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There are more than seven hundred and twenty miles of subway line under New York City. To ride around the entire system would take thirty hours. The subway itself uses up enough electricity annually to light the city of Buffalo for a year. NYC Transit has 468 subway stations, only 35 fewer than the combined total of all the subway systems in the country. Each subway car weighs in at over 70,000 pounds when empty and has a maximum speed of 100 km/h. Over 180 people can fit into each car.

Captain America, aka Steve Rogers, did not know all of this. All he knew was that there were lives in danger and he had to save them.

There was a loud thud as indestructible metal struck flesh and bone followed by a limp body striking the ground hard.

“Give it up, Flag Smasher,” Captain America said standing over the fallen terrorist and sliding the gun away with his red-booted foot. “You’ve lost. Again.”

Flag Smasher wiped a thin trail of blood from his chin and mouth and looked up at the towering figure in the red, white and blue. He smiled as he spoke with his mild European accent, “I shall never ‘give it up’, Captain.” He ran his tongue over his stained crimson teeth and snarled, “Someday I shall win and bring your flawed nation to its knees.”

Cap ignored him and handcuffed the black and white clad villain to the metal railing of the subway car. The passengers crowded the far side of the car in a tight mass and several were frantically attempting to pry open the locked door at the back.

The Star-Spangled Avenger looked about the car and wrenched open the door to the driver’s small alcove. The driver had been removed forcibly and the train was speeding down the line out of control. Cap sat down in the chair and pulled on the brakes but nothing happened. The controls sparked and flared in protest with small flames coming from the bullet holes that filled the dashboard.

“I guess my stray bullets hit the target after all,” Flag Smasher said from where he lay. He twisted uncomfortably into an awkward sitting position, his arms stretched behind him.

Cap ignored him and tried the emergency brake. Nothing. The subway car continued to speed down the track towards its destination. Cap strode back towards Flag Smasher and stared down at the anarchist’s masked face.

“The train won’t stop. Where’s the bomb?” he demanded.

Flag Smasher just looked up and grinned. “What bomb?” he asked innocently.

“The bomb you all but announced in your threat to Wall Street. The low yield nuclear device you attached to this subway car and plan to use to generate an EMP that will destroy the stock market and cripple the US economy.”

“Oh that bomb.” Flag Smasher said not losing his grin. “Thanks for the reminder Captain Exposition. I’m not telling.”

Captain America frowned slightly and walked to the back of the train. He reached the edge of the panicking crowd that was fighting to get the back door open. One man had managed to kick the window out and was trying to fight off two other people while squeezing through and doing little but shred his hands and arms in the process.

“Excuse me,” Cap said firmly. The crowd looked up and parted. He walked down towards the door removing his shield from off his back. With a smooth motion he used it to strike the lock, shattering it. He stood to the side to let the passengers exit to the next car.

“One at a time, no shoving,” he said as the crowd began to filter through. A tall man in a cheap business suit pushed his way forward using his briefcase as a battering ram. Cap grabbed the man and hauled him out of the flowing crowd and pushed him down into the seats.

“Wait your turn,” Cap said looking down into the man’s frightened face. The man shrunk down slightly before turning back and staring defiantly at the Avenger.

“But you heard what that psycho said! There’s a bomb of this train! And when we reach the station in ten minutes we’re all dead!”

“No one’s dying here,” Cap said walking back towards the front of the train.

“But…”

Cap stopped and turned around to looked and the entire crowd. “I said no one is dying here today. And I mean that.”

Flag Smasher smiled smugly to himself as he twisted in his cuffs trying to pull his hands free. Nine minutes and forty seconds to go.

Cap checked the radio at the front of the car again but it was as dead as the breaks and accelerator. The speedometer showed they were well past the safe speed mark and still accelerating. The train barreled past a stop and Cap barely saw the annoyed people who stared in disbelief as the train hurtled past without slowing.

“Why Captain, are you not going to call your fellow Avengers for assistance. Stopping this car would be effortless for one such as Thor. You, being a mere human, cannot stop it but that marvelous thunder god would be able to juggle this.”

Cap ignored him and walked back to the far end. Flag Smasher knew as much as he did the bomb had been equipped with a scrambler that turned his communicard into some much useless plastic and metal. He knelt down and pulled off a removable section of the flooring. He yanked the emergency release lever for the other cars separating them from the front car. The metal hitches screeched loudly as they slid apart, the high pitched sound of metal scraping against metal. He looked up and watched as the other two cars slowed down and moved away. All the passengers, the innocent bystanders, had been evacuated.

