SHIELD safehouse, New York-
-June 7, 2009, 2300h local-
"Damn, the captain is hot..." Naruto stated a little louder than he would have liked. Everyone else in the room turned their head towards him and gave him an appraising look. "Hey. I'm into chicks but come on! Look at the guy." He defended himself.
Everyone in the room was here with one express purpose, watching over Captain America. Naruto, Fury, and Hill were the only people inside the personal observation deck with a one-way mirror overlooking at a surgical suite where the still partially frozen Captain was being checked. Coulson was in the suite overseeing everything.
"Moving on..." Hill stated, ignoring Naruto. "We have already performed an MRI, CT, and Brain scan. We have 100% confirmation that he's still alive and partially conscious. It's like he just went into hibernation."
"I don't think any average human would just hibernate in that situation. They would have just immediately died, or just become frostbiten until they died..." Naruto weighed in. "Erksine's formula must be godly as hell. You guys just fucked up with that Banner guy."
"Project Reborn was not ours, and you know that..." Fury defended SHIELD. "Ross got a little too... 'enthusiastic' with his project." Fury just wouldn't admit that the Military just got the jump on him.
Whoever thought of hiring Dr. Banner as the lead researcher must be among the few geniuses in the military. However, the way they handled the fallout of the Hulk countered his idea that there were smart guys in the military.
"Either way, Banner is still in Brazil. I'm not trying to keep as close as an eye on him as possible. Although, I pushed some stuff away. We don't want a tank on steroids in the middle of Rio, right?" Naruto replied. "But, I think he is planning to return stateside."
"What makes you say that?" Hill asked. There was absolutely no intel about that. She should know since she was the one who monitors the intel coming in from all the Initiative candidates.
"He leaves his laptop in his apartment when he goes to work. You should look into that..." Naruto answered. Not really providing the reason while still giving advice. He then turned towards Fury. "By the way, I still haven't got paid for Cap's intel. Don't think just because I'm going out with Nat that I work for free."
"Huh. I thought you did it out of the goodness of your heart." Fury replied sarcastically.
"Yeah yeah. Joke all you want, Fury. I can just take the Captain there and bury him somewhere else." Naruto retorted half-seriously. Of course, it's a messed up idea, and he had no intention of doing it. If he ever wants to scare Fury into doing something, like maybe paying his dues, he would just need to take the Captain away and bring him to Switzerland.
Fury's eyes narrowed, and stared down Naruto, trying to assess if Naruto would go through his threat. He was using his training to try and read Naruto's ticks, but it looked like it wouldn't work. He released a sigh before giving in.
"What do you want?" Fury asked.
"Hmm. Can I borrow Cap's SHIELD for a week?" Naruto said with a mischievous grin.
"Why?"
"I just want to play with it for a bit..." Naruto replied with a shrug before reaching for something behind him. "Come on, Nicky. I already have it with me!"
"Fine! Just give it back within a week." Fury answered resignedly.
"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed with a fist pump before putting the SHIELD away.
The trio turned their attention back to the still partially frozen Captain.
"What's your plan for him? Assuming he wakes up." Naruto asked.
"We're going to make a halfway house somewhere and slowly break the news." Hill answered instead for Fury.
"How are you guys going to do that?"
" We've got an old building we could use. Some agents would become actors. The goal is to just set him up first before slowly reintegrating him." Fury replied, relating the plan that he settled on after Hill consulted with some psychologists.
Naruto looked at the two agents incredulously before laughing. He was laughing so hard that he was already on the floor, holding his stomach. It continued for at least five minutes. He slowly stood up and wiped the tears at the corner of his eye.
"Oh, wow. Haven't laughed that hard for a long time." Naruto mused.
Fury and Hill just stared at the self-proclaimed mercenary. They had no idea what Naruto found so funny about their plan, but he just had to know what it was.
"Care to share with the class?" Fury 'inquired' with a raised eyebrow.
"You really don't know, do you?" Naruto replied to which Fury just gave another stare. "Come on! He's the Captain! He's got an IQ of like 180, an eye for detail, and an eidetic memory. What do you think would happen?" He rhetorically asked.
Naruto practically spelled out his reasoning, which boiled down to the Captain figuring out the ruse almost immediately. This would make a lousy impression of SHIELD. But even after all that, Fury still couldn't understand his logic.
"I thought you guys are supposed to be smart..." Naruto commented with a shake of his head. "I'm not going to tell you anymore. Just work it out..." He added. "Anyways, I have to go. Just keep me posted on how your plan works out." He states with a small chuckle before suddenly disappearing.
Fury started gritting his teeth. Finding Captain America was one of the most monumental parts of SHIELD's history, and making sure everything worked out with the Cap was paramount. If Naruto found something wrong with how he would do it, then he should be made aware of it to make sure it could be studied.
"Hill, find out what he's talking about." Fury ordered.
