The Passing of the Shield

Liberty's POV

AN: Warning! There is a character death in this chapter.

I watch as James hits Green Girl, causing her to face-plant into a building. She gets up quickly, but James-Hulk throws several fireballs, forcing her to dodge instead of hitting him. The fact that she is slowly losing the fight is bad enough, but then I realize that some of the fireballs that James threw have hit a building and caught it on fire!

I struggle to remain calm as I check the time on my cellphone. My dad said that he could make it here in twenty minutes, so where is he? I groan as I realize I am relying on my dad yet again to help me out. It's bad enough that I couldn't get into the Expo without my dad's help, but now the six of us can't even take down one immature villain? I hate this! I've been training and training, and my teammates have been training, yet once again, we need help. I can only imagine what the reporters will say: "'Mature' High School Hero twiddles her thumbs at Hulk while waiting for her daddy to save her." Like, ugh!

I decide to pass the time by putting out the burning building. "Sarah, sweetie, do you think you can put out those flames?" I ask, heading over to where Sam is trying to comfort Sarah as she continues to cry.

` "I CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!" Sarah wails, rain splattering down on the three of us.

"Sure you can," I coax.

"Yeah, you did a great job hitting targets when we were camping," Sam pipes up. "Just imagine the fire is a target. You'll hit it for sure!"

"I don't know…." Sarah sniffles, the rain fading away along with her sadness. Meanwhile, the fire is only growing larger! I realize I have to do something, and fast!

"IF YOU DON'T PUT OUT THAT FIRE, EVERYONE IN THE BUILDING WILL BURN TO DEATH!" I yell.

Sarah gasps, and stares at the building in horror! I know that was harsh of me to say, but I'd rather make a kid cry than let a building full of people die. Leaders have to make tough choices like that.

Sure enough, Sarah soon starts crying again, and with it comes more rain. Sarah continues to stare at the building, a deluge of rain following her gaze, until the flames are completely doused. While I still feel bad for making Sarah cry, I am glad that the people are safe.

I am even gladder to see a helicopter approaching and my dad jumping out of it without a parachute. He drops close to a building, using his shield to slow his fall, before putting his shield under him and using it like a sled as he skids down the balcony right over the building entrance before falling the last few feet to the street.

"Dad!" I call, walking over to him. "I've been letting Green Girl hold off James-Hulk while we keep the city safe. Do you have a plan?" I ask, knowing any plan my dad can come up with will be better than mine.

"Is my dad coming?" Sam asks before my dad can reply.

"I'm afraid not," dad replies to Sam. "He left for Asgard a few hours ago and no one has heard from him since. The rest of your parents aren't likely to show either, since they are fighting zombie plants on the west coast. I stayed behind for personal reasons, and it looks like it's a good thing I did!"

I frown as I realize dad must have stayed behind because he was mourning mom. Now he'll have to fight a similar supervillain as the one that killed her. All I know is, we better stop him!

"Zombie plants?!" Laura exclaims. "You mean they get to play real-life Plants vs Zombies? Aww, why wasn't I invited?"

Dad clears his throat. "Anyways, they will not likely make it back in time for this fight, so let's try to tire James-Hulk out while also making sure citizens stay safe."

"Ok," I agree, secretly pleased that he didn't come up with a better plan then mine, meaning I had a good plan.

We all turn our attention to James, just in time to see him throw a ball of fire into Anne's face!

"No! Don't hurt Anna!" Sarah exclaims, causing my dad to turn around in surprise.

"Sarah is here?!" he asks, looking concerned.

"Yes," I reply guiltily. "James Hulked out right after we rescued her, so we didn't have time to drop her off."

"Well then that is our first priority," dad says. He whips out his cellphone and starts calling whoever was flying the helicopter to come back. "Could one of you who can fly get Sarah to the copter?"

"On it!" Joe exclaims, holding on to Sarah and using his amazing archer eyesight to latch his grappling hook onto the helicopter and pull them both up. I can't tell if he was trying to show off to Laura or just get away from fighting his brother James. I figure it is the former reason as the helicopter drops down to let Joe off on the roof of a building within arrow-shooting distance of James-Hulk.

Unfortunately, it seems the helicopter is a bit too close to James-Hulk, because he turns around upon hearing it and tries to grab it out of the sky! Fortunately, Joe shoots an arrow at James just then, causing him to miss the helicopter. Unfortunately, this causes James's attention to turn to Joe. James-Hulk grabs Joe off the building and looks about to squish him!

Just then, a bright light shoots out of the helicopter right into James's eyes, effectively blinding him. James roars and raises his hands to shield his face from the glare, dropping Joe in the process. Noah flies up to catch him, but it appears he didn't even need to, as Joe is able to latch his grappling hook onto the side of the building to slow his descent.

"Way to go Sarah!" Laura cheers.

"Nice job, sis!" Sam adds. Apparently Sarah has light powers as well as rain ones.

