the-man-with-the-shield:

iamthefirechild:

“You draw? But that’s awesome! You should definitely do that, then. Even if you aren’t good at it yet, the more you work on it, you’ll get better. Maybe I could see some of your work sometime?” Summer knew she was babbling, just a bit, but Steve was … well, he was basically everything she’d heard of him. Open-hearted, kind, interesting and interested.

“Lead on to that coffee shop, sir! Maybe I’ll show you how to flirt with the waitresses.” She tacked on a wink to the end of that, but truth to tell, she was starting to be more interested in flirting with Steve. How would he react?

“I think that would be absolutely lovely.” Steve replied. He was a bit shy about his work normally, but he just might be willing to make an exception for his energetic new companion.

He began the gradual walk in the direction of the coffee shop. It was a relatively short walk. Soon enough the scent of ground coffee beans and baked goods filled the air. “Well, here we are. The beautiful thing is that it’s seldom crowded.”

“That is always nice,” Summer agreed. She breathed in deep. “God, coffee smells so /good/. I wish it tasted like it smelled.” Glancing around, she spotted a table half in sun, half in shadow and steered Steve over to it. “What do you want to drink?”

the-man-with-the-shield:

iamthefirechild:

the-man-with-the-shield:

iamthefirechild:

“Somewhere away from here, I think. D’you have a favourite place, Steve? I don’t really go out a lot, so I don’t know as much of the city as I could.” A faint drawl filtered into her words. “I could really use a cider, personally. We can talk about something besides all this,” and Summer waved a hand behind her at the detritus.

“Honestly, it’s Tony who knows this city best. But I think there’s a nice little place just up ahead. Tea, hot chocolate, cider, coffee, you name it, they have it,” he explained, regaining a sense of cheer. “Does that work?”

“That suits me down to the ground. So tell me, Mr Rogers,” Summer winked at him, “What do you do when you’re not saving the world from evil aliens, mad mutants, and crazy scientists? Girlfriend, day job, independently wealthy?” She gave him a big smile to let him know she was teasing, and unlatched her armour to reveal a deep red undershirt.

“Girlfriend? Huh? Oh no… Dating isn’t really my area. It never was, to tell you the truth.” It was surprising how easy he opened up to Summer. “Day job, not exactly, but I am considering assisting at one of those downtown art class things. Not sure if I’d be much use however…” he added humbly.

“You draw? But that’s awesome! You should definitely do that, then. Even if you aren’t good at it yet, the more you work on it, you’ll get better. Maybe I could see some of your work sometime?” Summer knew she was babbling, just a bit, but Steve was … well, he was basically everything she’d heard of him. Open-hearted, kind, interesting and interested.

“Lead on to that coffee shop, sir! Maybe I’ll show you how to flirt with the waitresses.” She tacked on a wink to the end of that, but truth to tell, she was starting to be more interested in flirting with Steve. How would he react?

the-man-with-the-shield:

iamthefirechild:

“Somewhere away from here, I think. D’you have a favourite place, Steve? I don’t really go out a lot, so I don’t know as much of the city as I could.” A faint drawl filtered into her words. “I could really use a cider, personally. We can talk about something besides all this,” and Summer waved a hand behind her at the detritus.

“Honestly, it’s Tony who knows this city best. But I think there’s a nice little place just up ahead. Tea, hot chocolate, cider, coffee, you name it, they have it.” he explained, regaining a sense of cheer. “Does that work?”

“That suits me down to the ground. So tell me, Mr Rogers,” Summer winked at him, “What do you do when you’re not saving the world from evil aliens, mad mutants, and crazy scientists? Girlfriend, day job, independently wealthy?” She gave him a big smile to let him know she was teasing, and unlatched her armour to reveal a deep red undershirt.

the-man-with-the-shield:

iamthefirechild:

the-man-with-the-shield:

iamthefirechild:

Summer lowered herself to the ground entirely before drawing in her wings. “Oh, well, I’m just … a pinch hitter, I guess you might say. SHIELD doesn’t really agree with you, they like my sister much better than me.” She held out a hand. “It was a pleasure working with you, though, Captain. Steve Rogers, right, behind the shield?”

