MAR. YEAR 3
MV1 Presents ... The Star Spangled Avenger ...
CAPTAIN AMERICA #481
QUESTIONS and INTRODUCTIONS
written by Mark Bousquet

Plymouth Rock - Massachusetts

The old man with the grey robes and the Scottish accent stood looking down at the enclosed object called Plymouth Rock.

It wasn’t much to see in and of itself, but it held a place in the hearts of Americans as the location the pilgrims first landed when they came to this strange new land.

"Faulty foundation," the old man stated sadly to no one in particular. "Can’t build an everlasting structure if the foundation is warped. Such a damnable history clouded over by their own history books. It’s time they stepped outside their shell and looked at who they are."

Off to the side were a small group of twenty Native American protestors - protesting the hypocrisy of a holiday (Thanksgiving) that played up a dinner between the "Indians" and the pilgrims, while forgetting the nearly unfathomable atrocities the pilgrims ancestors would one day perpetrate on the natives.

The old man felt sorry for their ancestors. Sorry for their openness and thinking well of others almost universally.

He walked by the protestors and a young man not yet into his mid-20’s caught his eye. The old man saw the pain and the hurt and the frustration in his face and couldn’t help but try to comfort him with words - as if words could ever really soothe pain.

"To all things a beginning. To all things an end."

"Who are you?" the boy asked.

The man paused. "You may call me Ethos. But a name is nothing compared to what a person can do. Struggle on proudly, my son. Yours is a noble quest."

Mount Beaulieu - Wyoming

"Pathetic!" Viper screamed to the assembled mass of HYDRA troops in front of her. "You are unworthy of the uniforms you wear! One man - ONE - breeches our security without anyone seeing it. One man - ONE - runs through the corridors freely! One man - ONE - frees two of our most valued prisoners and escapes with them! One man! Pathetic!"

She stormed from the room and back to her main quarters. When she arrived, she finally allowed herself a smile.

"I trust things went well," a voice from the darkness came.

"When you take into account that SHIELD now has definite knowledge of Mount Beaulieu," Viper began, "that we lost both the Falcon and Sharon Carter, that Captain America came into our secret hideout unnoticed and proceeded to escape despite the finest efforts of our security forces …" Viper smiled as her voice trailed off. "Yes, my dear boy, everything is proceeding exactly as Viper wants it to. Get into your new costume. It’s time we left HYDRA behind."

"Do we take this?" the young man asked about the large suit of armor that he stood next to.

"But of course, Paul Gentry," Viper smiled. "Of course we do. How else will you avenge your father’s death against his most hated rival … Captain America!"

SHIELD PatriotFlyer Howler One

On board the SHIELD PatriotFlyer Howler One, Captain America, the Falcon and Sharon Carter sat inside a small, private room and debriefed each other on what had just happened to them. They had just sat through an official debriefing, but all three were intelligent enough to deliver a professional report that told SHIELD everything they needed to know without bringing up the questions they had about each other.

At least, Sharon thought as she eyed the Falcon, nothing SHIELD needs to know about for now.

"So, what’s on your mind, Steve?" Sam Wilson, the Falcon, asked Cap as he eyed his old friend with uncertainty. Steve had been staring out the window for much of the flight since SHIELD had extracted them from Mount Beaulieu. *

* ( Last issue - Go read Champions Mark )

"Hrm, oh, what, Sam? Sorry, lost in thought," Steve Rogers replied, turning away from the window.

"I know your lost in thought. That’s why I asked. What’s eating at you?"

What isn’t, Steve thought to himself. "Everything. But as it relates to this mission, I’m concerned with whether it was HYDRA who teleported me away and back or someone else. I want to know why no one inside HYDRA sounded the general alarm-"

"Could have been the silent alarm," Sharon interjected, without taking her eyes off the Falcon.

"Strongly doubtful," Steve reasoned, an edge in his voice. "My question isn’t based on the loudness of the alarm, but the response to it. They were herding us somewhere so there must be a reason for it. We weren’t facing HYDRA troops pouring down on us from all directions - I was herded right to the Falcon’s cell."

"But not to Sharon’s," Sam kicked in. "We had to unlock Sharon’s cell, but mine was left open."

"They clearly wanted me to find you," continued Steve. "But why?"

Sam and Steve thought silently for a few moments, when Sharon angrily interrupted the quiet, "Why don’t you tell him, Sam? Tell him what Viper did to you."

