Children of a Lesser God

To say that Jetta was surprised by Steve’s comment was a severe understatement, since she kept gazing wildly between the two males with her mouth agape. After several moments, the female finally realized how ridiculous she must have looked and forced her mouth shut; she awkwardly picked at the tape on her hand for another moment before turning her attention back to the other two.

“So, let me make sure I heard right. You two are going to bring me flying?”
Bruce’s expression was clearly amused. “Yes, Steve and I are going to bring you flying.”
“And, is there any particular reason for that? Or are you guys just trying to get on my good side?”
“Actually, there does happen to be a reason. You see, Fury wants to know how high and fast you can fly.”
Jetta let loose an irritated laugh and rolled her eyes. “Figures. What happens if I decide to make a run for it?”

“That’s not something I think you would do, ma’am,” Steve told her quietly, causing Jetta to glare at him.
“Just in case you do try to escape, Fury is sending Tony up there with you in the Iron-Man suit,” Bruce added.
Jetta let loose an audible groan. “So much for trying to get on my good side.”
“Come on, Jetta. You know it won’t be that bad,” Bruce told her.
“Trust me. It will be.”
The male chuckled and turned his attention to Steve. “You can start bringing her downstairs, Cap. I need to gather up some things and then I’ll meet up with you two.”
Steve nodded in acknowledgement to Bruce’s statement and stepped past Jetta, giving her a gentle nudge with his elbow as he passed her. “Come on, ma’am.”

Jetta was watching the blond with a wary expression, but nonetheless followed him out of the lab. The pair fell into stride with each other as they entered the hallway in silence; as they approached the end of the corridor, Steve cleared his throat and gazed at Jetta over his shoulder.

“So, how’s your hand doing?” he asked quietly.
“You cannot be serious, Cap. It’s been three days.”
Steve let loose a soft chuckle. “Actually, I was talking about the hand that had the IV in it, Ms. Monroe.”
Jetta gritted her teeth together, reaching the end of her patience with Steve. “I’m fine, Captain.”

Steve didn’t reply to Jetta’s last comment, much to the female’s relief. Frankly, she wasn’t sure how much longer she could put up with the blond’s old-fashioned mannerisms before she’d lash out at him. Although he remained silent, Jetta was aware that Steve’s gaze was still on her; after several seconds, the avian-hybrid let loose an infuriated snarl and turned give him a vicious scowl.

It was then that the female realized that the pair had stopped walking altogether. Before Jetta had a chance to register what was going on, the super soldier surprised her by gently taking her bandaged hand into his own and tenderly grazing his large thumb over the gauze. Without so much as a warning, the red-and-blond female reacted by tearing her hand away from Steve’s and shoving him into the wall.

“If you ever touch me again, pretty boy, I won’t hesitate to chop off your damn hand,” she growled to him.
“Alright. You have my word that I won’t do it again, ma’am.” Always well-mannered and far too polite.

Jetta glared at Steve as she kept him pressed up against the wall, feeling his massive chest rise and fall underneath her hand as he breathed; the pair stayed like that for several tense moments until Bruce joined them.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Break it up, guys,” he commented sternly before turning to Jetta. “What is going on here?”
“Absolutely nothing,” Jetta hissed.

With that, the female finally backed off of Steve and stepped over to the elevator; Bruce watched as she angrily pressed the call button on the elevator before arching his eyebrow and turning to Steve, who ran a hand through his hair and gave the other male a small shrug.
“Don’t worry about it,” he commented before pushing himself off the wall and joining Jetta to wait for the elevator.

Bruce watched Steve with a puzzled expression on his face, wondering what was going on in the super soldier’s head; after several seconds, however, he shrugged to himself and followed the other two onto the elevator. When the trio exited the elevator on the first floor, they found Director Fury waiting for them. Much like a few nights ago, the director didn’t look very happy. In fact, the female was beginning to wonder if Nick Fury was ever happy.

“Ms. Monroe, I would like to let you to know that staying in Stark Tower with the Avengers is a privilege, not a right. So, if I find out from Captain Rogers that you’ve been attacking your team members again, you will be forced to stay here at SHIELD until a necessary time comes for us to move operations to the Helicarrier. Do I make myself clear?”

