Powerful fists wrapped in red gloves pounded against the face of the man called Protocide. If Josiah was in his right mind, he might be glad for the red gloves, because they could hide the blood.

Captain America raised the shield above his head, ready to use it to decapitate Protocide. But Clinton McIntyre quickly grabbed his own triangular shield and brought it to his defense, blocking Cap’s.

Josiah growled at that and slammed again, harder. Protocide continued to try and use his shield to block, but finally, Captain America’s adamantium/vibranium shield proved stronger. A crack appeared along Protocide’s shield. One final slam and it broke into two pieces.

“You’re next!” screamed Captain America.

Protocide grabbed one of the broken pieces, dragging the jagged edge along Josiah’s chest. Captain America recoiled, looking down at his uniform. The protected him from the worst, but Protocide still managed to draw blood—blood that now stained the blue and white of Captain America’s top.

“I’ll kill you!” Captain America threw the shield at Protocide and it slammed into his jaw. Cap grabbed the shield on its return and slammed right into Protocide’s chest, knocking him back down to the ground.

There was a flash and Captain America snarled, turning to see Zeitgeist had returned to the fight. He held his energy sword in one hand. But as Captain America stood, Zeitgeist’s eyes widened in horror at the super soldier’s enraged appearance.

Captain America hurled the shield, knocking the blade from Zeitgeist’s hand. He jumped, soaring towards Zeitgeist and slamming his foot into the villain’s chest. Zeitgeist gasped as he stumbled back, rolling on the ground.

“You remember the last time we met, Lohmer?” asked Captain America as he walked closer. “How you bragged about being the grandson of a Nazi war criminal? How proud do you think Master Man would be if he saw his grandkid getting the shit kicked out of him by a black guy?”

Captain America cringed, an energy blast striking him in the back. He turned around and saw the Super-Patriot opening fire on him with both of his energy pistols. Captain America huddled behind the shield, using it to deflect the blasts.

“What the goddamn hell, Falcon?” he barked.

A red and white blur came up behind the Super-Patriot, hardened energy wings slamming into him and disabling his jetpack. The Super-Patriot crashed to the ground and the Falcon landed beside him.

“Sorry, he got away from me.”

“Don’t be sorry, just do your damn job, Wilson!” spat Captain America.

The Falcon blinked, staring at his partner. “Cap? Are you…?”

“HEIL HITLER!” screamed Zeitgeist, rising up behind Captain America and ramming the energy sword into his back.

Captain America’s back arched forward and once Zeitgeist removed the energy blade, the super soldier hunched over. Josiah X slowly turned, staring at Zeitgeist with hatred in his eyes. But he stumbled, unable to stand upright. The Falcon went to help him, holding him steady.

“Yeah, that’s right. See how tough you are now, you filthy monkey,” said Zeitgeist with a snarl.

The rest of the Sons of the Serpent had backed off, but now they were coming back in full strength. The Falcon looked around and tried to help Captain America stand upright. “Cap, I think we should get outta here. This doesn’t look like the best place for a pair of brothers to be hanging out.”

A hum of machinery came from above. The Falcon looked up, half-expecting to see Iron Man. But what he saw instead was the Iron Patriot. The armored man held out his hands, firing white repulsor blasts from his palms and from the star on his chest-plate.

He cleared a path among the Serpents and landed beside the Falcon and Captain America. The Iron Patriot gave a glance over his shoulder. “Hope you don’t mind me interrupting.”

“Never been happier to see you, pal,” said the Falcon with a smile. He looked down at Josiah. “Cap?”

“I’m fine,” said Josiah, pulling away. “Clear a path, okay?”

“Copy that,” said the Iron Patriot.

As the Falcon and Iron Patriot took on the protestors, Captain America had only one thing in mind. He stalked towards Zeitgeist, who was attempting to retreat through the crowd. Josiah punched, kicked, or threw anyone who tried to get in his way. When a path was clear, he hurled the shield with all his might.

The shield slammed against Zeitgeist’s back and threw him forward, face-first into the side of the building. Before Zeitgeist could move, his face was slammed into the building courtesy of Captain America. And then slammed again.

“I’m sick of you bigoted shits making my life hell! When all I’m trying to do is save lives!”

“Josiah!”

A cable wrapped around Josiah’s arm and he was pulled away forcefully. Captain America stumbled on the ground, landing on his knees. He stood up and saw the Falcon standing there, staring down at him with the Iron Patriot at his side.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” asked the Falcon. “That’s not the kind of thing we do.”

Josiah looked at the horror in his partner’s eyes. He saw it in the eyes of the Serpents and the police who had arrived to try and restrain them. Without saying a word, he picked up his shield and retreated, returning to his motorcycle and then rocketing off from the site of the protest.