"Tell him what?" asked a taken aback Sam.

"You know damn well what I’m talking about!" Sharon spat as she stuck an accusatory finger at the Falcon.

Captain America stuck himself in between them, cutting off Sharon’s line of sight. "If you’ve got something to say, Sharon, say it. I’m in no mood for parlor games."

"Fine," a steel-eyed Sharon replied, bringing her eyes slowing up to meet Steve’s. "The Falcon has been drugged and his mind planted with subliminal suggestions by Viper." She stood watching, watching his eyes, watching how they’d react. "He’s become a HYDRA sleeper agent."

Captain America did not break her gaze. "Sam?"

"She’s crazy, Steve," Falcon replied. "Yeah, yeah, okay," he retreated on his position, "when Viper had me chained to the wall, she came in and injected me with a bunch of stuff from a whole lot of needles. But they didn’t do anything to me. Not at all."

Cap turned around. "You sure?"

"Absolutely, Steve. They were placebo shots."

"Stop it, Sam!" Sharon accused. "They knocked you out and then Viper would play subliminal message tapes over and over in your cell. Viper made me watch the whole thing."

"No, Sharon!" Sam snapped back. "The shots did nothing. They gassed me once a day so that I’d get my requisite sleep."

Cap said nothing. He purposely stepped back to watch his two friends in action. He wanted to see how they were reacting to see if he could see any signs of change in their behavior. It was tough, however - there was every chance that if Sam was under post-hypnotic suggestions, they’d never be able to tell. He hated thinking ill of his friend, but at least it kept his mind off of what he had done on the planet Beckque …

"And why would they want you to sleep, Sam?" Sharon stepped forward, getting in Falcon’s face. "You’re a sleeper agent and you don’t even know it. Viper told me that they were going to program you and let you escape!"

"Oh, yeah, they let us escape!" Sam didn’t back down. "Maybe you didn’t notice all those HYDRA troopers following us around!"

"Maybe you didn’t notice how easily we defeated them! You’re so busy playing Mr. Rogers in your neighborhood that you don’t know what it’s like to face professionals every day of the week!"

"Enough!" Captain America stepped in between them for the second time today. "Sharon’s made serious accusations, Sam."

"So you’re taking her side?"

"I’m taking no side. But after all that’s happened, I want to know all that I can. Start over from the beginning. From the moment I … disappeared."

Sam Wilson was too wrapped up in his own anger to pay much attention to Steve, but Sharon wasn’t. She cursed herself for letting her anger get the better of her, but she was back in control now. She noticed the hesitation and the pain that played across his face at the mention of the time he spent wherever he had spent when he vanished. He wouldn’t tell them anything about it.

God, Steve, she thought, what happened to you?

INTERLUDE

Her name was Ashley Andersen and she walked through the halls of the Storm Museum, making certain to keep her turtleneck wrapped up tight under her chin on her way to the basement. By all accounts, Ashley was your average twenty-something recent college grad come to the Big Apple to start her first real job.

"By all accounts" being the operative phrase.

She stood in the basement, in the area the staff jokingly called Pandora’s Box. It was the place where they kept all exhibits and artifacts that were either not currently on display or had yet to be catalogued. Though the Storm Museum had been in operation for less than a year, Pandora’s Box - and the basement in general - was already a place home to ghost stories.

It was only natural. After all, with every unknown artifact in the world that couldn’t be specifically traced to one historic culture here for cataloguing and studying, it was par for the course that spook stories would be created by the Museum’s staff - if only to entertain themselves.

The Museum got a lot of alien relics and dealt with the intricacies of checking out their origin and deciphering what, if anything, they did. They’d get old weapons and costumes from heroes and villains - some of it left to the Museum in wills and some of it sent here because the NYPD didn’t know what else to do with it.

None of the exhibits were working, of course. It was up to the staff of the Storm Museum to figure out how to make the weapons inactive, or to have replicas built. A lot of the real weapons were kept in a section of the Negative Zone, guarded by Reed Richards.

But there was a danger here, nonetheless. Especially inside Pandora’s Box, where all the artifacts were originally kept.

Two weeks ago, Ashley had discovered just how real that danger was.

The wings that were growing out of her back were testament to that fact.

END INTERLUDE

On board the Howler One

"I’m telling you AGAIN, Steve. Viper would come in with a tray full of needles and she’d prance around the room yapping about how HYDRA was going to take over the world-"

Steve cut Sam off, "Is this true, Sharon?"

