Superheroes | The Avengers [1]

THREE

CHAPTER THREE
"Some things aren't as they seem"

      MELISSA WALKED DOWN THE HALLS WITH her heels clicking loudly against the floor. Two files were clutched tightly to her chest, one being on Steve Rogers, reading for herself, and the other containing information on the Tesseract. But in her head, Melissa was still trying to process the fact she was about to meet the world's first superhero.

The halls were dimly lit with a faint yellow glow, the walls were bare and quiet, it made the blonde woman feel slightly uneasy.
Ignoring the feeling, Melissa focused back on the task her old friend instructed her with, recruiting Captain Steve Rogers.

As she approached a opening, her super hearing was welcomed with grunts along with the sound of hands being thrown against a punching bag.
Finally arriving at the opening, Melissa was greeted by a punching bag flying across the gym, slamming on the other side and letting its contents spill out.

The Superhuman paused, her eyes slightly widened at the thought of the impact that could've caused that. She had done it herself a few times prior but it slightly surprised her that someone else could.

Glancing back to where the bag would've originally been, Melissa got to see the Captain, a white top covering his torso and trousers sliding down his legs. Sweat drenched his blonde hair and small drips slid down the side of his face, with darker patches in around the neck of his top showing where most of it ended up.

She watched him slide another bag onto the hook, having came from a selection of five others, before going back to routine.
He punched it a few times with hard hits before Melissa finally spoke up.

"Judging by your state, I'm gonna guess you couldn't sleep?" She spoke, her voice beginning to be slightly echoey in the empty gym.

Steve looked up from the bag, their blue eyes meeting, before looking back and throwing more punches at the bag.

"I slept for 70 years Ma'am. I think I've had my fill," he responded making Melissa frown.

She couldn't imagine sleeping for that long and waking up to find nothing even remotely the same as what it originally was.

"Well, you should be out, celebrating, seeing the new and improved world," Melissa commented, making her way through the room.

He looked up at her, his eyes taking in her appearance before stepping back. He began unwrapping his hands. "When I went under, the world was at war, I wake up, they say we won... they didn't say what we lost."

Melissa frowned. "Obviously, we've made mistakes along the way, some... uh... very recently, I guess."

She felt weird explaining the issues that SHIELD had created but, she never disobeyed Fury's direct orders so this led her to where she was now.

Steve glanced over to where Melissa stood, roughly a meter between them. His icy blue eyes focused on the beige coloured files before he turned back to unwrapping his hands. "Are you here with a mission, Ms..."

"Ryans-uh... Melissa Ryans," she quickly answered, knowing he probably had zero clue who she was. "But, yes, I am."

"SHIELD's trying to get me back in the world, huh?"

Melissa shrugged, but pulled out the tesseract file. "More like trying to save it."

Steve looked blankly at the file, then to Melissa before gently taking it out of her grasp. The Captain quickly opened it, his eyes skimming over the information known as he took a seat on one of the benches. "HYDRA's secret weapon..."

"Howard Stark fished it out of the ocean, apparently when he was looking for you," Melissa explained to the best of her ability, only having the information Fury told her and that the file gave to her. "He, and SHIELD, thought the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy, something the world sorely needs."

After flicking through and taking in some information, Steve passed it back to Melissa, who took it with a smile.

"Who took it from you?" he asked, one hand resting on his knee as the other hung over his other leg.

"To my knowledge, he's calling himself Loki, Fury said he isn't exactly from around here," Melissa stated, adjusting her glasses slightly. "Trust me, there's a lot SHIELD's gonna need to catch you up on... Me as well..." she murmured the last part, knowing SHIELD needed to explain a bit more about Loki and how powerful he really is. "That's uh... If you're in, of course."

Steve's eyes connected with the flooring, questioning himself if he wanted to help with this certain mission.

"The world has gotten even stranger than what you know, Captain," Melissa's voice was soft and sympathetic. She felt bad over how confused Steve must be in this era.

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me," Steve said with a nonchalant tone.

"Is that a challenge," Melissa smirked, lifting one of her light coloured eyebrows. She went to lower her glasses, going for her heat vision but paused, seeing a perk. "Ten bucks says you're wrong."

Steve gave her a small but challenging smirk and climbed to his feet, approaching the selection of punching bags. He heaved one over his shoulder before collecting his bag as well.

"There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment," Melissa said as she watched him begin to walk away. "Is there anything you could tell me about the cube that I, or SHIELD should know now?"

"You should have left it in the ocean."

Melissa pursed her lips, her mind beginning to regret her decision on joining this mission. She attempted to push those thoughts to the back of her mind, telling herself that Reyna would be able to handle Wakefield until she got back, and that she would survive.

"And Captain-" He glanced back at her, his breathing slightly heavy due to the workout he just endured. "You might want to get ten bucks ready, some things aren't as they seem." Her smile grew, referencing herself in her last sentence. Melissa looked like a average human girl, but she was so much more then that.

"Ma'am, with all do respect, I still don't think anything will shock me."

And with that, Steve spun back with a small smile playing at his lips and he left the blonde woman behind.