Her eyes are familiar, kind. Firm and steady, like Steve's...even when he was scared, his eyes showed nothing but determination and stubbornness. The same thing he remembered when fighting him before, in D.C.

"Definitely getting my practice hiding," he dryly smirks. "I don't know. Do they really expect what they did to last? Why else did they..."

He swallows again when he remembers the tests, the book, the words. Her hand on his chin steadies him like an anchor.

"Tch, whatever. I guess as long as you're here to insult me 'n' the beard I know the shit's not too deep yet."