Miss America: The Daughter of Steve Rogers

Chapter 30

We arrive at our destination. The New York water supply facility. The three of us get off the jet and sneak towards the fence. A few feet away, I see a sign, a warning, that the fence is lit up with 1500 volts of electricity. In hopes to keep out trespassers.

As Ophelia is about to place her hands on the metal wires, I grab her and pull her body back. She turns to me in confusion and the cloned soldier gets in a fighting stance, thinking I was about to turn on them. I roll my eyes and point to the sign.

"You touch it, you die." I say matter of factly. "We need to blow the fuse."

"Right, I knew that." Ophelia says, searching for the fuse box with her eyes. I roll my eyes again.

"I'm no electrician..." I say, walking over to a bush and pulling the branches out of the way to reveal the fuse box. "...but I'm pretty sure this is it."

"Soldier, if you please." She gestures for the man to destroy the fuses. He walks up to it and tears the lock off, then smashes his fist into the control panel. Sparks ignite and the electricity goes out. Leaving the fence touchable.

I walk up to it and pull out my shield, touching it to the metal. Nothing happens so I reluctantly place my hand onto the wires. Feeling nothing, no electric pulse of any kind, I quickly climb up and throw myself over. Landing perfectly on the other side.

"You coming?" I ask. The other two climb over, meeting me inside the facility grounds.

"Would you like to share with us why you're so good at breaking into places while you're suppose to be this proclaimed hero?" The Hydra clone asks me, curious, but also slightly suspicious.

"Hydra may have had control of my actions, but I still knew what I was doing." I tell him. "I just couldn't stop myself from doing it."

"You were aware of everything?" He questions.

"Unfortunately." I say, looking up at the carbon copy of my father. "Do you know what that's like? To know that what you're doing is wrong, but not able to do anything about it?"

"No." He says, looking away. "I was programmed not to have emotion."

"Yes, yes, it's all very sad." Ophelia huffs out in annoyance. "Can we please get on with my plan?"

"Yes ma'am." The man says, I look between the two of them for a minute and sigh.

"After you." I exaggeratedly bow, letting them both lead the way.

It's almost time. Bucky and the others should've received my distress call by now, so it's just a matter of when they'll be here. All I can do now is pray I can distract these two long enough for my team to arrive. And hope.

We make our way inside the building towards the main tank. Every ounce of water flows through multiple pipes and streams off into New York's plumbing. I've got to distract her long enough, stall her as much as I can, so that the rest of my team can get here.

"So, after you do this..." I begin to ask. "What's next?"

"What do you mean?" She asks me.

"What are you going to do after you kill off every person in this city?"

"What's it to you?" The Hydra cline interjects with a glare.

"Just out of curiosity." I tell him. "Are you going to take some time off from being super villains and maybe travel the world? Do you already have your next attack planned? Et cetera..."

"I don't see how that's any of your concern..." his voice trails off while Ophelia places a hand on his arm.

"Calm down, Soldier." She looks back to me. "Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to offer you a permanent spot on our team."

"Seriously? You still expect me to join you?" I raise my eyebrow at her.

"Well after word gets out that you helped poison the innocent citizens of New York, I'm not so sure your authority figures will accept you back with open arms."

She's got me there. Although, she doesn't realize I have my own version of how this night will go.

"Yeah, about that..." I trail off as I remove my shield from the strap on my back and take my stance.

"I knew it." The soldier states, then turns to Ophelia. "I knew she couldn't be trusted."

"Miss Rogers, are you sure you want to do this?" She asks. "What about your friends?"

"Well, they should be getting rescued right about now." I tell her, lifting my wrist and pressing the button on my bracelet. "You forgot to take this when you were holding me against my will."

"You're clever, I'll give you that." She states, pulling out the vial from her pocket. "But not clever enough."

She begins to remove the lid as the Hydra clone raises his gun and takes his aim at me. Almost like a reflex, I throw my shield in a frisbee motion. It knocks him in the side of the head and ricochets towards Ophelia. I begin running as it hits her in the back, causing her to lose her grip on the necrotoxin.

I leap into the air and catch it before it can shatter and kill us all. I then do a somersault as I land, picking up my shield. As I get back up, I glance down at it, and then back to the two with a smirk.

"Not clever, huh?" I scoff.

She lets out a huff of anger and begins running towards me. Pulling out her venom-laced knives just before she reaches me, but I put my shield up in defense.

There's a massive clink as the blades hit the vibranium, I then kick her in the gut just before I start hearing gunshots. Luckily the first few bullets had hit my shield, so I continued to duck behind it. The clone throws the gun to the side realizing he's not getting anywhere with it and lunges towards me.

He knocks me back, trying to grab the vial. I jerk it back out of his reach, but Ophelia grabs it again. Hitting her arm with my shield, she drops it, landing right in my palm. The Soldier moves in to grab me from behind, but just before his arm locks around my neck, I leap over his head, landing right behind him.

Taking a move I've seen my father use a few times, I jump into the air and kick him with both legs. He flies forward, crashing into Ophelia.

They quickly get back up, panting. Staring me down, curling their fists.

"You guys aren't going to stop, are you?" I ask them.

"I've spent my whole life getting screwed over." Ophelia begins. "But you will be the last one to do it."

"Give it." The clone groans. "Now!"

"I have a better idea." I say as I remove the top from the vial. They raise their eyebrows at me. "How about we both get what we want?"

I tip the vial to my lips and gulp the entirety of it down. Until the very last drop.

"No!" They both cry out.

"I saved innocent people, you get to watch me suffer." I tell her, already feeling my body weaken.

"You don't get to win!" Ophelia shouts. "I'll kill you myself."