The hearing was going to take place in a building adjacent to the Capitol, still under reconstruction after Lex Luthor's plan to make Superman's image to the public sink had blown it up. Bruce had arranged for a car to pick him up from the hotel, and when they finally reached the place, now surrounded with members of the press and random people there to show their support or lack of thereof to the Justice League, Steve finally felt the lump of doubt forming in his throat.
Was he really ready to do something so big? To be the face of the League? Was he ready to be on his own at all, after only two months in the twenty first century?
As he walked through the hall of the building, heading towards the large room where the hearing would take place, the lump in his throat became nausea in a split second.
"I can't do this…" he whispered to himself.
"Oh dear, sure you can!" Boasted a voice behind him. A voice Steve knew.
He looked behind him for a moment and found a tall man smiling brightly beneath the thick beard. He looked so different, dressed in a black suit and tie. "Hades? What are you doing here?"
"You thought we would leave you alone without Diana in a moment like this one? Oh please, we're better than that. We promised we would take care of you guys, and we are. My brother couldn't be here, previous engagements, but I was free to come. Need a hand?"
Steve shook his head. "No, not really. I just kind of wish Diana was here."
"Do I need to go and bring her here? It's a matter of a minute, trust me."
"No," he exclaimed, resolute. "I must do this on my own. It's been two months, it's time I take my first steps in this world, on my own. I'm a grown man, I got my vaccine shots done, I can make it."
Hades patted his shoulders. "That's the spirit, boy. Need a pick up?"
"Is it going to make me drunk again?"
The God chuckled. "Not this one. It's strictly non alcoholic." He pulled a steel flask from his jacket. "Here, have a sip. Persephone was right, you definitely need this."
Steve grabbed the container, opened it and gave it a quick sniff. "What is it?"
"Blueberry juice with elderflower extract and a tad of raw honey. She makes it, only fresh ingredients, and makes it last all winter." Steve took a sip and suddenly felt a strange sensation of heat spreading from his stomach to the rest of his body. "Warms your heart, uh?"
"Yeah! It's great! Are you sure I'm not going to make a fool of myself because I'm drunk?"
"Nah, Persephone calls it liquid courage, but it's not booze. She used to give it to the children, back in the day, when they felt discouraged and needed a quick boost. So, no, it's not going to make you drunk. Now go, there's a selection of representatives of the government that need your answers. I'll be in the public, unless someone starts a ruckus downstairs and I'll have to travel down to the Underworld. Good luck, Steve." They shook hands. "The Justice League is in good hands."
"Thanks, sir. For everything."
The God gave him a smile and a quick nod. "Don't mention it. Break a leg!"
It was the weirdest encouragement he had ever received. The God of the Underworld, straight from the Greek Mythology he had studied in school, had come to help him, for no reason at all. He had left his workplace and had come to see him, a complete nobody, just to give him a pick up.
"Well, I'll be damned if I let this opportunity go to waste." He squared himself up, clenched his fists and finally walked ahead inside the room. An already large crowd of politicians, Vice President included, had already gathered there. The Speaker of the House of Representative and the Minority Leader would officiate the hearing, according to the email he had received a couple of days before, and he could spot them both, behind a tall table.
"Alright… Here we are."
He didn't have to wait too long. The room got packed in less than ten minutes and the Speaker, a man about Steve's height with cropped black hair, dark eyes and neat mustache with a goatee stood and turned on the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please take a sit at your allotted places, we shall begin this hearing."
It took a while for everyone to find their seat, but once the noise had stopped and everyone was sitting quietly, the large room fell into a deathlike silence. "Good. Now, this commission has been called in the aftermath of the appearance of the group dubbed Justice League, composed of what the press and the people call superheroes. Now, we know nothing about the reasoning behind the group, if their motives are friendly and they intend to keep them so, or if there's something else. Now, we've been informed we have someone speaking on their behalf. Is this person here?"
