AVENGERS EVOLUTION

in

"The Chessboard Is Set - Avengers Assemble Part One"

Note: All characters and locations mentioned here are property of Marvel Comics Inc, I claim no ownership to them whatsoever.

PART ONE

Midtown Manhattan

April 1942

"C'mon Johnny, get the lead out!"

John Fraser ran as fast as his legs could carry him, quickly joining his brother and his two friends standing outside the front of the little theatre on Yancy Street.

"Jeez, Johnny!" his brother Leonard griped. "If you were any slower, we'd miss the matinee."

Leonard allowed Johnny to join him and his two friends so they could go see part thirteen of the Two Gun Kid ... well, actually it took a stern talk from his parents to convince to take his little brother to the movies with him, they had no idea how much of an embarrassment Johnny was to him - humiliation at it's finest.

"I'm sorry, Leo." stammered Johnny. He was no more than 7 years old, while his older brother and his friends were all close to 14-15 years of age.

"Sorry doesn't cut it. Now c'mon!" He grabbed his brother by the arm and dragged him towards the front entrance. Leo dug into his pocket and pulled out a handful of change, he then quickly put it in his brother's open hand. "Here!" He turned him to face the box office and pushed him towards it.

"F...f...four tickets for the Two Gun Kid." he stuttered.

The boy behind the glass, who looked a couple years older than Leo, looked past the boy and down at him. "Don't you mean one?" he said through the microphone.

"No, no , I mean..." Then John looked behind him - and saw no one was there. Leo had abandoned him, as always. He sighed. "He's left me alone again."

As Johnny started to cry, the boy in the ticket booth spoke up. "Look, how about this? How about I let you in to see the Two Gun Kid for nothing and then I'll get the manager to call your parents to pick you up? How does that sound?"

Immediately Johnny's face lit up, without another word he took the ticket that was given to him, and went right into the theatre.

A few minutes later, Johnny entered the theatre with popcorn and soda in hand, only to notice three figures waving in the distance, beckoning him to come over. Upon further investigation, Johnny found out that the three figures were Leo and his two teenage side-kicks.

"About time you got here," Leo complained, as his brother took the aisle seat. One of his friends reached over, and swiped the kid's cup of popcorn - devouring the contents like hungry vultures.

"Where did you go?" John asked. "I was about to pay."

One of Leo's friends chuckled. "We didnt need you to pay for us - we snuck in."

Leo smacked his friend with the back of his hand, just to shut him up. John had heard all of it, "You didn't pay? I'm telling!"

Johnny got out of his seat, only to have Leo grab him by the arm and yank him back down.

"You're telling nobody!" He breathed through gritted teeth. "You're going to sit here and enjoy the movie - and if you breathe one word of this to either mom or dad, you're going to get a beating you'll never forget!"

Immediately Johnny shrunk in his seat. "Leo ... no ..."

Leo gave him a look of pure anger, one that went right through Johnny's soul. "We're on Yancy Street, or have you forgotten?" He whispered. "Maybe I should leave you here, so the Yancy St Gang will pick at your bones like birds of prey!"

John cried, "No, Leo, don't leave me." Tears began to stream down his face, Leo finally spoke up.

"Quit your crying!" He snapped. "You're such a baby!" His friends began to laugh as the lights began to dim, and the curtains slowly pulled open to reveal the movie screen. John began to wipe the tears from his face as the screen lit up and the projector came to life - projecting the Reel-Tone News.

On the screen appear the words "America Wages War"

"The dreaded Axis of evil managed to get it's first blow on American soil," replied the announcer, "when Pearl Harbour fell victim to a sneak attack from the empire of Japan. American medical personell on base try desperately to attend to all of the wounded soldiers who were lucky not to have lost their lives from this vicious strike." The images of the smoldering debris of Pearl Harbor and the many nurses tending to the wounded appear as the announcer continues his report. "While things do look grim for the American people, President Franklin D Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill remain united to fight off this evil force."

The next image was something that filled John with fear, he could tell that his brother and his friends were unimpressed. That image was that of the leader of the german organization called HYDRA, the Red Skull. This was the very first time that John had seen the man, and even though the picture was in black and white, the evil villain still looked menacingly frightening. Leo and his friends weren't afraid at all, Leo had always told John that what the Red Skull wore was a mask, making him look somewhat inhuman, but looking at a face like that would give anyone nightmares.

"The Red Skull," replied the announcer. "The evil representative of HYDRA and Hitler's Third Reich, continues his relentless attacks on American, British, and Russian soldiers. HYDRA would have succeeded in conquering America if not for Captain America and the All Winners Squad!"

John turned to hear Leo and his friends cheer and holler as the image of the winged captain came onto the screen, as the rest of the team came into view - John knew them all by name. Along with the Captain were Miss America (no relation to the Captain) who had the grace of an olympic gymnast and had the ability to fly. Then there was the Whizzer, the speedy superhero moved so fast that the camera could only register him as a white streak, followed by the Human Torch and his fiery companion Toro, the super elastic Thin Man, the winged Red Raven - a member of the Bird People - followed by the invulnerable Blue Diamond and the ice-cold Jack Frost.

And then John's eyes lit up with excitement as Captain America's sidekick came into frame, wearing his uniform of blue and red with red gloves, and a black mask over his face, John knew who it was right away - it was Bucky. Ever since Bucky came into existence, John would always pretend to be Bucky and help Captain America fight off the evil German army.

