It rained the next day. A glorious gloom spread over the sprawling city. The grey overcast skies harmonized well with Lucy's sour mood. Emptiness is not what she typically felt when storm clouds blew in. Usually, the rain revitalized her and happiness seeped from every pore. Cold winds swept away the dust and debris built up from existence in general. Everything was washed clean, and in the wake of the tempest a blank canvas was left for the populaces to paint their day-to-day lives across the world, swirling and mixing colors of every shade and tint.
But not today, today she faced the gale with a grim defiance. Today the storm did not bring her pleasure. Instead, it brought to her a meeting with a face she had been avoiding for the past 24 hours. It was time to get over her petty resentment. She knew he didn't kiss the Private. She also knew that she had no right to be truly cross with him, they were not going steady after all. Lucy sighed, but that did not mean she wasn't still livid. In spite of that, she would hear him out today. It was exhausting to remain angry with someone you loved; however, she wouldn't let him go scot-free.
Lucy strode into the laboratory. This one was designed for weapons testing. Various gun models were laid out on the tables along with an assortment of chemicals and beakers. Weapons that could fire with longer ranges and more accuracy than any other in the world could be found here. Poisoned darts, bows and arrows, grenades of all shapes and sizes, long and short range automatics, communicators, anything you could think of Howard and Lucy went above and beyond. Besides arms, their repertoire also included designing and manufacturing material, specifically, highly protective fabric. Unfortunately, these cost too much to be available for the entire army and Lucy bemoaned the lives that could be saved if they had enough funds.
But for Captain America, Lucy would spare no expense. When Steve left the day before, Howard informed her the Captain had chosen the vibranium. Inwardly she smiled; smug she had guessed his tastes correctly. Howard, after rolling his eyes at her and settling their bet, showed her the rough uniform designs. Though preliminary, the sketches were beautiful. She had forgotten how much of an artist Steve was. Now it was her turn to take a concept and bring it to life. The first layer would be bulletproof duralumin armor. She chose it because it was lightweight and comfortable, perfect for intense movement. On top of that would be a fire-retardant material in the colors of the American flag, matching the simplistic design she drew up for his shield.
Lucy helped cut a rough outline last night and sent it off to be sewn together. This morning was the fitting, which she decided to skip. Now it was midafternoon and Lucy had come to join Howard, Bucky, and Steve for the final alterations. James was just here to play with a few of the guns while Steve tried on the uniform after it had been adjusted.
Steve had been awfully quiet yesterday after he came back from his morning meeting, and Bucky, for the life of him, couldn't figure out why. "Cici!" he greeted his sister when the clicking of heels announced her arrival.
Lucy in turn gave him a slight nod of acknowledgement. Her face seemed a bit drawn, her lips were set in a thin line and her eyes were hard. She approached them with a stiffness that was very unlike her. This just confused Bucky more, did something happen he didn't know about?
Howard just continued on directing the red headed lady to take in the leg width. He was too engrossed in his work with the tailor to take much notice of anything else.
On the other hand, as soon as Bucky had said her name, Steve's face snapped up so fast she thought he might have strained his neck. "Hey." He smiled shyly at her.
Lucy ignored his salutation strolled around him, observing the uniform. Or at least, she pretended too. The clothes fit his well. Strong broad shoulders tapered down to a narrow abdomen. The bold colors accentuated his new robust physique. It was a little plain, but his boots and gloves would come after, along with the belt and gun holster she had made for him. Her heart fluttered a little in her chest, he looked so very handsome.
And it seemed like the girl who was pinning the ends of his trousers thought so too. Lucy's eyes flashed green, "Narrower." she barked out making everyone in the room jump with the suddenness of her order. "The ends need to be narrower, or they won't fit inside the boots."
The girl nodded in agreement and continued to pin the slacks.
Bucky who had been eyeing the pretty tailor decided to strike up a conversation. "So…" he drawled, "Do you work in the SSR?"
"No." she replied, not even sparing him a glance. "I work in the tailor shop across the street from the bar."
"Hmm." Bucky tried to gain her interest, "Maybe we could go there sometime? You could show me what's good?"
The girl just stared dreamily up at Steve, "Sorry," she told Bucky, "I already have someone whose caught my attention." Then standing up and collecting her things she tried to catch Steve's eye. Steve in turn was caught up trying to do the same with Lucy. Failing, the girl sighed and turned to speak with Howard. "I've finished here, send it by today and we'll do the final modifications it tonight."
Howard thanked her and sent her on her way. Lucy just nodded curtly at the girl.
