A rhythmic tune sounded across the empty halls of the gym as Steve Rogers beat his fists into the punching bag, each hit harder than the last. His eyes glazed over as memories flooded his vision.

Over the past few months it had been an uphill struggle, nothing seemed right, everything was oh so hopelessly wrong. Nothing in his short lived years had prepared him for what had transpired between is supposed death and his new birth. There was a sickening solace to it all. Everything he had worked so hard to achieve had been ripped from him, time had passed like a dream. One second he was supposed to be dying, the next he had awoken to this new and complex world. He didn't fit here, he was out of time, this era had no need for heroes in uniform. From what he had gathered most wars were fought by machines now...he was a soldier in an age of machines, without a war, without a purpose.

He knew what became of soldiers without a place, heard the stories and seen first hand for himself the destructive side of it all. Men who had seen hell on earth and were mercilessly thrown back into society, unable to cope. Each one had checked out only months later, some sooner. He had always wondered how they could bring themselves to commit such an act, but now, being in this time and place he was beginning to understand. The memories wouldn't stop, couldn't stop. The wars, the loves stolen, the friends lost to time.

'You won't be alone' At the memory of her, his punches grew stronger and more frantic. She was meant to be with him, the first woman who had seen him when he was invisible. But now she was gone. His vision blurred as memories of Bucky crashed through his mind, Steve lost control and an unrestrained punch sent the punching bag across the room.

Steve stared at it for a moment. 'Gone, everything I care about is gone'. The weight it all pulling him deeper into his madness. He turned and grabbed another bag from the pile on the floor. He had had the feeling it was going to be a rough night and hence prepared himself for a punch fest. Everything always seemed easier in the midst of battle.

He attached the bag to the chain hanging from the ceiling and gunned it, each thrust releasing some frustration, yet holding back enough to not completely destroy the target. A fine line of concentration was needed to manage it and it took his mind off his losses, if only for a moment.

"Trouble sleeping?" An all too annoyingly familiar voice called to him.

Steve wasn't surprised at the commanders appearance. Fury and his lackeys had been hounding him since he had woken up, they wanted him to join the cause and no amount of refusal seemed to deter them from enlisting him.

"Slept for 70 years sir, I think I've had my fill." Steve continued to lay waste into the bag, intending to ignore the man's presence. Unfortunately the man didn't seem to understand a polite dismissal when he heard one.

"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world." Steve paused, glancing up to the man as he approached him, not even bothering to hide is disdain for Fury's persistence. Realizing his peaceful moment alone was up he gave in and started to close up. "When I went under the world was at war, I wake up they say we won, they didn't say we'd lost."

"We've made some mistakes along the way, some very recently." Fury stopped in front of him, holding a folder.

Steve frowned, well if he wasn't going to bring it up, the super soldier was going to have to,"You here about the mission Sir?"

"I am" Came Fury's short response, the man wasn't much for words or pleasantries and he was pretty sure Fury was used to getting his way. It brought a small amount of satisfaction to the soldier to be able to crush that fact.

"Trying to get me back in the world?"

"Trying to save it." Fury must have gotten tired of waiting for him to ask about the folder because he opened it and handed it over.

Steve glanced at it, intent on not accepting the offer but a small ocean blue cube on the front page changed his mind. "Hydra's secret weapon..." He hadn't realized he had said it out loud until Fury began to explain why they had it.

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you."

It was surprising to see the cube but more so was Fury's admission. Howard had been looking for him? True they had gotten along quite well but he hadn't expected him to come looking for his corpse. Perhaps he had been more of a friend than he had first expected. Or perhaps she had asked him to...

"He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs." Fury's eyes were trained on him, seeming to search for some sign he had Steve's attention.

Steve wasn't buying it, Howard was many things but he was not one to drink the cool-aid. If anything Howard had been after it for his own inventions. Fury was up to something. In the short time he had known the commander he had learned he always always had an selfish motivation, even if it was wrapped in a friendly package.

Steve shut the folder and handed it back, "Who took it from you?"

"He's called Loki, he's...not from around here."

Cryptic as usual. Probably some sort of lab monster like Red Skull, or perhaps time and science had created an even more hideous monster. Either way, it was a war he could fight and a way to hush the memories screaming inside his mind.

"There is a lot we will have to get you up to speed on if you are in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

"At this point I doubt anything would surprise me" Steve stood and walked to pick up his things. The Tesseract resurfacing could mean that the war he had "died" to protect had only been delayed; he was involved him whether he liked it or not.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong." Came Fury's rebuttal. When he didn't get a response he continued, "There's a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment."

Still no response.

"Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know about now?" Fury pushed on. He really didn't seem to like when someone was ignoring him.

"You should have left it in the ocean." Steve quipped. He was not ready to deal with his past when it was in the past and he could only wonder what having it blast into his present uninvited could bring.

The trip back to the apartment was far too short. Why was it every time you had pressing issue time just flew by? Fate really could go die somewhere for all he cared.

As promised, on his bed lay the debriefing packed, tho the apartment showned no signs of a break in, and everything was still in its place including his traps.

Steve's brows rose in mild surprise, S.H.E.I.L.D. deserved props for that one.

Sitting down he grabbed the packet and dumped it out on his bed. Flipping open the contents of the folder Avengers Initiative he was greeted with what seemed to be Bio's of very strange looking people.

The first one was named Bruce Banner, he was a grungy looking man with dark hair and eyes. He probably hadn't shaved in months from the looks of it and bathing seemed to be an optional package as well. Steve scanned over his profile quickly but found nothing extraordinary about him aside from being a very smart scientist and a note about anger management problems and the colors green and red. So smart and scary with a color fetish, guess that fit SHIELD's MO.

The next file was his own but with a very outdated photo, one of when he was still small and scrawny. His file was marked rather vaguely as well. Aside from his estimated age and a small note on fast healing and above par strength there was nothing to give off the fact that he was a lab experiment. He was beginning to think what whoever wrote these Bio's would have considered World War 2, "A slight disagreement with a few skirmishes."

He flipped on to one named Thor, no last name just Thor. A man with long blonde hair and a firm jaw. Apparently there was no dumbing down his file, it simply stated demi god of thunder no further information available. Steve stared at it blankly. "God of thunder"...okay that was more than he was ready for. He shut the folders tossing them to the desk but one file missed and fell to the floor dumping photos and paperwork with a multitude of red markings. He reached to pick it up but stopped as he saw the name on the folder. Stark...Tony Stark.

The man in the photo had short dark hair that whipped up in the front like he had been in a wind storm, the most unusual beard, a smug expression that screamed of self confidence and dark eyes that could just draw you in and drop you off the end of the world. A tribute to the name Stark for sure. Howard had been quite the looker back in his day so it was no surprise that his son was as well. His file was by far the most full. Next to his name was the inscription Iron Man. He was a genius from the notes on his profile, and a possible threat but nothing else that would suggest he had a special skill or power. Just a large bolded section on his file that read, "Unpredictable, dangerous, prefers to work alone." Steve smiled at the thought, he was just like his father then. Perhaps this mission would be more interesting than he first thought.