Jetta swallowed under Fury’s gaze and instinctively inched closer to Steve. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now that that’s out of the way, I’m sure you heard from Dr. Banner and Captain Rogers that you will be going flying. Am I correct?”
“Yeah…they told me about that.”
“Very well. If you three would follow me, I will explain how this is going to work.”

As he finished speaking, Fury turned around and started walking, causing Jetta to unenthusiastically follow him. Steve immediately fell into stride with her, causing the female to turn and gaze at him; the blond gave her a small half-smile, but said nothing and quickly turned away. Disgusted at the male’s apparent lack of confidence, the female rolled her eyes and turned her attention away from him as Fury started talking.

“The three of you will be escorted outside the city in a SHIELD vehicle. Once outside the city limits, you will meet up with Mr. Stark, who will be joining Ms. Monroe in the air. Ms. Monroe, you will receive a standard-issue SHIELD radio link earpiece that will allow you to communicate with Mr. Stark and the Captain. This is the same earpiece that you will wear on missions, as well as at all times on the Helicarrier and other SHIELD premises.”

“Well, that just sounds fun,” Jetta mumbled sarcastically.

The Director ignored Jetta’s sarcastic remark. “Like I was saying, Mr. Stark will be going up in the air with you in the Iron-Man suit; both so JARVIS can record your speeds and altitudes for the agency, as well as make sure that you don’t make a run for it. As soon as Dr. Banner is done with you, Ms. Potts will escort you around the city so you can do some necessary shopping. You are to begin your training tomorrow. Understood?”

Jetta said nothing as Fury led the trio out of the building and to an awaiting SHIELD vehicle; it was an absolutely beautiful day outside, with wall-to-wall sunshine and a pleasant breeze. It was a perfect day to get up in the sky and go flying, and it took all of the avian hybrid’s willpower not to take a running leap into the sky then and there. Being twice her size, Steve already proved that he could easily wrestle her into submission and Jetta wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to know what Tony meant by Bruce being angry to keep a giant green rage monster back.

“Ms. Monroe! Do you understand what I was saying or do I need to repeat myself?”
Fury’s gruff voice caused Jetta to visibly flinch and effectively pulled her from her thoughts.
“Yes, I understand perfectly fine.”
Satisfied by Jetta’s statement, the Director opened up the door of the SHIELD van for the female.
“Very well, then. I will see you tomorrow morning. Enjoy your flight and time with Ms. Potts.”

Jetta rolled her eyes at Fury’s remark, but nonetheless climbed into the van and slid to the other side. Steve climbed in next and took the seat beside her, leaving Bruce to climb into the passenger’s seat. Suddenly realizing how exhausted she was, the female let loose a yawn. Steve turned his attention to her, and Jetta could feel concern radiate from his psyche and brush against hers.

“You look exhausted. I believe you should get some rest,” he stated gently.
“Oh dear god, not again. Just stop.”
“Ma’am, please. I just think that you’d feel better if you got a little rest,” Steve urged.
Jetta let loose an audible groan. “Believe it or not, I’m a big girl, Captain. I’m more than capable of making my own decisions without you butting in.”
“My apologizes. I’m just trying to look out for you.”
“Well, you can stop. You’re starting to get really creepy. Trust me; you’d know if I needed your help.”

Bruce turned around and focused on Jetta. “I hate to say it Jetta, but Steve is right. Even with your modified genes, you were under anesthesia for three days. So naturally, it’s going to take several hours for the drugs to get out of your system completely. Until then, you’re going to feel a little drowsy. Since it’s going to take us a while to get out of the city, your best bet right now is to get some sleep.”

After several moments of silence, Jetta let loose an angry sigh of defeat and unbuckled her seatbelt.
“If it’ll get you guys off my tail, then what the heck ever,” she growled.

Doing so simply because she wanted to spite Steve, the avian hybrid swung her legs up onto the seat and positioned them so they were resting against the blond’s thigh; Jetta then leaned her head against the car door and shut her eyes. The two men must have been correct because despite the chaotic background noise of the city traffic, she fell asleep quickly and easily.

