Familiarity

Chapter 2

"What even is a chief analyst?" Max asked sipping on his beer.

"I have known you for how many years, and you're just asking me this now?" Emilia chuckled flashing her eyes to meet his, she noticed his shaggy hair and wondered why his usual styled blonde hair was so messy.

"I've never really thought about it before," he shrugged.

"You never think," she rolled her eyes, biting into her slice of pizza. This was Madi's idea of hanging out tonight, going out for dinner at some unknown pizza joint.

"Are you being mean Emilia?" Madi asked sliding into the seat beside Max.

The two scoffed. "A chief analyst, by the way, is in charge of running numbers and making sure tests run smoothly, without our go ahead, nothing can move along. We're supposed to keep people safe," she finished quietly looking into her water, still feeling the affects from the hangover she woke up with that morning.

"Emilia," Madi sighed playing with her wedding ring.

"I made that girl's life ten times worse because I said it was okay to give her the serum, and now she doesn't know her name, again."

"Em, it wasn't your fault, and for me saying that, you know it must be true because I want to see you in pain," Max said with a big grin on his face.

"Ugh, I need a shot," she muttered.

"You have a problem," Madi said with a smirk growing on her face.

"One shot, I'll buy for all of us, then stop me from ever drinking alcohol again, er, not ever again, just this evening. Deal?" Emilia offered.

"I'm in," Max said finishing up his pizza.

"Why not?" Madi giggled as her friend ordered their drinks.

"How did an analyst get the title Doctor?" Max asked not dropping the subject of her job.

**

"Another round!" Emilia exclaimed throwing her hand in the air.

"No," Madi said, using her porcelain hand to pull the girl's hand down. "No more. You know the deal, and do you really want to go to work tomorrow with another hangover?"

"You went to work with a hangover today? With all those big shots visiting, Jesus Em, you're crazy. I'm awestruck," Max chuckled looking up at the television screen above their booth getting distracted by the flashing images.

"What can I say, I'm awesome," Emilia smiled, starting to giggle. She was glad her friend's husband was okay with her hanging out with them sometimes, even though they were good friends throughout their years at university. The two didn't respond to her, all their attention on the screen.

It was a news report about an attack earlier today in downtown Washington. It had involved Director Nick Fury, Emilia rolled her eyes at the mention of his name. "How can you act like that?" Madi asked, talking about the eye roll, "The Avengers are what keep us safe, SHIELD keeps us safe, from bozos like these guys."

The report went on to talk about how Fury was chased by the police across the city before his car was overturned by what could have been a magnetic disk grenade. Witnesses claim it was all caused by the Winter Soldier.

"Yeah right, I'll believe in Norse gods and whatever you want to call Captain America, but the myth of the Winter Soldier," Emilia scoffed. Her friends stared at her, unsure of what to think.

"You believe there are different dimensions, with gods, but can't believe in the Winter Soldier?" Max asked, once again stumped by her attitude.

"An assassin that has been around for seventy years, killing threats to a secret organization. He doesn't age, and won't flinch when someone shoots a bullet at him. You think he really shot a bullet through the Black Widow to kill an asset without killing her? It's all a total joke."

Then it wasn't. On the screen stood a man who stood in front of a rolling car, and didn't move when it went over top of him. He stepped toward the car ripping the door off easily with his bionic arm, his strength took the groups breath away. This man could not be described, well other than being the Winter Soldier.

"Woah," Emilia breathed watching proof of the Winter Soldier. "I take it all back."

"Ya know, he's kinda cute."

"Madi! He's the Winter Soldier, he'd kill you in seconds," Max exclaimed like it was some sin to think of a villain like him like that.

"I'd date him," Emilia mumbled not taking her eyes off the screen, there was something about him that she loved, he seemed familiar to Emilia.

"You always went for the weird ones," Madi snickered holding onto Max's arm as they stood up. "We're heading out, you should probably leave too, don't want another late night."

Emilia smiled up at her from her seat and nodded rolling the shot glass in her fingers. The couple left leaving her alone to her thoughts. Her wide shoulders caved in as her posture collapsed, she sighed standing up and grabbing her purse. She threw it over her shoulder and headed for the door, the dark thoughts from earlier that day still following her.

She stuck to the main streets, staying in the light, and front entrances to apartment buildings, running into the occasional person. A loud noise was coming from above her so she started to walk faster, without examining the sky. When the noise continued to follow her she looked up, and saw a couple figures running along the rooftops. Emilia let out a sigh of relief when she realized they wanted nothing to do with her.

When it got quiet she looked up again and saw that one man had long dark hair and was holding some sort of shield. He whipped it back at the other man who was frozen with shock, barely catching the shield. With the different lighting from the moon, Emilia noticed the colours on the object and froze in her place, "Captain America," she mumbled trying not to moving.

The dark haired man jumped off the building and ran across the road right in front of her, escaping the super soldier. Once he was out of her sight she tried to run only managing to roll her ankle in the shoes she was wearing. Emilia ripped them off and sprinted back to her apartment building.