"I'm invisible." Bucky huffed in disbelief when the tailor had disappeared. "I'm turning into you!" he accused pointing at Steve, "This is a horrible dream." He finished rubbing his temples.
"Don't take it so hard." Steve replied clapping his friend on the back. "Maybe she's got a friend."
"I wouldn't count on that." Lucy alleged from a few feet away, gathering items from a table. " I hear most of the women in London are infatuated with their new hero, Captain America." She walked over to Steve and roughly shoved his new boots and gloves into his arms to try on. "Isn't that nice? Hmm? Dames everywhere, falling at your feet, what ever will you do." She crossed her arms and stared him down.
Steve opened his mouth to speak however Bucky spoke first. "What do you mean?" he inquired after his sister, "What dames?"
"Oh Steve didn't tell you?" she replied in a fake girlish squeal, "I interrupted his little moment yesterday. He was about to receive a little smooch from one of our Privates. What was her name again?"
"Lorraine." Steve replied automatically and winced at the helping hand he had just given to the digging of his own grave.
"Ah yes, Lorraine." Lucy hissed out. "You should introduce her to us sometime, she seemed nice."
The room was silent after she finished. Howard was smart enough to keep his trap shut. Bucky, however was not, "Uh, am I missing something here?" he asked confused.
"No." Lucy bit out. "Everything is just peachy." And she spun around mixing a few chemicals in an Erlenmeyer flask.
Steve finished lacing his boots and stood up, trying to diffuse the tension he queried, "How does it look?" earnestly he watched for her reaction.
Lucy finished her concoction and sauntered over to the men, like a lioness on the prowl. Howard's eyes widened slightly as he observed the bottle she held behind her back.
"Has Howard explained why we chose the materials we did for your uniform." She asked sweetly, putting the others on guard at her sudden change of tone.
"Um. It's a type of armor and on top we have a fire resistant material?" Steve responded, a little uneasy.
"Is that a question?" she demanded.
"No? No." he shook his head quickly.
"Have you demonstrated the fabric for them?" she inquired of Howard who was slowly backing away.
Howard laughed weakly as he continued to inch to the side, "I decided to leave that up to you, doll."
"Marvelous." She regarded her prey. "You might want to step off to the side, James." Howard reached over to tug Bucky's arm and towed him to the back of the lab. Lucy held up a flask filled with an unidentifiable liquid that had a strip of cloth hanging out from under the stopper. Pausing she asked the soldier, "Do you know what this is?"
Steve couldn't really belief his eyes, swallowing thickly he answered, "A fire bomb."
Lucy nodded and slowly swirled the fluid around in its bottle, "And do you know how we test to make sure our fire retardant material is actually fire retardant?"
You could cut the tension in that room with a knife. Nobody spoke, nobody breathed. Then Lucy's gaze snapped to Steve's widened eyes, and she answered her own question, "We throw fire at it!"
In a blink of an eye Lucy had lit the tail end of the cloth and flung the Molotov cocktail with alarming accuracy right at Steve's chest. Howard and Bucky let out twin cries of terror and ducked beneath a few tables. The glass shattered instantly. Upon impact with the armor it burst into a brilliant show of flames that spread quickly across his body. Then in the next instant, the fire was gone.
To Steve's credit, he didn't shy away. The only move he made to protect himself was to cover his face. In all honesty, so good was the uniform, that he had barely felt the bomb. The flask breaking was like a gentle tap. The fire was like a faintly warm tickling sensation that disappeared almost as soon as it had started.
Lucy nodded in approval of her work. Then eyeing Howard and Bucky who were peeking out of their hiding spots in fear she shrugged and commented nonchalantly, "At least we know it works." Then, gathering her things she spoke to the room at large, "If any of you need me I'll be in my office." And with that, she exited the room.
"You sure know how to pick 'em." Bucky remarked to his friend as he and Howard slowly stood up from the floor.
Steve glared back in disbelief, "She's your sister!"
Bucky shrugged, "Whatever you did, go grovel. She's gotten all her anger out."
Steve sighed, his shoulders slumping. Steeling himself, he dusted off the remaining evidence of the impromptu experiment and went to right his wrongs.
"Oh and hey!" Bucky called causing Steve to look back around. "If you do whatever you did again, you and I'll be having some words, Captain America or not."
"I wouldn't expect anything less, Buck." Steve said.
"Same with me." Howard spoke up, "I've got a few toys Lucy has banned me from using." He paused and continued menacingly, "I'm sure her morals would be looser if angered, again."