Much like her nap back at Stark Tower, Jetta’s rest wasn’t even close to peaceful. Instead, it was filled with haunting sound of a nuclear siren. A very frightened Jetta watched as scientists wearing white coats rushed through the lab in total consternation. Several of them were shouting in Ukrainian, and one comment in particular stuck out to the female.

“Поспішайте! Ми повинні евакуюватися! Четвертий реактор Чорнобильської підірвали!”
Hurry! We must evacuate! Chernobyl’s fourth reactor blew up!

“Ma’am? Ma’am!”
The alarmed exclamation suddenly pulled Jetta out of her nightmare, causing her eyes to fly open. She gazed around wildly for a few seconds before her eyes fell on Steve. The super soldier was watching her with a frightened expression on his face. When he noticed Jetta’s gaze on him, he quickly ran his tongue over his lips and cautiously held up one his hands.

“Shh. It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. It was just a dream, ma’am.”
Steve’s voice was barely above a whisper and filled with uncertainty, causing Jetta to realize that she had shoved him into the door while she was sleeping; the avian hybrid let loose a humorless laugh at his comment and shook her head.
“No, you don’t say, Captain Obvious.”

Steve opened his mouth to reply, but Jetta quickly cut him off. “Don’t you even think about asking if I’m okay. How many times do I need to tell you that I don’t need your damn help? I’m fine, Captain. Just shut up and leave me alone.”

The blond’s expression turned wounded and he climbed out of the van without another word to Jetta, slamming the door behind him. Jetta flinched slightly and watched after him before turning to Bruce.

“What crawled up his rear end?”
The scientist let loose a heavy sigh. “I could be wrong, but I believe he’s worried about the fact that you have nightmares.”
Jetta rolled her eyes. “It’s none of his business.”
“Actually, it is his business, Jetta. You don’t realize this, but Steve suffers from nightmares and other symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.”
“And, I should care why?”

With that, Jetta pushed open the door and climbed out of the van, stepping over to where Steve was waiting with Phil; Steve gazed at her from his peripheral vision as she joined them, but otherwise didn’t acknowledge her presence. He had returned his hands to his belt buckle and his blond hair was blowing around in the breeze. Even though she was still irritated with him, the avian hybrid couldn’t deny that the guy looked freaking gorgeous.

“Ms. Monroe.” The sound of Phil’s voice caused Jetta to flinch again and tear her gaze away from Steve.
“Yes, Coulson?”
“It’s ‘Agent’ Coulson to you, Ms. Monroe,” Phil replied shortly, handing out his hand. “I have your earpiece.”

Jetta bit down on her lip to keep from making a snarky remark and stepped over to Phil, snatching the earpiece from his hand. It took her several moments of fiddling around with the earpiece to get it in properly; Bruce joined the trio as the female was fumbling around with the earpiece. As soon as Jetta was sure the earpiece wasn’t going to fall out, she turned to the three men.

“Are we ready now?”
“We just need to wait for Tony to arrive,” Bruce told her. “He should arrive any minute.”
“Oh, right, right. Gotcha.”

The avian hybrid nonchalantly stepped back over to the SHIELD van and pushed herself onto the hood. Steve joined her after several seconds, leaning against the van and folding his thick arms over his chest without a word to her. Jetta didn’t have to tap into Steve’s emotions to feel the sadness and loneliness resonating from his psyche. Feeling the blond’s suffering caused some guilt to eat at Jetta’s insides; perhaps she shouldn’t have been so nasty to him.

The red-and-blond female sucked in a deep breath and gazed at Steve from the corner of her eyes.
“I really can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m, um, sorry…”
Steve sucked in a heavy breath as well before replying. “For what?”
“Snapping at you in the car. I, uh, shouldn’t have. Bruce told me you suffer from PTSD, so, um…yeah. That…that’s all.”

Steve laughed quietly. “I take it that you don’t apologize to people terribly often, Ms. Monroe.”
Jetta narrowed her eyes slightly. “I wouldn’t push your luck, Captain. That’s the best you’re gonna get, so you can either take it or leave it.”
Steve let loose another laugh. “Apology accepted. Don’t worry about it, ma’am. I’m to blame as much as you are; I should have respected your wishes.”

