— 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎 —

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WITHIN THE QUINJET, STEVE ROGERS SAT WATCHING FOOTAGE OF THE HULK'S ATTACK AT CULVER UNIVERSITY. It was impossible to tell whether the awestruck look was from the monstrosity or the technology itself.

"We're about forty minutes out from base, sir," the pilot announced.

Phil Coulson stood from his seat, and cautiously approached the captain, equally awestruck. Nate could tell the other agent was barely keeping it together. However, he was in much of the same book as he glanced over to check on Agent Stark. Her work was an art form. He'd read every file, every dossier, it was humbling to be seated so close.

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

Julie nodded her head. "A lot of people were."

"You were the world's first superhero," Coulson quickly added. "Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."

Steve's jaw set as he watched the Hulk roar with fury before tearing the jeep apart. "Didn't really go his way, did it?"

"Not so much," Coulson agreed. "When he's not that thing though, guy's like a Stephen Hawking."

Steve's brow furrowed with confusion. Nate took the opportunity to speak up, simplifying the comparison of pop culture. "He's like a smart person."

"Think Howard Stark," Julie added. "Same brains, same ego."

"I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, officially." Coulson beamed as Steve offered him a polite smile. However, the agent's tongue moved quicker than his mind had time to filter. "I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping. I mean, I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a... just a huge honor to have you on board."

By this point Steve had stood, closed the laptop, and moved closer to the pilot to watch the horizon as they approached the helicarrier. "Well, I hope I'm the man for the job."

"Oh, you are." Coulson quickly nodded his head as he followed after Steve. "Absolutely. Uh... we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input."

"The uniform?" A look of surprise crossed Steve's face. "Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old fashioned?"

A knowing smile flickered across Julie's lips. The captain was certainly in for more than one surprise this afternoon. Hopefully the shock wouldn't kill him.

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

The Quinjet landed on the Helicarrier deck a moment later. The pair of runways were the first thing Julie noticed, then the direct access to the hangar at the rear of the vessel. She personally hadn't voyaged aboard Fury's flying death trap, and she'd heard enough rumors to keep her desire at a minimum.

Once they reached the end of the Quinjet ramp, Coulson introduced the approaching redhead. "Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers."

"Ma'am," Steve greeted.

"Hi." A quick smile flashed across her face before she shot Julie a look.

Julie shrugged. "Apparently it's a thing with him, I tried to get him to stop."

Satisfied with that answer, Natasha looked over at Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace."

Coulson nodded. "See you there."

Nate made an effort to follow after him. "I need to rendezvous with the rest of my team."

Natasha chuckled. "I'm pretty sure we're just one team now."

"Dismissed." Julie playfully rolled her eyes as she nudged Natasha. Nate nodded his head before jogging to catch up with Coulson. "You really need to stop picking on the S.T.R.I.K.E. guys."

"But they make it so easy," Natasha countered. She then turned her attention to Steve. "It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?" Steve questioned almost like he didn't believe it.

"They're vintage," Natasha nodded, "he's very proud."

Further down on the runway, Dr. Bruce Banner can be seen walking around the ship. It's clear that he's both lost and trying to keep out of the way of those working. Alexander Potts isn't far behind, keeping a close eye on the doctor almost as if monitoring a threat back in the security room of Stark Industries. The thought made Julie smile, almost like things were back to normal... when just the opposite was true.

"Dr. Banner," Steve called out to the shorter man.

"Potts!" Julie called, catching Alex's attention. He immediately beamed, guiding Banner over to the group.

Steve extended a hand, and although cautious, Bruce did accept the gesture. He remained sheepish as he shook the captain's hand. "Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming."

"Word is you can find the cube," Steve said.

Bruce glanced around. "Is that the only word on me?"

"Only word I care about," Steve replied.

"Like I said," Alex repeated an earlier conversation they'd had. "You're safe here."

"Likely story," Bruce muttered under his breath. He then glanced around as if trying to continue the conversation. "It must be strange for you, all of this."

A fond smile crossed Steve's face as he looked around at the troops that were training, remembering his own days in the army. "Well, this is actually kind of familiar."

Natasha cleared her throat. "Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe."

The helicarrier shook as it prepared to take-off. While many agents made the final preparations, strapping down planes and Quinjets. Steve and Bruce wandered toward the edge of the platform.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked.

"Really?" Bruce scoffed. "They want me in a submerged, pressurized metal container?"

As they expected the ship to begin its descent, they were equally surprised to see four turbines rise from the water. Following the laws of motion, the helicarrier slowly rose from the ocean, creating cresting waves, as it lifted into the sky.

A grim smile pulled at Bruce's lips as he blinked. "Oh, no. This is much worse."

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AS FURY BARKED ORDERS AROUND THE BRIDGE OF THE SHIP, RYN IMPATIENTLY TAPPED HER FINGERS ON THE DESK IN FRONT OF HER. She was one of the first to arrive, and despite her protests, Fury kept his secrets close to home. She only received files of information she knew. But she could see underneath the eyepatch where Fury kept his bullshit. He was still hiding something. And it wasn't difficult to figure out since Maria refused to make eye contact.

Something else she found interesting was the presence of Richard Jarvis aboard the helicarrier. She wheeled her chair over to the former agent with a sly grin. "I thought you quit in '95, Richie."

Richard jumped, placing a hand to his chest in relief once he realized who had spoken. "Geez, Lorene! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"I keep forgetting how old you're all getting," Lorene replied with a chuckle under her breath. "The first time I see Fury in eleven years and he's shaved his head. And now I see that you're going gray. Which brings me back to my point, I thought you were done with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"I guess I should thank my kid for both the hair and the job," Richard replied. The sarcasm dripping from his tongue made how he felt about the position pretty clear. "When Fury learned the kid claimed he was psychic, well the diretor jumped pretty quickly at the opportunity to recruit him into his freakshow initiative... no offense."

