A cool breeze caressed Steve's face as he slowly knelt down onto the black ground at his feet, scooping up a bit of the dirt with his hand. His eyes narrowed while he rubbed the material between his fingers before he lifted his head and glanced around the eerily quiet landscape.
"And here I thought this might be soot, but no. It's ash," he muttered to himself while standing up, glancing around once more to find that he was in the middle of what seemed to be a desert made of ash. He slid his shield off of his arm and attached it to the magnet on his back, freeing up both of his arms. "Fury, this is Steve. Do you read?"
All the Captain received in response was silence, getting a smirk out of the Cap as he lowered his arm and began to run forward. 'No surprise, the comms don't work. I'll figure out a way to contact Fury later, but right now I need to figure out where I am.' For miles Steve sprinted, but despite the long run his body still felt slightly cool. The reason was obvious enough, for a simple glance at the sky revealed black clouds that flashed with lightning were blocking out the sun.
Hours seemed to pass as the Captain ran, keeping both eyes and ears out for any sign of life. He crossed over hills, leapt across dry riverbeds and even once thought he heard a bird, yet the sky remained as black and lifeless as ever. Yet, what finally caused the Captain to finally come to a stop was not a life, but instead the charred remains of where life used to be. Steve narrowed his eyes while he knelt down next to a blackened stump, rubbing his gloved finger down the wood to find that it was covered in the same ash as the place where he started.
'This is similar to the ash I found back where I landed,' he realized as he lifted his head, noticing the remains of more planet life that had refused to be completely burned away. A few blackened roots, the charred remains of a branch and numerous other items informed the Captain that where he stood may have been a forest at one point.
'But now it's been burned away to nothing,' he pondered while he continued his run, following the trail of burned stumps and destroyed landscape. 'And these ashes are the result of some kind of fire, but not one I've ever seen. Given, though, how Doctor Strange was the one who received the message, there's a chance that it was caused by magic. After all, those beings attacked by magic users would seek out a magic user to aid them.'
Steve's run came to another stop when he skidded to a halt at the edge of a large chasm, one that descended into fog far below. Yet the Captain barely spent a moment glancing down before his attention was grabbed by the remains of a building that rested on the other side. Reaching into one of the pouches on his belt he pulled out a pair of small binoculars, placing them in front of his eyes to get a better look.
What remained of the structure was a good number of stone bricks, most of which were charred like everything else, but some of them were covered in vines and mold. Cap figured that the place had been in a state of disrepair long before it had been destroyed, but he also noted if that was the case then someone had made sure to destroy a ruined building. Either they were thorough or held a grudge. He assumed the latter.
Unable to reach the ruins, Cap pouched his glassware and turned towards the opposite direction. He took off once more, his boots kicking up tiny puffs of ash with every step as he raced through the ruined forest. Yet, once more he came to a stop when he spied another item, a large cauldron in the middle of charred pieces of wood that hadn't yet rotted.
'Whatever this was made of, it must have been pretty strong to avoid being destroyed,' Captain America thought as he knocked his knuckles against the side of the cauldron, hear a slight ringing coming from within. He then turned his attention to what remained of what he guessed used to be a structure, but if anything had survived it had been taken long ago. Yet, as the Cap turned towards the cauldron one last time, he found that there was a small map carved into the bottom of the metal, finally giving him a location to go to.
Without a moment of hesitation, the Captain took off to where the map had instructed, surprised to see that the faintest remains of a path still remained engraved beneath the ash. It wasn't a long journey, but when he reached his destination the Captain couldn't help but frown slightly. As he emerged from the forest's remains, he walked up to the charred and splintered remnants of a sign that lay in the dirt. He knelt down and wiped away the ash with his hand, revealing a few words that read,
"Welcome to Pon..."
'Seems I was too late,' Steve thought as he lifted his head and took in the surrounding area, able to make out remains of what used to be buildings and a place of light. The Captain took up his shield once again as he began to walk through the ruins of the town, sadness beginning to fill up his heart while he gazed at some of the buildings that hadn't been completely wiped out of existence.
A sweet shop, a post office and a store where a few flowers defiantly grew were only some of the buildings that had yet to give into the destruction, but what truly broke the Captain's heart was when he tossed away a few beams that blocked the entrance to one building...and found numerous skeletons inside. Despite the skeletons looking like those of tiny horses, the Cap still had to avert his gaze when he realized where he stood had been where their last moments had taken place.
'Please...don't let those be the children of this species,' the Captain begged as he saw smaller skeletons held in the arms of some of the larger ones. Captain America knelt down next to the largest group and closed his eyes, saying a prayer for the lives that had been lost...before he snapped his head towards the ceiling with numerous holes in it that allowed him to see the sky.
