chapter thirty-four
phil coulson's trading cards

𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐎𝐅 Grace's apartment, anxiously fidgeting with her fingers. Grace had been summoned by the council to defend Nick's decision to form the Avengers which left the young SHIELD agent to bring Steve to the Helicarrier. Her first impression for the soldier had been... embarrassing, to say the least.

For as long as she could remember, she had heard stories about the skinny man who was turned into a super-soldier. The man who sacrificed himself to save the world. Though, apparently, that wasn't entirely true.

Adelaide looked up when she heard the door open and saw Steve coming out of the apartment with a brown leather jacket in his hand. He smiled lightly when he saw the blonde agent and she let out a breath. "Grace mentioned that you'd be coming to collect me," he said and she nodded, gesturing toward the stairs.

"Have you been settling well?" she asked the man, trying her best to break the awkward silence. God, I'm never this awkward, she thought to herself, pushing open the front door and walking toward the jet that was parked down the road, out of sight.

"As well as I can be," Steve replied, glancing up at the jet. "Grace has been a big help, though. I didn't know that she kept such detailed journals."

Adelaide nodded, greeting the pilot. "Gracie always was that type of person," she said, sitting down on the seat and she gestured for Steve to sit across from her. "I suppose it must make things a bit easier, though? Having somebody you know from the forties?"

Steve shrugged. "A bit," he agreed with a nod. "Though, I think it was going to be a hard transition regardless."

"Of course." Adelaide let out a breath and pursed her lips. "Captain Rogers, I just wanted to apologize for our... awkward introductions."

"Oh, there's no need."

"I promise, I'm not usually that quirky." Adelaide paused for a moment. "Well, actually, I am."

A small smile spread across Steve's face. "Really, it's alright," he said in amusement and she looked over at him. "Well, you seem to know a lot about me. What about you? Tell me about yourself."

"Why?"

Steve shrugged. "You seem to mean a great deal to Grace," he told her, leaning back in his seat. "And since we're alone in a jet together, I'd like to get to know the person I'm with."

Adelaide nodded, fluttering her lips. "Well... what do you wanna know?" she asked.

"I don't know... How did you meet Grace?"

Adelaide smiled thoughtfully, remembering the day well. "It's actually not that interesting of a story," she said with a shrug. "I was alone most of my childhood. I had to learn how to survive by myself. And that led me to do... well, not the greatest of things. The short version of the story is that Grace took pity on me and told me that I could help people. I didn't believe her at first, but now I am. I owe a lot to Grace."

"What about your parents?" Steve asked and she pursed her lips. "Do they know about SHIELD?"

"I don't even know if they know about me," she replied with a humorless chuckle. She shrugged. "My parents weren't exactly role models. One had a drug problem and was sent to prison for killing someone. The other... I don't even know at this point."

"I'm sorry."

Adelaide shook her head. "Don't be. I got over it a long time ago." She cleared her throat and handed the soldier a tablet. "But since you're here to work, I should probably be getting you up to speed on everything."

"Right." Steve accepted the tablet and a video began to play. It was footage of the Hulk's attack on the Army at Culver University a few years ago. Adelaide handed him a file along with the video with all of the details regarding the attack.

"We're about forty minutes from base, Agent Snow," the pilot told Adelaide who nodded and fluttered her lips.

"So..." Steve said and Adelaide looked over at him. "This Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?"

Adelaide nodded and walked over to him. "He wasn't the only one," she replied. "You were the world's first superhero. Doctor Banner thought that gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Doctor Erskine's original formula. The one used on you." She looked down at the tablet when she heard the Hulk roar and rip a jeep in half. "It didn't go so well... Oh! Your uniform..."

"My uniform?" Steve repeated, furrowing his brows.

She nodded and cleared her throat. "Grace had no design input this time around. It was actually Agent Coulson. He's a... well, he's a big fan."

"Grace mentioned him a few weeks ago," Steve said with a nod. "Now I'm scared. Should I be scared?"

Adelaide shook her head, patting him on the shoulder. "No. Just... he has trading cards."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 in her hands while standing in front of the screens containing the members of the World Security Council. "Miss Stark, you're not listening to us," one of the members said and she sighed, looking back at the member. "This is incredibly out of line."

"And how is it out of line, Councilman?" Grace asked, crossing her arms. "This is what SHIELD was created for. To deal with forces that other forms of the military cannot handle."

"But in this case, you are dealing with forces that you can't control," the councilman argued and she rolled her eyes.