"Eh," Ryn waved away the insult. "I voluntarily joined the freakshow. Some of his recruits don't have the luxury of claiming the same. I'd watch how you talk when they arrive... from what I hear some of them have a pretty gnarly temper."

"I'm pretty sure the word 'gnarly' died in the nineties," Richard snickered.

Ryn rolled her eyes, but laughed along. As the final preparations outside and inside the helicarrier were finished, Maria Hill called for the director's attention. "We're at lock, sir."

"Good." A playful grin toyed at Fury's lips. "Let's vanish."

The helicarrier rose toward the heavens, forgetting the myth of Icarus and the boy's wax wings. The sun was in reach, and though the world was meant to be ending, it felt like they were kings on a tour of triumph. The doors at the back of the room slid open as the rest of the team joined them. First, Hunter Rumlow's S.T.R.I.K.E. team—albeit missing one individual—followed by the psychic and his psydekick. She was quite proud of that nickname. She'd claim she came up with it on the spot and hadn't been jotting things down on her Quinjet ride.

Then came Julie Stark. Although she'd never met Howard's kids, Charlotte had only high praise for this one. She could only assume the daughter hadn't inherited her father's ego, otherwise the eldest Rogers wouldn't have been able to even stand the sight of her. The file names were easier to remember with each recruit that entered. Natasha Romanoff. Bruce Banner. Alexander Potts. Steve Rogers. Her mind froze and her lips trembled. She quickly blinked and rubbed her eyes almost as if she couldn't accept the illusion in front of her. But there he was, her older brother, walking across the bridge of the helicarrier to discreetly hand Fury and ten dollar bill.

"Sweet Abraham Lincoln..." Ryn muttered under her breath.

Richard's brow furrowed. He then noticed where her gaze was locked and his brows furrowed for a different reason. "Fury didn't tell you."

She slowly shook her head. She could feel the heat rising in her face as it flushed a bright red color. Her lips twitched as her jaw clenched, making her teeth ache from the pressure. Finally, she couldn't stand still for another second. She swiftly stormed across the room, demanding answers.

"Nicholas Joseph Fury!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. She was one of the few who knew what the 'J' stood for, and not because he trusted her, but because she'd done some digging on her own when all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files were still recorded on paper. "What the hell?!"

Steve's eyes widened and he visibly paled as he made eye contact with a younger sister he believed to be long dead. He too looked over at Fury for an explanation. However, Fury defensively held up his hands as if he didn't owe anyone an explanation, a decision that only angered the youngest Rogers.

"You had better start talking, Fury," Ryn threated. "Or I walk and save my sister on my own."

Steve choked. "Charlotte's alive?"

"Let's all take a minute to calm down," Fury replied. His controlled demeanor had yet to change as he kept the attention of the room. "We believed it to be in the family's best interest to provide Captain Rogers with time to adjust. However, you'd also acclimated to modern life and wanted no S.H.I.E.L.D. interference, so we respected that wish."

Ryn released an incredulous laugh. "So this is my fault? Did Charlotte know?"

"Agent Brooks was made aware of the situation," Fury agreed with a nod of his head. "She was also given orders to keep a distance."

"Brooks?" Steve asked. Obviously, it wasn't the most important question, but it was all Steve could bring himself to say. He'd been stunned into silence otherwise.

Ryn nodded her head. "She got married in '96. But that's not important right now. What's important is that your alive and he lied about it! I said I wanted to be briefed on the whole team, Fury. The whole damn team! So what else are you lying about? Are you even trying to get my sister back from Loki?"

Bruce Banner lifted a hand as if a child in elementary school. "I'm also curious about where we are with the Tesseract."

Fury gestured for Coulson to take over since it had been his department in charge of locating the Tesseract. Their lack of success meant the doctor was much needed. Coulson cleared his throat, trying to dispel the tension in the air. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

Natasha had leaned over one of the technician's shoulders, eyeing the ongoing search for Agent Barton. She shook her head. "That's still not gonna find them in time."

"You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Bruce asked.

"How many are there?" Fury replied in the form of a question to prove his point.

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays," Bruce instructed then offered a run-down of his intentions. "I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please," Fury requested. He then made a note to add. "Dr. Keller should be waiting for your arrival."

Natasha nodded her head, exiting the room as she led Banner down the hall. "You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."

Fury then turned back toward the Rogers siblings. "I was hoping to do this in a more discreet fashion, but you never were one to hide Rogers... either of you I suppose."

"Damn right," Ryn scoffed under her breath, earning a reprimanding look from her brother. "What else are you hiding?"

"Not so much hiding," Julie corrected, joining the conversation. Ryn bristled at the additional voice. Julie ignored the look she received as she continued to defend the director. "It was a decision that we were waiting on the proper moment to unveil. And that's not the only one."

Fury nodded in agreement, gesturing for the pair of agents standing by the door to enter. Almost like he was a prisoner, the next recruit was led into the room. Although his head was longer and curlier, it was unmistakably a boy they once considered brother.

"David?" Steve stuttered as Ryn covered her mouth. She was speechless. No thoughts, no words, just tremendous guilt. Steve would have believed that the boy had lived out his life to the fullest. Ryn knew—not to mention felt responsible for—the fact that the boy was declared dead only three years after the war ended.

Wulff frowned as he looked between the two individuals he believed to be strangers. One of which he only recognized from the photo that Natasha had given him. "Who the hell is David?"

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𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞 | Look at that, two chapters in one day. How rare! We're about to have a bunch of other reunions coming up here soon and I'm stoked. Feel free to ask any questions. As always don't forget to vote and leave a comment, I'd love some feedback! Thanks for reading!