5:24 p.m.
James felt the wind against his face as he jumped from building to building, running across the rooftops of New York. He was fast. The super soldier serum in his father's blood enhanced James as well. He was nowhere near as strong as his dad, but what he lacked in strength, he made up for in speed and agility. He was able to outrun his dad at 14-years-old.
The sun warmed his face as he ran. He closed his eyes. He wasn't afraid of falling or running into anything. He knew his route well. It's the route he always took to get to his friend's house. He closed his eyes because he loved the risk. Not seeing where he was going while he leaped through the air made him feel like a daredevil. Pun intended. James was always a risk taker. He loved the adrenaline rush it gave him.
As he got close to his friend's house, he pulled out his cell phone and called her.
"Hey! Get your suit on and meet me out back, I'm almost there," was all James needed to say before hanging up. She knew the drill. They did this every Friday.
James jumped down from the roof tops and vaulted over the fence into his friend's backyard. He waited for a few seconds until he heard someone take a step behind him. He barely heard it, but he heard it nonetheless. He spun around at an insane speed trying to grab the attacker, but she front flipped over him. James grabbed the shield off his back and got into battle stance. He stared down his opponent. Spider-Girl.
"How do you hear me every time?" She asked, taking off her mask.
"Come on, Mayday," he said, re-latching the shield to his back, "I've been trained by all the best. My parents, Black Widow, Bucky, Taskmaster… You're not gonna sneak up on me."
"I'll get you one day, Rogers. You'll see," May promised.
"That's Captain Rogers to you, Parker" he smirked, "You ready?"
She put her mask back on.
"Always."
9:00 p.m.
The two friends sat on a high up roof, dangling their legs over the side, eating cheeseburgers and fries from McDonald's. The only action they saw all night was the cliché burglar stealing an old lady's purse. But even on the slow nights, they had fun just talking. Often times they would spar. No one ever won. James had more training and better fighting skills, but May's spider-sense made her a hard target to hit. They would land a few hits on each other from time to time, but they only ever used a fraction of their strength. Their hits were more like tags than punches. But they didn't spar tonight. Tonight they just sat, silently eating their food. For a while this went on, nothing happened…until they heard footsteps behind them.
The two young heroes stood up and spun around, ready for a fight. When they turned around, however, there wasn't an enemy on the attack. Instead, there was Patriot.
"Hey, take it easy. I surrender," Patriot joked.
"Woah, you're Patriot! The Young Avenger!" May ran up to him, doing a wonderful job of holding in her excitement.
"Haha yeah," said Patriot, holding out a hand for May to shake, "I'm Eli. Mind if I join you guys?"
James felt kind of awkward. There was so much red, white, and blue between the two of them. Not to mention the red and blue of Spider-Girl's uniform. But with James and Eli, it was different. They were both American themed heroes of about the same age. But James had just been handed the title of Captain America. He didn't really earn it. He almost felt like he had stolen it from Eli. He had no idea if Eli even wanted the title, but it still seemed unfair. Eli had been Patriot for a while. He helped save lots of lives. James felt like if any young hero had earned the title of Captain America, it was Eli.
The next morning
"I don't understand. I thought you wanted to be Captain America," Steve said to his son, who had just handed him the uniform.
"I do. But I want to earn it first," James replied, "Until then… I don't know. I'll come up with something," he grinned.