Unfortunately, the distraction doesn't last long, as James roars, shooting fire at everyone and hitting Noah! Noah screams as his suit starts to burn up around him! Thinking quickly, I use my super-strength to tear the top off a fire hydrant, sending water shooting up in the air. Noah quickly runs over and jumps into the water, which puts the fire out, but the damage has already been done.

"My suit is busted!" Noah exclaims, "And I don't have any tools around to fix it with."

"It's ok, at least you're not hurt," I say, trying to keep things positive by pointing out that Noah wasn't burned. Still, as I look around, I can't help feeling despair. Noah is out of the fight, and Laura and Sam look exhausted from using their powers so much. Sarah shouldn't have been here in the first place, and while Joe still has his arrows and grappling hook, he looks like he is in shock from his brother almost killing him, and if it comes down to it, I don't know if he will be able to fight James. That leaves only me, my dad, and Anne in fighting condition, as soon as Anne is done catching her breath.

Wait a sec! I look over at Anne in her Green Girl form as she catches her breath. If Green Girl is catching her breath, then where is James-Hulk? "Green Girl! Where is James?" I ask.

Green Girl shrugs her shoulders in a surprisingly non-threatening way, considering she is a Hulk.

"He can't just disappear!" I exclaim, confused. Then it hits me. "Oh. My. Gosh! His ant form!" I exclaim. "HE'LL HAVE EVEN MORE POWER WHEN TINY, AND YET WE CAN'T SEE HIM!" I yell, panicking.

"It'll be ok, we'll get through this!" my dad reassures everyone. "He's just small, not invisible. Everyone, look around and see if you can spot him."

My teammates and I frantically search the ground for any sight of James, yet none of us spot him. Suddenly, Green Girl lets out a ferocious yell! At first, I worry she is about to attack us, until I look up and see her flailing body shooting upwards into the sky! I realize with a shiver that inch-tall James-Hulk was able to kick Green Girl, who even taller and bulkier than an average human, up into the sky! If he can toss even the strongest member of our team around like that, what hope do the rest of us have?

"Where was Green Girl standing?" my dad asks, giving me something to think about besides my fear. "James-Hulk will be somewhere near there. Try to get closer to the area, but not too quickly now! You don't want him to kick you the way he did Green Girl."

Cautiously, the six of us approach the area Green Girl was kicked from. As we approach, I can't help but think of how terribly we keep losing against James. Maybe if we trained better, or if I could think of better plans, then we wouldn't keep losing to him. Or maybe, if I was paying attention to more than just how hot James was, I would have realized he's the hooded teenager. Maybe—

"NO!" dad suddenly yells, shoving me to the side and sticking his shield out in front of us. I watch helplessly as my dad suddenly shoots straight up into the air! Yet the danger doesn't stop there, as James suddenly grows to his giant size, grabs my dad out of the air, and slams him down onto the pavement!

"Hold on!" I exclaim, running over to help my dad, but before I can get there, James-Hulk bursts into flames, then slams his foot down on top of him, his claw-like toenails digging into my dad's skin!

I reach the two of them just as James-Hulk lifts his foot and roars. The hair on the back of my neck stands up as I realize this roar sounds different, not a roar of anger, but a roar of triumph!

"D-Dad?" I call, for the first time afraid that my dad might have lost the fight. I rush over to him and gasp! He has cuts all over from being pounded into the ground, and burns from the flames, yet that is not what worries me, since he has survived worse. What worries me is the gaping hole in his chest that James-Hulk's toenail carved into him, around which a pool of blood is forming! As I watch my dad, the mighty Captain America, cough up blood, a feeling of dread fills me.

"Liberty," dad croaks, seeing me looking at him.

"Don't talk!" I exclaim, fearful of how much blood my dad coughed up just trying to say my name.

"It's ok," dad replies, his eyes lolling slightly as more blood spurts out of his mouth.

"NO! IT'S NOT OK!" I yell, terrified of how calm my dad sounds, like he's giving up. I watch with horror as my dad's shirt can no longer contain the blood from his chest wound, and it starts trickling away from him in miniature red rivers. "I CAN HELP!" I exclaim, frantically unzipping my coat, my shaking fingers fumbling as I try to tie it around my dad's chest to stop the bleeding.

My dad smiles weakly. "I know you can. You always have." Suddenly, he starts to sit up slightly, despite my protests. "But there are many heroes in the world," he says, looking me in the eyes, despite the pain it must cause him. "Just be yourself." With a shuddering breath, Captain America lays back down and stops moving.

"Dad?" I whisper, hoping that this is some kind of trick. My dad, the famous Captain America isn't… he can't be… "DAD!" I yell, shaking him frantically, wanting him to wake up, to say his lack of responding was just a trick to deceive the enemy, something, ANYTHING! "I WON'T LOSE ANOTHER PARENT!" I yell, continuing to try to shake him awake, until my arms start shaking too badly and I collapse onto his shoulder and cry.

