4 Ambush

I disregarded my sarcastic attitude pretty quickly as I turned back to peek round the corner of the building I was leaning against.

The Chitauri seemed to have pretty bad eyesight. It was their hearing that was better than a human's, from what I'd seen. Which means I pretty much ran zero risk of being seen by peeking my head around the corner.

Anyway, I counted the squad and saw twelve Chitauri but who knows how many are within range to back up this group. An haphazard approach here could throw us into some deep shit.

Turning back to Cap, I spoke up in a quiet voice, "Anyway we can get some accurate and actionable information on the squad in front of us? Would help to know if there are any other squads near us that could quickly become reinforcements if we attacked," I didn't hold much hope that a rookie like Stark would be able to give us any information but I did feel like Jarvis might be able to. If only Stark asked his A.I to do it instead of believing himself best.

Nodding, Cap spoke into his earpiece again, "Clint, do you have eyes on our current position?" I heard pause of silence before a concise response of 'Yes' spurred Cap onto speaking more, "Are there any other squads of Chitauri around our immediate area? If so, what amount are we looking at?"

Another pause came before the response barely crackled over the comms, my ears picking it up like I was directly listening from the earpiece, "The squad next to you guys...is the only one near you. But they seem to have some sort of radio with them," I looked around the corner and spotted what looked like an armored box floating in the middle of the squad. Within seconds, one of the Chitauri pressed their hand against some jello-looking block on the side, the block lighting up a blue color as the Chitauri spoke before it seemed to be spoken to. A comms device. I thought it was some kind of ammo dispenser because of it's design...I guess my experience ain't all-knowing, huh?

But it being a comms device did tell me something pretty vital.

"A scouting party, huh...?" I muttered to myself as I looked at the Chitauri reconnaissance. Looking back at Cap, I spoke up, "How many are you confident you could take out before they realized you were attacking them, if I made them turn away from you?" I asked, curious.

"Thanks Clint," Cap spoke into the earpiece before looking to me and seemingly going into thought, "Roughly half of them. Before they could react, anyway. Though even if they did react I could handle them," he confidently told me but I still shook my head in denial, causing his brows to furrow in confusion.

Just as he was about to ask, I clarified, "It doesn't matter if you could take them out even if they knew you were there. Unless you could do it instantly, one of them could get to that comms device and call for reinforcements. Then we'd be in for some trouble," I grimly said, realization dawning on the Captain's face before I smiled and clapped him on the shoulder, "But don't look too grim, Cap. I can confidently say I can take out seven or eight of them before they dive for the comms. Your job is to get up behind them and take out the ones who go after the comms after they know where I am. Got it?" I got straight to the point, speaking in the same way I'd speak to my squad back in the 40K universe.

Cap looked at me for a few seconds before he nodded, seeing as the plan was a practical one and wasn't one that would fall apart easily. It relied on the fact the two of us had to get our respective jobs done, however.

If I messed up, Cap would get shot to shit. Or shot at a whole lot, at least. If Cap failed, we'd have a few squads of reinforcements on our position pretty quickly and then we'd all die.

But I had faith. The only one lacking faith seemed to be Cap. But I couldn't fault him for that.

Rather than try and convince him, I chose to let my actions speak rather than my words.

My goal was to try and get behind the squad to make them turn around. To do that, I had to cross the street and then sneak past a bunch of Xenos.

...Not the worst mission I've been on, unsurprisingly.

So, I creeped backward, away from the Chitauri. Even with their shit eyesight, crossing the road right in front of their squad would be a bit too arrogant and on the nose. So, I backed up and into the multitude of empty and abandoned cars on the road the Chitauri were walking toward. I snuck through the cars, getting awfully close to even the ones on fire as I maneuvered myself across the street.

That was the easy part done. Now, on the opposite sidewalk to Cap, Susan and her unconscious brother, I began to sneak along the shaded area. I stuck close to the cars and others things along the road.

I even used the trash bags as cover as I snuck around them. I had a close encounter when I crunched something in one of the bags but my mysterious new body allowed me to charge away from the source of the sound.

I was lucky the dumb Chitauri who heard it was, like I said, dumb and didn't look for the cause of the sound.

By now, I was around the mid of the Chitauri squad and I was behind an abandoned SWAT personnel carrier. This would be my cover for the firefight I was about to start. I had no confidence this vehicle could withstand sustained fire from the alien rifles but it'd do for what I had in mind. So, I, out of habit, mumbled a prayer mentally to the machine spirit that was or wasn't in the rifle in my hands as I waited for the squad to pass by.

The heavy clunking of their armored feet passed by me and I waited a few more seconds to build up some space between us but also because one of the Chitauri was still on the comms.

But they were clearly passed me by now, so I leaned across the hood of the vehicle and aimed my sights at the Chitauri closest to the device.

I calmed my breath and remembered my training in the Schola Progenium. All the firefights I'd been in as a Storm Trooper, the Astra Militarum's special forces and best shock troopers. I remember it all because I really didn't wanna mess up any of these shots. I had all the mental experience, but this body had zero of the muscle memory I was used to.

