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Something was off. Pippa could tell the SHIELD headquarters had been the theater of a huge event, probably bad seeing how most agents were looking at her. Okay, she had gunpowder stains on her face, her knee slightly scratched and some blood -not hers- on her skirt but it wasn't a reason for all of them to stare like she was a ghost.
"Whaaat? You got a problem?" she barked at yet another agent who looked at her in shock. It really wasn't the right time to piss her off. This is precisely when agent Hill rushed into the hall and quickly said, breath short and cheeks flushed: "Colonel Fury wants to see you, agent Coulson."
Pippa lifted her eyebrows and put her gun back into her holster. What was the matter now? She was certain she had respected almost all the protocols during this mission, she had done what she had to, they hadn't lost anyone and they had the artifact. Fury wasn't going to scold her now because the only thing she wanted was a good bubble bath, some ice-cream and the last episode of Super Nanny, she wasn't going to take his reproaches for nothing.
When she entered his office, Fury was sitting at his desk, hands crossed in front of him. "Please, sit down," he invited firmly.
"It's okay, I can stand," Pippa snapped back, polite but determined to show him she didn't plan on staying for too long. Fury sighed and gave her a reprobative look. Well, one of his many types of reprobative looks actually. He hesitated, sighed deeply as if the news were really bad. Pippa was starting to get annoyed at his formality, she had other things to do. She mentally dialed the phone number of this Indian restaurant she loved so much and decided she'd order the tandoori chicken and a few cheese naans to eat while typing her reports. Fury blinked, looked down before finally, finally opening his mouth.
"We found him, agent."
Pippa's heart jumped in her chest and suddenly started to pound, hard, furious like a drum. Her legs threatened to let her down and she had to grab the back of the closest chair not to fall. She couldn't hear anything but the loud thumps of her heart, the blood in her ears as her knuckles turned white. "You... found... who?" she stammered, already knowing the answer.
"Captain America."
It couldn't be true. It wasn't. Was it? "Are you sure it's him?" she gulped. She was going to wake up, she knew it. "If that's a joke Colonel..."
"It's not a joke, agent," Fury assured. "We had enough pictures and videos in the archives to recognize him. It's Captain America, his shield and his suit, worn by Steve Rogers himself. We made DNA tests, he's got the serum."
Pippa's mind was racing. She had a thousand questions and yet she couldn't grasp the reality of the situation. So this was why they all looked at her so strangely? Because if someone was concerned, it was her. She noticed her hands were shaking on the edge of Fury's desk.
"Wh-what do you mean you recognized him? Isn't he all... rotten now that he's out of the ice?" she quickly analyzed, her tone professional despite the tremolo in her voice. "I... the ice might have kept him in a relatively good state but after... or you didn't get him out of it yet? How did you get the DNA sample? Do you think we can study the serum? Shall we contact doctor Banner? Was there an autopsy done? What killed him, the crash or...?"
She wasn't sure she wanted to think about it. Her idol had been found, now it was certain. And he had either died from the cold, suffocation, drowning or from an inevitable crash. Fury looked at her, even more worried ; he seemed to brace himself for a storm, Pippa had never seen him so concerned in decades. What intel had he not told her yet?
"He's not dead..."
"Holy fucking shit!" Pippa shouted, locking both her hands on her mouth. "Don't say that Marcus, don't say that!"
"He's not awake yet but his constants are stable, his organism is recovering really quickly and the doctors say he might wake up in a few days. Right now he's in some kind of sleep... or slight coma, we had to tranquilize him, he moved too much in his sleep."
Pippa let out a loud whimper. Tranquilize him? These idiots had found bloody Captain America and they drugged him? Didn't they want to put him in a museum too? She shook her head, it wasn't happening. Steve Rogers was still alive. On this planet. The very first super hero in history! THE hero! She heard Fury far, far away as if she were dreaming.
"He's gonna wake up?" she repeated, her eyes blank.
"If everything goes well, yes. There are a lot of chances he will."
"Where is he?" Pippa exclaimed, jumping to her still weak feet.
"Pippa..." Fury warned her.
She tried to sound threatening but she was more desperate than anything else. "No sir, don't! I need to see him!" She couldn't stay calm now that she knew somewhere on Earth it was possible to see Captain America for real. Her whole world was upside down, all she could think of was everything it meant. "Where is he? Please..."
"You can go and see him," Fury warned. "But I'm not giving you this case. I need you somewhere else."
Pippa sighed, closed her eyes. "Is there anything I could do to get this mission?" she asked without really believing it herself.
"No, you know as well as I do that you wouldn't be the girl for the job," Fury sighed empathetically. "I'm sorry agent."
