Avengers The Captain's Secret

Part 21: Manhattan Project

CAP POV

It was a rough morning to say the least.

It was hard to leave Lesedi, but the night before, I gave her a gift to keep her distracted and happy and not alone:

I spent most of the weekend being debriefed along with Widow and Hawkeye, but saved my evenings for her.

"So you go tomorrow?" she asked. She was dreading it.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Tony will be here to watch over you."

I watched her grimace. "I know why you picked him, I do, but it won't be easy." She saw my look. "He's a scientist, above all else, Steve. Scientists make me...nervous."

"Maybe--" I said, heading to the door, and picking up the box I left there to return to her. "Maybe this will help."

She gasped at the box, no bigger than one would put a top hat in. She took it, and her eyes widened as what was inside rustled. "Steve?"

I began to laugh.

"Oh, my God!" She sat down with the box in her lap, and took off the lid. Her eyes welled up with tears. "Oh, my God!" She lifted the small Yorkshire Terrier out of the box and set the box on the floor. "Oh!" She rubbed her cheek against it as it yipped and started licking her face. She set him on the couch. "He's darling!"

"He doesn't have a name, yet."

"Hey, Brooklyn!"

"Brooklyn?!" I repeated. "That's a pretty big name for that little dog." I laughed again as she stuck out her tongue at me.

"He's got a lot inside, I can tell." She did a double take, her eyes softening as she looked at me. "Thank you." She leaned over and kissed me. "Thank you so much."

"Hellooooooo?"

I snapped out of the flashback that wasn't a day old. "Yeah, Hawkeye?"

He laughed. "Where are you?"

"Empire State." I answered, looking around. "I know they've been at it for a bit, but it doesn't look much like it." I paused. "How are things on your end?"

"Okay, slow going, though," Hawkeye replied.

"If you ask me they need a lot more people," Widow chimed in.

I still don't understand how the United States government would outsource or allow a small company like this to collect technology. I am told to observe the work, but not to directly participate, but to simply be a presence. It seems as if SHIELD may move in on them, take everything like they did to Jane Foster, as I've read in files. Surprisingly they didn't even consider Tony; they are still fighting for Iron Man suit tech, and Tony guards that like his first born. My fear is the rise of another Stark-like company that may adapt, manufacture and sell product to less-than-scrupulous buyers. But then, after finding the plans that Fury had for the Tesseract, I wasn't sure if those were better hands, either, even if SHIELD is more about global defense against other worlds...supposedly.

"Captain America?"

I turned. "Yes?"

"I am Adrian Toomes--"

I extended my hand immediately, recognizing the name of the head of the outsourced company to clean up and retrieve tech all over the city of Manhattan. "Ah, hi, I'm--"

"No need for introduction," Mr. Toomes said. "It's an honor to have you here, Captain, but--why are you here? We have everything under control, really."

I took a deep breath. Here we go. I managed a small smile. "We were sent to observe the cleanup and make sure all is well."

"It is."

"We can see that--"

"We?"

"Yes, Hawkeye and Black Widow are also here in  Manhattan," I gave a proud nod. "You must realize this is the first clean up of this magnitude and involves alien remains and tech to boot. We are all invested in an efficient and safe retrieval and cleanup." God, I can't believe I just said lthat. I sound like a bureaucrat. "The sooner it gets done, the sooner New York can start the road back to its former glory."

"I agree, but--"

"Besides, Widow, Hawk and I were on the ground," I said. "We know where battles took place, and where aliens fell. We thought we could be of help in locating it."

Toomes wanted to believe me, but he also knew we were from SHIELD. I could see the conflict. "Some help is better than none."

"That's what we thought," I said, trying to sound optimistic. "How about we walk? There may be areas you missed or I may have intel about."

Toomes narrowed his eyes at me, but then relaxed. "That does sound like a plan. Think you could give me an autograph and picture for my daughter?"

"That'd be an honor," I chuckled. "though I think she'd be tired of my face with all those educational videos I did." I did them in no time, but they felt like forever.

"They were pretty surprised you'd do them."

"No job too small, Mr. Toomes."

The morning wore on, and truthfully it was more schmoozing than I wanted to do. But keeping Toomes busy meant that Widow and Hawkeye could probably gather more intel. I took pictures with workmen, thanking them for their service. It reminded me of what I did back in World War II. I listened to Black Widow and Hawkeye through my earpiece. This could be a long day, and all I wanted was to get back to Lesedi. She suddenly seemed too far away.

When lunch time came, I pulled out a small device. It was a homing beacon.

"So, how's Brooklyn and the Babe?" Hawkeye asked.

I laughed. "There's only one Babe, and his last name was Ruth."

"I don't know, there can be more," Widow gave a small smile. "So?"

I looked at the homing beacon. "Looks like everything is alright. Great idea putting a chip and a tracker on the pup."

"He's adorable," Widow smiled. "I doubt she'd go anywhere without him. Besides you gave him to her, and that makes him all the more precious."

I gave a chuckle and a humorous frown. "You sound like a romantic, Natasha."

"I've been known to have a moment," she said with a small laugh. "It's gone now."

I looked down at the homing device. "At least she--" Suddenly the device stopped. It stopped working. It literally disappeared off my screen. "What the--"

"Maybe it's malfunctioning," Hawkeye frowned over it.

"This is Tony's tech," I told him. "He actually had one in Pepper's purse at one point, it's how he saved her from an exploding robot once."

Hawkeye and Widow looked at each other, and shrugged, "Oh."

"Something's wrong," I shook my head. "I can feel it--" Just then the cell phone rang. I inwardly smiled. I knew a lot more about these because of her. "Tony, what's--"

"Get here," He said quickly. "Get here now!"