Zemo was strong. Too strong. His new surge of power made no sense. Did he find a second wind? Captain America didn't think so. Just minutes ago, Zemo had been on his last legs! And not only had he regained stamina…he had gotten physically stronger too, which should be impossible!
As if to prove the point, Zemo used the new muscles in his legs to jump to an incredible heigh, and then lunge down at Steve fist-first. Steve rolled out of the way, and Zemo landed on asphalt. Steve's eyes widened when he saw the small crater Zemo's fist left on the ground.
Calm down, buster! He may be able to dent the ground, but your shield is still unbreakable! And you are still more agile, beating him should not be too hard a challenge!
Of course, thinking this was much easier than doing, so Captain America got his mind back in the field. Zemo had pulled out another sword, resembling a rapier, and was running towards the red, white, and blue hero.
Steve and Zemo traded blows at a fast rate. Bystanders could hear the scraping of the rapier on the shield, although it didn't leave any marks. Captain America rammed into Zemo, with his shield in front of him. Zemo fell on his back, but with his leg, tried to knock him down. Steve slammed Zemo's leg with his shield. He heard a crack, but to his surprise, Zemo made no sound.
"Zemo, surrender. Even with your new strength, you've lost," Captain America said, breathing hard himself. Zemo looked up – and quickly threw something in Captain America's eyes. Letting out a grunt, Steve backed up instinctively, feeling a whoosh of air as Zemo rapier sliced through part of his mask, and left a scratch on his face.
Zemo had ripped a chunk of pavement from the ground, and thrown the pebbles and grit into Cap's eyes. Zemo had been underestimated. Cap wouldn't make that mistake again!
The two opponents circled each other.
"I would ask you to give up again," Steve said warily, "but I shouldn't waste my breath." As if a shot had been fired, both combatants rushed at each other again, fists, swords, and feet moving at fast speed. Many of the bystanders couldn't even follow anymore!
Zemo managed to grab Steve's head, and slammed it against a wall, breaking it. If Steve hadn't had the serum, his head would have been crushed. Zemo also kicked Steve's back. Steve felt his back groan under the assault. He quickly turned around, and placed his arms in front of himself, blocking a punch Zemo had thrown his way.
To retaliate, Captain America threw the shield at Zemo. Zemo jumped on top of it, crashing it down! Picking it up, Zemo looked at his foe. Steve could almost swear that Zemo was grinning under that purple mask. Speaking of masks, Steve removed his, wiping his forehead, barely even realizing that he was starting to sweat. The afternoon heat wasn't helping.
With sword in one hand, and vibranium shield in the other, Zemo looked like a very imposing figure from where Cap stood. But Cap was never one to give up.
"Zemo. Let's finish this," Captain America said, his voice carrying across the mostly empty lot. His voice had the finality of someone who was about to finish something he had begun many, many years ago. Zemo's body tensed up, and then he leapt at his enemy again. This time, Cap was ready!
Also jumping in the air, he collided hard with Zemo, who dropped his rapier in surprise. Unfortunately, he kept hold of the shield. Still, Captain America could use this! He dashed over to a corner, seemingly defenseless.
"ZEMO!" Captain America yelled. "Here I am, you monster!" Zemo turned slowly, and began heading towards his rival, seeing no need to rush, Cap supposed. When Zemo was only a few meters from Cap, he threw the shield. Steve, who was hoping his reflexes would pull through moved to the side. As he moved to the side, Steve knew that Zemo would see what he had been hiding behind him: the generator! The shield sliced through it like butter.
Captain America felt a great weight rise off of his shoulders. He had accomplished his mission. Walking to the broken generator, he turned to Zemo. All he had left to do was defeat the villain.
Zemo was on the ground, unconscious. It was disturbing. Zemo had just collapsed mid-way during their fight, and when Steve checked his pulse….there was none. He reached for his emergency com-link.
"Director Fury, I have destroyed the generator, and defeated the guard. I need a team of para-medics stat." He was fairly sure that the medics would arrive in about ten minutes. SHIELD was efficient that way.
On the Hellicarrier, when Captain America (who was on speaker phone) said he had destroyed the final generator, everyone cheered! SHIELD agents were throwing up their hands, high fiving comrades, screaming, etc! Even Fury couldn't hide his grin.
Stark clapped a bit too, a bit jealous. Where was his applause, for destroying a generator first? Bruce Banner, who had arrived at the Hellicarrier while the others were on their missions, walked up besides Tony.
"You don't seem as happy as I would have thought," Banner said quietly. Stark wasn't surprised, Banner was a pretty empathic person.
"Nah, I'm happy for Steve, really. But, no one applauded when I did the same thing." Banner laughed quietly.
"Stark, are you sulking?" Tony turned to him indignantly.
"What? Pfft, of course not! That's completely ridiculous, and you know it!" Tony crossed his arms, missing the amused look that Banner gave him. Tony decided to change the subject.
"So, I bet you wish you hadn't missed all the excitement and missions, huh?" Tony started conversationally. Banner smiled ruefully.
"No, I could do without excitement, thank you very much," he replied. Tony shrugged.
"Suit yourself." Nick Fury walked up to them.
"Stark, now that all the generators have been destroyed, and the field is down, we'll need you to fly up there and disable it".
"Yeah, sure. Will Thor be coming? He can fly too." Nick shook his head.
"We haven't been able to contact him. I'm afraid you're on your own," Fury said, not very sympathetically. Stark rolled his eyes. Banner put a comforting hand on Stark's shoulder.
"I'm sure you'll do fine. It sounds like an easy mission for you," Banner said, trying to help.
"I'm not scared, for the record. But some company would have been nice…", Tony lamented. But whatever. He could do this. He had a planet to save.
To Be Continued!
Author's Notes:
Well, Banner fans, he finally got to appear! So, that's good, right? Right?
Oh snap, Baron Zemo is dead! Oh well, we'll get over it. :P
With Iron Man heading to space, it seems he'll get to confront the aliens...
