Chapter Four
Wait- I killed him?
xxxx

Max let out a heavy sigh as she finally made it into the door of her (not-so-quite-legally-owned) apartment. Lets just say, dragging an unconscious man (who she knocked out) onto the subway and having to tell everyone he was drunk was not fun. Well, maybe it was a little fun, but it was also exhausting, and Max was just glad to be home.

She kicked the door open once she had it unlocked, hearing a sleepy Caroline's yelp of surprise when the door slammed against the wall. Max saw Caroline jump out of bed in her pajamas, already seething.

"What the hell, Max?!" Her eyes widened when she saw the unconscious man in Max's arms. "What the hell, Max! I knew you'd kill somebody someday, but I didn't think you'd try hiding the body in our house!"

"I didn't kill him!" Max cried back, sounding way too offensive. "At least I don't think I did.. here, help me look."

He was thrown carelessly onto the ground, and Caroline rushed over, fingering his neck for a pulse. Caroline hummed, and Max wrung her hands together anxiously with anticipation. The brunette didn't like how silent her blond roommate was being, and rambled like a nervous wreck, "So? Did I kill him? Should I have just dumped his body after wiping away all the evidence-"

"He's breathing, Max. What happened?"

And so Max retold her encounter with the strange homeless dude who began shouting at nothing, and how she had to knock him out due to the fact he was severely freaking her out, and totally not because she'd always wanted to crack somebody over their head with a glass. Caroline pulled away from the body in shock, as if she had just been burned, and she then quickly jumped to her feet. Max raised an eyebrow at the blond waitress, "What?! What is it? Did he stop breathing?"

"No.. it's just.. the wound on his head, where you hit him.. the blood is there but, but the wound.. it's gone!"

"What? No way, I hit him with all my might! How can he be okay?"

Caroline was pulling on her favorite pair of jeans over the itty bitty shorts that she slept in, and slipped on her high heels. Max watched in confusion and mild entertainment. She had never seen Caroline dress so quickly for something, unless there was some sort of extremely high discount at her favorite fashion store. Other then that, this was something new.

"Max.. he'll be okay.. but I don't know if we will.."

"What are you talking about?" Max snapped, irritated by how Caroline seemed to be completely avoiding her questions.

"Max, this isn't an ordinary homeless dude. I think you might of accidentally brought someone.. incredibly dangerous into our apartment."

"What?! How do you know that?" Max stepped over the unconscious body of the homeless dude (she may of accidentally kicked him in the head- whoops) and quickly grabbed her black coat to put over her waitress uniform. Caroline looked at her with the most serious look Max has ever seen her roommate wear, before replying,

"I went to Warton."

xxx

"It sure was nice of Sophie to let us stay at her place for the night," Caroline said in a tone way too chipper for 8 o'clock in the morning. She slipped out of her jacket as both she and Max entered the diner, heading straight for the kitchen. They strutted past Han, their tiny boss-man who had opened his mouth to nag them for being two hours late to work, but Max simply discarded her jacket and tossed it on the top of his head to cease his jibber jabber as Caroline hung her coat on the hook.

Max rolled her shoulder in a circle, both exhausted and sore from dragging the unconscious man all the way back to her house, and then being forced to cuddle (god, Caroline was such a cuddler and Max may have kicked her in the stomach a few times that night) on Sophie's couch with Caroline for the night. It was safe to say that the feisty waitress was not in a good mood. "Yeah, but what are we gonna do about the alien knocked out in our living floor, mixing blood into our already stained carpet?" She asked Caroline, once they reached the kitchen.

"He isn't an alien, Max." Caroline said dismissively.

Max shrugged as she and Caroline greeted Oleg before heading back into the freezer for privacy. Once she and Caroline were alone in the back, Max continued, "Yeah, but if he isn't an alien, how else would you explain the super healing, or whatever?"

"It's hard to explain to someone who.." Caroline trailed off after she noticed the hard look Max was giving her, as if just daring her to call her dumb. "...Isn't familiar with genetics."

"Genetics? So he's a superhero? I knocked out a superhero? Does that make me a super villain?"

Caroline hmm'd in thought as she dried a glass with her white wash cloth, filling it with water and taking a drink. "I don't know what he is, but I think I have an idea."

