25 - The News

Liberty's P.O.V

The sun was shining gently through the gap in the curtains, I couldn't quite remember when we fell asleep. The plan had always been for us to all watch films together and then for the boys to go home, even if Dad had already said to me that it was okay if they slept over, as long as nothing happened, but I knew that he trusted me on that front, (plus, why would anything happen anyway!) Prince was still there, still curled up in the gap between where my legs had been all night and the back of the sofa. He was still purring softly, making me smile. I guess I'd just have to explain to dad about him when he got back. If he got back. I got out from under my duvet covers and walked towards the kitchen sink to get myself a glass of water, careful not to wake either of the boys or Prince.

Ned was asleep in the armchair next to the sofa I had slept on, he was snoring quietly, which I would totally taunt him about later on, and Peter, bless him, had gotten some blankets and a pillow and slept on the floor in order to let Prince and I have the sofa to ourselves. He looked so peaceful, laid there in a bundle of blankets, I definitely didn't want to disturb him. I got myself a drink and ended up just going into my room to grab a book and sit and read for a bit on the sofa whilst the boys woke up. 

I was so incredibly tempted to check out the news on my mobile phone, to see if there was anything about the Avengers, but I stopped myself, I didn't want to know, whether the news was good or bad. I had, however, found it a little bit weird that there was only Sam, Nat and Wanda with dad on this mission by the looks of things, usually, the whole gang would go together, but I couldn't really question them, they had busy lives.

As if on cue, Peter's eyes fluttered open and he groaned as the sun shone in his face through the same gap in the curtains.

"Morning," I said quietly, Ned was still fast asleep.

"Morning," Peter replied, slowly getting up and sitting on the sofa with me, Prince waking up just simply to pad on Peter's lap and then curl up and go back to sleep once he was ready. 

"He really seems to like you, Pete," I laughed to myself as Peter began instinctively stroking his hands through Prince's fur.

"Yeah, which is kind of weird. Cats usually hate me..." Peter muttered, looking down at Prince who looked back up at him and purred, louder now, in his lap.

"I don't think anyone could ever hate you, Pete," I replied without even thinking, my cheeks grew hot at what I had just said, I could see that Peter's cheeks were also reddening slightly. It was then that Ned's eyes fluttered open, therefore all three of us were finally awake. I got up and put away my book, asking if anyone wanted any breakfast, telling them I could cook us some eggs or whip up something else. Both of the boys agreed to eggs on toast, and I volunteered to cook whilst they tidied up the blankets and bedding, making it so we all had an equal share of work to be getting on with. I also then suggested that we maybe finish the film we had started watching last night before we all seemingly drifted off to dreamland. Ned and Peter agreed and so we had a bit of a distraction whilst we all completed our respective tasks.

We were having a laugh, joking around whilst we tidied and cooked, the film a perfect backdrop. When suddenly the TV switched channel's by itself, as if by some sort of magic. I fumbled around looking for the remote until I heard a voice come over the TV's speakers.

"Tony, I don't want to fight you, but I can't sign it,"

"If fighting is how we will end this, then a fight it'll be, Rogers,"

I turned round to look at the images flashing on the screen. Two men, one laid down, looking in a terrible state, and the other had his back to the camera, but I knew exactly who it was just from his voice alone.

"Cap, don't do this, think about someone other than yourself," Uncle Tony, whom I had identified as the man laid on the floor, blood and dust covering his face, said. yet it wasn' quite a plea, just as dad seemed to catch too.

"Like who?" Dad questioned, knowing exactly what was going to come out of Tony's mouth.

"Like Liberty, Cap, you know she needs you," I shuddered at the mention of my own name, I had never thought of how it would feel for the Avengers to talk about me, it hadn't exactly occurred to me up until this point in time.

"Liberty is a strong girl, stronger than I was at her age, she doesn't want her father fussing over her every second of the day," Dad said, I could tell that he didn't mean any harm in saying that, if anything I was meant to take that as a compliment, but there was something about how he said it, a sort of... sadness.

Suddenly there was a loud beeping sound which caused both of the men to look up to where the camera was, both a little startled. A drone, most likely a government drone, had been recording this whole conversation.

