3 Meeting Captain America, Talking and Denial

POV - Cain

Tall, brawny and handsome. Blond hair, blue eyes and shiny white teeth. And to top it all off, he was wearing bright blue spandex that had red and white stripes around his waist/stomach area, with a silver star on his chest. The all-American man.

Captain America.

"Well, if it ain't Captain America," I said to myself in a stupor. I was aware he existed in this world but to actually see him...it was weird. Like uncanny valley weird. My brain was telling me this was Chris Evans, just with blonder hair and bluer eyes...but my instincts were telling me this guy was the real deal. The real Captain America.

Lowering the gun, I decided to keep it ready enough to pull up again in case anything happened. Whether that be Cap jumping me or some of those Xenos popping up again.

Looking somewhat relieved, Cap seemed to notice the fact I was covered in blue blood, "...You okay, kid?" he asked gesturing to my messy appearance.

Glancing down, I looked back up and shrugged, "Obviously none of it's my blood, so yeah, I'm good," I smirked back at the man who leveled a confused gaze at me as he looked over my stance. He then saw the Xenos corpse a few feet behind me and a realization seemed to come to him.

He took a step further into the building and I restrained my instincts from blaring and making me raise the rifle to point at him. Though I did move back a few feet in response to him getting closer. Hey, you can never be too careful in a warzone. That kind of thinking has saved my hide more times than I can count.

"Calm down," Cap said, his hands raised before he looked around the room at the corpses, "...Have you been going from building to building and cleaning it of the Chitauri? These aliens," he clarified when he thought I might not know what a Chitauri was. His tone was worried, for some reason.

"Yes sir," I jokingly said, "Someone has to do it and Iron Man just flew on by without stopping to help. Guess he has more deaths on his hands, huh?" I wondered aloud, causing Cap to flinch.

"Stark is doing his best to keep the air clear of the Chitauri," he defended his teammate, which was a admirable thing, but it was still dumb. 'Like, who seriously thinks Stark should've stayed in the sky? He's an armored man who could clear these buildings with more ease than even I can. Well, sacrifices are gonna happen during a war, I suppose.

Shrugging in response, I saw Susan come out of her hiding space, now fully clothed, "Captain America..." her eyes seemed to shine like some sort of fangirl and I rolled my eyes at this display as she continued, "Is the army here to save us?" she naively asked, looking back at me and then to Cap.

"No, not the army, miss," Cap shook his head with a half smile, "A team of superpowered individuals are currently clearing the city of the alien invasion. If you could both follow me, I'd escort you to safety," he had just finished his request when six Chitauri dropped down from what seemed like gliders that shot past our position, leaving behind a sound like seemed similar to a jet fighter speeding overhead.

Cap spun around and pulled his shield from his back, using it to block the rifle fire aimed at his body. He went to throw the shield when he got the chance but I came up behind him and rested the rifle on his shoulder and across his shield, keeping it down, "Kneel," I said and surprisingly, he followed the order and the two of us kneeled, Cap's shield now covering his entire body. Which meant I was completely safe behind him - which then meant I could easily pick off the Chitauri.

Two shots to the right bagged me two more kills as the Chitauri dropped, headless. The third dived for cover and it reached the cover...without it's head. The fourth and five got into cover but they tried to come up too quickly and I blew another head off and took a chunk out of another's neck.

The last one was froze but it was still alive. Why?

"Reloading! Shield it, Cap!" I yelled as I released the alien mag from the rifle, smoke pouring from it as I did.

Luckily, Cap had an entire war of soldier's training engrained into him, so his reaction to the shout was immaculate as he burst upward and threw the shield with considerable force. The Chitauri, in it's shock, lifted it's rifle and held it out to block the shield. Yet it didn't work and the rifle was sliced in half by the shield's force before the shield imbedded itself in the alien's torso.

Cap went to rush toward the Chitauri to finish the job but it was too late. I'd rapidly got the mag into the rifle and blew the thing's head off.

Looking over his shoulder, Cap gave me a raised eyebrow, which I responded to with a shrug as I slung the rifle back over my shoulder. This wasn't the first drop of Chitauri I'd had to deal with - they usually sent somewhere between three and six and then nothing else comes for a while.

So, we have some time to relax and get some stamina back.

...Though I don't feel winded at all. Even after all this fighting and shooting I've been doing for the past half and hour. In fact, I feel better than ever. I feel like I wanna fight more and more and more and more--

"You special forces, kid?" Cap asked, bringing me out of my thoughts of fighting, but he looked me up and down and seemed unsure with his question because of my slender body. Though looking at my body myself, I was somewhat surprised to see it was slightly less skinny than when I first got to this universe...I'd put on a miniscule amount of muscle. And while Catachan do put on muscle quicker than people, it takes a bit longer than half an hour to do so.

But coming back to Cap's question, I shook my head, "Nah," I said, lying, before smiling wide, "It just turns out that I'm good at killing stuff."

Cap looked unconvinced by my answer and I couldn't blame him. No amount of talent could help me hit all those shots without a single miss. My mentality when I killed and didn't show any care, however, that probably just made me look like some sort of psycho.

...Oh well. I'd rather be alive and have people think I'm a psycho, than to be dead and have people think I'm a saint.

"Hm," Cap hummed, looking at me with an unsure glint in his eye before he realized I wasn't the only person here, "We need to get you to safety. Follow me and I'll escort you out of here," he said and Susan nodded before her face went awkward as she gestured under the stairwell.

