Toxic | Steve Rogers

Chapter One: A New Concept of Surprise

Steve Rogers didn't know what to think. After all, he should have some sort of experience in surprising things by now. Being in stuck in ice for 70 years was a surprise. Something he had to handle whether he liked it or not. The new concept of a surprise was standing in front of him.

Based on the looks on the faces of his teammates, he wasn't he only one who didn't know what to think.

Tony had his arms crossed, his piercing, brown eyes studying the thing in front of him with a certain degree of curiosity.

Natasha looked wary, but a smile was playing on her lips, and she looked somewhat amused.

Steve's eyes turned to Wanda now. With the loss of her brother, she had become less easy to talk to. But the look on her face showed a consideringly different thing. Her eyes were brighter, and her face was thoughtful. Almost like she was trying to figure out the concept in front of her.

Lastly, Steve thought about how he felt. Intrigued? Definitely. Confused? Maybe a little. But there was this new feeling. He hadn't felt it in a while, but it felt new. The last time he had felt like this was before he had been in the ice. It was when he had been injected with the super serum, the curiosity he had felt before it happened was the same he was feeling now.

The kind of curiosity that drives you crazy, the kind that, even if you know something is dangerous, you still want to find out what it'll do to you. The kind of curiosity, that you could say, killed the cat.

That was what Steve was feeling right now.

This new concept of a surprise didn't say anything, and the tension in the room seemed to build with each breath, each second that passed. Out of the corner of his eyes, Steve saw Tony uncross his arms and take a step forward.

"Alright" he said, a hint of exasperation in his voice, "Since it seems as though no one here has anything to say, I do"

Steve could feel the rest of the team relax a bit, the air feeling lighter. Tony paused slightly, as if disturbed by something in the room.

"Go on" a deep voice said, and the owner of the voice stepped out from a seemingly well placed dark corner.

Fury.

"How did it get here?" Tony asked, looking at Fury as he directed the question into the air. This caused Fury to chuckle.

"You seem to forget that I only send people for a reason. But, this time, I don't think it's my place to explain" he spoke, gesturing, surprisingly, towards Natasha.

Natasha raised her eyebrows, and stepped forward.

"I'm going to be leaving"

Steve felt a pang of shock travel through his body. Tony and Wanda appeared to be appalled as well, waiting for Natasha to continue.

"The Hulk is nowhere to be seen, and I have opted to find him. That's why she's here" Natasha explained, addressing the other woman in the room for the first time.

"I'm here to replace her" the woman said, speaking in a rich voice.

"So you're leaving?" Steve said, setting his jaw. Natasha bit her lip.

"Not for long, just until I can find Bruce. Adora will be taking my place on missions" she said.

Adora. So that was her name. It sounded foreign to Steve, and for some reason, he was dying to pronounce the name on his tongue. He found the woman staring at him as he looked up, and he looked away. She seemed to be shamelessly staring at him. For reasons he did not know, he stared back.

The woman had bright blue-green eyes, the brightest he had ever seen. The color of vibrant tree leaves in the spring, and the clear blue waves of an ocean mixed into two piercing eyes. Her hair was an almost black color, but not quite black. It ended a little belong her shoulders, and her skin was a light coffee color.

She— no, Adora, seemed to be trying to read him. He heard Natasha and Tony talking, but he wasn't paying attention to them. Adora was strikingly beautiful, which was not something Steve tried to notice first about women. He felt an urge, an itch almost, to hear her voice again, to get to know her.

There was no way to scratch this itch.

"Steve?" he heard a voice say, and identified it as Natasha. He looked up.

"Yes?" he responded. He saw a small smile catch on Adora's lips.

"Are you okay with this?" she asked, and everyone in the room now trained their eyes on him. He paused. Was he? Steve was definitely intrigued with their new visitor, and he didn't want to stop Natasha from finding Bruce.

"Of course" he replied, and he saw Natasha visibly relax.

"On that note" Fury said, gesturing towards Adora, "Meet the new recruit"