INFERNO │ Marvel

5.1 star-spangled man

"On your left!"

Steve Rogers ran by Sam Wilson, the latter having lost count of how many times it had been. He gave it three seconds before Amelia Stark sped past him too. It turned out, while she had succeeded in recreating the effects of the super soldier serum, she still wasn't as fast or strong as the Star-Spangled man himself. And he loved to prove it every single time they raced.

"On your left," he said again as he passed Sam once more.

"On my left, I got it," he huffed, his running slowing down so he could catch his breath. Amelia was fast approaching. "Don't say it. Don't say it."

"On your left," Amelia echoed, just to piss the man off.

"Come on!"

The two superhumans came to a stop eventually, Steve having run at least two more laps than her. Neither was out of breath, though. This was a regular occurrence ever since she had finally picked up one of his calls and told him she was moving to the city. After spending just over a year in DC, she and Steve had become good friends. He often invited her on runs and trained her in hand-to-hand combat, while Amelia aided him with getting up to speed with the modern world.

The pair approached Sam Wilson, who was leaning against a tree and breathing heavily, his hand on his chest as if his heart was about to fail.

"Need a medic?" Steve asked.

"I need a new set of lungs," he responded. "Dude, you just ran, like, 13 miles in 30 minutes."

"I guess I got a late start," he joked.

"Really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You take a lap. Did you just take it? I assume you just took it."

"What unit you with?"

"58th Pararescue, but now I'm working down at the VA," Sam explained. He held his hand out to Steve. "Sam Wilson."

"Steve Rogers," he replied and pulled Sam up from the ground. "This is Amelia Stark."

"Yeah, I kinda put that together," he responded. He then nodded at Amelia. "And we know each other."

"You do?"

"Not everyone walks away from a battle like New York unscathed," she said, keeping her answer simple. Steve gave her a sad smile and nod.

While she wasn't technically a veteran, Rhodey had pulled some strings to get Amelia in with the VA therapy programme. She had seen a private therapist, but that didn't go so well when she and the woman started having screaming matches. Plus, she found it useful to sit in a group and hear other people's stories as well as share her own.

"Must have freaked you out," Sam said. "Coming home after the defrosting thing."

"Takes some getting used to," Steve replied. "I've had help, though. Amy gave me a notebook to write down the things I need to catch up on. Apparently, there's a lot."

"Hell yeah, there are," she interjected. She sent an amused smile to Sam. "He got freaked out when I introduced him to JARVIS, my AI."

Steve huffed a breath of laughter. "It's good to meet you, Sam."

"It's your bed, right?" Sam asked. Steve gave him a confused look. "Your bed. It's too soft. When I was over there, I'd sleep on the ground, use rock for pillows, like a caveman. Now I'm home, lying in my bed, and it's like-"

"-lying on a marshmallow," the super soldier finished for him. "Feel like I'm gonna sink right through the floor. How long?"

"Two tours," Sam told him. "You must miss the good old days, huh?"