Max rolled her eyes, tired of Caroline dancing around an explanation. "Oh, for Christs sake, just tell me before I start growing gray hair over here, woman."

"I think he might have the same serum injected in him as Captain America. Or perhaps, a not as educated version. Most people who get the virus end up, well, combusting after a few days,"

There were so many questions Max wanted to ask, but instead she stuck with the one that seemed the most logical to her. "So we're gonna have hot hobo guts all over our living room walls?"

"What?" Caroline seemed momentarily side tracked by Max's usual off-topic attention span. "No, god, not all over my new bed!" She shook her head and returned to the topic, "Max, listen." Caroline set down the half empty glass of water on the counter and took a few steps closer to Max, looking terribly concerned. "I think the man in our living room is-"

The girls were cut off from their conversation by a loud bang. The sound of glass shattering and a few of the diners shouts startled the two waitresses, and Caroline looked at Max with a look of confusion, mixed with horror. Max turned to Caroline and said sternly, "It's probably just another homeless guy, don't get yourself too excited now."

The last thing she needed was the blond peeing on herself again. "Stay here," Max ordered sternly before turning on her heel.

When Max exited the freezer to go check and see what was happening in the dining area, she saw shattered glass scattered against the tiled floor, and the diners door kicked in. A man with a gun was waving his weapon in all sorts of directions before his gaze fell on Max. Her heart skipped a beat when a flash of recognition crossed his eyes, "You." He said as he pointed the gun in her direction, and then began to step towards her.

"Let me guess, you want all of our money?" If Max were frightened, she did a great job with hiding it. "Boy, did you choose the wrong place to hit up. You'll be lucky if you leave here with at least two hundred dollar bills."

The robber shuffled into his pocket and pulled out a photo, examining it before looking back up at Max. "Yeah, it's you all right." He began strutting towards her quickly, shoving a few diners out of his way, who let out startled cries and did their best to avoid the man with a gun. The man seemed determined, and his hard gaze never left Max's. "Where is he?!" He spat.

"Where is who?" Max replied calmly, though her voice shook just the slightest. Damn. Damn, damn, damn!

The man placed his gun against her temple when he reached her, "You know who I'm talking about. You came in contact with a very wanted man last night-" Max gulped. Caroline had been right, she did bring a dangerous man into their home last night! Damn, she hated when Caroline was right. Now she was going to get her brains blown out.

It was just like in her worst nightmares, she was going to die in this fucking waitress uniform.

Max looked the killer in his eye. Yup, there was no signs of hesitation, or remorse. He would pull the trigger without a second thought, the only thing keeping him from doing so was information. Information he wanted her to give him. She blinked slowly, trying to gather her wits.

Caroline erupted from the kitchen, "Max!"

"Caroline, you dumb ass, go in the kitchen before you piss your pants again!" Now was not the time for the ex-billionaire princess to try acting like a hero.

Caroline shook her head, knee's wobbling together as she held a broom for defense. The man pointed his gun in her direction, and Max opened her mouth to shout no, but Caroline cut them both off by quickly exclaiming, "Wait! I know where he is! I'll tell you, but let her go!"

Before Max could ask Caroline what the hell she was doing, an elbow flew past her face and hit the robber right in his nose, causing him to release her and for Max to stumble back a few steps. Her eyes widened when she saw the blond hair and biceps of Captain America himself, saving the day just like all the articles on her laptop (that she looked up without Caroline's help; what could she say? Max loved Super hero stories) said he would.

She watched, slack jawed as he pulled some obviously military trained move to disarm the man from his gun, and then proceeded to watch Captain America literally pistol whip the guy in his face, causing him to hit the ground unconscious.

Max shook the shock out of her head and instantly began to egg the Captain on. "Don't just pistol whip him in the face! Shoot him where it hurts!"

Steve turned to her, unloading the gun with a clearly disapproved look on his face. Max shrugged her shoulders as she looked over at her best friend, only to see the blond having the same frown on her face, arms crossed. "What? I didn't say kill him. Just make sure he wouldn't be able to reproduce."

