The Steranko

It began with a warning of a hull breech onboard the miniature helicarrier. Monica Rambeau arrived first, slipping down to the hangar level by converting her body into light. What she saw when she arrived was a bulky, shirtless man dressed in army pants and boots. His blond hair was buzzed short and he had an American flag tattooed across his face. He slid a red pill between his lips and bit down on it, smiling at her.

“Guys, get down here,” said Monica. “We’ve got Nuke.”

The super soldier charged right for her and the Avenger called Photon converted her body from visible light to electricity. As Nuke passed through her, he screamed, his system becoming overloaded with electricity.

Gunfire rang out in the hangar. Bullets slammed against the stunned Nuke’s cybernetic hide and he looked up to witness both Black Widow, Phil Coulson, and War Machine opening fire on him. Nuke charged towards them without a care.

Black Widow and Coulson moved to the side as War Machine rocketed forward, slamming right into the super soldier. He slammed his armored fists against Nuke’s face, then his stomach. War Machine held him still, the mini-gun attached to his shoulder turning and unloading its bullet reserves into Nuke’s face.

Nuke head-butted War Machine, stunning the pilot. Then he turned, grabbing War Machine by the head and flipping him onto the ground. As the gun turned to fire on him again, Nuke grabbed it, forcing it back in the opposite direction.

Beneath the armor, Rhodey’s suit flashed warnings into his retina. They continued to blare as Nuke broke the mini-gun from the mount. Nuke placed both his hands on the side of War Machine’s helmet, squeezing in on it.

A massive hand encased in a white glove wrapped around Nuke’s body, pinning his arms to his sides. Goliath held him still, staring at the much smaller man. “How the hell did you get in?”

Nuke grunted in response and strained against his captor’s fingers. Bill Foster screamed as he felt a few of his fingers break, Nuke busting free of the fleshy prison. Nuke leapt for Goliath’s face, but an energy blast threw him against the wall.

Photon hovered above the ground, moving closer to Nuke. Her eyes and hands glowed with an aura of microwave energy. As Nuke prepared to move again, Photon unleashed the microwaves from both her palms and her eyes.

“Rambeau, on my mark, disengage.”

She heard the voice through the comm-link in her ear and she understood her teammate’s plan. Once the command came, she let off, ceasing the energy attack. Nuke pulled himself to his feet and shook off the attack. He cracked his knuckles and charged.

Photon stood her ground, not even bothering to transmute her body into energy. She just waited for him to approach. In mid-charge, Nuke skidded to a stop, his entire body seizing. He collapsed on the ground, his body convulsing. He screamed until finally, he fell unconscious.

Something flew out of his ear, no bigger than an insect. It grew to the size of an adult man, dressed in a dark-colored suit of armor complete with an insect-like helmet. Ant-Man looked down at Nuke’s unconscious body, grinning beneath his helmet.

“Teamwork, who would’ve guessed you even knew the meaning of that word,” said Photon. She looked at the rest of the group. “Everyone else okay? Rhodey?”

War Machine stood, holding the mini-gun in his hands. His faceplate slid up to reveal his weary expression. “Yeah, nothing hurt but my pride. Gonna be fun explaining this to Stark.”

“Wait,” said Goliath. “Where’s Natasha? She was here, wasn’t she?”

“She must’ve slipped out for some reason during the battle.” Coulson pulled out his smartphone and when he unlocked it to contact her, he was surprised to see the message that appeared. “She’s in the core. There’s something wrong.”

“Wrong is a bit of an understatement, Phil.”

The Black Widow back-flipped, avoiding the gunfire unleashed from the Deathlok cyborg that faced off against her. He pulled his gun back and with his free hand, hurled several small orbs in her direction.

Natasha landed on the ground just in time to see the orbs coming her way. She fired her Widow’s line from one of her gauntlets. The small grappling cable latched onto Deathlok’s neck and the Black Widow retracted it.

She pulled herself away just before the orbs exploded. But in the process, Deathlok grabbed the cable and slammed the Black Widow against the wall.

“Natasha? Natasha?”

