Who: Steve Rogers (Captain America) and Lady Jacqueline Falsworth-Critchon (Spitfire) and OT Nick Fury and Maria Hill if they want When: Backdated to Spitfire's arrival at SHIELD Where: SHIELD What: A reunion between old friends that one isn't expecting. Might include SHIELD getting chewed out for keeping Jac in the dark for so long? Rating: TBD
Captain America responded to a summons from Deputy Director Hill to go meet with Fury directly. Still considering himself a soldier, Steve followed orders easily, especially when they came from Nick Fury, whom he trusted. So far, S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn’t given the Captain an order he disagreed with. They were not as bad as everyone made them out to be. The people behind S.H.I.E.L.D., they were good people. They were protecting America. They had the government’s support.
They had Steve’s support, too. He understood S.H.I.E.L.D.’s purpose. It was as important. History didn’t just exist in the past, it existed in the present too. The evidence was all around them. He himself was an excellent of that. In the ‘40s, the Strategic Scientific Reserve had gone after HYDRA, and now S.H.I.E.L.D. did the same thing. The SSR had allowed Captain to lead that charge and form his own teams, though that had taken some persuading. The Howling Commandos had all been GIs, soldiers, regular joes with a special skill set. The Invaders, meanwhile, had been more unique, more ‘superhuman’ in their ability to do good and fight evil. Both teams had proved invaluable in fighting Hitler, the Nazis, HYDRA, and the Red Skull.
Steve saw many similar traits of his former teams in the vigilantes of today, yet with the exception of groups like the Birds of Prey and the X-Men and ‘families’ like the Bat and Arrow families (as Agent Harper grudgingly and reluctantly described the groups headed up by Batman and his own former mentor, the first Green Arrow, when prompted by his superiors); there was very little teamwork going on. Not as much as there could be.
It was ironic, Cap thought. S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted these vigilante heroes to come under one banner--theirs--and work together. When they had never done that before, or only to a limited degree; not to mention the fact that many of these heroes mistrusted S.H.I.E.L.D.’s intentions. They didn’t have the trust or faith or experience that Cap had.
He needed to talk to Nick. If this was going to succeed, and by God, it should succeed because the world needed a team of heroes again, then they were going to have to figure out how to set an example.
When he arrived at the meeting, Steve was in for a shock. Present was someone he’d never expected to see again, least of all looking like she did: Lady Jacqueline Falsworth. He’d known in his early days as Captain America; she and her brother Brian had both served with him as members of the Inhumans. For a woman of 86, she didn’t look a day over 30. Then again, if they were to go by candles on a cake and years on a calendar, he would have been 96. He didn’t feel 96. He certainly didn’t have 96 years of experience under his belt.
Looking at her, Cap found himself caught off-guard by his emotions. He did his best to marshal them like a soldier, but didn’t entirely succeed. “Jac,” he said, “Is it you?”
He didn’t want to make the same sort of mistake he’d made with Agent 13.