"My brother is unconscious. One of us will need to carry him," she spoke up and Cap froze for a second before I made the decision for him.

Gesturing to the rifle in my hands, I looked to Cap, "You carry him. I can take out any of the enemies while you protect those two," I gave my suggestion, knowing I didn't want to lug around some unconscious deadweight. Plus, I felt like if I fought more, I'd discover what was happening to my body. And I had no confidence in being able to keep Johnny safe if I were gonna be throwing myself into fights as we went.

Cap looked between me, the rifle in my hands and Susan before he acquiesced and nodded.

He walked over to the place where Johnny was and carefully moved the blond onto his back before picking his shield back up and holding it defensively, ready for any Chitauri that might pop up.

"You did something with your hands earlier, Susan...think you could do it again? Those shields," I clarified as I looked over at the shorter blond who gave a surprised look before finally giving one of self-doubt and low self-esteem.

"...No. Whenever I'm up against those alien things I just can't use my powers," she averted her gaze from mine, frowning as she spoke.

Narrowing my eyes, I spoke up in reply, "Can't or won't?" I asked and her gaze shot right back to me as I continued, "Is it because of fear or because you feel yourself completely blocked off when you face those aliens? Like there's something blocking you from your powers and stops you from using them?" I asked, thinking whether or not these Xenos had some sort of anti-power effect on Susan because of the origin of her powers or whether it was just to do with her being scared.

Susan's gaze met mine for a few silent seconds before the intensity in them faded, "I-I think it's because of fear. Whenever they show up, I just freeze," she explained before she looked away, "I'm sorry I can't be useful," she got out, her voice cracking.

Seeing her fall into that pit again, I gently knocked her on the head with my fist like I did before, "Stop it with that self-pity. It won't make you more useful. It won't help the situation. It'll just get in the way," I explained as nicely as I could, knowing I was dealing with a civilian and not a soldier like me or Cap, "Just try and practice with it. Use it and try and stay calm. Don't worry too much if you can't help."

With that done, I turned to Cap who was looking at our conversation with a furrowed brow. Seeing him like this, I guessed what he was thinking and smirked, "What? You said you were here with a team of superpowered individuals, right? You can't have possibly have thought you guys were the only ones in the whole wide world to have powers, could you?"

Hearing what I said, Cap's expression went surprised for a few seconds before he smiled and shook his head, "Not anymore I don't," he joked before looking at me with a serious expression, "But you seem to be taking this awfully well...?"

"Cain," I gave my name before explaining myself, "You know how it is nowadays, weird shit happens all the time. This is hardly any weirder than the last game I can remember playing," I played it off, remembering my first life when I played Doom (2016). Now that was an invasion that would push my limits a little. "Hm," I hummed as I came to a self-realization, "It's pretty weird, huh? My name and how adept I am at killing," I joked, "Cain, the first murderer. Hell of a coincidence, huh?" I laughed as I held the rifle up and began walking out of the hotel's entrance.

I could feel it burning. Whatever else was in my body. Fighting spirit and a slice of arrogance. I felt brutality boiling up from inside of me, pushed ever upwards by primitive instincts and cunning intellect.

I wasn't just a Catachan anymore. The muscle growth and the fighting spirit gave me a bad and ominous feeling but I ignored it as I held the rifle up, sweeping the skyline and the windows as I marched out silently.

While they seemed a bit frozen at my poorly timed joke, Cap and Susan soon began to follow me.

I suppressed the more tedious new parts of myself, going through mantras I'd been taught in the Schola Progenium. And while some of them were a bit heavy on the 'Praise the Emperor', they did work to calm my body's instincts and help me stay in control. But I kept the primitive instinct and cunning intellect as they pushed my sharpness to a whole new level. While I was used to feeling like an animal as a native from Catachan, right now I felt like a barely contained beast as I walked onto the rubble covered sidewalk.

I heard Cap speaking into an earpiece, "Three civilians are with me. Moving to evacuate them. Got any safe routes for me, Stark?" a few seconds went by before Cap continued, "Understood." He picked up his speed a little until he was right next to me, "I can only get you halfway but a SWAT team will be there to pick you guys up. Though you might want to get rid of the weapons on you before we make it there," he offered his advice and I took it with a shrug.

"I'm not getting evac'd," I spoke up, "I'm sticking around until this whole thing stops." Cap looked at me from the side and I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, "What?"

Hearing the question, Cap frowned, "You're a civilian, Cain. No matter how skill you are I can't let you stay in a warzone."

Raising an eyebrow at him, I turned my head to look at him straight on, "And how exactly are you gonna make me get evac'd if I don't want to? You might be a super soldier, Cap, but don't make the mistake of thinking you're the best," I provocatively chuckled as my instincts kicked up again, blaring that I should whack him over the head with my rifle for trying to tell me what to do. Alas, I didn't do that and just looked on ahead, directing my more aggressive impulses toward finding Chitauri.

The air between us went quiet as we walked and I kept my focus on things a little more important as Cap gave directions on supposedly clear routes.

Why was I going with them if I wasn't gonna leave the danger zone? Because having two of the four members of the Fantastic Four owing you a favor was worth quite a bit. Plus, I'd assumed the 'clear' routes weren't going to be as clear as Cap thought. The Avengers were all strong, but they were far from a military group. This was also their first time working together so there was no doubt gonna be miscommunication and whatnot between the members.

Which really showed itself when we'd only moved a block and we ran into a group of patrolling Chitauri.

"Safe routes, huh?" I turned to Cap, an eyebrow raised.