Captain America

Sharon Carter

It was late at night, as midnight hit the night sky, and Captain America was out patrolling for criminals to be wreaking havoc on the city. He found none so far. He heard from Tony Stark after their recent discussion about the Franklinverse that Iron Man had recently tangled with AIM and that they were back in business.

It wasn't too long ago that Tony investigated AIM's hideout in London, Canada, where the beekeepers fought Alpha Flight there. And to complicate matters entirely, the Canadian AIM force escaped from the Alpha Flight prison.

What he surmised that they were doing now was planning and plotting revenge on all Avengers, or some former Avengers like Captain America and one West Coast Avenger like Iron Man.

As he landed on a rooftop, coming to a stop after a long sprint, Captain America heard oncoming footsteps approaching him from behind. He whirled around to see who it was but wasn't fast enough to avoid a punch to the jaw.

The punch hurled him against a brick chimney. His brain reeled from the impact. As he grew more dizzy, he saw that it was Crossbones who had attacked him.

"What do you want, Crossbones?" Cap asked. "Kidnap more little children?"

Crossbones breathed heavily through his mask. "No, I don't. This is bigger. I thought I may just, oh I dunno, kidnap you."

"Not on your life, Crossbones." Cap took his shield and slammed against his opponent's face. Crossbones reeled backwards, ever backwards, and had to hold onto a railing to hold his balance.

Satisfied that he was down for the count, Cap started to gather his bearings and walk away. What he didn't notice is that Crossbones had stood up, lifted him in the air, and smashed him against the chimney.

Crossbones took Cap's shield and repeated slammed it against his face. When he saw that Cap's face was bleeding and bruised, Crossbones slammed his shield repeatedly onto his torso.

When he saw that Captain America was unconscious, Crossbones carried the patriot over his shoulder and with his one free hand he carried Cap's shield.

Crossbones unflipped his cell phone and dialed a very specific number. "I got the item. Am on my way."

"Good. Schmidt out."

"Good to have you back in business. Crossbones out."

Crossbones hung up the phone, pocketed it, and carried Captain America and his shield to the new headquarters of Advanced Idea Mechanics.

Captain America woke up, the several hours a complete blur to the dim recesses of his finetuned memory. When consciousness came to him, he had vague recollections of being tied to a table in chains. He was staring into the face of MODOK and various agents of AIM. Toward the back of the giant floating head was Crossbones.

"What do you want from me, MODOK??" Cap asked. "I feel like I've really been through the ringer with Crossbones whuppin' my ass."

"That is accurate, Captain," MODOK said. "He did kick your ass, as was his instructions to do so by me and the rest of AIM. But we have made contact with one of your old enemies."

"Damn you, who? Baron Zemo or his hatefilled son who has troubled the Thunderbolts recently, along with Justin Hammer."

"Why, him." MODOK stretched and pointed his little arm to the man approaching the Captain from behind him.

Captain America saw who the figure was; Johann Schmidt, the original Red Skull. "Where did you dig up this Nazi? Last I heard, he was dead."

The corners of the Red Skull's mouth curled up in a smile. "Au contraire, mon Kapitan. I live. But I am not from your world. I am not from Earth 616. You do remember your ex-partner, Bucky, don't you? The reason why he couldn't find me was because I had fled to this world to get revenge on my most hated enemy."

Cap struggled against the chains, but not breaking in his weakened condition. "You bastard! You will pay for this."

"I don't think so. Observe. Behind the curtain is your inevitable doom."

MODOK revealed what was behind the curtain. What Cap saw was a horror unimaginable. He saw a man dressed in the black Captain America costume, the one devised by D-man when Cap was the Captain. He even had a shield similar to his.

"What have you done?" Cap screamed, as his indomitable strength broke his imprisoning chains, freeing him.

"It is a simple matter to clone you once I have extracted your blood and scientifically duplicated the metal alloy in your shield." The Red Skull paused for effect. "I will take my leave now, my two Captains. And let the winner follow me to the end of my reign."

As the Red Skull departed, Captain America regained his shield and launched himself into battle. He was really after the AIM agents, MODOK, and of course, the Skull, but the Captain blocked his attack. They clashed, shield for shield.

But while the battle of former Avengers raged on, MODOK ordered his AIM agents to kill both of them. Several AIM agents fired their laser pistols at them, but their shields blocked the blasts.

As Captain America bends down on his knees to hold his shield in position, the Captain squeezes on his foe's neck.

"What are you doing, fool? They're trying to kill you too."

"I rather see you dead, fool of a fool. You may be my father, but you will die by my hand."

The AIM agents stopped firing. "Let them fight it out. I'm sure they'll kill one another."

"Yes," MODOK said. "But I'll kill them a helping hand."

MODOK fired a mental blast at the clone's forehead, barely zinging him. He fell silent.

"What have you done? He was innocent of the crimes purported against him." Captain America hurled his shield at the AIM agents, knocking their pistols from their hands.

Cap went across to see if his clone was all right.

The clone kicked Cap in the stomach, having the former Avenger clutch it in pain. The clone was as strong as he.

Then, the clone hurled Cap out the window and Cap fell in a mess of garbage cans and trash compactors. As Cap looked up, he saw that a ship, carrying the Red Skull, MODOK, the AIM agents, and his clone had begun to fly away.

Captain America returned to his Brooklyn apartment, just in time to tuck in Maria in her bed. After she said, 'Good-night, Daddy,' and fell fast asleep, Cap went into his room and took off his costume, changing into his sleepwear. Sharon Carter was already in her nightie in bed, waiting for her man to join her.

"Boy, am I beat," Steve said. "That fight really took a lot out of me."

"So, the Skull is really back, along with manufacturing a clone of you."

"It appears so. But this is a much more ruthless Skull than the one we remember. Part of the reason of that is that he is not from our earth. But then, I'm not from this earth either."

"Oh, you mean he's from Bucky's world and you being a figment of Franklin Richards' imagination. Of what he remembers of the real Cap."

"Sshh. Hush up. I don't want Maria to hear that I'm not the real Cap. It upsets her."

Sharon lowered her voice. "I know, I know. I'm sorry, Steve. You can tell me all about it in the morning, after Deborah takes Maria to school.'

"Yeh. That's probably best. Goodnight, Sharon."

"Goodnight, Steve."

As Sharon shuts off the lights, Steve Rogers rests his head on the buildup of pillows on the bedrest and thinks about the Skull and his recent team-up with AIM. This was disturbing news indeed. He wonders how the Skull was about to clone Cap while he was asleep. And what was Crossbones doing in the employ of AIM. But that was something, like he said to Sharon, to discuss and ponder in the morning.

Right now, all he desired was to rest up, sleep, and dream good dreams. But he knew his dreams would be haunted by the Skull and everyone in his employment.

Now, he was only glad to be in the company of his daughter and his girlfriend.