'Roaring. Something's on its way.' Without a moment to lose the Captain took cover beneath one of the charred tables, giving him cover while still allowing him to see at the sky. For a long minute he waited in absolute silence before two massive, stone beasts flew by overhead. The Captain recognized them as gargoyles before, in an instant, he shot from his cover and rushed outside, able to see the two stones beasts flying to somewhere...with cages in their talons filled with creatures he couldn't make out.
But the Captain didn't need to know what those beasts held; he knew prisoners when he saw them. But a small smile still crossed the Captain's face when he began to sprint after the gargoyles, not needing to keep up with them since he knew where they were going. They were either taking the prisoners to a prison or a labor camp, but whichever one it was didn't matter to Captain America--because he'd free them.
And then break the jaw of the one responsible for all the destruction.
/ \
//A\\
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'Seems it's a forced labor camp. I've seen too many of these in my time,' Captain America thought with a shake of his head as he glanced out from behind the boulder that provided his cover, allowing him to stare down at the massive, concrete structure that beamed with five separate spotlights. Behind the structure he could just make out a large, fenced in area that seemed to go down into a large pit. 'Probably where those who were captured are being forced to mine. I need to get in there.'
He knew the front door was suicide. In the past, when he had to sneak into places like this he had blended in with the prisoners, but after seeing the skeletons back in the town, he figured that the local populace there wasn't human. 'Besides, those gargoyles up front look like they're designed to keep others from getting in, meaning they won't be accepting visitors,' Cap figured before a small window near the top of one of the towers caught his eye. 'But if they're just going to leave the window open for me, who am I to deny their generosity?'
Now that he had a plan of entry, the Captain stared down at the prison and began to learn. Thirty minutes passed while he learned how the spotlights moved, where they moved to and at what times they swung around. He also noticed during this time that the gargoyles weren't particularly threatening, since they got into a fight with each other while the Cap had been observing patterns.
For a few minutes more the Captain waited, waited until the spotlight swung around and passed the window that was his target. The moment the light vanished the Captain took off at a full sprint, casting a quick glance at the gargoyles while he ran to see that they were too focused with each other to even bother a glance in his direction. He reached the tower wall within a minute and kicked up onto it with one mighty leap, discovering that the cracks in the wall were the perfect size for his hands.
With his powerful muscles he was able to start scaling the wall with incredible speed, yet his first real challenge came when he found that he would have to move around to the front of the compound before he'd be able to reach the window, due to the strange positioning of the bricks. Unfazed, the Captain followed the path of handholds to the front of the compound, casting another quick glance at the still battling gargoyles before he climbed higher.
But the structure wasn't as well built as he thought, for when he reached up to grab a brick his superhuman strength ripped it out of the wall and the pieces of it fell towards the gargoyles below. Realizing that he only had moments to act, Captain America hurled himself up the wall before kicking off with his legs, sending himself flying towards the window. His fingers gripped the edge just as he heard one of the gargoyles call out and the spotlight began to shine towards him. Yet when the light reached the window, all it found was gray bricks.
With shield in hand the Captain slowly made his way through the twists and turns of the compound, assuming he was in the guards' section of the place. At each hallway he would stop and listen for the sounds of movement, before racing across to the other side. At first he encountered no guards, but as he got closer to the area where the prisoners were being kept, he started to hear voices coming from the doorway next to him.
"Can you believe those idiots had us swing those heavy lights around just because a brick fell out of the wall?" one of the voices said, just around the corner from the Captain. Steve glanced back quickly and realized he wouldn't have time to run back into cover. He then glanced up at the exceptionally large ceilings and an idea came to him as he sheathed his shield.
"Yeah, with the condition this place is in, I'm amazed the whole tower hasn't collapsed yet," a pony in black, metal armor with green eye holes said to his partner while they walked into the hallway, both shaking their heads at the stupidity of the gargoyles. "And they didn't sound the alarm when that one pony managed to get out, but Sombra forbid, a brick falls on them and they wake the whole damn place up. Idiots."
'So what's your excuse for not looking up?' Steve thought to himself from the rafters, arms and legs pressed firmly against the walls on either side of him as he watched the two ponies walk under him. And he couldn't deny it any more, the species in the land had to be horses or at least some version of them. That didn't worry the Captain. What worried the Captain was the armor they wore didn't look like anything he had seen, meaning that he'd be blind going up against an entirely new race.
