Captain America Part 3

Captain America drives his motorcycle away from Liberty Island through the streets of downtown New York. People stop on the streets to stare at the bright symbol of liberty that races through the city. Street cars stop, horses halt for the sentinel of liberty.

“Go Captain America,” a boy shouts from the side of the street.

Captain America salutes the boy as he races by. His motorcycle clears the busy streets and reaches a straightaway, tearing down at a higher speed than before. Next to the street is the harbor, glistening in the moonlight. The lights of Coney Island come up and go by.

Meanwhile, Peggy Carter is ushered onto a large cargo ship. She kicks and fights against her handlers, rough shipyard types. Directing them is Master Man, who appears to have grown even larger since the last time. Every now and then he winces as if in sudden pain. The Skull walks onto the ship and regards Peggy as some low form of disgusting life.

“You’re intelligence agency is pathetic,” he says.

“You’re arrogance is what is pathetic, Skull.” Peggy spit’s the words in his face.

Though his face isn’t seen, he cocks his head as if he’s giving an interested smile at a strange little creature with spunk.

“Lock her on the deck,” is his only command.

Captain America races past trucks on the road, weaving in and out of them at a breakneck speed. He hunches down, his shield on his back helping to form an aerodynamic shape as he rides. He enters the warehouse district and races past men who are leaving their shifts. They watch in awe as the dark blue motorcycle with the star on the gas tank passes at a greater speed than they’ve ever seen.

At Liberty Island, Nick Fury and his men take the traitors in custody. Nick chomps on his cigar as he questions one of them.

“Where did he go?”

“To the shipyard on the lower side,” the man says. “He’ll never make it.”

“Is there a trap?” Nick asks. He pulls his .45 to loosen the man’s tongue.

“You shoot me and you won’t find out either,” he says.

“Yeah, but I’ll have the satisfaction of saving government dollars on your indictment.”

“He’ll never make it to the ship.”

Nick drops the man and orders his men to take him away. He rounds up a couple men, one is Dum Dum, to go with him to help Cap.

Cap can see the lights of the docks in the distance as he gets closer to the yard. The ship is still at the docks. He puts on more speed, hopeful he can still make it. He reaches the outer gates of the yard and some shadows catch his eye. He circles around and takes another approach.

Inside the shipyard a group of men with chatter guns, shot guns, chains, and pipes wait for Cap at the open gate. They keep looking back to check on the progress of the ship. The ship is starting to pull away from the dock. Suddenly, they hear the roar of an engine, but it isn’t where they expected. It comes from behind them, as Cap flies over the gate and lands behind their trap. His shield flies from his hands like a missile and knocks six of them to the ground where they drop their weapons. It bounces off a post and comes flying back into Cap’s right hand. He slides it back on his left arm and guns the engine on his bike. He pulls out, kicking dust in the air, making it hard to see him.

The remaining men start firing if they have guns, but are firing blind in the dust and dark. They advance into the place where cap had been, and find nothing but a bunch of tire marks.

“Sorry, boys, but I had to park my bike,” Cap’s voice descends, as does his armor plated figure. His feet take out two men, while his right fist pounds another’s jaw out of alignment. His shield deflects bullets from a Tommy Gun, one of the bullets ricochets off and hits one of the men who is carrying a chain.

Cap leaps and strikes the man with his shield, putting him out cold. He looks around, and every one of them is knocked out. He heads back to get his bike, and realizes that this was just the beginning. Shadows move in the dark alleys around the yard. From what he can tell, there are at least twenty men lurking in wait for him.

In the bridge of the ship, Master Man has tied Peggy up to the captain’s chair.

“You will have to see if your boyfriend can rescue you. I know you always had your eye on him. He was the favorite all along.”

Peggy would respond, but the gag in her mouth lets her only grunt at Owen.

Master Man leaves the room and has a couple men weld the door shut.

Cap runs for his cycle and sees two men coming out of hiding behind him. He pretends not to see them, and then flicks his left arm back in a quick motion, releasing his shield. The disc spins back with a force that the attacker had not anticipated. The shield strikes him, knocking him off his feet, but then bounces at a 90 degree angle and then pounds right into the other man’s side, bouncing again and into Cap’s right arm that he stretches out to catch the shield as it flies up from behind. Through all this, Cap doesn’t loose a stride.

