Chapter 21
Celia put her game face on during the short ride up in the elevator. She was doing her best to appear calm and solid on the outside, while inside she felt like her bones were going to vibrate out of her body. She felt like she was walking into the work interview from hell. How do you convince a group of arguably the most powerful people on the planet to not hand her over to a government agency and wash their hands of her? They probably had much more important things to deal with than a woman who just happened to get shot along with their Captain.
She was being honest before when she said she didn’t know what she wanted to do now. What were her options? What does a person with accelerated healing abilities do? Should she donate her body to science? Celia didn’t think being a living test subject for the rest of her possibly unnatural length life sounded like a good plan. But if the rest of the team and their boss decided that was the plan, would she have any say? Steve said he would try to back her as much as he could, but would his words have enough power if his boss was set in his decision?
“Celia?” Steve’s voice murmured in her ear, jolting her from her thoughts. The elevator was on the common floor with the doors open, Bruce having already left. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Celia sighed, “just thinking.” Mentally checking out in the span of a twenty second elevator ride wasn’t quite the calm and collected impression she was trying to give off, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it now. She doubted she was fooling anybody anyway, but maybe she could fool herself into thinking she was okay if she tried hard enough. Celia squared her shoulders, letting Steve lead the way to the rest of the team.
Everyone was sitting around a long dining table, chatting quietly with each other. The table was a long, rectangular shape with high backed wooden chairs. Tony, Clint, and Natasha were sitting together at one end, with Tony at the head, of course. Bruce was sitting in the middle, perhaps positioning himself to be the mediator if necessary. Celia hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but she appreciated the gesture, unconscious or not. Celia stood next to Steve at the other end of the table, waiting for him to choose a seat before her. Should she sit next to him? Would it seem like she needed to hide behind the Captain for support? Steve sat at the end of the table, directly across from Tony. Celia sat guiltily between Bruce and Steve, feeling like the cause of all this unease on the team. She imagined how they were before she came into the picture, sharing meals and stories over dinner at this table. She didn’t know if that was true, but she hoped it wasn’t always this tense.
“Should I call this meeting to order?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Tony, can you not start already?” Steve groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Start what?”
“Can you just be serious for once?”
“I feel like I was the only one taking this seriously from the beginning!”
“You were being very mean about it though!”
“Mean? God, you sound like a child.”
“As if the Jiffy Pop thing wasn’t childish?”
“Is this how they always are?” Celia whispered to Bruce, watching the back and forth like a tennis match.
“Pretty much,” Bruce admitted, rolling his eyes. They sat quietly and watched as Steve and Tony sniped at each other, throwing any little digs they could think of at the other. All that work she had done to get Steve to relax a little just flying out the window in front of her eyes. Again, she was mystified by the fact they had actually worked together enough to fight aliens. She didn’t really want to say anything, but she wanted to get this meeting over with so they’d be prepared for the final boss tomorrow.
“Guys,” Celia tried to interject, but she was fully ignored. Tony had moved onto making fun of Steve’s clothes apparently and Steve countered with something about the color scheme of Iron Man. Celia looked over to Bruce, giving him a nudge. Someone had to be the voice of reason and it definitely wasn’t going to be her.
“Jarvis, sound the alarm,” Bruce said quietly. Immediately an ear splitting siren blared through the room. Bruce and Celia stayed seated, covering their ears. The rest of the team sprang up, ready to battle the unknown foe.
“What’s happening Jarvis?!” Tony yelled over the shrill noise. The alarm abruptly ended, everyone looking around the room for something to happen.
“Just running a program for Dr. Banner, sir,” Jarvis replied. Everyone’s head swiveled to face Bruce, varying levels of shock and amusement coloring their features.
“What the hell Banner! You can’t just use someone’s computer program against them. That’s something I would do,” Tony moaned, flopping back into his seat.
“We weren’t getting anywhere with your squabbling, so I did what I had to do,” Bruce stated calmly.
“You’re right Bruce, and I apologize,” Steve said, lowering stiffly back into his chair. “Tony and I were being immature and wasting time.”
“When did you even set that up?” Clint asked, with a chuckle.
