In the heart of Rome, Italy, Vatican City existed as a separate country in its own right. From almost its inception – and excepting for brief periods – Catholicism held no oaths to any one nation. In fact, quite often it was the opposite, as many past monarchs owed their crowns to the papal support. To serve as protection for the Pope and the Vatican state, a truly neutral security force was required.

Swiss Guard mercenaries were known for their loyalty and discipline, and for over 500 years served the Vatican as the Papal Swiss Guards. Today it was the only Swiss Guard that operated outside Switzerland, and served as the whole army of the sovereign state of the Vatican. Serving at less that 150 members, today the Papal Swiss Guard functioned primarily as bodyguard to the pope while performing largely ceremonial tasks.

It was thus that, when the major and six halberdiers burst into the Pope’s residence, His Holiness immediately knew that something was wrong. He rose to his feet at the entrance and approached the major, who raised his hand warning the Pope not to move.

“We have been made aware of a possible disturbance near the palace, your Holiness,” the major stated curtly. “You will need to be moved to a safe location as soon as possible. Come, the Colonel is waiting.”

“What sort of disturbance, major?” the Pope inquired. However the response came in the form of an explosion outside. The windowpanes rattled but did not break.

“It has already begun.” At the major’s motions, two of the halberdiers moved behind the Pope. “Quickly, there is no time for further discussion.”

Boxed in by his guard, the Pope was escorted from his residence. Soon he was led into a room, a destination that greatly surprised him. His Holiness voiced the confusion, saying, “Protocol demands that I be led out the palace.”

“Regrettably all the exits have been compromised.”

“You should have informed me of this immediately.”

“This was not the case earlier.”

Now the Pope had ceased to trust. “How would you know of this? Your radio has been silent!”

“My, what a clever man the Bishops raised.” Somebody else was in the room, seated in a hard-backed wooden chair and facing the newly arrived men. “But in fact you grew up around military procedure, is that not so?”

A shape was lying before the chair, and when the man rose from his seat he stepped over it to approach the Pope. At seeing the costume man who greeted him, the Pope’s eyes widened. “You are not the Colonel. What is this?”

A light chuckle came from the man’s throat, and beneath the black mask he smiled. “No, I’m not.” He gestured to the shape behind him, fluttering the black cape as he did so. “He was, before my men and I dealt with him.”

“Your men…?” Too late, the Pope released that the Swiss Guard around him had raised their weapons, but not at the costumed individual. The Major even had his pistol aimed at the head of His Holiness. “No, this is impossible.”

“Difficult, yes,” agreed the masked man. “But not impossible.” He reached down for something that had leaned against the chair, and raised his arm to reveal a heavy mace. “Their loyalty is to the Flag-Smasher, and today I will kill the greatest symbol of religion, the most divisive force in the world today!”

It was then that a second explosion rocked the palace, and this time the windowpanes in the room did shatter. However, it was not from the explosion’s force, but rather the star-spangled shield of Captain America! Seconds later, the man himself followed, crashing through the remnants of wood and glass to rush at the Flag-Smasher.

“No!” Flag-Smasher whirled around, swinging the mace in a wide arc. “How is it that you always arrive at just the worst time!”

Captain America ducked under the swing, and stood up straight to land a powerful uppercut on Flag-Smasher. Meanwhile, the door behind the treacherous Swiss Guard burst open, and none other than Jack Monroe stood in the doorway. Garbed as the Nomad, he raised the shotgun in his hand and unloaded a stunning round into the chest of one halberdier. Immediately a second halberdierrushed at Nomad, but Jack flipped the rifle so that he gripped the barrel and swung hard. This man was nowhere near as fast as Captain America, and so took a heavy blow to the head.

Two men down and Flag-Smasher was staggering. Had the gun still been in his hand, the major would have shot the Pope in the head. Fortunately, Captain America had thrown his shield with just that scenario in mind, and in its final ricochet the discus smashed into the major’s wrist. The shot went astray, struck a third halberdier in the shoulder. The gun itself then fell harmlessly to the floor.

“Ahh!” The major crumbled to his knees, clutching his broken wrist. His pain would not last long, however. Captain America smashed a foot against the side of his head, sending the major into blissful unconsciousness. The shield also found Captain America’s hand, just in time to block a second swing from the Flag-Smasher.

“Kill you!” Flag-Smasher roared.

