A Super-Soldier for the Modern World
Chapter 6
Two weeks later, the research that Agent Coulson and Captain Rogers had been doing finally paid off. Steve and Coulson had managed to locate the abandoned factory that AIM was using in Brooklyn as their research lab.
Once presented with the information, Amanda go-ahead, but only if she could go along.
No one liked the idea, but what the Director wanted, the Director got.
Steve, truthfully, was happy to have her along. It was a feeling unlike any other as the two of them busted down the door together.
Steve had to give these guys credit, too. Despite the proximity they had to SHIELD headquarters, AIM had put up one hell of a good signal blocking device to make it look like another operation entirely.
But Steve had been suspicious and Coulson helped him investigate. And Amanda had rewarded Coulson with being left as acting-Director in her absence.
The fellas from this AIM unit were giving Steve and Amanda a run for their money. The other SHIELD agents fanned out throughout the building, but Amanda Carter and Steve Rogers ran for the control center.
"What's the plan here, Cap?" Amanda shouted as they ran.
Emergency alarms were sounded and lights were flashing as they headed toward the epicenter of the once-abandoned factory building.
Half a dozen AIM agents in their awful beekeeper-looking suits blocked their path as Steve and Amanda got closer to their end goal.
Steve punched one with his gloved fist and knocked another out with the edge of his shield. Amanda was busy kicking one as the others rushed forward. She spun suddenly and took two out with the quick movement.
Steve wanted as many AIM agents left alive as possible and Amanda wanted to adhere to that request as much as possible, but it was damn hard not to pull the gun she had on her thigh to shoot the bastards that were coming at her.
One pulled a knife on her and it caught her side; it wasn't a stab wound, just a scratch, but the blood immediately began to stain her white SHIELD suit.
Steve saw it out of the corner of his eye as he fought a feisty AIM agent of his own. She answered him by first bringing the knife-wielder to his knees and then kicking him in the head. He hit the ground with a vicious thud.
Sensing he was now out-numbered, the AIM agent, pushed a button on his suit and almost instantly slumped to the ground.
"People are still doing that?" Steve asked. "Cyanide tablets?"
"Apparently AIM is taking their clues from HYDRA," Amanda nodded. She toed the one that that had just fallen with the tip of her boot and he was lifeless.
"Shall we?" Amanda asked.
They really didn't have time to stand around. They probably had five minutes before they blew the whole place up.
The two of them rounded the corner and found themselves face to face with a herd of AIM agents and they had a really big cannon. They didn't even have a second to think about moving out of the way. Steve only had enough time to put himself between Amanda and the blue beam of electricity.
It didn't matter, though, how much protection he could give her, both of them were hit with the electricity. They were both knocked down and rendered unconscious.
Before Amanda opened her eyes, she felt the pain of her knife wound in her side. Maybe it was worse than she'd originally thought. Agent Carter forced herself to open her eyes and focus on her surroundings. Birds chirped and the wind rustled through the trees. They were definitely not in Brooklyn anymore.
Steve was lying next to her and she saw him begin to move.
"Are you okay?" Amanda asked as she moved towards him. "Can you tell if anything is broken?"
Steve pushed himself up and the two of them sat next to each other trying to figure out their location.
He stood up and helped Amanda to her feet. Pulling back his Captain America helmet, he took in their surroundings.
"This looks familiar," he told her as he turned around in a full circle.
He heard voices in the distance, carried on the wind and he turned to listen. He couldn't make out what was being said.
"What do you mean familiar?" Amanda asked.
She heard the voices, too, but it was far too distant to hear what they were saying.
"I marched through woods like this a long time ago. After freeing the 107th…"
The voices were moving closer, but words were still unintelligible. But now the men's voices were accompanied by the sound of a large mechanical vehicle.
"You're saying we're in Germany?" Amanda asked.
"I'm saying it looks a lot like Germany. I don't know if it is."
"Well, we are definitely not in Brooklyn anymore," Steve asserted. "So if you have any ideas…"
"We must have…I don't know. It must have been that blast, Steve. I thought it was a normal gun, but…"
"It acted like a time machine?" Steve said.
"Do you have any other ideas?" Amanda asked.
The sounds of the voices were even closer and now they were visible. Amanda squinted towards them and almost fainted.
"I think that's you," she said.
"It really is the forest from where I rescued Bucky and the 107th," he said.
As the two of them watched the 107th infantry marching toward them. It dawned on Amanda that this could have horrible implications.
"They can't see us."
"I'm sure they will be able to," Steve said.
"No. They cannot see us, Steve. The world as we know it could change. Two Captain Americas? And they have a lot more fire power than we do."
Steve nodded. They had HYDRA weapons on top of their regular weapons and they had just won a huge fight against HYDRA. They'd probably think it was a trick by HYDRA and start firing on them. Especially with two caps and Amanda's resemblance to Peggy Carter.
"We have to go back to camp, though," Steve told her. "Because Howard Stark is the only person who will be able to send us home."
…
"We've cleared the entire building, sir," a SHIELD agent said into his earpiece. "They aren't here. And neither one of them is answering when we call them."
"Where do you suppose they would be then, Agent Matthews?" Coulson replied.
Coulson was standing in the middle of the research floor of Stark Tower. SHIELD agents were all around him and the usually calm and collected agent lost his patience.
"Captain Rogers and Agent 13 could not have just up and disappeared!" he shouted into his own communicator.
"Well, sir, they are not here," Matthews repeated.
Coulson pressed a button and ended their conversation.
The SHIELD team was dwindling: Hill was in California, Fury was still MIA and now Agent Carter and Captain America were both missing. Luckily, Agents Romanoff and Barton were back, because he was going to need them.
"Get Romanoff and Barton here ASAP. Tell them it's Level 7."
The room went silent before someone went to the task of getting a hold of agents as requested.
…
Author's note: Thanks for being patient! I went on vacation, but I worked the whole time on writing! Let me know what you thought! I appreciate it!