“After their second Wizard of Oz argument,” Bruce laughed, shaking his head.
“Do they argue about The Wizard of Oz a lot?” Celia asked Bruce quietly.
“More than you’d think, yeah.”
“Okay, let’s focus back on the task at hand,” Steve said in his Captain America voice. “What did Fury say when he called?”
“He didn’t say much, just that he wanted you to come in to give a full report,” Bruce replied.
“I think he was so annoyed that you were too busy getting your beauty rest that he didn’t want to talk to us peasants,” Tony grumbled. “Not that I usually like talking to our overlord, but he didn’t seem to be too forthcoming with the details.”
“Did he mention Celia?” Steve asked, glancing over at her.
“No, he didn’t say anything. I don’t think he knows she’s here,” Bruce answered.
“Do we tell him? He obviously knows she exists, since Shield was there, but he might still think she is just a witness,” Steve commented.
“Cap, you were about to take that agent’s head off when he grabbed Celia’s arm. Fury probably knows something strange happened in there, more than just the usual dead guy.”
“Ooooh, who was it? I wonder if we know them,” Clint cut in, nudging Natasha with his elbow.
“I don’t know, he looked like every other Shield agent. Bland face, average build,” Tony scoffed. At Natasha and Clint’s matching glares he hastily added, “Not that you look like that. You could be models of course. This guy looked straight out of college, smelled like it too.”
“Smelled like it? Was it like Axe Body Spray?” Natasha questioned.
“Maybe?”
“Must’ve been Miller. He sprays that shit on all day.”
“Not that this hasn’t been interesting, but what does all this matter?” Steve interjected, looking impatient.
“Miller doesn’t really like to be challenged. He’s still pretty green and is trying to make a name for himself, so he won’t be happy if you embarrassed him in front of the other agents,” Natasha explained.
“I’ll keep that in mind. But he shouldn’t have grabbed Celia’s arm like that. It was rude and I won’t stand for a man getting rough with a lady,” Steve stated. Tony choked on a laugh, coughing quietly behind his hand. Celia looked down, trying to hide her own embarrassed smile. Classic Steve, defender of others, even when he has a hole in his body.
“All that aside, if Fury knows Celia’s here, he’s gonna know something is up. So do we hide her away for now until things settle down a bit?” Bruce wondered.
“But for how long? And what do we say to Fury then? That we didn’t trust him yet? That’s gonna put him more on edge and suspicious,” Natasha pointed out.
“Did he even sound angry and suspicious when he called?” Clint asked. “It’s not weird that he would want Cap to come in and give his report, so maybe we’re making it into something bigger than it is?”
“When has Fury ever not sounded angry? I heard him give a coffee order once and the agent almost pissed his pants,” Tony said with a snort.
“You’re over exaggerating,” Natasha brushed off. “He may come off as a bit gruff, but he has to be in his position.”
“How about we move away from the inner workings of Fury’s mind before we dive into wondering if he got enough hugs as a child. I for one would like to get back to business. I have plans for a nice video chat with Pepper during her break and if I miss it again, she’ll have my head. And I can assure you, she is much scarier than Fury,” Tony interjected.
“I think we’re forgetting to ask an important question,” Bruce said, getting everyone’s attention back on him. He turned to look at her, a pointed look on his face. “What do you want to do?” Celia froze, not ready to be an active participant in the conversation. Everyone else seemed to have forgotten she was even there, talking about her like she wasn’t in the room. Not that she minded, she was happy for them to figure out the little details. She was not expecting such a big decision to be left up to her, even if she would be the most affected by the outcome.
“I think…” Celia trailed off, looking around the table before settling on Steve, “we should tell Fury everything.”
*
Steve opened his mouth to reply, but paused, gathering his thoughts. He knew Celia was anxious to get the ball rolling, to wherever it led, but he expected her to be a bit more cautious than this. Steve wasn’t sure yet what his plan of action would be, but he figured she deserved for them to hear her out.
“Can you explain why you think that’s a good idea?” Steve asked. Celia sighed, scrubbing a hand down her face.