"Yes!" exclaimed Steve, raising his free hand. "Yes, I'm here!" He walked towards the small podium in front of the balcony where the committee sat. He placed his case beside it and the coat on a chair behind him. He checked the microphone before speaking. "Captain Steven Rockwell Trevor, ID 8141921, former US Air Force, now official spokesperson of the Justice League. At your service."
"Welcome, Captain. Could you please tell us about the nature of your relationship with the Justice League?"
He was ready for that question. "Strictly work-related. I was among one of the first to come to aid in the aftermath of the battle against Doomsday and… well, I sort of made friends with Wonder Woman and she asked me to come here today. I have been appointed as the official representant for the Justice League with the authority, be it the US Government, the United Nations, NATO and the European Union too, should need arise."
"Friends?" asked one of the men.
Steve nodded. "Friends. Plain and simple. My girlfriend wouldn't be too happy about anything more than platonic with her, so yes, friends."
A short burst of hilarity coursed through the room. When it died down, the Speaker went on. "So you are in contact with them."
"Not constant," he lied. "They call me if they need it."
"And what's your current job?"
"I work for Wayne Enterprises." Technically, it was true. Bruce had set him up to be a consultant, a former pilot that would use his experience in aeronautics in the development of building materials and pieces for the construction of skyscrapers.
"And where do you live?"
"I'm currently employed in their Paris R&D section, a new joint venture with the École Polytechnique that started a couple of months ago. And before you ask, yes, Mister Wayne knows I've been contacted by the League and that I'm here. And yes, he approves."
He answered every question with the utmost sincerity, despite the fact that no word coming out of his mouth was even remotely true. And yet, he found it easier than ever, to keep this cover from blowing. He dared to look up to the balcony, where the general public and the journalist sat, and noticed Hades, sitting not too far away from Clark and Lois, giving him a quick and subtle thumbs up.
Doing good so far.
He wondered if Diana was really watching him. She had told him she would, through the online stream service of the CNN, but it was still office time for her. Maybe she had other stuff to do.
Anyway.
"Very well Captain Trevor. Now, do you have anything to report, from the members of the Justice League before we begin the questioning? Any spontaneous statement?"
"Uh, yes sir. The Justice League is a group of superheroes, both human and metahuman, that in the wake of an intergalactic invasion decided to come together and fight against it, considering humanity had no chance to do so by itself. What they do, they do it only with the intention of protecting innocent people from being harmed."
"Currently the Justice League is composed by…?"
"By Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg."
"All American citizens?"
Ah, here comes the fundamentalist and purist arsehole… thought Steve when he heard the question.
"Superman, though born on the now defunct planet Krypton, was raised in Kansas, Batman is native of Gotham, so is Cyborg. The Flash was born and raised in Central City, Aquaman in Maine, though he now resides in Atlantis where he rules as King. Wonder Woman… that's another story, but she has a valid Visa."
"So they all have legal documentation. They live, were born or at least they have the legal requirements to be here, on American soil."
"Yes, all of them. They also maintain a regular job to pay bills and taxes. Well, except for Aquaman and Wonder Woman, since they doesn't live here."
"I presume you cannot present their tax returns or their birth certificates," asked the Speaker.
Steve shook his head. "I'm afraid not, sir. My role is to preserve their privacy, to be their proxy with any authority that requires it. I'm their friend, and I intend to help them the best I can to keep their lives as they are now."
The questioning went on for an endless hour. Mostly menial things, they hammered like an angry blacksmith on the group's global intentions, their reliability and trustworthiness about them not going against the United States Of America. Not the world, nor the people. They were all interested in their freaking seats, their places of power. That was the matter, they were scared the Justice League would turn on them and take over the government. They didn't care about the safety of millions, billions of people in the world. They wanted to make sure they would keep their highly paid job. So Steve hammered back, even harder than them, swearing to a God he didn't really believe in anymore, bringing forth examples of the many times Superman had helped humanity and all the opportunities he had in his life to take over but never did.
And the same worked for everyone else. The powers of all the metahumans of the League hadn't manifested yesterday, they were either born with them or acquired them long before Steppenwolf came for the Mother Boxes. And no one, even though they had the chance to take over, had done such a thing.
