A New Beginning

Chapter 11- The Captain

Noelle tilted her head. "You mean to tell me that Captain America, the most famous American hero of World War II isn't dead?"

"Precisely."

Noelle still wasn't sure how to digest this information. The world had become an even stranger place than the one she knew. A lot of things had shocked her, but the surprises just kept on coming. Saying S.H.I.E.L.D. knew how to keep their secrets was an understatement.

"And he's the guy you want me to meet?"

"Also yes." Fury was tossing the file on the Tesseract back and forth in his hands. "I've been meaning to ask you, after your cells absorbed the energy from the Mind Stone–"

"It enhanced my powers, yes," Noelle interrupted. "I can't explain it... but it's made me... far more powerful than I can handle. I can feel the energy of the stone surging through me, everytime I am about to use the Force, but I've never had this kind of power before."

"So you don't know what you can do?" Fury asked.

"I can do what I did before, but better." Noelle looked down at her hands uncertainly. She still was coming to terms with what had happened to her. What she didn't know, was this for the better or for the worse? She felt much like she had when she had just started her unexpected journey: lost, afraid, directionless, not in control.

But this time, she was truly alone. She didn't have Gandalf or the Jedi to help her this time. All she had was Fury, who she didn't completely trust.

"There's no way I can determine the full range of what I can do, not in an environment like this."

Fury sighed. "Unfortunately you may find out the hard way before this is over."

Noelle knew he was probably right. Who knew what limits she would be pushed to? In some ways she felt more overwhelmed now than she had been when she was on the run. Two infinity stones were in the hands of an enemy and missing, and she was dealing with a power she didn't understand nor was she able to control.

She and Fury had driven to a boxing gym, where Steve Rogers apparently went to on a daily basis. It looked really old-fashioned on the inside and the outside to Noelle– like not much had changed since 1940.

The boxing gym was privately owned, and thankfully the owner didn't seem to mind they were there. All they did was tell him they were friends of Steve Rogers and wanted to see him. Either that, or Fury's eyepatch was unusually intimidating today.

Captain Rogers was on the lower level of the gym. Noelle could hear the sound of someone going to town on a punching bag before they even entered the room.

"Trouble sleeping?" Fury called out.

A tall, blonde muscular guy stopped sacking the punching bag to glance briefly in her and Fury's direction. "Slept for seventy years, sir. Think I've had my fill," he said, resuming his punching.

Noelle frowned. His voice... something seemed familiar about him.

Captain Rogers stopped, and sighed. He looked like he had been doing this for hours already, but he obviously realized that Fury was here because he wanted something. He started unwinding the wraps from his hands, and that was when it dawned on Noelle who he was.

The guy from the alleyway!

"You're the guy from the alleyway!" she blurted out.

Fury turned to look sharply at her, and a look of recognition appeared on Steve's face.

"The Ghost?" he asked.

"Yeah," Noelle said. "That's me." She couldn't believe Nick Fury had the nerve to send Captain America after her, and not say anything!