Marvel Earth:114 prologue: The Rise and Fall of Captain America
My name is Uatu, the Watcher, one of the great beings of the universe, sworn to watch the universe unfold, but never to interfere. The planet I watch most often is a small green/blue planet in the outer spiral of a far nebula, the planet is known as Earth. I watch it for the many wonders that unfold there, but nothing can prepare a watcher for the marvels about to come forth on this world.
The motions leading to the birth of these marvels can be traced back centuries, these may need to be talked of at some point, but for now we just need to head back to what the inhabitants of the planet call World War Two. A grim time for the planet, but it was also an age of heroes. Men and women heard the call and stood up for what they believed in. Both sides in this war birthed great heroes and great villains. One stood out above all others, his name was Steve Rogers, Captain America.
He started life as less than an average man. He even was turned down for military service because of a litany of health issues, but he still tried signing up again and again. Finally a scientist, impressed by his persistence, offered him a chance to become the soldier he wanted to be. A special process transformed him from a ninety pound weakling to the peak of physical fitness. He was strong and fast, he was the super soldier the army had been after. He was meant to only be the first, but as the experiment concluded Nazi agents destroyed the lab, killing the scientist, and nearly killing Rogers. It was only though the chemicals that he survived.
The end of the super soldier project meant that Rogers was moved away from leading troops and into becoming a mascot for the forces. He was sent to entertain and give messages of hope across first many US cities, then training camps abroad, along the way picking up a sidekick named Bucky. Bucky believed the hype around the Captain, even getting into fights with people that disrespected him, until the day twenty soldiers were taken and the Captain did nothing.
"I believed in you," Bucky berated, "I thought you were a hero, but those men needed us and we didn't help them."
"There was nothing you could have done kid," another soldier explained, "you'd have just been captured with them, or worse. Can't have that happen to our poster boy."
"He's not meant to be a poster boy, he's meant to be a hero."
With that young Bucky ran from the camp. Steve Rogers simply sat there and thought about things.
Almost an hour later Bucky felt a hand on his shoulder as he sobbed to himself in a small knoll near the camp. He looked up and saw Rogers stood there in full Captain America garb.
"I'm not doing another show Steve," Bucky told him defiantly.
"Neither am I," Rogers replied, sound more determined than Bucky had ever heard him before. "You were right, I should have done something, those men needed me, they need me now too. I'm going to save our troops, please tell them what I'm doing, tell them this is who Captain America is, they can't kill Captain America, no matter what happens to me, that spirit is in all of us."
Captain America smiled to his young ward and ran off into the night. Bucky looked back to the camp, thinking about going back and telling them what his friend had told him, but instead he followed Captain America on his heroic mission. If he had not Rogers would have failed, Bucky arrived in time to save him and between them they brought the troops back.
After this and a long row with a lot of military commanders, Captain America became more than a punch line, he fought real threats, saved real lives, became the man Bucky always thought he didn't fight alone either, he gained new allies, and formed the All-Winners Squad, consisting of himself and Bucky; Canadian mercenary Logan, British agents Spitfire and Union Jack; All-American android The Torch with his sidekick Toro and scion of Atlantis Namor. The team had many adventures, saved many\ lives and defeated many evils. They had moments of joy, like the birth of Namor's son to a surface girl, and moments of tragedy, such as the seeming death of Bucky. Captain America struggled to recover from that, but he kept fighting through it all until the war was won.
The fall of Hitler only led to more threats however. After the war ended the All-Winners squad, depleted to only the Torch, Captain America and Union Jack, alongside a platoon of soldiers nicknamed the Howling Commandos, fought a secret organisation known as Hydra. Finally they tracked the group to their main headquarters, a remote island in the arctic circle. It was here that many events occurred that changed the world, but the mission began like so many others.
"Bugger me," Union Jack complained, "it's cold."
The Torch just looked back at him and smiled.
"If you're not up to it any more and want to g back to drinking tea and eating crumpets, we'll understand."
"You do know we don't live like that, right."
"Enough guys," Captain America chimed in, "this is serious, I need you focused."
"Oh come on Cap," Union Jack moaned, "this'll be like the last ten leads we followed, nothing but a waste of..."
His last word was lost to the explosion that greeted them, knocking the heroic trio into the lower floors of the outpost, leaving the Howling Commandos to explore the upper areas.
"Still think it's a dead end?" Captain America gently ribbed, "everyone okay?"