'But it's just another day at the office, Rogers,' Captain America thought to himself as he dropped down after the ponies exited the hallway, moving even faster than before as he rushed through the halls while still keeping an ear out for more guards. It wasn't until he reached a room that overlooked the large quarry that he discovered another guard, one who was sitting in a chair with his hooves up, looking out the window into the large hole of rock and minerals bellow him.
While Steve snuck up behind him, he dared a glance out the window. A scowl covered his face when he saw hundreds of horses that were a multitude of colors in chains. He also saw where nearly all of the guards had gotten to, since there were nearly three dozen guards in black armor walking around with staffs that crackled with red electricity.
"Can you believe our luck?" the pony said to the Captain, nearly getting him to freeze with both fear and anticipation. "Those jerks get to be out there having fun with the prisoners while we're stuck in here guarding the rocks and bricks that make up this place. Ugh, I wish I could just relax and have fun like them." Cap's eyes narrowed as he realized that the pony thought him to be another guard, the idea of an intruder not even crossing the pony's mind.
"Then why don't you take a nap?" The pony had just enough time to widen his eyes in shock before two massive arms wrapped themselves around his throat. The pony thrashed a little bit as Captain America dragged him away from the desk, before falling onto his back and wrapping his legs around the pony to avoid as much noise as possible.
Captain America finally let go when the pony stopped kicking and slumped to the side, allowing the Captain to drop him on the floor and hold a finger to his neck. Captain America nodded when he felt a pulse before picking the pony over his shoulder and dropping him back in his chair, arranging the guard so that it would look as if he had fallen asleep, if other guards entered the room.
With a moment to himself, the Captain then looked around the room. His eyes immediately were drawn to the large poster on the wall behind him. On it at the bottom were images of the guards that he had seen within the compound, but at the top stood five figures cloaked in shadows, but each of their eyes shone like spotlights that seemed to shine everywhere.
"Remember, we're always watching," Steve read with disgust as he resisted the urge to tear the poster off the wall, his desire to remain concealed preventing him from doing so. But then another sound reached the Captain's ears, one that made him turn around and rush to the window. Down in the quarry, an older pony had collapsed to the ground and one of the guards had discovered him. Steve watched with wide eyes as the guard struck the stallion with his electrical staff again and again, laughing all the while despite a young mare trying to get him to stop.
"I said get up!" the guard laughed as he drove the end of the weapon into the stallion, getting the elder to cry with agony as electricity coursed through his body.
"Please, leave him alone!" the mare begged while she clawed at the armor of the guard, who was having too much fun to even notice the mare beside him.
"You know the rules, old timer. No laying down until the job is finished! And I sure as hell don't see all of those crystals in that cart!" the guard cackled as he slammed the side of the staff against the side of the stallion's head, drawing blood while sending him crashing into the ground. Other ponies cast their dull eyes in the direction of the violence, but some only watched for a moment before turning away. Others shook their head sadly, unable to help at all.
"Please stop!" the mare cried out when she raced the stallion's side, tears streaking down her face as she mopped at the blood with her hoof. The guard let out another cackle while he grabbed the mare by the wrist and spun her around, a smile spreading under his helmet.
"Hey, you're pretty cute," he said sinisterly as she struggled to escape. "How would like to get some time off from here? Working all day can't-" In her attempt to escape she struck the guard in the helmet, slightly moving his head to the side. All the other guards in the area began to chuckle when the green eyes of the pony moved back to the mare, who was frozen with fear at that point. "Striking a guard? You know that's a no-no. And I bet you also know what happens to those who do, don't you?'
"No...please...help," she whispered while cowering back, getting an even darker chuckle from the guard.
"Help? You think anypony here is going to help you?" he snickered while he began to walk towards her. "You think that a hero will just show up, out of the blue and save a mare like you? Well guess what? It-"
CLANG!
That guard didn't even had time to swear as his head was slammed into the ground by whatever hit him from behind. Yet nopony in the quarry, be they guard or prisoner, paid attention to him. All eyes were on the red and white disc that had bounced off the back of his head and was now bouncing around the quarry. It bounced off a rock before striking off a wall, catching the edge of a ladder before...it was caught by the gloved hand of a being that stood in the center of the quarry.
"Ugh, what hit me?" the guard snarled as he rose to his hooves, anger flashing when he spun around to whatever had hit him...and his courage went cold at the sight of the creature that stood behind him. It stood on two legs, wore a red, white and blue uniform and held the shield that had bounced off the back of the guard's head on its left arm. But what unnerved every guard there was the look on its face, a look of cold fury.
"You must be pretty good at predicting the future," the creature spoke while it started to walk forward, eyes flashing like lightning as it did so. "Because everything you said right there?"
"It's all about to come true."