DIVIDED STATES

Part II

By Dino Pollard

The footage of Captain America beating Zeitgeist paused, rewound, and played once again. Then again. On people’s television screens, the footage shrunk, being reduced to a corner of the screen. And beside the screen-within-a-screen was pundit Todd Keller, shaking his head.

“Do you see what’s happening, America?” he asked, pointing at the screen. “These Sons of the Serpent were doing nothing more than exercising their Constitutional right to freedom of assembly. These are brave men and women, trying to defend our way of life from the flood of illegal immigrants and terrorists. And what happens instead? Here we have this so-called Captain America disrupting the protest and—”

There was a crash and a scream that drew Keller’s attention, and briefly silenced him. The camera spun in the direction and saw security guards rushing off-camera. One by one, the guards were thrown back and knocked down.

“What the fuck is going on?” screamed Keller.

The last guard was thrown off and the man responsible stepped into view of the camera. None other than Captain America himself, his shield slung around his back and a look of pure rage stretched across his face.

“Oh shit!” screamed Keller, turning to run.

He didn’t get very far. Captain America removed his shield and threw it at Keller. It slammed against Keller’s back and threw him face-first over his interview desk. Keller struggled to get up, but by the time he stood and turned, Captain America had his hand around Keller’s throat and slammed him back down on the desk.

“Listen to me!” spat Josiah. “I am sick and tired of your personal crusade against me! Of you smearing my name for the sake of damn ratings!”

“So what is this?” asked Keller with a sickening grin. “You declaring a fatwa against me?”

Captain America’s lips curled in rage and he slammed his fist against Keller’s nose. He did it two more times.

“Freeze!”

Josiah spun and saw that security reinforcements had arrived. And this time they brought guns. Captain America held up his shield to deflect the bullets. He charged forward, slamming into one of the guards. Josiah lashed out at the others, making short work of them.

More guards were coming, he knew that. So it was time to make himself scarce. Captain America quickly left the studio, with security chasing after him.

Keller reached a hand for his desk and pulled himself to his feet. He sat on the desk and reached inside his jacket to produce a handkerchief. He dabbed his bloodied noise, cringing slightly.

“Are we still on?” he asked, looking off-camera. “We are?” Keller cleared his throat and looked into the camera. He pointed at his nose. “Do you see this, ladies and gentlemen? Do you see what this so-called Captain America has done? He brutalized me because he didn’t like what I had to say. Because he hates the idea of free speech. Is this the kind of man we’re going to allow to represent us in the Avengers? To the rest of the world? Captain America has shown his true colors. He’s nothing more than a violent jihadist.”

Josiah raced down the highway, speeding past the cars around him. He swerved in and out of lanes, pushing the bike to its maximum speed. He was still enraged. Beating the crap out of Freedom Force and then Keller just wasn’t enough.

A large shadow fell over him. Josiah recognized the sound of the engines that came from above. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a Quinjet with the Avengers symbol emblazoned on the wings and fin.

“Captain, we’d like you to take the next exit so we can have a word with you.”

The voice broadcast over the Quinjet’s speaker belonged to Iron Man. Josiah sighed and sped ahead, pulling off at the next exit and driving about a mile down the road with the Quinjet following behind. He stopped the bike and climbed off, folding his arms across his chest.

The Quinjet touched down on the clearing and the hatch opened. A scent of brimstone filled the air and Nightcrawler teleported in front of Josiah. Iron Man hovered from the hatch and Hawkeye had climbed onto one of the wings, retracting his bowstring with an arrow notched and ready to fly. Two more figures emerged from the Quinjet—the Falcon and Sharon Carter.

“The hell is this all about?” asked Josiah.

“We just want to talk, mein freund, that’s all,” said Nightcrawler.

“Yeah, talk,” muttered Hawkeye. “First topic: just when the hell did you decide to go all super-villain?”

“That’s ironic, coming from a guy who started off his career as a villain, and then later helped a team of fugitives stay on the run,” said Josiah.

Hawkeye narrowed his eyes behind the special lenses of his glasses. “You wanna run that by me again, Captain Wannabe?”

Josiah tightened his fists. “Don’t test me, Barton. Not today.”

“How about you both shut up for a second?” asked Iron Man. “Josiah, I have no idea what’s gotten into you, but you’re an Avenger. And we can’t have you out there tarnishing our good name.”

“The good name of a former arms dealer you mean?” Josiah scoffed. “Look around. Who among you can cast the first stone, huh?” He pointed at Sharon: “Government assassin.” Then Falcon: “Ex-con.” And then he pointed at Nightcrawler. “Mutant terrorist.”

Nightcrawler snarled and delivered a quick uppercut to his friend. Josiah was knocked back a few steps. He rubbed his face. “Not bad, for a demon.”

