Fire and Ice | Avengers/Steve Rogers

two.

Vera sat quietly next to Steve on the quinjet, their knees almost touching to the point where Steve could feel the waves of heat radiating from her body. They were flying to meet up with her brother and the other members of what Fury deemed the "Avengers Initiative". Fury had opted out of flying with them, having to make another pit stop to deal with other pressing matters before heading to the helicarrier. He appointed his colleague to escort both Vera and Steve back to the helicarrier. Phil Coulson, their new escort, agreed and was sat opposite them with headphones on, looking at the screen in front of him.

Vera was nervously tapping her hand against her leg, chewing her bottom lip in anticipation.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" He asked, carefully placing his hand on her leg as she continued to tap away, his body embracing the warmth, shielding him from the harsh coldness of the quinjet. She sighed, stopped and turned towards the man sitting next to her.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you. I'm just not a fan of flying, never have been. And please, it's Vera." She looked away as she finished, from the corner of her eye she could see he was still looking at her, a slightly worried look on his face. He moved his hand. She missed the contact, not just from Steve, from anyone. She'd been closed off from everyone since the accident, scared she would somehow combust at any moment and hurt them.

He didn't say anything, just nodded, acknowledging what she'd said. He looked down at the tablet he was holding as the video began to play. Vera looked down to see the Hulk on the small screen – Bruce's first transformation at the University. He noticed Vera wince at the video. The thought of the night of the accident, her first incident.

"We're about forty minutes out from base, sir." One of the pilots spoke loudly over the sound of the quinjet, not once turning to look at the passengers.

Phil Coulson stood up from where he was sat and walked over to Steve and Vera. He held onto the bar above their heads to keep himself steady. He gave a small smile to the two passengers.

"So, I'm told Dr. Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" He quizzed them both as he looked at both Coulson and Vera as he spoke. Vera scoffed, causing them both to turn and look at her.

"We didn't actually know what we were building, we were told it was for weapons." She sneered at the thought of the former General, knowing she felt sceptical about the project when they began, and it cost them all something that day.

Coulson winced and looked almost apologetic as he looked at Vera, who looked away. Phil turned back to the Captain.

"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero. Doctors around the world thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula." The sound of the Hulk's roar continued to belt from the tablet he was holding as Coulson explained.

"It didn't really work out for us though, did it?" Vera sighed bitterly as she interjected the conversation. Steve gave her a tight-lipped smile as he looked at her with sympathy, placing a hand on her knee once more. Vera crossed her arms over her chest.

"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, the guy is like a Stephen Hawking." There was a hint of admiration in his tone as he spoke of Banner, which Vera could relate to, as she too admired him.

Steve looked at the two other people in confusion, not understanding the reference. Coulson chuckled as he realised. Steve turned off the tablet and turned back to Coulson. He took his hand off of Vera's knee and mumbled an apology as his face rouged slightly.

"He's like a really smart person." He nodded. "I gotta say, it's an honour to meet you, officially." He beamed at the Captain.

Both Steve and Vera smiled at the slight innocence in the way he expressed his fondness for the Captain. Coulson continued to ramble on, unaware of the smiles the two in front of him were giving him. Vera caught Steve's eye, for a moment they just smiled softly at each other listening to Coulson's rambling.