Chapter 5
Hours later Steve patrols the docks from rooftops. He doesn’t know that the Nazis will be here, but back in his day the docks were always a popular recruiting spot for the American Bund. Bucky used to work down at the docks, Steve too when he wasn’t home convalescing from his latest illness. They would see Bund members with their pamphlets offering to buy someone a beer for just a few minutes of their time. They had never tried to approach Steve, with his weak lungs and tiny frame and they had only made the mistake of approaching Bucky once.
The streets are abandoned in this section of the city. It seems that Metropolis’s bustling nightlife doesn’t extend to the seedier portions of the city. Steve spots a few stumbling drunks on their way between bars, but nothing more than that. This is a waste of time. He needs a real lead, not a hunch based off how the Nazis behaved decades ago. He should head back to Jimmy’s apartment, get some sleep and question Lois and Clark tomorrow.
Someone lands next to Steve with a soft thump.
“Superman,” Steve greets.
“Captain, it’s a nice night for a stroll but there are nicer parts of Metropolis to go for a walk in.”
Steve glances at Superman who gazes out at the streets below them. Steve feels his shoulders relax.
“Really? Next you’ll tell that the street is more pleasant than the rooftops.” Steve grins.
“It’s certainly safer.”
“I’ll be careful,” Steve promises. He leaps, flying over the alleyway and landing on the next building with room to spare. Next to him, Superman lands.
“What are you doing here?”
“Did you hear about that string of robberies?” Steve asks. They’re standing on the roof of an old bar. One that looks like it was shut down years ago.
“The ones with ties to Neo-Nazis?”
“How did you know that?” Steve asks. He begins silently crossing the roof top. He cocks his head, listening but hears nothing. Another dead end building.
“Clark told me. He’s a… friend of mine.” Superman says, “But why are you looking for a Neo-Nazi group in the dead of night?”
“To stop them, obviously,” Steve says and then wonders if that was an obvious conclusion for Superman without the knowledge of Captain America. He thinks about trying to explain more, but doesn’t bother; wanting to fight Nazis should be pretty self-explanatory.
“I thought you said you were retired this morning.” Superman says floating alongside him. It’s a bit disconcerting to watch him hovering there a few inches above the ground, like an unusually solid ghost.
“I am. I just need to handle this first.” Steve says and then stops. He sees a light go on and then immediately turn off in a building across the street.
“What are you doing here by the way?” Steve asks, still watching the building for signs of life.
“Same as you. Clark tipped me off that there was to be a meet up tonight.” Superman says. He follows Steve’s gaze and then stares intently at the building, a frown appearing.
“Five are inside, in the basement.” He adds.
“How can you tell?” Steve asks
“X-Ray vision.” Superman says and Steve silently gives Jimmy credit. The kid hadn’t been exaggerating.
“Ok so we need a plan?” Steve says.
“Do we?” Superman asks. Steve glances over and sees genuine curiosity on Superman’s face, as if planning ahead had never crossed his mind. Though, Steve supposes, when you’re as powerful as him planning becomes less important. But underestimating the enemy was a fatal flaw Steve had seen too many people make against the Nazis.
“Yes. We don’t know if this all of them or just a cell that’s part of a larger network. We don’t know why they’ve started robbing banks or what they plan on using the money for. For all we know they used the money to stock up on Kryptonite.” Steve says. If Natasha were here he knows she would be calling him out for breaking into his lecturing voice, but Superman nods as if he’s never considered those possibilities.
“Ok, what’s the plan?”
“Keep your distance until I give you the all clear” Steve says, “I’m going street side to see if I can hear anything.”
Steve jumps into the alleyway. He can feel Superman watching him as he creeps across the street. He peeks into a window, searching for movement amongst the shadows, but sees nothing. A scream pierces the night. It’s coming from the basement. A red and blue blur whips past Steve.
“Superman, wait!” Steve shouts, but Superman is already gone. The screaming abruptly cut off, replaced by a series of crashes. Steve runs. Its complete chaos as a half dozen Neo-Nazis, clearly not expecting Superman to crash their meeting, scatter like rats. One of them is bleeding heavily from the head and Steve doubts it was caused by Superman. Only one Neo –Nazi doesn’t run, He pulls something from his pocket, a lead box. He flicks it open and Steve seems the familiar glow of green. Superman freezes. Steve throws his shield. The kryptonite skitters across the floor. Steve and the other man dive for it. He misses and the other man grunts in satisfaction, until Steve brings his shield down on the man’s wrist. It snaps and the kryptonite falls from his hand. Steve scoops it up and grabs the lead box. Kryptonite safely put away, Steve and Superman make short work of the rest of the Neo-Nazis.
