Avengers Island
Meeting Room

“Steve Rogers is alive.”

Tony Stark and Sharon Carter both stared at Sam Wilson with looks of surprise and confusion on their faces. They were seated at the round table with the Avengers symbol engraved on the surface. Tony leaned back in his chair, rubbing his goatee in thought.

“Sam, I know I’m usually the smartest man in the room, but right now you’re making me feel like a moron, and I don’t like it,” said Tony. “Did you just say that Steve Rogers is still alive?”

“That’s exactly it,” said Sam.

Josiah X stood behind Sam, arms crossed. “When Sam told me this, I wanted to inform the two of you right away. But I wanted it to be away from SHIELD’s eyes.”

“That’s why you had me send Hill on a scouting mission,” said Tony.

“Right.”

“I understand Tony being here, but why me?” asked Sharon. “If you’re trying to keep this from SHIELD—”

“You’re here because I trust you, Sharon. That trust doesn’t extend to the rest of SHIELD,” said Josiah. “Especially not Maria Hill.”

“I’m sorry, I’m still stuck on the whole ‘Steve is alive’ bit,” said Tony. “Could someone explain to me how this happened?”

“Josiah and I have been investigating Yuri Korzhakov, one of the Russian mob bosses connected with that human trafficking ring he broke up a few months ago,” said Sam. “But they got wise. Figured out who I really was and hired the Titanium Man to take me out. This Iron Patriot guy saved me. And after Bullski rabbited, the Patriot lifted up his helmet and it was Steve underneath.”

“Could’ve been a trick,” said Sharon. “It’s not the first time we’ve dealt with an imposter.”

“But one who could fake his DNA?” asked Josiah. “Tony said the armor was keyed to Steve’s unique genetic code.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve dealt with someone like that. Remember, the Red Skull is running around in a body cloned from Steve,” said Sharon. “Also, the X-Men had to deal with someone impersonating one of their own last year, using a process that overwrites the host’s DNA with the target’s.”

“Or Steve never died in the first place,” said Josiah. “How much has Nick Fury really been telling us?”

“Are you saying he’s been lying to us? About what?” asked Sharon.

“For starters, Jack Monroe is still alive,” said Josiah. “And more than that, he’s leading his own superhuman task force.”

Silence filled the air. Tony rapped his fingers on the surface of the table. “Where did you hear that?”

“From Gyrich.”

At this, Tony began to laugh. “I hate to break it to you, Josiah, but Gyrich’s hardly a reliable source. You don’t know half the hell he put the Avengers through when he was our liaison.”

“I can vouch for that,” said Sam. When he first joined the Avengers, it was because Gyrich forced them to make him a member. And not because of his abilities or his skill, but because of his race.

“I trust Gyrich a hell of a lot more than I trust Fury,” said Josiah.

“And why’s that?” asked Tony.

“Because Gyrich is too scared of me to lie.”

“Well, can’t argue with that logic,” said Tony.

“This actually does make a fair bit of sense,” said Sharon.

“What, Gyrich being afraid of Josiah?” asked Sam.

“No, Fury being involved in this,” said Sharon. “The man’s a master strategist, he’s always ten steps ahead of everyone.”

“Speak for yourself, sweetheart,” said Tony.

Sharon ignored his remark. “Monroe was the one who first alerted us to the existence of Control. When he briefly joined SHIELD, Fury assigned him to continue investigating.”

“But then he shot Steve and Fury himself killed him,” said Josiah.

“Or so we thought,” said Sharon.

“So what, it was all faked?” asked Sam. “Both Nomad and Steve’s deaths? Why would Steve go along with something like that?”

“Anonymity,” said Josiah. “Much easier to investigate someone when they think you’re dead.”

Tony shook his head. “Something doesn’t smell right. If Steve did go undercover, I get not telling any of us, the fewer people who know about something like that, the better. But my question is why put himself on Control’s radar again? Control basically is the DoD. They’ll come to the same conclusions about the Iron Patriot armor that we did and Steve’s smart enough to know that.”

“So we’re right back at square one with the whole ‘this is a trick’ angle,” said Sharon.

“I dunno, it seemed like Steve,” said Sam. “The incident on Wall Street, then my encounter with him. If that’s a fake, he’s done his homework.”

“Let’s just tread carefully for the time being,” said Josiah. “Who knows what—”

Red lights began flashing in the meeting room and a siren went off. Sharon glanced to the man in charge of Avengers Island. “Stark, what’s happening?”

“After the multitude of attacks on the Island, we set up stricter security protocols, any time we get a surprise visitor, the alarm goes off.” Tony held a thin, clear palm device in his hand and entered several commands into the holographic display. Above the table appeared a video screen of the arrival.

“Guess he didn’t get the memo about treading carefully,” said Sam.

Hovering above the Island was the man they had just been discussing—the Iron Patriot himself.

