Chapter 10
Steve woke up around 8pm, feeling refreshed after his lengthy nap. He couldn’t believe he slept almost eight hours straight, usually only managing six most nights. His shoulder wound was looking good, the stitches helping the serum along in closing up the wound. His arm still twinged whenever he moved it, but the pain was manageable. He took a quick shower, scrubbing off the last remnants of the day. His mind drifted back to Celia, feeling terrible about how she left and regretting the fact that he didn’t do more. He should’ve reined Tony in before he went too far and calmed Celia before she got too upset. Steve felt like he had made a bit of a connection with her, when she let herself be vulnerable around him. He sighed, accepting that he couldn’t do anything about it now, but making a promise to himself to try to unruffle some feathers the next time he saw her.
He went up to the common floor, looking to see if anyone else was still there. Natasha was draped over a love seat, reading a book. She twirled a foot at him, acknowledging his presence. He gave her a casual salute, walking over to the kitchen to find something to eat. He was starving, not having eaten since breakfast that morning, before the whole elevator debacle. Steve smiled when he found a big pot of leftover spaghetti in the fridge.
“Is this spaghetti up for grabs?” he called out to Natasha, pulling the food out hopefully.
“Of course we saved you dinner Cap,” Natasha answered, sliding into the room and sitting at the counter. “We couldn’t let our leader go hungry after his nap.” Her eyes twinkled mischievously as she teased him. He rolled his eyes, plating up a heaping pile of noodles and shoving them into the microwave. Steve still marveled at the invention, remembering the many times he ate food cold, not wanting to bother to wait for his rinky-dink oven to warm up enough to heat his food.
“Where is everyone?” Steve asked, digging into his food as soon as it was hot.
“Bruce is still in his lab, obsessing over his blood samples. Clint’s in his room, icing up after our workout. I’m not sure where Tony is, probably inventing something or blowing up his lab,” Natasha answered, smirking when she talked about Clint. Steve chuckled, knowing how intense she could get when it came to training. He took a few more bites, contemplating how to ask his next question. Natasha must have noticed the wheels turning in his head because she motioned with her hand for him to come out with whatever he was thinking. He sighed, setting down his fork and leaning against the counter across from her.
“What do you really think of Celia?” he asked, tapping his fingers lightly on the countertop. “Do you think she’s hiding something dangerous? Do you think Tony is right not to trust her?” Natasha didn’t answer right away, considering her words carefully. Steve appreciated that about her. She was always cool, never letting her emotions get in the way of telling you what she felt. He preferred it when people were direct.
“I think Tony is right to be cautious. He and Bruce are pretty new to the whole working with a team thing, unlike the rest of us. I think it’s smart to look into everything we can, have as much information possible,” she said, sagely. “But I also don’t blame her for her reaction. I’d be mad too if someone was poking around in my personal business.”
“So, what do you think I should do?” Steve asked, desperate for advice. Leading a team into battle was easy compared to dealing with emotions and relationships.
“If I were you, I’d let things play out a little. Give everyone time to settle, give Bruce a little time to work his magic. This could all end up being for nothing after all. Celia could still be normal,” Natasha said, shrugging her shoulders. Steve nodded, digging back into his food and contemplating Natasha’s words. This could all be pointless, if the healing turned out to be a one time thing. They could all put this behind them and never cross paths again. But for some reason, Steve didn’t like the idea of that. He couldn’t get the image of Celia’s pale, blue eyes out of his head, sitting lifeless on the floor of that elevator. Steve had seen a lot of people die during his time in the war, but it usually wasn’t in such an intimate setting.
“Have we found out any more about the shooter?” Steve asked, turning to wash his empty plate off in the sink.
“Nothing yet, but Fury was pretty pissed about it, so he put his top people on it,” Natasha answered, twirling an orange from the fruit bowl on the counter.
“Does he know about Celia?” Steve asked, whirling around quickly to face her.
“He knows there was a woman in there with you, but he doesn’t know about the bullet wound. Yet,” she said, tossing the orange up and catching it behind her back.
“Good, good. I should probably be the one to tell him, after we find out for sure,” Steve said, rubbing at a spot on the counter. “Maybe I should go check in with Bruce. See if there are any new developments?”
“Don’t bother, Capsicle,” Tony said as he breezed into the room, tapping away on his tablet. “I just came from there and all I got were annoyed grunts and hand waving.” Steve eyed the StarkPad suspiciously, wanting to know if Tony found out anything new, but also wanting to respect Celia’s privacy. He kept his questions to himself, figuring Tony would tell him if he found anything important.
“I guess I’ll go back to my floor then,” Steve said, not looking forward to the long hours that laid before him. He wasn’t tired after his long nap and he couldn’t train in the gym with his injury. It was nights like this that he dreaded. Nights he was alone with his thoughts.
“Nah, come on Cap. Stay up here and watch some movies with us. I convinced Clint to stop licking his wounds from this she-devil here and come up and have an impromptu movie night. He should be up here any minute,” Tony suggested, pulling snacks out of the kitchen cabinets. “I’ll even let you pick the first movie, as long as it isn’t The Wizard of Oz again. Three times this month is enough.”