"I got an idea, sir..." Hill hesitantly replied. Fury gave Hill a nod, urging her to continue. "It's common knowledge that the Captain is as straight of a shooter kind of guy we are going to get. If we ever want him to join SHIELD in the future, we need to be honest with him from the start or at least not present him a false front."
Fury stood silent for about a minute, thinking about all the possible approaches that he could take about introducing Rogers to the world and all its potential repercussions.
"Send me a write-up from the psychologists on retainer." Fury ordered before walking out of the room. Hill followed close behind.
-Jaun, Switzerland-
-June 8, 2009, 0530h local-
Peggy was doing some basic yoga positions, stretching out her body before going for her daily run. She checked the resistance level of the band on her wrist. It was currently set on only four times resistance, and it was already making everything harder than it should be.
She was about to walk out of the door when it suddenly opened from the outside, revealing Naruto, who was sporting a wide grin.
"Oh. Hi. What are you doing here so early?" Peggy asked, a little surprised. It wasn't abnormal for Naruto to suddenly appear out of nowhere, that was basically one of his quirks, but it was very rare for him to show up this early or this excited.
" I've got news, and you're going to love it." Naruto replied, walking past Peggy and entering the house.
"I'm going for a run. Can't you just tell me while we're running?" Peggy suggested, her military conditioning practically forcing her to stick to her schedule.
"Oh, you're not going to say that for long." Naruto retorted before reaching behind him. Revealing something large, metallic, and circular.
Peggy's breath hitched, and tears started forming at the corner of her eyes as she immediately recognized that the object was Steve's shield.
"They finally found him?" Peggy whispered in a shaky voice. She felt her legs slowly turn into jelly.
Naruto recognized the signs and pulled Peggy towards the couch. He then walked towards the kitchen to fetch her some water. Peggy gratefully took the glass and took a tentative sip.
"You okay?" Naruto checked. He could see that Peggy was holding herself back a lot.
"Yes. I'm fine. More than fine, actually..." Peggy answered after clearing her throat. "When did they found him?"
"A day or two ago. He just arrived 2 hours ago at a SHIELD medical safe house in New York..." Naruto replied. "I just borrowed the shield to show you. Like proof of life or something." He added with an awkward chuckle.
"How is he?"
"They did a whole bunch of tests. MRI, CT, and a brain scan. Everything looks normal... well normal for a super-soldier placed on ice..." Naruto explained. "He's still on ice, though. They want to make sure everything's ready before waking him up."
Peggy slowly nodded, feeling absolutely relieved that Steve was alright until she realized what Naruto just said.
"Ready for what?" Peggy asked.
"The welcome party, of course..." Naruto answered like it was the most obvious thing. "Fury's still debating on how he wants to do it, but he's leaning towards one of the options. I called him stupid for it."
"I'll need to hear it first, but I got a feeling it's ludicrous if you called it stupid," Peggy stated.
"Fury wanted to wake him up in a '40s -50s hospital room. They're going to say they just found him a few months after the crash and slowly let him adjust." Naruto stated.
"Bloody Wanker. What the hell is wrong with Fury..." Peggy exclaimed. "Steve would figure it out immediately, even before Project Rebirth..." She adopted a faraway look, remembering Steve's time during basic training. "He always had an eye for detail and an unorthodox mind. Add the fact that he absolutely hates liars, just behind bullies and..." She left the last part unfinished.
"Fury's thought process is understandable. He has been a spy for so long that his option always goes into deception and other stuff like that..." Naruto stated seriously before cheering back up. "Anyway! We got three months to whip you back to shape!"
"Are you saying I'm fat?" Peggy asked with a dangerously low voice.
"No! No! Of course not!" Naruto replied quickly while cursing himself for not thinking things through. "I'm just saying that if you want to keep up with the Captain, we should start training your specialized katas up to a certain level." He explained.
"Bollocks..." Peggy cursed under her breath. "When are we gonna start?"
"Now. Just right after you do your daily routine and stuff..." Naruto said as he walked back towards the door but he suddenly stopped right before he walked out. "Stupid! Stupid! Ugh!" He exclaimed while banging his head on the door.
Peggy stared at Naruto with both worry and curiosity. She walked up behind Naruto and placed her hand on his shoulder. Naruto turned his head towards her.
"What's the problem?" Peggy asked with a soft voice.
"Tony and I just overlooked something and it might just bite us in the ass..." Naruto answered. "We'll start with the katas tomorrow. I need to handle something." He added before suddenly disappearing leaving Peggy on her own.
"Ugh. He's just gonna leave me with no other details!" Peggy complained. "Kids these days. No respect for the elderly." She said before walking out of the door to start her run. She couldn't stop her smile though every time she remembered that Steve is finally out of the ice.
-Stark Mansion, Malibu, Los Angeles-
-June 7, 2009, 2100h local-
Tony, Pepper, and Morgan were enjoying their rare time off. Nothing like family time to re-center oneself even amidst everything that has been happening.
