•𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓝𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓳𝓮𝓬𝓽 • 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐥

Chapter 3

"And I lay myself down, hope I'll wake up young again."

Captain America, the hero, was awaken no more than two weeks after Kai determined that he was still alive. Steve Rogers, the man, on the other hand, was a completely different case. When the scientist started the meticulously curated defrosting process, Kai set it upon herself to ensure that there was no foul play; once the man was defrosted, they'd get him the help he needed and leave the man alone. She thought that was the least he deserved after having given up his life in service of his country. So, every day for two weeks, she sat in the observatory room of a lab and observed with careful eyes as the ice slowly melted away and gave way to the legend himself.

When the first glimpses of Steve's skin were visible, at around the 3-day mark, Kai felt her eyes widen. According to the scientists who had been monitoring the process, his skin being blue was expected, yet it was still shocking to her. He looked lifeless. For a second her heart stopped. Maybe she was wrong, maybe he really was dead. After all, who have you heard of that got frozen for 70 years and made it out alive? No one, you stupid child, the voice in her head snarled. No, he's not dead, I know he isn't, she tried to reassure herself. He called out to me, I could feel it. He is not dead.

It became routine, so much so that the doctors came to expect her presence. Sometimes she'd even bring them coffee.

Then, the day came. After the defrosting process was over, Director Fury orchestrated a plan to have Steve wake up in a near perfect replica of a 40's army hospital. Except, he made several mistakes. The "nurse" sent in to help make Rogers' wake an easy process had her whole outfit wrong. From the ill-fitting shirt to the way the cup of her brassier could be seen, something that surely would have gotten her thrown in prison for lack of modesty. And it did not stop there; her makeup was all wrong, and it smelled completely different from the one he had seen the girls from tour or Peggy wear. And last, but most definitely not least, her hair. Christ, her hair looked like she wasn't a working-woman at all. The curls were all loose and in her face. How did she get anything done in an army hospital? He must have been captured by HYDRA, and this was probably a trap to keep him sedated. So, with that conclusion in mind, he did the only logical thing one could have possibly done at that point.

He ran.

He ran like his life depended on it. Which, in his head, it did. He ran into a bunch of people and oh God, they really are HYDRA, Peggy is going to kill me if they don't do it first. As he ran into the street, he realized he could recognize the structure of some of the buildings. He slowed down in confusion and got surrounded by black SUVs. A black man got down from one of the cars and approached him, looking like a man approaching an injured wild animal.

"At ease, soldier! Look, I'm sorry about that little show back there, but we thought it best to break it to you slowly."

"...Break what?"

"You've been asleep, Cap. For almost seventy years."

His face paled and all at once, he collapsed. Perhaps Captain America had awakened from his 70-year-long slumber, but Steve Rogers had never craved sleep, the numbness and unawareness that came with it, as much as he did in that moment.

................................

"You did what?". Kai's voice could be heard all the way to the desk where Nick's secretary sat. Poor man, he had just recently acquired this job and he was already terrified.

"It was necessary, Kai. I do not expect you to understand my reasons," Nick sighed.

"Hell if I even want you to explain them," the girl fumed. "You promised, yet the first thing you do is treat him like an experiment. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You kiss your momma with that mouth?" A pause. Then he flinched, realizing what he said. "Kid-".

"My mom is as dead as you will be if you do not fix this." With that, she left, auburn red hair flowing like a halo of flames around her head.

.....................................

Kai Jones met Steve Rogers' soul when she was asked to see if he wast still alive. His soul so vibrant, felt like it was missing a piece, yet it still glimmered. On the other hand, Kai Jones met the man himself when he was at his possible lowest, barely eating, sleeping, existing. A shell, hollowed out by the news that the world he knew, his friends, his life, it had all left him behind.