24 - Civil War

Liberty's P.O.V

Woken by the panicked sound of voices which included the voice of my dad, who was rushing around picking up one piece of gear after another. Steve had told me a few days ago that they had managed to get a lead on that supposed terrorist who was wreaking havoc on the outskirts of the city, so he could be getting called out at any point, meaning that it could be early morning or late night. This time, it was early morning. I rolled over in my covers, my eyes fluttered open to see the clock. 5:12. Great. I got up and dresses into some pretty slob-ish clothes, it was Saturday so I didn't have any school to attend, but Peter and Ned were coming over later to watch some movies and maybe do some studying, (but let's be honest, we probably won't be studying,) so there wasn't any reason at all to get dressed up. I took my dark curly hair out of the ponytail I had put it in whilst I slept and made it into a messy bun at the nape of my neck and went to get some food to sooth the roaring of my hungry stomach.

"Morning," I said tiredly, yawning as I reached the fridge. Aunt Nat, Uncle Sam, Wanda and my dad were all stood in the middle of the living room, they looked at me and dad walked to me.

"We've finally got that lead I told you about," he started, "I could be gone for a while and-"

"I know, I know," I cut him off, "If anything happens to you, I go straight to Lizzie's."

Dad kissed my head and smiled down at me with a sad look in his eyes and then he left, with the other three Avengers. It was a bit scary when he went on missions like this, and I understood that it was part of this job that he loved, but I wasn't ever quite sure as to whether I would see him again.

Steve's P.O.V

Shutting the door behind me, I looked in the direction of Liberty as she made herself food in the orange light of the kitchen, the blue tint of the fridge light highlighting her features. God, she really did look like her mother. God, I missed my best girl. My Peggy. For a while, I thought that me and Liberty would be fine living here by ourselves, but now I realise that really she doesn't need me, she needs a mother. Since they found each other, Liberty has been spending time at Elizabeth's, it seems that Lizzie was the one who managed to, at least partly, fill that void left by what went on whilst Liberty was under the ice. But I think Lizzie herself also knows that nothing can fill that hole for Liberty.

Peter and Ned are good for her, I can see the joy that they bring to her, the smile they put back on her face. But I've seen how Peter looks at her when she isn't looking back at him, there was definitely something there (even if neither of them could admit it,) and I knew that something more could be good for her, but I'm her father. I don't want her to get hurt.

It was so hard leaving her like this, which was something I never thought of when I took her in. My job with the Avengers meant that I was risking my life every day, and I was completely fine with that, but now I have a daughter to keep an eye on, it makes it all a little bit more difficult. With this job, I didn't ever know when or if I'd ever be home again, and now I didn't know if I would ever see Liberty again.

"You okay there grandpa?" Natasha joked, lightly punching my forearm. She always had a way of telling when I felt a bit off.

"This hereditary business isn't all it's cut out to be, is it Steve?" Sam said, giving him a sympathetic look but still retaining his not-entirely-serious persona. 

"She'll be okay Steve, she's stronger than we give her credit for," Wanda put her hand on my shoulder, it was nice to know that I had a solid team behind me watching my back.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked Natasha, she was usually good with figuring out the best places for attack. She smiled and we started our mission.

Liberty's P.O.V

I kept the television switched off, for now, I didn't really want to know what was going on. I had to have faith in them, the Avengers, and I didn't want to know their chances and what they were against exactly. So I went back into my room and got out my sketchbook. I had no homework that I needed to do desperately so I decided this time would be for me. I picked up my pencil and started drawing, carving shapes into the paper below, smoothing out the rigid lines and creating worlds and characters at my very fingertips. It made me smile, the genuine peace of it all, the way that time passes faster as my hands glided across the page.

Suddenly, I looked up to see the little grey-furred kitten character that I had just illustrated in my sketchbook curled up on my bedsheets. It's meowing and peaceful purring was what caught my attention. It had a little golden crown hovering over its head. My eyes flitted between my sketchbook and the creature, the kitten's huge golden eyes making me melt. we had a cat just like him back before I went under the ice, his name had been Prince. My eyes widened as he leapt from on top of my bed and onto my bedroom floor, walking towards me. In my mind, he wasn't real, he couldn't have been, it was impossible. Then he began purring against my right leg, as if proving to me that he was real. The crown above his head faded as he lept into my lap, nuzzling into my chest, his warmth surging through my body. I tried figuring out how on earth he had come to exist. It was as if he had just simply jumped out of my sketchbook.

Soon enough, there was a knock at the door of two familiar faces with their arms full of snacks and popcorn for our movie night. I ran to the door, Prince following in my stride, tumbling over the carpet behind me.

"Hi, guys I-" I started, interrupted by the feeling of Prince purring against my leg once more.

"Woah, since when did you get a kitten?!" Ned asked, his face lit up excitedly. Peter bent down to stroke Prince, who actually seemed to take quite kindly to the stranger, almost fully jumping into his lap as he had already done to me.

"Erm... since like 5 minutes ago..." I answered, still trying to get my own head around it all.

"What?" Peter questioned as he stood back up from covering Prince in attention.

"Just, come in, I'll explain," I said, ushering for them to come in, making sure Prince didn't run off, taking some of the snacks off their hands.

Steve's P.O.V

There was no time to be worried about Liberty. Agent Romanoff had already figure out a plan, including all of our posts and what was going to be happening.

"Sam, you take the roof over there, Steve, that building there, and Wanda, with me," Natasha ordered, clearly not giving us any say in the matter, which I didn't mind, this had been what I was used to for years, taking orders. We moved to our posts, after all, making sure that our earpieces were connected together and working promptly, but before we all left to go tour respective posts, for now, Agent Romanoff pulled me to one side.

"Steve, our priority is the mission, but we also want to try and get you home after all of this, so don't be trying anything stupid," She said quietly,

"But what about you guys, you have people to be home for. My duty is to-"

"Your duty is to this world, but also to that daughter of yours. She's special, that one, and she needs a parental figure around," Natasha cut me off, stopping me in my tracks and making sure I understood her. I nodded, and we moved to our posts not entirely sure what was about to happen.

Liberty's P.O.V

"So, he just appeared?" Ned asked, looking fairly confused.

"I was drawing in my room at my desk, I was trying to sketch out what my cat 'Prince' used t look like, a stray cat that mum took in one day when he showed up at our door. I was just casually sketching and then I hear a meowing sound, I turn to my bed and there he is, curled up on my bed sheets, looking exactly like the picture I drew," I repeated, Prince, as if on cue, jumped into my lap and fell asleep, purring softly.

"That's kinda cool," Ned commented, smiling down at the kitten.

We decided to have that conversation there and just start watching the films we had actually originally come together to do. I popped the popcorn in the microwave and put in the biggest bowl that dad owned whilst Peter and Ned set up blankets and the TV so that we could get binge watching as many of the films as humanly possible in the time we had.

It was a relief having the boys there with me, it got my mind off whatever dad could be doing. We switched over from film after film, munching through snacks after snacks, laughing and taking, commentating the films. I as glad I had found these two and they had become my friends, I could never have asked for anyone better.