1. The Start.
The upper levels of Stark Tower were very quiet on Saturday mornings.
This was because the upper levels, specifically the top twenty-four floors, were private property and sealed off from the public, who otherwise could roam free in the various public spaces and non profit organizations that took up the other sixty-nine floors. Some might think it would get lonely, as there was only Lucia, her brother Tony Stark, and his partner Pepper that inhabited these top floors, but to her, it was perfect. No loud chatter, no hustle and bustle, just the gentle breeze coming in from the windows, the distant sounds of cars and street life, and her favorite part: the beautiful skyline view of Manhattan.
On this particular Saturday Lucia was enjoying some chocolate-chip pancakes on the eighty-eighth floor, which housed a bar, living space, and a deck which doubled as the area Tony had engineered to take off his Iron Man suit.
God, her brother. Though Lucia Stark was an accomplished public figure in her own right, it really was annoying being the sister of a famous billionaire sometimes. Or as Tony liked to call himself, a ‘ Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. ’
What utter bullshit.
Her relationship with her brother hadn’t always been as good as it is now. When their parents had been killed in a car crash, it was 21-year-old Tony who took in and raised Lucia’s six-year-old self. Though he had done the best he could given the circumstances, she had always disagreed with the ethics of the family business.
Nukes and guns aren't exactly the best business to groom a child into running one day, and it had carved a rift between Lucia and her brother the second she was old enough to understand what effect nukes, missiles, and guns made on people. She probably should have blamed Howard for that, but you can't exactly rebel against your father if he’s dead.
That’s why Lucia had graduated early, (the media loved that, ‘Stark's kid sister graduates at 15! A genius like her father and brother before her!!’ The damn press hounded her for weeks.) and moved away to college to get degrees in neuroscience and criminal psychology. She also took the liberty of enrolling herself in an extra-governmental, anti-terrorism intelligence agency called S.H.I.E.L.D, working for them in their neurological division interrogating suspects, while simultaneously training as a field operative. Her life became a juggling act, and she cut off her communication with Tony when she turned 20. They went four years like that, never talking. He had reached out many times, but every time she told him the same thing:
“Shut down the weapons business, Tony. Then I’ll come home.”
He never did, and Lucia never went back.
Not until Tony had been held captive by the ten rings and forced to confront the reality of his business, making himself Iron Man in the process. After he shut down the weapons business for good, Lucia returned to New York and rekindled her relationship with her brother, helping him through his trauma.
She returned to S.H.I.E.L.D work two months later, but kept up communications with her brother. For a couple years, life was good.
Until the incident.
A year ago, Lucia underwent her own kidnapping by an organization that called themselves The Night Division. Lucia suspected that was a coverup for their real name- Hydra. It was a dark time in her life that she didn’t like to dwell on. After she escaped, her medical license was taken away, and she had a falling out with her friend Stephen Strange. Fury sentenced her to an ‘extended holiday’ for the sake of her mental health.
That ‘extended holiday’ had now lasted a whole year, and though Lucia had been living in bliss, she was aching to get back into the field. Wandering the streets of Manhattan all day and painting the city at night was all well and good, but nothing beats the feeling of getting the bad guy.
Successfully infiltrating a terrorist organization and then psycho-analyzing their leader until you knew their every move? Hand to hand combat where not only was your life on the line, but potentially the livelihoods of every person in America? Those feelings were drugs that she was irretrievably addicted to, and she hadn’t had a hit in twelve months .
For this reason, Lucia had decided to contact Fury and ask for an assignment. That had been a week ago. He had told her, in no uncertain terms, to fuck off, and enjoy time with her brother in a ‘relaxing environment’. There's nothing relaxing about Manhattan traffic. Luckily for Lucia, she had an inside source to tell her when something came up.
Ding
A text. From none other than Natasha Romanov.
I have News. You know Captain America, the super-soldier war hero who went down with a plane into the arctic to stop Hydra from getting the tesseract?? They just dug his body out the ice and he’s ALIVE.
Perfect, finally something interesting to distract her from the monotony that her life had become. Lucia texted her back;
Fucking hell. He’s going to have one hell of a shock waking up 70 years later. What’s the plan for his adjustment program?
…
Fury says he’s going to intentionally do badly, see how long it takes the great Captain America to figure it out. Test his mental state. You know, his usual bullshit.
Well well well, an assignment presents itself. This was going to be fun.
—
The man in the gym was very muscular.
Tall, like Lucia had expected, with sandy blond hair cropped short in a military style. He wore a simple white tee that was surely a couple sizes too small, judging on the way it hugged his muscles, and brown sweatpants with some faded converse.
He was being very aggressive with the poor punching bag, and she watched as he threw one particularly harsh punch and the punching bag flew off its chain and onto the ground. The man sighed and picked up a new one from a line of them laid out neatly to the side.
“Are you just gonna watch me, or are you actually here to use the equipment?” He said as he hung the punching bag up.
A soft smile danced across Lucia’s lips.
“Sorry, I didn’t think you knew I was here. You’re quite the boxer, Mr. Rogers.”
Steve sighed once again as he turned away from the bag and faced her.
“You’re not here for the gym, are you?”
She chuckled, “Afraid not. I prefer to do training in the early morning, before I get the chance to procrastinate it.”
Steve turned back to his punching bag.
“What do you want? Are you from S.H.I.E.L.D? I told you guys to leave me alone for a bit, I can handle myself.”
Lucia stepped forward into the light from where she had been standing in the doorway, shrouded in shadow.
“I’m not from S.H.I.E.L.D. Well, I am, but I’m not here on official business. I’m on a heavily extended vacation, actually.”
Steve’s brows furrowed as he turned to face her once again.
“Then, what are you here for?”
Lucia sighed. She wandered over to the boxing ring and perched on the edge.
“I’m here because I’m very bored. And for some reason Fury isn’t letting me do any missions, and more importantly I think you need a friend.”
She watched Steve carefully as he took in what she had said.
“A friend..?” He said tentatively.
Lucia gave the slightest nod.
“If not that, then you still need someone to guide you through the 21st century. I can be that person, if you like. So what do you say, Mr Rogers? Do you want to go for coffee? Or is it Captain Rogers?” Lucia lifted an eyebrow, “Mr America?”
Steve smiled.
“It’s just Steve.”
He said,
“Call me Steve.”