Eva was digging over some fossilized turf near the Avenger HQ's coppice border when a pair of arms wrapped around her arms and lifted her into the air.
"What the fu- SAM!" she screamed, wavering between wanting to punch him or cling onto his super suit for dear life. "PUT ME DOWN!"
"Sure," he said, and let go- a hundred and twenty feet above the ground.
She screamed as the lawn rushed up towards her, desperately praying to anyone who might be listening for a miracle, and just as she was close enough to smell the grass Sam dived in and pulled her up into the air again, laughing. He soared up to the HQ's roof on his mechanical wings and dropped her gently onto the gravel, at which point she promptly turned around and whacked him.
"Ow!"
"Never do that again, Sam Wilson!" she yelled, pointing a trembling finger in his face. He grinned back at her. "God, I hate you."
"I know. Man, I hope the security cameras caught that." She groaned. "C'mon, staff meeting."
"Y'all actually have those?" she asked, trotting after him to the door as curiosity overrode her indignation. "Jeez, this place is like a real life sitcom."
"Gotta get the admin done somehow." The scanners picked up their IDs attached to their clothes, and she followed him down to the conference room. "I brought the gardener."
"Good," said the administrator, who was stood at the head of the table along with Hill and the captain. Also there were the Avengers (excluding Wanda and Rhodes, who were on an op), the head of security along with Eva's best buddy Pete, the chef, the public military liaison officer, the boss janitor, a Stark rep, the accountant, a couple of other guards, and the administrator's PA. And Eva. A circus would look like an ordinary group of people in comparison.
There was also a distinct lack of coffee; Eva made a mental note to remedy this in future. While Sam took his place to the right of Rogers, she stood near the window with Vision, who had been saving her a space. "You look a little windswept," he whispered, "did Sam give you a lift, by any chance?"
"Hmph," she said, and waved him forward to go and stand with most of the other superheroes at the front
The meeting was actually kind of boring at first- Cap didn't go into detail on the missions, and the rest was all admin and publicity stuff, really- that is, until Eva got a text, about ten minutes in.
From: Is it a bird? Yes
You'll want to listen to this part x
"… The production company has assured us it'll be completely impartial," Hill was saying, "but after Ultron, and what with Ross doing everything he can to turn the government against us, it's pretty obvious they're looking for some dirt. These aren't the kinda films you starred in during the forties, Steve. Sorry."
"So I don't have to wear tights?" Rogers asked, and there was a small ripple of nervous laughter.
"What's happening?" Eva whispered to the guard sat next to her.
"Some hacks want to make a documentary," she replied. Barton, who was on her other side so he could get a better view of everyone else in the room, leaned over to join their conversation.
"Inside the A-Team, they wanna call it," he explained, "y'know, like that One Direction movie."
The other two both stared at him. "Seriously?" Eva asked.
"What? I have a daughter!" he said reproachfully.
Eva snickered, and raised a hand. "If they're trying to make us look bad," she said, "why are we inviting them in?"
"To prove them wrong," said Hill. "Quite frankly, we need the good publicity."
"So… there's just gonna be, like, a camera team round for a couple weeks?"
"That's the plan," Cap told her. "Please, everyone be nice to them."
"He's right," said Hill, "best behavior, people. Let's prove Thaddeus wrong, shall we?"
"Stark doesn't think he's wrong," someone pointed out. "Not on some stuff, anyway."
Hill pursed her lips. "What Stark thinks doesn't matter right now," she said, "it's what the average guy on the street thinks that does. Hell, look at the recent Watchdogs activity, all the internet hate groups… we need to prove that Enhanced humans aren't just benevolent, that they're just like everyone else. Hence why we let the cameras in – let them see you as humans, not people on a poster."
"And remember, guys," Romanoff added with a smirk, "no swearing. Steve wants us to be well-behaved."
"Very funny, Nat."
"Who's Ross?" Eva whispered to Barton, as the meeting ground relentlessly onwards.
"Secretary of State. Wants everyone who could make HYDRA's old super-threat algorithm ping on one end of a leash. The other end being in his hand."
"Doesn't sound like you like him very much," Eva said, and the archer shrugged.
"I was never very good at politics. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, coffee girl. We'll sort it out, we always do."
Yeah, Eva thought, with a hell of a lot of collateral damage, usually. But she bit her tongue before she said it out loud – even she, a lowly gardener and barista, could sense how tense everybody was. Not my problem, she reminded herself. Keep your head down, Kresk. There's a storm coming, and this is no argument for a civilian like you.
A/N I rewrote this chapter about five minutes ago to make it a lot more Civil War-y. That being said, this entire little plot point was done just so I could make the One Direction gag. The lengths I will go to to make a bad joke are unfathomable.