An Unlikely Romance - The Avengers (Part 2)

Some Truth, At Last...

"We need to have a talk."

"Alright listen, just some suggestions here," you said as Fury strode into your living room, his one eye cast warily around the place, only lingering briefly on your third consecutive hour of HGTV. "How about 'Hey, how's it going?', 'How was your day?', 'I heard some really cool things about you from Clint and Natasha'; hell, I'd take a 'Nice day outside, too bad you don't get to enjoy it, huh bitch?' at this point. It's rude, but at least it's better than walking in so serious."

"I'll keep those suggestions in mind," Fury noted, in a tone that told you exactly how long he'd consider your new ideas. "But I think you're gonna want to hear this. Especially since you're gonna be gloating about it for a while."

"Ooooh, I <I>do</I> love gloating," you noted, flicking the television off immediately. "Hit me with what you got, Fury."

"You know if you want me to act a little more cordial, maybe try acting a little more professional," Fury noted, rolling his eye at you.

"Fair play, fair play! In the spirit of cooperation..." you said, clearing your throat quickly before speaking again. "Mr. Fury, please continue."

"Not bad, but you'll have to forgive me if I don't lighten up much. I came here for a very serious reason. I don't divulge what I'm about to share with you lightly."

"Is this my first SHIELD briefing?" You asked, sitting forward with interest.

"Yes and no. Technically this is highly, highly classified information - information I wouldn't share with anyone but my best agents. Aside from Agents Romanov and Barton, not even the soldiers involved in your recovery know about the things I'm about to tell you, but I think you deserve to know."

"...Wait, this is about me isn't it?" You said, jovial tone gone immediately. "I thought you said that you didn't find any information about who I was?"

"We didn't, not about you personally," Fury admitted, sighing and shaking his head. "The information that we found was more about the experiments going on at that facility. About what *exactly* was done to you."

"...So you know more than you let on about why my vision and hearing are so whacky?" You mumbled, glancing around, suddenly unwilling to meet Fury's eyes. You were starting to get a bad vibe from this, you could already feel the stress building in your chest. It was irrational, really - whatever had been done to you was already done, and not knowing wouldn't <I>magically undo</I> that experimentation... still, you couldn't shut down the worrying.

"It's more than just your vision and hearing. Might even have something to do with that wit you're so proud of," Fury noted, leaning against the wall beside your television. "You've been watching television for a while now, so I know you've seen a few things about the Avengers. We haven't discussed them directly with you, but you probably know about Captain America by now?"

"A bit. Most of the shows seem to assume I already know about him, but I looked up some more stuff on that computer you loaned me. I'm guessing you already know all about my browsing history, though. Anyway, yeah, Captain America. Super-Soldier serum and a badass shield, no exploitable weaknesses other than being a bigger badass than he is."

"Very reductive, but I'll let the over-simplification slide for the moment," Fury said with a roll of his eye. "HYDRA has been trying to recreate that serum for decades, and they've gotten closer over time despite our best efforts to destroy their labs. But for every step closer they get to the soldier aspects, they lose a little bit of the super... and a lot of what makes Captain America who he is. They've produced some pretty strong fighters, some even physically more powerful than Captain America, but never anything resembling a true, intelligent soldier like him who can do what he does."