JAN. YEAR 3
MV1 Presents ... The Star Spangled Avenger ...
CAPTAIN AMERICA: MV1 #479
TALKIN' ABOUT A REVOLUTION
Part Three: The Chamber
written by Mark Bousquet

Recently in Captain America … Cap is stranded on the distant planet Beckque, caught in a struggle between the rebel Olanan forces and the ruling class Carpans. Having watched the innocents suffer, Cap has joined with the Olanans in their quest to make their life better. After watching an Olanan elderly home being torched, Cap and the Olanans captured a group of Carpan POWs. The Carpans have pledged revenge and will even venture down into the underground tunnels to kill Captain America. For unknown reasons to Cap, the Carpans fear the tunnels to an obsessive degree. Meanwhile on Earth, the Falco has been captured by HYDRA troops on Mount Beaulieu. Sharon Carter has temporarily abandoned him to seek aid from SHIELD. And a grey robed stranger named Ethos continues to traverse the United States, stating, "To all things a beginning. To all things an end.".

Wyoming - Inside Mount Beaulieu

‘C’mon, Sharon, where the hell are you?’ Sam Wilson, better known as the Falcon, thought as he struggled to stay concious.

He had been captured by HYDRA while investigating a dark area for SHIELD. * The hours (days?) since had been spent in a large grey room. He wasn’t tortured or bothered or even acknowledged in any way that he could tell. He had been given no food or water. If Sam Wilson had been told he would be captured by HYDRA, the last thing he would have thought he needed to guard against was boredom.

* ( Captain America # 477 - Cut one title, two more take it’s place Mark )

Sam shook his head, trying to stay awake. He was tired … so very tired …

Where the hell was Sharon?

The Planet Beckque

A small Carpan troop of soldiers stood at an entrance to the Underground Tunnels. They were the strongest and bravest of all the Carpans, which is why they were chosen for this mission - to kill Captain America.

They knew that to get to him they had to enter the Tunnels. A simple task in and of itself, but if the task were so simple, why were the bravest Carpans standing in the same spot they were twenty minutes previous?

They simply needed to take that one step into the Tunnels.

They were finding it impossible to do.

But they somehow found the courage to do it anyways.

"See how they cower?" Shio asked Captain America as the two of them watched the scene play out on a busted video receiving unit. "They rule by keeping us so far below them that they needn’t bother with us."

Captain America watched the scene with intensity in his gaze. Things were moving too quickly. He’d gotten too involved, too quickly in aiding the Olanans. Despite the help they obviously needed, he didn’t like not knowing the entire story.

And, trapped here, on a distant planet, Steve Rogers knew he was in over his head because he didn’t know everything.

He disliked that - not knowing everything because he could never be sure of his actions when he knew he was missing information.

"They want you dead!" Shio shouted at Cap. "You saw the video we received from the Carpan meeting! The one where they stated they wanted to kill you!* That’s what those five oppressors are doing in the tunnels! They come to kill you!"

* ( End of last issue - Dramatic Ending Mark )

Cap frowned. He didn’t like how the Olanans, a people that had clearly been reduced as low as life could be, had access to this video technology, as limited and damaged as it was.

"Help us! Please!" A woman came running into the area, a child in her arms. "Carpans! In the tunnels! Help!"

Cap and Shio took off down the hall the woman had come from as others moved to help the child. They ran without talking, but it wasn’t long before they ran into a troop of Carpans slaughtering an Olanan male.

Rage exploded inside Captain America at a people who could be so cruel as to slaughter a family’s husband. His own words came back to him yet again, "This isn’t War, it’s a slaughter." He rose his shield and let it fly.

Mount Beaulieu

Sharon Carter cleared the dark area and pressed a button on her belt, alerting SHIELD of her need for immediate asistance. When SHIELD had received the alert, it would send Sharon a beep back in response.

Sharon put her small headset into her ear to wait for the beep. She knew the SOP* - one beep would be they were coming to extract her, two to let her know that she needed to escape on her own and three … three meant the cavalry was coming, full guns blazing.