The Stark family was just sitting on the couch with Pepper playing with Morgan when Tony returned back to the living room with a bowl of popcorn.
"Don't get me wrong, I love the excitement, variety, and all of that, but sometimes it's nice to have some downtime." Tony mused out loud.
"Yeah, and then Naruto suddenly shows up out of nowhere." Pepper replied. Morgan perked up when she heard Naruto's name.
"Naruto?" Morgan asked while looking around.
"Don't... Don't say it one more time. You'll summon him." Tony said half-jokingly.
"What? Naruto?" Pepper retorted. "He's not going to appear out of nowhere." She added before instantly regretting it.
Naruto suddenly appeared in the living room.
"Told you! He's like Beetlejuice! Say his name three times and he shows up!" Tony exclaimed while Pepper has a sheepish expression.
"Tony we need to talk." Naruto said seriously.
"Ugh. Can't this wait? I just microwaved some popcorn." Tony whined.
"Stane got your scraps." Naruto plainly replied.
"Scraps? What scraps?" Tony asked. Pepper is listening to the conversation intently.
"The ten rings collected the mark 1 scraps and Stane got his hand on it." Naruto answered.
"What! Didn't I blow that up!?" Tony exclaimed.
"Yeah. As far as I can tell, you left nothing but scraps. The only thing they salvaged is the twisted armor..." Naruto explained. "The problem comes when Stane somehow got footage of the attack on Gulmira. He got some SI scientists and engineers reverse engineering the armor."
Tony cursed under his breath. Using RDX to blow up his armor was looking like a bad decision. Itlooked like he should probably have used a high temp explosive to melt down the armor.
"You got the names of the employees helping Stane?" Tony asked.
"Some but not all. I can get the full list tomorrow..." Naruto replied. "What are you going to do with them?"
"For now? Nothing. Depending on what happens, I might fire them..." Tony said. "JARVIS. Search the SI servers for anything that might relate to my armor. Start looking into Obi's pc."
"Immediately, sir." JARVIS quickly confirmed.
"You should probably keep happy with you at all times. Rhodey would be even better. He's looking for a valid power source and you've got the only viable one. He might make a play for it." Naruto advised.
Tony unconsciously placed his hand on his chest. The one currently inside his chest was a second version of the arc reactor. It has double the output of the first arc reactor. There was just no telling what Stane could do if he got his hand on the miniature arc reactor.
"You guys still got the knife I gave you guys?"
Tony and Pepper look at each other before Pepper answered.
"We still got it but we can't exactly bring it with us. A knife isn't exactly the most discrete thing ever." Pepper replied.
Naruto adopted a more contemplative look.
"Give me your arm..." Naruto 'requested' but Tony and Pepper were a little apprehensive. "Come on, it's not going to hurt..." Tony and Pepper reluctantly extended their left and right arm respectively. Naruto grabbed onto their wrist until some kind of writing appeared above the pulse point. The writing started to fade until it completely disappeared. "Just rub your wrist if you're in trouble. I should show up and get you out of there..." Tony and Pepper stared at the spot where the writing showed up. "There's also a small load of Yang Chakra in there which should help with small wounds and bruises."
"How about Morgan?" Pepper asked.
"I already gave her the bracelet. That's more than enough to take out a standard assault squad..." Naruto replied absentmindedly before walking towards the couch and dropping beside Tony. "Man, this day just keeps coming." He said before releasing a sigh.
"Never thought I'll ever see you tired..." Tony commented. "What has got you so wound up? Not enough time with the ladies?" He teased while wagging his eyebrows.
"Yeah. There's also the fact that SHIELD finally found the guy your old man kept on looking for." Naruto replied.
Tony took a few seconds to understand who Naruto was talking about. Though, he got assaulted by mixed emotions when he figured out who Naruto was talking about.
"They found the Captain?"
"Yup. Brought him back to New York a few hours ago."
Tony stayed silent after he got his confirmation. Pepper could clearly see the internal battle that Tony was fighting.
"Ok. What are you guys talking about?" Pepper interjected.
"Remember Coulson?" Pepper nodded at Naruto's question. "He found Captain America."
"Like THE Captain America."
"Yup. In a plane 10m below the ice somewhere near Greenland."
"Huh. When and where are they going to bury him?" Pepper asked.
"There will be no burial. Well at least for some time..." Naruto retorted. "The guy is still alive. The super-soldier serum kept him alive. He just needs some thawing out and he's good to go."
Tony and Pepper were obviously surprised. It had been almost 70 years from when the plane crashed. How the hell was he still alive.
Morgan had already fallen asleep sometime during the conversation. All the adult talk probably bored the hell out of her.
Naruto stood up and did some small stretches.
"Alright. I need to check up on the girls. Call me if you need anything." Naruto announced before disappearing. Tony and Pepper took a few moments before they recovered from Naruto's news.
"Next time we have some down time. Never say his name. Got it?" Tony said.
"No problem. Already learned my lesson." Pepper replied.