The Avengers

Captain America

After turning Ren Schlitz into SHIELD, Elise Acworth turned into the address that Nick Fury had sent her. Pulling into the parking spot, she turned the car off before looking up at the building. It was an old, SHIELD gym that was closed years ago.

She got out of the car and slammed the door shut before walking up to the door. She walked in and followed the sounds of grunting. The door was closed but not locked as she peeked through the glass.

She could only see from the back. A man aggressively punching a punching bag with strength out of this world. Quietly, she opened the door before leaning against the nearby wall, folding her arms in the process. This guy surely looked good from his profile and from his back. Good morning, America. She thought to herself as her eyes lowered down his body.

Her head tilted as he punched the bag harder and faster as if he was reminiscing on an unfortunate past. Steve threw the hardest punch he had left and it knocked the bag across the floor. Elise shook her head. Whew! And, here I thought I was crazy. She thought to herself as she watched him breathing heavily as he picked up another bag--- without struggle---from a line on the floor and hung it up. He proceeded to punch the bag as she decided it was time to get this part over with. "You know if you punch any harder, your wrist could snap." He ignored her as he continued to hit the bag. "I've seen it happen before." Still, he didn't answer so she took a step closer. "What's wrong, Cap? Can't sleep?" She asked in a sarcastic tone.

Still hitting the bag, he said. "Slept for seventy years, ma'am. I think I've had my fill."

She scoffed before taking a seat on the bench behind him. "From reading your file, you should be out celebrating. Probably, exploring the world."

"When I went under, the world was a war. I woke up---they say we won. They didn't say what we lost."

Elise shrugged her shoulders; although his back was still turned to her. "We've all made mistakes along the way, some very recently." Her voice had lowered with hurt as a painful memory resurface. "Some you can't take back; but you have to learn to move forward and accept what life throws at you."

Steve grabbed the bag, holding it in place while looking down, pondering over her words before letting it go and removing his hand wrap. He finally glanced over to the beautiful, brown skinned woman sitting on the bench with blue jeans on, black shirt with a black, vibranium jacket and boots. "Who are you, exactly?"

She scoffed, standing to her feet. "Now, you want to ask me who I am? We just had a full conversation." Sarcasm detected in her voice before she shook her head and waved him off. "I'm Elise Acworth."

"Steve Rogers; but I'm sure you knew that since you called me 'Cap.'" He said before folding his massive arms against his chest facing her. "You here with a mission from Fury?" He asked. "You are from SHIELD, right?"

"Eh. More or less."

Removing his other hand wrap, he muttered. "He's trying to get me back in the world, huh?"

"Trying to save it, actually."

She standing to her she pulled a folder---with information on the Tesseract in it--- out from inside her jacket and handed it to him. He slowly grabbed it from her before he opened and read it. "HYDRA's secret weapon."

She nodded her head as she placed her hands behind her back. "Apparently, Howard Stark fished that out from the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think. The Tesseract is the key unlimited sustainable energy." She explained before her sarcastic tone came back. "That's the last thing this world needs."

"Who took it from you?"

"I was told it was a man who called himself Loki who took it from Fury. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. I was told the world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me."

Steve grabbed his duffle bag and another punching bag while Elise started talking. She let a rather less amused chuckle out. "Ten bucks says you're wrong." He glanced at her with a smirk. "There's a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment---which is a nice place, by the way. Fury definitely did a number with that one. Anyways, is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now."

Steve began to walk out of the door. "You should have left it in the ocean." And, with that, he walked out.