* ( Standard Operating Procedure - Command Following Mark )

She waited as she knew the final debate over what to do was going on in the SHIELD Helicarrier. Thirty seconds went by … a minute … two minutes …

Sharon hit the alert button again several times. She was answered with the one message she dreaded - silence.

They were either not getting the signal or weren’t responding.

‘Damnit,’ she swore. If anyone was going to save the Falcon, it would have to be her. And she’d have to do it alone.

The Planet Beckque

Captain America layed into the Carpans hard. A group of seven Carpans were hacking an Olanan husband to pieces as his wife and child fled the horror.

Steve Rogers was a kind, gentle man caught in a lifestyle that favored fists to reason. If you had asked him, he would have told you there was not a thing in the world that he hated - that HATE was too strong a word.

But he wouldn’t be telling you the truth, though he certainly wouldn’t have done so knowingly.

Steve Rogers hated war. He hated a bully striking down the weak.

And here, on a distant planet far from home, Steve Rogers found seven bullies using War as an excuse to slaughter a single man.

They picked the wrong tunnel to do it in.

Cap showed the Carpans moves they couldn’t dream of mirroring. A fist in a face to the right … a shield swung back to the left … a flip, coming down hard on a face with two boots … kick to the stomach behind him … shot to the solar plexus ahead of him …

Yes, the Carpans picked the wrong tunnel indeed to-

Wait, his mind raced as he double-uppercutted a Carpan, the Carpans hate tunn-

"There he is!!! Slay him for our glory!!!"

Ten more Carpans.

No. Twenty.

Cap didn’t care. It might as well have been a hundred. He charged at them, following his shield in low. The shield ricocheted off a wall and into the heart of the oncoming rush of Carpan soldiers, then off the far tunnel wall. Cap lunged forward, catching the shield in a body roll, landing right in front of two Carpans.

One move later they were both unconscious.

"Kill the Olanan-sympathizer!’ a voice yelled.

As the battle wore on, his resolution that he was doing the right thing grew.

The heat of battle had a way of doing that, polarizing opinions based on raw emotions and not on the larger fact. In this regard, Steve Rogers was as guilty as every other soldier who ever set foot on a field of battle.

Mount Beaulieu

Sharon Carter stood behind a tree near the cave entrance that she figured would lead into HYDRA’s in-the-mountain fortress. She saw no other option, since the bastards at SHIELD hadn’t responded to her signal.

She checked the scene out as thoroughly as she-

"Well, what have we here?"

She hated when this kind of thing happened.

She raised her hands and turned around to see a batallion of HYDRA troops with Sharon in their gunsights.

Inside Mount Beaulieu

"How is the subject faring?"

"He’s on the verge of sleep. The gasses we’ve been seeping into the room are taking hold on his already weakened body - thanks to the shocks we used to capture him. Soon, he’ll be asleep."

"Where’s Carter?"

"In holding cell 13."

A smile. "Time to put Operation: Imbalance into a higher gear. Increase the dosage of sleep toxin on the Falcon, then chain him upright against the wall." A smile grew wider. "And be sure to make Ms. Carter comfortable, she’s got a lot of television to watch."

"As you command!"

"And Captain America?"

"Still on the planet Beckque." The HYDRA trooper smiled.

"Excellent," the commander smiled back. "I shall pay Carter a visit."

"HAIL HYDRA!"

"Sure, why not? Hail Hydra, indeed." The woman left the room, a smile playing across her face as she made her way to Holding Cell 13. She had plans, big plans for the upcoming months and years. For too long she had failed to live up to her potential. For too long she had played the game without keeping her eyes on the ultimate prize. For too long she had been content to merely acquire power and wealth and fail to consider the true glory of fame and prestige.

It was time for her to build her legacy to the world of tomorrow.

Two HYDRA troopers stood guarding the entrance to Holding Cell 13.

