Winter's Beginning [1]

Shields

Chapter 9

"Here I picked this up I the factory. It seems to be what powers those hydra weapons." Abi said as she handed the weapon cartridge to Howard.

"Let's see what it is then." He said. He placed it on a ledge in the centre of the testing room and locked the door. He walked back out and together they started to look at the readings. Another scientist walked in with a clipboard to record the results.

"Emission signature is unusual." Abi muttered looking at the dials. Howard nodded and took control of the robotic arms. He pulled the blue spherical light from the top.

"Alpha and beta ray neutral." Howard muttered as the other scientist wrote everything they said down. "Seems harmless enough. Hard to see what all the fuss is about." He smiled at Abi and moved the other arm in and gave the sphere a small electrical shock.

That was when it blew up and the glass of the room shattered. They were all sent flying backwards. "Write that down." Howard said as they all staggered to their feet and other officers ran in.

"Harmless enough right." Abi said with a raised eyebrow as she brushed the glass from her coat.

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After the incident with the glowing blue stuff Abi decided to take a break and went to get coffee. She knew after meeting with Phillips Stark was going to talk to Steve so she made it back for that. When she walked in they were stood talking.

"I hear your kind of attached." Howard was saying to Steve about his shield.

"Well it's the only reason he's still alive." Abi said as she walked over.

Steve looked at her before looking back at Stark. "It's handier than you might think."

"Well, we took the liberty of coming up with some options." Howard said walking over to a trolley full of shields.

Howard started to explain a few of the shields but Steve went straight to looking at a circular metal one that was under the table.

"What about this one?" He asked.

"That's just a prototype." Abi told him.

"What's it made of?" Steve asked.

"Vibranium. It's stronger than steel and a third the weight." Abi said.

"It's completely vibration absorbent." Howard added.

"How come it's not standard issue?" Steve asked.

"That's the rarest metal on earth." Howard told him. "What your holding there, that's all we got."

"If you're quite finished, Mr Stark. I'm sure the Captain has some unfinished business." Peggy said walking into the room. Abi could tell she was annoyed and move to stand on the other side of the table with Howard.

"What do you think?" Steve asked Peggy holding the shield.

Peggy turned to the side and picked up a gun from another table. She aimed and shot at Steve four times. Abi and Howard stood awkwardly as all four bullets crumpled and Steve looked up in shock.

"Yes. I think it works." Peggy replaced the gun and walked out past Steve. Abi and Howard walked back around the table and stood next to Steve.

"I had some ideas about the uniform." Steve said handing Howard a rough sketch.

"Whatever you want, pal." Howard muttered still in shock.