“Not bad.” Steve says surveying the room where the Neo-Nazis are either tied up, Superman’s work, or unconscious, his work.
“Thank you, for handling the kryptonite for me.” Superman says.
“Not a problem. You should flag down an officer. I want to have a look around.” Steve says. Superman flies off. Steve wanders over to the man who is still bleeding from the head and nudges him with his foot.
“What happened to you?”
The man glares balefully at him and spits at him. Steve rolls his eyes and keeps walking. In the middle of the room, tipped over, is a table. Money and papers are scattered everywhere. Steve picks up a ledger and scans the numbers. They’ve certainly been busy.
“Let me take a wild guess,” Steve says to the man still bleeding, “you were fudging the numbers and your buddies didn’t appreciate that, did they?”
The man doesn’t respond, but his gaze turns fearful as he glances at the others.
“Can’t trust a Nazi, who knew?” Steve grunts sarcastically. He flips through the pages. Money coming in, money getting split between them, and the extra money going out. Steve frowns. A second cell? The ledger doesn’t tell him. He sets it down and begins picking up papers and skimming them for answers. Footsteps above tell him that officers have arrived. They give Steve curious looks as they troop in, not sure what to make of them.
“Evening Officers.” Steve greets. They see them glance at Superman as if looking for his approval before engaging with Steve. When Superman doesn’t appear to be concerned the officers relax and settle for ignoring Steve as they go about their work. It’s odd. Steve is used to being ignored as Steve Rogers, but he’s never been ignored as Captain America. Even during the worst of it, when he was hated by every guard around him, his presence still elicited some strong reaction. He’s finding this all to be very novel. He stands back and lets the officers do their job as Superman fills them in.
Steve starts edging for the door; Superman can handle it from here. As he passes the man who had taken out the kryptonite Steve sees a piece of paper in his hands tied behind his back. A piece of paper he is slowly trying to shred without anyone noticing. The cops aren’t paying attention and neither is Superman. Steve leans down and grabs the man’s wrist. He feels the man’s pulse jump at the sudden contact. He pulls the paper from the man’s grasp. The number and beginning of the street name is missing, but Steve can make out Canal St. Gotham. Steve casually drops the paper on the table where’s sure police will see it and heads out. The police will follow whatever leads they see fit, but Steve knows where he’s going next.
Unfortunately, it turns out Steve cannot immediately go to Gotham. The constraints of a normal job and the necessity of a paycheck are things he’s unused to in his working career. Still, it’s nice to know that he will be putting his first paycheck to good use. For now Steve walks to the Daily Planet, stopping to grab the morning paper on the way in. A blurry picture of himself mid throw greets him. The headline reads New Hero in Town? The Captain Saves Superman and the Day. Steve reads the article at his desk. Personally he finds it a bit overdramatic. He flips to the next page to read Clark’s article on the Neo-Nazi bust. He finds several quotes from Superman. Clark must have shown up right after he left. It was a good thing he didn’t stick around.
Steve wanders over to Clark’s desk.
“Just read your article. Good job.” Steve says.
“Thanks, it would have been better, but half the story disappeared before I could get an interview.”
“What do you mean?” Steve asks innocently.
“The Captain. He showed up last night,” Clark says, “The guy comes out of nowhere and twice in twenty four saves Superman’s life, once right in front of The Daily Planet and nobody has gotten an interview yet.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to be interviewed.” Steve shrugs, leaning casually against Clark’s desk.
“Then he better stay away from Lois. She doesn’t take no for an answer.”
“I’m sure he’ll give all reporters a wide berth. You’re all ruthless,” Steve chuckles. Clark grins but doesn’t deny it.
“So do police have any more follow up to do on your Nazi story?” Steve asks. Clark scowls.
“They found a lead that goes straight to Gotham.”
“You look pretty annoyed by that.” Steve observes.
“Gotham’s a mess. They’re overworked as it is. Nobody over there is going to follow up on the lead and there’s nothing the Metropolis police can do about it because it’s out of their jurisdiction.”
“Maybe Batman will take care of it,” Steve says.
“I think Batman has his hands full with all the other crime going on in Gotham. Who knows if he’s even aware of the lead.” Clark shakes his head. Perry comes out of his office and Steve hurries back to his own desk. He taps his pencil against his art book. So the police in Gotham will be no help. It looks like he’ll have to track down Batman after all. Steve just hopes he’s easier to find than Daredevil.