Got a new Marvel fanfic, "Marvel: The Frontier Cafe", that I want to work on. I'll try to work on the next chapter but this time no more promises.
------------
'Inner dialogue/thoughts'
"Normal dialogue"
[System]
[Diary entries]
--- Thirty minutes later, with Luke and Steve ---
Thirty minutes had passed since the battle against Obadiah Stane had come to an end.
As they had predicted, the Iron Monger armour eventually exhausted what little power remained within its damaged systems. Once Luke was certain that Stane could no longer reactivate the suit or pose any immediate threat, the man was removed from the armour and restrained.
By then, Coulson and his team had arrived at the mansion and took over incident management. But since this was still Tony's private mansion, Coulson and his team did not have much to manage to begin with.
Tony, who had successfully removed himself from his dead suit, had closed off access to the rest of his mansion to Coulson and the agents. Coulson was more than fine with that arrangement as he was there only to ensure Tony's safety.
Coulson ordered a group of agents to secure Stane and place him under armed supervision, while another team secured the perimeter. Unfortunately for those hiding within SHIELD, Tony had no intention of letting the Iron Monger suit be anywhere near their reach.
JARVIS had contacted Pepper shortly before the battle ended, and she had arrived back to the mansion not long after Coulson's team. Whatever questions she had upon seeing the agents surrounding Tony's property were quickly forgotten once she saw the damage to the mansion and Tony himself.
She had immediately gone to check on Tony, who had the presence of mind not to argue back for once. The moment Pepper was satisfied that he was not about to collapse on the spot, Tony's attention returned almost immediately to Steve and Luke.
There were far too many questions. Why was Captain America standing inside his mansion when the man was supposed to have died decades ago? Who exactly was Red Hood? How did the two of them know one another?
Unfortunately for Tony, Luke had absolutely no interest in remaining long enough to answer any of his questions. So, after making sure that Stane would no longer be a threat, both Luke and Steve had left the mansion before Tony could properly interrogate them.
Currently, the two were walking through the wooded area some distance away from Tony's residence, heading towards the rendezvous point Coulson had given Steve earlier.
Luke retracted the face covering of his armour and allowed himself to finally feel the cool night air. "Well, that went better than expected."
Steve gave a small nod as he walked beside him. "Considering Stark is still alive, Stane is in custody and neither of us had to level the rest of the mansion to stop him, I'd say that's a fair assessment. Though I'm starting to wonder what exactly counts as a bad night by your standards."
"One where I have to deal with the cleanup afterwards." Luke replied without hesitation. "That's why I own a café instead of working for SHIELD. I can go home after this, take a shower, get something to eat and pretend none of tonight happened until someone, most probably Nat, inevitably drags me into another problem."
There was enough truth behind his words that Steve found himself amused.
"What about you? What does Captain America do after beating up a man in a giant metal suit? Do you go home every night to polish the shield, drink a glass of warm milk and head to bed before nine?" Luke teasingly asked.
"I don't polish the shield every night. . ." Steve sighed.
Luke glanced towards him. "Interesting that the shield was the only part of that statement you felt the need to correct."
Steve shook his head, though the faint smile on his face made it obvious that he was not particularly bothered. "I still have to clean it, just not every night."
Luke had mostly been joking when he brought up the shield, so hearing that Steve genuinely had to maintain it caught his interest. "Wait, you actually clean that thing yourself?"
"Not always." Steve replied. "Back then, Howard and the SSR handled most of the equipment whenever something needed more than basic maintenance. They're not exactly around anymore, so I got used to taking care of what I can myself."
". . . I'm sorry to hear that." Luke's amusement faded slightly. There were times when it was surprisingly easy to forget just how much of Steve's old life had disappeared while he was frozen.
"Don't be, there's nothing we can do about it anyways." Steve shook his head. "But yeah, that's all in the past. And honestly, before tonight I was mostly using the shield for training every once in a while."
Hearing Steve mention training caught Luke's attention. 'Huh. . . Now that I think about it, are there even people that could properly train against someone enhanced by the Super Soldier Serum these days?'
"Who do you even train with nowadays?" Luke asked curiously.
"Mostly by myself." Steve admitted. "There aren't many people around who can properly keep up with me."
Luke hummed thoughtfully at the answer. "Well, there's me."
Steve turned towards him, only to find Luke looking entirely serious about the suggestion.
"I mean it." Luke continued. "You know I'm enhanced, and I'm not easy to hurt. If you're looking for someone you can actually spar with without worrying about breaking them, I'm probably one of the only choices you have right now."