I can hear Sam shouting something, but I don't care, hear James-Hulk roaring, but I don't care. My dad, Captain America, is dead. Nothing matters anymore!

I bury my face in his shoulder and cry, thinking of all the good times we had together, my dad giving me piggyback rides when I was a kid, playing hide-and-seek, eating dad's birthday cake as we waited for the Fourth of July fireworks to start. Now dad will never have another birthday. And it's all because of me! If I had been paying attention to where I was walking, instead of worrying about whether or not I'm a good enough leader, dad would still be alive!

I cry harder as I realize that was not the only mistake I made. All the memories I had of my dad and I spending time together were in the past. I cringe as I remember telling my dad to leave me alone as I trained with the punching bags just a few days ago. Now, all I want is for him to come back! Sure, he was away on missions a lot, but if I wasn't so busy, maybe some of my happy memories with him would be recent. Instead, I chose to fill all my time with clubs and activities I don't even like, all because I'm worried about what strangers might think of me.

Briefly, I wonder what people will think of me now. I don't think anyone would blame me for mourning my dad even though James-Hulk is still on the loose. If I didn't rejoin the fight, people would understand. It's not easy losing a loved one. Besides, what chance do we have of stopping him now? The greatest superhero ever, Captain America, is dead. I am nowhere near as good at fighting as he is, and for all I know, my teammates are already dead!

This thought makes me so sad that I resume crying into my dad's shoulder. I cry harder as I realize his shoulder is losing its warmth. It's a reminder that I can't stay here forever, but where can I go? I could run away from James-Hulk, away from the fight we will only lose. No one would blame me… but I would blame me. I can't just leave my teammates there to die. If my teammates want to stop this monster, they need a leader, and I will not abandon them!

"I'm sorry," I whisper to my dad, gently closing his eyes. "I wasn't a very nice daughter. I was always crabby because I was always worrying about what other people thought of me. But right now, I need to be there for my friends," I say, starting to walk away, when a metallic glint catches my eye. I realize that, while my dad didn't fare well in the battle, his shield is still intact. Hesitantly, I pick it up. I find the metal to be sturdy, and while it would be heavy to lift for an average person, with my super-strength, it feels barely as heavy as a textbook.

"I hope you don't mind if I borrow this," I say to my dad, even though he is gone. "It's to protect my friends." Yet as I walk towards James, who I can easily spot since he is still in his giant form, I can't help but worry that they are already dead. Yet when I turn the corner onto the street James-Hulk is smashing, I am pleasantly surprised to see Green Girl still fighting him. At least one of my teammates is alive.

Suddenly, an arrow with a rope attached to it imbeds itself in James-Hulk's skin. James-Hulk roars and looks towards the direction that the arrow was fired from, only for the sky to cloud over and lightning to strike James-Hulk! I hear cheering and look up towards a rooftop to see Joe, Sam, Laura, and Noah high-fiving! They are all alive! And Sam managed to shoot two lightning-bolts without fainting!

A loud roar causes me to turn my attention back to James-Hulk, who is using his fire-powers, yet sparking slightly. As I watch, his flames start to flicker, and he shrinks a few inches. James-Hulk growls and puts his hands to his head as though he has a headache. Then he lowers his hands, and his flames and full height return.

"Looks like his powers are wearing off!" I hear Laura yell from the rooftop. "Green Girl, keep wearing him out! Joe, if you could keep shooting arrows at him whenever he corners Green Girl like that, that would be great. I know it's hard hitting your brother, but I'm pretty sure he can take it, and he's a major asshole, so he deserves it!"

I realize with a shock that Laura has taken over leading the team… and she's not half bad!

Just then, a bunch of people evacuating a building decide to take selfies next to the fight instead of running away! James-Hulk sees them and roars, leaping into the air as he prepares to crush them under his foot!

"MOVE!" I yell, running towards the stupid people and shoving myself in front of them. Too late, I realize that this is the same way my dad died, defending useless little me. Useless. That's all I am. I raise dad's shield in a desperate attempt to save myself, but no that there is no way a tiny shield can protect me from a giant foot. I brace for impact, and soon enough a horrible screeching sound fills my ears as James-Hulk's claw-like toe scrapes against my shield. Yet the pain never comes.

Cautiously, I open my eyes, and see that Anne has managed to pull James-Hulk away from me despite her lesser size and strength! "JAMES-HULK NO HURT FRIENDS!" Green Girl yells, jumping up and down on James-Hulk's head, which is easy for her to do now that James-Hulk's flames are out. As I watch, his form once again shrinks, this time even more than before, until a few seconds pass, and he returns to his full giant height.

The combination of not dying and James-Hulk's powers waning fills me with hope, something I never thought I'd feel again. My hope intensifies as my teammates on the building spot me and cheer me on. Maybe, just maybe, we can protect the city!