French Quarter, New Orleans, 3 o'clock in the morning [NFB for distance]

[heroic_jawline]

Steve absolutely knew better than to be on a touristy neighborhood like this, which was part of why he'd chosen it as a safe place to meet the other Avengers who were still hiding from Ross and the fallout of the Sokovia Accords. Anyone who happened to catch sight of their faces, he hoped, would either be too drunk to remember or too focused on robbing those too drunk to remember to bother anyone about it. Steve was moving quickly despite the sweltering heat--he was not born to amble--and began to wonder if Sam had suggested a New Orleans meeting in August as some sort of payback for being taken to the Raft. He felt the sweat beading under his "don't notice me" ball cap (even super-serum had to work hard against Southern humidity) as he dodged around drunken, surprisingly handsy revelers and tried not to breathe in the unique blend of fried dough, pot, puke, seafood, and spilled Hurricanes too deeply. He was definitely not looking to see what was sticking to his sneakers. He was a city kid and there were some questions you never wanted the answer to.

He turned down St. Philip Street after passing the blacksmith bar and heard Sam's voice in his head warning him about not being a moron and staying on this side of the road and leaving the LaLaurie Mansion the "hell alone, I mean it, Steve." He was blaming watching the house for why the arm around his neck dragging him into a nearby darkened courtyard caught him by surprise.

Comments

[hailhailgangsallhere]

Steve's hands came up to take hold of the arm, getting ready to throw the idiot who tried to mug him, when he heard a familiar voice in his ear. "It's me."

[heroic_jawline]

"Heck of a greeting, Wilson," Steve said, squeezing once and letting go of the arm. "Have you been working out?" That had been a much stronger grip than he'd been expecting.

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"Not much else to do, hiding from the government," Sam replied, looking over Steve's shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed. Whether by some drunk reveler or someone more dangerous.

[heroic_jawline]

"Tony's working on it," Steve promised. He was pretty sure the Tony in New York was working on it. "But I have something else I needed to tell you all about in person."

He needed to see them in person so he could check them against the anti-Skrull sunglasses Tony had sent him with before dropping the "oh, aliens other than Thor are real too" news onto them all. He couldn't wear the sunglasses now because sometimes Tony forgot only Tony could pull off wearing sunglasses at three in the morning.

He pulled them from his pocket to be ready when he went inside. "Is everyone else here?"

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"Sounds serious," Sam replied, tilting his head toward the closed off house that the small courtyard blocked off from the streets.

[heroic_jawline]

"It's a potential problem," Steve agreed, not wanting to say more out in the semi-open of this creepy courtyard.

[hailhailgangsallhere]

Sam just looked at him for that, pursing his lips in disapproval at the lack of a response. But went along with it with a, "Head on in."

He'd followed Steve this far, hadn't he? So that tracked. Right?

[heroic_jawline]

Steve's lips pursed slightly at that. Generally Sam would have some kind of teasing remark and smile...but it was three in the morning. He lifted his sunglasses towards his face, just to check.

[hailhailgangsallhere]

And, as he brought the glasses up to warning signs flashing on the lenses, visible only to him once he had them on, something smacked 'Sam' in the head, knocking him to the ground.

"The hell you gettin' me dragged into this time, Cap?" Sam asked, a little breathless as he stood over, well, himself.

[heroic_jawline]

"Holy shit," Steve gasped. "Hi!"

Again. Kind of. Skrulls were so confusing.

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"Hi," Sam said in the sarcastic way he was best at, hefting the road construction sign up a little as the Not Him moved and then turned green and alien looking. "Seriously?"

[heroic_jawline]

"Oh, good, a visual aid for the briefing," Steve said with a dry little chuckle. "Things are a little complicated. What took you so long?"

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"Someone spilled a hurricane on my shoes," Sam said, clearly accusing Steve of doing this to him maliciously. "And then asked me where the beads were at."

They were only about five months too late for that.

"Now explain why the little mean greenie looked and sounded like me."

