The Captain & Ice Raven

Chapter 13 - Explanations and Missions

Turning a corner, Steve spots Rose and Peggy walking down the hallway. Jogging over to them, Steve calls out, "Rose! Wait please."

The two women stop walking, turning to Steve. "Yes Steve?"

"Can we please talk? We both owe each other an explanation," Steve tells her, a pleading look in his eyes.

"Fair enough," Rose admits. Turning to Peggy, she informs her friend, "it's alright Peg's, I can handle it."

Peggy nods, beginning to walk away, but stops beside Steve, "you break her heart again, I'll help Howard with killing you."

Walking away fully now, Steve glups nervously, as he turns to Rose. "Come on, I'm hungry and I know where they keep the good food." Steve follows Rose towards a kitchen, "grab a frying pan and some seasoning. I'll get the steak and potatoes."

Steve nods, doing as instructed as he asks, "so do you want to start or shall I?"

Preparing the pan and steak, Rose sighs, "I'll start. I gave you the short version but since we have the time, I tell you the whole story. As you know, when I was five, my birth parents were killed and I was kidnaped. Werner Reinhardt is a head of Hydra, a man who always said, 'discovery requires experimentation.' At first, he was actually kind, trying to befriend me for some reason. But I was smart for five year old, ignoring his attempts. After a year of the nice act, he changed, starting to hurt me with experiments. Sometimes a soldier would come in with other people, but they were statues. When I was seven, I finally learned why."

"The terrigen crystals," Steve recalls, prepping the potatoes.

Rose nods, flipping the steak over for the other side to cook. "He only had two crystals and something he called an Obelisk. There was one other person who able to was hold the crystal or obelisk, Jiaying. She was like a mother to me. She knew what the crystals could do but never told Reinhardt. Furious he decided to break one, which surrounded me in a cloud smoke that turned me to stone. The last thing I heard before I was fully encased was Jiaying's scream." Rose pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath. Steve takes her hand, squeezing it comfortingly. "I don't know how long I was a statue, but I could still hear everything. Soon enough, the stone around me cracked, allowing me to move. Reinhardt was so surprised I had survived, even more so when I froze the guards in the room. Physically I looked the same, the only thing that was different was my eyes. Jiaying was the only one I didn't freeze when I touched her. She was a great help in teaching me control."

"She sounds wonderful," Steve says, "back in Austria you said you took on another form, what happened?"

"Three more years, and Whitehall continued experimenting on me and Jiaying. Me more so because he was so curious on why I had survived the terrgin crystal. But one day, it was Jiaying who was taken. Something in me snapped when she was brought back to our cell. She was beaten, and scratched all over. I remember my arms being covered in icy feathers, and killing the soldier. Jiaying and I escaped that night, but right when we got the gates, soldiers tackled us to the ground. I killed them to," Rose recalls, plating the steak and potatoes. "Jiaying grabbed me, making me snap out of my daze. She told me to run, but I refused to leave her behind. She convinced me somehow, telling me that I'd see her again one day."

"So that's why you want first crack at him," Steve concludes, "so you can also find Jaiying and free her."

"Exactly," the two sit down and begin eatting, "she always said, love will thaw a frozen heart. After five years of being held against my will, I had built a wall of ice around my heart. Literally and figureitavly."

"So what color were your eyes before the terrign crystal?" Steve asks, finishing his steak. "Excellant cooking skills as well."

"Why thank you," Rose blushes, "but my eyes were once a dark shade of brown. Like my mothers. The only thing I have left of her and my father is this raven ring." Rose holds out her left hand, showing Steve the old ring that holds a blue gem and a raven.