Captain America

Sharon Carter

New York City

For the past several months Crossbones has been in hiding, ever since he has been ousted from Hydra after his blunder with the Absorbing Man. Creel has never been one of a master planner and quick on his feet but Crossbones should have known that when getting into a partnership like that.

Now, Crossbones only wanted revenge on one man and one man only; Captain America. The one man to have halted his plans for greatness. And he was going to tear this great city apart to find him.

He heard that Cap was known to hang out in Brooklyn. So that was where he was headed.

If it was only that easy.

He saw some kids playing with a fire hydrant across the street, trying to get wet, to deal with the heatwave. Oh, he was going to help them all right.

He knocked off the top of a fire hydrant on his side of the street and spalshed a stream of water on their chests hard. Very hard indeed. They all fell down in pain and went home to cry to their mothers and fathers about the bad man in the skull mask.

Crossbones laughed.

That felt good. He wondered if that would work as well on the real Cap. Probably not. He was a sissy, but he was more man than that.

“Hey, man, that wasn’t nice.”

Crossbones looked below him to see a little girl directing that question to him. “Izzat so, l’il girl? And who’s gonna make me stop? You? Fat chance of that, girlie.”

“My dad will beat you up.”

“And who’s yer dad?”

“He’s Cap’n ‘Merica.”

“What’s yer name, sweetie?”

“Maria Rogers.”

“Good. Yer comin’ wit’ me, Maria girlie.”

Crossbones grabbed the little girl by the arm and dragged her to a payphone. Holding her arm, he dialed a specific number. A number that hasn’t been in use for several years.

“Captain America’s Hotline, please state your name and message after the beep…”

“Yo, Cap. I have your little girl, Maria. If you want her back alive, you will come for me at a time and a place of my choosing. I will keep in touch.”

Click.

Steve Rogers’ Apartment

In costume but with his mask off, Captain America bowed his head in shame, while holding Sharon Carter’s hand on the bed. He was crying. He was beside himself.

“Where could I have gone wrong, Shar? I thought this city was safe for young girls and children to play in. I was going to pick her up from school today but I was late. I feel terrible. Where could she have gone? Who could have taken her?”

With both hands, Sharon took Cap’s head, massaged it, and smothered it in her breasts. “Don’t worry about it, Cap. We’ll find her. We just have to figure out who took her and wait for the call.”

Harshly, Cap stood up. “Well, I can’t wait. Do you know how much this little girl means to me? She means more to me as if I impregnated a girl and she was born the old traditional way, not by adoption.” He paused. “I don’t care. I have to go out to find her. I’m going to look for her.”

Cap pulled on his mask and opened the window.

Sharon reached out her hand to stop him. “Don’t, Cap. That’s crazy. What if this maniac calls again and gives us demands? I need you here, Maria needs you here.”

“Wait, huh? I’m not used to waiting. I need action.”

“I know, Cap, Steve. I know. Me, too. Don’t you think I’d rather be out there kicking this guy’s butt.”

The phone rang.

“Speak of the devil,” Sharon said.

Cap walked slowly. over to the receiver and picked up the phone. “This is Captain America.”

“Hey, Cap. It’s me, yer ever-lovin’ pal, Crossbones. I’m back and I have yer daughter. Never figured you to be the sexual type.”

“If you’ve harmed one hair on her pretty head, I swear I’ll—“

“You’ll nothing. I’ll give your daughter back, if you meet me at the place we had our last fight, tonight at midnight. Be there. Or yer l’il girl dies.”

Click.

An anonymous rooftop

Captain America and Sharon stood atop a rooftop where Cap and Crossbones last fought along with the Absorbing Man when the two villains were members of Hydra. For the past several minutes, Cap had been looking in all the hidey-holes to see where Crossbones and Maria could be hidden. But he found nothing.

“This is the place,” Cap said, still looking around. “So I guess we wait. But you know as well as anyone else that I hate to wait for anything in my life.’

Sharon Carter looked at cap and then, back at the area. “Yeh, me, too. Waiting still drives me buggy.”

They both heard oncoming footsteps and they turned to the back of them. Cap’s eyes nearly popped out of his eye sockets when he saw Crossbones carrying a gagged and bound Maria underneath his arm.

“I’m here, Crossbones. Now let the girl go.’

“Not yet, Cappie.” Crossbones placed the girl by an air vent and approached Cap. “WE still have business to conduct. Because of you I was kicked out of Hydra, one of the cushiest jobs I had besides being the Red Skull’s bodyguard. But he’s dead now.”

“So what do you want now, revenge? That’s awful petty, Crossbones. Revenge will get you nothing but instant satisfaction. It will fade with time.”

“I don’t care. I want to kill you.” Crossbones raced across the rooftop at Cap and crashed him into a steam pipe. Steam exuded from the pipe as they hit it and crashed it.

Cap took his shield off his back and slammed it against Crossbones’ face. He reeled back in pain and gripped his jaw. Crossbones clenched his fist, threw a punch, and slammed it against Cap’s shield. The reverberations knocked him through a loop.

Then, Sharon shot him in the shoulder. He growled in pain like an animal.

Blood pouring from his shoulder wound and spitting on the ground, Crossbones looked up at Captain America. “You won this round, Cappie. But the war belongs to me.” Crossbones then escaped through the fire escape. Cap didn’t bother to chase after him.

“Why don’t you go after him?” Sharon asked.

“I don’t care about him. I just care that my daughter is safe.”

“Good point.”

Cap walked over to where Maria was struggling with her bonds. He loosened the ropes and took off the duck tape from her mouth. “Are you all right?”

“Yeh. I think so. He didn’t hurt me any. I don’t him that my dad would beat him up.”

Uh, Maria, it’s not a good idea to brag about that that your father is Captain America and he can beat everyone up.”

“Why not? You are and you can. Yer the greatest, daddy.”

“I know, but I’m just concerned for your safety. I don’t want you to be hurt or kidnapped again.”

“Ok, daddy. I’ll try not to do it again.”

Sharon entered the fray. “Ok, enough lecturing. Let’s just go home and have some ice cream.”

“What flavor you got?” Maria asked.

“All they had in the super market was vanilla.”

“Yay, I love vanilla.”

Cap joined in. “Hey, Maria, how about tomorrow I teach you how to defend yourself so that this little thing never happens again?”

“Dad, that would be the coolest.