Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00017. The Library and talking with the Cap.

Theo looked up at the building in front of him, he had passed it once before when he went to his fathers work. But he didn’t know what it was at the time since he didn’t see the sign that read, “Steve Rogers Brooklyn Memorial Library.” Theo pointed at the sign and asked, “Who is Steve Rogers Brooklyn? Does he own the library?”

His mother and father laughed for a moment before his dad said, “Brooklyn is where we are and Steve Rogers was an important person in history. He did some very good things a long time ago. So this library was named after him.” Milly nodded her head like she already knew as her dad talked.

Theo looked from the sign to his dad and asked, “Can I find books about Steve Rogers inside?”

Jacob reached down and put his hand on Theo’s shoulder and said, “You can, but wait till you are older to read them. They will be hard to understand for you right now. Actually, if you really want to know about Steve, I can give you my father's journals. He was a friend of his, they did a lot of things together when he was still in the military.”

Theo nodded his head and then said, “Sounds fun, but I still need new books today and you said I could choose them myself.”

“Yup, but I also told Milly she can pick a book if she wants one.” Milly nodded at that and said, “Milly gets a book too, but Te-o needs to read it to me.”

Theo shook his head but said nothing else as he walked inside with his parents and sister. Inside the front door was a bronze statue of Steve Rogers in his iconic gear which included his shield. Theo stopped and looked at it for a few seconds before he followed his parents around the display and to the front desk. Next to the right side of the desk were some turnstiles that allowed entry into the library proper. On the left side of the desk were some exit turnstiles and a check out counter for books. Jacob reached down and picked up Theo, as he did he said. “Agnes, I want you to meet your newest member.”

A slightly older woman looked up from the book she was reading and glanced at Jacob for a second before she looked at Theo. After a moment she said, “So this is your son you keep bragging about, the one who reads the books you give him in a day.”

Jacob smiled and said, “The one and only.”

Theo glanced at the woman’s name plate for a second and then looked back at her as he said, “Hello, my name is Theodore Ezekiel Mercer and it’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Steelwell.”

“Oh, he has manners too. Are you sure he is your son?”

Jacob laughed at that, then pointed at his wife as he said, “I am pretty sure he gets that from his mom, you remember Daniel.”

“Of course I do. You are even more radiant than the first time I met you dear.”

Daniel smiled at that and said, “It’s good to see you again Agnes.”

Agnes nodded in reply and then looked at Milly and said, “And this must be your daughter Emily you keep talking about.”

Milly shook her head and said, “No, my name is Milly.”

“Oh I am sorry sweetie, I must have misheard your father when he told me your name.”

Milly nodded her head and said, “It’s okay, now you know.”

Theo, along with his mother and father laughed a little at that as Agnes said, “Well I know who takes after Jacob.”

“So Jacob, are you here to get Theo some more books?”

“That is the plan, but I promised him that I would let him pick out whatever he wants.”

Agnes nodded her head at that and asked, “Were you planning to get him his own library card?”

Theo glanced at his dad, before he looked back to Agnes and excitedly asked, “Am I even allowed to have one?”

“You are polite and enjoy reading, I have no issue with setting up a card for you. But you can only check out books if you come here with one of your parents.”

Theo looked at his dad and asked, “Can I please get a library card dad?”

Milly looked at her mom and said, “Milly wants a card too.”

Jacob glanced at Theo and then Milly before he looked at Agnes and said, “One card for Theo please.” He looked over to Milly and said, “If you get a library card then you have to read the books yourself, Theo won’t be able to read them to you. Do you still want one?”

Milly looked conflicted for a second before she shook her head and said, “No, Milly likes when Te-o reads to her.”

Jacob reached over and patted Milly’s head while Agnes started to work on a library card for Theo. It only took a couple of minutes and a few questions and Theo was handed his very own library card. After that they walked inside and Theo’s parents took them to the kids section of books. Theo spent a little while looking around and didn’t really find anything he liked. He did find one book for Milly about dragons and fairies. He gave up on the kids section and started to look around next to it. His parents were nice and let him roam around the area alone, but he was always in sight of one of them.

After a bit of looking around he found the how to section just a couple rows over from the kid books and started to look around it. It didn’t take long to find two books he wanted. One of them was a beginners guide to art and drawing. The other book was a beginners guide to programming. He was pretty sure he could get away with the first book, the second one he wasn’t sure if his parents would let him get it. But he planned to try, they did say he could pick anything he wanted.

