Chapter Text
THE GYM
A muscular man with jet-black hair smashes his fist straight into the middle of a punching bag with much force, causing it to split open, spilling out the sand. He stands with his hands on his hips and lets out 70 years of feelings that he hadn’t gotten the chance to process. A few minutes later, he picks up another punching bag amongst the dozen already lying there, hooks it up, and starts punching again.
Footsteps come in behind him. The Director of SHIELD, Nick Fury, comes in. “Trouble sleeping?” he asks.
The other man continues to punch. “I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I’ve had my fill.”
Fury raises an eyebrow. “Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world.”
Shane Hollander stops punching and walks over to the nearby bench, taking the boxing tape off his hands. He sits down and picks up his water bottle to hydrate. “I went under, the world was at war. I wake up, they said we won. They never told me what we lost.”
“We’ve made some mistakes along the way. Some very recently.”
“What are you insinuating here?”
“I’m here for a mission.” Fury states, handing Shane a folder. It’s about something called the Tesseract, along with other files on HYDRA’s projects. “And I’m trying to get you back into the world to save it.”
Shane stares at the files. “This is HYDRA’s secret weapon?”
Fury nods. “Grigori Rozanov fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That’s something the world sorely needs.”
“Who took it from you?”
“He’s called Loki. He’s not from around here. 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.”
Oh, Shane knows. The gym was the only place quiet enough. Outside, the cars were too loud, the screens too bright, the smells unfamiliar. Here, the rhythmic crack of his fist on the bag was a predictable pattern. He could control the controllable. He sighs. “At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me.”
Fury chuckles. “Ten bucks says you’re wrong. There’s a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment.” Shane turns around and picks up yet another punching bag, and Fury starts to walk out of the gym. “Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?”
Hollander doesn’t look back. “You should’ve left it in the ocean.”
OCEAN (ITALICS = RUSSIAN)
Out in the Atlantic Ocean, Ilya Rozanov, in his Iron Man suit, is working on adding an energy reactor, lighting up his tower in the middle of Manhattan – the Rozanov Tower – and starts to fly towards it.
“We’re good on this end,” Rozanov claims. “The rest is up to you.”
Svetlana Vetrova is on the other line. “You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid.”
SWITCH TO ILYA’S HUD MONITOR INSIDE THE SUIT – SVETLANA APPEARS THERE
Ilya smirks. “Rozanov Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy.”
“Wow, so maybe our reactor takes over and it actually works?”
“I assume. Light her up.”
As Iron Man flies to the Tower, the power switches on, and the big ROZANOV sign lights up.
“How does it look?” Svetlana asks.
“Like Christmas, but with more… me.”
“Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I’m working on the zoning for the next billboards.”
The man groans. “Sveta, you’re killing me. Remember? Enjoy the moment.”
“Then get in here and I will.”
Ilya arrives at the penthouse floor of his skyscraper, and the robots around him are in the process of taking off his Iron Man suit. His AI – named after his deceased mother, Irina – gives him an announcement. IRINA is programmed to speak in both English and Russian.
“Ilya, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line.”
He rolls his eyes. “I’m not in. I’m actually out.”
“I’m afraid he’s insisting.”
“Close the line, Mom. I got a date.”
“With who?” she asks, somewhat curiously.
“MUTE!” And he walks away.
PENTHOUSE
As Ilya strolls in, Svetlana is staring up at the monitors for the reactor device that the former had placed earlier.
“Levels are holding steady… I think.”
“Of course they are, I was directly involved. Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius.” He asks, smirking.
“Well, ha, I really wouldn’t know now, would I?”
“What do you mean? All this came from you!” Ilya groans, taking the glass of vodka Svetlana was nursing and sipping from it.
“No. All this came from that.” She says, pointing at the Russian man’s arc reactor.
Ilya rolls his eyes. “Give yourself some credit, please. Rozanov Tower is your baby. Give yourself… twelve percent of the credit.”
Svetlana raises an eyebrow and snatches the vodka glass back from Ilya, earning a whine from him. “Twelve percent?”
“An argument can be made for fifteen – now give me back the vodka.”
“Twelve percent? For my baby?”
“Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things.” Ilya flexes an arm but still keeps his eyes on the vodka.
Svetlana grabs the bottle from the floor and pours more into another glass, handing it to Ilya so he can finally stop pouting. “Here, you big baby.”
