When Sparks Fly

Captain America

Sam and I fly out with Karli, mostly to give Sharon enough cover to leave without being caught. The two of us gently glide down onto the streets, where there are reporter, police and citizens. When we land I walk with Karli in my arms until a team of paramedics come with a gurney. I lay Karli down before they take her away and I continue to walk with Sam, who has placed an arm around me. When I look up, trying to stand strong and look stoic as many others had before me, I see Bucky and John between to ambulances. Sam and I start to make our way toward them but we get swarmed by a group of reporters, "what happened to the Flag Smashers?"

"When did the government make you Captain America?"

"What do we call you now is it still Falcon or is it Captain Falcon?"

We continue to walk until we get to Ayla, "Sam, Phoebe, thank you so much, from all of us."

The Senator nods in agreement, "sincerely. You two did your part in dealing with those terrorists, now we'll do ours."

Sam takes a deep breath, "are you still going forward with resetting the borders?"

The second woman working with the GRC with Ayla and the Senator nods, "our peacekeeping troops will begin relocating people soon. The terrorist only set us back a bit."

"You have to stop calling them terrorists," I shake my head.

"What else would we call them?" The Senator shakes his head a bit confused.

"Your troops carrying weapons are forcing millions of people into settlements around the world. What do you think those people are gonna call you? We can't label people; terrorist, refugee, thug..." I look up to Sam, "they're often used to get around the question, why?"

"Those settlements that happened five years ago," the second woman crosses her arms, "do you think it is fair for governments to have to support them?"

I shake my head, a bit taken back, "yes."

The Senator sighs, "and the people who reappeared only to find someone else living in their family home. They just end up homeless?" Sam and I shift a bit, honestly, I find it comical that they expect us to have all the answers when they were suggesting doing the exact same thing to the other half, "look, I get it."

"Do you?" I cross my arms.

"Ms. Rose, with all do respect, you have no idea how complicated this situation is."

The Senator begins to walk away and as he does Sam speaks up, "you know what? You're right." The Senator stops and turns back to Sam and I, "and that's a good thing. We finally have a common struggle now. Think about that. For once, all the people who've been begging, and I mean, literally begging for you to feel how hard any given day is.... Now you know. How did it feel to be helpless? Now if you could remember what it was like to be helpless and to face a force so powerful it could erase half the planet, you would know that you're about to have the exact same impact. This isn't about easy decisions, Senator."

"You just don't understand."

Sam scoffs as I shake my head and look down, luckily for the Senator I keep my mouth shut and let Sam do the talking. "I'm a black man carrying the Stars and Stripes. What don't I understand? Every time I pick this thing up, I know there are millions of people out there who are gonna hate me for it. Even now, here... I feel it. The stares, the judgement. And there's nothin' I can do to change it. Yet, I'm still here. No super serum, like Phoebe. No blonde hair or blue eyes, like John or Steve. The only power I have is that I believe we can do better. We can't demand that people step up if we don't meet them halfway. Look, you control the banks. Shit, you can move borders! You can knock down a forest with an email, you can feed a million people with a phone call. But the question is, who's in the room when you're making those decisions? Hmm? Is it the people you're gonna impact? Or is it just more people like you?" Sam takes a deep breath and looks down to me before he looks around the group, "I mean, this girl died trying to stop you, and no one has stopped for one second to ask why. You've got to do better, Senator. You've got to step up. Because if you don't, the next Karli will. And you don't wanna see 2.0. People believed in her cause so much that they helped her defy the strongest governments in the world. Why do you think that is?"

The Senator and two women shake their heads unable to answer. I take a deep breath and try to calm myself, "you people have just as much power as an insane god... or a misguided teenager. How are you going to use it?" With that Sam places a hand on my back and we walk away. But before we get to the boys I stop and shout to the crowd, "let's hear it for Captain America!" As I begin to clap so does the crowd and even Bucky and John.

Sam chuckles and looks over to me, "does this make you my new partner?"

When he makes this comment we are close to Bucky, who shakes his head and gently takes my hand, "nope, that'd be my title, sorry." Bucky smiles down to me, "also I was texting so all I heard was, um, 'a black guy in Stars and Stripes.' So..." We all chuckle a bit as we start to walk away, "nice job, Cap."

"Thanks."

When we get out of view of everyone and behind the ambulances we walk over to Sharon, who is treating her gunshot wound. "You're blocking my light."

"Girl, you gotta go to a hospital," I shake my head and cross my arms.

Bucky shakes his head, "she's not gonna listen."

Sharon shrugs, "it's not the worst thing that's happened to me all week."

"Told you."

"Don't start that with me, Barnes," I shake my head.

Bucky chuckles, "oh, we're going with last names now?"

"Uh, Cap?" As Bucky and I banter a man calls out to Sam.

Sharon takes a deep breath, "I think he's talking to you," she gestures to Sam. She looks down to her wound before looking up to me, "look, I'm sorry for how things ended down there."

"Alright," Bucky shakes his head, "look, can we get out of here, please?" Bucky starts to walk away with Sharon. "I'll see you soon. Don't let him do anything stupid."

I nod, "I didn't forget my promise."

Sam and I turn to the man who called out to him, "what's up?"

The man takes a deep breath, "so, we have eyes on the last Flag Smasher that fell into the Hudson."

Sam then turns to me, "you through someone into the Hudson?"

I shrug, "he's fine."

The man nods, "he's hurt but not down. Can you help?"

"Always," Sam nods before taking off.