"A Second American Hero... Well that's a coincidence. What happens now? You just gonna drop her at Rogers' doorstep?"
( steve rogers & oc - deborah murphy)
( post the avengers ➙ avengers: endgame )
*on hiatus
set during avengers: age of ultron ▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂
Debbie wondered if the smell of smoke was permanently in the air, or permanently in her nostrils; if it was the same smoke that clouded her vision whenever her adrenaline spiked and when the entire room waited on her to make a decision. But the smoke was too elusive for her to pin it down to one specific moment or reason. In the next moment, she was irritated by the high pitch of a whirling sound in her ear. She had to crank her neck to the side, scrunching her face on one side at the earpiece that was screeching in her head. Thankfully, even though to the protests of everyone on the other channels, Steve recommend that she take it out and he would relay anything of any consequence.
So far, after three hours in Sokovian capital, everything had been going to plan.
"I read something," Steve started gently. Meanwhile, Debbie was still recovering from the throbbing in her right ear.
Silently, she considered his words across their cafe table, where two half drained cups of black, plimsole like, coffee was sitting stilly.
"On the internet," he added in a consequential, sharp breath.
Debbie felt her neck loll to the side as she suppressed a sigh. "Steve..."
"I don't believe any of it."
"Wait. Any of what?"
"The stuff about the shadows... and the radiation field, the stars, the flag, the footprints... and the..."
"Little green men?"
Steve said knowingly, "Pretty sure that's Mars."
"I can explain all of those things—"
"To Clint. And Natasha. And Tony... if Banner hasn't killed him already. It wouldn't hurt explaining to Thor again either," he said, taking a sip of his stale coffee.
For most of the stares that came their way, even though Debbie and Steve had their altered appearances, the sound of the rounded vowels of their accents attracted glares. However, from the cafe owner and several more older people, who were probably defeated by the fighting long ago and forging for a new relationship with the west, were polite and friendly with the couple. At midday, Steve and Debbie had got talking to another young couple who were students on an outreach programme in American efforts to stretch thought the borders of battle and take a route of knowledge into the Sokovian population. Through shared knowledge of aerospace engineering and the prospect of a new research partner, Debbie, and by association Steve, they had been invited to the university for the next day. It would be the safest place to ask questions about American ambition's past and still get the truthful information that they needed, like what had happened between Senator Shannon, Dr. Kuznetsov and the Winter Soldier.