The Widow slowly sat up and touched her hand to the comm-link in her ear. “I’m still here, Coulson. There’s a Deathlok unit in the core.”

Deathlok turned away from his enemy and approached the console. He entered in some commands and then turned around. The Black Widow raised her weapons and pulled the triggers. But Deathlok teleported away before the bullets could reach him.

“I’m sending back-up.”

“Not necessary, he just rabbited.” The Black Widow ran to the console and realized just what Deathlok had done. “Bozhe moi…”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“We have to evacuate immediately,” said the Black Widow. “The Deathlok triggered the Steranko’s self-destruct sequence.”

CONTINGENCY

Part II

By Dino Pollard

For Jack Monroe, it was like looking into a mirror. Right into the face of the ghost story known as the Winter Soldier. A professional assassin, brought out of suspended animation whenever the powers behind Control needed someone taken care of.

It was a job Monroe had apparently been forced to do himself a few times over the years. But what he saw now was the real deal, the original Winter Soldier—James Buchanan Barnes.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” asked the Winter Soldier.

Jack pulled the Scourge helmet back over his head. He looked behind him at the kids who he’d woken from their slumber—Elijah Bradley, Miles Morales, Kamala Khan, Teddy Altman, and Billy Kaplan. They were all captives of the Contessa and Doctor Faustus, the result of Control’s Operation: A-NEXT. Experimented on since childhood, with the intention of becoming the next generation of Avengers. A team of Avengers that would answer to Control.

“I asked you a question, Scourge,” said the Winter Soldier.

“Yeah…about that…” Scourge flexed his hand and one of his staves fell into his hand. In the fraction of a second, he hurled the stave at Barnes.

The Winter Soldier was even quicker, raising an automatic weapon and opening fire on the stave. It fell harmlessly to the ground. The Soldier looked down at it and walked closer towards the stave. He aimed the gun at Scourge.

“Did you really think that would work?”

“No, I thought this would.”

The Winter Soldier looked back down at the stave and it exploded, throwing him clear of the area. By the time he managed to briefly recover, Scourge had charged through the smoke. The Winter Soldier raised his gun, but one of Monroe’s throwing discs knocked hit from his grasp.

Scourge charged at him, swinging his fist wrapped around a stave. The Winter Soldier held up his cybernetic arm, catching Scourge’s fist in his metal grasp. He squeezed and twisted and Monroe cried out in pain.

The Winter Soldier took the stave from Scourge and beat his head with hit several times. Scourge fell to the ground, wondering what he could do next. He reached for the helmet, pulling it off his head.

Barnes grabbed Monroe by the collar of his shit and pulled him up. He recoiled his metal arm, ready to use it to cave in Monroe’s face. But then he got a good look at the man. His shaggy, brown hair. The black domino mask covering his face.

As a college student in the 1950s, Jack Monroe and William Burnside underwent plastic surgery to make themselves look like Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers. So it was little surprise that the Winter Soldier felt he was staring into his own reflection.

“You recognize me, don’t you?” asked Jack. “I know who you are, and I’m not talking about this nameless assassin they’ve made you believe you are. I mean the real you—James Buchanan Barnes.”

The Winter Soldier released his grip and took a step back. Jack slowly rose to his feet, staring at Barnes in the eyes.

“This isn’t you, Bucky,” he said. “You were a hero. Back in the war. You and Cap—you and Steve.”

“Steve…” The name was so familiar to Barnes, and yet at the same time so foreign.

He started to see flashes in his memory. Europe. World War II. A diverse group of commandos led by a grizzled veteran with a cigar between his teeth. One man who came out of the sea and another who was on fire. He saw himself, dressed in red, white, and blue.

And he saw another man. An older brother, maybe? He was also dressed in the colors of the flag. And he carried a round shield with a giant star in the center.

“No!”

The Winter Soldier charged forward, slamming his metal fist against Jack’s face.

War Machine landed on the ground and Photon materialized by his side. A small, metal device detached from War Machine’s armor, a miniature craft, and Ant-Man jumped out of it, instantly growing to normal size.

