A Super Soldier for the Modern World

Chapter 24

"Are you supposed to be pushing yourself that hard? It's only been…" a voice said behind her.

"It's been four weeks, Tony," Amanda said.

"It's been four weeks already?" he asked. "Anyway…how are you doing, kid?"

Amanda stopped the treadmill she was on and took a sip of water. She might have known how long it had been since she'd been shot, but she had lost track of how long she'd been down in the gym that morning. It had been a while, though, because she was sweating bullets.

"I'm okay," she said. "I'm sweaty and gross, but…"

"How's the wound?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Tony."

"Where's Rogers?"

"California," Amanda replied.

Tony looked up immediately. "Why the hell is he in California?"

"He had to go. Fury sent him."

"I knew I shouldn't have stepped down as Director," Tony said smugly.

Amanda laughed. "You hated just about every single second of it."

"How do you know? You were in a coma, missy," Tony said.

Amanda said nothing.

"What? Too soon?"

"You're ridiculous."

"Remember, I'm the one who actually bought you the pony for your birthday. We might not always see eye to eye, but…"

"Yes, you, dear sir, you bought me a pony. Who ate my birthday cake and peed on several of my other gifts. So yeah, thanks for that," she smiled. "And I think it peed on one of my friends, too."

"They say animals are better judges of character than humans…" Tony trailed off.

"True," Amanda said.

There was silence for a beat and Tony continued to stare at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"No," Amanda said. "What do you want?"

"Are you…?"

"What?" Amanda snapped. "Just spit it out Anthony Stark."

"Are you staying on with SHIELD?" he asked. "And…now that they are considering repealing the acts, will you forgive me for, you know…everything?"

"I feel like, technically, I have to forgive you because you helped save my life. However, if you had not agreed to the Registration acts originally, I probably wouldn't have been shot in the first place," Amanda pointed out. "However, since I'm not dead and the man I…care deeply for…is not in jail, well, I forgive you."

"Good," he replied. "So, why didn't you go to California with Cap?" Tony asked. "Everything good?"

"If you are trying to determine whether or not we've broken up…"

"You said he was the 'man you care deeply for' instead of 'love'. It set off some alarms…" Tony said. "Whatever that silly nonsense is…"

"We are…"

"Agent 13, please report to the sixth floor immediately. Agent 13, please report to the sixth floor," a voice called out.

"Well, gotta go," she said as she jumped off of the treadmill.

"Oh, no, no," Tony said, trying to grab onto her arm. "Tell me. Are you guys all right?"

"Sudden interest from you scares me. So, no. I won't answer you," Amanda said. "I have to go."

She kissed her godfather quickly on the cheek and dashed with her gym bag out of the room.

She smiled to herself as she rode up to the sixth floor. She and Steve were fine. Better than fine, actually. But he really had gone to California, but only to see Bucky and Dugan. She was surprised that Tony didn't know that actually.

When she arrived upon the sixth floor, there was the usual buzz in the main SHIELD office and today was a bit more than usual. Director Fury was making his presence know down on the floor instead of barking his orders from behind his desk. Today, he was being hands on.

"Agent 13," Fury announced.

Immediately all eyes turned towards her. She was beginning to get the same stares as Coulson did and it was unsettling.

"I apologize for disrupting your workout, but I need to speak with you," Fury told her.

"Of course," Amanda said.

He turned on his heel and began to walk towards his office. Amanda took her cue and followed along behind him.

She didn't trust this man one hundred percent yet. She supposed most people didn't. However, they had run just about every test possible to make sure that it really was Nicholas Fury and he hadn't argued one bit about the tests.

All tests came back that he really was Nicholas Fury. Not an LMD, not an imposter, not a shape-shifter. And so work began as normal for SHIELD once more.

Once they were inside Fury's office, he stood with his hands behind his back as he looked out the window.

"How's the recovery process?" Fury asked. "I don't want you pushing yourself too hard."