“Finally. I’ll tell you what. Next building’s gonna say ‘Vetrova’ on the tower.”
“On the LEASE.”
IRINA’s voice immediately takes over the intercom. “Ilya, the telephone. I’m afraid my protocols are being overwritten.”
Coulson’s voice comes through. “Rozanov, we need to talk.”
Ilya picks up his phone and looks into it at Coulson with a suspicious look. “You’ve reached the life model decoy of Ilya Rozanov, please leave a message.”
“This is urgent.”
“Then leave it urgently.” And then the elevator door opens, with Coulson on the other side. “Security breach! That’s on you.” He points at Svetlana, who walks towards the elevator.
“Phil, come in!” She greets, leading him into the penthouse.
Ilya raises an eyebrow. “Phil? I thought his name was Agent?”
“Come on in, we’re celebrating.” Svetlana says to Coulson.
“Which is why he can’t stay.”
Coulson holds a file towards Ilya. “We need you to look this over as soon as possible.”
“I don’t like being handed things.”
Svetlana jumps in. “That’s okay, because I love to be handed things, so let’s trade!” She hands her glass of vodka to Coulson, takes the file, takes the glass back, and then gives the file to Ilya. “Thanks.”
“Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday.”
Coulson rolls his eyes. “This isn’t a consultation.”
“Is this about The Avengers?” the Russian woman asks. “Which I… I know nothing about.”
“The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought.” Ilya speaks up, still reading the file. “And I didn’t even qualify.”
“I didn’t know that either.”
“Yeah. Is because I’m violent, self-obsessed, and don’t play well with others.”
“That’s old news.”
Coulson jumps in. “This isn’t about personality profiles anymore.”
Ilya sighs. “Whatever. Sveta, got a minute?” She walks over to Ilya, who puts the files into his own databases. “You know, I thought we were having a moment.”
“I was having twelve percent of a moment. This seems serious, Phil’s pretty shaken.”
“How did you notice? Why is he Phil?”
“What is all of this?” Svetlana asks, pointing at the screen.
“This is uh…” Ilya extends his arms to show the full length of the holographic screen, with different profiles appearing in front of the two in both English and Russian. “This”
Screens appear of a man in a red, white, and blue spandex suit in action, a big green buff man roaring as he attacks the army at a nearby university, a guy with a big hammer fighting other people, and another is of Loki and the Tesseract, at which Ilya and Svetlana look on in awe.
“I’m going to take the jet to DC tonight.” She decides.
“Tomorrow.”
“You’ve got homework. You’ve got a lot of homework.”
“Well, what if I didn’t?”
“If you didn’t?”
“Yeah”
“You mean you finished?” Ilya nods his head. “Well, um, then.” Svetlana whispers something in his ear, causing Ilya to gasp. Coulson looks away, embarrassed, even though he might not known what they were saying.
“Square deal. It’s the last date.” Rozanov states, and Svetlana gives him a chaste kiss. Ilya leans into it for the show, flashing a charming grin at the agent.
“Work hard.” She says, walking out with Coulson. The second they turn toward the elevator, the smile drops off Ilya’s face like a mask, and he just looks concernedly at the Tesseract in its holographic form.
QUINJET, NEXT DAY
The pilot turns his head back for a brief second. “We’re about fourty minutes out from base sir.” he tells Coulson.
The agent stood up from his seat and walked over to Shane, who looked down at the device in his hands.
“So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?” he asks, staring at the tablet.
“A lot of people were. You were the world’s first superhero.” Shane could be seen tensing up a little. “Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine’s original formula.”
“Didn’t really go his way, huh?’
“Not really. When he’s not like that thing though, guy’s like a Stephen Hawking.”
Shane looks confused.
“He’s like a smart guy. I gotta say, it’s an honor to meet you, officially.” Shane smiles. “I mean, I was… I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it’s really, it’s just a… just a huge honor to have you on board.”
“Well I hope I can live up to your expectations.”
“Oh, you already are. Absolutely. Uh… we’ve made some modifications ot the uniform. I had a little design input.”
The two men turn around to find the Captain America uniform in its glory, nestled behind a case.
Shane crosses his arms. “The uniform? Aren’t the stars and stripes a little… old-fashioned?”
“With everything that’s happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned.” Coulson says, smiling.
Shane takes that in as the Quinjet continues to fly above the ocean.