Not far from where the three stood, a 1962 Corvette lowered from the sky, the wheels flipped upside-down and generating a repulsor field. As the car approached the ground, the wheels returned to normal and it easily set down on the dirt field. Coulson, the Black Widow, and Goliath climbed out of the car.

War Machine removed his helmet and whistled as he saw the car. “Damn nice escape ride.”

“If the Steranko was going to go down, no way was I about to let Lola go with it,” said Coulson, lovingly patting the car’s hood.

“So what the hell happened?” asked Eric O’Grady as he took off the Ant-Man helmet. He sat on Lola’s hood, earning a cold stare from Coulson.

“Nuke was obviously a distraction so Deathlok could get in and activate the self-destruct,” said Natasha. “Control sent a Deathlok after us once before. And Nuke was one of the Weapon Plus subjects, so it seems fairly obvious who we’re dealing with.”

“But the question is how,” said Bill. “How did they know where we were located or how even to bypass our security.”

“Monroe,” said Coulson. “He’s the only one who could have provided those to Control.”

“So what do we do now?” asked Monica, folding her arms. “The Steranko’s gone and Monroe is in the hands of Control.”

“I sent out a distress call,” said Coulson. “All we can really do is sit tight until help comes. And also get ready.”

“Ready for what?” asked Eric.

“Something tells me Control isn’t going to count on a simple explosion to take out a team of Avengers,” said Coulson. “They’ll be back with reinforcements.”

“Then we’ll be ready,” said Natasha.

The Winter Soldier dropped Nomad’s unconscious body right on the metal floor at the feet of the Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. The Contessa knelt down, examining the unconscious man’s features. A smile spread across her face and she stood.

“Very good work, Soldier,” she said.

The Winter Soldier gave no response, only a nod.

“Now we have other matters to attend to,” said the Contessa.

“I’m listening.”

“His friends,” growled Thunderbolt Ross, staring down at Nomad. “Fury’s team of Secret Avengers. We need ’em taken out.”

“I thought you had Nuke and Deathlok for that,” said the Winter Soldier.

“You are to take the recruits to the Steranko’s crash site. Examine the wreckage for any sign of the Avengers,” said the Contessa.

“Your Young Avengers?” The Soldier scoffed. “They’re not ready. We’ve barely begun their training.”

“They need to start gettin’ ready,” said Ross. “Do you have any objections, Soldier?”

Barnes considered for a moment but then shook his head. “No sir.”

“Good, then how about you get your ass in gear and start preppin’ your team?”

The small aircraft touched down on the ground. A hatch from the rear opened and the Winter Soldier was the first to disembark. He was followed by the Young Avengers—Patriot, Spider-Boy, Speed, Marvel Girl, Hulkling, and Wiccan. He could feel the nervousness nearly flowing off each of them.

“Stay calm,” said the Soldier. “Wiccan, you got anything for me?”

Billy Kaplan closed his eyes and held out his staff. He whispered under his breath, “Isanyonehere? Isanyonehere?” He raised the staff and opened his eyes, which glowed with ethereal energy. “That way.”

The Winter Soldier nodded and took the lead. The others followed close behind. They crossed over a ridge and approached the remains of a ghost town. Dust blew around the area and the Winter Soldier drew his rifle. As they moved through the dust, they saw the Secret Avengers standing there, waiting for them.

“My god…” muttered Photon. “They’re just kids.”

“They’re far more than that,” said the Winter Soldier.

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to sit and discuss this, Barnes,” said the Black Widow.

The Winter Soldier raised his gun. “What do you think?”

Before he could fire, something flew between the two teams. It was rapid, a red, white, and blue blur. The Winter Soldier turned his weapon, trying to follow the strange object. It streaked off into the distance and then suddenly vanished.

He turned in the direction it had come from. Raising his gun, he looked through the scope. There was someone standing atop one of the old homes. His arm was held out and around his arm, the object appeared again. A round, energy shield. Red and white concentric circles with a blue circle in the center. And dead in the center of that was a white star.

The man himself was dressed in a navy uniform with crimson trim and brown gloves and boots. White stripes stretched across his chest and in the center was a circle with a white star.

“Actually, I think we all need to have a little talk,” said Steve Rogers.

To be concluded