“No, you won’t.” Forcing the mace aside with his shield, Captain America balled his free hand into a fist and punch Flag-Smasher hard in the jaw. As his opponent fell, Captain America glimpsed a brief shape through the shattered window, on a building far in the distance. “Your Holiness, get down!”

The Pope rushed to the floor, but the sniper’s shot was not intended for him.

“Cap?”

Captain America whirled about to see a puzzled expression on Nomad’s face, and blood staining his tunic. Then the young man fell, into the arms of a halberdier that proceeded to drag him from the room while the other two rushed at Captain America.

“No! Jack, no!” Captain America met the rush low, lifting up one halberdier with his shield and kicking the other hard in the gut. All while placing himself between the Pope and the window, in case of additional shots. Both men crumbled to the ground unconscious, and Captain America rushed to the Pope’s side.

“Eminence, I’ll need to escort you out of here.” Much as Captain America wanted to rush after the abducted Nomad, the Pope’s safety was paramount. “You’ll be safe once I get you to the Guard.”

“You mean men like them!” the Pope gestured at the fallen traitors. “Forgiveness is a difficult thing when one’s own life is threatened. I fear that the afterlife will not be so forgiving in their case.”

“I think that He will take the neural implants into account,” stated Captain America. “You should notice the scars on their temples. After surgery, they should be fine to retire with little disgrace. Now, please Your Holiness. We should go.”

Shaking only a little, the Pope took Captain America’s hand. “Such irony in the world. As a child, I was taught to hate you.”

“Sadly, that continues today.”

Running across rooftops, avoiding notice while racing against time, one can’t help but think in the meantime. Even with all the exertion and concentration involved with vaulting from one rooftop to another, across the street, Jack Flagg couldn’t stop his mind from wandering. About the situation he’d gotten himself involved in, the mistakes he’d made, the silence he’d kept while hoping that everything would work itself out.

Things hadn’t worked out. Unfortunately, when the situation got bad Captain America happened to be out of the country. Free Spirit ended up involved, and instead of calling in help from those better qualified, had contacted a washed out ex-superhero private investigator. Now Free Spirit and Jessica Jones – said washed out ex-superhero private investigator – were both in trouble and Jack Flagg was making the exact same mistake. Instead of contacting the Avengers or those equally capable and coming clean on the matter, Jack had broken out of jail and was rushing alone into trouble.

Maybe it was because, deep down inside, Jack Flagg hoped that things could still work themselves out quietly. That a chance remained for some people to be spared the worst of it. Jack Flagg wasn’t confident that this was the case here – his brother had instructions to call the right people if things went south. However, Jack Flagg owed the chance that things would go right. He owed it to people innocent in all this…and to himself.

Perched on the rooftop’s edge, Jack Flagg looked down at his target building. Inside was studio space that had previously served as a campaign headquarters. It’d recently been leased to act as such again, but for the next couple weeks would still be empty. If he had to be based anywhere, it had to be there. Free Spirit and Jessica Jones would be in there.

Movement was seen out of the corner of his eye. Jack was not on the rooftop alone. He spun about. A blur rushed at him, slammed into Jack Flagg. They flew – not fell, flew – the distance from the rooftop to a window into the studio. It was so quick that Jack still had no idea what hit him when he crashed through the window and onto the floor. Dazed, he struggled to recover, to reach his feet before what hit him-

The kick lifted Jack Flagg off the floor and he crashed against several empty desks. His hands found a grip against one desk, breaking the momentum. Jack found his feet, lifted the desk up and threw it. Finally Jack got a look at his attacker. Jessica Jones shattered the desk with a backhand. Pieces of wood fell everywhere, including at the feet of Free Spirit. Both women had the same glazed, darkened eyes.

“I figured it’d be like this,” muttered Jack. He ducked suddenly, and reached up to grab the hands had had reached for him from behind. Again Jack Flagg threw, this time a living man. The Corrupter, who wasn’t about to get his hands on Jack. “You’ve hurt enough people, Corrupter!”

“Oh, I agree,” said the man at whose feet the Corrupter landed. Standing next to this man was another individual, the Congressman whom Jack Flagg had worked for. While the Congressman’s eyes were also glazed over, they had a purple tint to them. A lighter shade that the man’s own deep purple skin. “It’s the Purple Man you should worry about!”

As Jack Flagg faced the Purple Man, Free Spirit and Jessica Jones were moving into position on either side of him.

“After the women who are about to pummel you to death, that is.”