“The way you all are talking about this guy, I feel like he’s gonna find out, no matter what. It looks worse if we seem like we’re hiding it. It makes me look guilty,” Celia replied, shrugging. “I didn’t do anything wrong, so I shouldn’t act like it, right?”
“What if Fury says he wants to take you into Shield? Will you go?” Steve asked. He was worried about what would happen to her if the people more powerful than Fury found out about the healing. He didn’t think Fury would rush to have her locked in a lab for testing, but he wasn’t sure if the council or anyone else would have that kind of restraint.
“I think if we can convince him I’m not a flight risk, that Tony’s already offered me a place to stay, we can argue against that. I’m not planning on going anywhere, if that helps him trust me a little.”
“Living in my tower might actually be a negative tally for you in Fury’s eyes. He’s not my biggest fan.”
“Don’t act like he didn’t soften on you a bit after the battle. I haven’t heard him threaten you since,” Natasha pointed out. Steve could never picture Tony and Fury chatting casually at a bar, but he could admit Fury had developed a grudging respect for the other man after almost sacrificing his life to fly a nuke into space.
“What if we just tell Fury that they’re dating?” Clint suggested. Every head snapped toward Clint, making him recoil a little. “It was just an idea.”
“It does make a little sense. It would explain why Cap was so protective of her,” Natasha noted. Tony burst out laughing, holding his stomach and wiping away tears. Steve glared at him across the table, feeling his cheeks heat up.
“As if Captain Chastity would have a live-in girlfriend two months out of the ice! He probably wouldn’t even be in the hand holding stage yet,” Tony scoffed. Steve looked away from the group, reminded of all the time he wasted with Peggy. It wouldn’t have changed what happened to him, but he regretted not letting his feelings be known sooner, and more clearly. Even if the time would’ve been short, he wished he would have been in a real relationship with her. Celia’s soft hand on his arm pulled him back into focus, a kind, understanding look on her face. Tony was rubbing the back of his head, Natasha casually checking her nails.
“Holding back details is one thing, but outright lying? I think that leads back to looking guilty, which is what we don’t want,” Bruce pointed out, ignoring Tony’s jabs.
“Why don’t we just let Fury lead the conversation? Answer the questions he asks honestly, but don’t offer up any extra? Then toward the end, if Celia still feels good about it, she can tell him about the healing. If not, we can hold off for a while,” Natasha offered, looking around the group for opinions.
“That makes sense, letting Fury decide the direction the conversation goes. And if he’s in one of his better moods, let him know what happened,” Steve agreed, looking toward Celia. “How do you feel about this plan?”
“I think it sounds reasonable,” Celia concurred, smiling in relief. Steve felt a bit of relief as well, one less thing to worry about at this point.
“Well, now that that’s settled, let’s figure out Celia’s sleeping situation,” Tony said, clapping his hands together to get the attention on him again. “Have you considered the private floor idea?”
“I don’t feel comfortable with that. Thank you for the offer, it’s extremely generous, but I can’t accept,” Celia said, looking grateful and embarrassed.
“There aren’t that many options, thanks to all the construction. I had to focus on the team floors of course, couldn’t let my lovely houseguests be uncomfortable,” Tony exaggerated, like it wasn’t his idea to begin with. “Where did you think you’d be sleeping when Steve proposed the idea?”
“I figured you’d have guest rooms somewhere. Or a cot to throw in a closet,” Celia said with a shrug.
“I have a few guest rooms on my floor, but one is pretty much Rhodey’s. And, no offense, I don’t really want you on my floor,” Tony said, with a laugh. Steve was about to reprimand Tony for being so rude, but Celia’s laugh stopped him.
“I don’t really want to sleep on your floor either,” Celia agreed.
“Where did you sleep earlier? In Banner’s lab?” Tony asked, glancing over at him with a gleam in his eye.
“Steve’s floor.”
“Oh, I didn’t know Cap had a guest room set up.”
“He doesn’t. At least, not that I know of.”
“Cap, I can’t believe you made a guest sleep on your couch. That’s so unlike you.” Steve frowned, not liking whatever game Tony was playing.
“I let her use my bed Stark. Of course I wouldn’t put her on the couch,” Steve grumbled out.
