Sunflower

86

Within minutes I found myself driving up a hill, on my way to a waffle house with the best view of the sunrise. Usually I’d just sit on the cliff behind the woods in my yard, but that would still be too close to home.

At the top of the hill, I parked my bike near the cliff, where I simply just sat down with my feet dangling over the edge. It was still dark, but a light line had formed on the horizon.

Someone brought me a milkshake, remembering me from a few weeks ago, when I brought Dean here. We’d come once or twice a week when we wanted to leave the house. They refused to let me pay, since I was lately their most recent customer, beyond a man who had come for years.

Watching over the city, I watched as the dark light lightly turned orange and pink. The clouds where exchanging colours with each other as they faded from white to the lightest pink possible.

Without me noticing, someone sat down next to me with a raspberry milkshake in their hands. They looked at me from a side, making me look at them. To no surprise I smiled as I looked into Steve’s blue eyes.

“They told me about a woman and her son who came me here more frequently than I did these past three or four months. I just never thought it was you.”

I chuckled, looking back at the horizon. “Dean grew a loving to their kiwi milkshakes. And their fruit salads.”

Steve smiled. “His mother’s son alright.”

I laughed. “With a spitting image of his father.”

Steve looked at me, seeing me look down at the milkshake in my hands. His smile nearly vanished as he watched me loose mine.

“I’m really sorry about yesterday. I just need to get this mission over with. It’s quite important.”

I looked at him. “Tell me about this urgent mission,” I said, trying to change the conversation a bit.

He noticed what I was doing and went along. “Scott came to us, the Avengers, and needed immediate help. There was a problem that occurred when he was experimenting on a time machine with his boss and girlfriend. He needed better equipment to change something that they did in a quantum place. And-”

“Wait,” I said looking at Steve again. “Quantum realm? They managed to get into the quantum realm?”

Steve nodded. “Yeah. It’s how I’m going to time travel to the past. It’s easier than-”

“Steve, you cannot be serious? Hydra is obsessed with trying to get into the quantum realm since before they forced me to be a soldier for them.” Steve frowned. “That’s one reason why they had me there. I- I can’t believe someone already managed to create the entrance to it. I- I’ve seen people try, but never succeed.”

Steve chuckled. “Scott has known how for a few years now.”

I chuckled. “And that’s how you’re going to time travel?” I asked, not realizing how I turned my entire body to position to him. “And what? He did something in the quantum realm, which altered with something in the past now you have to go fix it?” I asked in full interest.

Steve nodded. “Yeah, basically. There was something wrong with the machine, which was created first, and when he returned, he had an object from the past. Some silver hard drive from SHIELD. But he can’t enter this time machine, since he has to control it from the board, so I’m going for him. Sharon just helped us get the equipment. Now she insists to be part of this mission. And because she helped us escape Tony and the others. She’s basically now a rogue SHIELD agent.”

For a few seconds my mind stopped. A silver hard drive. It could not be.

My eyes met his again, making him see me frown. “What silver hard drive?” I asked, making him frown in return.

“We- we can’t crack the code. It’s locked with a sensor that-”

“I need to see that hard drive, Steve.”

He frowned. “Amber, it’s just a hard drive. It came from a SHIELD base, like the logo showed, so we need to return it.”

I looked him in his eyes. “Steve. I need to see it.”

He was confused but saw the urgency in my eyes. “Alright, fine. Sharon has it.”

I jumped up, before placing my empty milkshake glass on a bench at the cliff. “We should leave, before Tony spots us here.”

Right after me, Steve stood up. “I’ll get you at the house,” he said, watching me as I sat down on my bike. I pulled the helmet over my head. “I’m right behind you,” he said as I started my bike. I gave a nod, before driving off, down the hill, into the woods.