By the time Captain America had gotten the Pope to safety, assured the Papal Swiss Guard that he wasn’t an assassin and returned back to the room, Flag Smasher had made his escape. All that remained were the unconscious men and the Colonel’s body. Captain America stepped over them – the Swiss Guard would deal with their own – and jumped out the shattered window.

Running along the parapets, Captain America leapt onto a rooftop and then to another. Earlier, he’d caught a brief glimpse of the sniper before the shot was fired. It hadn’t been much, but enough for Captain America to know exactly where the shot had come from. Soon he was standing on the spot, confirmed by the presence of the rifle.

Carefully, Captain America examined the rifle. Inside were tranquilizer rounds, meaning that Nomad had purposefully been taken alive. Was he to be bait then, Captain America wondered. If so, he wouldn’t be of much use without a clue as to his whereabouts. Underneath the rifle were those clues, two in fact. A crucifix and a large tooth of some kind.

From a pouch at Captain America’s belt, he withdrew the Avengers communi-card. A handy device, it served all the functions of the latest phones and yet was as small as a credit card. Though nothing so sophisticated had existed in his old days, Captain America used the card with expertise. He photographed the objects and dialed a number.

The spot on the communi-card where Captain America’s picture had been shifted, revealing the face of SHIELD Agent Sharon Carter. “Hello?” her voice projected from the card. “Steve? Never mind that this isn’t the best time, but do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you to call me?”

“I need help identifying something,” Captain America informed her. “The photos should be transmitting now.”

“Okay.” Sharon’s face briefly went out of frame. “Well, it’s been a while since Catholic school, but I think anybody would recognize-”

“Not that. The tooth, what is it from?”

Sharon frowned. “Well, I’d need to run it through a database to be sure, but it looks feline. Kind of a like from a tiger or lion. But like I said, running it through should-”

“Don’t bother. Thank you.” Captain America broke the connection. There he was in Vatican City, but it also happened to be in Rome. In his hand was a crucifix and a lion’s tooth. Those clues could have only meant one place, and Captain America had to hurry.

“Shouldn’t you be reporting that?” Agent Quartermain inquired after Agent Carter finished speaking with Captain America. “Fury gave us all orders.”

“Fury was probably listening to every word,” Agent Carter shot back. “Besides, GPS placed Cap in Italy, too far for me to do anything right now.” She leaned back in to stare through the riflescope. “I’ll file a report when we’re done here.”

Through the riflescope, Agent Sharon Carter witnessed Jack Flagg surrounded by hostiles. By sight she recognized the Corrupter, Purple Man, Free Spirit and Captain America’s latest acquaintance, Jessica Jones. She also recognized the U.S. Representative, but at present he was more a pawn than a hostile.

“Yep, all present,” Agent Quartermain confirmed. “Looks like that information was good, and that tracker worked like a charm.”

Jack Flagg had told his brother the whole story, in case things went wrong. Drake Flag hadn’t bothered to wait, and had even placed a tracer device in Jack’s tunic.

“Okay, on the count of three,” Agent Carter instructed. Stationed at his own rifle, Agent Quartermain nodded. “One, two, three!”

The shots were fired at once.

Inside the warehouse, Purple Man had just made his trite statement to Jack Flagg. Faintly, he heard the tinkle of glass breaking. Then he felt a pinch on his neck. Nearby, the Corrupter hissed, and Purple Man saw a dart sticking from his associate’s neck. His world swirled, and the Purple Man fell along with the Corrupter.

Agent Carter smiled at the results. “Hit the Congressman too.” Civilians rarely got in the way of things when they were unconscious.

“Done.” Agent Quartermain squeezed off a shot. “And the other two?” Even unconscious, the Corrupter’s power still influenced Free Spirit and Jessica Jones. They were moving in towards Jack Flagg. When Agent Carter didn’t respond, Agent Quartermain glanced over at her. “Sharon? If we don’t act fast he’s going to get hurt.”

Agent Carter pulled away from her rifle. “We can wait a few minutes. It serves him right for coming here alone.”

During their early days, the Roman Empire horrifically persecuted Christians. At one point, hundreds of Christians were rounded up into the Coliseum and fed to lions. That piece of knowledge, along with the clues left in Vatican City, brought Captain America to the Coliseum ruins in the hopes of finding Nomad.

