One With Earth [Avengers]

First Sight

ANNA

He attacked the bag with everything he had. It was passionate. It was frightening. It didn't look like his mind was here right now, somewhere else, somewhere where you had to fight to live, and fight hard. I didn't see his face. Just the broad span of his strong back and shoulders and a glimpse of his gold hair. He kept punching, like he needed it to breathe, like if he let up for a second he would die or something terrible would happen. He was stressed, I could tell that clearly from the tense muscles in his back, but his aura was screaming in pain, that along with confusion and a little guilt. Who was this massive man? Why were we standing in a doorway watching him assault a punching bag? Why was he so stressed?

The bag landed with a thud as it flew off the chain holding it after a really good left hook. Should I be frightened, was this guy friendly? Or was he a foe? Did Fury bring me here to take him out? Or were we recruiting him? He breathed hard for a few moments, then he walked over to a row of punching bags to pick up one and bring it back over. Fury took a step closer to him, I followed behind.

"Trouble sleeping?" the director asked and the man's face snapped towards us.

I felt my heart stop. One glimpse at his face and memories came rushing back in. This was the face of the young skinny boy I stayed friends with until he became a man and my body stayed looking like that of a child's. But it couldn't be him. His son? No. They had the same exact face. Cloning, maybe? Did we really have cloning technology? But then again, why would they want to clone that small feeble man I knew just to turn him into this? Eighty years has past, and why him? I decided to play it cool. As cool as I could manage with the face of my first childhood friend staring back at me.

Wait. Staring? I quickly glanced at my hand to make sure my camouflage was still up, deep red mahogany skin and green hair has been a cause for dropped jaws in the past. My skin was fine, a nice rich brown, a few tones lighter than that of the man standing next to me. My hair, which was pushed back in a low ponytail had to be black, or Brown in the right light, and my normal bright yellow eyes were a golden hazel. I could easily be mistaken for Fury's daughter like this, which would be great for covert op missions. I decided to tune back into the conversation, hoping to figure out why he was looking so intensely at me.

"We've made some mistakes along the way. Some very recently." Fury spoke.

"You here with a mission, sir?" he said to Fury, but his eyes were locked with mine. He was sitting, unraveling the tape from around his hands.

"I am." Fury confirmed.

He finally stopped staring and his eyes slowly traveled to Fury's face. "Trying to get me back in the world?" He laughed without humor.

"Trying to save it." the Director corrected. He held out a file and the blonde man took it, curiously and cautiously.

His blue eyes were bright has he opened the file and took a look. "Hydra's secret weapon." He stated.

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs." Fury explained.

He raised an eyebrow. "Who took it from you?" he asked handing the file back.

"He's called Loki. He's not from around here." the Director said slowly, probably still mad over the fact he lost to the alien. But maybe to help the man take it all in better. "There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

He raised his eyebrows and frowned a little. "At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me."

Fury smirked. "Ten bucks says you're wrong." the blonde man started getting his gym bag together. "There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment." the large man then hoisted a punching bag over his shoulder, and then turned to walk past us towards the exit. "Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury asked turning to look at the man walking out.

"You should have left it in the ocean." He called out, not looking back at us.

"Well that's very helpful information." Fury said to me. My eyes stayed at the door where a man with the face of my first friend just walked out. "I'm sure you might have a few questions, Roarke."

I nodded and turned to look at him. "A few." I confirmed.

"Come on, I know a great chili place around the corner, we can talk there. They even have a vegetarian menu." he walked out and I followed after him. We walked to the small restaurant in silence. We sat down and he ordered for the both of us. After our food arrived and I took a bite he finally spoke. "Good isn't it?" he asked.

I smiled and swallowed. "Yes, sir." then I furrowed my eyebrows. "Who was that man?"

"You've heard of Captain America, right?"

"The world's first superhero? Of course. But what does he have to do with anything?"

"You just met him."

That made me even more confused. "But he looks like-"

"An old friend?" he asked.

I nodded. "Exactly, Sir."

"That's why I brought you along. I had to make sure he would join our cause, and what better way to do that than to show him a good friend is apart of the team?"

"Does that mean he's my... That he's the same Steven Rogers from so many years ago?"

"Yes."

"Does he..."

"Remember you?" he asked and I nodded again. "Who could forget someone as unique as you?"

"But I look different." I frowned.

"You both do." he noted.

"Right." I raised my eyebrows. "When I met him he was a small and weak kid, I don't understand how he's here and how he looks like he does."

"Well I'm going to let you in on a secret that wasn't put in the history books at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. Mr. Rogers was the first and only candidate for the super soldier serum."

"Serum?" I asked.

"An old science project. It turned your weak friend into the hero he is today."

I smiled. Steve always did want to help those who needed it the most. He always talked about how his father was in the war how he wanted to be like him, a hero. But I wondered if this new power changed him in any way. Back at the gym it seemed something was haunting him. What happened to him after I left? Maybe he was like that because I left.