THE IRON PATRIOT

Part III

By Dino Pollard

“Sorry about triggering the alarm,” said the Iron Patriot. “Thought I’d—”

The Iron Patriot was taken by surprise when Captain America threw his shield on sight. His head rocked back and Sharon opened fire on him with her handguns. The Falcon called out to both of them. “Stop! What are you doing?”

“He tripped our alarms, Sam.” Iron Man rocketed from the building, flying right into the Iron Patriot. “More than that, he stole my tech! That’s something I tend to be a bit sensitive about!”

“Tony, you have to believe me, I don’t want to hurt you,” said the Iron Patriot.

“Then I guess that’s just too ba—”

Iron Man was thrown to the ground by a close-range unibeam from the Iron Patriot. The Iron Patriot followed it by landing hard, his fist connecting with Iron Man’s faceplate.

“Don’t want to, but not won’t,” said the Iron Patriot.

Captain America landed on the Iron Patriot from behind, wrapping his arms around the armored man. The Iron Patriot hit his thrusters, flying backwards into a building. Although shield strapped to Josiah’s back absorbed the vibrations, being sandwiched between a vibranium/adamantium alloy and a technologically-advanced battle-suit was still painful.

Sharon ran towards him, throwing a small device. The Iron Patriot blasted it with his repulsors, but it released something that interfered with his systems. His HUD went on the fritz and his armor wouldn’t respond to his commands.

“Chaffe grenade,” said Sharon. The distraction gave Captain America the opportunity to raise his shield above his head and bring it down hard on the back of Iron Patriot’s neck. He struck again with a sweep-kick that knocked the Patriot down. Captain America climbed onto the Iron Patriot’s chest and held the shield poised to strike at his neck.

“You know, this is how the Vision took out Ultron last time,” said Captain America. “True, I don’t have his strength. But I’m betting you don’t have Ultron’s adamantium shell.”

The Falcon tackled his partner and the two of them rolled on the ground. Captain America came out on top, but the Falcon activated his hardlight wings to force the Living Legend back. The Falcon stood by the Iron Patriot’s side as Iron Man and Sharon held their respective weapons at the ready.

“Everyone just stop!” said the Falcon. “Anyone consider we try talking to him first?”

“I’m not really in a listening mood,” said Iron Man.

The Falcon narrowed his eyes. “Well I am. So if you want him, Stark, you’ll have to go through me.”

“Sam, don’t push me…”

“No, stop,” said Josiah. He stood next to Sam and the Iron Patriot. “Sam’s right, we should give him a chance to speak.”

Iron Man and Sharon hesitated before they lowered their weapons. The Iron Patriot’s faceplate slid up and his helmet disassembled, allowing him to remove it. It was hard to hold back a collective gasp. One thing was definitely for sure—if this man was not Steve Rogers, he certainly looked like him.

Josiah spoke first. “I’m only going to ask you this once: who are you?”

The Iron Patriot chuckled. “It’s me, Josiah. Steve.”

“Steve Rogers is dead,” said Josiah.

“I’ve been declared dead before. This makes it what, the fourth time?”

“Man’s got a point,” said Sam.

“You’re not helping,” said Tony.

Sam grinned. “Look, I’m just saying that the man saved my life. That’s at least earned him a chance to explain things.”

“That’s all I want,” said Steve.

“Okay, talk. Start at the point where you allegedly died,” said Josiah.

Steve nodded. “After Nuke killed Haywerth, I did some digging of my own. Discovered the existence of Operation: WHITEOUT.”

“WHITEOUT?” asked Sharon.

“WHITEOUT was a Weapon Plus false flag program during the Cold War, headed up by Colonel Edward Harrison, one of the founding members of Control. The biggest problem in Control’s early days was justification. Not everyone shared their belief in a burgeoning superhuman arms race, so a superhuman deterrent wasn’t exactly a high priority,” said Steve. “That’s where Operation: WHITEOUT came in—an operative, a ghost, basically. Supposedly a superhuman Soviet assassin called the Winter Soldier.”

“I’ve heard the name,” said Sharon. “A spook story for spooks.”

“They apparently used mind conditioning on the poor soul who operated as the Winter Soldier,” said Steve. “As you’re all aware, Jack Monroe was made into a puppet more than once.”

“So you’re saying Nomad—” began Sam.

“—was the Winter Soldier, exactly,” said Steve. He sighed. “Or at least a Winter Soldier. There were references to other operatives who shared that codename, but the records I found were sketchy at best, but what I do know is that Jack was one of several Winter Soldier operatives. All brainwashed, all genetically enhanced. Whenever the operatives weren’t in the field, they were kept in suspended animation.

“What we do know is that Jack was controlled not too long ago, forced to become the Scourge. It was that encounter that led him to break into the CSA and see what else he could discover,” Steve continued. “That’s how he stumbled onto Control.”

