Steve grabbed Kayla's waist to hold her back as James stood on the field. Everyone around him was giving him space, nobody daring to go closer as he panted. Kayla grabbed her mouth to keep from crying out, James's jacket sliding down her forearms to her elbows. She was shaking in terror as everybody stared at her baby, judging him for something he didn't even realize he had the power to do.
"Kayla." Steve whispered, gripping her hips tightly to pull her back against his chest, "Kay, we gotta go."
She turned to look at her husband incredulously, "He's our son-"
"And you know better than anyone the only way to protect him is from the outside. If people find out who he is- they'll take him." Steve murmured as he pressed his cheek against hers, holding her stomach from behind. "If we leave now, we give him a chance to get out of this. Right?" He looked to his left to meet Bucky's questioning gaze. Bucky turned to Tessa and she nodded quickly.
"Go. We'll do our best."
Kayla shook as she tightened the jacket around herself, "That's not good enough." She snarled under her breath as the ambulance sirens blared closer. She turned to her best friend with tears in her eyes, "Bring my son home."
Tessa grabbed Bucky's metal arm, clenching it tightly under his leather jacket as Steve shuffled Kayla through the murmuring crowd, everyone growing more anxious by the second at the events unfolding. Morgan noticed Steve and Kayla pushing through the crowd and raised her hand to get their attention. Kayla noticed the girl and hesitated, but Steve tugged on her arm, pulling her around the corner and out of sight.
"What's going to happen to him?" Sarah whispered as she clenched the railing until her knuckles turned white. She couldn't take her eyes off her brother as he stood shaking on the field. He dropped his helmet and took a step back when the paramedics arrived. His uniform was practically pristine, having spent most of the game sitting out. He was brought in at the last minute, and suddenly looked very suspicious.
One of the paramedics took the boy's pulse, then motioned for the stretcher, "He's alive, but he may be paralyzed. What happened?"
"He was launched across the field by him!" One of the players yelled as he pointed at James, causing the blonde to back up even more away from the situation. His coach finally approached him and put his hands on his shoulders.
"I think we should get you out of here-"
James grabbed his coach's hand on his shoulder and felt the man flinch at his touch. He began to breath heavily, looking around as everyone watched him in fear, "I- I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to take him down that hard. I'm sorry- I-"
"Hey, it's okay, accidents happen. You didn't mean to hurt anybody." Coach comforted James as he led him toward the bench where the rest of his team waited. When he arrived though, they stared at him with wide eyes, taking a step back to keep their distance.
James looked to Hunter and Brent, taking a step towards his friends, but Brent put his hands up as Hunter stepped back. "Dude... we can't do that. Nobody can do that."
"I can't even do that, it was just, a perfect accident. Maybe he was tripping, I- I don't know-" James stammered, but his friends stayed away, watching James like he was a tiger they'd thought was a house cat. James raked his fingers through his sweaty hair as he looked back, trying to find his family in the crowd, "I don't know what happened-" He looked to where Morgan and Sarah were standing, watching him worriedly. His jaw quivered when he looked into his sister's eyes, "I didn't mean to hurt anybody."
"We know James, it was an accident. You're gonna be just fine..." The coach trailed off before looked to the opposite sideline as they took the injured player away. He sighed in defeat when he noticed the security guards approaching from the side of the grandstands, "You're eighteen, aren't you?"
James looked up at his coach in terror, his jaw quivering as his green eyes looked for any sign of teasing, but found none. "You can't be serious?"
The coach pulled James by the arm, gently tugging the boy away from the other players, "If he dies, this could turn into something serious James- accidental manslaughter isn't out of the question. What you did was far outside the rules of fair play."