"Nothing wounded but my pride," Union Jack snorted.
"Likewise, downed but not out."
The trio regained their footing and began trekking through the building, taking on and easily defeating small groups of Hydra soldiers. Finally they reached a vast expanse with a metal gantry crossing it. Above them were huge vats filled with a strange white liquid while far below was an icy river. Two men waited for them on the gantry, one they recognised as the Red Skull, the head of Hydra, the other looked like a young man, he seemed somehow familiar, though his outfit, and seemingly cyborg arm, was new to them.
"Greetings," the Red Skull announced polity in his rich German accent, "welcome to your final resting place."
"Look Fritz," Union Jack called back, he was always one for being direct, "we kicked your backside when you were working for Hitler, give up now or we do it again."
"I was forgetting you had an oh so noble Tommy on your team," his voice dripped with sarcasm, "he will be the first to die. But he is right, when we followed that madman we lost, this is true. This will not happen now though, for now the Red Skull is in charge."
"Just trading one mad man for another."
"Oh but you think you can stop my plot, you are wrong, I will use the greatest weapon I have to defeat you, time. The vats above feature a special chemical which will preserve me until my army is strong enough to rule all."
"We'll make sure that doesn't happen,"the Torch answered back.
"You will not for I have my own super soldier, stronger even then your own Captain," Red Skull indicates the man to his right, "he is my Winter Soldier, and now he will kill you."
With that the man beside the Red Skull ran forward, drawing his gun. Captain America was barely able to get his shield up in time to block the barrage of shots. As he did the Torch rose up behind him, flames engulfing his form. He speared toward the advancing Winter Soldier, only to be met by a hail of bullets loosing the snow gathered on the broken landing above them linking the tanker to the outpost. The snow quickly engulfed the Torch, dowsing his flames and leaving him buried. The Winter Soldier planned to fire into the drift and finish off the android but Union Jack was charging him and opening the attack with his twin revolvers. Winter Soldier used his mechanical arm to block the shots. He then swiftly grabbed the Brit round the throat as soon as he was in range. Union Jack found himself hoisted from the ground and tossed over the side of the gantry. The Torch burst from the snow drift in time to see this and immediately took off after his falling comrade. In the meantime, Captain America and the Winter Soldier began fighting. Every attack Captain America tried was countered by the young man he was facing. The same was true when the roles reversed, the Winter Soldier was becoming frustrated at Captain America countering his every attack. Finally Captain America flipped back away from the fight, regrouping with his equally outmatched allies.
"You can't win," mocked the Red Skull, "the Winter Soldier is trained in ten hand to hand fighting styles, armed with more weapons than any soldier in history, and has the reaction times of a jungle cat."
"We don't have to beat him," Captain America pointed out in a whisper to his team, "we need to take out the base and the tanker of chemicals, that is the priority. You two do that while I distract the tin man."
"I lost my guns when I took the ride..."
"Take mine, I've never been a big fan of them anyway."
Captain America hands his pistol to Union Jack and then the trio split, with Captain America heading to the advancing Winter Soldier while Torch and Union Jack ran to the ravine. Red Skull instantly knew what they were planning. He shouted his orders to the Winter Soldier.
"Forget the Captain," he bellowed, "those others are going after the chemical."
The Winter Soldier never heard him though, he had been programmed to hate Captain America, that was now the only thing on his mind as the two squared off again. As such the Red Skull, along with a team of Hydra agents, less than the Skull had hoped for, suggesting the battle above was going badly for him, faced the duo now flying across the ravine.
With one hand wrapped around the arm of the Torch, Union Jack opened fire with his borrowed pistol, taking down the Hydra agents as best he could. The trouble he was finding was that for each one he took out another two replaced them. Soon they had crossed the ravine but were fighting more soldiers than they could comfortably handle and were getting more and more outnumbered with every minute. So much so that when the Howling Commandos arrived it seemed to make no difference to the result.