The only reason I'd been able to make so many shots without a mistake and fight so well was because my body felt unnaturally fluid and maybe even wired exactly FOR fighting. It was like my new body was bred for fighting.

So, basically, I was forcing this new and enhanced body to follow my mind's experience.

It'd worked out pretty well so far but who knows. Mistakes can happen even to the best marksman, after all.

But I pushed those thoughts out of my head as I saw the Chitauri with it's hand on the blue jelly console...bring it's hand away from the console. Comms were off and the time is now.

. . .

POV - Steve Rogers (Captain America)

I felt my body go tense as I saw Cain lean across the armored vehicle's hood. The 20-something-year-old unsettled me at times.

Not only was it his bright purple eyes but it was the way he held himself.

He was much too skinny and lanky to be a soldier. Especially one of any particular skill or acumen. But Cain held himself like a special forces soldier who'd been in multiple wars. Each step was measured and near-silent, his gaze went from window to window, checking the skyline and even checking storm drains as we went passed them.

He was far too vigilant of a person to be a normal civilian. And yet, other than his eyes, apparent combat ability and the way he holds himself...that's exactly what he looks like. Minus the dried blue blood covering his clothes, of course.

I found myself even more tense when I saw Cain's finger hook around the trigger, one of his eyes closing as he looked down the sights.

For a second, I felt an unease and lack of confidence in Cain's ability. If he messed up...I'd have civilian deaths on my hands for allowing a civilian to come up with a plan. Why did it feel like I could trust him to make these types of plans? I was the war veteran, right? Shouldn't I be the one to make these plans?

Yet those thoughts only lasted for a second. A split second was all it took to turn my opinion on it's head.

Cain's finger blurred as the barrel lit up with blue light, the first projectile shooting out and blowing the head off of the Chitauri nearest to the alien comms device. Not even a second later, two more Chitauri dropped - they were the next two nearest to the device.

The next three targets were catching on but to my enhanced reaction time, they were reacting in slow motion. What surprised me...was that Cain's actions were still fast. Even with my perception.

Those three Chitauri were dropped and the other six Chitauri began to pivot, their rifles raised. Well, five of the Chitauri began to raise their rifles. One specific Chitauri was looking like he was about to dive to the comms device.

Not on my watch.

With my body already tensed and ready, I sprung up and threw the shield in my hand. I'd already moved the unconscious young man from my back and onto the floor, his head supported by his sister's lap - so I was free to go all-out. The shield flew out and hit true as the Chitauri making a run for the comms had it's head crushed inward as the shield bounced back to me.

Though, I wasn't waiting for it to come to me as I was already dashing toward it. Meeting it halfway, I saw two more Chitauri drop from Cain's expert marksmanship, and I grabbed my shield. Taking two more strides, I slammed the shield into the back of one of the Chitauri, a resounding crack coming from the point of contact - the alien's spine.

Spinning on the spot, I used the edge of the shield like a knuckle duster and punched at the nearest Chitauri's chest, another crack and squelching sound as it's armor couldn't withstand the strength behind my attack plus the hardness of the shield I'd had for so long.

The last Chitauri was actually turning back to me but before it could fire, Cain had crossed the distance with impossible speed and swept the Chitauri's legs from under it. The alien fell with an ear-piercing screech - which is when I noticed the broken bones in both of it's legs. Courtesy of Cain's leg sweep.

...Just how strong is that boy? More importantly, could I have done that so casually? The answer was a resounding 'No'.

Oblivious to my thoughts, Cain lifted his leg high above the Chitauri's skull before he slammed it down and crunched through the metal helmet around it's head like it wasn't there and a blue explosion occurred as the alien's skull burst open, it's blood pouring out alongside sparks from it's robot parts.

I looked up and saw Cain's smile, a splatter of blue blood across his jaw and cheeks.

...I was beginning to think he was right about the irony and the utter coincidence of his name. This young man truly did give off a feeling of a battlefield. Alongside all the slaughter that could come of such a place.

"Went better than expected," Cain mentioned as he popped the magazine from the alien rifle he was using, "These Chitauri are pretty easy to deal with when you get used to their tactics. Which are 'Overwhelm everything with numbers and firepower'," he chuckled, reaching into his backpack and pulling out another mag which he loaded into the gun.

Despite the unnerving feeling I was getting from the kid, I had to agree - the Chitauri were using their numbers and advanced firepower to try and win this fight. And even then, they were still being pushed back. Both by the Avengers and the Army/Police alliance that was holding the line around New York.

"Let's go get the siblings, then," Cain said, slinging the rifle over his shoulder as he walked toward where the siblings were. Nodding, I followed along.

Like I'd thought before...there was something about Cain. Something scary. Something that felt like it thrived off of war and fighting. But, at the very least, he wasn't an enemy right now and even with whatever was fighting inside of him, Cain still kept his civility about him. For the most part, anyway.