"Is everyone alright?" Steve changed the subject wisely, addressing the diner filled with frightened civilians. No one seemed hurt, just shook up, and before the Captain could ask how the waitress held hostage was faring up, the sounds of police sirens filled the streets, and the diner was soon filled with officers. Steve frowned as the men in police uniforms shoved passed him, clearly not recognizing that this was Captain America they were pushing out their way in a hurry.

His gaze dropped to a photo on the ground, and Steve bent down to pick it up in a hurry before it could get any more trampled by the police officers boots, and his heart sank once he examined the photograph.

The officers threw an orange blanket around both Max and Caroline's shoulders (and a pair of sweats for Caroline- yup! She did 'it' again..), and through the chaos of it all, Max looked around, noting absently that Captain America was missing. She had to shake the thought out of her head as a police officer got a little rough and handsy with her, and Max quickly shrugged his hand off of her shoulder, biting at him that he was getting close to the you'll-have-to-pay-me-cash, zone.

An hour then passed, and Max was sitting on the back of an ambulance car as she explained to the police officers for the fifth time that no she didn't know why the man claimed to recognize her, and announced for the twentieth time that she was so ready to go home.

It was in the middle of an eye roll, when an officer asked her the same question all of his partners had asked her just five minutes ago, that she noticed him standing on the side lines staring at her intensely. Deciding she wasn't going to be able to leave any time soon unless she took the initiative, Max threw the shock blanket in the back of the truck and hopped down from the ambulance, heading over to where Steve was. His jaw clenched for a moment as he watched the waitress approach, but Steve did nothing, not even return the smile that Max had so graciously gave him.

She sauntered up to him with a grin, not seeming to mind (or notice, or probably care) how tense he his shoulders were. "Nice timing back there, although you could have been about five minutes earlier." She grinned cheekily as Caroline approached the two, folding up her blanket and handing it to a nurse who was walking by with a clip board in her hand.

"I was ready to leave about.. fifty minutes ago," Caroline announced, dusting her hands as she shook her blond head at Max. "Seriously, I'm pretty sure about fifteen minutes into that, they were holding me against my will. Lets ditch this scene Max, I'm so ready to go home and take a long, much needed shower."

"Did they give you a change of underwear, too?" Max teased and Caroline shot her a dirty look, as if daring Max to make another potty joke.

"No. They didn't. And that's why we gotta leave now." Caroline turned on her red bottom heels (which totally did not match with the gray sweats she was now wearing since her waitress uniform was, well, soiled) and began to click away, tugging on the top of Max's waitress dress to follow her. Max glanced at the Captain from over her shoulder. Now that she was actually paying attention to him, she noticed the furrow of his eyebrows that was the same look her high school teachers gave her when they caught her smoking pot in the bathroom.

"Wait a second, what's his problem?" She asked, tugging her arm away from Caroline and sizing the Captain up, hands on her hips as he continued to give her the Captain-America-Version of the stink eye. "What's the deal? Is it what I said about the gun? C'mon, I've been shot before, a bullet to the arm wouldn't kill a man, and plus we definitely don't need that guy having children-"

Steve pulled out the photo he'd picked up from the ground in the diner, tapping it impatiently with his forefinger as he raised it in her face. "When was this picture taken?"

Max took the photograph soundlessly, recognizing it as the same one that the robber pulled out to identify her with. She scanned it mutely, seeing that it was a picture from last night when she was dragging the homeless dude off of the subway, and oh god, were her boobs popping out like that the whole time? Jesus Christ, she must of been giving everybody on the subway a free show that night. Max frowned, although she figured she was upset for an entirely different reason then the Captain was.

"Max.." Caroline approached carefully, looking wearily at Steve. "Maybe we should tell the Captain everything that happened last night.."

"Great, you would want to confess to the police, Caroline." Max ripped the photo in half and dropped it onto the pavement, because really who the fuck said it was okay to take pictures of her without her permission? She placed her hands on her hips as she literally had to look up at Steve, who was more then just a little bit taller then her.

She frowned with clear reluctance as she gave Steve the story, "He came in the diner, started screaming nonsense, and I shut him up. Okay? I totally freaked out and cracked a plate against his head. Is there gonna be a problem?" She sounded testy, as if she were ready to flight or fight at any moment. Steve would have been amused at the thought of the small waitress trying to fight him, or even out-run him, if it weren't for all the questions rushing through his head.