“Is that why you’re so grumpy? Because you had to take your nap on the couch?” Tony asked, smirk just waiting to bust out over his face. Steve looked away, not wanting to see Tony’s face when he reached the conclusion of his shenanigans. “Wait, are you telling me… you shared a bed! Forget what I said about Captain Chastity! I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Tony,” Bruce sighed, pushing back his seat and standing up. “Don’t you have a call to make? Or should I have Jarvis tell Pepper you’re having a science binge and couldn’t be bothered.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Tony gasped, sobering immediately. He jumped from his seat, rushing to the elevator. “Figure it out amongst yourselves,” he called over his shoulder, disappearing through the doors.
“I’m sorry I suggested the dating thing. I didn’t mean to start Tony down that path,” Clint apologized. Steve waved him off, not angry at the other man.
“It’s fine. Tony never needs a reason to tease people,” Steve sighed, leaning back in his seat.
“I’m gonna stop by your floor to gather the equipment back up, then head down to my lab, if you don’t mind?” Bruce asked, gesturing toward the door. Steve nodded his consent, waving goodbye as the older man walked away. Now that there weren’t any pressing concerns for the first time in days, he didn’t know what to do. The gym was still out of the question, Bruce would have his head if he didn’t let his bullet wound heal up. It was too early for bed, and he was still wide awake after his long nap. He wouldn’t mind eating, but he didn’t know if there was anything leftover in the team kitchen and he didn’t want Celia to feel like she had to cook again, no matter how much he’d like another sandwich.
“So, Bruce was pretty tight lipped on what you guys were doing earlier. Anything interesting?” Natasha asked, looking between him and Celia.
“Just a few tests,” Steve answered vaguely, leaving it up to Celia how much information she’d like to share. There were still things about the serum that he didn’t tell anyone, so he didn’t want to take Celia’s privacy from her.
“And everything is okay?” Natasha questioned, raising an eyebrow. Steve looked toward Celia, seeing if she was showing any signs of wanting to speak up. She was looking down, fiddling with the ends of her drying hair.
“The healing is triggered when I fall asleep, that’s it,” Celia said casually, shrugging it off like it wasn’t a big deal. Steve nodded, leaving it at that. He didn’t blame her for leaving out details either. Steve knew the healing was a hard thing for her to go through and it was probably just as hard to talk about. He remembered what it was like after the serum, when everyone around him looked at him so differently. It wasn’t like the team knew Celia before this happened, but he didn’t fault her for wanting to keep the details of how it all went down to herself. It was probably hard enough that he and Bruce were witness to it.
“I wonder if you’ll get any of Cap’s other powers,” Clint mused, scratching at his chin. “Shown any signs of super strength or speed?”
“Haven’t really had the chance to test it out,” Celia said, smirking a bit and looking over at him. Steve rolled his eyes at her, reminded of her earlier teasing about his strength. Gaining other abilities was something they needed to consider, but that didn’t seem too important at this point.
“Mayb-” Steve started, before a marble shot out of nowhere, bouncing off Celia’s forehead and falling into her lap. She looked stunned, but unharmed, picking up the tiny glass bead and rolling it around in her palm. Steve looked over at Clint, who looked like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar.
“What. The. Hell,” Steve stuttered out, staring wide eyed at the archer. Natasha was sitting next to him blank faced, but he could tell in her eyes she was trying not to laugh.
“I was just testing her reflexes!” Clint burst out, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation. “I thought she’d catch it.”
“You could’ve taken her eye out!”
“I have better aim than that!” Clint defended, taking offense to the questioning of his accuracy.
“Where did you even get a marble?” Natasha asked, eyeing Clint.
“Don’t worry about it,” Clint brushed off, slapping away Natasha’s hands as she poked at his pockets.
“And you don’t think there are better ways to test that out?” Steve questioned, glaring at the other man. “How are you going to test her speed? Drop her in the middle of a racetrack?”
“Well now, that’s just ridiculous,” Clint scoffed. “That would not be the best way to test speed. Starting off on a treadmill makes much more sense.”
“Unbelievable,” Steve mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was surrounded by children.