“It’s a really good movie,” Steve defended, looking to Natasha for backup.
“Last time you made us watch it, I dreamt I was shooting flying monkeys out of the sky for days,” Clint quipped, shooting Steve an apologetic look at his downtrodden face. “Maybe we can find something similar?”
“Don’t let yourself fall victim to those puppy dog eyes,” Tony warned, smirking at Steve’s glare. “We should watch an action movie.”
“As if we don’t see enough action around here already,” Natasha scoffed, grabbing herself a bottled water from the fridge.
“There’s action in The Wizard of Oz!” Steve countered, hurt by all the disparaging of his favorite movie from back in his time.
“Jarvis, destroy every copy of The Wizard of Oz there is,” Tony commanded, grinning evilly at Steve.
“No!” Steve yelled, feeling devastated at the idea of losing one more thing from his past. Natasha slapped the back of Tony’s head, giving him a chastising look.
“Jarvis can’t do that Cap,” Clint assured him, clapping him fondly on the back. “Tony’s just being an asshole.”
“A little teasing never hurt anyone,” Tony grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. “And Cap just makes it so easy.”
“I’m fine with anything,” Steve said, sighing. “As long as it has a happy ending.” Tony groaned, carrying an armful of snacks into the living room, mumbling under his breath about depressing super soldiers. Steve winked at Natasha as soon as Tony’s back was turned, his plan of manipulating Tony working perfectly. He didn’t know why everyone thought he was so innocent, but he used it to his advantage when necessary. Clint laughed heartily, slapping his hand down on the counter. Steve grabbed a bag of pretzels on his way to the living room, The Wizard of Oz already queued up on the big screen.
They made it a few minutes into the movie before Tony’s StarkPad let out a quiet ding, pulling everyone’s attention from the TV. Tony gave it a slight quizzical look before tucking it away, waving off everyone’s eyes.
“Just an email,” he said, grabbing a handful of popcorn and shoving it into his mouth. Steve turned back to the screen, pretending not to notice the look Natasha was giving Tony. He brushed it aside, not wanting to get caught up in whatever they were glaring at each other about. Dorothy was about to get caught in the tornado. Steve loved this movie, not only because it was from his time, but because he enjoyed it with Bucky. They didn’t have a lot of money, but whenever they could scrape together a little extra, they would go to the movies and imagine themselves in the fantasy worlds, where Steve was never sick and they always had money for food. Now, it held a different place in his heart. Steve could identify with Dorothy, knowing what it was like to be pulled from your world and dropped into another. Except he didn’t have ruby slippers to take him back.
Steve watched, smiling as Dorothy met her new friends, thinking of his own. His teammates were nothing like the characters of Oz, but he still liked to imagine them as being a part of the story. He sure wished the enemies they fought were as easy to defeat as the wicked witch.
“Sorry to interrupt Sir, but there seems to be someone trying to get into the tower,” Jarvis said, making everyone’s heads snap up toward the ceiling.
“Show me,” Tony demanded, grabbing a pair of Iron Man bracelets from a side table. The movie cut off to show a feed from the security cameras at one of the tower doors, a lone figure banging on the door.
“Celia?” Steve said aloud, surprised. Why would she come back here so late? Unless something was wrong. She looked mad, slamming her palms into the fortified glass. Tony looked around the room, looking to the rest of them for their opinion on what to do.
“Let her in, I guess Jarvis,” Tony started. “And tell Banner to get his ass up here pronto. Maybe have him bring a tranquilizer, just in case.”
“Tony!” Steve admonished, throwing his uninjured arm up in the air.
“What! The last time someone fiddled around trying to recreate you, we got the Hulk. I don’t think we can be too careful,” Tony defended, pointing at the angry woman on the screen. They watched her step back a little when the door unlocked, before she stomped out of frame into the building. Steve moved closer to the elevator doors, wanting to intercept her before she got to Tony. He didn’t know why she would come back angry after all this time, but he thought he should try to calm things down before they got out of hand. The doors slid open, revealing a furious Celia. Her steps faltered a little when she saw him, giving his shoulder a quick glance before she stopped in front of him.
“Did you know?” she asked, searching his face for the truth.
“Know what?” he asked, bewildered. She brushed past him, walking right up to Tony and thrusting her hand out between them.
“What, the fuck, is this?” Celia growled, staring down Tony. Steve walked up to stand between them to the side, peering at what Celia had in her hand. It was a little black square that he didn’t recognize, but it sure seemed like Tony did. Tony made a show of slapping his forehead and looking relieved.
“So that’s where that ended up,” Tony chuckled, grabbing at Celia’s hand. She snatched it back, looking even angrier.
“What gives you the right?” Celia yelled, balling her fists, squeezing the little object in her palm.
“What is going on? What is that?” Steve interjected, moving in between them to keep them apart. He looked to Tony, who glanced away. He turned back to face Celia, her face red with anger. “Tell me,” he asked quietly.