"All due respect, Councilman..." Grace interrupted, holding up her hand. "This is exactly what we were made to control. This God from another planet has declared war against Earth. If you don't mind me asking... how exactly would you defeat him?"

"Well—"

"This council was created to oversee SHIELD," Grace said, standing up. "And you've done that. Annoyingly so. We need a response team."

Another Council member shook their head. "The Avengers Initiative was shut down, Miss Stark."

"If you ever just listened, then you would know this isn't about the Avengers," Grace said to the member in annoyance. "Honestly, you all think you're so powerful but you're not."

"Watch your mouth, Stark..."

Grace tilted her head and crossed her arms. "Or what?" she questioned. "The only reason the Council exists — and why you're on the Council — is because I helped found this organization. Now, you can question Fury's decisions all you like, but he has my full support which means a lot more than yours."

"We're running the world's greatest covert security network and you're gonna leave the fate of the human race to a handful of freaks?" a member asked and she glared at the screen.

"Yes. Because to be honest with you, I'm rather fond of them," she said, shrugging. "Actually, I trust them all a lot more than any of you right now. It was good speaking to you all." She swiped the screen in front of her and the council disappeared. "Not."

Grace rolled her neck and walked out to the main area of the ship just as Steve came in with Adelaide, Natasha, and Bruce Banner.

"Smooth trip?" she asked him, throwing her arm around Adelaide. "She didn't talk your ear off the entire time, did she?"

Adelaide huffed. "This is what I get for doing my job," she said, joining Natasha next to the computers.

"You know I love you!" Grace called back to the blonde who waved her fingers while retreating. She chuckled to herself and looked back at Steve. "Well... welcome to our flying base."

"This is something," he said, nodding and looking around the ship. "How did your meeting go?"

"Oh, they're idiots and annoying," she replied with a sigh before shrugging. "But it's nothing new. You remember Senator Brandt?" Steve nodded. "They remind me of him. And not in a good way."

"Gentlemen." Grace glanced behind her and saw Nick walking towards the two men. "Doctor, thank you for coming," he said, shaking hands with Bruce.

"Thanks... for asking nicely," he replied, reluctantly shaking his hand. "So, uh... how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're free to go," Grace told him and he nodded, looking around.

"Where are you with that?" he asked.

Grace glanced behind her and nodded at Phil. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet," he replied and Steve looked at Grace, impressed. She smiled softly at him. "Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"That's still not gonna find them in time," Natasha said quietly and Adelaide patted her on the shoulder in reassurance.

"You have to narrow the field," Bruce told the group. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Nick asked.

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays," Bruce said while Steve looked around in confusion. "I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

Grace nodded. "Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his lab, please?"

"You're gonna love it, Doc," Natasha said, starting to walk out of the room. "We got all the toys."

Steve bent down to Grace's ear. "I have no idea what he just said," he whispered and she chuckled softly.

"Just wait until Tony comes," she whispered back, looking at him. "Then everyone will be confused."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

"𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐒𝐎𝐍, 𝐈'𝐌 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 to ask Steve Rogers to sign your trading cards," Adelaide said, putting away folders and looking at the agent. "Firstly, that's weird. And secondly, he already knows you have trading cards."

"How?" Phil asked with a frown. "Did you tell him?"

"Everybody knows about it!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "Besides, he seems like a nice enough guy that he'll do it."

"It just doesn't seem that professional," Phil said, sighing and taking a file from the blonde agent. "Technically, I'm working with him."

Adelaide frowned at the man. "Then why did you ask me to ask him?" she questioned, crossing her arms. "I also work with him."

"Yeah, but you're our boss' favorite," Phil said and she narrowed her eyes. "Admit it, Addy."

"Nick doesn't have favorites."

"Not him!"

Adelaide chuckled to herself and started to walk out the door. "Phil, I'm not going to ask him for you," she said, shaking her head. "If you want them signed so badly, do it yourself. I'm pretty sure he's too nice to say no."

"You think?"

Adelaide sighed when she walked into the main area of the ship. "Oh, Captain Rogers." Both Steve and Grace turned when they heard Adelaide's voice and saw her dragging Phil toward them. "This is Phil Coulson. He's your biggest fan and you're... you." She patted both their shoulders. "Discuss."

Before Grace could say anything, Adelaide took her by the wrist and dragged her out of the room. "Do I even want to know?" she asked the blonde.

Adelaide shook her head. "No."