"Hail HYDRA!" she shouted the formality.

"Hail HYDRA!" they shouted in response.

"I’ve come to see Agent Carter. Are the preparations in order?"

"Yes, they are! For the glory of HYDRA all requested accomodations have been met!" the guard on the right shouted.

"Excellent." She walked inside and saw Sharon Carter strapped to a chair and blindfolded. She was conscious, eyes wide and full of vitriol. In front of her sat a large bank of television monitors, all tuned to different angles of the Falcon’s cell. "Hello, Agent Carter," she greeted as she removed the blindfold. "Welcome to Hell."

Sharon Carter screamed the name in hate and surprise, "VIPER!"

"Ah, I see you have," Viper smiled. "Relax, Sharon, things are about to get interesting."

"Another attempt to take over the world, you psychotic bit-!"

SLAP!

Viper’s hand struck Sharon hard across the face. "I suggest you watch these monitors, Agent of SHIELD, and see what I do to your friend, the Falcon."

Without another word, Viper left the room. Sharon’s head was swimming. Latest SHIELD intel reports - including info that Cap had provided - had Viper linked with a regrouped Sons of the Serpent. * Was she back with HYDRA now? Man, she thought, these super villains jump ship and switch allegiances quicker than we can keep track.

* ( See CAPTAIN AMERICA # 458 - 462 - Funky Cold Medinnus Mark )

Sharon’s head ached - a seemingly inevitable occurrence of being captured. She turned her eyes to the bank of screens in front of her in time to see Viper entering the Falcon’s cell.

Sam hung on the wall, spreadeagled and chained, but apparently unharmed. He watched the madwoman in silence. ‘Good, Sam,’ Sharon thought, ‘don’t let them see anything. Keep your face blank.’ Viper strut across the floor, pushing a table of needles and syringes in front of her.

"Hello, Falcon," she spoke arrogantly, "welcome to the first day of the rest of your life. In these tubes rests a mixture of potions and drugs that will bend you to our will. Soon, you shall be a secret agent of HYDRA, living your life as you always have until we have need of you and turn on the programming that we will soon give you. Mind control is such a beautiful thing, isn’t it?"

"Sorry, Viper," Sam retorted, "I don’t do drugs."

"Ah, humor," Viper picked up a syringe, "the ever present companion of those in dire straits." She plunged a needle into his arm, "Welcome to HYDRA, Falcon."

Sharon had her jaw set and muslces tensed. This was not good. Not good at all. Where the hell was Cap when you needed him?

The Planet Beckque

Thirty Carpans.

When Cap had finished taking on the onslaught of Carpans flooding the tunnels, there were thirty Carpans in captivity. The Olanans again wanted to slaughter them, but Cap again wouldn’t allow it.

They agreed, because they were on the verge of victory and everyone knew it. The Carpans walked along with their heads bowed, defeat in their faces.

Captain America was a cauldron of emotions. He tried to tell himself he’d done the right thing, but there was something about the way the Carpans hung their heads and the way the Olanans smile so easily fit on their faces that bothered Steve greatly.

He had gotten involved in this revolution because he had seen the ruling Carpans slaughtering the oppressed Olanans.* He had been bothered by getting involved without knowing all he wanted to, but there was nothing wrong with stopping the oppression of others and so he had to accept that he did the right thing, as wrong as it felt.

* ( Captain America # 477 - My First Issue Mark )

But he had been mysteriously transported across the galaxy somewhere and he still wasn’t 100 % himself even after a few weeks here. He felt odd and depressed - homesickness in all it’s glory. It was a similar feeling to what he had felt back during the War on occaission. Traveling to a distant planet was nothing new, but to be put there suddenly, without notice, without explanation …

He looked at the way the Carpans looked at him and it made him sick. The caravan of prisoners and victors had reached the main Olanan base. "Herd the prisoners into the large holing pen!" Shio ordered.