"Yes. AGAIN. Yes."

Falcon continued, "Then she’d inject me and tell me how HYDRA was going to program me to help them take over the world. But I’m telling you, they did nothing!"

"But, Sam," Steve started slowly, "if they told you they were going to do this, then how could you not tell us?"

Sharon and Sam both caught the edge in Steve’s voice.

"Oh hell, I’m sorry, Steve. I just …" Sam scratched his head. "I’m just a little sensitive about … personality issues." He hung his head. A younger Sam Wilson had become so grieved about the loss of his father, that he had subconsciously developed an angrier, more self-serving identity called Snap Wilson. It was because of this that had once led to Sam’s being used by the Red Skull as a sleeper agent against Captain America. Of course, it was also that incident that led to Sam and Steve becoming partners and friends.

Steve took measure of his friend, "I understand, Sam."

Sam looked up at Steve. "But still."

"Still."

The three stood in silence for a moment, until Sam broke the silence, "Fine. I’ll do whatever you need me to do to trust me."

"We’ll need to scan for signs of mental control. Tony Stark has created just such a system."

"You got it," Sam said and he turned to leave the room.

Sharon said nothing as Sam walked past and out the door, but the two heroes eyed each other hard. They weren’t close before, and it was clear they wouldn’t be anytime soon. It wasn’t until the door was secure that she spoke to Steve, "That was unfortunate. But for the best."

"Sure."

"So what’s eating you?" Sharon asked, taking a step towards Steve. "What happened to you when you disappeared?"

Steve turned to look back out the window. "Nothing. Nothing at all." Sharon began to become very concerned. She had seen Steve depressed or unsure of himself before, but this … this was something a little deeper than a simple crisis of confidence.

"Cap … Steve … what is it?" She placed a hand on his arm.

"I said I don’t want to talk about it, Sharon," he replied with a low, monotone voice. "I’ll let you know when I do."

New York City - The Apartment of Steve Rogers

Steve entered his apartment, wishing he was at the Avengers Mansion instead. Not that he really wanted to be there, but he wanted to get the Falcon checked out as quickly as possible. Sam had been adamant that he would meet up with Steve tomorrow, but right now he had too many things that needed to be completed.

So Steve had come here, wanting nothing but to take a shower, a shave and fall asleep on his less-than-comfortable bed.

But before he could do that, the answering machine was beeping.

BEEP!

"Rogers! Where the hell are my pages?!? You’ve only got one day left! I need them by five o’clock tomorrow!"

BEEP!

"Steve, it’s Clint. Just wanted to let you know I’ve resettled into my old West Coast digs and I’m looking for housemates. It’s weird being back, man. Place is kinda spooky, to be honest. I … there’s a lot of memories in this place about a special ‘Bird, ya know? Hell, what am I saying? I’m fine and looking forward to trying this whole thing again. You know the number gimme a call back."

BEEP!

Poor Clint, Steve thought. He wished him the best, but he had to admit he had some doubts about a second team after everything that happened the first time.*

* What’s Cap talking about? Why, the reformation of the West Coast Avengers, of course! Check out Avengers West Coast # 103, written by the Beezer! -- Cross Promoting Mark

BEEP!

"Steve, it’s Van from Marvel Comics. I’ve got that plot for you finally. It’s for the next annual, which I can’t even guarantee will get published. Orders are so down for the X-Men that if they don’t meet 25,000 pre-ordered copies, we won’t even ship it. So I can’t guarantee any royalty on this one. It’s a good story, though, by some new guy … Matt something or other. Anyways, stop by sometime and pick it up."

BEEP!

Steve Rogers, the Sentinel of Liberty named Captain America, sighed as he walked into his small bathroom. He’d get his shower and his shave, but not any sleep.

He had his job to think about and pages to pencil.

When he took that costume off, he was just like everybody else.

END CAPTAIN AMERICA 481

AMERICAN GRAFFITI

letters c/o mariner2@tiac.net

Note - because of various things - notably the Charter and my desire to write a forthcoming project, there will be no lettercol for CAPTAIN AMERICA during my run as the last five issues of my tenure on this book have all been posted on the same day. Once again, I urge you to try out a new title from one of the new authors - be it Triathalon, MV1 Saga or whatever - and send them some much appreciated feedback. Thanks for reading everyone.

-- MBQ 26.December.1998