"Steve,"

"Shoot it down, NOW!" dad shouted, Uncle Tony lifted his hand weakly, shotting out a blast that stopped the camera, it began falling before cutting off completely. The TV went black. Ned, Peter and I looked at each other in shock as we switched over to the news channel, which showed clips and headlines involving the footage.

Captain America Has A Secret Child

Liberty Rogers; Maybe Not So Free

Superhuman Child Revealed

My heart leapt into my throat. We'd tried so hard to keep all of this a secret, especially from the government, and now it seemed like everyone knew, the whole of the city, maybe the entire world. I didn't know what was going to happen, I just knew that everything was about to change. There was no way I'd be able to go to school now, they'd all know, and the likelihood of the school getting attacked just because I was in it was high. I didn't want to put anyone else in danger.

As if to break my twirling train of thought, the household phone rang loudly. I stepped out from under my thoughts and went to answering, taking a deep and calming breath beforehand as to not seem like anything was wrong.

"Hello?" I said, in my most normal phone voice as I could muster,

"Liberty, I need you to listen very carefully, I'm going to be speaking very quickly," It was my dad. "I need you to start packing, only the essentials, we need to get you out of the area as soon as possible. I just got a call from Director Fury, he says he can send someone to pick you up in half an hour, which should give you enough time to sort everything out,"

"But- but where, where am I going?" This made Peter and Ned give me some quite concerned looks.

"Cornwall, England, to live with technically your niece and her family,"

"ENGLAND!" I exclaimed, almost shouting own the phone. That was far, very far, maybe even too far.

"It's the only safe house that we had time to organise, the rest of your family seem to live fairly nearby,"

"But what about Ned and Peter?" I said, looking sadly at the boys, I couldn't possibly just simply leave them behind.

"They can stay to say their goodbyes, but after that, they need to forget all about all of this, or at least not mention it to anyone,"

"Okay," I replied, looking towards the boys as I rushed into my bedroom and got out the suitcase that dad had got for me for emergencies such as this. They followed me, still with confused looks on their faces. I found a piece of scrap paper on my desk and started scribbling down the information that they needed to know, hoping they'd understand.

Searching through my wardrobe and all of my other belongings, I began to frantically pack my entire life whilst I've been here into one small-ish suitcase, holding in my emotions and shock the best I could. Right now was not the time to be weakened, I knew I needed to be strong in order for this to work out the way it needs to.

"Liberty, I'm- I'm sorry," Dad said down the phone, his voice saddening, "I shouldn't have gotten you involved in all of this, it's my fault,"

"No," I said, making sure that he didn't blame himself for any of this, it was just an accident is all, but dad did have a nasty habit of taking the blame for things that he could never have helped. "It was all just an accident, we'll both be fine," I continued to pack, Peter and Ned both started to help me, having read through my scribbly little note, helping me to neatly get all my belongings to where I needed them to be.

"Fury says that someone should be there to pick you up shortly, make sure that the car is one of the S.H.I.E.L.D before you go outside, just to be safe," Dad said after a moment if silence on my side, as he talked to someone nearby him, moving the phone away from his mouth. 

"Liberty, I love you," dad said, his voice sad again, it seemed that this incident had somehow broken through the incredibly brave facade that everyone else in the world knew him by.

"I love you too dad," I muttered, zipping up my suitcase, Peter lifted it off my bed and we began to take it into the living room.

We hung up the phone, I hung on to the final few words that I might ever hear my father say, as I said my hopefully not very last farewells to the two best friends that I had ever gained during my school life. I gave Ned a hug, he told me a joke, in true Ned fashion, I would miss his little spouts of humour as well as his overall nerdiness. But it was when I got to Peter that my emotions broke through the barrier, salty tears streamed down my hot cheeks as I embraced him in the tightest hug that I had ever given out. I honestly never thought I'd find anyone who would understand the whole 'superhuman teenager' thing until Peter. That day I helped him when he had the battle at school, it felt like all of this was supposed to go on for so much longer, but it looks like our time had clearly been cut short. I'd miss this awkward dork with all my little heart, even if I wasn't planning on telling him all this since it seemed way to sad and soppy for now. I had to stay optimistic. This wasn't the end. This was only the beginning.