"I didn't realize I could do that!" James howled back, pulling away from his coach and wrapping his arms around his stomach nervously, "I didn't do anything wrong, I played like I always play-"
Bucky watched from the bleachers as James cowered off to the side, ostracized by his team and his once loyal band of followers. Ten minutes ago the stands shook with cheers of his name, but now James was something totally different. Bucky knew the feeling. A war hero one moment, a feared monster the next. Tessa held him tightly, watching James with a tight lip as she waited for them to let him go so they could take him home. Bucky didn't take his eyes off the boy as he said huskily, "They're here. It's up to you to get him out of here."
"Alright everybody, game's over, time to head home!" The police officer ordered the crowd over a bullhorn as two other officers motioned for everyone to leave. A female officer directing traffic came up to Morgan and Sarah, asking them nicely to leave.
Sarah shook her head back and forth fearfully and the cop placed a hand on her hip until Morgan intervened, "He's her brother. We aren't leaving until he does." The officer studied Morgan through narrowed eyes, pulling her radio from her belt and quietly asking when the players would be released.
She listened to her earpiece, holding her fingers over it to shield the noise from the impatient women. "Copy that," the officer studied Sarah for a moment, "I'm going to need to ask you to leave. All spectators have to leave before we can release the players."
"Our parents already left, who is supposed to make sure he's okay?" Sarah snarled and Morgan held her back easily, glaring back at the officer as Sarah pulled against her, "It was an accident, I need to make sure James is okay."
"He'll be fine, but you two need to leave. Now. Or you'll leave in the squad car." The woman barked back and Sarah finally allowed Morgan to pull her back a step, practically growling as she moved.
"Let's go home Sarah. We need to talk to your parents about what happened with you." Morgan reminded, but Sarah looked over her shoulder at the field one more time as the stands emptied slowly.
"I think I'm more worried about my brother at the moment." Morgan clicked her key fob to bring her car to life, then pulled up her sleeve to tap away on her wristband. "What are you doing now?" Sarah asked and Morgan shushed her, motioning with her head toward her car. She hit a button and the top slipped up as the two girls slid into their seats.
Morgan backed the car out of the parking spot and started driving out of the park, but she quickly jerked the wheel to the right and pulled off onto a small dirt road into the trees. She turned off the lights and the ignition, then pulled a small disk out of her band. She sat the band on the dashboard and a hologram of the football field appeared. "Holographic drone technology with reflective paneling. Makes the thing invisible, but we can watch what happens with your brother."
"And my parents?" Sarah asked as Morgan continued to tap on her band, bringing the audio to life.
"One thing at a time. That lady there- the scout- she's not here to give out scholarships." Morgan explained, using her fingers to turn the camera toward a dark haired woman in a black jacket approaching the field. Sarah looked to Morgan expectantly, but the brunette just offered a grim expression in return. "She's with SHIELD."
Back on the field, James was sitting alone on the bench as the field cleared. The two teams were kept separate, but he was kept away from everyone, out of precaution at the request of his teammates. The only person who dared to approach the boy was his coach, who stood ten feet away with his mouth in his hands as he stared at his star player.
"I'm scared." James admitted as he hung his head, staring at the grass as he tried to keep his breath steady.
"I know. I'm scared for you." His coach replied, but James didn't look up until two cops arrived at his feet. When he finally looked around, he saw his teammates were gone. He was the only one left.
He looked up to meet their eyes, wishing his mother was there to get him out of trouble. "I didn't mean to hurt anybody. It was an accident, I swear-"
"We clocked you at thirty-two miles per hour when you hit that kid. The fastest recorded speed in human history is twenty-seven miles per hour." James looked up past the officers to see a woman in her early sixties approaching with two government agents on either side. She stopped in front of James, studying him curiously, "Unless you've got something that makes you faster than the average man?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" James snarled up at the lady. He ground his cleats into the grass, feeling the earth peel beneath the pressure to ground himself. "Are you insinuating that I'm on drugs? How the hell did you clock my speed anyway?"
"We have our ways. There's no doubt that you're on something. Because the statistics don't lie." The woman handed James her clipboard and he tentatively grabbed it. He studied the numbers, grinding his teeth as he took in the information he'd been given. He looked up at the woman defiantly as he handed her the clipboard.
