The eyes beneath the mask betrayed no emotion.
Steve took one look, then raised his shield.
The man on the roof moved.
He offered no warning and made no probing attack.
His right foot stepped off the edge of the roof, and his body dropped with it. His mechanical left arm swept through the air with a heavy rush, all five fingers pressed together as he drove straight for Steve's throat.
Steve twisted aside.
The metal fist swept past his chin.
The next instant, the man drew a Tactical Knife with his right hand. Its blade skimmed around the edge of the shield, and he used the momentum of his landing to stab backhanded at Steve's ribs.
Clang!
The Vibranium Shield pressed down on the spine of the blade.
The mechanical left arm followed, slamming hard into the shield.
A visible ring of compressed air burst outward, shaking the puddles beside the road into a fine mist.
Steve's feet dragged two black streaks across the ground, and his injured thigh suddenly went numb.
Such strength.
Not an ordinary enhanced human.
His opponent wasn't using street-fighting moves, either. Every strike targeted a vital spot. Elbows, knees, blades-there wasn't a single wasted movement.
The man gave him no time to breathe.
The mechanical fist came crashing down again.
Steve brought his shield across to block, thrusting his right fist out from behind it and driving it hard into the man's chest.
The man's body swayed.
He didn't retreat.
He headbutted Steve across the bridge of the nose, then drove his knee toward the injured leg.
Steve gritted his teeth and shifted his left foot half a step back. He had barely avoided the knee when the knife swept upward from below.
Its tip sliced through his uniform and skimmed the skin of