"You’ve damned us," a man muttered to Captain America as he passed. "What did we ever do to you? Where did you come from? Why?"

Shio came over and roughly pushed the Carpan into the large holding area they had been using to house the POWs that Cap had helped capture. Cap watched as the Olanan punched the Carpan in the face, sending him sprawling to the floor.

Something was wrong, his gut told him. The Olanans took to the role of ruling class much to easily. He walked into the cell and pulled Shio off the man, "Enough. This stops now. It’s time to talk. All of us. Bring your men in here, Shio, and we shall forge your people a new future." He looked at the horror in the Carpans’ faces as they gazed up at him. They clearly feared him and that did not make Steve feel too good about himself.

Shio laughed in Cap’s face. "Are you ill, stranger? Why would we ever willingly walk into the holding pens? This is where people come to die and where the POWs you’ve captured would have died if we had no need for your aid."

Cap felt his blood boil, "I want answers, Shio." He spoke calmly and evenly despite the rage of emotions.

"Answers?" Shio laughed. "Fine. You say you’ve been in a war before, but I cannot believe that with your open faced honesty and naivete. This is war. People die. We rebelled against the Carpans because they kept us in the dirt like dogs."

"We treated you better than you ever treated us!" a Carpan soldier screamed. "For decades you ruled over us, slowly killing us off. Relocation trains, concentration camps, it was all a ruse to cement your power! You treated us like pigs as you tried to exert your power and influence over this world! You hated us because we were different, because we weren’t the blond-haired, blue-eyed ‘perfections’ that you are! Look at us, it must kill you to think that such a varied people could ever have risen up and defeated you! Yes, we treated you like dirt," he bowed his head, "but gods forgive us, after all we had been through …"

The words - concentration camps - made Cap’s stomach lurch. "What does he mean, Shio?"

"Look to the walls at the front of the room!" the Carpan continued.

Cap turned and looked above him and his world flipped.

Vents. The kind that gas could be pumped into a room with. The kind that was used in World War II …

Steve Rogers wanted to vomit.

"My God," he choked on the words, "I’ve been fighting for Nazi’s …" He turned to look at the Carpans and a tear welled up from inside, "I’m so sorry … so very sorry …"

The scene had attracted a number of Olanans who now stood in the large cell. Cap looked at them, the gleam of power in their eyes shocking him out of his funk. "I swear to my God, you will pay."

He raised his shield to hurl and ran at the Olanans. They stepped aside and Cap came down hard on the cell door, breaking it from it’s hinges. There would be no mass execution today.

He turned back, trying to set his face in stone. But he couldn’t. He was disgusted with himself and everyone could see that he had lost confidence in himself. He looked, to both Olanan and Carpan, like a broken man.

He would spend the rest of his life making up for the actions he had committed. The words stung him again as he repeated what he had just said, ‘I’ve been working for Nazi’s.’ He knew in his heart of hearts that he would set things right on this planet and save the Carpans from the Nazi-like Olanans. God, he was sick inside. He had let the situation control him. He wanted to vomit. How could he have been so easily swayed into helping people such as these?

He raised his shield, everyone watching him to see what he did.

Then, with a flash, Captain America vanished, never to return to the planet Beckque.

END CAPTAIN AMERICA 479

AMERICAN GRAFFITI

letters c/o mariner2@tiac.net

Well, the first storyline of my CAP run is now complete. Hope you’ve enjoyed it. Why start with a storyline that knocks down Cap a few pegs? No, I’m not Neil Gow in disguise. ;-) But I do want to explore certain aspects of Cap’s character and this will help accomplish that.

NEXT ISSUE: CAPTAIN AMERICA 480 - STUCK IN THE MIDDLE - The ramifications of Cap’s actions have shaken Steve Rogers to the very core. Where has he vanished to? Who’s behind it? Can he ever get over the guilt he feels in helping a people much like the Nazi’s regain their power? Plus, what does Viper have in store for Falcon and Sharon Carter?

-- MBQ... 20.December.1998