"Oh! Death was never an enemy of ours! We laughed, knowing that better men would walk our path and greater wars would come. Once each proud fighter brags about his victories, and despairs about his losses. After the politicians and historians are done rejoicing at the greatness of their victorious system! After all the boys are buried, and the old continue to linger.

All blustering put aside, no soldier fights for flags or for ideals. During the heat of battle soldiers fight for two things only: Their brothers, and their lives.

But there are exceptions. Or more so, one more thing a soldier will fight for. Heroes...true heroes. There are few such men, but for those who do exist, soldiers will fight 'till death for them above everything else. Men like Jacob Keyes, and Spartan-117.

There is only one other that I can think of, and that heroes' name is Captain America..."


Twenty eight, twenty eight years. That's how long the war had lasted. Entire planets had been abandoned, rendered lifeless and inhospitable. Twenty three billion humans executed. Trapped inside a galactic wide crossfire with nowhere left to run to. Twelve months, fifty two weeks, 365 days. That's how long had passed since the armistice.

Peace finally reigned.

Lord Hood screwed up his nose, both at the notion of the ideal, and at his surrounding environment as he passed through this narrow blue-lit corridor. It was cold, damp and stank of the sewer rats that inhabited it. Even in the 26th century, it was still nigh impossible to keep the rodents at bay!

"Peace" Scoffed Lord Hood. What a strange word to call it. Chaos was a better label for the current state of affairs! Colonies were starving out there in the void of space, and after three decades of total war the infrastructure of the UNSC had been all but destroyed. The people of earth were in outcry. Something had to be done. But everyone knew there was very little that could be done. The tools required for such a colossal relief effort simply didn't exist anymore.

Rebellion was rife, and insurrectionist movements that had been under control prior to the start of the Human-Covenant war were growing in strength. New human powers were rising – separated from the rest of humankind. Where would the selfish madness end? It went against everything the UNSC stood for. Humanity needs to stand together as one in order to survive. Had people learnt nothing from the war?

Now with the bulk of the UNSC's armies gone, all that could be achieved was the stabilization of half a dozen core worlds. The rest of their recourses were needed for rebuilding humanity and driving back dangerous Covenant remnant fractions. The only reason why the entire human race hadn't already starved to death was because of the efforts of their Sangheili allies. Without them, what little progress the UNSC had made would have been impossible.

Thel 'Vadam, the Arbiter, High Chancellor of the Free Confederation of Sangheilos had been instrumental in the setting up of hundreds of relief efforts across human occupied planets: Not a popular choice amongst the elites. Billions had been killed on both sides during the war. Most humans hated the elites, most elites hated humans. The Sangheili had their own problems. Their territory had been halved, entire colonies glassed by vengeful Jiralhanae. Their entire civilization was just one knife edge away from a civil war. Why then should they help us humans? We who were responsible for killing so many of their kind?

Anyway, Terrance Hood didn't have time for such trivia. Every human knew this history. Every human knew the complete mess they were in. It was going to be like the birth of the UNSC all other again! It would take centuries for humanity to recover. The UN needed to start from the bottom up, and the outer colonies would have to fend for themselves for now. Humanities' priority was the restoration of earth and her neighbouring systems. Only then would they be able to save the others.

Yet, there was optimism. There were an infinite number of bright and shining possibilities where humanity would go from here. There were hundreds of secrets waiting to be discovered amongst the stars. Forerunner relics and ancient human infrastructure, lost long ago since the cataclysmic interplanetary wars. Hood was about to visit one of those secrets now. He had almost reached the end of the long, dimly lit corridor.

"Attention marines...Ten Huit!" The huddle of guards stood outside a large metal door at the end of the metal hallway. They quickly formed rank upon realising that a superior officer was passing by. It was a welcome change, something other than the usual drudgery of their duties. Oh how they hated it! The steel-lined corridor, cold and dimly-lit, was all too familiar to the squad of marines. Assigned to patrol its depths for what seemed half a lifetime. It had always seemed odd, for this assignment of Special Forces to do nothing other than man an abandoned passageway. Carrying the most advanced and modern weaponry, to inevitably meet no foe.

The most up to date weaponry, the most advanced training, and almost half a mile of narrow corridor to see any enemy coming. Though they had all these advantages, they were still nervous. Nervous because after all these years they had never actually seen what was behind the door. Their duty had always been under any and all circumstances to stay by this bulkhead and fight to the death. But today was different. Today Lord Terrence Hood himself had come down the corridor. And he was going to open the door!

The Marines stood at the ready; at all times their Designated Marksman's Rifles and SAW's (Squad Automatic Weapons) pointed down the hallway, waiting for enemies. Now would be the worst moment for any brute infiltrators or curious human civilians to walk down this passageway. Lord Hood was not alone, accompanied by two ODST fire teams. Behind these troopers was a trolley, carrying sensitive probes and scanners, and a portable med chamber suspended by anti-grav plating. Behind was a team of scientists, two carefully pushing it along, the others swarming over these fragile instruments babbling about "not damaging the delicate equipment!"