“And once Control figured out what he was up to, they reasserted their hold on him,” said Josiah.

“Who knows how deep his conditioning went,” said Steve. “They knew I discovered this, so they sent Nomad after me and I managed to fake my death. I needed to learn more.”

“Why come back in that suit?” asked Tony.

“The first reason is that I had to force their hands,” said Steve. “And the second reason is that I didn’t want Josiah to be forced to give up the shield.”

“Why?” asked Josiah.

Steve smiled. “I’ve been watching you. You’ve more than managed to carry the legacy. And I want you to keep doing it.”

“You said their hands,” said Sharon. “Whose?”

“Who else’s? Fury and Nomad’s,” said Steve.

“Fury?” asked Sam. “What are you talking about?”

“I know about how Fury apparently faked Nomad’s death. And then Nomad pops up leading a covert strike force?” asked Steve. “Too coincidental.”

Josiah glanced between Sharon, Sam and Tony before saying, “it looks like Gyrich’s information wasn’t so unreliable after all.”

“I don’t buy it, why would Fury be working with Control?” asked Sharon.

“Maybe it’s not really Fury, maybe it’s a rogue LMD or a shapeshifter or a clone,” said Steve.

“Or maybe he thinks we need to be controlled,” said Tony.

“Why would you say something like that?” asked Sharon.

“Like you said, Carter, he’s ten steps ahead of everyone,” said Tony. “I think this is one of those times. It explains why SHIELD has been more actively involved with the Avengers since we gained sovereignty. It explains why Hill is constantly snooping around places she shouldn’t be in the Island’s databases. And it explains the increased push for the Superhuman Registration Act in Congress.”

“I take it you don’t think he’s lying, Tony?” asked Josiah.

Tony shook his head. “I’ve been monitoring his vitals this entire time. He’s telling the truth, or at least he thinks he is.”

“There’s more to all this,” said Steve. “I know this group Nomad’s assembled. And none of you are going to like it.”

“Why?” asked Josiah.

“Most of them are Avengers, and I’m not sure how many of them are aware of who they’re actually working for,” said Steve.

Kronas Corporation

Yuri Korzhakov entered the spacious office of his employer. He walked with confidence, not even bothering to ask his host before he took a seat in front of the man’s desk.

Aleksander Lukin stood with his back to Korzhakov, his hands behind his back, his gaze focused outside the window. In the corner of the room stood Boris Bullski, clad in the green armor of the Titanium Man. He moved behind Korzhakov, standing at attention.

<“I would like to thank you for coming here to see me on such short notice, Yuri.”> Lukin spoke in Russian. <“It’s very important for us to air out our grievances in person, I believe.”>

<“What grievances would those be, Mr. Lukin?”> asked Yuri. <“Have I not been a top earner for many years?”>

Lukin nodded as he approached the desk. <“Indeed, you have been. Prostitution has been very lucrative over the course of my career. But lately, I’m finding the attention you have drawn to be more trouble than it’s worth.”>

<“This is about American superheroes, yes?”> asked Yuri.

Lukin sat behind the desk. <“How perceptive of you.”> He reached inside his desk drawer and drew a folder. Opening it, he removed a few photographs and handed them to Yuri. The Russian mobster looked at the shots. They were still shots from a security camera. And they showed a well-built black man facing off against the mercenary called Zaran.

<“Those were taken in Kiev. Baranski’s operation.”>

Yuri nodded. <“I heard about Viktor. A shame.”>

<“No Yuri, the shame is that your operation is drawing too much attention. You have Avengers sniffing around my businesses. And I cannot have that,”> said Lukin.

<“But Mr. Lukin—”>

<“Mr. Bullski, if you please.”>

The Titanium Man grabbed Yuri’s head and twisted.

<“Thank you, you may go,”> said Lukin.

The Titanium Man nodded and left the office. Once he departed, Lukin walked towards the portrait of himself. He felt around the edge of the frame until striking a hidden switch. The portrait slid to the side and revealed a safe. After opening the safe, Lukin reached inside for a folder.

Over the title was a CLASSIFIED stamp mark. And the title read:

Undisclosed Location

He watched the live feed from Avengers Island with intrigue. He paused on the still image of Steve Rogers in the Iron Patriot armor and examined it for a few moments.

“Seems like we’ve got a problem.”

The gruff voice of Nick Fury attracted the younger man’s attention. Fury walked over to the monitor and stared at the Iron Patriot. “Steve Rogers, back from the dead, I see.”

“You’re right,” said his associate. “This definitely changes our plan.”

“And you’re sure you’re up for this?” asked Fury.

The man sighed as he brushed a few loose strands of blond hair away from his forehead. He stared at Fury with pure, blue eyes. And the man with the face of Steve Rogers said, “You already know the answer to that.”

NEXT: Holy War