Of course if the bomb went off the tunnels would still be filled with a small fireball and shockwave. Also, now that the lead car was empty, save for the two in costumes, and unburdened by two extra cars it increased in velocity and sped even faster towards the station.

“Oh my, what a predicament to be in,” Flag Smasher said, squirming where he sat on the floor.

“If the bomb goes off you’ll be killed too,” Captain America said moving forward to look at the terrorist.

“Yes, but I am more than willing to die for my cause. Are you?”

Cap nodded and moved towards the driver’s compartment again.

“Why must you struggle so to save the money of a corrupt nation?” Flag Smasher mused. “The bomb is small and only a hundred or two people will die. But your currency will plummet and economy collapse. Of course that will only really hurt those extremely wealthy. Anyone will useable skills and talents should be unaffected.”

Cap continued to ignore him as he tore out the underside of the dashboard and started removing wires.

“And look at the state the world is currently in. War is looming again. Haven’t you of all people seen enough war and death? Do you really want one again, just because of a clash of ideologies and nations? If we stopped hiding our hate behind symbols and nationalities do you not see how much better the world would be?”

Cap pulled at his glove and checked his watch. Just under seven minutes…he had to hurry. Peeling off the ends of the wires he twisted the exposed metal ends together forming one long piece-mail wire. He stuck one ends into one of the sparking circuits and tucked the electrified other end into his belt. Even with the insulation of his costume he could feel the tingle of the current.

Captain America stood up and braced himself against the back wall of the cockpit. Raising his feet he kicked hard against the front window. There was a loud snap and a long crack spread across the window. The second blow shattered the glass and sent most of the window falling down across the front of the train.

Cap ducked down as wind filled the cockpit and air shot through the train scattering litter and discarded papers and filling the air with smaller chips of glass. The Avenger shielded his face and strode forward and carefully stepped through the windshield.

Gripping the lower edge with his feet, Cap swung himself down so as to hang in front of the train. He stretched down and slowly pulled himself under the train. The metal rails and graveled ground sped by inches away. Crawling along as fast as he could while clinging to the undercarriage Cap looked around for the main brake line. If he could find the brakes he could follow the lines back and trigger the brakes. The makeshift jumper cable would turn on the brakes and the wheels would seize up and stop the train.

Flag Smasher tugged off his gloves and tried again to pull his hands from the cuffs. The tight steel scraped against his skin threatening to remove his thumbs with the cuffs. He pulled harder. Captain America was hanging in front of a subway car unprotected, an opportunity was too good to pass up.

Cap stretched forward grabbing tightly onto the undercarriage. He slowly let his feet go and pulled himself farther down. He pulled the wire from his belt and jiggled it a few times to shake out the kinks and let down the slack. He held himself close to the train and shoved the wire into the brake circuit. There was a small flash of blue light as electricity arced from the wire into the emergency brakes. There was a sudden sharp lurch as the brakes slammed onto the train’s wheels. Sparks fanned outward from the wheels as the ground down. Cap clenched his teeth and squinted through the bright red hail.

The car jumped and lurched upwards threatening to jump off the metal track. Flag Smasher yanked hard on his hands and was pitched forward suddenly as the bar he was handcuffed around popped out from the floor. His head slammed against the front wall of the subway car painfully.

Gritting his teeth together Flag Smasher pulled his chained hands under his feet so his hands were before him. He stood up bracing himself against the front wall attempting to keep his balance while the train shook violently from the speed. It lurched hard to the right around a turn barely staying on the tracks. For a second the lights flickered out as the train bounce just off the third rail, the electrified one.

Cap avoided looking down at the blur of wooden supports and the dark ground. He could feel the air rush past him as he dangled half underneath and half in front of the speeding train. Sparks continued to spray from the wheels as the vehicle glided along the metal rails, the brakes locked and slowly working, but at the speed they were going they were only accelerating less quickly.

Cap continued the mental countdown; just under five minutes to the station. He felt the wire shudder violently in his hand suddenly as the controls in the cockpit exploded. Plastic dashboard and shards of Plexiglas displays scattered throughout the train, causing the Flag Smasher to duck instinctively to avoid the surge of flames as razor shrapnel ripped across his body, tearing strips out of his costume.

The anarchist blinked in disbelief. He hadn’t even touched the controls, not yet anyway; they had just exploded from too much damage, he guessed.

Cap felt the train rock from the blast. The power cut out and the breaks released. The train sped up with a jolt, vibrating intensely on the tracks. His legs started to slip and Captain America began to slide down, his body falling down and stopping just millimeters from the rushing tracks. Above him Flag Smasher was sent tumbling down the aisle of the train.