"I know," Pippa admitted. She swallowed heavily, she knew it wasn't reasonable, she wouldn't have the distance required for this one. There was no way she could do a good job next to him, she would be influenced by all the comics she had read, the movies she had seen, the posters and goodies in her room. "Please sir, tell me where I can see him...." she pleased in a soft voice, disappointed in herself.
"A vehicle is waiting for you, he's in the Center 51 in New-York. You'll get an update on the plan, everything we're gonna do to wake him up and adjust him slowly to our world. There's gonna be a phase of adaptation."
Pippa nodded and walked towards the door, not really convinced by his last words. A phase of adaptation? A plan? Steve Rogers wasn't like that, he was too clever, too smart to fall for basic tricks. She truly hoped things were going to turn out well but... somehow she doubted it.
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The ride to the Center 51 in New-York was the longest, yet the shortest Pippa ever had to do. She sat in the back of the SUV, trying to tweet something witty to sum up her situation but she just couldn't. She stole a coffee from a young agent whose opinion on LGBTQ issues made her crime less scandalous and tried not to throw it up as she got closer and closer to the Center. Now she didn't want to go. She didn't want to be there, to get out of the car, to take the few steps, enter the elevator. Two agents, including a young woman supposedly dressed as a nurse from the 40's explained the situation to her. Steve Rogers had been "defrosted" and placed under artificial coma to let his organism go back to normal slowly enough not to cause damages. Plus, it would give them time to prepare all the security measures in case of a bad reaction when he'd wake up. There was, realistically, a good risk of bad reaction to such a shock and the psychiatrists were not confident right now. Pippa nodded at each of their sentences, listened carefully and analyzed every piece of information she was given, now that was a case she didn't want to ignore anything of.
When the fake nurse let her in front of the large secure cube that mimicked Roger's room, she smiled. "You'll see, he's hot..."
Pippa shrugged and grabbed the doorknob. Had she been alone, she would have probably remained there for a good thirty minutes, waiting again and again to find the guts to enter but there were agents everywhere and she could not show how scared she was. She hoped she would stay professional and not freak out like a 'fangirl'. Like the little girl with too short hair who played with her action figures at night after borrowing Mommy's make-up. Like the teenage girl stuck in body she hated who knew, because of Captain America, that you can become the one you want when you're strong and good enough. Like that young woman who had joined to army to make the world a better place, just like her hero. Like the middle-aged chick who had sold a pair of Louboutin to get that ultimate collector edition of vintage trading cards.
The room was simple, a warm light made it look like an eternal morning in a 40's style New-York city. Pippa closed the door behind her, not ready to look yet. She couldn't really believe it, he wasn't going to be there, it couldn't be. She turned around slowly, blinked, eyes on her dirty shoes and hesitantly looked up. She was so afraid to be disappointed! It was a one of a kind moment, something that she had expected for years, then had stopped dreaming of. And now.. he was there, on the bed almost too small for him. And Pippa didn't doubt for a second because it could only be him.
He beamed with a powerful tranquility, the large silhouette on the bed looked, no, felt stronger than any human being. His broad torso was slowly rising and falling. He seemed turned off, like a computer, yet desperately alive and ready to wake up. Pippa swallowed heavily, he wasn't going to wake up when she was here, right? He couldn't!
She tiptoed to the center of the room, wiping her sweaty palms on her skirt. As she got closer and closer, the awkward angle revealed his face and Pippa, heart pounding in her chest, had to muffle a gasp on the back of her hand. Everything in him looked from another time but strangely, the exceptional strength of his body was smoothed by the gentleness of his face. He seemed good and kind, there were no other words. Pippa detailed his long lashes, the regularity of his features, his strong and smooth jaw, his full bottom lip. No, the 'nurse' was wrong, he wasn't even hot, Pippa couldn't see him that way. He was gorgeous like his ideas, his beauty was the reflection of his generosity. They had all told her about a patriot, ready to do everything for his country but a man like that, Pippa thought, was just a good person. And as his body was of a God's -yes, he was certainly close to Thor-, his face revealed his youth, he was but a boy who had had to grow up too quickly. His subtle frown, like the ghost of a concern on his sleeping mask, showed all the losses, all the sacrifices a super-soldier could have known. And despite his size, his muscles, his apparent resilience he looked quite vulnerable. Like a new kind of sleeping beauty.
Pippa couldn't doubt anymore, he was just like the pictures, the videos, just like the trading cards. He was Steve Rogers, the stubborn little kid from Brooklyn. He was Captain America, shining with goodness and heroism. And he was back from the dead, the world could now truly become a better place. A bit awkward, Pippa clasped her hands in front of her and bowed slightly. They said people in a coma could hear you sometimes so a super enhanced hero could even more, right? She gathered her strength and whispered, not sure she wanted him to actually hear her:
"It's an honor to meet you, Captain."