Another attacker jumps up from the roof of a warehouse, and opens fire. The bullets bounce off Cap’s shield, and Cap jumps and rolls into the shadow. He walks into the hangar where he left his bike and proceeds with caution. There are boxes and old ship parts all over the place. A lot of hiding places. When he reaches the center of the warehouse, he realizes that a large group of men have surrounded him. A light comes on, and he sees just how large the group is. They all look mean and tough, and have scars to prove it. They all carry thug weapons, chains, pipes, clubs, and knives.

“I don’t want to hurt you boys,” Cap says, “So if you want to leave, you have that option.”

Someone calls him a wise guy, and they rush him.

Meanwhile Nick , Dum Dum and another agent drive their government car as fast as it will go down the streets.

“We’re never going to make it,” Dum Dum says.

“We’ve got to make it, Dum Dum,” replies Nick.

Cap battles the men, ducking, kicking, deflecting with his shield. He is holding his own. He rips some weapons from their hands and sometimes makes them hit each other by slipping out of the way. Finally, the men pile onto him. The pile grows as more jump on.

Peggy is alone in the bridge of the ship. The ship’s controls are obviously somewhere else. The ship is moving farther away from the pier. She works on her bonds as fast as she can. She works with the urgency of having to save the world.

One by one the men fly off the pile, red fists pounding through them. Then and opening pops through on the side and Cap rushes out. The pile is still there, clubs swinging, knives plunging. Cap looks back at the mess and shakes his head. He reaches his motorcycle and kick starts it.

The noise catches the men’s attention and the stop their attack. Several of their own members are on the floor bleeding and broken. They look over to see Cap salute them and ride off.

Cap rides quickly toward the pier. He puts on the speed as he looks to calculate the distance the ship has reached from the pier. He accelerates more and turns down the longest pier. The tires on his bike vibrate on the wooden planks. He races past lights on the pier like they are a picket fence. He climbs up onto the seat with his feet and when the bike reaches the end of the pier he leaps into the air with all his strength, using the momentum of the bike to fling him across the water. He flies through the air, all the way to where the ship is, just barely reaching where the crane and hook are extended off the end for cargo. Cap catches the rope and swings on it all the way to the aft of the ship.

When he lands, several men run up to the deck to see what the noise was. They see Cap and they pull their guns. Cap’s shield shoots from his arm and plows through the five men, leaving them unconscious on the deck. Another man starts up the stairs, sees Cap and runs back down.

Cap starts to walk across the deck, and then sees five more men racing up the stairs toward him. He ducks down to the deck and uses his legs to sweep the men from their feet. He then kicks several unconscious and delivers a few punches that dispatch the others. He looks back down the stair case, his teeth gritted.

“Whose next?” he asks.

Then Master Man rises up through the darkness. His size is much greater than before.

“Me,” he says. “Better hope that shield is made of sturdy stuff, cause I’m gonna crush that pie pan of yours.”

Master man reaches for the shield and grabs it with amazing speed for such a large man. Cap hangs on to his shield and is lifted up into the air by the crazed giant.

“Owen,” Cap says, “You don’t have to do this. You could help me and might get a pardon.”

Master man flings cap toward the edge of the ship in rage. Cap nearly goes off the edge, but manages to grab the railing and swing back on. Master Man races toward him, and Cap narrowly side steps the attack.

“The Skull isn’t going to help you,” Cap continues.

“I s that you, Steve?” Master Man replies.

“It is,” Cap says. “And I’m willing to give you a second chance. I’m sure if you help catch the Skull the President will pardon you.”

“I don’t need a pardon from a weak cripple!”

Master Man swings at Cap and connects with the shield, sending Cap flying back into some boxes where he breaks through the wooden boards. Before he can collect himself, Master Man is on him again, lowing a powerful punch. Cap rolls with it, but it is so hard that it makes him dizzy. Without being able to clear his head, Cap swings the shield and connects with Owen’s head. The hit sends Master Man stumbling back.

