Project 117

| 0.2 |

The Mission

"On your left."

...

"On your left."
"Uh-huh, on my left. Got it."

...

"Don't say it. Don't you say it."
"On your left."
"Come on!"

...

Steve approached the man as he sat leaned up against a tree panting. "Need a medic?" He asked, putting his hands on his hips. The man laughed and looked up at him.

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

Steve shrugged, "I guess I got a late start."

The man chuckled at that and scoffed. "Really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap." He looked away for a second and then looked back at Steve. "Did you just take it? I assume you just took it." He remarked.

"What unit you with?" Steve asked him.

"58th Pararescue. But now I'm working down at the VA." He answered, still out of breath. He held his hand out and Steve pulled him up. "Sam Wilson." He introduced himself.

"Steve Rogers."

"I kind of put that together." He paused, catching his breath, he should not have been this winded, but he did try to beat a super soldier. "Must have freaked you out, coming home after the whole defrosting thing."

Steve sighed, "It takes some getting used to." Sam nodded in agreement. "It's good to meet you, Sam." Steve was went to walk away but Sam stopped him.

"It's a your bed, right?" Steve turned around to face him, "What's that?" Sam chuckled. "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." Steve finished for him. "Feel like I'm gonna sink right to the floor." It was true, he felt odd being home in an actual bed. Especially since back in the 40s the mattresses weren't the best.

"How long?" He asked. Sam shrugged, "Two tours." Steve nodded, that was at least a few years, must have been rough.

"You must miss the good old days, huh?" Sam asked, a smirk on his face. "Well, things aren't so bad. Food's a lot better—we used to boil everything—no polio is good. Internet, so helpful. I've been reading that a lot, trying to catch up." Steve explained. If he were honest, while he did miss things from back then, he would rather be here.

Sam nodded and thought for a moment, "Marvin Gaye, 1972, Trouble Man soundtrack. Everything you missed jammed into one album." Steve got out a small notebook from one of his pocket and opened it up.

"I'll put it on the list." He began to write that down along with other subjects such as "I Love Lucy", "Moon Landing", "Thai Food", "Star Wars/Trek" and "Nirvana." There was suddenly a beeping sound coming from his pocket and Steve quickly put the book away and took out his cell phone.

He had a text from Nat that read, "Mission alert. Extraction imminent. Meet at the curb. :)" After looking over the text quickly, Steve looked at Sam.