Steve stood in shock, staring at the wreckage of his room. He was panting a little from the sprint across the house, but now it felt like fear had punched a hole in his lungs. His chest heaved as he tried to get oxygen. His head was spinning, his hands were cold. It felt just like when he used to have asthma attacks. Panic! Panic! You can't breathe! You're dying! But this time there was plenty of air. And his lungs were fine.
Tina was gone.
Gone, gone, gone.
And it was all his fault.
I should have protected her better. I promised her. I promised she'd be okay. I swore I was going to be her hero and I failed. My fault, all my fault.
Steve's shield fell from his numb hand to the floor with an ear-splitting clang. It spun for a few rotations, then settled on the hardwood, silent and still. Fortunately, the noise brought Tony to his senses.
"Fury," he said suddenly. "If there's an alien here for any reason, he'd wanna know about it. He's gonna make this top priority and we'll have all of SHIELD's resources. Widow, Hawkeye, Bruce, get to base, right now. Keep your comms on."
Without a word, the two assassins swept from the room, Bruce running to keep up.
"Steve," Thor said softly, resting a gentle hand on Steve's shoulder. "We must go. Standing here will not aid her."
The god's wise words shook the captain from his state of horrified denial. He grabbed his shield from the ground and spun around to face the remaining two Avengers.
"Wh-what-what do we do?" he stuttered to himself.
Steve took a deep breath and shut his eyes. Thor's right. If I'm going to save her I've gotta get my act together. Steve's face hardened into the Captain's emotionless mask, but those who knew him well could see his eyes still reflected his terror.
"He jumped through the window, so they either have airpower, or can fly. We start by scanning the skies. Iron Man, I need you flying perimeters. As fast as your suit can take you. Don't let anything slip through."
Tony slid the face mask shut and dove through the window, sending glass pieces skittering across the wood in his wake.
"Thor, can you carry me? We need to scope out potential hiding places they may have gone to," Captain continued.
The Asgardian nodded and the two men linked arms, back to back, the way they found worked best in this type of situation. Steve's eyes instantly began roving the city for any signs of unusual activity. This wasn't like the Chitauri invasion, where the enemy was easily found. This was a subtle invasion. A quiet coup. In his opinion, an obvious but full-scale takeover would be a lot easier to deal with than this sneaky attack. Seal off the entrance, corral the enemies, unleash the Hulk on a big pile of them, go home for schwarma. This was difficult to spot. And they had a hostage, a hostage more valuable than life itself to Steve. Thor landed on top a skyscraper and held onto the spire. Captain did the same, scanning the horizon.
"Okay," Bruce's voice said in the communications unit in his ear, "We're having all aircraft except SHIELD's land immediately. Anything else is up for grabs."
"Got it," Tony said, "But what if they Skrullify their aircraft? Make it look like one of SHIELD's?"
Steve heard keyboard clicks over the wind.
"Good thought," Bruce admitted, "I just put all of our ships are on constant radar. If you get near 'em, we'll know. And if you're near something we don't recognize, drop it."
"Understood," Thor rumbled.
"We're going to start checking things out," Hawkeye informed them, the sound of rotors loud in the background.
"Does Cap want a lift?" Widow asked.
"Yes. I'm with Thor," he said tersely.
As the helicopter came overhead, Steve quickly scaled the rope that Natasha dropped from the helicopter and strode to the cockpit. Natasha was mapping out gridpoints and Clint was glaring in each direction as though the sky itself had done him a personal ill. He turned around in his seat and met Steve's eyes, but said nothing. Nothing needed to be said.
A small helicopter floated over the river, with the logo of a news station on the side.
"Are they stupid or something?" Clint snarled. "SHIELD heli number one-three-oh requesting communication with CBS news heli, over."
Static was the only response. Natasha pointed out a small stream of smoke coming out of the aircraft and the damaged tail.
"Maybe they hit something and it knocked out their radio. That could also be why they're not moving. The tail's damaged," she suggested.
"Fine, I'm getting them out of here," Steve grumbled.
He stomped to the back and lowered the rope again. "I'll call for pick-up in a minute."
Steve waited until the other helicopter's hanging ladder was low enough to reach. When it was, he clambered up and signaled for Clint to pull away. He turned inside, utterly frustrated.
He did a double take. He was staring at a perfect replica of himself. Just like a mirror. The other Captain wore his uniform and even carried a shield, but was grinning evilly.
"You," Steve growled.
"No," it laughed softly, "I am you."
Steve stepped away from the open door; he had no desire to fall today.
"Where is she?" he asked darkly.
The Skrull laughed. Steve caught movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Tina, blindfolded with her sweater and tied to a bar. Her wrists were bound above her head and her ankles were tied to the metal pole below her. A number of bleeding scratches, probably from the window, decorated her body. Her white tank top covered in tiny blood stains from glass cuts. He could she the angry red marks where she'd been hit. The marks were hand-shaped. The shape of his hand.
Steve saw red. He turned on the pseudo-Captain. He threw his shield, slamming the Skrull in the chest and pushing him toward the still-open door. Steve grabbed the other shield and sprinted to Tina's side. He ripped the blindfold off and tore the duct tape off her wrists and ankles, effectively, if slightly painfully, freeing her.
