บท 61: It's been a long, long time
-New York City, New York-
-July 12, 2009, 1133h local-
"Are you going to be okay?" The guy with the eye patch said.
"Yeah. Yeah…" Steve answered while looking around at his surroundings. "I just, I had a date." He added.
The gravity of the situation finally hit the first avenger. He couldn't believe that some part of him would rather die in the ice than be found now. Everything that he was seeing was new and familiar at the same time: the crowd, the buildings, the cars. Everything was just so disconcerting. Only his training and experience kept him from freaking out.
"We should get in the car. I can't answer the questions you obviously have while we're still out in the open." The man advised.
Some people would usually just follow that suggestion, but the Captain was not just anyone. He would not just trust anyone even if he was technically in the states. He turned around and faced the man.
"You don't expect me to just follow you anywhere, do you?" Steve stated while looking at the man suspiciously.
"God, I hope not…" The man replied with a chuckle. "But you should know that you have no other option for now. I can say that I'm part of a US-based agency." The man added while flashing his badge.
Steve ran multiple scenarios in his mind to see what was the best course of action, and he decided that there really was only one viable thing he could do right now. Of course, he could fight his way out right now, but he would indeed get recaptured due to his lack of intel. If he gets into the car now, he could still fight his way out if things were to go south. He nodded towards the man to show that he would follow for now.
The man walked towards the black car behind him and opened the car's back door. Steve warily walked towards the car. The man got in on the other side of the vehicle after he closed the door. He confirmed that the agents were trained and coordinated since the cars quickly lined up into a convoy as they started moving.
"I'm Nick Fury, the director for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division or SHIELD, your namesake…" The man now named Fury introduced himself. Steve couldn't help but focus on the name of the agency Fury said he was a part of, but he pushed the thoughts about it away for now. "We are a US-based international agency focused on dealing with the… weird… aspect of the world…" Fury explained. The car drove under the same building that he had just escaped from. "For now, we're going to a series of medical tests on you to make sure everything is A-Okay."
Steve just listened to Fury talk. He was still not sure if he was safe for now, but at least he was confident that they would not suddenly aim their guns at him. Nevertheless, he was still keeping track of everything he could use as a weapon.
The cars parked near the door and Fury got out of the vehicle. Steve copied what Fury did and followed the director. He noticed that the agents kept some distance from him and were making sure that he was not getting crowded. As he was nearing what he guessed was the medical center, evident by the white room with multiple machines, he decided to ask a question that's been plaguing his mind since the moment he woke up.
"Can you answer a question for me?" Steve said.
"Sure, as long as it's not classified…" Fury replied. "You don't exactly have your clearance back."
Steve agreed to Fury's statement, but what he was curious about shouldn't be classified.
"Do you know what happened to Agent Margaret Elizabeth Carter?" Steve asked, making sure to use her full name.
Fury fully expected this question to come. Director Carter's and the Captain's tragic romance story was well known by everyone. Hell, some production companies even tried to make a movie out of it. The production plans only stopped due to Director Carter's sensitive career history. Fury had already planned on how to approach the topic.
"Former Director Carter was one of the founding members of SHIELD. She obviously became the previous Director of SHIELD…" Fury stated, hoping that he could soften the blow. "She retired almost eight years ago. Four years ago, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's…" Steve felt a sense of dread washing over him. "She died on November 20, 2007, at a Royal Air Force Base in Alconbury, UK." Steve stopped in the middle of the hallway when he heard what Fury had said.
Steve continued to stand in the middle of the hallway, trying to absorb what he had heard.
-New York City, New York-
-July 13, 2009, 0500h local-
"This is a restored 1950's boxing gym. We bought this place two days after we found you…" Fury stated while walking around the old school gym. "One of my guys had this place restored and placed a fully functioning apartment on the top floor…" He added. Fury had to give it to Coulson. The gym was looking good. "There are three agents next door who are going to monitor you for at least three months."
Steve waved off what Fury said. He was too busy looking over the place. He noticed that there were those mini camera's mounted in the corners of the ceiling. SHIELD really was deadest on keeping an eye on him.
"I'm going to leave you to it…" Fury said before walking towards the exit when Steve didn't give him a reply. "Just press on the big red button in each room if or when you need anything. Your briefing schedule is on the table in the dining room upstairs."
Fury had arranged a series of meetings with some agents to teach and guide Captain Rogers through modern society. They would focus on everything that could help Captain Rogers adapt faster, like modern technology, finance, modern history, current affairs, and social norms. Modern warfare, tactics, and training reconditioning would happen after the previous plan. Fury's goal was for the Captain to be mission-ready in six months. Maybe a year at the most.