“Can I keep it?” Celia asked quietly from beside him, still rolling the little ball in her hand.
“Sure,” Clint agreed easily, shooting a self satisfied smile over at him.
“Just like that?” Steve asked her, bewildered. Celia had brushed off Tony’s actions much more easily than he would’ve expected, and was now doing the same with Clint. Not that Clint was as bad as Tony had been, but being a pushover wasn’t a very good quality to have.
“Could’ve been an arrow,” Celia said with a shrug, tucking the little marble into her pocket. Steve conceded to that point, but made a note to keep an eye on how Celia acted around the rest of the team. He knew she was nervous being around them at this point, but if she didn’t stick up for herself, she’d never make it here.
“I’m going to head to my floor now, make sure Clint doesn’t have anything hidden,” Natasha said, rising from her chair and slinking away like a cat. Clint rushed after her, looking nervous. “You ever throw a marble at me and I’ll make you swallow it.” Steve chuckled, shaking his head at their tomfoolery. For as silly as they could act around each other, they were equally as lethal and professional in the field.
“Now what?” Celia asked, now that they were alone in the room. Steve looked around, trying to come up with something to do. He didn’t really watch much television, unless it was something one of the team told him he had to watch. He didn’t feel comfortable going anywhere, not wanting Celia out in the world where there could be danger. They hadn’t been very cautious, not knowing anything yet about the shooter.
“I could take you on a tour of the tower?” Steve suggested. Celia shrugged in agreement and stood up. He started from the bottom up, taking her to the different gyms they had. One had regular workout equipment, some machines souped up to fit the needs of the enhanced members of the team. The other gym had an obstacle course, set up for training and battle simulations. Steve looked at the course longingly, missing the feel of working his muscles. It had only been a day since he had exercised, but he usually didn’t skip any workout sessions.
The next thing he did was tell her the order of everyone else’s floors, but they didn’t stop at any of them. He figured it would be better for her to know which floors to avoid, in case she decided to take the stairs and got mixed up. The last stop was the roof. There was a smaller deck off the penthouse floor, but Steve liked this area better. The lower roof, with the large landing pad was where he liked to come when he needed fresh air and time to decompress. There was nothing to block the view of the city and Steve liked to stand at the very edge, looking down at the hustle and bustle of the streets below.
“Whoa,” Celia breathed, following him to the edge. “This is, whoa.” The sky was still cloudy, but the rain had stopped for now. There weren’t any stars they could see, but the lights of the city made up for it.
“Remind me to bring you up here to watch the sunset,” Steve said with a grin.
“I am holding you to that,” Celia said, shivering as the wind picked up. Steve cursed his lack of planning before bringing Celia up here. They were both wearing short sleeves and he was starting to feel the bite of cold too. He thought about having them go back inside, but it was such a good moment, he didn’t want it to end. It was nice having a chance to just breathe, without worrying about what tomorrow would bring. Steve stepped up next to her, holding his arm out a little from his side in invitation. Celia grinned, accepting his gesture and snuggling in under his arm. She wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder.
“You’re warm,” Celia sighed, blowing a puff of hot air on his neck. “It’s nice.”
“It’s the serum,” he chuckled.
“Mmm,” Celia hummed. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Steve sobered a little, reminded of the fact they still didn’t know if Celia would go through any more changes thanks to the serum in his blood. Running a little hot would be one of the least worrisome scenarios.
They stayed that way for a while, losing track of time just watching the world pass by. The faint sounds of the traffic and nightlife were hypnotizing, rounding out the ambiance of their little bubble. Celia yawned suddenly, breaking the silence they had been sharing.
“We should probably get to bed. Fury likes to do things early,” Steve said, regretfully. He didn’t want to go back inside and face the real world again. Celia moaned, pulling away from his hold and stretching. She leaned over the railing of the roof, taking one last look down at the city.
“No matter what happens tomorrow, I’m glad I had this night. That we had this night,” Celia said softly, turning to face him. Steve looked down, nodding in agreement. He thought about throwing out some platitudes, assuring her things would be fine, but he stopped himself. She didn’t need to hear it from him anymore, he had said it all before. He just reached his hand out for her, walking her back into the tower.