The Valentin Series, Book 1: The Valkyrie (Captain America fanfiction)

Chapter 20: Nicknames

A/N: Hello, lovelies! here's another update! :) I love you all! Thanks, again for reading. I will update again soon. ~A2V~

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“I heard the girls had a great night out last night, Sarge,” Tony said from his table in the lab, he was working on a new suit.

Bucky, dressed in a black t-shirt, denim jeans and work boots, looked over at him, through the hologram screen, he could see the small smirk playing on Stark’s lips. The man could be arrogant and annoying even if he looked hilarious. The top half of his body was in a silver metal suit, while the bottom half was in jeans and sneakers.

“I guess they did,” Bucky shrugged, not taking Stark’s bait, and Bruce Banner chuckled from the other end of the lab, his face obscured by the microscope he was using, “Val didn’t want to talk about it much.”

“Yeah, Pepper did say she was plastered,” Stark told him as made some recalibrations on the screen.

“So she does get drunk,” Banner muttered, and pulled away from his work only to jot something down on a notebook.

Bucky walked over to the man who was dressed in his usual white dress shirt, khaki pants and boat shoes, “What’s that?” he asked gesturing to the microscope.

“I’m studying Angel’s DNA,” Bruce answered, looking through the microscope again, “It’s a scientific breakthrough, being able to manipulate human genes to grow wings and give her the senses of an eagle.”

Bucky pulled a seat up and sat beside the doctor, “So her getting drunk is important because?”

“Because, Metallica,” Tony answered, “It means she isn’t like you or captain Star.”

“He’s right,” Banner said, jotting something down on his notebook and adjusting his eyeglasses, “You and Cap have the same serum, sort of. It stops you from ever getting drunk because your metabolisms burn the alcohol before it can begin affecting your system.”

“She’s not a super-human-winged-assassin who happens to look absolutely drop dead gorgeous, then? I’m disappointed,” Tony said his voice full of mock disappointment.

“No, Stark, she’s not,” Banner rolled his eyes at his friend and smiled apologetically at Bucky, “She’s just extremely fast. I mean, if you were trained at birth to be an assassin, I guess it just comes naturally, huh?” then he turned back to his study.

“Does she heal faster than other people?” Bucky asked suddenly, Stark and Banner eyed him curiously, “I mean, does she heal like Steve and I?”

“As far as I can tell,” Banner answered, “She doesn’t have the ability to heal like you guys; she heals like everybody else.”

Bucky nodded, trying to wrap his head around this discovery. All those times she went to look for him, she had been wounded, beaten up, and shot at. He never really thought if one of those wounds ran deep enough, she would have bled out and died. He just automatically assumed she healed faster than most. His respect for Val grew.

“Don’t worry about it, Barnes,” Tony said, “If she survived this long without that extra power, I’m sure she’ll be fine. I mean, look at Barton and Romanov.”

Bucky nodded, but dread still filled his mind. He could lose her in a snap, and that scared him to no end.

“Incidentally,” Tony asked, “Where is our dear Angie?”

“Training with Romanov,” Bucky answered sadly.

“Aw, don’t worry, Sarge, I’m sure your Rogers can help distract you,” Tony said as Steve walked into the lab, Diana trailing behind his dark jeans and motorcycle boots.