Since waking up in the 21st century, Steve had seen some amazing things. The agents on the night shift often brought him movies to watch and the special effects were astounding.
So, he only thought it a little odd when he came across a group of men and women in a break room, all of them watching the high definition screens as a tall, smoking building collapsed on itself. The atmosphere was strangely tense and Steve asked, "What movie is this?"
All eyes turned to him and the glimmer of something bleak made his heart sink. He knew it wasn't a movie even before Clint said, "It's footage of 9/11/2001 attacks. Have you gotten that far in those WWII to Now books?"
"No," he breathed, feeling sick. He knew what those towers were, had read about the World Trade Center, knew it was in Manhattan and had opened in '73. The books glossy pictures of the gleaming buildings, of the New York skyline, had made him smile.
It was Agent Coulsen who sat him down with a stack of documentaries and let him watch the recorded footage of the attacks.
Hijacked planes crashing into buildings, the Pentagon. Brave men and women dying in an attempt to save innocents. A plane of people who refused to sit back and be used as a weapon, sacrificing themselves in fighting back. The Twin Towers collapsing and killing so many.
One day, 2,996 dead. On American soil.
He remembered the horror of hearing about Pearl Harbor, seeing the pictures in the newspapers and figured 9/11 must be this new century's version of that. With all the digital media though, the terrified public got to watch the events of that day unfold in live Technicolor.
This was the new face of war. The new battlefield Fury intended to introduce him to.
Red Skull had intended to use his small bombers to do what these new enemies had accomplished by using civilian aircraft. Steve had given 70 years on ice to protect the city, the country he loved, the innocent men and women and he knew he'd do it again.
The face of evil had changed, their methods evolved, but the goal was the same. To instill so much fear into people that they were afraid to fight back. Terrorism…terror was right there in the word.
But the USA and her allies would not fold, Steve was sure of that. Fury said they need him back, needed Captain America to help save the world.
This might not be the world he remembered, the world he knew, but to him, humanity would always be worth fighting for.