Chapter Text
A woman shrieked, but was silenced quickly, with a dull thud following suit. The man standing above her gasped, taking worried steps back. He looked at the object in his hand, and quickly dropped it.
“No… no, this wasn’t… it wasn’t supposed to be like this…” He took worried breaths, desperate to think of something, absentmindedly shoving some papers into his jacket. “What if…?” His mind drifted to the man who had hurried out of the apartment just as he was approaching. He began to chuckle. “Yeah… yeah, I’ll pin it on him! The poor sucker will take the fall for it!”
[August 21st, 10:30 AM, District Courthouse]
Steve Rogers parked his motorcycle right outside the courthouse. He tucked his helmet under his arm and hurried up the steps. He could not be late, not for his first trial. He rushed into the courthouse, looking around for his mentor.
“Steve! Steve, over here!”
He turned and saw his mentor, Peggy Carter standing by one of the courthouse doors, smirk on her face. He sighed and rushed over to her, grinning at her.
“Uh, h-h-hi, Peggy.” He scowled at himself. He had been working to overcome his stutter for years now and he thought he was largely over it. Peggy gave him a gentle smile.
“Take deep breaths here, Steve. I’m glad you’re here, though, I was worried you were going to be late.”
He took slow, deliberative breaths and smiled at Peggy. He didn’t know why, but her soft, British accent always seemed to set him at ease. “Traffic was crazy, but my H-Harley did her job.”
“I’m rather surprised that you were so adamant on taking on this case. Is there a reason for that?”
“Well-”
“Steeeeeveeeee!”
Peggy and Steve turned towards the shrill voice and saw a young man being dragged towards them in handcuffs, eyes tearing up. Steve gave him a supportive smile.
“Hey, Cl-Cl-Clint.” Damn it, Rogers, get the stutter under control.
“Steeve! You have to believe me, that I didn’t do it! I swear I didn’t, Stevie, you have to believe me.”
Steve gave Peggy a nervous smile, as she gave the pair a dubious look. He looked at Clint Barton, his foster brother and best friend since childhood, who had an unfortunate knack of getting himself into trouble. He sighed and patted his back.
“D-D-Don’t worry, Clint. We’ll g-get you off the hook. I promise.”
Clint pouted but nodded. Steve felt Peggy tap his shoulder and he turned to her.
“I wasn’t aware that you knew your client personally. I was curious about why you were so adamant to take his case.”
“Oh! Well, Clint and I are foster brothers. We’ve been friends for 19 years.”
Peggy’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow, you guys must be really close.”
“We are. In fact, I kinda owe my job to him. He’s a big reason as to why I’m a defense attorney. Kinda like you, Chief.”
“Well, as long as you don’t think it will impede your ability to give him your best defense…”
He vehemently shook his head. “Oh n-no, Ms. Carter. I take my job very seriously.”
“I just wanna know who killed Bobbi! How could they say it was me! I loved her, Steve! Loved her!”
A young woman had been murdered in her apartment a day ago. Unfortunately for Clint, he was the unlucky sap who was arrested. However, Steve was confident that Clint wasn’t the one who killed her, despite his unlikeness. And Steve was going to do his best to prove that he didn’t do it.
[August 21st, 11:00 AM, Court Room 3]
“Court is now in session for the trial of Clint Barton.”
“That’s Nick Fury. He’s a cold but fair judge,” Peggy whispered to Steve.
Steve gulped, that sounded terrifying.
“The prosecution is ready, Your Honor.”
Steve looked at the prosecutor, a short man with a smug look. Steve could tell the confidence was fake, though, and kept wiping away at the sweat collecting on his forehead. Even if the judge was intimidating, at least the prosecutor didn’t look at it.
“Arnim Zola, he’s been prosecuting for a while now. He’s full of bravado, Steve, but it amounts to hot air.”
He figured as much. He stared around at the courtroom, in complete awe that this was his first case. The judge, Fury, looked down at him.
“I would love to start this trial if I had any assurance that the defense was ready,” the man said, in a dry tone.
Peggy lightly tapped Steve’s foot with her own, and Steve jumped.
“Uh, y-yes! The defense is ready, Your Honor.”
Fury nodded and banged his gavel, “Will the prosecution give its opening statement?”
“Yes, your honor. The prosecution will prove today that Mr. Barton killed this poor woman in cold blood with this miniature Venus de Milo statue.”
Peggy nudged him, “Each time we get new pieces of evidence, it’ll be added to the court record, okay?”
“Okay…”
“And it’s also where you can find a record of the key players in the cases you deal with.”
Steve made sure to remember that.
“Will the prosecution call its first witness?”
“Yes, Your Honor. The prosecution would like to call Clint Barton to the stand.”
Steve watched Clint approach the stand before he turned to Peggy.
“What do I do now?”
“Just and watch and pay attention… and pray that he doesn’t say anything incriminating.”
Steve nodded. Something told him that no matter how much he prayed, Clint would eventually say something incriminating.
“So, Mr. Barton, the victim was your ex-girlfriend, correct?”
Clint huffed, “Yeah, she was. What’s it to you?!”
Steve groaned internally. This would be a long trial.
Zola chuckled and shot Clint a smug look. “And is it true that she… dumped you?”
Steve quickly caught onto Zola’s little trick. He must have realized how easily Clint gets excited. Clint balled his fists, glaring at the man.
“No… it was… she was just ignoring me! Because… because… it’s how we showed our love! By ignoring each other!”
“Oh, Mr. Barton, I agree she was ignoring you… but it wasn’t because of love. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but the prosecution has credible reasons to believe that the victim was seeing many men on the side in order to fund her extravagant lifestyle. One of them had funded her trip to Bucharest which she had just returned from. Sugar daddies, as the young might say, which clearly lends itself-”
“W-w-wait.” Steve immediately deflated after hearing his weak-hearted plea. Judge Fury raised an eyebrow at him.
“Counsel for the defense, did that weak ‘wait’ come from you?”
Thanks for the boost in confidence, Your Honor. “Y-yes, Your Honor.”
“Well, then, what is it?”
Peggy raised an eyebrow at him. “Yes Steve. Did you have a point?”
Steve nervously nodded his head and took slow breaths to get his breathing under control.
“One question has already made the defense a stuttering mess. How sad.”
He glared at Zola and pointed at him, an annoyed look on his face. “The defense objects to the ch-ch-characterization of the victim. Not only do we not have any p-proof, but it has no bearing on the case at hand.”
“I disagree, Counsel. It provides motivation.”
“Oh. S-sorry.” He felt a sharp kick and looked over at Peggy, who was glaring at him. “What was that for, Peggy?”
“Zola just literally contradicted himself. Even if this objection doesn’t affect the outcome of the case, it will be sure to give you confidence. Don’t give up on this.”
“Uh, okay.” He thought over what Zola could have said to contradict himself. Now he regrets saying anything. He didn’t really do it for any legal reason, it was just, even though he didn’t know Bobbi Morse, he still didn’t like how her romantic life was being dissected and scrutinized after her death.
“Prosecution, is your questioning important?”
“Yes, Your Honor. It gives a reason why Mr. Barton would want to kill her. He was jealous and angry that she broke up with him and seeing other men and he snapped and killed her.”
“Does the defense accept this?”
Steve was about to nod his head, but something was nagging at him. “Uh… n-no, Your Honor.”
“And why not? Makes sense to me.”
“W-Well… you heard what Cl- Mr. Barton said himself, which was also confirmed by Prosecutor Zola. He clearly h-hadn’t known that she was seeing other men. So… w-w-where would the j-jealousy of her seeing other men stem from if he didn’t know?”
Fury nodded, his eyes closing in thought. Steve watched Zola react to the suggestion and he heard Peggy make an impressed noise.
“Prosecution, I am going to have to ask you to cease this line of argument, as it has no bearing on the present case and only works to castigate the victim.”
Zola looked embarrassed. “Um, yes, Your Honor.”
Good . He had taken the motive off of Clint. He looked to smile at him, but noticed Clint’s balled fists and angry expression.
“How could she? I thought we had something special? Are you serious, man? She… did she use me too?”
Steve noticed the smug look on Zola’s face and sighed. Of course. Clint’s emotions could entirely be their own motive.
“Can the court at least note Mr. Barton’s temperament?”
“Yes, that is definitely of interest to this court. Even if he was not aware about Ms. Morse’s alleged love life, it can lend itself to a motive” He glared at Steve. “I certainly hope you can keep your client under control.”
Steve nervously rubbed the back of his head. “O-Of course, Your H-Honor.”
“And the prosecution has something even more rock solid than a motive.”
Oh boy, that couldn’t have been good.
“We have an eyewitness who saw Mr. Barton leave the victim’s apartment shortly before the body was discovered.”
Steve groaned inwardly. That did not help him at all. Judge Fury glared down at Clint.
“You went to the victim’s apartment on the day of the murder?”
Clint went white as a sheet. “W-well, maybe. Who’s to say I did or didn’t?”
The witness seeing you leave her apartment, Clint! Steve could feel beads of sweat at the top of his forehead and sighed. He slowly stood up straight, knowing he had to get Clint to tell the truth. He made a series of gestures directed at Clint. Tell the truth, pal.
Clint rubbed the back of his neck. “Haah… yeah. Yeah, I was there.”
That caused a clamor in the courtroom. Fury banged his gavel several times.
“Order, order.” He glared down at him. “Mr. Barton-.”
“But she wasn’t there when I came, I swear. I went to place, she wasn’t there, I left. That’s all there is to it.”
Well, at least Clint’s word is more believable since he didn’t lie about being there.
“Objection!” Zola shrilly yelled.
Peggy smirked at Steve. “The fun part is about to happen.”
“You call it fun, I call it m-my heart being put to th-the test.”
“The prosecution’s witness will prove that Mr. Barton is lying.”
“Is that so? Well, then, let’s not dawdle. Bring your witness up to the stand.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. This witness lives in the same building as the victim and was the discoverer of the poor woman’s body.”
Like you first weren’t trying to paint her as a promiscuous user of men. Steve watched the man take the stand. He was wearing a gray suit and he was fidgeting around, twisting one of the rings on his fingers and looking around.
“Please state your name and occupation for the court.”
“Jasper Sitwell and I’m an accountant.”
Steve turned to Peggy. “I-Is this when he gives his testimony?”
“Yes. Keep an ear out for anything that doesn’t line up with the information we’ve been given so far. And make sure to check the court record every so often to make sure you know the right stuff.”
“Right.”
Steve watched Jasper as he began his testimony.
“I was walking to my apartment when I heard a woman shriek. I turned around and saw a man rushing out of a nearby apartment, but he left the door open. I thought it was odd and checked the door and saw the poor woman murdered! I was so scared that I couldn’t go in! I had to go all the way to my apartment for my phone, since hers was not working. It was 1 when I called the police.”
“Why wasn’t her phone working?”
Zola cleared his throat, “There was a blackout from 12 PM to 10 PM and Ms. Morse had a phone that would have been affected by it.” He held up some papers. “Here’s a report on the blackout.”
Steve nodded and looked at Peggy who gave him an expectant look.
“Huh?”
“You now need to cross examine him. Look at the information he’s given you and find out more. Press him and present evidence that contradicts any part of his statement.”
“R-Right.”
Steve looked through the court record and looked at the autopsy report that was given.
Name: Bobbi Morse
Time of Death: 8/19, 6-7 PM
Cause of Death: Blunt force trauma to the head
Steve looked over the information until he noticed something.
“U-Um… wait…”
Judge Fury looked at him, “Yes, Mr. Rogers?”
“T-That’s not right…”
“What isn’t?” Judge Fury raised an eyebrow.
“Mr. Sitwell said he found the victim at… 1 PM. However, the autopsy report says that she died at around 6 PM. So… how could he have found her dead?”
Zola visibly winced from across the court and Steve saw Jasper out of the corner of his eye jump. Judge Fury banged his gavel.
“Order. Now, Mr. Sitwell, can you explain this discrepancy?”
“Ah, well, um… oh! I know! I heard the time! It was a news program that was recorded! The victim was watching it and I overheard it before running away!”
“O-Objection!”
All eyes were on Steve as he looked through the court record documents. “That’s not right, either!” He picked up the document Zola had brought up. “The prosecution had stated there was a blackout at the time!”
Jasper jumped again and smiled nervously. Peggy gave Steve a smile, “Great job! You’ve noted several contradictions in the witness’ testimony!”
“Now I remember what happened!”
Steve looked at Jasper who had a relieved look on his face. Steve narrowed his eyes at Jasper as he cleared his throat.
“I remember, I saw a table clock! I saw the time on it and I, uh… I forgot it!”
Steve cocked his head, “T-There was a table clock at the scene?”
Zola nodded, “Yes, I forgot to mention the Venus de Milo statue is a clock. You need to press the button where her head is supposed to be to hear the time.”
Steve nodded and looked at the clock. It really did look more like a statue than a clock… He wasn’t sure how it could be obvious to someone just by looking at it.
“Right… wait… Mr. Sitwell, how could you have seen the time? The prosecution had stated that you need to press the button in order to hear the time. I assume that’s the only way to know the time? Didn’t you say that you couldn’t step in? How could you know the time if everything was shut off and you needed to press the button, how would you know the time?”
Jasper began breathing heavily, “W-Well… you see… I can explain-”
“How can you twist it to fit in your favor? Here’s what I think happened. You went into the apartment and saw the woman. You grabbed the first blunt object and hit her, accidentally triggering the voice, and that made an impression on you that caused you to be adamant about what time it was, despite everything else.”
“O-O-Objection!”
Man, he really couldn’t stand Zola’s shrill voice, but at least he wasn’t the stuttering mess now.
“Th-this is all just baseless conjecture!”
“Baseless! It makes perfect sense! And that’s not even mentioning the guilty look on his face!”
“He does look guilty, doesn’t he?” Fury looked over at him. “Well, witness? Did you strike Ms. Morse with the clock?”
“No… that night, I- day… no, I didn’t… why don’t you believe me… I heard- no wait, saw- no, I… AAAAGH!”
He ripped off his hairpiece- really, that was a hairpiece- and next thing Steve knew, it hit his face. He peeled it off his face, confused. He looked over at Peggy to ask her for her advice, but noticed she was struggling to contain her laughter. He gave her an annoyed look.
“Are you laughing?”
She shook her head, but it was obvious she was still trying to prevent her laughter from coming through.
“I keep telling you! It was him! The shifty guy in purple, it was him! He deserves the death penalty for what he did! I-I’m innocent!”
Please tell me no one still believes that.
“S-see, Your Honor? Mr. Rogers’s claims have no shred of evidence to support them-”
“Mr. Rogers?”
“Yes, Your Honor?”
“In order for your version of events to work, the clock needed to yell out the time. Do you have any evidence to support that?”
I’m that close? Oh man, I can’t screw this up. I need to think about this carefully.
Peggy had relaxed her face and finally stopped looking like she was going to burst out laughing at any moment. “This is it, Steve! This will hammer the final nail in the coffin! I know you can do it! And, might I suggest keeping that hairpiece as a memento?”
He sighed and rubbed his chin in thought. He supposed there was only one way to prove it. Steve walked over to the statue. “Here’s my evidence, Your Honor.” He clicked the button.
“It is 7:45.”
Judge Fury furrowed his brow, “Isn’t it 12:45?”
Steve smirked, “The exact time difference that tripped up Mr. Sitwell. This clock is running five hours slow.” Steve pointed at Jasper, “How can you explain that, Mr. Sitwell?”
Jasper began breathing heavier, “Aha! There’s one thing!”
Oh no.
“You know that it’s running slow today! But on the day of the murder, it could have been running just fine! The police might have mishandled it!”
Steve stiffened. He couldn’t argue with that. Damn, how could he prove that it was running slow the day of the crime?
Judge Fury banged his gavel. “Mr. Sitwell is right about this, Mr. Rogers. And since we have no proof of the clock’s running time on the day of the crime, I cannot indict him. This ends the cross-examination of Mr. Sitwell.”
Steve groaned. Damn! And I was so close! I failed… I’m sorry, Clint. I can’t think of anything.
“Objection!”
Steve turned to Peggy who slammed her hand onto the desk. Everyone was staring at her. She had a stern look on her face and she turned to Steve.
“You have the information you need, Steve! You need to use it! Prove that the clock wasn’t correct on the day of the crime! Do you know what you have that proves it?”
Steve began looking through the court record. He couldn’t think, his mind was racing and he couldn’t focus on anything. Then, he saw something. Something he glossed over initially. He picked it up and held it out to the court.
“H-Hold it!”
They were focused on him.
“What is it now, you troublemaking lawyer? Haven’t you put me through the wringer already when it’s clear I didn’t do it?!”
“It’s clear you did and here’s the evidence!” Steve thrusted the blue booklet out, “The victim’s passport! Earlier, the prosecution had stated that she went to Bucharest recently!” Something clicked in Steve’s mind, “The clock wasn’t 5 hours slow! It was 7 hours fast because that’s the difference between the two time zones!”
Jasper began breathing even heavier, “T-That… no she… she was… that’s where she… no- I!” Jasper stopped breathing suddenly before he passed out, collapsing on the ground.
There was a large gasp and Judge Fury banged his gavel twice.
“Order! Order, I say!”
[August 21st, 1:15 PM, Court Room 3]
Judge Fury looked at Zola. “Where is your witness, Mr. Zola?”
Zola was sweating profusely and was doing a poor job at wiping it away. “He was arrested after being made sure he was in a stable condition, Your Honor.”
“And what did end up being the motive?”
“Oh, he said he was snooping around the victim’s apartment, looking for valuables and accidentally struck the victim after being startled.”
“A truly tragic crime. Very well then. Well, I believe it’s obvious at this point, but this court finds the defendant not guilty.”
Steve sighed and smiled. Peggy patted his shoulder and smiled at him.
“Great job, Steve! You got him off the hook!”
Steve laughed. “Yeah! I did!”
They exited the courtroom and Steve let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He actually did it. He got a not guilty on his first case and he found the real murderer. Peggy gave him a bright smile. Wow, that’s the first time I’ve seen her smile like that.
“You did amazing in there, Steve!”
“Thank you!” Steve looked around and saw Clint staring at the floor sadly. “Hey Clint, how’re you doing?”
“Oh, terribly!”
“That’s good- wait, no it’s not! Why a-a-are you doing terribly?”
“How can I not be?! Bobbi’s dead! Gone forever!”
Steve frowned. Clint really loved her, and it hurt him so much. He sighed and patted Clint’s back before looking up and seeing Peggy approach them.
“Congrats, Flint!”
Clint raised an eyebrow, “Flint?”
“Yes! ‘Flint Barton is Truly Innocent’!”
“Ha! Well, thank you, ma’am!”
Steve rolled his eyes. Blushing, Clint? Seriously?
“Oh! And because of your help, let me give you this!”
Clint produced a Venus de Milo statue that looked eerily similar to the murder case’s murder weapon. Peggy took it and scrutinized it.
“Isn’t this… evidence?”
“Oh no! I made it! Just like the one I made Bobbi! I kept that one, but I want to get it to you!”
Why did you bring it with you today?
Peggy smiled at him and ruffled his hair, “Thank you! It’s very nice!”
Clint smiled at her but it quickly dropped. “I can’t believe that she was just using me. Why would she do that to me? She probably never loved me while we were together.”
Peggy looked at the statue. “Well, I wouldn’t say that.”
“Huh?”
“Steve, do you think you know how she really felt?”
Steve thought about it until he remembered an important part about the case. “Yeah! She took the Venus de Milo clock all the way to Bucharest when she could have just left it! You obviously left an impression on her. Why else would she take this heavy clock with her?”
Clint’s face brightened, “Huh… yeah! I guess you’re right!” He gave Steve a genuine smile, “Thanks for being my lawyer, Steve. I knew it was a smart idea to go to you.”
Clint walked away and Steve turned around to Peggy.
“Hey, Zola men-men-said that Sitwell wanted to rob Bobbi, but that doesn’t make much sense. He w-w-was wearing a nice suit, had an ex-expensive watch, and a job as an accountant.”
Peggy’s expression suddenly turned serious. “Yes, yes he did.”
“Why would h-he throw it all away on the meager possessions of a wannabe model?”
“I can think of a few reasons,” she muttered. Steve was able to catch what she said, despite the low volume.
“Y-y-you can?”
Her head shot up and she gently batted Steve’s arm. “You never told me you had such acute hearing.”
“Oh, yeah, a little. Anyway, you said you could think of-”
She waved him off. “Oh, come off, Steve! You’ve won your first case, doesn’t that sound like cause for celebration?”
He nervously rubbed the back of his head.“Uh, y-yes! Yeah! That would be n-nice!”
“Oh, I almost forgot to ask, you mentioned that Flint was part of the reason why you became a lawyer?”
“Ah, yeah, he was! I’ll have to tell you a-about it sometime!”
“I’m sure it was interesting. C’mon, let’s get going.”
And so, that’s how my first case went! I won and managed to save my best friend in the process!
Later that evening…
Peggy took a sip of wine and looked over the pictures from Bobbi Morse’s apartment. She raised the glass towards the ceiling.
“To you, Bobbi. Your work won’t have been in vain.”
She scrutinized the pictures, over and over, unable to see what she needed to see.
“Blast!” She threw another one down. “The files aren’t in here at all!” She impatiently tapped her foot. “Sitwell must still have them. Ugh, but who knows what the police have done with his possessions now.” She got a file that read “Jasper Sitwell” off her desk and scoffed at the picture of the man her subordinate took down in court. “Nailed you, bastard. Even if it wasn’t that organization of yours. Now, who’s next…?”
She picked up a file of a grizzled looking man, with a dark expression on his face. The CEO of SHIELD Enterprises. “Brock Rumlow…”