Theo carried the books back to his parents and said, “I want these, they look fun.”

His parents both looked at the books and both had different expressions. His father looked a little confused and his mother looked a little curious. His father spoke first and asked, “Why did you pick these two books?”

Theo pointed at the first book and said, “I like to draw, this says it can teach me to draw cool things.”

He opened up the next book and pointed at some text as he said, “I am not really sure what programming is, but it says here that you can learn to make games if you learn this whole book. I like games, it might be fun to make my own game.”

Jacob nodded his head a bit and then looked at his wife and asked, “I did tell him he could pick whatever he wanted. What do you think, honey?”

She smiled and said, “He has always been a little different, I don’t mind if he wants these books.”

She looked at Theo and said, “Programming is something you use a computer to do. Once you read the first few chapters of the book and can explain it to me. Then I will let you use the computer to practice programming. Do we have a deal?”

Theo nodded his head and said, “Yes mother.”

“Good, now let's head home.”

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Steve was seated in a conference room next to Peggy, a few other people he had been introduced to were with him. Director Fury, Agent Coulson, Dr. Pym and Maria Hill. They were waiting for the last person to arrive before they started. It wasn’t long before the wall monitor came on and a man with black hair and eyes appeared. He spoke as soon as he appeared and said, “I am glad you could all make it.”

Fury spoke next and said, “Seems like you didn’t want to come in person again.”

“I unfortunately will not be able to show up in person for a while. But I promise I will make it there when I can.”

Before Fury could reply, Steve spoke up and said, “I want to thank you for telling Peggy how to find me. I really appreciate it.”

“You are welcome, Cap. They would have found you themselves in about twenty years, but we have a lot of things we need to deal with and you being on ice was not going to help anyone.”

Steve nodded his head and said, “Well you still have my thanks, Ezekiel. But I assume you didn’t call us here just for that right?”

“You are right, I came to discuss a few things. A few of them involve you and a few involve .”

Fury stood up and slammed his hands on the desk as he said, “That is beyond top secret! How do you even know about that?!?”

“Hello, I said I could see the future…”

Fury shook his head as he sat down and said, “Still doesn’t answer the question.”

Ezekiel smiled at that and said, “I know, but it’s the best one I can give you. Anyways Coulson, where are you on the project? Have any of the subjects started to display weird compulsions to draw random symbols?”

Coulson looked at Fury who let out a sigh and nodded his head. He then looked at Ezekiel and said, “Three of the subjects have started to draw the strange symbols and we haven’t figured out a way to stop it. I was going to recommend canceling the project, if we can’t find a way to fix the issue.”

Ezekiel nodded his head for a second and then said, “What they are trying to make is a 3d model of a city. I would recommend letting them use things to make a 3d model of the symbols. After they see it once, the symptoms will stop and the test subjects will be fine. I would still monitor them for a while afterwards and I will also need to confirm that they aren’t Hydra sleeper agents. But after that I think we should bring them into our new group.”

Coulson and Fury both looked at each other for a few moments before Coulson nodded and then looked at Ezekiel and said, “Thank you for the advice, I will test it out when I get back.”

“Great and don’t forget to send me the names of each one so I can start checking out their backgrounds.”

Ezekiel looked over to Steve and said, “Cap, I have a few things I would like you to do. The first is to start weight training.”

Everyone looked a little confused at the request and Steve asked, “Didn’t the serum I took make me the peak of what a human can be?”

“Yes, but you are no longer human like the people in the room with you. You can train and become even stronger than your current self. It was never brought up before because you were in the war and no one thought about it. But trust me Cap, you can become even stronger and honestly for what is coming, we will need you at your best.”

Steve nodded his head at that and then asked, “What else do you need me to do?”

A picture appeared on the screen, it was Steve with the Howling Commandos. Two people on it were circled, then a picture changed and a photo of each man was put up on the screen. After a moment, Ezekiel reappeared on the screen with the photos to each side of his face as he asked, “I am sure you know who these men are?”

Steve said in a slightly pained voice, “Of course, that's and . Why are you showing me their pictures?”

The pictures changed, both were newer and in color. One showed a gruff man with a cigar, talking with a . The other picture was a man with a metal arm and long black hair strapped into a chair with wires attached to him. Ezekiel then said, “What if I told you they are both still alive.”

Steve was almost shaking in his seat as he looked at the picture of Bucky. He kept looking at the photo as he asked, “How is Bucky still alive?”