"I don't want to get sidelined in a desk job, Director Fury," she replied honestly. "Have there been any further developments in the investigation?" she asked.

"I wish I had better news on that," the director said. "But that does bring me to why I called you in here. I need you to go back out into the field. So don't worry about being relegated to a desk. Are you ready?"

Amanda blinked. Was he joking? Did Fury ever really joke?

"Of course," she said as she tried to keep from sounding too eager and excited.

"I will be sending Rogers with you," Fury told her. "Because…"

"I do not need to be baby-sat," she said.

"I am aware of that," Fury told her. "However, this particular case requires your expertise as well as that of Captain Rogers."

Amanda nodded silently.

"What's the case, sir?" she asked.

"You'll be meeting back up with Rogers and then joining Coulson's team," Fury said. "We have intel on the Red Skull."

"The Red Skull was killed by Captain Rogers back in the forties."

"That's where I was, Carter. I've been tracking him personally. I've been watching Faustus, too. I want to apologize to you personally. We now have evidence to believe that he's been in communication with the Red Skull ever since he's been back in the SHIELD building. And he might have been connected to all of this."

Amanda was stunned at several things. Had Fury just sincerely apologized to her? Did he ever apologize to anyone? And the Red Skull was back.

"We're keeping a close eye on Faustus right now. I am sorry that this has happened," Fury told her. "That being said, you'll need to be on your way because wheels up in less than three hours."

"Three hours?" Amanda asked.

"Too much time?" he almost smirked.

"Steve will be back in time?"

"Yes."

"Does he know…everything?"

"Not yet," Fury answered again. "I have a mission briefing waiting for him on the jet when he gets there. I didn't want to disturb his trip too much."

Amanda nodded. "All right. Okay. Well, I should go get some things together. Thank you, sir."

"I know you'll do us proud," he said.

She smiled at her boss before making a hasty exit from the office.

"You have got to quit smiling like that. I realize you've got an amazingly hot girlfriend now, but seriously, man," Bucky laughed.

"Was I doing it again?" Steve asked. He laughed when he saw that both Dugan and Bucky were nodding at him.

"The woman needs to get better taste, Rogers," Dugan said, laughing and slapping him on the shoulder.

"Tell me about it!" Steve smiled.

The last couple days that he'd spent out in California with Bucky and Dum-Dum had been both really great and a little disappointing. It was great catching up with his old friends and to not be in the middle of some major catastrophe. However, he really missed being with Amanda.

He smiled again when he thought of Amanda. The two of them had a secret that was almost too good to keep.

"This is a pretty significant change, Cap, since you used to not be able to talk to girls," Bucky said.

"Guess I just needed the right partner," he said, thinking to another conversation.

"When do you have to leave?" Bucky asked.

They were sitting outside at a restaurant, finishing up their lunch. The sun was bright and the sky cloudless. It was a perfect day.

Steve turned his wrist to look at his watch.

"Actually, I should think about heading out."

"They got you going on some kind of secret mission?" Dugan asked.

"Well, Fury mentioned something, but was pretty vague," Steve said. "But I know Amanda will be going with me."

"Oooh, Amanda," Bucky laughed. "You're ridiculous."

The waitress walked up and set the bill down on the table while batting her eyelashes furiously in Steve's direction. She lingered for a while longer while she cleared the plates.

Steve grabbed his wallet and counted out some bills to leave on the table. He was totally oblivious to the woman who was still trying to get his attention.

The blond woman finally realized what she was doing was useless and she sighed deeply before wandering away with the dirty plates and the check.

"I guess time doesn't change everything," Dum-Dum said, laughing with Bucky.

"What?" Steve asked.

"Let's just go get you up in the jet, buddy. Don't worry about it," Bucky said.

…

Author's note: I am so sorry about not updating. I have no excuse. Hopefully, y'all will forgive me and leave me some love anyway? Please, please?