Nightcrawler narrowed his eyes. “What is wrong with you?”

“Nothin’ a little sleep won’t fix.”

Josiah looked up at Hawkeye as he spoke those words. Before he realized what had happened, Josiah was struck in the chest by an arrow, one equipped with a special head that released gas from it. As soon as Josiah breathed in the gas, he collapsed and fell unconscious.

Josiah opened his eyes. His vision was blurry for a moment, then he realized he was staring at a fluorescent light above. He lay in a bed and realized he was strapped down. Josiah struggled against the leather straps.

“Calm down.”

Josiah looked up and saw Tony Stark enter the room with Sharon by his side. Tony was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt and Sharon was in her SHIELD uniform.

“We’re back at Avengers Island, getting you fixed up,” said Tony.

“Feeling better yet?” asked Sharon, sarcasm dripping from her voice. “Because if not, I could put a bullet in your head. Like the government assassin I am.”

Josiah’s head fell against the pillow and he sighed. “So it wasn’t a nightmare?”

“No,” said Tony. “The question is, why’d you do it? You’re a pretty stable guy, but ever since that riot, you’ve been acting like…well, like me when a certain sex tape leaked on the Internet.”

“So what is it?” asked Josiah.

“I was monitoring the riot and during the battle with Zeitgeist, I noticed something odd. So I brought it to Stark,” said Sharon.

Tony hit a few commands on the computer. “Here.”

Josiah looked at the monitor and watched as he fought Zeitgeist. Tony slowed down the playback and Josiah watched. There was a sudden flash of light. Josiah blinked, staring at the screen.

“What was that?”

“Seems to have come from Zeitgeist’s belt buckle,” said Sharon.

“We ran a few scans on your old gray matter, and something interesting turned up,” said Tony, bringing those scans onto the monitor. There were two views of a brain. “This one on your left, it’s a scan taken when Don Blake stopped by to do our last round of medical check-ups. The one on the right is the one we took today while you were unconscious.”

“These are both my brain?” asked Josiah.

“That’s right, except they’re very different,” said Tony. “Thing is, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen these sorts of abnormal readings in otherwise healthy brains. It’s consistent with H-Ray technology.”

“H-Ray?” asked Josiah.

“Developed by Arnim Zola for a charming individual called the Hate-Monger,” said Tony. “Better known as the clone of Adolf Hitler.”

“The H-Rays are high-frequency microwave radiation,” said Sharon. “They stimulate and magnify victims’ feelings of dread, fear, and anger to unreasonable levels. It can even transform feelings of affection or love into equally strong feelings of hatred.”

“Basically, anyone who gets hit with these H-Rays is having the mother of all bad days,” said Tony. “Our guess is that whoever brought together this so-called Freedom Force also supplied Lohmer with the H-Ray tech.”

“So what now?” asked Josiah. “How long does this last?”

Tony sighed. “Your last scan showed pretty clean. But we gotta be sure. We’ll keep you here for observation for now.”

“And Freedom Force? And the Sons of the Serpent?” asked Josiah. “Can’t be a coincidence all this happening at once.”

“Definitely not,” said Sharon. “Sam and I will take care of that. You just rest up.”

Josiah sighed and nodded. “All right.”

Josiah flipped through the channels on the television. A few hours had passed since Tony and Sharon told him what was going on. He was waiting impatiently for some word on what was happening.

He stopped flipping, landing on a local news channel. And what he saw caused his eyes to widen in horror. He struggled against his restraints and hit the call button by the side of his bed.

“Someone help! Help!”

A scent of brimstone and Nightcrawler teleported into the infirmary. “Josiah?”

“The TV, look!”

Kurt Wagner looked at the TV and saw the report. The caption stated that it was a riot in Princeton Walk. There was a large house that was on fire.

“That’s my home, Kurt!”

Princeton Walk

The Quinjet hovered above Josiah’s home in Princeton Walk. The fire had been put out and the firefighters were now performing clean-up. The rioters had long departed, leaving nothing more than the charred, burnt-out husk of Josiah’s old home.

Slowly, the Quinjet touched down and both Captain America and Nightcrawler emerged from the plane. One of the firefighters removed his mask and approached them.

“Didn’t imagine a fire is Avengers business,” he said.

“The house,” said Josiah. “Tell me there wasn’t anyone inside.”

The firefighter sighed and lowered his head. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, friend.”

Josiah’s eyes bulged. “Please don’t tell me that…”

The firefighter shook his head. “I’m sorry. She was trapped in the fire.”

Josiah turned in the direction of the house and fell to his knees. He felt a three-fingered hand on his shoulder and looked up at his friend. Nightcrawler had his eyes closed and was muttering something under his breath, something that sounded like a prayer.

“Irenia…” muttered Josiah, feeling his eyes begin to water.

To be concluded