Miss America: The Daughter of Steve Rogers

Chapter 2

Bucky stayed close, trying to stop Iron Man from using his energy weapons. Just when Iron Man got the advantage, Cap knocked him off-balance with his shield.

Iron Man whirled and fired out a device that magnetically locked Cap's ankles together and pinned him to the floor. He spun back to Bucky and I, spreading one palm wide right in my face. But he hadn't counted on the strength of my arm. I caught the gauntlet and turned it away. I squeezed it, and the repulsor lens cracked and shorted out. He jerked free, and Iron Man shot a mini missile at Bucky and I. It missed and set off a small chain reaction that led to a huge fireball in the pipes near the stasis vessels. The fire spread, echoing in the chamber.

Cap finally broke the magnetic band with his shield.

The rocket had destabilized the whole structure of huge pipes and girders. It started to lean in and collapse, pinning Iron Man for a moment. "Get her out of here!" Cap shouted at Bucky, look at me.

Bucky, who remembered the base systems from before, slapped a large button near the back of the room. Far above, a round hatch started to open. Bucky ran toward it and started to climb in a spiral around the outside of the shaft. Still dragging me along with him, only now I was fighting it. Because we're on the same team now, and whether I like it or not, I don't think I would get out of here without their help.

Iron Man powered up his boot thrusters and started to follow, but Cap stood in his way. "It wasn't them, Tony. Hydra had control of their minds!"

He didn't care. "Move!"

When Captain America didn't move, Iron Man rocketed past him, but Cap caught his leg. "It wasn't them!" He pounded one boot thruster with his shield. Sparks shot out across the floor. Iron Man kicked free and tried to fly up after us, who were climbing towards the surface.

But even with his systems failing, Iron Man could fly faster than Bucky and I could run. He caught up to us and charged his one working repulsor, but Cap came out of nowhere and deflected the blast right back at him. It knocked Stark out of the air, and he fell down to a lower level.

"He's not going to stop," Cap said to Bucky and I. "Go."

Still confused, I nodded and we jumped up to the next level. Iron Man came rocketing after us. As he passed, Cap caught him with a grappling line and jerked him out of the air. They fell together most of the way back down the shaft. Iron Man came up firing and knocked Cap's shield out of his hand. It clanked away down into the darkness.

Then Iron Man spun and sighted the fleeing Bucky and I. He had only one thing on his mind. Revenge.

But the computer couldn't lock in on our forms. "I'm eyeballing it." I hear him say and turn around briefly.

He sighted down his arm and fired another missile. Not at me, not at Bucky, but at the hinge holding the hatch open. The rocket blew the hinge apart, and the huge steel hatch fell back shut, barely missing the two of us. Now, with Bucky and I trapped at the top of the shaft, Stark could catch us. He shot upward and got a forearm around Bucky's neck. "Do you even remember them?" he said, his voice trembling with anger.

"I remember all of them," Bucky said. Even in the midst of his fury, seeing the expression on Barnes's face shocked Tony into a moment of sympathy... but only a moment.

Without thinking, I jump onto the men and begin punching Stark in the face.

His thrusters couldn't hold all of our weights and we were sinking back down into the shaft. Then Cap jumped from a side platform, and all four of us tumbled down, landing hard on a stone platform. Ventilation slots were cut into the side of the wall here, and snow blew in.

I catch my breath, helping both Cap and Bucky up.

"This isn't going to change what happened," Cap said as he got to his feet.

"I don't care," Tony said, his faceplate shifting back into place. It wasn't about principles anymore, or Sokovia or Lagos or anything else. "They killed my mom."

And if Cap was going to defend Bucky and I, then Cap was his enemy now, too.

So that's who that couple was on the screen earlier. His parents. I glance at Stark and then to Bucky, who was struggling to stand. We killed them.

Iron Man charged, battering Cap with heavy punches from his powered gauntlets. Cap looked strong, but he couldn't handle that kind of pounding forever.

I looked over and saw Captain's shield lying nearby. I scooped it up and ran to help. I knocked Iron Man over with the shield and teamed up with Cap. Together, we hit the Iron Man armor with everything we had, but Starks's anger and pain made him stronger than he'd ever been. He spun away from our team-up and blasted a repulsor right into Steve's midsection, doubling him over. Then he nearly took me out with an energy beam, but I caught his arm and drove him back against the wall.

"Look, I'm sorry! I- I don't remember anything. Who I am, who I was, nothing!" I tell him, still, to my knowledge overpowering him.

"Shut it, princess." He right hooks me across the face and I fall to the ground. Bucky then comes in and pushes Stark back against the wall.

They were both beyond words now, just straining with guttural rage. Bucky dug the fingers of his metal hand into the arc reactor, trying to crumple its housing.

But Stark had one more trick Bucky didn't know about. He unleashed the beam from the arc reactor itself. It had ten times the power of a repulsor blast, and he couldn't do it often, but this was a desperate moment. The chest beam blew Bucky's metal arm off just below the shoulder, leaving a glowing stump. Bucky reeled back and Iron Man hit him with another repulsor blast, overloading everything. Bucky went down and stayed down.

Steve stepped in and just barely stopped Iron Man from killing Bucky, keeping his shield up against the furious repulsor blasts and rocking Tony with counterstrikes of his own. Neither of them was going to stop now.

The fight turned fast, and barely a minute later, Cap was down on his hands and knees... but still blocking the way to Bucky and I.

"Sorry, Tony," Cap panted, his face bloody. "He's my friend."

"So was I," Stark said. Two more punches laid Cap flat and Stark tossed him out of the way. Bucky lay helpless in the corner. Not taking this anymore, I lunge at the Iron Man but he grabs hold of me and throws me to the ground next to Cap.

"Stay down. Final warning."

Cap and I got to our feet, going on sheer force of will. A flashback played through my mind of fighting when I was a kid, training with Bucky, and what I'd said then.

"I can do this all day." Cap and I both say this at the same time. We glance to one another. My eyebrow raises as I see a look of pride in his gaze. Then we turn back to Stark.

With incredible reserves, we took everything Stark could dish out, and then Cap got the shield in his hands again. Finally, we had a shot. He knocked Iron Man down and straddled him, moving fast before he could get his bearings. He battered Stark's helmet with the edge, shorting out most of his sensor systems.

Then he raised it high one more time, and I actually thought Cap was going to finish him off to save us.

But instead, he brought the edge of the shield down onto the arc reactor, destroying it. With the last of the suit's power, Stark retracted the faceplate. Blood streaked his face, and with the arc reactor disabled, the Iron Man armor was reduced to several hundred pounds of dead weight. He could barely get up, let alone fight. Cap staggered to his feet and wrenched the shield free of the armor.

"That shield does not belong to you," Stark said. Cap and I helped Bucky to his feet and we started walking away. "You don't deserve it! My father made that shield!"

That last sentence got to Cap. I could tell. He paused. Then, without looking back, he dropped the shield and kept walking. He, Bucky, and I leaned on each other for support.