Steve's voice. No, he doesn't know much of Africa, but he knows that Xyta's home is the most dearest thing to her. Africa isn't just the root of all civilization, but the root of Xyta's newly found inner strength. Just from meeting her, he already felt a similar drive in her heart; a love for her land. Like Steve, Xyta had came from her soil, was nutured by it and had grown into a strong tree, who still refuses to leave her land. A simple cycle in nature embodies Steve and Xyta well. Be it America or Africa, it doesn't matter. As long as there's love, there will always be a need to protect. Steve will put his life on the line, sick or strong. If this would be his last mission...then so be it.
"Rogers...I know you better than anyone here, and if there's one thing about you that never surprises me, it's your stubborn attitude" Fury then adds, the Amazon very quickly coming to mind shortly after. "You really want to get out there?"
"I've been fighting for the ideals I believe in, colonel, for far too long! Don't take this away from me...someone's land is in danger. I need to be there!
Suddenly, Steve feels like that same young boy, after being denied his request to serve his country for being too weak. Ironic: no matter how far he gets in life, his past comes back to haunt him.
"Let me fight for Xyta. Let me fight for Africa!"
"ROGERS, I understand what you're TRYING TO DO, but just LET IT GO! Our glory days are over! This isn't about you anymore!"
"Of course it isn't about me, colonel! It was never was! This about someone's home! Someone's family...I ain't got a mom or dad no more, colonel, please...if I'm to die, let it be for the people"
Female Lounge, 14 hundred hours.
Just like the men's lounge, desks and tables are huddled together. A vending machine sits in a corner, and a flat screen television is on a wall, in case of emergenies.
"So you're the new girl?"
Maria and a few other female agents exhchange glances. One trait that women had fine-tuned sharply, is the art of silent conversation. Glances, looks, smiles and even the occasional pseudo cough, any tiny gesture can mean something-something that Xyta will never get, simply because she's the new girl. At the female table, it's a game of poker, and nobody is breaking face. Maria, being the superior, second to only Colonel Fury, will take the liberty to melt the ice.
Xyta shuffled uncomfortably in the female lounge, surrounded by female agents who gave her half smiles as they sipped on their weightloss drinks and powdered their noses.
"Lieutenant Hill, here. These are agents Jill, Astrid, Joan and Marlene"
The rest of the girls throw weak waves and false half-smiles.
"You'll get used to it, love. I can tell that you don't like it much here. Being taken away from home, living with us. Don't worry. After the mission is over, you can go back home, free. We're doing this to protect Africa. Promise"
Maria's glossed lips curve as she leans her head to one side. The stars in her eyes dance. Suddenly, a hand will reach out to touch Xyta's; a friendly woman-to-woman gesture. Maria had always been more comfortable around women than men.
"Anything you need, you let me know" Would be Maria's last words before she lets Xyta walk off to the balcony to be alone. Half of her wanted to go see if she's alright. Another half of her tells her stay. Maybe Xyta's going through a home-sick phase?
Xyta, stubborn as ever, just have a blank nod and headed to her room, back to the balcony. As she closed her eyes to try and calm down, a lot going on in her brain, she heard distinct voices yelling from a few floors below. Tuning in her ears, she utilized the hearing of a bat, until the voices of Fury and Rogers came into sound...
"The thing is eating you from the inside out! It's over, Rogers..."
Xyta felt a pang of hurt for the Captain. The serum? He was... Dying? No!
She leaned down over her balcony to hear further, and heard Steve arguing of wanting to fight for what was special to her... To fight... For her?
For the first time in 12 years, Xyta wept. She had never felt such kindness be expressed towards her... And how could such a strong soul be dying? What about that fire she had seen? It made her desperate... To keep Rogers alive…
Besides, she wouldn't tolerate someone like Task leading them to protect her home. No, she would demand that Steve be the one to do it, if he so desired. There had to be a way... To help him...