"Tina."
Steve only got her name out before the Skrull attacked. Using Steve's shield as a sword of sorts, it hit him on the shoulder with the edge, only just missing his neck. Steve grunted in pain as the metal bit into his skin. He lashed out with a side kick and turned, using his momentum to grab the shield out from under his enemy. The Skrull ran towards the other wall and ran up it, flipping over Steve's head and seizing the opportunity to box Steve's ears. His comm unit clattered onto the floor and slid out the open door. Oh no you don't. You will not be between me and her, Steve thought viciously, sliding under his doppelganger and cutting at his ankle with the sharp edge of the shield. The Captain leaped to his feet and jumped, kicking the Skrull in the chest with both feet. The imposter flew through the air, falling out of the open door. Steve breathed a quick sigh of relief.
"Tina," he whispered, reaching out to her.
She flinched away from his touch, emerald eyes wide with terror. She was shivering with fright. It took Steve a moment to understand.
"No, Tina, it's really me," he said softly, touching her hand with one finger.
She bit her bottom lip and a tear slid down her bloodied cheek. Steve couldn't help the hurt that overflowed inside him. Don't be afraid. Steve desperately wished that the fear would leave her eyes. He sat and scooted back a few feet.
"It's okay, Tina. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. I love you."
…
Tina gasped involuntarily as the tape was ripped off her wrists and ankles. She blinked and scanned her surroundings.
"Tina," Steve breathed.
Tina's eyes opened in shock as she saw another Steve behind him. The shield sunk into Steve's flesh. They began fighting viciously, and she didn't know who she wanted to win. She stared, eyes locked on their combat, while all the time, she wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and wait for this awful, awful day to end. One of the Captains was kicked out of the open door, and the other knelt beside her.
"Tina," he whispered.
His hand reached out and Tina recoiled. All she wanted was for Steve to reach out and cuddle her and tell her than everything was okay. But she didn't know if it was Steve. She stared at him in fear, praying that the other man had been the imposter, and not her hero.
"No, Tina, it's really me," he said.
Tina stared intensely at him, searching for something that would make her sure. She shivered, still afraid. Steve's hand dropped and his eyes clouded over with sadness. He looked like he was close to tears himself. The Captain moved a little further away.
"It's okay, Tina. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. I love you."
That other thing wouldn't have said that, Tina thought. How do I know? How can I tell? I just want this to be my Steve. She tentatively reached her hand out and Steve held his hand out for it, slowly and deliberately, as if trying to prove he meant no harm. Steve caressed her fingertips softly, eyes never leaving hers.
"Steve?"
"It's me, I promise. I-I know your dad Jeff is a huge Dodgers fan. And Carter is my bro, and Tony and I fight about movie choices all the time. And remember that time when you were so angry at your professor that you cried and Pepper explained PMS and the first time we ever met was in the park because you drew me and you looked so beautiful on my birthday that I didn't know what to-oh!" Steve gasped as he remembered her present to him.
He pulled his dog tags out from under his uniform and showed her the one she'd given him July 4th. My hero.
"No alien would know to copy that, huh?" she said with a glazed look.
Steve half-smiled nervously.
"No," he answered, hesitantly reaching out to brush his fingertips across her cheek.
Tina suddenly scrambled forward into Steve's lap, wrapping her arms around him as tight as she could. He held her close and rocked her.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry," he whispered, face buried in her hair.
"You're about to be," the Captain's voice said from behind.
Tina looked up in time to see the alien pull a gun out and take aim.
Steve launched himself backwards, knocking the Skrull's feet out. The shot went high, punching a hole in the helicopter's ceiling. The two men grappled on the floor, fighting viciously but neither being able to get the upper hand. They were perfectly matched. For every monster punch Steve would give, he'd get one. For each slash or cut delivered, one appeared. The battle of attrition was going to be won by heart. You are gonna pay for hurting my girl, Steve thought venomously.
The Skrull, unlike the Captain, decided to play dirty. Taking advantage of Tina's position between himself and the door, he threw a rifle at her. The maneuver earned him a kick in the head, but with satisfaction, he watched the irritating human girl's eyes fill with terror as the momentum made her topple out the door and toward the river below. His orders were to distract the Captain. Use her, he was told, She'll keep him out of the fight for a lot longer. Without leadership, the pitiful heroes of Earth will crumble. Mission accomplished.
Steve saw the gun fly, but wasn't able to stop it. The huge machine gun hit Tina in the chest, and almost in slow motion, he watched her eyes catch his. There was silence as she fell from view, and then he heard her scream. Steve kicked the Skrull in the head. He let out a roar-like noise of rage then grabbed the sides of its head again, twisting it and breaking its neck. Under his hands, the Skrull began to change as it died. Bursting free of the uniform, its body morphed into a lizard-esqu form, green scales erupting through the material. Steve didn't bother watching for the rest. He leaped for the door, diving into the river below and praying he wasn't too late.
Ah! 200 reviews! Thank you all so much for your feedback :) All you reviewers inspire me to keep writing! You are lovely people!
And how are the action scenes? They always take me forever to write...
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