American Oxygen ~ Captain America's Daughter story [0]

Chapter 22: An Unexpected Journey

"Miss Rogers, Mr. Stark is requesting your presence in the conference room."

J.A.R.V.I.S's voice echoed throughout Adeline's bedroom, taking her attention away from the book she had been reading. The girl had been mindlessly going over the same page over and over again, not really paying attention to the words scattered over the paper. She didn't mind that J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit wasn't enough to ease her worries; the story seemed familiar, even though she had no recall of having read it before. Perhaps Mark had read it to her when she was young, but that seemed unlikely since he was never a fan of the books.

Adeline finally made her way to the conference room, dreading what could be happening. It seemed that as of lately, every news she would get wasn't positive. She pushed the glass door open, seeing her father, Tony, Coulson, and an NYPD police officer in the room, standing around the long table. She nodded at Coulson and the officer, a quiet way to greet the two.

"Good news or bad news?" She asked.

"Bad," Coulson answered.

"Go ahead," Adeline gave her go.

Coulson cleared his throat and gestured to the officer standing to his left. The woman stood straighter, a little intimidated by the important figures standing around the room. "I'm Amanda Lewis, lieutenant of the 19th precinct." Adeline shook her outstretched hand before she resumed her explanation. "A few of my men were assigned for surveillance around your -- Jenna -- the Joneses house. Long story short, there was an attack and we lost sight of Mrs. Jones and I lost two men in the process."

Silence filled the room, the adults were now looking at Adeline, waiting for a reaction but the girl was stoic. Steve spoke for his daughter. "We are sorry for your loss." The officer nodded in thanks and left the group. Adeline stood there for a few more seconds before calmly excusing herself, not bothering to stay and hear the good news. Steve knew that she needed a few moments by herself before he could join her, so he let her walk out of the door, even if it pained him.

"Who approved the NYPD's assistance in this operation?" Steve asked Coulson who picked up the file to check the name.

"Jasper Sitwell, an agent at S.H.I.E.L.D" He read the name off of the paper, not familiar with it.

"Who in their right mind would think that local police officers could face HYDRA on their own?" Tony criticized and Coulson sighed, disappointed in the turn of events.

"Probably because the number of shield agents in New York is scarce, so they believed a team-up with the NYPD was necessary. The mayor has also been pressuring us to get less involved in the city." Coulson theorized, receiving an incredulous look from the two Avengers. "Look, I know, that was incredibly amateur on our part and I or Fury will supervise anything else that has to do with this."

"It should've been like that since the beginning, Coulson!" Steve exclaimed. "Did you see Adeline? She's just a kid, she shouldn't have to go through all of this!" He ran a hand through his hair and sat down on a chair, defeated. "I'm sorry, I know this isn't your doing," Steve added.

AVENGERS TOWER'S TRAINING GYM

Adeline had gone straight to the training room after receiving the news of Jenna's abduction. Pummeling on a punching bag, the teen didn't care about the wounds that were forming on her knuckles. She was so focused on punching that she didn't hear her father entering the gym and didn't notice his presence until he was in her sight.

"You'll hurt yourself without these," He said, raising the pair of boxing gloves he was holding.

She glanced at them, slowing her movements before resuming her fierce punches. "That's lame."

Steve almost chuckled at her attitude. "You know what's not lame? Safety." He noticed that she was fighting back a smile, not wanting to laugh at his comment. "You know you want to laugh." He teased her and she stopped punching the bag.

"You're not funny."

"I'm very funny." He bantered. Steve put down the gloves and instead picked up some hand wraps for a nearby bench. "At least use these." She sighed but complied with his request anyway. They remained quiet while he was wrapping her hands, an action that had done on himself many times before.

Adeline broke the silence; "You want to ask me something, what is it?"

Steve didn't know why he was surprised that she could read him so easily, after all, he could do the same thing. "Do you regret coming here? Living with me, I mean."

Adeline was taken aback by his question, wondering if she had done something to make him think such a thing. She believed that everything bad that had happened in the last few weeks would've happened one day or another, no matter where she would've been. Adeline also made sure to remind herself that Mark's actions were not her fault because if she wouldn't, she wouldn't survive all of this. Her life has changed unexpectedly in a short period of time, but it was a journey that she was glad to be a part of, no matter the challenges she had to face.

"Coming here was the best decision I've ever made." A breath of relief escaped Steve, he was glad that his worries were dismissed without hesitation. He smiled at his daughter before stepping at her side, ready to give her a lesson on boxing.

"Now, let me show you how to do this properly because your form was atrocious." He said, making her protest with a squeal, the two of them laughing happily. For once in many days, her worries escaped her mind, even if it was for a short period of time.