Fury subtly checked that the agents he had assigned to this mission were not undercover HYDRA agents. However, he could never be 100% certain unless he did something drastic like strapping them to his lie detector or contacting Naruto, and God knows that he doesn't have to deal with that right now.
"Fury, before you go…" Steve called out as Fury was walking towards the door. "Where's my shield?" He asked.
If there was one thing, you could use to symbolize Captain America, it was the red, white, and blue vibranium shield. It had been with him ever since he officially started to do missions. He routinely used it both offensively and defensively. Of course, he had formed an emotional attachment to the shield.
"Well, about that…" Fury started sheepishly. "We did find your shield, but one of my… individual contractors… borrowed it while you were still in a coma…" Steve raised his eyebrow. He liked to think that he could read people well enough, and according to his reading, Fury would not trust people not in his own organization, especially with something as important as a shield made from a rare metal. "He was supposed to bring it back a week after he 'borrowed' it. I'm going to try to make contact with him so he can bring it back."
Steve just nodded, dropped his bag beside the staircase, and placed his leather jacket on top. He chose clothes from SHIELD's 'wide' selection. He had chosen 5 casual clothes, 3 home clothes, a brown leather jacket, and a tactical suit just in case.
Fury left the building when he saw Captain Rogers walking towards the punching bag. Understandably, he would like to release some stress after the day that he has had. Hell, from Roger's perspective, everything from fighting Red Skull to waking up in the 21st century happened within a week.
Steve heard the automatic door lock engaging. He knew that there were more than three agents 'monitoring' him. From his observation, at least half of the people in the neighborhood were agents. However, he just didn't have the energy to do something about it. Maybe in the future, he might care about it, but not now, not after the week that he has had.
He settled into a standard boxing stance and started pounding the punching bag, releasing all of his frustration into the bag. It didn't take long for the punching bag to start swinging wildly. He stopped when he noticed that the bag was about to rip.
Steve grabbed hold of the bag to steady it and started taking some deep calming breaths. He didn't even feel winded with that short 'exercise' due to the super-soldier serum.
"You need someone to steady that for you?" Steve suddenly heard someone ask.
Steve quickly turned towards the direction of the voice and went into his fighting stance. He saw a man sitting on the ropes of the boxing ring closest to him. The blonde man was wearing a burnt orange shirt with blue jeans. However, the most noticeable thing about the man was the animal-like whiskers on his cheeks.
"Who are you!?" Steve asked threateningly. The gym itself was supposed to be a secure location, so how did someone sneak inside.
"I have a bone to pick with Fury. I'm not one of his independent contractors. I just happen to have a closer working relationship with him than other agencies…" The man said before he jumped off the rope. Steve went on high alert as the man walked towards him. He surmised that he was the one that had 'borrowed' his shield. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Information broker, mercenary, and overall badass." The man introduced himself.
"What are you doing here?" Steve asked while still not dropping his fighting stance.
"I'm here to return this to you." Naruto said as he retrieved something from behind him.
Of course, Steve was shocked when Naruto pulled out his shield, seemingly out of nowhere, and tossed it towards him. He caught the shield and quickly inspected it before placing it on his arm.
"I'm also here to talk to you about something. I guarantee that you will like to hear what I'm going to say…" Naruto stated confidently. "Just a warning, somebody's listening in on our conversation."
"SHIELD?" Steve said quietly.
"Hell, Nah…" Naruto countered. "I already hacked their feed. They have no idea that I'm even here…" He added with a chuckle. "The person listening in now has a more personal stake in this conversation."
Steve had no idea what hacking meant, but he assumed that it was something impressive. He wouldn't admit it, but he was interested in what this Naruto wanted to talk about. Although, he was still not dropping his guard.
Naruto walked towards the bench press and sat on it. He took out a hot cup of ramen from who knows where and started eating. Steve looked at Naruto incredulously, not expecting this turn of events.
"You want some?" Naruto offered, to which Steve shook his head no. "All right more for me…" He continued before taking a sip of the soup. "Before we start, I need you to remember that we are living in some weird times. You understand?"
"Sure." Steve quickly replied, wanting to move forward with the conversation.
"First of all, you should be wary of everyone around you. Not everyone who acts as your friend is actually your friend…" Naruto started. "I can't tell you what I'm talking about until you're used to the 21st century, but I can tell you some names you can trust in SHIELD; Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Phil Coulson, and Sharon Carter. It's your choice if you're going to believe me."
One name quickly got Steve's attention.
"Sharon Carter?" Steve asked.
