America's Sweetheart (Steve Rogers) - 1

22

Present Day

Even with the little sleep that Steve got these days. That last conversation was always the one that woke him. He'd curse himself for never managing to ask her properly. Even if he knew her answer.

Then again proposing marriage while crashing a plane wasn't the smartest idea he'd had. But he had to know.

He just hadn't expected to wake up seventy years later to find her gone, and in the way that she had. From the moment Steve received her file and opened it, the word DECEASED was the first thing he noticed. Big, Bold. To the point. Then he'd looked at the date.

April 17th, 1945, and his heart had sank.

"Everyone knew of your story." Phil Coulson had told him as he'd sat and watched Steve's face fall upon first giving him the files of his old comrades. "It was probably one of the most well-known ones to come out of the war...what was she like? Really?"

Steve had just kept staring at the file. "She was the most amazing woman that I've ever met. And she chose me..."

**

The helicopter landed in the pad at the old Stark Warehouse facility. Tony Stark jumping down along with Happy onto the tarmac and heading over to meet the workers who had called the find in. The storage facility was old, and hadn't been used since Howard Stark was alive. It was only when workers had been called in to start the process of renovation for what would be the new Avengers facility, that they had uncovered something startling.

"Thanks for coming Mr Stark..." one of workers shook Tony's hand, "It's right this way..." he now led them into the warehouse. "Few of the boys were moving some of the old machinery when they came across it. I gotta tell ya, it scared the crap out of us."

Tony said nothing but followed the man to an adjourning area that had now been cordoned off and was being watched by a few more workers. "That's cool, I'll take it from here." He pushed back the tarp and took a few steps into the small back room that had been hidden way from the main area. That was typical for his dad. "C'mon Happy, don't be shy." He smirked, then seeing a pod stood upright behind some of the old machinery. "This it?" he now asked, and the worker who followed cautiously behind nodded, allowing him to go and take a look for himself. 

Tony lit up the area and now cast the light onto the pod, immediately seeing exactly what had the men's blood running cold. "There, do you see her?" the worker now pressed as he did indeed see the young woman behind the glass. She looked as though she was sleeping, however the pod she was in was some sort of cooler or incubator...so he thought on first guesses. And as far as they went, he had some inkling that he was right. "Happy, c'mere" Tony called his head of security over who took one look and immediately recoiled backwards in shock.

"Geez! Is that a dead girl! What the hell Tony?"

Tony said nothing and examined the pod, seeing that it was chilling the body still to a certain temperature. A cool one at that. His eye caught some files that were in a box next to it. The words PROJECT F.R.O.S.T. in bold along with Confidential.  He opened them, seeing the file of the girl whose face did indeed match the one in the pod. Tony almost dropped the files in shock and then took another look at her to make sure that his eyes were not deceiving him.

"You've gotta be shitting me..." He said to himself and turned to the worker. "Not a word to anyone, understand..."

"Yeah right, it's probably already spreading around the facility that Howard Stark's been keeping a dead girl here..."

"She's not dead." Tony announced and showed the worker his findings. "This pod is keeping her alive, her body to a certain cool temperature." He now showed him the dials and then the file. "Do you have any idea who this is?" He showed the file to the worker whose eyes widened.

"No...freaking...way..." The worker's jaw dropped.

"Now do you understand why we need to keep this quiet for now? One whiff to the worlds press and you and all your men are out of a job, understand?" He threatened, taking the files and passing them to Happy. The worker nodded at the threat, heading off to relay it to his group that he led.

Tony took another look at the woman once more as Happy glanced at the files. "Is this..."

"Cap's dead girlfriend? Yeah, it is...but I wanna know why dad's been keeping her in a chiller cabinet for the last seventy odd years." He already suspected the answer, but was yet to read into the Project files more for clarification.

"What do we do?" Happy asked, "Because I don't wanna be in charge of transporting a body, my job description does not cover that..."

"Up security, send everyone home and get this place on lockdown. Like I said – this gets out that America's sweetheart is back, then it'll all blow up. I'm gonna be needing the quinjet, Banner, and a lot of alcohol. Not a word to Cap or the others yet, I need to break this one to him myself."

Happy nodded and got onto Maria Hill back at the Avengers Tower.

Tony turned back to the pod and frowned. He needed answers, and if his father's invention had successfully kept Mo Carter alive and well preserved for all these years, then he had no doubt that he could unthaw her and get them.