“Where is Peggy?” Cap says.

“She’s dead,” Owen replies with a smile.

Cap lunges at Master Man and lands several good punches, none of them doing much damage to the hard physique of his opponent.

Master Man swings a few at Cap, but misses due to Cap’s agility. Cap takes advantage of his low position to strike at the sides of Owen’s knees. This causes Master Man to fall to his knees, but he rolls back and Cap looses any further chances to strike.

“The Skull will throw you out, you know.”

Owen doesn’t reply.

“He wants something far more powerful than you,” Cap continues. “And from what I can see, you will probably die from the serum before too long. You have kept growing, kept changing. You haven’t stabilized.”

A box flies through the air and lands right where Cap had been before he jumped out of the way. Master Man tackles him as he is off balance and they both go through several boxes of wood. Splinters fly everywhere as the two trade close range blows.

Cap strikes with the edge of his shield in the pressure point between the bicep and tricep on the inside of Owen’s arm. Owen grabs his arm in pain, and cap uses his shield again to hit Master Man under the chin on the neck.

“Normally I wouldn’t play so rough, Owen, but it appears that your body is so hard with muscles that this is the only way to stop you.”

Master man falls back, and Cap presses the attack, hitting the solar plexus. Owen gasps for air, but manages to swing an arm that catches the edge of Cap’s head, sending him to the deck.

Owen pulls a knife from his belt and lifts it over Cap. Just then he grabs his chest again and falls back. Master Man’s body ripples and twitches. Blood leaks out of his mouth as his organs fall apart.

Cap gets to his feat, regards Owen and shakes his head.

“The adrenalin fueled the changes, poor man.”

Just then, the deck of the ship starts to break apart as if the ship is ripping in two.

Peggy pulls her arms free and rips off the gag. She runs to the window and sees Cap standing next to Master Man’s dead body. The ship is coming apart. She bangs on the windows and yells. The windows are solid and all the chairs are bolted to the deck.

Cap looks up and sees Peggy in the bridge. He races up the ladder steps to the bridge and tries the door. It is not only locked, but welded shut. The ship is starting to pitch and toss as it takes on water. Cap looks stern and sees a large cylindrical object pulling out from under the ship. It is a submarine. He catches a glimpse of a swastika on the U-Boat.

“The ship was just a shell for the U-boat,” Cap says to himself.

He doesn’t have much time, so he raises his shield and thrusts it through the glass, sending shards everywhere. Peggy runs to the window and climbs out of the bridge. Cap carries her down to the deck, which is now nearly at water level. He jumps off a railing with her as the ship disappears into a bubbling pool. He uses his shield to pull them away from the suction that the ship is causing. They still get pulled under water, but Cap breaks free of the force and swims to the surface with Peggy.

They look at each other, grateful to be alive.

“The Skull got away in a U-boat,” Steve says.

“We’ve got him on the run, though. And he knows we aren’t beaten that easy.”

“I suppose he’ll be watching over his shoulder for some time now.”

They reach a buoy and climb up. They wait a while before Nick arrives with a boat.

“So, kid, you took care of the trap pretty well,” Nick says to Steve.

“What trap?” Cap replies.

When they get back to headquarters Steve is sent back to further his training under Sgt. Duffy and he strikes up his friendship with Bucky, who being an orphan has nearly attached to Steve as a father figure. The two play cards and hang out after drills.

Finally, Nick comes back with Peggy and they let Steve know that they will be assigning him to the European theater to stop the Skull. They believe the Skull has gone to France where he may be developing a bomb from some research that Erskine was doing on neutrons.

Cap returns to his bunk to find Bucky looking dejected as he sits on Steve’s cot. Bucky reveals that he saw the Cap uniform and knows that he will be leaving.

“I think I might be able to convince them that I need a personal assistant,” Steve says.

Bucky’s eyes brighten.

In the adventures that follow, Cap and Bucky will become world renown for their daring acts of bravery. But for now they will heed the call and head to London for their first assignment to catch the Red Skull. To be continued….