"Teaming up with the members from England are Union Jack, Spitfire, and the Phantom Eagle, as they continue their never-ending battle against the third reich." replied the announcer. "But can they succeed in defeating the Red Skull once and for all? Time will tell."

All four cheered as the news updated ended, just as a bright light flashed on them from behind. Leo looked back, shining the light at them was the manager - and he knew for a fact that they didnt pay. "Hey you kids!" He shouted.

"Let's get out of here!" yelled one of Leo's friends, as he and his other friend leapt out of their seats and rushed for the back door. Leo quickkly clutched onto his brother's arm, and dragged him out the door behind his fleeing friends - avoiding being caught by the irate manager.

The four children ran down the alleyway towards the street, figuring that the manager had proceeded to call the authorities on them. Leo knew of the beating he'd have to look forward to if his parents had found out about what he did, they always said that he was a bad influence on his younger sibling.

Leo's friends, on the other hand, wanting no connection with Leo, left them alone as they broke off and ran in their own direction.

They all came to a dead stop when they ran into three tall masked men carrying bags of money, directly from the Yancy St National Bank.

One guy looked to the obvious leader of the group:and pointed to the children. "Matt! We've been spotted!"

His partner was obviously angered by this. "Witnesses!" He pulled out his revolver. "I'll take care of them!"

Johnny panicked, he knew that they wouldnt make this out of it alive. But "they" quickly dwindled to "he" as Leo ran in the opposite direction - abandoning his poor brother.

"He's getting away!" yelled Matt. He looked to his two companions. "Well dont just stand there - GET HIM!"

His two compariots bolted after Leo, leaving Matt by himself to silence the poor boy. As he aimed his pistol. Johnny shut his eyes, he was as good as dead - he heard the gun go off followed by a strange "ka-pwing" sound. He didnt feel any pain, and slowly opened his eyes - there standing right in front of him was a shield. Matt knew who it belonged to right away, just as he saw the Stars and Stripes logo on the front of the shield, he heard a sudden sound from above and looked up, only to have his face meet head-on with a red-gloved fist!

Johnny moved out from behind the shield, to see a costumed figure standing over the motionless man, who turned to face the boy with a look of concern.

"Are you alright, son," the man said in a powerful voice.

Johnny recognized the man right away, from the wingtips on the sides of his mask, the large white-letter "A" on his mask just above his eyes, the broad shoulders, and the bright white star at the centre of his chest.

"Cap .. Cap .. Captain America," he gasped. "You ... you saved me." Suddenly he snapped back to reality, remembering about his brother being chased. "Leo! My brother! He's in trouble!"

Retrieving his shield, Captain America dropped to one knee and put a comforting hand on Johnny's shoulder. "Settle down son," he assured him. "What's this about your brother?"

But Johnny was too upset to calm down. "Two ... men were .. chasing my brother .. and ..."

He heard a voice from behind him. "I imagine this fellow was one of them?"

Johnny turned around to see another costumed figure, dragging with him the limp body of the bank robber. He was dressed similairly like Captain America, only his mask was red with a blue fin on the top, and on his chest was a bright yellow eagle-like logo - this was none other than the Patriot.

"I manage to intercept them and took care of this fellow," explained the Patriot. "His partner tried to run, but he only managed to run into the arms of the waiting authorities" He looked down at John. "Your brother is being taken care of by the authorities, he seemed to be pretty shaken up."

Captain America picked the motionless Matt and tossed him towards a bunch of trash cans, making a rattling noise echo throughout the alleyway. The Patriot did the same, tossing his prisoner on top of Matt.

"What's your name, son?" The Captain asked.

"Johnny ..." the kid stammered. "Johnny Fraser."

"Well, Johnny, how about the Patriot and I take you to your brother?"

Johnny nodded frantically. After the Patriot managed to hand-cuff the two robbers at the wrists, he and Captain America lead the young boy down to the end of the alley where they found Leo, who was very relieved to see Johnny.

He rushed up and held his brother tightly with his arms wrapped around the boy. "Johnny, I was so worried! I knew I shouldnt have left you, I'm sorry!" His face was awash with tears.

"I'm ok, Leo," his brother replied. "Captain America saved me."

Leo looked up at the Captain. "Thank you." But suddenly he noticed that the captain had vanished, along with the Patriot.

Johnny looked behind him and also realized that his idols were missing. "Where did they go?"

Down the alleyway, Captain America climbed up a nearby fire escape, with the Patriot right behind him. When they finally reached the rooftop, the Captain looked over the ledge to see the small figures of Johnny and his brother, along with the police.

"I told the police where to find the leader of the robbery over by the back entrance to the bank," explained the Patriot.

Cap sighed and went over to the Patriot. "I'm hoping that the real Captain America is having better luck than we are. I'm not sure if I can take much more of this." For this Captain America was not actually Captain America at all, but William Naslund - aka the Spirit of 76.

"President Roosevelt requested that you take on the role of the captain," explained Patriot. "So that HYDRA and the germans dont know about the secret mission."

"Last I heard was that Union Jack and Spitfire are in the hospital, victims of the HYDRA attack on the US Embassy in London. Phantom Eagle wasnt so lucky, while Union Jack and Spitfire were put into comas - he fell victim to Red Skull's gas gun."

The Patriot sighed and place a hand on his shoulder. "Let's both pray that the others succeed in their misison, and dont fall under the same fate as our comrades."

Naslund nodded, and looked towards the stars - wondering what was going on with Captain America and the others.

To Be Continued