“It’s a fucking GPS tracker,” Celia hissed out, pointing a finger at Tony. “He put a GPS tracker in my bag.” Steve spun around to look at Tony, not wanting to believe what he was hearing, but knowing it was true when he saw the look on his face. He looked a little guilty, but also justified, gearing himself up to argue his side.
“Tony, how could you? That was so inappropriate,” Steve scolded, shaking his head at the man. He never should’ve taken that nap.
“What’s going on here?” Bruce asked, walking carefully into the room. He glanced around at all the tense faces, looking worried.
“Did you know?” Celia asked, whirling around to face Bruce.
“I’ve been in my lab all day. When did you even come back?” Bruce asked, looking around the group for someone to fill him in.
“Okay, I think everyone needs to just take a minute and calm down. We can figure this all out,” Steve said, trying to take control of the situation. He gently herded Celia to one side of the room, careful not to touch or crowd her. Tony, Clint, and Natasha went to the other side, whispering quietly to each other. Bruce stayed where he was in the middle, still looking thoroughly confused. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea he did that. I would’ve stopped him if I had known,” Steve apologized, trying to ease the tension. Celia squatted down on the balls of her feet, raking her free hand through her hair. She looked more resigned than angry now, sighing and tilting her head back to lean against the wall behind her.
“I can’t do this. I can’t deal with this,” she whispered, rubbing a fist into her eye. Bruce slowly crept over to where Steve was standing, a curious look on his face.
“Your arm,” he marveled quietly, running a hand across his mouth. “It’s healed.” Steve’s eyes snapped down to Celia, looking at her arms. He had noticed the cut on it before she left, but hadn’t thought to ask where it came from. But Bruce was right, the cut was gone.
“Oh my God,” Steve mumbled, pacing a few steps away from everyone. This was his fault. If he had disarmed the man before he got a shot off, none of this would have happened and Celia would still be a normal woman.
“I was looking for my phone, so I could look up a number to call you on, but I found this instead,” Celia said quietly, dropping the tracker on the floor in front of her. “What happens now?”
“Now, we let Shield handle this,” Tony said, fiddling with his bracelets. Celia scowled at him from her crouched position, anger building back up in her eyes.
“So now I don’t have a choice?” she asked, slowly rising back up to her full height. “I lost all my freedom?”
“Don’t be dramatic,” Tony scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Unless you’ve got something to hide.”
“Turning yourself over to a government agency doesn’t usually work out well for anyone, no matter what the person’s background is,” Celia shot back, taking a step toward Tony. Steve moved back over to the middle of the room, ready to stop things from going too far.
“Let’s just take the night to think about things, okay?” Steve suggested, looking back and forth between the two.
“I don’t need to think, Steve,” Celia said quietly, backing slowly toward the door with her arms raised. “No one decides my life but me. I’m going home and I’m asking you to respect that.”
“Wait,” Steve said, reaching out for her hand. She snatched it back before he could make contact, but stopped walking. Steve looked around at his team. Tony looked angry and suspicious. Natasha and Clint looked carefully blank, with only a pinch of curiosity peeking through. Bruce looked contemplative, really the only one of them that could understand where Celia was coming from with her fear of government control. Bruce had hidden away for years in fear of being studied.
“Go,” Steve said, nodding toward the door.
“You can’t be serious!” Tony exploded, waving his arms in anger.
“What right do we have to make decisions for another person, against their will? All of us consented to be here and can leave whenever we want,” Steve said, trying to get Tony to understand where he was coming from. The others didn’t seem to need any convincing, letting him make the final call for them at the moment.
“What if she’s dangerous?” Tony asked, grinding his teeth.
“All of us are dangerous, but we can’t condemn her when she hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“Anything happens and it’s on you,” Tony said, punctuating his words with a jab to Steve’s chest. He stormed off toward the staircase, slamming the door behind him. Steve sighed, resting his chin on his chest. His team was fracturing before his eyes, but he didn’t regret his decision.
“I’m not a bad person,” Celia said softly, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m not going to do anything to hurt anyone, it’s just… I just want to live my life.”
“I understand,” Steve said with a small smile.
“I need time to process this. It’s not just me I have to think about,” Celia mumbled, biting her knuckle. Steve walked over to the desk in the corner, jotting down a note on a piece of scrap paper.
“I want you to have my number, in case anything happens. You have any problems, any questions, or just need to talk to someone, call me. I’ll do my best to keep you off of Shield’s radar, but you might have to come in to answer some questions soon,” Steve said, holding out the piece of paper for her to take. He squeezed her fingers briefly as she took it, looking into her eyes one last time. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.” Celia nodded, swiping quickly at her eyes as she walked back to the elevator. She got on when it came, not turning around until the doors closed.
“I hope you made the right call, Cap,” Bruce said, glancing up at him.
“I would’ve done the same for you, if I had been there,” Steve stated confidently. He clapped Bruce fondly on the back, walking over to the elevator. “Jarvis, what floor is Tony on?”
“My apologies, sir, but Mr. Stark is denying your company for the night,” the computer answered, sounding more contrite than a computer should be able to. Steve sighed, shrugging back at Bruce.
“I guess I’ll have to try tomorrow.”