She took out Bucky-.., I mean, the Winter Soldier? With just a plate? Steve instinctively clenched his teeth, unsure of whether to be concern, amused, or just downright horrified. Well, in the end, at least she managed to get out of the situation unscratched. Steve knew from experience that the Winter Soldier was not someone to take lightly. He asked the question which seemed to be the most of his concern at the moment, "Where is he now?"

"Took him back to the crib. Caroline freaked out when she saw him, and we ditched mi casa to stay at a friends and watch re-runs of the Kardashian's all night." Max shook her head appreciatively at the memory of Kim Kardashian's ass. "I swear I need to be in that family. If I could get paid for having a nice pair of tits and ass, I'd take up the opportunity pronto."

"Yeah, and that's called prostitution, Max. The all-time-low, right below Waitressing!" Caroline said in an obviously-forced-pepped voice. She got snippy when she was tired. Caroline let out a groan of exasperation and put a hand on her hip, "Why don't we just bring him back to that place I reluctantly call our house? If we're lucky, the hot hobo will still be there, and hopefully not in tiny bite sized pieces all over my new sheets."

"Caroline!" Max said loudly, taking a few quick strides over to the blond and gripped her shoulders, whispering irritably in her ear, "You never show the Po Po where you hid the body, alright! I'm so not going to jail for the eighth time." The brunette waitress said in a tone that was probably a little too serious.

"The eighth?" Caroline stumbled over Max's logic for only a few seconds before carrying on, "Max, you didn't kill him! And I really hope you don't have any other bodies hidden in our apartment! God, that would explain the smell."

"No, that's just my laundry I've been neglecting for about two years now."

Steve had enough of the two waitresses bickering. From his time spent doing research and drinking coffee at the diner, he knew that they could go on for hours (while neglecting their work and making various short jokes at their manager) so he interrupted the two girls before they could catapult off subject any further then they already had. On the bright side, it was becoming easier for Steve to get used to how short peoples attention span was in this unfamiliar century. In fact, he found the girls to be quite refreshing (although if not tad bit of a nuisance).

"Is he still there? Do you ladies think you can possibly take me over to your place?" If Steve weren't so concerned about the fact that the Winter Soldier has been in the same city as him and was possibly still in town, then he would of been blushing red over the fact that he was so eagerly inviting himself over to two damn good looking dame's house. However, at the moment, the thought didn't cross his mind.

At the same time Caroline eagerly piped, "Sure!" Max had flatly resolved with, "No." and a scoff, as if his request was the most ridiculous thing in the world.

The two roommates exchanged a look before looking back at Steve, and Caroline laughed nervously, "Of course you can-"

At the same time, Max painfully dead-panned with, "Absolutely not."

Caroline quickly pulled Max away, and the two shared angry whispers at one another.

Steve let out a heavy sigh, dealing with these two girls suddenly becoming more exhausting then it probably should be.

In the end, Caroline managed to convince Max to let Steve stop by, (and what an awful lot of convincing it took; "I refuse to let a fucking fed into our illegally owned apartment! What if the wall phone rings!?" ) but only if Max was able to blind-fold Captain America the whole way there.

Steve didn't have the heart to tell the girls that even without the blindfold, he knew exactly how long to ride the subway to their street (thirty seven minutes and twenty six seconds, or the seventh stop.), or that he knew how long to walk on the street before making a left, walk for another four minutes and turn right, walk straight for fifteen, turn right and he'd be opening the door to the lobby of their complex.

He decided not to explain that he didn't exactly need his eyes to know exactly where their run-down apartment was at. He truly, honest-to-God, would have liked to give the girls their privacy. However, his advanced body-and-mind from the Super Soldier serum made it quite hard.

"Okay Max.. can we take the blindfold off Captain America now?" Caroline said as they reached the last flight of stairs.

Max had her hands tucked into her pocket, and her smug smirk was the first thing Steve was greeted with once Caroline had so graciously relieved him of the burden of being blind. Steve looked down at Max and lifted his eyebrow in a questioning manner, which only made the pretty waitress smirk even harder at him, completely smug that he 'didn't know where she lived'.

Steve let out a sigh.

Oh hell, he hopes Bucky is in there.

x x