A Snowy Mountain near-ish the Avengers Tower
9:57 PM"Give it up, Cap. You can't win this one. You know you can't."
Iron Man's pulse cannon glowed like a beating heart at the center of his palm, illuminating Captain America's bruised and yet chiseled visage.
For a moment, the colors seemed almost surreal, nightmare bright - befitting of this grotesque dream that still hurt too much to be real. Red blood, steaming on white snow. The figure of a gray mountain cut into the field of stars behind Captain America's head. The air fogged white in front of his face. Tony could count each breath he took.
How had they gotten here?
"Captain America," Iron Man said slowly and with masculine, yet vulnerable, power. "You are under arrest. For - "
"For what, Tony?" Steve said finally. "If we're going to do this here, if we're going to end everything we worked for...the least you can do is tell me
why."
Tony clenched his shapely and rugged jaw so hard he thought it'd crack. He stared at Steven "Captain Boy Scout" America for a long time, then finally turned away with a curse whispered quietly into the snowy air.
"Jesus
Christ, Cap, are you really going to make me say it?" Steve stared back at him, the barest hint of that insufferably smug grin playing across his features, in exactly the way Fox & Friends never seemed to capture. Tony liked to think it meant that look was just for him. He liked to think
most of Steve was just for him.
"Fine.
F**k. Fine. Cap -
Steve. I love -"
Queens Community College
Sunnyside, Queens
11:54PMSomewhere behind her, a door crashed open, and Kamala said a silent prayer of thanks to anyone listening she hadn't accidentally hurled her laptop halfway across the room. Mostly, she was getting used to these late-night disturbances. Sure, they were nothing so...exciting as they'd been
before. But being an RA on a commuter campus was an intentionally quiet job, and since most of her already small handful of residents were foreign students anyway, it still
felt like she was doing some good.
Plus, she got her own bathroom. That was cool, too.
As the swell of drunken shouting and fist-bumping grew louder, she shut her laptop and waited expectantly for the horde to reach her. Not five seconds later, four guys, only one of whom she recognized, stumbled into what barely constituted the tiny student lounge at Queens Community College. She watched as each of them, one by one, acknowledged her almost comedically, reactions ranging from wary to amused. The tallest of them spoke first, throwing a would-be charming smirk her way.
"What's up, Princess Jasmine?" His friend elbowed him. Kamala noted something distinctly yeasty in the air.
"Dude, that's, like...fucking racist, man."
Tall Guy scoffed. "It's not racist, dude, it's a
compliment. Princess Jasmine is hot." He turned back to her and grinned. "She knows."
"Whatever, man," said a third member of their party, the one she recognized as Omar from her bio classes. "I'm out before you turn us into a fucking Buzzfeed article." He gave gave Kamala a sort of apologetic half shrug and said, "I just needa grab something from my room."
Kamala nodded, and the kid and his friends lurched out of the lounge, through the kitchen, and down the hallway. Only the Tall Guy lingered, staring at her. His expression was unreadable, which Kamala tried to make into a good thing.
"Um...are you okay?"
"I'm not racist," he said. Kamala nodded. Again.
"That's good."
"Do...you wanna go to this party?"
Kamala resisted the urge to look behind her and managed to just look confused instead. Of all the things she'd been expecting him to follow up with...that had not been it.
Still. She had plans for the night, and even if they didn't all revolve around the scripted and dramatic reunion of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, they were still pretty unbreakable. Right?
"Oh, I...can't. Busy. RA-ing and stuff."
"Yeah, but it's
Friday," wheedled Tall Guy. To his credit, he seemed genuine. And even if she didn't really trust genuine anymore, she could still appreciate its effective deployment. He made a face. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said. Lame joke, I know. Won't do it again. What's your real name? I'm - "
Kamala's flip phone - her work phone - buzzed in her lap. "Sorry," she said, half sincere, half relieved. "Gotta take this. But hey, have fun at your...party."
Tall Guy looked like he wanted to add something, but Kamala dropped her eyes to her phone. He was gone before she finished reading the text alert.
BURGLARY IN PROGRESS OFF-CAMPUS (MANHATTAN SATELLITE): JAY'S PAWN SHOP. WEAPONS FIRED. HIGHLY DANGEROUS. CAUTION ADVISED.
Kamala exhaled, but her heart was already racing. None of her students would be at the satellite campus now. And even if they were, it wasn't like anyone expected an RA to do something about it, except maybe text her residents to make sure they were alive. Kamala knew that. She
knew that, and yet...
Almost without her permission, she reached over to turn on the old tube TV, sitting a good six feet away from her. Risky, okay, but everything felt risky these days. She flipped through the channels until she found the local news.
BREAKING read the scrolling words at the bottom of the screen. STANDOFF IN MID-MANHATTAN. ONE DEAD, TWO INJURED. HOSTAGES LIKELY.
Kamala didn't bother to turn off the TV. She was moving before the report details had finished their second loop.
Little Bill