Also, a long moment of global embarrassment brought an ice cold silence in the room, when Steve reminded them what had happened the last time politicians tried to meddle in the affairs of superheroes.
"Captain Trevor." The Speaker, trying to shake off the awkward moment, wanted to save his ass from the not so veiled accusation of having caused Superman's death. "What happened with Superman, nearly two years ago, was the result of a smear campaign put up by a now convicted psychopath."
"You followed his lead though. I remember what happened, I was watching. And all I saw was a bunch of scared children too afraid to ask him directly what he wanted to do. It's the same thing here. You called for a public hearing, because you wanted to show you still have the upper hand in a situation that's completely out of your control. But by the constant questions you've been asking me today, I see you are very far away from getting it back," he stated, quite boldly.
"Are you implying that we don't know how to do our job, Captain Trevor?" asked the guy fixated with citizenship and visas.
"No sir, I'm implying that you're just doing it the wrong way. You called the Justice League here, said it wouldn't be mandatory, but then stated that their refusal to come or send someone in their stead would be taken as an hostile act. I've spent the last few days trying to find the words to explain to you that a bunch of superstrong, superintelligent, superfast people that have done nothing but fight for humanity when humanity couldn't are not an enemy, and all you want to know is their visa state, or about their allegiance to the United States of America! You fail to grasp the fact that if they wanted, these guys could take over not only the US, but also the world! For heaven's sake, Superman was dead and now he isn't! Just the other day he saved a bunch of people from a sinking tanker in the Gulf Of Mexico and while he was there prevented the oil spill from contaminating the whole area for how long? Decades? Centuries?" His voice was growing louder and louder each word he spoke, and he knew it, he was getting over excited about the situation, and he couldn't help himself. "Billions of people owe these guys their lives. Without them, Steppenwolf would have conquered the planet and we would now be slaves of an intergalactic conqueror. And all you care about is if League intends to take over the government of the United States? Don't you think they would have already, if they wanted such a thing?"
"Try to think from our point of view," started the Minority Leader. "The people of the United States deserve answers."
"Yes, but they need the answers to the right questions! I highly doubt a man with a bullet in his gut worries too much about the nationality of the surgeon stitching him up, I know I don't care. I've been cured by doctors of many nationalities and I owe them my life, do you think I care where they came from? No! I cared that they weren't alcoholics, I cared that they knew how to stitch me up! Not about their nationalities! Yes, Batman is a Gothamite, born and bred. Superman was adopted by a lovely family in Kansas and his mother is an absolute sweetheart that makes the best chocolate chip cookies you can think of. Wonder Woman is of Greek origins but she's a huge fan of baseball. Aquaman is a mean surfer, before the accident that nearly killed him Cyborg was a rising star of college football and Flash is the geeky kid that was always picked on in school, more American than that there's only the parchment where the Founding Fathers wrote the declaration of Independence! You want the people to know for sure that the Justice League doesn't want to take over them? Well, let me tell you this. Batman has been around for two decades. He lost a son, because of the insane crime of Gotham. He is smart enough to hack every single computer existing in the United States, find our deepest secrets and sell them to the highest bidder. He has done nothing. Superman is thirty six, his powers manifested when he was two and kept evolving through childhood and puberty. Has he tried to take over the world yet? No, every day he goes home from work, kisses the woman he loves and cherishes her, like she's a goddess! And speaking of goddesses, do you know what Wonder Woman does, in the end of the day? She cooks. Her spanakopita is to die for by the way. And Flash? He watches Rick and Morty, religiously! Oh, and Aquaman wants to take his wife to Paris. Then let's talk about Cyborg's dreams, crushed by a freak accident, that still goes to the park to throw a ball with his friends! Ladies, gentlemen… I know metahumans have a bad record. I know about Midway City, about the Suicide Squad. I know about rampant crime spree, genocidal psychopaths that want to take over the world and how they tricked everyone into thinking that metahumans are dangerous, but stop for a moment and ask yourself about what these people have done. Do they look like a threat? Did ever ever give you the impression that they could be a threat to national security?"
