REPUTATION, steve rogers

⁰², jury's out

02

I KNEW IT FROM THE FIRST, OLD FASHIONED WE WERE CURSED
( never heard a shotgun shot in the dark )

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ONE WEEK BEFORE

WITH NOT SO STEADY HANDS, Steve Rogers walked down the hallway that smelled of must and was torn with whimpers of prisoners that made his skin crawl.

Tunnel vision, as the water dripping sounds filled his mind, he dug through his pockets to get the key, dropping the unclasped lock onto the flor with a soft clang before undoing the bar and grinning, pleased with himself before opening the door.

She was in the same position as before, a cleaner cell and no blood dripping down her face. She looked blankly at the wall before looking back to steve, breaking a smile. She was beautiful, golden skin plastered with freckles, spatters of dark amber covering the places where clothing didn't cover. Piercing green eyes and a soft nose. She looked tired with sunken eyes and paler skin, with an arm draped across her wast she looked almost — peaceful.

"Good morning," he said, earning a soft smile from the woman.

"Hey there Captain," She says, moving hair from her face with shaky fingers. "what brings you to the dark side?"

"Not much, just uh-" He ran a hand through the sandy locks, his eyes meeting her vicious greens that flicked to the wall with his stutter.

"Came to unearth more of SHIELD's secrets? you have to remember our deal pretty boy." Shooting him a smirk, his heart sped up.

The forest below golden skies, flecks of bronze, one hair that flushed against her scalp, Steve couldn't get enough of the grey-clad beauty sitting before him. She was a painting, beauty hidden in paint strokes that if he dared to recreate he'd lose every bit of beauty.

One of the reasons he'd come back was because he couldn't stop thinking about that damn girl. the one in the cell with a less-empty look in her eyes than anyone else here.

"I needed to ask you a question," Steve said with a sigh, dropping his head. He wished that he didn't have to keep letting her live like this, but there was no point, there was no way to get her out yet.

"well, shoot," Tessa said, seemingly bored with the ordeal. Steve looked back up at her, squinting.

"You said that you got put here because you got too close to some information, what information?" He asked, earning a smirk from Tessa, which wasn't exactly the reaction he'd pegged from her.

"A parasite, growing inside of SHIELD. I didn't get enough information to know who, or frankly what, but I got a little too close for their comfort. It intimidated them I guess," She answered, her smirk not fading. It intimidated steve, the confidence she held in her voice about the matter. "and it even says in my file that I'm 'too valuable to kill' or whatever that means." She hissed the last part, and the intimidation held firm in Steve's mind.

"Why?" Steve asked, and her expression changed. For a mere second fear closed her eyes, and then fixed back into the smirk, as she rose and walked to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

It was surreal and weird, it felt like all of the heat was pulled from him, and then placed back into him, just hotter. He stumbled back, leaning against the wall, as she wiped off her hands as if it were nothing.

"Too valuable to kill," she spoke with no intention to continue, to explain herself. She situated herself back on her bed. "But not valuable enough for good living conditions."

"I-" Steve didn't know what to say, so he fixated on something other than filling the silence: staring at his hands. It was a long drawl of quiet, the air thick between them.

"Thermokinesis." as if that explained everything.

"Excuse me?" Steve asked, looking back at her. A smile remained on her face as whisps of golden light flitted between her fingers. she wasn't looking at him, but he knew that she could tell what he was thinking.

"I can control temperature. of myself and others, rooms, by osmosis, the usual." This was news to Steve, and he was still recovering from the shock of having all the heat sucked out of him and put back as if it were nothing. Sure, he was technically a freak of nature, but there was something different about this, she was different. More interesting than going from 90 to 220 pounds in a matter of five or so minutes.

"That isn't the usual," Steve said, sounding too shocked for probably his own good. Estelle let out a breathy chuckle and shook her head knowingly.

"I know Stevie, but you should be familiar with the 'unusual.'" Se looked at him again, the light she was playing with disappearing. She waved her hand and the room became cold, icy cold to the point in which Steve could see his breath. Then it became hot, summer hot, and then lowered back to normal. The puff of gold light moved through the air towards him, and Steve realized that it wasn't in fact light, but fire, as it was extremely hot, he could feel the heat on his face, before it turned back to the transparent color of oxygen.

"helps a lot when cooking things," She chuckled, looking down at her hands. "and scaring people shitless"

"nice trait to have," Steve laughed, scratching the back of his neck, not knowing what else to say. She could easily kill him with a wave of her hand, and that scared Steve. Sure, he'd been intimidated by people before (ahem, Peggy) but not like this. Well, maybe when she tried to shoot him after he kissed that girl, but otherwise, Steve didn't get this scared by a lady.

Steve had to be ready to learn a lot of new things about being scared by women. Especially Tessa, who was only destined to throw some curveballs.

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JUNEBUG SPEAKS!

can I just say that Steve picking intimidating women is the shit and I can't wait for her to scare him often. he will be a mixture of terrified and in awe throughout the entirety of the story.