"Got that, didn't you?" Naruto said with a grin. "Grand-niece of Peggy Carter herself. Tenacious girl, that one. Followed her in aunt's footsteps even against her mother's wishes."
Steve couldn't help but smile when he heard Naruto's description of Sharon Carter. It looked like Peggy still lived one way or another. Thinking about Peggy brought down his mood, though.
"Peggy Carter never married. Some people thought that she was focused on her job, but most people agree that she just couldn't move on from her first romance…" Naruto stated. "Apparently, a guy that didn't even show up on a date..." Steve had no idea why Naruto was telling him this, but he winced when he heard about the missed dance. If he was the kind of person who cursed, he would be spouting a storm towards the Red Skull. "Her love story was almost made into a movie."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Cause, Peggy Carter is still alive." Naruto said with a mischievous grin. Steve quickly faced Naruto with wide eyes.
"Can you say that again?" Steve asked pleadingly. It would be one of the cruelest jokes ever made if it was not true.
"Got your attention now, right?" Naruto replied, still with his grin. "There are some extenuating circumstances that can't be talked about right now, but the bottom line is that Peggy is still alive. You want to meet her?"
Steve was shouting at himself to say yes, but it was like he couldn't find his voice. It was like everything that had been happening to him in the past two days had finally caught up with him. The psychological and emotional strain had rendered him speechless at the most crucial moment.
"Well, it looks like you don't want to. See you around, I guess." Naruto said teasingly, but Steve couldn't detect the sarcasm causing him to panic.
Naruto was starting to leave when Steve saw a boxing glove hit the back of Naruto's head. Steve followed the path where the glove had come from and saw an image straight from a dream.
Peggy Carter had been listening in on Naruto and Steve's conversation from the apartment upstairs. She and Naruto had sneaked inside the building after the SHIELD agents did a sweep before Steve and Fury arrived. Naruto just set the feeds on a loop in the apartment before they arrived, effectively showing the room as empty.
Most of the time, Peggy appreciated Naruto's joking nature but now was definitely not the time. She couldn't believe that she had agreed to let Naruto be the one to soften the blow since anyone else was better than the guy whose default setting was to prank everyone. That was why she had to step in when Naruto went too far.
Steve was looking at her with both disbelief and love. Peggy didn't even know how she identified those two emotions, but she would take it regardless. She walked down the stairs and sauntered towards Steve until they were only a few feet away from each other.
It took a few more moments before Steve was finally able to do anything. He reached towards Peggy's face and ran his thumb across her cheeks, making sure that it wasn't a dream. Peggy unconsciously leaned into Steve's touch.
"How?" Steve croaked out.
"How what?" Peggy interjected.
"How is this possible? Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that you're alive, but why are you still young." Steve amended his question.
"Are you saying that I'm old?" Peggy said with a raised eyebrow.
"We're both old." Steve countered, which caused Peggy to chuckle.
Peggy looked behind Steve and gestured towards Naruto. Steve followed her line of sight and his sight went towards Naruto.
"Naruto visited me in my hospital suite one day and gave me an offer I couldn't refuse…" Peggy started. "He told me that he knew that you were still alive, but since I was basically dying, he offered me a deal. I was going to be his final test dummy for an experimental procedure that he created. It would basically make me younger and make me into pseudo-super-soldier."
"He knew I was still alive? How?" Steve inquired with disbelief.
"He's weird. You'll know more in the future." Peggy answered with a smile.
"Hey! I'm not weird! I'm unique!" Naruto interjected, but it just fell on deaf ears.
Peggy walked into Steve's arms and hugged him, which he reciprocated.
"You know, you still owe me a dance," Peggy stated. This brought a smile to Steve's face.
"I know…" Steve replied. "We should probably reschedule for after Fury releases me from my 'house arrest.'"
Hearing Fury's name reminded to Peggy of something she should warn Steve about.
"Speaking of Fury, you can't tell anyone that I'm still alive, or that you have already met Naruto." Peggy instructed.
"Why?"
"I'm not going to tell you right now. You should use your downtime to adjust and enjoy your time…" Peggy replied. "We're going to tell you in the future, so you shouldn't worry about it for now."
Steve just nodded. He was going to push all the problems onto his future self and just enjoy the moment right now.
"Peggy…" Naruto called out. "just call me if you need to go. I need to take care of something." He said as his own way to give some privacy to the reacquainted couple.
Peggy flashed him a smile before resting her head back into Steve's chest.
Naruto pulled out a speaker from his storage seal and set it up. He started 'It's been a long, long time' by Harry James and Helen Forrest before he hiraishined away. The last thing he saw was Steve and Peggy slow dancing to the music.
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