Still technically a fugitive because of events in France, Captain America was unable to freely travel through Rome. Fortunately, Rome was known for its ancient sewer system that remained in use today. Captain America traveled these paths beneath Rome, and even with nose filters was nearly overwhelmed by the smell. It was hard to maintain his concentration, but Captain America had to recall the detailed plans he’d read back during World War II.

A structure the size of the Coliseum, with all the people it’s held, had to have been connected to the sewage system at one time. It had once even been possible to fill the Coliseum with water and hold mock naval battles. The conduit couldn’t have been anything small, but Captain America recalled it being walled up once the Coliseum went into disrepair.

Feeling his hands against the sewer walls, Captain America searched for the walled-off section. Improvements done hundreds of years ago wouldn’t have been that noticeable from the original construction, but Captain America had the advantage of knowing the old plans. He knew that he was in the general area, with the Coliseum being almost twenty yards west.

“There it is.” Captain America could feel it through his gloves, the slight tremor of a wall that wasn’t backed by solid rock.

Pulling the shield from his back, Captain America pressed the edge against the concrete and slowly went to work. All he needed was a small niche, but Captain America found the wall to be much weaker than it should have been. Not concrete at all, confirming his suspicions. Somebody had already removed the wall and replaced it.

Pulling his shield away, Captain America held it in front of him and rushed forward. He smashed into the wall, shield-first, and it gave easily. Captain America was in the passage that would lead into the Coliseum, and he ran towards his destination. Soon he came to another wall, one that broke as easily as the first, and there Captain America was. Inside the catacombs beneath the Coliseum.

Immediately, Captain America realized he was not there alone. Nearby were men, guards in green and yellow jumpsuits. At Captain America’s spectacular arrival they whirled around, weapons raised to fire.

“HYDRA!” Captain America continued running, blaster shots bouncing off his shield as he approached the sentries. Two fell to the punches and kicks of Captain America, but almost as quickly more were filling the chamber, rushing at Captain America and firing their blasters.

“What will it take!” Captain America dodged the blasts and threw his shield. It ricocheted off old mechanisms, walls and terrorist’s heads. “One falls, two more take its place, but why? Why are their so many stupid fools in the world!” Easily vaulting the distance, Captain America two HYDRA operatives and bodily threw them into the mass that was coming through a nearby doorway. Captain America caught his shield and followed, plowing into the human wave. “Answer me!” he screamed as fists flew.

But there was nobody left to answer. Everybody was unconscious, beaten down at the hands of Captain America. Breathing heavy from the exertion and the frustration, Captain America turned his head at the sound of turning gears. Not far away, a platform was rising. High up over the platform, a trap door had opened, letting in faint moonlight from outside.

“If I have to,” Captain America muttered. He ran and jumped, making it onto the platform with room to spare as it rose up. Less than a minute later, the platform had filled in the place of the trapdoor, and Captain America was out in the open majesty of the Coliseum.

Guns were cocked and aimed at Captain America, held by what seemed to be hundreds of HYDRA operatives. At the head of them, facing Captain America by fortunate coincidence, was Flag Smasher. His mace was held in front of him, its point facing forward. The face, hidden behind the black mask but noticeably bruised, held a wide smile.

“You should be thankful for this, Rogers,” Flag Smasher declared, using Captain America’s real name. “The original plan was to strike you at home, through your friends and allies. This fortuitous trip overseas, however, enabled us to move ahead of schedule and, if I must say, proved more successful than originally intended.”

“Where is Nomad?” was all Captain America demanded.

Flag Smasher’s response was to laugh. “Somewhere being conditioned. You’ll be joining him soon enough, to join the ranks dedicated to unity. I think you might even be partway there, hmm?”

“The girl. Your assassination attempt.”

“Those helped the process along,” confirmed Flag Smasher. “Although you were doing a quite admirable job yourself. Still, setting you up against the law managed to isolate you quite nicely. We anticipated your only ally in this situation and planned accordingly. Every move you’ve made was laid out by us perfectly.”

“Only up to a point,” Captain America countered. “Not everybody you wanted was killed.”

“Witnesses mean nothing at this point,” Flag Smasher rebutted. “And while the Pope’s demise would have been preferred, it was by no means required. You’ll personally deal with him soon enough, and many of the world’s other dividing forces.”

“Can’t you see that all your doing is fomenting chaos, creating a void for numerous factions to swoop in?”

“Clearly, but only one will be strong enough to force order.” Flagsmasher spread his arms, indicating the whole of HYDRA. “At last the world will be united under one order, and any you don’t like it will be dealt with.”

