Ice and Defenders: Infinity War// Book 7 of the Frostbite Series

Catch Up

I never thought that I would be wearing my new suit so soon. When Shuri gave it to me I was hoping that it would be a very long time before I had to wear it, because this suit was meant for a fight. And that is exactly what we were about to walk into. 

I stood in the mirror, adjusting the belt at my waist and securing the blade handles into their straps. I grabbed a hair tie and pulled two front sections of my hair back and out of my face, wishing that I was in Wakanda so that one of the children could braid my hair. Once I was satisfied with how the white locks looked, I sat down on my bed and began lacing up my skates. That's when a knock came to my door. 

"Come in!" I called and the door opened, revealing Steve. I looked up from my skates and smiled thinly. "Hey."

"Hey," Steve replied and stepped into my room, closing the door behind him. 

We were falling into our old rhythm so quickly it was almost like he hadn't been gone for two years. The routine of visiting me in my room was so wired into Steve's head it may have been the first urge he had as soon as he stepped foot into the Compound. It was definitely number two of the top three things I had missed about him. Number one is his understanding of my life, we had gone through the same things together, grew up in the same time period. We just got each other. Number two was this unconditional love and care he had for me and the rest of the Avengers. He kept us in a special place in his heart that always came first. Number three was just his presence. He was my brother and to have him near was always calming. 

Steve scanned the room, noticing some changes like how I rearranged my room maybe a hundred times in the last two years. Before the Accords my bed was pushed into the upper right corner, then I moved it to the middle, then back to the corner, to the other side of the room, then finally into the upper left corner. Steve probably noticed that there was a stack of Tony's engineering books, a book about Quantum Physics, a Wakandan history book that Shuri lent me, and a few of Bruce's published works sitting in the right corner of the room where I had laid out a mattress and a bunch of pillows. His eyes narrowed at the stack of HYDRA files on my desk that were never put away. Steve pointed to the record player that had returned from Wakanda after I had bought a new one for Bucky. 

"So, that's where it went," he said. 

"I take it you went to your room?" I asked. 

"Yeah," Steve nodded. "Thought I was having an asthma attack, turns out it's just really dusty." 

I laughed quietly and finished lacing up my last skate, Steve glanced around the room again before looking back at me. I patted the empty spot next to me, inviting him to come to sit, which he did, his weight causing me to lean towards him. 

"Been a tough two years?" He asked, breaking the silence. 

"What makes you say that?" I replied, sarcastically.

"Well," Steve inhaled. "The scuff marks on the wall indicate that you moved your furniture around more than once, looks like you've gotten into some deep reading, and you have a little change in attitude."

"Change in attitude?" I repeated. 

"You sound a lot more sure of yourself," he explained, pausing for a moment. "Tony wasn't too harsh was he?"

"No... Well, he'd get mad," I replied. "But he was stressed, we got it sorted it out. He took care of me."

"I knew he would." Steve nodded. "You recovered alright?" He asked, referring to the injury back in Siberia. 

"Yeah." I nodded. "Wheelchairs are not fun, though."

Steve hummed a laugh and we sat in silence again, staring at the room in front of us. Two years can really bring people apart, more than one would think.  

"You missed a lot," I added.

"Bucky told me a lot." Steve smiled. "A lot about you, actually, I'd ask him how he was and he'd go off on a tangent about you." 

I felt my ears warm up as they turned red, I looked down and smiled. Funny how a few words about someone you love can make you feel. "Have you seen him recently? I missed the last two weeks, Tony was keeping me here." 

"Saw him two weeks ago, he's doing fine," he replied. "He also told me about your improvement with your ice." Steve looked at me. 

I adjusted myself, shifting to sit up more straight. The thought of my incidents, during HYDRA and recently, came to my mind. The uncontrollable icicles that would shoot out were always something that haunted my dreams, making me think it was happening while I slept even when I had everything under my control. "It was scary, trying to figure out how to keep them under control." 

"But you got it," Steve added. 

"Shuri's quite the miracle worker," I said. "You think she'll be able to help Vision?"

"Let's hope," Steve replied, glancing back down at me. He put his arm around my shoulder and rubbed his hand up and down my arm. "I missed you, Ellie." 

"I missed you too, Steve." I gazed up at him, my lips twitched as I held back a grin when I glanced at his beard. Steve being Steve caught onto this stare and narrowed his eyes.

"What?" He questioned.

"Just wondering if you're really going to keep that?" I stroked my own chin mimicking the motion of touching an invisible beard and recieved a hearty laugh out of Steve. It had been so long since I had heard that laugh that I almost started crying, but instead I laughed with him. 

Footsteps were heard from the hallway and we both looked up at Natasha stepped into my doorway, confusion painted over her face. 

"Hey, Nat," I greeted. 

"Hi," Natasha breathed out. "So, there's a cat in my room?" 

My eyes went wide and I suppressed a smile, I was wondering where he had gone off to. Steve furrowed his brow at Natasha then looked down at me. I stood up, my grin showing through and I walked to the door. 

"That's just James, he likes the lingering smell of your perfume," I said, poking my head out the door and calling his name. From down the hall, James came bounding out of a room and towards me, stopping at my feet and rubbing up against my legs. Steve stood up from my bed and walked over to stand next to Nat as they both stared down at this new household member. Slowly a smirk came to Steve's lips as he made the connection to the cat's name. 

"When did he come around?" Steve asked.

"Tony got him when I was released from the hospital," I answered. Steve and Nat nodded. "I can still keep him right?" I joked. 

~~~

Everyone met back in the conference room, making sure we had everything we needed before leaving. Rhodey set the case for his War Machine suit on the table. 

"New suit?" Sam nodded towards me. 

"Yep," I replied. 

"Looks nice."

"Thank you." 

"I guess I should say this now before we get into another awkward situation," Bruce spoke up. "I've been having issues summoning the other guy, he's being a bit of an asshole right now, so I don't know how that's going to work when it comes down to a Code Green." 

Everyone remained silent, not sure how to react to this news. It almost became second nature for us to call in the Hulk when things got bad, but we also had to understand that the Hulk has a mind of his own and makes his own decisions. Especially after being the main host for two years on a different planet. 

"Have you ever worn the Hulk Buster?" I asked, pressing my fingers to my lips in thought. 

"Uh, no," Bruce replied. "I usually try to avoid Veronica at all costs, but I see where you're getting at."

"Cool, I'll go grab her," I said before turning to head towards the garage. 

"Does anyone else want to announce that their special abilities have all of a sudden stopped?" Rhodey asked as I left. "Wanda? You still good?"