“Hmm..” Steve frowned in disapproval. “Well I don’t believe in choosing favourites. And I say, it was great to have you around.” he threw a friendly salute in her direction and nodded. “That’s right Ma’am.”

She shrugged. “I don’t really care. Winter’s far more suited to them than I. I appreciate the compliment, though. It’s always nice to be wanted.” Looking down at her mask, she sighed. “Excuse me for a second.” Summer turned around, looping the mask over one shoulder, and aimed both hands upward, checking for anything up there. All clear, she poured fire straight up in a blazing column for long seconds.

Steve watched, fascinated by the flames. “That’s really neat… You must have a lot of fun with those powers.” he commented, smiling at her.

“I wish I could say yes,” she said over her shoulder. The flames went out, and she turned back around to face Steve. “But the reality of it … well, let’s just say there’s a lot of baggage that goes along with it.” Summer gave him a little smile. “I don’t know what you paid for your skills, Captain, but sometimes I think my price was too high, and I wasn’t ever given a choice about it.”

She looked down the street, hazy with dust and littered with fallen bodies. “Well! Saving the city is hot work. You got anything else to do, or can you come get a drink with me?”

the-man-with-the-shield:

iamthefirechild:

the-man-with-the-shield:

iamthefirechild:

the-man-with-the-shield:

In that moment, Steve was certain he was going to die. No enhanced strength, speed, or stamina could save him from what seemed like an inescapable fate. Here he was, caught in the heat of battle, and another unnamed cosmic creature with no other purpose than to destroy everything in it’s path, charging right at him. The creature bared a set of sharp, deadly, long fangs at the soldier and for a second his life flashed before him… That’s when out of nowhere, she showed up.

The fucking things only seemed like they were everywhere. Too heavily armoured for agility, but a fair turn of speed … Summer threw a looping barrel roll and came out of it both hands blasting fire. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a flash of red white and blue — mostly blue — desperately trying to hold off another of the stupid creatures. A braking turn, and half a second later she blasted the thing off its ugly feet by simply ploughing into it, then set it on fire for good measure. “Come on, Captain, we need you!”

Steve took a deep breath, stunned that he was still alive. He glanced over at the woman who pretty much just saved his life, and did an amazing job at it too. The beast was lying dead several feet away, still in smoke. An unpleasant odour accompanied its burning flesh.

“Thanks.” he got out, before rushing back into combat, bashing another hideous thing over the skull with his shield. The impact caused it to fall limp to the ground. “How many more are out there?” he asked.

A swift empathic scan of the area picked up just six others, half of whom were already engaged by other heroes. “Three unopposed.” A reflection flickered in the bright surface of his shield, and Summer almost casually lobbed a fireball over her shoulder, striking the thing in the face like a homing missile. “You don’t need to get checked out, you’re good to go.”

He shook his head. “I don’t plan on going anywhere until the job is done, ma’am.” One of the two remaining beasts surfaced from the shadows of the street, and charged in Steve’s direction from behind Summer. “Duck!” he instructed, flinging the shield like a massive, metal frisbee and cleanly sweeping the thing’s ugly head off. Steve grimaced. He would have to clean that up later. “The last one’s all yours.” he added, with a weary smile.

“You’re too kind, Captain,” Summer riposted, launching herself upward in a flurry of flamelets to kick the last one in the back of the head as it tried to simultaneously climb and aim from the side of a building. There was a satisfying ‘clunk’ as the skull bounced off the concrete, momentarily stunning it, and then fire erupted from all sorts of unpleasant places.

Hanging out in mid-air, Summer threw out another empathic scan, and nodded with satisfaction. “That’s all of them,” she called down, pulling off her mask and rubbing at her face. “The police are getting better at this, too; nobody trapped under fallen debris.”