“You mean an order of fascism,” accused Captain America.

“Democracy is only another word for division.” Flag Smasher declared. “Look at how many have truly stood the test of time? Greece and Rome both fell against strong individual leaders. Then fascism took hold, that glorious invention of the Romans. A bundle of sticks tied together will not break. Or in this case, many heads connected to one body will never die.”

“No,” Captain America agreed. “But we can reduce it to one head, and bury it.” From behind his shield, Captain America pulled out his Avengers communicard and held it to his ear. “Did you get all that?”

“What are you doing!” demanded Flag Smasher.

“Good,” said Captain America. “Move in.”

Flag Smasher looked up in response to a sudden roar from the sky. “No!” he shouted.

High above, the SHIELD Heli-Carrier was lowering into view. From it’s flight deck, what seemed like thousands of SHIELD agents on jetpacks were flying down, shooting into the mass of HYDRA. Shouts and returning fire were surely occurring, but the roar of the Heli-Carrier’s engines drowned them all out.

In the midst of the chaos, Captain America was in action. He threw his shield and, as it bounced from HYDRA to HYDRA, was moving forward toward Flag Smasher. The mad villain raised his mace and swung it, but Captain America caught it below the head with one hand. His other arm was raised in time to catch the shield as it flew past, and this was brought down hard over Flag Smasher’s head. For the second time that night, he was down, only this time sparks flew from the gash in “Flag Smasher’s” head. A robotic double, Captain America thought with a silent curse. Something he couldn’t worry about at the moment, though, with SHIELD and HYDRA battling it out all around him.

Now, with shield in one hand and mace in the other, Captain America swung into the fray.

Agent Sharon Carter handed Jack Flagg the bottle of pills. “Here. Take these for the pain.” Jack casually threw the bottle aside, and fixed Agent Carter with an accusatory stare of two black eyes. “I get it. You’re pissed because I let two ladies beat the crap out of you. But hey, you managed to put up a good fight, outnumbered and overpowered though you were.” Agent Carter turned to head to look across the large room, where Agent Clay Quartermain was dealing with Jessica Jones and Free Spirit. “Granted, they weren’t exactly in their right minds at the time.”

“What about the Congressman?” Jack Flagg inquired. Other SHIELD agents had already arrived and left, taking the politician out with them.

“His presence in these incidents will be erased,” Agent Carter assured him. “However he will be resigning.” She continued before Jack could respond. “We can’t guarantee anything, but he’s out of the public eye at least nobody will have a reason to look. Jack, I know you did everything you could to protect him in this, but you had to know it was unavoidable.”

“Cap would have found a way,” responded Jack.

Agent Carter turned her back. “Go ahead and believe that. We’ll never know.” Agent Quartermain had finished with the two women, and was moving to speak with Agent Carter. She met him halfway. “They’re okay?”

“As much as their sort are,” stated Agent Quartermain. “The girl’s asking Jessica for a rematch.”

“Always out to prove something.” Agent Carter nodded. “Anybody who’s ever been around Steve gets like that sooner or later. And Jessica? She can’t be happy about seeing you under these circumstances.”

“Well, when I reminded her how this never would have happened if she’d joined SHIELD when she had the chance, she threatened to-”

“Kick your nuts up into your throat?” Sharon raised an eyebrow. “You should stop saying that then.”

“Doesn’t keep it from being true.”

“All right. Go check on the prisoners. I’ll tell them they can leave.” Agent Carter started towards Free Spirit and Jessica Jones. “Ladies, we’re about done here, so you’re free to go.”

Free Spirit rose unsteadily to her feet, and risked a glance towards Jack Flagg. “What about Jack?”

“He’ll be getting checked out by our medics first, make sure there’s no permanent damage. Then he can go home too. All the charges against him will cease to exist.”

“I’d like to go with him,” Free Spirit said. “To apologize, and make sure he’s all right.”

“You’re more than welcome.” Agent Carter gave a motion and Free Spirit started towards Jack Flagg. The SHIELD agent then fixed her attention on Jessica Jones. “Ms. Jones, I’d like a quick word before you go.”

“I’ve already decided not to charge Cathy,” Jessica said. She’d initially been hired by Free Spirit to look into the situation. “That was sloppy, letting that prick Corrupter get the drop on me. I suppose you’ll be making me pay for all the property damage too?”

