Meeting Captain America
The street was moderately crowded but very noisy one morning when Steve and Leslie were walking next to each other. Suddenly, Steve pulled Leslie tight to his side. Before she could squeak out a question, a bicycle messenger raced by, so close a handlebar stirred her hair.
"Thanks," she said. "I didn't hear him coming."
"Super senses have to be good for something," Steve joked. Two bicyclists passed on the other side of the street, pedaling furiously. "I'm surprised there are so many bike messengers with all the electronic communication you've shown me."
"Bicycles can get places faster than cars on these overcrowded streets," Leslie said. "And some things need to be delivered by hand — documents, blueprints, artwork."
"Lunch," Steve said thoughtfully. "The guy that passed us smelled of pastrami, mustard and rye bread."
Now that he mentioned it, Leslie noticed a whiff of pastrami still hanging in the air. They pondered that discovery for a moment, then Steve's stomach growled. Leslie giggled.
"There's a deli around the corner and two blocks up, right?" Steve said.
"You're right," Leslie agreed. "It's a little early for the lunch rush, but that should mean a shorter line."
They hastened to the deli, where Leslie got corned beef on rye with Swiss cheese and Steve got three pastrami with the works on giant hoagie rolls. He got two wrapped to go, so his appetite would attract less attention.
They sat at a tiny table in the back, knees bumping. Leslie gave Steve half the meat in her sandwich, which had been piled so high she couldn't get her mouth around it. Steve ate one of his giant sandwiches before Leslie finished half of hers. By that time, the lunch rush had started in full and everyone was too busy to pay any attention to the odd duo in the corner, so Steve consumed the second of his sandwiches and finished what Leslie couldn't eat of hers while she nibbled on a chocolate chip cookie. Soon after they left the deli, Steve unwrapped the third sandwich and began eating it as they walked along. Leslie was glad to see him eat his fill without being self-conscious about his appetite.
When she mentioned that, Steve reminded her what one of the treadmill makers had said.
"She said I probably never got enough to eat since I had my … uh, full growth spurt," he said. "She said it and you said it and that nice nurse Melody said it, so I guess I ought to believe it and eat what I need and not be embarrassed about it.
"And that reminds me, you said you were going to send her a congratulations card for her kittens. Do you want me to draw one for you?"
"That would be a lovely idea. I'm sure she'd like it," Leslie said.
The lunch rush was in full swing. The streets were crowded with pedestrian and vehicular traffic. They stopped at a corner waiting for a light to change. Horns blared and Steve winced. Leslie was about to suggest returning to the residence to escape the noise when several things happened at once.
Steve's head snapped to the left, looking up the street, then he grabbed Leslie and slung her across his body to a sheltered spot on his right side. A bicycle messenger zoomed past toward the street where the light had just changed.
Steve's left hand shot out and snagged the man by his backpack straps, hauling him backwards off his bike.
"What the hell!" the young man exclaimed, as his unoccupied bike continued into the street where it was hit by a car running the light and blasting its horn.
Behind it raced a police car, it's siren almost lost in the cacophony.
The bike was thrown in the air, back where it came from. The messenger yelped and ducked, covering his head.
A masked man leaned out the passenger window and began shooting back at the police car.
All the nearby pedestrians ducked or dodged away or flattened themselves to the sidewalk. Screaming added to the racket and the confusion.
Steve caught the flying bike with one hand and tore off the metal water bottle fastened to the frame. He dropped the bike, weighed the bottle thoughtfully and hurled it at the shooter. It hit like a missile, knocking the shooter backwards, finger still on the trigger. The gun fired inside the car, shattering the windshield. The driver lost control, spun out and ended up facing back the way he'd come. Facing two police cars with officers jumping out, guns drawn. The getaway driver slowly raised his hands. The gunman lolled unconscious in his seat.
Leslie tugged Steve's sleeve. "Time to go," she whispered.
They walked away quickly, like other sensible people were. Crowds of less sensible people thronged the scene with their cellphones out, blocking the cops' view of Steve and Leslie departing.
"Think anybody saw you?" Leslie asked.
"I can't be sure," Steve confessed. He scanned the people around them. "No one seems to be watching us now."
"Is anyone within earshot now?"
"No."
Leslie quickly called Maria Hill to tell her what happened. "It all happened so fast, I don't know if anyone saw what Steve did," Leslie said into the phone. "But there are always surveillance cameras these days."
"We'll take care of it," Hill promised. "You two go home and try to stay out of trouble!"
"We were just getting lunch!" Leslie protested, before setting out for home. SHIELD HQ was closer, so Leslie detoured there and they rode up the elevator to Maria's office.
"This is not home," the assistant director commented. "But as long as you're here …"
She took them to a dimly lit communications room where a dozen technicians hunched over keyboards and peered at screens. "They're looking for any images of your activities," she told Steve.
"What have you found?" she asked one curly haired tech.
"This traffic cam is the only good view," the young man replied. "Even then, it doesn't show his face." However, it did clearly show Steve's arm throw the water bottle.
The tech erased the arm and subtly moved the image of the bottle, making it appear to rebound off the pole of the traffic light Steve had been standing next to.
Steve was enchanted. "It's like artwork — animation," he said.
The tech ducked his head shyly. "Yes sir," he agreed.
He continued fast-forwarding through footage from other traffic cameras and security cameras nearby.
Fast forward was no problem for super soldier eyes. "There!" Steve said, pointing.
The tech rewound to find a bit of the back of Steve's head caught on a store's security cam. That image disappeared, too. "Good eye," the man said in approval. Then realized whom he was talking to and flushed in embarrassment. Steve patted his shoulder.
Other techs were scanning social media for any photos, but were coming up blank.
"It happened too fast," Leslie said. "Everyone ducked for cover. By the time they got their cameras out, we were walking away."
"That looks right," the first tech said. He showed them a wide view of the whole street from a store cam. Everybody was down, including Leslie. She was the only one looking toward Steve. Everyone else had their heads covered because of flying debris and bullets. Hand raised to catch the bike, Steve was the only one standing.
"That needs to go," Hill said. "But save a copy for Fury."
"Yes ma'am. This camera takes stills every two minutes. The one before shows a big crowd and a bike messenger riding toward the intersection. The one after shows a big crowd surging toward the street or running away. Cap isn't visible in either photo."
"Everything happened so fast," Leslie said again.
"Director Hill," a woman called.
They walked to her station. "This aired just a minute ago." She replayed a newscast. The bike messenger thanked the Good Samaritan who knocked him off the bike before he got into the street. The police said apparently the metal bottle bounced back into the car and knocked out the gunman. "It was just dumb luck," the police spokesman said.
"That sounds good to me," Hill said. "Stay on top of things," she instructed the techs. "People may post new photos when they get home. Reporters may find new witnesses. Let me know if anything changes."
The techs chorused agreement.
"We got lucky," Hill said. "I'm glad I don't have to explain a superhero sighting to Fury."
Leslie and Steve went back to Steve's apartment to stay out of trouble. They were in the middle of fixing dinner when Leslie stopped so abruptly that Steve bumped into her.
"huh!" she said, mostly to herself.
"What?" Steve asked.
"I just realized, that's the first time I've met Captain America," Leslie said.
"That guy? He's just a big show off," Steve said modestly.
"I thought he was pretty impressive," Leslie admitted, then she nudged her companion with her elbow. "But Steve Rogers, he's the guy I really admire."
A/N: Quite a while ago, someone asked me for an action scene. Since the story takes place before Cap is publicly outed during the Battle of Manhattan, he can't be too visible. This may be the only action you get.