Steve could hardly argue with that. From what little he had personally seen of Luke so far, the young man was already well beyond what most people would consider human. His abilities aside, there was also a level of experience behind the way Luke carried himself that Steve knew could not be faked.
"You probably would be. At the very least, I wouldn't have to hold back as much." Steve eventually agreed.
A grin immediately appeared on Luke's face. The possibility of sparring against Steve had not truly occurred to him until that moment, but now that it had, Luke found himself genuinely curious.
Steve was one of the best hand-to-hand fighters among the Avengers. Even without his shield, fighting him was never something anyone sensible would dismiss simply because they possessed greater physical strength.
"How about it? If we're talking about a proper one versus one, I actually think I could take you." Luke stated after giving the idea some thought. "No water manipulation on my side and no shield on yours. Just a straight physical brawl. Like men."
Steve smiled at the confidence in his voice. "You think so?"
"Well I said I think I could win, not that it would be easy." Luke clarified.
Steve considered Luke's words for a moment before giving a small nod of his own. "Alright, I'll take you up on that."
"Tight. Then whenever you're tired of beating up training equipment, give me a call. Just don't complain afterwards when I ruin whatever perfect record Captain America has going for him."
Steve chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind."
The two continued walking and by the time they reached the edge of the woods, they could already make out the silhouette of the Quinjet and a person beside the lowered ramp. Natasha had been waiting for Steve's arrival for several minutes and noticed the two men approaching together.
Once they had reached the clearing, Steve gave her a brief confirmation that everything had been settled back at the mansion while Luke made his way into the Quinjet first.
"So, what did you think of him?" Natasha asked once Luke was out of earshot
"I mean what I told him before. I would've given a lot to have someone like him fighting beside us during the war." Steve answered honestly. "He barely had to do anything tonight. He saw the easiest way to end the fight and took it."
Natasha gave a low whistle. "That's some high praise."
"Well, he earned it." There was not much more that needed to be said. Natasha already knew what Luke was capable of, while Steve had finally gotten the chance to experience it for himself.
Before either of them could continue, Luke's voice suddenly came from inside the Quinjet.
"Nat, please tell me you guys keep something to eat in here. I'm feeling a little peckish after everything's that happened tonight."
Natasha turned towards the open ramp with a look of amusement. Only a moment ago, Steve had been praising Luke as someone he would have gladly fought alongside during the Second World War. Now, the same person was apparently rummaging through a SHIELD Quinjet looking for snacks.
A small smile appeared on her face. "Sometimes it's easy to forget that he's only nineteen."
Steve looked towards the Quinjet as well. "I think it's good that he can still act like it. He knows when to be serious, the battle for LA and tonight proved that. If he can still act like a kid when nobody's in danger, I don't think anyone should be in a hurry to change that."
Natasha did not answer immediately. Unlike Steve, she had read enough of Luke's diary to know just how much weight there was behind those words. Luke had already lived through wars, fought enemies that threatened entire worlds and lost people he had considered family.
"Yeah. . . Maybe you're right." Natasha eventually agreed. Luke had already been forced to grow up once, so perhaps there was nothing wrong with letting him hold onto whatever remained of the kid he should be.
The two finally entered the Quinjet. Luke had apparently succeeded in finding something edible and was already seated near the front of the aircraft as he checked his phone. Natasha made her way towards the controls while Steve settled into one of the available seats.
"Strap in, Steve. Fury wants us at another site for the debriefing." Natasha said.
Luke instinctively reached towards the restraint beside him, then he stopped. 'Wait. . .'
He slowly looked towards Natasha, who was currently staring directly at him. There was something about the faint amusement in her expression that immediately made Luke suspicious.
". . . You knew." He said accusingly, which Natasha did not bother denying.
Luke stared at her for several seconds before looking around the Quinjet once more. Somewhere between leaving Tony's mansion, discussing Steve's shield and arranging a future sparring session, Luke had apparently forgotten one rather important detail.
The rendezvous point had never been meant for him.
Luke immediately stood from his seat. "Yeah, no. I'm not going to whatever debriefing Fury has planned just because I followed you guys onto the Quinjet like an idiot."
He had barely made a move when he noticed that Natasha's hand moved closer towards the controls. "Don't you dare, Nat."
Natasha smiled innocently and that was more than enough warning for Luke, who quickly made his way down the still open ramp.
"I'll see you tomorrow at the café!" Luke called back briefly before taking another bite of the snack he had found inside the Quinjet.
It was only after the ramp began closing that Natasha finally made a promise. 'Oh that little shit thinks he can just take my snack and go? I'll show him what happens to those who steals my snacks, just he wait.'
Completely unaware of the trouble he had just invited upon himself, Luke continued walking towards the treeline.
- End of Chapter -