Civil War Prose Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

front of them. “Now it’s condos. Well, now it’s a disaster area.”
    Cage stepped forward, gave Falcon a half-hug. The two had grown up in the same neighborhood. “Cap’s inside?”
    “Straight up. Said to hang tight out here.”
    “Where are the firemen?” Spidey asked.
    Falcon gestured around, at the chaos and flashing lights. “On their way.”
    A middle-aged man stumbled out of the building, coughed, and dropped to his knees. Falcon rose up into the air and whistled; a pair of medics came running.
    Hawkeye the marksman followed the man out of the building, balancing two small children on his wiry arms. His purple costume was singed and torn; one of his quiver’s straps had been burned clear away. He deposited the kids in the medics’ hands and staggered, dizzy.
    Above, Goliath picked another piece off the roof. “Gas fire,” he called down. “It’s still burning.”
    Falcon landed next to Hawkeye, led him over to Spidey and the others. “Good work, Hawk. Where’s Cap?”
    Hawkeye coughed, grimaced. “Still inside. I thought we got everybody, but he said…he insisted—” He burst out hacking again, doubled over.
    “You oughta see the medics, too.”
    But Hawkeye slowly straightened, a playful look creeping into his eye. He grabbed an arrow from his quiver, reached out and poked Spider-Man in the chest with it.
    “And miss this mook’s hazing?” He smiled. “Welcome to the Avengers, Webs.”
    For once, Spider-Man found himself lost for words. He stood for a long moment…
    …and then an explosion burst forth from the firehouse. Flames flared out the door. Goliath took a giant stride back, almost fell. Ms. Marvel swooped backward in midair, watching with the others in horror.
    “Cap,” Falcon said.
    Then a figure appeared in the doorway, silhouetted against the raging fire. A tall, muscular man in a tattered red-white-and-blue uniform. Captain America, the living legend of World War II, took one careful step after another out of the inferno, carrying an unconscious woman in his strong arms.
    Medics swarmed around him, took his burden from him. “Third degree burns,” one said. “But she’s still alive.”
    “Get her into the Jeep.”
    “Cap!” Tigra cried.
    Cage, Falcon, and Hawkeye followed her toward the building. Cap coughed once, waved them off. He smiled at Falcon, clapped Hawkeye on the back, and rested a steadying arm on Tigra’s slim frame.
    Then he turned toward Spider-Man, and his face turned dark.
    “Spider-Man’s just arrived,” Tigra said. “It’s his first mission as an Avenger.”
    Still glaring, Cap held out his hand. Spidey took it, unsure, and felt Cap’s strong grip as they shook.
    “Not the look I was expecting,” Cap said.
    Behind them, a fire engine finally squealed up. Firemen unrolled hoses, began aiming them at the burning building.
    Cap held Spider-Man’s hand for a long moment. Cage and Falcon exchanged a look. Hawkeye rubbed his neck, uncomfortable.
    Beneath his mask, Spider-Man frowned. He felt like he was back in high school, fidgeting under thick glasses while some popular kid stared him down.
    “I, uh, I should check in with Tony,” he said at length. “Anybody know where he is?”
     
    WHEN Spider-Man reached the crater, he realized the true extent of the devastation. An area covering one-and-a-half city blocks had been totally flattened, reduced to ash and hard-packed dirt. Half a school building stood at the edge of the blast zone. Its other half had been incinerated, fallen off into the dead hard ground of the crater itself.
    The Avengers’ quinjet sat parked in the bowl-like depression, alongside the Fantastic Four’s custom-built plane. The haze was thicker here, seeming to shroud the crater in an eerie midday twilight.
    Spidey leapt over the quinjet. “Boss,” he said.
    Iron Man held up a hand to Spider-Man: Wait a minute. Tony stood talking to Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic of the FF. Reed had assembled a makeshift network of