One With Earth [Avengers]

Old Sketches

STEVE

I got to my apartment and unlocked the door quickly. I stepped in setting the punching bag down by the entrance and closed the door behind me. I grit my teeth as I walked over to my bookshelf. My eyes scanned the rows of books for two seconds before I found what I had be looking for. I took the book and walked over to my kitchen counter where I noticed the debriefing file was.

I flipped through the pages of the book from the shelf, looking at all my old sketches. The book was one of the only things that remained from my past, this book in particular was very special. It was with me before the serum, before the army, even before Bucky. I finally found what I was looking for and I felt numb. A drawing I had done when I was a kid, of a girl with green hair and reddish skin. I turned the page and on the back of it I found a better sketch I drew after art school and the serum. I was testing out my abilities and decided to draw her from memory.

I set the book down and went to look for a pencil. I quickly found one and hurried back to my sketch book. On the page across from my last sketch I began to draw the woman I saw today from memory.

I took a deep breath when I finished and set the pencil down. I looked at both pictures. They had the same eye shape, nose, and mouth, the woman's face was more slender but it was still the same heart shape. A niece? Granddaughter? I kept looking back and forth between the pictures. If I removed color from the equation this would be the same girl if she aged ten years. But she couldn't be, if this was her then she should be, well, my age.

I looked at the file that was left for me. I opened it and scanned through it looking for answers. I stopped and took a step back when I came across a picture of the woman I saw today. But she didn't have brown skin and black hair, she was the same shades of green and red from my memory. There were small stats under her picture, I read them quickly.

Agent Isabellianna Roarke

Level: 5

Gifted Index n° 403

Powers: Controls and summons most elements

detects lifeforms and reads auras

communicates in any language, human and animal

slight appearance altering qualities

I furrowed my eyebrows. The element thing sounded familiar, the rest I guess she discovered once she stopped visiting me, or maybe she knew all along and she was hiding it from me. But without a doubt that had to be Izzy.

Before I continued I decided to make a quick cup of coffee. I started it and by the time I went to go back to the file it was finished. I shook my head at these new inventions, everything built to go faster. I took a sip from my mug and finally went back to the file. I kept scanning through her stats until I came across something shocking.

Age: 182

I spit out my coffee.

__________ÆÆÆÆÆÆ_________

I stayed up all night going over Fury's debriefing package. I ended up with a few more questions than answers, but I was ready for the job. It was around five A.M. when the knock came, the time I would usually be leaving out for my morning jog. I was escorted out of my apartment and to an all black car that looked like it could survive a nuclear bomb. We drove for about fifteen minutes before we reached our destination: a football field sized clearing with a quinjet in the middle.

I got out of the car and followed two men dressed like soldiers to the plane. Before I took a step on board I was handed a laptop, I took it and walked inside, the hangar door closing behind me. Both soldiers stayed with me. I looked around the aircraft, the soldiers went to take the seats behind the controls and I sat across from a man in a suit. I felt the jet rise from the ground as we took off.

I opened the laptop and there were four video files displayed on the screen. I opened the first one and it showed a redhead and an archer dodging explosions and taking out foes. Black Widow and the now compromised Hawkeye. They were tactful and deadly, they moved fluidly together. "Agent Romanoff was an assassin before she worked for S.H.I.E.L.D.?" I raised an eyebrow.

The suit across from me shrugged, brushing it off. "We believe in second chances. she's a great asset to the team." he justified it.

I went on to the next file. Iron Man suiting up on a race track, fighting a man with electric whips. He was pretty good, aside from the obvious overconfidence in his moves. He followed his father's legacy pretty well. The third video showed the giant green Hulk raging and destroying everything in his path.

"We're about forty minutes out from base, sir." The pilot spoke to the suited man.

"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" I asked the agent.

"A lot of people were." he admitted. "You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."

I looked back at the screen. Erskine kept his formula a secret for a reason. Watching hulk tear through cars is a good reason. "Didn't really go his way, did it?"

"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, guy's like a Stephen Hawking." He said in awe and I tilted my head, confused. "He's like a smart person." he explained. I nodded. "I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, officially." I smiled at him. "I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping."

My smile faltered. I knew he meant well, though, I'm sure. I looked down at my feel then closed the laptop. I stood and walked over to the front of the quintet, behind the pilots. I looked out the window and wondered what country could be forty minutes away from the middle of the ocean.

"I mean, I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice." he tried again. "You know, it's really, it's just a... just a huge honor to have you on board." he smiled.

"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job." I looked down then looked at him.

"Oh, you are. Absolutely." he confirmed. "Uh... we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input." he boasted.

I raised my eyebrows. "The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old fashioned?" I asked.

"With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned."