Five times Steve repurposed his shield to help the Avengers, and one time he needed it as a weapon. Not as Cap-centric as the description might indicate, because Cap keeps loaning the shield to the other Avengers. With thanks to my sister Jelsemium for suggesting the word "repurposed."
The stories take place between CA: TWS and Avengers: AOU when all the nut jobs come out of the woodwork and the Avengers try to fill the void left by the decimation of SHIELD.
1. Legolas
It was irony that Captain America, the ground fighter, was on the roof with Hawkeye, while Iron Man, the flier, was in the lobby — but irony was an annoying fact of life for the Avengers.
Just as Hawkeye and Cap dropped onto the roof from the quinjet, the enemy drones that had been swarming into the ventilation system zoomed away and plunged over the edge of the roof like a waterfall, targeting a crowd of civilians trying to escape from the building through the main entrance.
The drones zoomed down, through the open lobby door, firing lasers in all directions and leaving wounded and dying people behind them. The crowd trying to get out reversed course, pressing back to get away from the robotic killers, but more drones poured out of the vents and chased panicked civilians down the stairs.
Like deer pursued by wolves, the people were herded into a dead end. One of the ground floor businesses was a bank that offered an illusion of safety. People crowded in and were forced back toward the vault with nowhere to escape. The drones would be able to pick them off like fish in a barrel, killing all the innocent bystanders as well as the scientist from the ninth floor who were the targets of the Drone Master.
But Iron Man chased the drones into the building and stationed himself between the quarry and the killers. He blocked the laser blasts with his titanium alloy body.
Iron Man couldn't get the people out. He couldn't abandon them to chase the fast-moving, remote-controlled drones. All he could do was block the entrance to the vault and desperately call for backup.
Cap and Hawkeye were running down the stairs, preparing to clear drones from each floor, when Tony sent out his SOS.
"I need help!" Tony called. He reported trying to protect 30 people from 20 drones. "My repulsors aren't doing any good. I think I'm just recharging them!" he said with aggravation. "And I can't fire missiles in this enclosed space."
Tony yelped. He could feel the laser hits through his armor. At first they were just pinpricks, but each hit burned away a little of the insulation so the next hit hurt more.
The Avengers could hear pain in his panting voice when Tony said, "Capsicle, Legolas, you'd better hurry up, you're missing the party!"
Instead of hastening his steps, Steve came to a dead stop on the landing, causing Clint to run into him from behind.
"What?" Clint gasped, winded by the impact that Cap hardly noticed.
"Legolas!" Steve exclaimed.
Clint looked blank for half a second, then he looked at the concrete stairs descending in front of him and remembered the movie. His eyes lit with understanding.
Steve offered his shield. "Can you do it?" he asked anxiously.
"I can shoot targets blindfolded while standing up on a galloping horse," the former circus performer replied.
"Works for me," Steve said. He slid the shield down the stairs and Clint jumped on it. He wobbled just a moment, then caught his balance. He stood forward on the shield but leaned back to keep the edge from catching and then Hawkeye surfed down the stairs.
Bouncing down the concrete stairs, the shield made a holy racket, like a crowd of angels beating on cymbals. The echoing noise confused Iron Man but also distracted the sensors of the circling drones.
The circus-trained acrobat almost lost his balance when Cap plummeted past, plunging down the center of the stairwell. Steve jumped from side to side, bounding off the metal railings, dropping four landings at a time.
The captain alighted by the lobby door just as the archer surfed around the last landing. Steve yanked the open the door with an "after you" gesture that made Clint grin even as he raised his bow. Hawkeye skidded into the marble-floored lobby, firing arrows as fast as he could while the shield rotated on the slick floor. The solid projectiles succeeded where the repulsors blasts had failed. Arrows punctured the drones, causing them to short out and drop.
Clint kicked the shield loose, sending it ricocheting off the wall. It cut through a cluster of drones before Steve reached out to catch it. Cap planted himself in the doorway of the vault, using his shield to protect the civilians, freeing Tony to take his revenge on the drones. Iron Man rocketed out, fists clenched, smashing through the drones vindictively. Between his fists and Clint's arrows, Steve only had to block one laser blast before the drones were down to two.
Iron Man and Hawkeye turned on the last pair, but the drones dropped out of the air before either could strike.
"Drone Master is neutralized," Black Widow reported over the comms.
"Getting a little slow in your old age, aren't you?" Tony snapped.
Silence greeted his angry words. Steve and Clint stared with wide eyes. No one could believe he'd just insulted Natasha. That was scarier than the drones.
Later, the two came face to face in Avengers Tower when Stark was removing his armor. Natasha's angry words died when she saw Tony sported a dozen raw, red burns, including one perilously close to his left eye.
For his part, Tony saw a gash in the right hip of Natasha's cat suit and another on her right arm. There was a bruise on her forehead and a hunk of hair had been singed.
The two Avengers quieted seeing the damage each had taken.
"I'm sorry I took so long," Natasha said graciously.
"I shouldn't have snapped," Tony answered. "You weren't the one who was slacking off. Cap never even threw his shield!"
Relieved that a crisis had been averted, Steve smiled. "I couldn't. I loaned it to Clint."
"You had it?" Natasha asked in surprise. "What did you do with it?"
"I surfed down the stairs, like Legolas in the movie," Clint said proudly.
"Legolas!" Tony exclaimed.
"Yeah, Tony inspired me," Clint said with a wink. "He's a genius you know."
Tony was speechless. Natasha laughed. Clint and Steve high-fived.
"Thanks for the loaner, Cap," Clint said.
"See if I loan you my shield again," Steve mock growled. "You brought it back scratched!"
He held up the shield and it was true — the bouncing, scraping journey down the concrete stairs had scraped off all the paint in the middle. There was only a faint trace of the star points.
"Uh, I have my Dad's formula for paint that bonds to vibranium," Tony offered.
The other three Avengers shared a glance and a nod, and Tony was forgiven for his outburst. Clint threw his arm around Iron Man's shoulders.
"Excellent idea," he enthused. "You are a genius!"
1. Cap's shield as a surfboard.
I have tried to write "five times" stories before, but they didn't work out. (One was Team chapter "Like Fathers, Like Sons" and one became the story "Why Shouldn't They Be Friends?")
These six chapters will take us past "Avengers: Age of Ultron," then we'll see where the muse goes.
