Protesting
Michelle had just joined the protest, a sign in one hand reading “Immigrants make America great” as she set an alarm on her phone so she could head back to the hotel in time for dinner. Liz and she were sharing a hotel room and she had informed the girl they would be sneaking into the pool later with a mischievous smile some would call innocent. She had promised she’d be there to please the older girl who had already started her pleading as Michelle finished making her sign.
“Come on, MJ! It’ll be fun.” Liz had encouraged, eventually joining the girl as she sat on the floor. She started handing her different paints to make the American flag and multiple pride flags.
MJ smiled, keeping her eyes trained on the work in front of her. Liz was the only person she let get away with calling her that. She said it when she first asked her to join the decathlon team and hadn't stopped since. Well, at any rate not when they were in private.
“Fine. I’ll go. I’m still going to the protest, but I’ll be there."
Michelle was observant. She knew how stressed out the team was. Maybe a crashing the pool would make everyone ease up a bit, all of them were too young for gray hairs.
Okay. Michelle thought. You have an hour you can be here and then you need to head back, make it count.
She automatically made her way through the crowd, holding her sign up as she went. She’d been at multiple protests before, she lived in New York for crying out loud. She had to admit that this was much… bigger than she anticipated. She figured maybe a few hundred people but there were easily a thousand. Some of them looked around her age and some she recognized as other decathlon kids she’d seen at meets before.
She froze, wishing anyone on her team had gone with her. Maybe even Parker- Nope! Nope. She had to get out of that line of thinking. It was bad enough she was the first to notice when he wasn’t in the room or how he drummed his fingers on the side of the bell during meets to calm himself as he waited for the next question. He already invaded her thoughts too much, she wasn’t about to let him invade this too.
She took a breath and stepped forward only to get knocked down. Her sign fell out of her hand and an annoyed look graced her face. “Watch where you’re walking or do you make a habit out of-!”
“Sorry, ma’am,” the man said. He wore a baseball cap, a hoodie, and from what she could actually see from his face a worried expression. He knelt down, offering a hand to help her up.
She gave him a once over before grabbing his hand in hers and her sign in the other. She nodded her head as she stood. “You’re from Brooklyn, aren’t ya?”
She couldn’t help it. Her mind always raced a million miles a second and she always was blunt about her knowledge. From how he spoke and dressed she gathered he was somewhat old-fashioned but working on being more modern. The way he shifted showed he was anxious or suspicious. His grip when he helped her up was strong and his build reminded her of a military officer. If he hadn’t spoken she would have assumed a solider raised in the south but she could recognize New York accents from anywhere. He looked oddly familiar too.
He paused. “What makes you say that?”
Her shrug resulted in him giving her a harsh look she could feel even under his sunglasses. “Accent, it’s subtle compared to most but it’s there. Why are you at the protest?”
“I didn’t come to protest, just have rotten luck when it comes to visits.”
Michelle frowned, assuming he considered the protest a bother on his vacation or military leave. “Protests are patriotic.”
He smiled, though he seemed suspicious. “That they are.”
Michelle started feeling awkward, he never turned away from her and he had his eyes covered. She never liked when people wore sunglasses because she didn’t know what to expect. She just had word of mouth and body language to go by. She shifted oddly from one foot to another for a few moments.
“So, enjoying your military leave?”
That seemed to have opened the floodgates for him. His slightly suspicious smile turned into a flat line as he took her by her bicep and pulled her through the crowd. She had dropped her sign after being pulled a little too roughly and knocking into a few people. She looked up to try to tell him to stop but he looked too angry for her to reason with and she didn’t want the protest turning into anything more than a peaceful demonstration, so she didn’t fight him as he walked and instead tried to keep pace.
Fuck, Michelle. You made it weird again. People tend to not like having a stranger tell them their life story, when will you-!
He had stopped after weaving them in and out of the lineup of street vendors, pushing her against a wall away from the few of the few there. “What do you know and who sent you?”
His voice was stern and commanding, Michelle had no doubt she would give up he information if she understood what exactly he meant.
Her eyes flickered about, trying to determine what he meant. “Wh-Who sent me to the protest? I-I went on my own. No one on my team wanted to go with-.”
He pulled of his glasses and his glare honestly made Michelle fearful. If anything, that glare confirmed he had to be military personal, most likely a higher up who fixed his soldiers with that look many times.
“Your team? What team? Are you working for Stark or Ross or-?”
Michelle finally recognized him. Captain America was basically interrogating her behind a building. When did her life become some cliché action movie?
“I’m not working for anyone! I’m here with my decathlon team for a meet tomorrow and I wanted to go to the protest before dinner. That’s it! Besides, isn’t the worst idea for a war criminal to go to the capital of the country that declared him a war-?”
“Then how did you know about Brooklyn, and the military, and how did you recognize me, and-!”
