Vengeance [Avengers Fanfiction]

[Chapter 4]

[Steve Rogers- Captain America]

    "Dang it." I muttered under my breath. We've been searching for the Phantom for a couple of hours now with no luck. Clint said that he saw.... something. He's not sure, but he thinks that someone threw something at the metal bars he was leaning against while he was on the roof. He caught a glimpse of a blur passing over his head, but he doesn't know what it was. Maybe one of those creatures.

    I involuntarily shuddered as I thought of those monsters. Their bony frame and black, scaly skin, large, leathery wings, razor sharp claws and teeth, empty eye sockets. They almost look human but more sadistic. They seemingly invaded New York in a single night. In the three days since they appeared, there have been more than sixty attacks, all at night.

    Natasha Romanoff (a.k.a. the Black Widow), and Clint Barton (a.k.a. Hawkeye), were sent to investigate. Late at night, they had stationed themselves on a desolate street on the outskirts of the city. They had set up cameras to catch one if they were attacked. In under an hour, three or four of the creatures had surrounded them. The rest of our team, the Avengers, gathered at the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters (a secret group that was made for the sole purpose of protecting the earth, mostly through superheroes) to listen in while Clint and Natasha communicated to us through earpieces. Their weapons only seemed to do minor damage to the monsters, even though they were repeatedly shot and hit with arrows. I still remember their screams of panic when they realized they couldn't kill the things. They barely escaped.

    When the pictures came in, we were able to capture the grotesque beings. What scares me the most is that Nick Fury, the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D, didn't recognize them. He knows nothing about them, which means we have no idea how to stop them. The only lead he was able to discover was that this city, Fycon City, has had the same problem as New York, but for a year longer. He found that the only person who knows how to kill the monsters is a vigilante by the name of the Phantom. Fury sent Clint Barton, Tony Stark (a.k.a. Ironman), and I to investigate and find the Phantom. So far, our only problem is that we can't find him.

    "Rogers, this is Barton."

    "Have you found him?" I asked. This was becoming exhausting.

    "No, but I have an idea. We can't find the Phantom because we're using the wrong strategy. We should try letting him come to us."

    "Why do you think that will work?"

    "I have a feeling that he knows we're looking for him. If I was in his situation, I would wait until everyone looking for me was in the same place to figure out why they wanted me."

    I was a bit skeptical, but I was open to any ideas at this point.

    "Fine. Where do you want to meet?"

    "Right now I'm on the corner of Avenue and Vine; I see what seems to be an abandoned warehouse. If the Phantom likes dark and creepy warehouses as much as he likes dark and creepy alleyways, I think we have a good chance of meeting him."

    "Good work. Can you tell Stark, I'm really not in the mood to talk to him because a while ago he annoyed me by singing show tunes. I'm extremely tempted to just block him."

    I could nearly hear the smirk in Barton's voice as he answered. "What about the whole 'keep in touch, work as a team' thing, Cap?"

    "We both know if he really wanted to talk to me, he could just hack into my communicator."

    "Ok," Barton said, "see you soon." With that, I made my way through the dark streets to the abandoned warehouse.

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