Ardent || MCU

Chapter Twenty Four

3rd Pov.

Midday light always shined the brightest, she always thought, her head aching from all the noise around her. She kept to herself, making a mental tick every time someone looked her way as she continued down a busy street in New York. Her body clad in modern light jeans, a light peach coloured t-shirt and a gray jacket. Soft brown fashionable boots she wore clacked against pavements and sidewalks as she moved swiftly through crowds.
Louise. Louise Grant, her name, no longer feeling like her own in this busy 21st Century. Her clothing was strange, her hair different, her surroundings unusual. Everything around her being a constant reminder she doesn't belong, not anymore. She pushes many thoughts in the back of her mind, keeping in control of her emotions and her powers.

Louise pauses before a red bricked apartment complex, taking a deep breath before entering the building and stepping to the second floor. She goes down the hall, entering the last door facing the street. Her entrance is quiet as she tooks steps inside the apartment, her bright eyes looking to scan the walls as always. Capturing the plainness of it, the feel of supposed 1940s decoration shining though as she knew S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to make it familiar. Her eyes land on a figure sitting ahead of her, a S.H.I.E.L.D. tablet before him on a table, files set neatly around it as the figure looked up.
"Hey, Lou." Steve says quietly, his head turning back to its previous position, facing the landline phone on a side table across from him. She shares his look before stepping forward, looking over the files she sees.
"Steve." Louise replies as she takes a freeing breath, trying to relax in the light silence in his apartment. Her eyes see Jim Morita and Jacques Dernier, their files stamped with a large red seal of 'DECEASED'. Peggy Carter's file is set next to them, along with Tony Stark's modern file laid in front of him. 
Louise lays her hand on Steve's right shoulder, his left hand taking it instantly to hold her hand.
"Let's go to that deli I found the other day. It'll be a good distraction." Steve proposes, standing up tall to face her as he grabs his jacket. She gives him a light smile in return, knowing she would have done the same thing. Steve takes her hand, leading her out of his apartment and back onto the busy streets.

-

Louise stood before an agent, training quietly against her male opponent. She does standard hand to hand, listening to the trainer at the side teaching her modern techniques. Her eyes mentally rolled, as she easily took the Agent before her down with her olden techniques. Knowing she needs to keep her mind open to new training, keeping some secrets to herself of course.

More training proved she could still wield her blades, her mind thanking nothing as she smirked to herself just for a moment before going back to a stoic expression. Guns were next, newer ones easily being handled by her with ease, some staring in wonder at the focus. The focus though, nothing but a facade as she releases tensions, vents frustrations- No, that wasn't it. It was anger. She knew it was anger, she had too. Or it would eat her alive till it would've been released.

-

' 'We need to sedate her deeper, doctor.' A muffle male voice says near Louise, her body immoble, and her eyes shut.
'She's calm enough, man. Keep it together. We're on a tight schedule. We must finish her swipe before having to return her. Now hand me the syringe, we need to hurry.' Louise lays silent, her body calm before pain takes over her senses, overwhelming her in fear.'

Louise shoots up on the couch she laid in, her head swiping around to find something. Her hands twist on a lamp light, giving the darkness of an office its light. She sighs, shaking off her naps dreariness and going to stand. She moves to look around, seeing that she is still at a gym. Grunts fill the air as she takes a step out the door to the small office. Her head perks up to see Steve knocking down and destroying another punching bag.

"Trouble sleeping?" She hears a voice speak up, seeing Nick Fury once again holding a file. His eye looked towards Louise then back to Steve who did the same. Louise took a few steps to meet them halfway, Steve grabbing another punching bag and hanging it up, as she neared him.
"You're here with a mission, sir?" Steve speaks up as Louise intended to listen.
"I am." Fury responds to Steve.
"Trying to get us back in the world?" Steve continues, glancing at Louise as she looks solemn at the moment. Steve stepped from the punching bag, moving to his bag. Unwrapping his hands of his wrist bindings and shoving them into his bag, Fury follows him to approach them both.
"Trying to save it." Fury adds with his arm at his back, handing a file to Steve who paused and opened it. He turns it to show Louise, who sees H.Y.D.R.A. 's energy weapon (the Tesseract) before looking back up to him.

"The Tesseract, huh?" Louise finally speaks, reading the file for the energy source..
"Hydra's secret weapon." Steve says, staring at the file.
"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought that the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs." Colonel Fury responds as Steve hands him the file back.

"Who took it from you?" Steve asks, fixing his bag as Louise leans against a post.
"He's called Loki. He's not from around here." Fury declares, the statement catching Louise's interest a little.
"There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know." Fury adds on as Steve checks his things trying to hurry this meeting along.
"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me." Steve speaks as he grabs his bag and gestures for Louise to get ready as he turns to lift a punching bag easily from the ground and puts it on his left shoulder.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong." Fury says as they glance back at him.
"I'll get in on that." Louise adds with a scoff, and Steve rolls his eyes at her meddling.
"There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment." Fury says as Steve begins to leave, Louise takes time behind him as she had nowhere to be, only to be close to Steve.
"Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury inquired louder from behind them, neither of them turning as they got closer to the exit.
"You should have left it in the ocean." Steve replies as they exit, giving each other a look of understanding as they walk together.

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A.N. This update will be posted on Tumblr and Quotev as well, though I'm not as active on Quotev.