Captain America was doing no better. True that no matter what pistol, riffle or grenade the Winter Soldier used, Captain America and his shield dealt with it, but Captain America couldn't change his defensive skill into offence. That was until the cocky Hydra warrior overestimated his skill and landed a powerful side kick against the metal gantry. In the split-second of confusion and pain, Captain America flung out a powerful right hook. His fist smashed into the armoured temple of his foe. This strike was enough to break the latch on the mask. It fell away and Captain America froze. He knew the face of the Winter Soldier. It was Bucky. He didn't have long to think on this. As he stayed still the Winter Soldier lashed out. A back handed left cuffed the Captain. A front kick followed. Then a roundhouse. Captain America staggered with the blow, but he now had his back to the Winter Soldier. He felt the Soldier's arm took round his neck. The force was incredible. Captain America knew he couldn't get any air in and that he couldn't pull the arm away. Before he could pass out, Captain America dashed backward, driving the Soldier into the railing of the gantry. The impact gave Captain America the chance to roll away from the choke hold. He did so, further onto the Winter Soldier followed him.
"I don't want to hurt you Bucky," Captain America pleaded, "we don't have to fight."
"Oh but you do," mocked the Red Skull.
The Skull was confident that his soldiers could handle both the Howling Commandos and the two remaining members of the All-Winners Squad. As such he returned his attention to the battle between his personal assassin and his archnemesis. Captain America looked at the villain with a venomous look.
"What have you done to my friend?" Captain America demanded.
"I saved his life," the mocking tone remained in the Skull's voice, "more than you did. I made him your equal. No, your better. A true hero for my new world order. That begins now when he destroys you."
Captain America raised his shield to protect himself from the Winter Soldier's next attack, a powerful straight right from his robotic arm. Captain America continued dodging round the attacks, using the narrow gantry as a pommel, but never striking back.
"You will fight him," Red Skull demanded in frustration.
"I will never hurt my friend," Captain America answered defiantly.
This seemed to give the Winter Soldier pause for a moment.
"If you don't," the Red Skull warned as he drew a pistol, "I will drop you where you stand. This gun is loaded with explosive bullets that will destroy anything, even your shield."
This caught Captain America's attention. He instantly moved, flipping in front of the Winter Soldier and kicked out. His feet hit the Soldier in the chest. The attack was more about knocking the Winter Soldier back and giving Captain America space rather than inflicting pain. He then twisted to face Red Skull. A moment later and Captain America's shield was streaking toward the weapon. It hit the Red Skull's hand, leading to the gun flipping upward. Captain America glanced at his shield as it dropped out of sight. He then flipped up on to the rail. He used it it to vault upward toward the gun. As he reached it he grabbed it. He then landed in a crouch between the Red Skull and the Winter Soldier.
"Well done," Red Skull gave a condescending round of applause, "you now have a real weapon, but only one shot. Shoot me and Winter Soldier will be there to kill you. Shoot him and, not only will you loose your oldest friend, I will be able to stab you in what is left of your heart. I think it may be fun to let you choose."
Red Skull drew a short knife but made no movement to stop Captain America. The Captain let his eyes travel from the Skull to the Winter Soldier, he was standing there ready to pounce, then back to the Skull again. A hand lifted up to his mask, activating it's radio so he could speak to Union Jack and the Torch one last time.
"Come in All-Winners," he said, his voice choked with sadness.
"We read you Cap," Torch answered, shocked at hearing his friend with this tone.
"We've got these toerags on the run now," chimed in Union Jack.
"I knew you would, but it's too late, get everyone clear now."
"What are you talking about you mad bugger?"
"Don't do this Cap."
"It's the only way. Tell Peggy I love her."
With that the two remaining members of the All-Winners Squad could only watch helplessly as Captain America turned and pointed the gun at the tankard above him. Both Red Skull and the Winter Soldier darted toward him, but they were too late. The bullet left the barrel as they reached him, less than a moment later the bullet exploded, ripping a giant hole in the tank and releasing the contents. The chemical tidal wave washed over the gantry and when it cleared all three men were gone. A search was conducted but no bodies were ever found.
Without their leader Hydra began fading away. A few groups claiming to be them surfaced over the years but a new force was founded to combat them. This force, that had grown out of what had been the Howling Commandos was named SHIELD. Union Jack did join them however, he headed home to Britain where he helped set up a British equivalent; named STRIKE. They became the prime peace keeping forces across the world, even establishing links with troubled African nation Wakanda.
This is but the scratching of the surface for this world. Tales of two men meeting in the sixties, one a man of peace, the other a man of action, will have an impact on the fate f this world like few others. One of those others is the banding together of a quartet of science students; Hank, Reed, Tony and Bruce; into what they called the Fantastic Four. These tales set the stage for what is to come, I know this for I am the Watcher.