"No," replied the Minority Leader. "But they could, one day."
"And I get it, you're all worried about tomorrow. But think in perspective. Look in perspective, at their track record. What has Superman done to make you think he could, one day, decide he wants to rule the world?"
Steve flashed a look towards Clark, up in the balcony, and saw a wide smile on his face.
"Nothing," she replied.
"Batman?"
"Is he even real?" asked another senator. "No one reliable enough has ever seen him and brought back hard evidence of his existence."
"I've had coffee with him just a couple of months ago, but I understand. Anyway, he's real when he needs to be. What about Wonder Woman?"
"I can't really think of anything."
"Aquaman? He's a king, he rules a nation, he could submerge earth with water if he wanted to. He has ruled over Atlantis for over fifteen years now. Do you know why the tsunami after the earthquake in Japan, in 2011, hasn't caused more damage or casualties? Because he pushed it back. Cyborg? The Flash?"
No one dared to speak.
"Still, a month or so ago, you were ready to pass a law that would make it illegal for these guys to work together. Without even asking who you are. At least Senator Finch, may she rest in peace, had the guts to ask Superman what he was all about. The fact that Lex Luthor conspired against her and the whole government to put Superman in a bad light, make him look like a terrorist doesn't matter. She tried to see things from different perspective. You were simply ready to ban the Justice League from doing what they do best."
The Speaker chuckled, loud, in the microphone. "And what would it be?"
"Keep your sorry asses glued to your seat when you can't."
The audience, in the balcony, stood up, clapped and cheered. It took a while for silence to return in the room. The loud reaction to his last words gave Steve the absolute certainty he was winning the debate, he had the upper hand, the people were with him. At least those that were in the room with him. Even some of the politicians in the committee were on his side, he could read it on their faces.
"Now, let me tell you a story. Indulge in the memories of a war veteran with post traumatic stress disorder. The war left me hopeless. I looked around and I only saw the worst humanity could give. Then I met Wonder Woman. We were lifting rubble, after the battle against Doomsday. She had fought nail and teeth against that… that thing. But she was still there, searching for any victim. Looking for survivors, under the pile of steaming ashes and broken concrete. She gave me hope. Batman, he offered a mug of coffee when I needed one. He pointed me in the right direction, when I was looking for work. The Flash, he presented me my girlfriend, an exceptional woman I love with all my heart and then some more, a woman I wish one day will make me the happiest man on earth and allow me to pride myself to be called her husband. Superman, he was a friend when I needed one. A shoulder I could cry on, even. And you know what he said, when I asked him why he would just be a superhero, when he could be a god among us? He said he doesn't care about being a god. All he wants is to go home at night, to his fianceè, cherish her and make her happy. The real Superman is just a boy from Kansas, the devoted son of a farmer and a waitress, that happens to also be… super. And to hold alcohol way better than me."
That was it, he had them. Steve had won the debate. He knew it. It was written on the faces of every single committee member in front of him. From their high chairs, from their places of power so neatly saved by those they wanted to sully, not three months before, they were at a loss. They didn't know how to reply. They had nothing left to say.
And they knew he knew.
They were powerless now.
"I guess we have the answers we came from, Captain." The Speaker's voice was dull and carried a distinct tone of barely repressed anger that only served to make Steve feel even more powerful, despite being a lowly human. "The hearing is adjourned. Please make sure to leave us ways to contact you, should need arise."
"Will do, sir. Feel free to call or email me anytime."
He nodded. "Very well. It was a pleasure, Captain. Now we'll leave you to the journalists. I'm sure the press will have lots of questions to ask."
"And I'll gladly answer them, if I deem it possible. Thanks for hearing me out. Now, if you'll excuse me."
He grabbed his case and his coat, then walked out the room, people clapping as he moved away. Steve had just stepped outside the room when he was literally assaulted by a crowd of journalists yelling questions and taking photographs. He had been expecting it, Lois and Clark had warned him about that type of behavior, so he was ready to counterattack.