Cap struggled to find something to grip with his dangling foot; his right leg was barely caught onto the headlight while the left flailed about in void. His gloved hands slickly grasped against the underside of the train, all of it covered in oil and dust. A raised pebble on one of the tracks grazed his cheek, the rock brushing past at a hundred and ten kilometers per hour scraping a cut along the masked face.

Flag Smasher looked out over the edge of the windshield. The gale air stuck him almost a physical blow as it rushed past into the carriage. “Need some help there, Captain?” he asked looking over at the dangling hero.

The Avenger barely heard the taunt over the rush. Less than four minutes until Wall Street became Ground Zero and every broker in the city became an instant statistic. He tried to push himself back up when his glove slipped on the metal and his back bounced off the ground. There was a loud scraping sound as the shield strapped to his back grated hard against the tracks. His foot was yanked free of its small hold and Cap’s body pitched down.

Cap tightened his grip and pulled his body up hard against the undercarriage. His face pressed against the vibrating frame and he tasted oil and rust with ever, quick breath. His legs stretched out straight and rigid in front of the train, like the pointed bow of a schooner.

“Would now be a good time to point out you have three and a half minutes until our stop?!” Flag Smasher asked leaning out with a wide grin. “One last chance to join the winning side. I don’t expect you to accept, but I have to ask. I’m just a nice guy.”

“It’s not to late to surrender!” Cap said loud enough to be heard over the wind.

“Give up?! You’re crazy if you think I’m just going to surrender. I’ve succeeded and you’ve failed. America has lost and humanity will win! A nation will fall and the world will be better for it!”

The star spangled Avenger gritted his teeth. His abs and back were beginning to burn. He adjusted his grip carefully and pushed himself backwards arching his body and throwing his legs upward. He curved upward with momentum and the airflow. Both feet arced up and collided directly with Flag Smasher’s jaw.

There was a loud meaty thud as both heels struck the terrorist’s face. The villain pitched sharply backwards and he flipped limply and landed onto the ground face first. Captain America’s feet bounced off sending the Avenger flying in front of the train.

Captain America planted his hand on the rounded front of the train while hastily tugging off his shield. He quickly lobbed it in front of him as he fell down towards the rushing ground.

His feet landed in the shield and he slapped both palms onto the front of the train. Pushing on the vehicle he stiffened his legs forward allowing the shield to slide along the rail. Like a snowboarder he glided along the train tracks. Less than two minutes to go.

His indestructible shield noisily rasped down the rail spraying bright electrical sparks under the train. Cap crouched down while sliding his feet under the straps of the shield. He leapt up while pushing down with his hands and flipped into the cockpit of the train through the broken windshield, neatly land in his slightly spinning shield, arms held up for balance.

He moved quickly over to the fallen body of Flag Smasher and knelt down over his fallen foe to check for a pulse. Satisfied he was still alive, Cap turned back to the more pressing situation.

Brakes? Out. Radio? Dead. Controls? Burning and fried. And with Flag Smasher firmly unconscious there was no way to find and disarm the bomb. Cap switched to plan ‘D’.

Standing in the doorway to the driver’s compartment he gripped a handle bar on the wall. He hefted up Flag Smasher and wrapped an arm around the villain pinning him against the wall while balancing his shield in his free hand. Taking aim he threw it in front of the train and held on tightly to the metal bar.

The shield soared through the air effortlessly landing softly on the edge of the left rail and slid forward a few feet. The wheel hit the shield at a hundred and twenty clicks and rolled over it and straight off the track. The train instantly derailed, smashing into the wall of the subway out of control. There was the sound of metal tearing and shredding as the side of the train crumpled on impact and every window exploded simultaneously. The train bounced across the tunnel slamming into the far wall while flipping over onto the roof. A hurricane of glass filled the small space as the train ponged back and forth while continuing down the tunnel before grinding to a stop.

Captain America slowly stood up, careful of the shards of glass and brushed debris off himself while checking for serious wounds. The chain mail that made up his costume had spared him any serious injuries and Flag Smasher moaned painfully but seemed alive.

Cap stood up and walked towards the cockpit looking out down the track. They had made it with meters to spare. He re-cuffed Smasher to a chair and leaned against the concaved wall waiting for reinforcements to show up.

“By the way, you were wrong, Flag Smasher,” he said to his prisoner. “You can’t destroy a nation by crippling its economy. No more than you can destroy a home by knocking out a wall. Because people make a home and people make a nation. As long as there are people who want to call themselves Americans the nation will be strong. That is why I will always beat you.”

Cap smiled to himself. The moment would have been so much better if Flag Smasher had been awake to hear that.

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The End...

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