Mirror, Mirror ↠ Steve Rogers

Chapter Two

Fort Falsworth is a SHIELD base a few miles outside of Saratoga Springs. Most of the tests Leila went through after her academy training took place there, but she hasn't been back since. Maybe she should feel something--some nostalgia, or deja vu--but mostly she just wants to get the day over with.

Getting inside seems to take almost as long as the three hour long ride from Manhattan, although it probably only takes about twenty minutes. It includes ID, a retinal scan, and a few code phrases.

Finally, the last set of doors open and a SHIELD analyst leads her to an elevator that takes them to an underground floor.

A wall of glass windows reveals a lab full of more SHIELD techs running around in white lab coats. "You can just head in," the woman who led her there says, and Leila steps out of the elevator.

It takes her a second to place the doors—everything is glass, perfectly clear, smooth, and indistinguishable. She'd be shocked to see a smudge anywhere. As soon as she walks in, Doctor Shirazi is there in front of her, looking at a clipboard as he speaks.

"Agent Whittaker, glad to have you here," he says absently, like he's reading from a mental script.

"Oh, not nearly as glad as I am to be here, I'm sure."

"We need to debrief you on your current powers before you go in with Rogers." He sets a hand on her shoulder to guide her through a white side door. She shrugs his hand off, irritated, but follows his lead anyway.

As she's whisked away, she glances around one last time and sees Steve behind another glass door, sitting on a table looking utterly bored; Leila imagines he must be regretting his decision by now.

He glances in her direction and double takes as he recognizes a familiar face before smiling in a resigned, sympathetic way.

She smiles back, just a little.

*

It's weird to have someone other than Lachlan doing her debriefing. Lachlan got a promotion shortly after hers to STRIKE, so he's done every debriefing up 'til now. The new analyst is all business, and the meeting takes only a few minutes before she's led to a doctor's office for a physical.

It takes longer than usual; in addition to the power check, they need a "before" set of vitals and stats to compare to the "after" for when she copies Rogers' powers. If all goes well, she's about to become the second super soldier in history. Probably temporarily, but still--documentation is vital.

Once they have what they need, she's left alone to change into a black sports bra so they can hook a bunch of sensors to her. It's annoying, but she supposes she should be grateful that SHIELD has wireless ones, that she's not going to have to drag a computer with her everywhere. When they're done, she's left alone for a moment, and puts her shirt back on before hopping back onto the medical table, kicking her feet boredly.

Finally, Shirazi comes back in. "Fury wants to talk to you before you go back out there."

What the hell does he want now? she thinks.

She doesn't have to wait long; Fury enters less than a minute later.

"Director," she says.

"Agent." He steps forward, hands clasped behind his back. "Good of you to join us."

"I'm a very charitable person." She leans back on her palms. "So what's the story, Morning Glory?"

"I told you I wanted you to copy Captain Rogers' powers and test them out."

"I know, I was there."

"Yeah, I remember. Here's what I didn't tell you: Rogers is on the fence about joining SHIELD. I want you to fix that."