“Miss me yet, everyone?”
The sudden sound of Tony’s voice blaring through Jetta’s earpiece caused her to snap her head around in time to see the male soar into view wearing his red-and-gold Ironman suit. He landed on the ground with a loud clanking sound and stepped over to the other four.

“O Captain! My Captain, Frankenstein, and Coulson,” Tony acknowledged the three males before turning his attention to Jetta. “Ready to go, Azula?”
Jetta smirked and pushed herself off the car, stepping up to Tony. “Whenever you are, Robocop.”
“Oh, feisty. I like the sound of this,” Tony commented before turning to Steve. “I don’t know gramps. She seems a little hard-core for you.”
“Stark, so help me God, you make one more wise remark about me having feelings for Ms. Monroe…”

“You need to chillax, Pat Patriot. I was just playing around with you. Besides, it is perfectly normal to have a crush on a girl. I’ve had many crushes in the past. In fact, I’ve had several simultaneously.”

The unexpected sound of a guttural snarl coming from Steve caused Jetta to turn around and see the blond shooting daggers at Tony; if looks could kill, the younger male would have been dead a thousand times over.
“Does it look like I’m kidding, Tony?” he asked through gritted teeth.
At Steve’s use of his first name, Tony held up his hands and took several steps back.
“Okay. I’m leaving, I’m leaving. No need to threaten me, Cap.”

With that statement, Tony quickly propelled himself back into the sky. Jetta watched after him before letting loose a sigh and turning her attention back to Steve, who was still leaning against the car; the super soldier was so angry that he was breathing heavily, since Jetta could see his chest heaving underneath his folded arms. She hesitated for a minute before sucking over a breath and stepping over to his side.

“You alright, Captain?”
“He doesn’t know how lucky he is that he has that damn suit on,” Steve spat raucously.

Although Jetta was getting irritated herself with Tony’s remarks about her and Steve, she was frightened by the intensity of the blond’s anger; she could feel Steve’s animosity for Tony gnawing at her soul, causing her to wonder what exactly the billionaire had said or done to so viciously anger him. Jetta wanted to soothe Steve’s vicious anger, but had no idea how to do so. She wasn’t exactly number one on Steve’s buddy list, after all.

In fact, the female was guessing that behind Tony, she was the person on that team that Steve currently despised the most.

After a few moments of weighing her options, Jetta reached over and gently placed a hand on the super soldier’s bicep; her light touch caused Steve to glare at her from over his broad shoulder, his nostrils flaring.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, ma’am,” he stated darkly.
Jetta ignored the blond’s threatening tone and ran her fingertips down his heavily muscled arm in a feeble attempt to calm him down. Despite her good intentions, Steve reacted by quickly grabbing her wrist and violently yanking it away from his arm. He angrily stepped closer to her, and the female wasn’t sure if she was uncomfortable because of the painful grip he had on her wrist or at the proximity of his body.

“If you don’t want me to touch you, then you shouldn’t be a damn hypocrite and touch me after I ask you to stop,” he growled.

The pair stared each other down for a long, suspenseful minute before Tony inadvertently broke the tension by acknowledging Jetta.

“Are you joining me up here or not, featherbrain?”
Jetta rolled her eyes at Tony’s comment, but otherwise ignored him and instead acknowledged Steve.
“You do realize that I was trying to help you just now, right? Because, you know, I didn’t want to see you get angry and do something you may regret later. But, forget it. I’m done trying. You are the most stubborn and temperamental bastard I have ever met, Captain.”

The super soldier let loose a chuckle and pressed himself closer to Jetta. “And, I believe you are the biggest hypocrite I have ever met, Ms. Monroe.”
Jetta’s own anger suddenly surged, and she quickly yanked her hand away from Steve’s grasp.
“Go screw yourself,” she snarled to him through clenched teeth, ignoring a death glare being sent her way from Phil.

The red-and-blond female angrily pushed Steve away from her without giving him a chance to reply and stormed away from him without a word to anyone, unfolding her wings slightly as she did so. As soon as she was several feet away from Steve and the other two men, she sucked in a breath and turned her attention skyward; she gazed between the sky and the three males glaring at her for a few moments before backing up several feet and breaking into a run before anyone could think about stopping her.

The avian hybrid ran for several seconds to gather up speed before fully extending her her massive wings and taking a powerful leap into the air.