[heroic_jawline]

"This is a Skrull," Steve said, kneeling down to confirm that the guy was out cold. "They can imitate us and they've apparently been on our planet for a while."

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"How long's a while?" Sam asked warily, still clutching the sign in case the alien popped up like a killer in a horror movie.

[heroic_jawline]

"Fury's been cagey--" be shocked about that, Sam, truly, "--but probably since the 90s."

[hailhailgangsallhere]

Yeah, Sam looked less than shocked. He let out an annoyed sigh and nodded. "Sure. We got gods and killer robots. Why not this too?"

[heroic_jawline]

"Well, it's been pretty quiet," Steve said with a tiny smile. "Let's get everyone else caught up." He tapped his glasses. "Assuming they are who they say they are."

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"Sure as hell better be," he muttered. Then nodded down at their new friend. "What do we do with them?"

[heroic_jawline]

"We should probably take them inside," Steve said. "I don't want them running off and reporting where we are."

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"Alright, let's get this over with," Sam sighed, letting the sign drop. "Before someone tosses a bottle over the wall at us."

[heroic_jawline]

"They're having a good time," Steve said, trying to sound as unjudgmental as possible.

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"Next time I'm makin' you find your way to Delacroix," Sam replied, making sure the gate was firmly shut so they wouldn't get interrupted. Like how he'd interrupted the alien guy.

[heroic_jawline]

"But this place was a really inexpensive rental," Steve countered.

It was cheap because it was Too Damn Close to that haunted mansion, Steven.

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"You've got Stark money," Sam replied. "I don't think you know what cheap is anymore."

There was the playful bickering that the Skrull hadn't been able to replicate. At least not without putting Sam into a tube.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve's cheeks turned pink as he lifted the Skrull up by the shoulders with no effort and carried them into the house. "I try not to use it all."

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"Could use it on us," Sam suggested. "Maybe a nice car. A fancy hotel. Someplace that doesn't smell like vomit and bad decisions."

[heroic_jawline]

"But no one would expect to find us where it smells like vomit and bad decisions," Steve said with a grin. "Anyone else here?" he called out.

[hailhailgangsallhere]

Well, that was just asking to get an arrow pointed at you, Steve.

"Who's the new guy?" Also, why was he green?

[heroic_jawline]

"Our new problem," Steve said with a wry smile. "Hello. Thor's not the only alien you've met."

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"Of course we can't deal with just one crisis at a time," Natasha said dryly, pushing Clint's drawn arrow down. "This is what you wanted Fury for, isn't it?"

[heroic_jawline]

"Exactly," Steve said, putting the Skrull into a corner where he could keep an eye on him. "Meet the Skrulls, an alien species that can shapeshift into looking just like us."

Right, Sam?

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"An experience I'd rather not repeat," Sam chimed in. "We're tying them up, right?"

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"How do we know you guys aren't Skrulls with that guy as a double blind?" Clint, no.

[hailhailgangsallhere]

"They appear to be fully themselves," Vision chimed in, parting from Wanda's side to come investigate the commotion. "A detection device for each of you would be the optimal plan for such an occurrence in the future."

[heroic_jawline]

Steve held up the sunglasses Tony had given him. "I have gifts," he confirmed. "Fury is being tightlipped about how many Skrulls are on Earth, but one's already been pretending to be Rhodey so there's someone trying to make a play. That can't be the only Skrull in a government."

[hailhailgangsallhere]

The fact that one of their own had already been replaced at some point sort of changed the mood of the assembled group. Weird, that.

"Read us in," Natasha said, crouching down to start tying up the Skrull.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve nodded as he texted Maria for a Skrull pickup in the morning. "I'm going to see T'Challa and Tony later," he began, "because T'Challa couldn't get from Wakanda in time," --or deeply didn't want to be lurking in the French Quarter at three in the morning. One of those-- "but here's what we've figured out so far."

He flipped his phone up to show a three-dimension projection of a Skrull. "Okay. This is a Skrull," he began, starting the briefing.