"I'm not on drugs. I swear on my life. This is just good old fashioned hard work." James gestured to himself and the woman grinned, leaning over to whisper something to the person next to her. James stood up and stretched out his arms, his muscles pushing against the shoulder pads, "Listen, I gotta call my parents, I think my dad should come down here and talk to you-"
"Yes. Great idea. Why don't you give your dad a call. I'd love to talk to him about your steroid problem." The woman taunted with a grin and James took the bait, striding towards her a step.
"I'm not on drugs! I already told you that!" James huffed, starting to wonder if these were the people his parents were hiding from. They seemed to stare at him, trying to find something in him. Perhaps they thought he looked like his father. He raised head bravely, determined to solve the problem alone. To protect his family. "Listen, I promise you, I played clean. I feel terrible about what happened-"
"So you wouldn't be opposed to us proving it?"
James froze at her question, looking over to his coach for answers, but the older man just shook his head. James wasn't getting any help from him. He grunted as he heaved off his pads, discarding them on the ground and shaking his shoulders to loosen them up. He considered saying no, but that would make him seem even more suspicious. He placed his hands on his hips confidently, "I have nothing to hide."
"No, no no no! He's not going anywhere with you." Tessa growled as she placed herself between James and the agent. The older woman looked down at Tessa curiously, but the feisty brunette just pointed at James over her shoulder with her thumb. "He's coming with me."
"And who are you exactly?" The woman was unimpressed by Tessa's determination. One of the agents at her side reached out to restrain Tessa, but his leader stopped him.
"Hi. I'm Tessa. I'm his aunt, and I'm taking him home now." Tessa cooed as she reached back and put one hand on James's stomach to push him back a step. "Who the hell are you?"
"My name is Maria Hill. I'm the Director of SHIELD." Maria answered easily and Tessa's eyes widened as she backed into James, "And your nephew says he has nothing to hide. We monitor potential threats, and he is willing to prove he isn't one. Unless you know something we should?"
Tessa swallowed, looking to her side for some clue as to what to say or do next, "He's just a kid. He's not going to admit to being on steroids."
"Aunt Tess!" James hissed, gently pulling her to his side so he could address Maria Hill again, "I'm not taking any drugs, I promise! I'll prove it!"
"James, come on, just admit it... there's no way you could be that strong without something helping you." Tessa growled through clenched teeth, but James didn't pick up the hint. She deflated a little and added, "Listen, I won't tell your parents. You can tell me the truth." Maria's gaze stayed on Tessa for a few moments as she tried to get James to confess, eyes lingering on her left hand for a second.
"You're married." It was a statement, not a question. Tessa stayed tight lipped. Maria nodded in understanding, "I see. So you're protecting him too, right? Interesting. Seems like your family has a lot of secrets, James Carter."
"I'm not hiding anything! Take me in. Run your tests and it'll prove I'm not taking any steroids. Get what you need and let me go home." James answered, crossing his arms boldly. He looked up when he felt his hair begin to blow and a jet plane began to land on the football field. He gulped, looking to this Director person nervously, "We aren't going to the hospital to run tests are we? Maybe I should call my parents-"
Maria smiled sadly, "Kid, I have a feeling your parents aren't coming. I don't think you even know who you are." The back door to the quinjet opened and the two agents each took one of James's arms and ushered him into the jet. He looked over his shoulder at Tessa, but didn't resist, allowing the agents to take him for testing.
"Wait! You can't do this, he's just a teenager! This is kidnapping-" Tess yelled as she sprinted toward Maria. The Director of SHIELD turned quickly to face down the smaller woman and Tessa quivered in her sights. "Let him go."
Maria just stared at Tess blankly for a moment before circling back toward the jet, calling over her shoulder, "If you want him back, your husband knows where to find him, Mrs. Barnes."