“I didn’t recognize you until you so rudely pushed me against a dirty wall and threw off your glasses!” She huffed in exasperation. His look of anger and confusion spurred her on. “Your accent is vague but I can hear the Brooklynn there. I thought at first it was because you were in the military for a while but now I guess it’s because the accent I recognize as Brooklynn right now wasn’t exactly the same in the 40s. Your posture and physic point to some sort of combat training and because we’re in D.C. I assumed military.” She pointed to his feet. “You shifted uncomfortably when we talked so I assumed you were on a dishonorable discharge or could get in trouble with higher ups is you were seen at the protest. Your grip when you helped me stand back up was stronger than an average person so it confirmed the possible military background thing.” She glared up at Steve Rogers. “Happy?”
He looked at her in shock. “Who trained you?” His face scrunched up and he asked another question before she could answer. “How old are you anyway?”
“No one trained me, I’m just really observant.” She shrugged, still awkwardly being pushed against the wall. He was really strong to state the obvious. “And I’m fifteen, I turn sixteen in May.”
His shook off his surprise and returned with a hard look. “I need proof before I let you go.”
She paused for a moment. “In the left pocket of my jacket I have my cell phone. The passcode for it is 9-5-8-5. If you unlock it and open the Twitter app you’ll see a group chat with me and the other decathlon kids. In there will be a photo from our last meet that qualified us for nationals. It was published in a few so that’s a few sources with photo proof that I am Michelle Jones and that I am a student.”
He used one hand to hold her in place in case she tried to make a break for it as he retrieved the phone from her jean jacket. She had to coach him though how to open the app and what to click but eventually he got to the photo of them in the paper. It had been sent along with a message saying “Nationals, here we come.” From someone named Peter Parker.
“Is that enough proof?” She asked, more annoyed now then scared. It felt odd to her she wasn’t afraid, he was a war criminal after all.
Eh, she’d always been one to resist authority.
He took a few more moments to check. She explained how to google search her name and find her information on the online school rooster along with a few news articles about her on decathlon and the many accomplishments of her parents in the medical field. He slowly nodded, softening his grip on her until he was just patting her shoulder. She winced, knowing it would probably bruise. She assumed he was trying to soothe her while still remaining suspicious.
He still held on to her phone, seemingly looking over the information and storing it for later. She realized too late that Captain American now knew her full name and where she went to school. Pretty sure that wasn’t a good thing.
“Are you here because of the Accords?” She asked. She regretted it as soon as he looked at her.
His expression was almost broken. Like the mere mention of it hurt him. “Let me guess, you think I’m committing treason by not signing. I’ve heard it all before kid.”
It was her turn to look confused. “What? No. The Accords are terrible. Anyone who’s actually read them would agree.”
He looked up, hope in his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“The Accords not only limit the Avengers ability to help, it demands that they fight whatever the UN deems necessary. Clearly the UN could abuse that and use the Avengers as a tool to for fear instead of hope which is what you guys are supposed to be.” Steve smiled a bit when she mentioned you guys and hope in the same sentence. “It also puts vigilantes at risk for simply helping without telling the government who they are.” She paused. “Like, Spider-Man and Daredevil and heroes like them. They’d be hunted down and forced to sign the accords or they’d be forced to do nothing. Well, those two or become a criminal of war, no offense.”
“None taken.” He breathed. He let go of her shoulder. “Huh. I didn’t realize any of the people were behind us. I just assumed they’d all turn on us.”
Michelle rolled her eyes. “Oh please. The public may have a way to go, but we have access to reading the Accords as well. I still think there should be something the Avengers agree to so they can work with the governments in nations they fight in, but it’s not the Accords. The last thing we need is for our heroes to be used against the people they’re supposed to inspire to be better. There has to be some way to work with the government not under them.”
Steve looked at her quizzically before looking around the ground for the sunglasses he threw before. “You distrust the government?”
Michelle raised an eyebrow, joining Steve on his search. “You realize you're speaking of the same government that went from having a black president to a racist president, right?”
Steve nodded. “Fair enough.” He grabbed the glasses, slowly putting them back on before turning to the young girl. “I’m sorry, by the way. Also, thank you.”
“Why are you thanking me?”
He paused. “I guess in a way you gave me hope that the Avengers could come together again. It maybe years from now, but that it will happen. We just… can’t agree on the details right now.”
She smiled, which was a bit odd for her. “Um… I do need my phone back, sir.”
“Oh, right!” he handed it to her easily. “If you ever need anything or decide that maybe your observation skills aren’t something to shrug about, give me a call.”
She held her phone, chuckling as she unlocked it. “I don’t have your-.”
But she did. Her phone unlocked to the contacts page and showed the initials S.R. next to a phone number. She looked up, planning to give him a look of confusion but he was no longer there. Huh. The righteous man with a plan seemed to also be the world’s fastest sprinter.
Her phone rang loudly with her alarm, alerting her to the fact she had ten minutes to catch a taxi to the hotel before Liz started blowing up her phone. Fearing the wrath of her captain, she ran off.
She had a war criminal's phone number and that war criminal was the same person she wrote her history paper on last year. He also insinuated that she had some sort of power due to her observations. He also also knew her personal information and could reach her if he wanted to.
Her life really was becoming a cliché action movie, all she needed was the love intrest.