Man Out of Time - A Captain America / Avengers Fanfiction

Chapter 78

Chapter 78

Funny how the mind had a way of blocking out just how big the leviathans were. The beast swam closer, its overlapping armor undulating as it wriggled through the air as though it were an eel swimming through water. The creature turned to ram the side of the building they were perched upon like baby birds dreading a leap to the ground below, not sure whether or not their wings would carry them aloft. They were men, not birds, and had not come equipped with parachutes as Hawkeye's men had because defending the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel had not been their original objective. Beneath them, the cries of terrified civilians teeming into the tunnel like lemmings mixed with the roar of gliders and the deep, earthy rumbles of the great space whale. Sweat dripped down from his mask, into his eyes even though it was freezing cold.

'Merry Christmas,' Steve thought to himself. The sun was setting, the blood red sky mocking the countless fires that were erupting all over the city as leviathans dropped their payload of gliders and wrought mindless destruction upon all that lay in their path. In a few more hours, the priest would begin saying midnight mass at Saint Brigid's where he had served his entire childhood as an altar boy, even in the gutted shell of the vacant church. Or at least that was what would be happening if New York City were not under attack from aliens from outer space.

The mother ship hovered like a tick crawling up a dogs neck, so close he could see each individual antennae that protruded from it like hairs from a spider, yet just far enough away that his men's RPG's could not reach it. His early years sketching speculative artwork had included the occasional space alien, but even he had never dreamed up a day as odd as this one. Iron Man and War Machine flew around the mothership, trying to find a way to take it down, but to no avail. It had just taken out the Triskelion and was now advancing towards Manhattan Island.

"Fuck!" Lieutenant Murphy shouted, interrupting his thoughts. The rat-a-tat-tat of an M17 drowned out Steve's words as he shouted directions to his men.

"Fall back! Fall back!" Steve shouted. "Fall back to the stairwell!" He used hand signals to be understood above the screams of his men and sound of pulse rifles blasting. A trio of battle drones on gliders curved back in a maneuver Steve had not yet encountered and fired at him. Steve ducked behind his shield, the force of the blast knocking him onto his back. A young private, not more than eighteen years old, leaped to his aid, firing at the first of the trio and saving his bacon.

"Thanks," Steve said.

"Sir … we…"

The Private never got to finish his sentence. A blast from the Chitauri energy rifle vaporized him into a puff of black smoke. Rapid blasts followed, forcing Steve to crawl backwards like a crab, his shield held up to prevent himself from being turned into dust as well. Hellfire rained down upon them, blocking their escape. That sick feeling he knew only too well, the pain of losing one of his men cut down in the prime of life, rose in his gut like bile for the umpteenth time today. He leaped in front of a second Private about to suffer the same fate, his outstretched shield deflecting the blast milliseconds before it could turn him to dust as well. Steve landed face-down in the gravel rooftop, his helmet inadequate to prevent rubble from digging into his cheek and chin.

He spat out stones. The building shuddered beneath him and buckled as though he had just fallen onto a waterbed. The leviathan wormed his way through concrete and rebar as though it were merely earth, an earthworm digging his way to the surface. Explosions sounded all around them as an errant armored fin struck something vital within the building, possibly a natural gas line.

"The way is blocked!" Private Bashera crept out of the stairwell Steve had just ordered the men to fall back into to give his report. "The stairwell three floors down has been taken out, Sir."