Marvel Short Stories

Chapter Three

A shadow flies in, and in a last second panic, I pull James out of the way and a black form rolls onto the roof, rolling back up to a standing position in front of us. I only see a black cat suit, but it quickly turns threatening when the guy in the suit extends claws, and James pushes me back, throwing the first punch. The two go at it, and though James seems to keep up with the guy at first, It's clear our unknown enemy has the upper hand as he throws James into an A.C. Unit, and James dodges his claws at the last second. The suited guy doesn't miss again though, clawing James and I scream, running just as he's thrown onto the ground, having to use a metal bar to block the claws.

"Stop!" I scream, running to pull the man off James. The bar doesn't work for long and I climb on top of the guy, now able to see that it's some form of cat suit. Wrapping an arm around Kitty, I attempt to strangle as his claws are aimed at James's face, the only thing stopping those claws from mauling the father of my child being sheer strength on his end.

The sound of bullets hitting the roof alerts me to another attacker, and I press a button on the back of my neck to activate the helmet, and the Kitty throws me off of him before staring at the chopper, bullets bouncing off his suit like it is mine. The hell? Looking up at the chopper, I see Sam fly in, hitting the chopper and the aircraft flies off course, forcing to leave the battle and the Kitty attacks James again, but he's prepared this time as he throws the kitty off, and we run again, jumping off the ledge together to the ledge below. James picks me up again, no time to look back as he jumps us once more, the sound of claws on metal close behind until we land. Running again, the sound of Kitty's footsteps is not reassuring at all, panic rising in my chest.

The chopper fires at us again, but James jumps down onto the road while I'm close behind, the two of us still running. Looking back, I see both Kitty and Steve jump down in the chase, leaving us no room for a break as we continue to run. The exhaustion starts to get to me, my speed starting to slow but James doesn't have it, pulling me along. By sheer will, I'm able to keep up, evade the Kitty, and even evade the cops until Barnes is able to steal a motorcycle, jumping on and pulling me on behind him, riding us in the opposite direction we were just running. Able to get a little break, my legs start to go numb, but the Kitty lunging at us from the car behind us doesn't let me relax as I bring my right leg up onto the seat and swinging my left leg back, kicking Kitty away before he can even reach us and I sit back down, clutching onto the man driving.

He throws something up onto the overpass, and an explosion later, I hear the overpass crumble, and then something slashing the motorcycle. We end up crashing, rolling and I look behind me to see Kitty and Steve still with us. Groaning out of frustration, I get up just as Steve throws Kitty away from us, and the two are at a standstill as an innumerable amount of police cars surround us. Legs collapsing underneath me, I fall back towards the ground and Bucky catches me, black spots blocking my vision. "Emris!" James yells, and I cough, refusing to pass out as I breathe, and focus on breathing. Steve holds a hand up, as if protecting us from the crowd, and someone flies in wearing a suit of metal armor, aiming his hands at James and Kitty.

"Stand down, now," Metal Man orders, and again, Steve raises his arm protectively towards James, shile he's still holding me up and glaring at everyone around us. Steve puts his shield away and holds his hands up, surrendering as there's no winning, and the Metal Man says something that only makes me hate him more. "Congratulations, Cap. You're a criminal."

Looking up at James, I cough out "I have to tell you something." But the police separate us, throwing us down on our knees and I fall on my hands and knees.

"Emris!" Bucky tries to get to me but the police hold him down, and Steve slowly gets on his knees too.

Kitty takes his mask off, revealing himself to be Prince T'Challa, but I don't care. He can go to hell. "Your Highness," Metal Man greets, and the police put me and James in handcuffs.

While James is forced into an armored truck, the police put me in a separate police van with Steve, Sam, and Kitty, and an awkward silence commences. Until Sam speaks. "So, you like cats?" Sam asks.

"Sam," Steve scolds, turning his head.

"What?" Sam asks, irritated. "Dude shows up dressed like a cat, you don't want to know more?"

"I do," I start, intrigued, then yell. "But can I get a phone call first!?" Having askied the driver who continues to ignore me, I scoff, leaning back in the bench.

"I don't think a lawyer is gonna get us out of this situation," Sam tells me, and I roll my eyes.

"Someone has to tell my daughter that her mother's been arrested for terrorism," I tell him, and he falls silent. "And I'd prefer it be me." The truck is silent for a moment until Kitty speaks.

"The Black Panther has been the protector of Wakanda for generations. A mantle, passed from warrior to warrior." Kitty takes a deep breath before continuing. "And now, because your friend murdered my father... I also wear the mantle of king. So I ask you, as both warrior and King," Kitty says, turning to Steve. "How long do you think you can keep your friend safe from me?"

Angry, I open my mouth to yell at him, but Steve silences me with a look, Sam shaking his head no and I force my mouth shut, clawing against every instinct to tell him off until we reach our destination. Though I'd like to say I'm shipped off with either James or the others, I'm sent in a third direction, leaving myself terrified as they throw me in a cell, having no idea what's going on.

"I want my phone call!" I yell, seeing the camera in the corner of my cell. Seeing no response, I sit in the corner, hugging my knees. What did I get myself into?

After some time someone walks in, and I look up to see a red headed woman sitting down in a chair just outside my cell, looking at me. "What's your name?" She asks, and I don't answer.

"I want my phone call," I bark, pissed off that she's trying to interrogate me.

"I don't think a lawyer will-"

"I wouldn't be calling a lawyer!" I yell, angry. I'm one straw away from a two year old tantrum and you're about to see it.

"So then who would you be calling?" She asks, and I take a deep breath, reminding myself that being nice to the lady might give me brownie points for that phone call.

"My daughter," I tell her, letting my legs fall straight, my eyes reading her body language. "I'm not getting that phone call, am I?" I ask, and she's hesitant, but she shakes her head. Body going numb, I look straight ahead, not really looking at anything as everything goes blurry.

"Miss?" She asks, trying to pull me out of it.

"She just recently took her first steps," I mutter, almost too quiet for her to hear. "She's picking it up so fast, she can almost walk better than she can crawl. And you won't believe what her first was..." Her first word was "ween". She would scream it every time she saw the color green, so I'm sure she means Green when she was "ween".

The room goes dark, successfully pulling me out of memories of my daughter, possibly the only way I'll see her, and look around at the flashing red light. Oh my god. James.