"Please, ladies and gentlemen, don't push!" he said loud, to be sure the people around him would hear him. "Please, there's no need. I will gladly answer your questions in a press conference that will take place in about a couple of hours in that room over there." He pointed to a now closed door. "Now, if you please, I have other matters to attend to."
The press seemed appeased enough to let him go outside the building, just in time to feel the phone in his pocket buzz to life. He smiled, when he checked the caller ID and saw Diana's picture, one he had taken while she was looking inside a padded box containing a bunch of sarmatian artifacts, a couple of days before Christmas. The sparkle of happiness in her eyes every time she got her hands on something so old and precious filled his eyes with joy.
"I suppose you watched the hearing!"
"Of course I did!" she was screaming. He had to move the phone away from his hear. "You slayed it"
"Uh, I did what?" There were still some parts of modern slang.
"Oh, sorry. I meant you did great and that you had the upper hand the whole time. You were amazing! Gods, you should see social media, you're a trending topic on Twitter, videos have already started appearing on YouTube, you're one step away from becoming an internet meme, and I'm pretty sure it's only a matter of time! Oh by the way, thanks for mentioning my spanakopita."
"Hey, it's true! And I stand by it! Anyway, you really think I did good?"
"Absolutely. You were great, and I'm quite sure the others think the same. And… by the way… you could have asked, you know?"
He froze. What was she talking about? "Uhm, ask you what?"
"Steve, less than ten minutes ago you told millions of people that you want to marry me, didn't you?" He felt his knees grow weak. "Why didn't you ask?"
"I…" he swallowed a thick lump that constricted his throat. "I didn't realize I said that I… I thought it was too soon and…"
"Ninety nine years, two months, thirteen days and about twelve hours. I think we've waited enough."
He clenched his fist around the handle of his case, the lump in his throat was nearly cutting all his breath off and he felt a sudden surge of churning emotions rise from the pit of his stomach. "Are… are you sure?" he asked her, his voice trembling to the point he feared he was babbling without realizing it. Oh he so needed Persephone's pick me up in that moment. "You didn't seem like one for marriage and I don't want to…"
"But you are, Steve! I know you are, and believe it or not I don't mind. Is it something you desire? Getting married I mean."
"Yes!" he exclaimed, with way more force than needed. "Yes, it is! I'm sorry Diana, I know marriage is something completely out of your upbringing and that in many ways it's even against it but… this is who I am, this is how I was educated. I understand that things have changed, for the better I mean, but this…"
He was fumbling, running around in circles because he had no words. This suddenly scared him way more than facing the representatives of the US Government.
"Calm down. We don't need to decide right now, we can talk about this when you come back from Washington. But, just to be clear, I don't mind. As much as marriage is way out of my upbringing, I'm not averse to the idea, if it's you. Now go, do whatever you have to do with the press, we can talk later."
"Diana, are you sure? You're not telling me this just to make me happy, are you?"
"Steve, trust me. But we'll talk about this in person, this is not a conversation to hold on the phone. Trust me Steve, I'm not doing anything just to make you happy. It's because it makes me happy too. But, seriously, I've got to go back to work and I presume you have the press hot on your trail. Call me, tonight, please."
Still anxious, Steve nodded. "Of course. I'll call you as soon as I'm done. Just… thank you Diana. I love you."
"Love you too. Now go!"
As he slid his thumb over the touchscreen, Lois and Clark finally arrived. They had an appointment for an exclusive interview and they were supposed to meet outside the building to go and find a place where they served a decent coffee so they could do such interview.
"Steve! I can't believe it! You were amazing in there!" screamed Lois. Everyone seemed so excited about his performance, but in that moment, Steve felt extremely awkward in that moment.
"Yeah, that was awesome! No one could have done better! Where did you learn to speak that way?" asked Clark, before he noticed something was wrong with him. "Hey, everything alright?"
"I…" He swallowed hard. "I think I just proposed to Diana on live television."