“No. That’s covered with your Damage Control policy, so you’ll probably just have to pay the deductible.” With a sigh, Agent Sharon Carter lowered herself to sit beside Jessica Jones.  “Actually, it’s your recent contact with Steve and his circle that I wanted to discuss. We both know what happened the last time you were playing at hero.”

“That’s not what I’m been doing,” responded Jessica with a terse voice. “Everything I’ve done for Captain…for Steve, and a few others has been basic investigative work. No actual contact with, with that lifestyle, at least not until now when I got ambushed.”

“Isn’t that what happened before?” Sharon inquired. “You got ambushed, and good people got hurt. A lot, as I recall. If it weren’t for SHIELD then, you would likely be in the Vault now. If not dead.”

“It’s not the work that’s bothering you,” Jessica accused. “It’s that I’m working with Steve. Even my saying his real name is getting to you. Well, I should be able to call my uncle whatever I-”

“Excuse me?” interrupted Sharon. “What did you just call him?”

“Okay, great-uncle then. His brother Mike had a son before he died, and-”

“Who told you about all that? About Mike Rogers?”

“Steve did,” Jessica answered. “Well, I figured it out, but only after he put me on the trail. Bastard knew all along and thought that would be easier than just flat out telling me.”

Sharon was shaking her head. Part of her wanted to laugh, but the whole thing was more depressing than funny, and right then she wanted to strangle Steve. “He wasn’t Steve’s brother.”

“What? Hey, I checked the records. Steven Grant Rogers had a brother Mike who died in Pearl Harbor.”

“Oh, that’s mostly true,” Sharon agreed. “Except it was just plain Grant Rogers, and he also died in Pearl Harbor. Records were altered, and Steve’s own memories were altered so that if he was ever captured or tortured his real family wouldn’t be a target. Pretty pointless though, considering Steve had no siblings and both his parents had died before the war.” Sharon stood up and looked down at Jessica. “Steve found this all out years ago. I can guess at why he did it, and I regret saying anything here. But, damn it.”

Without another word, the frazzled Agent Carter walked away. Leaving Jessica Jones to question everything she thought she knew.

Not everybody was dead. Captain America saw a number of young men in green HYDRA jumpsuits being led away by SHIELD agents. But a number were still on the ground. Too many, Captain America thought as he stepped over one of his way to Colonel Nick Fury. The Director of SHIELD was standing over the “body” of Flag Smasher, in actuality an LMD, otherwise known as a-

“Life Model Decoy,” Colonel Fury muttered. “We suspected HYDRA had gained access to these. The design’s crude, based off the first models, but it’ll still be a pain in the ass.” He turned to talk more directly to Captain America. “Sorry, Cap. We’ll dig through its memory banks, but it’s doubtful we’ll find out anything about the kid.”

“I understand Nick,” said Captain America. “But while I’m most worried about that, there’s another matter this relates too. Because of this LMD, Flag Smasher will be able to deny his involvement in tonight’s events. Even if it really was him trying to assassinate the Pope.”

“Oh, it was all right,” Colonel Fury assured the living legend. “In fact, it was the real McCoy you fought here too. Things like these are dependable to run simple tasks on their own, but for complicated tasks like murder and debate, they need to be controlled. Our guy was probably in a booth somewhere, speaking commands into a transmitter. But like you said, he’ll be able to deny everything.”

“Which means his involvement in the European Union will continue.” Captain America gave a heavy sigh. “That’s where he’s most dangerous; not here committing terrorist acts.”

“We’ll be keeping an eye on him though. And if a lead turns out on Nomad, we’ll let you know.”

Captain America nodded his thanks to Colonel Fury. Unbeknownst to both, the LMD’s eyes recorded this event and transmitted it, as it had the entire conversation. Elsewhere, the scene was observed, and green lips furrowed in disappointment yet was also the hint of a smile.

“An admirable escape,” the observer stated in concession. “Further proof, Captain, that you’re worthy at my side. Soon you’ll be convinced of this.”

Green eyes shifted from one screen to another. At a third location, Nomad sat strapped to a chair, forced to see and hear the carefully selected recordings.

“Perhaps it will be an old ally that does this. And if not, perhaps it will be him that kills you.”

The End

Next Issue: Would you be willing to receive a transplant for a bonofide super-soldier organ? For the chance to not only live, but end up stronger and faster than everyone around you? Well now you can, for a hefty price. That is, until Captain America finds out.