"At Ease, boys" Lord Hood called out as he walked over to the door. The marines relaxed, each one watching him out of the corner of their eyes.

Hood first went to the eye scanner. Two faint blue lasers then moved across his eyes and scanned his badge of rank. "Rank identified, identity accepted. Good morning Terrance Hood!" The dumb AI chirped over the vox caster. This secret door had been discovered nearly a decade ago, and a security system had been installed. "Finger print and password now required. Enjoy the rest of your day Sir." Lord Hood immediately put his thumb to another scanner, where a red light scanned it. He finally leaned over to the intercom.

"Operation: Rebirth." At that the heavy duty door slowly opened. Stale air came out of the room, and the sound of machines and engines working away could be heard from inside. "You have been guarding this hall for six years without question marines," Lord Hood began to say as he motioned them to move forward with him. "It's about time, that you get to see what's inside. No one, not even ONI knows exactly what is behind here. There could be automatic defence systems that our probes haven't discovered. Be on your guard!" At that, Lord Hood walked inside, fallowed by his ODST's. Each Marine advanced at a cautious pace, not quite as eagerly as they might have done before.

Inside, a thin layer of dust covered every surface. There were many machines inside, all flashing lights and ancient fly-belts. The technology all looked very, very outdated. The marines didn't know how old it was, but it didn't take an engineer to tell that it was not modern. They looked around with eager eyes. Several of the machines were inactive, and it looked like they had died years ago.

"Where are the lights?" One of the Marines whispered as they walked in. The others didn't answer. Yet one took out a torch that hung by his belt. They all followed Hood, who was heading towards a machine at the end of the room, a faint red glow emanating from it. This machine wasn't an old rusted computer, but a large Cryo-Chamber, holding a shadowy figure surrounded by ice. The life support systems accompanying the machine did not match the rest of the tech in the room. They seemed far more advanced, and appeared to be functioning perfectly.

"Remarkable, don't you think?" Terrance Hood asked rhetorically, braking the tension of the room. "They must have been working nonstop for 500 years and yet, they look as if they were manufactured just last week."

He was correct. The monochrome surfaces of these machines hadn't rusted at all. Not even any dust coated them, however that was possible. The machines defied reason, and the scientists couldn't wait to start experimenting on them. Unfortunately they had strict orders not to touch anything until the occupant of the ancient Cryo-Chamber had left the facility. But they, like the marines, were allowed to look. The science team hung back for the moment, tense, like frightened mice, ready as if at any moment to bolt out of the room. The soldiers meanwhile, whilst wary, began to approach the doors of the old device, and began to peer inside.

"Wh…who is that?" one the Marines asked as he gazed into the chamber, almost pressing his face against the glass. There was a figure inside: Cast in shadow, but looked tall-ish and very muscular. He seemed to be holding something circular, held across his chest. Feint colours of crimson red and summer-sky blue could just be made out, within the dim light of this long abandoned chamber.

Lord Hood just gave a small chuckle before he picked up a piece of dusty paper that was lying next to him, off from one of the machines. The ink had long since faded and sections of the paper disintegrated as he handled it. "A Shame." Hood thought in disappointment. It was pointless wondering about the information it may have once possessed. Time to get to business.

"Tell me marines, what do you know about the Second World War?" The soldiers exchanged glances in confusion. Where was Hood going with this?

"It was the last major terrestrial war on earth sir." One of the Marines replied, snapping into action. "It was waged between the Allies, and the Axis powers of Imperialist Japan and Nazi Germany!" He explained, rather proud that he knew his history so well. Or, so he thought.

"Yes...that is what our schools teach today isn't it?" Hood announced coolly, and continued to examine the room around them. "But there is another part of that story, one that isn't taught in class rooms. A forgotten chapter. One that started the Spartan Programme." He told them as he walked over to the very end of the chamber. Everyone in the room, including the ODST's looked round at him, not knowing what on earth the Second World War had to do with 2554 or the Spartan Programme. Yet if Hood said it was important, it was important.

"During the war, Germany was developing Nuclear weapons. Japan, was developing Jet Technology. Even the Russians, and other many European nations were working on amazing new aviation and rocket propulsion systems for their time." Just as could be expected during any arms race. "America, the richest nation of them all, perfected all of these later in the war. But they made something else, something that none of them could. Using intricate genetic engineering procedures, they created the first ever Super Soldier." This information had not been released until now, and had been forgotten during the terrible colony wars of the Solar System.

So much had been lost during that conflict. Technologies lost, knowledge lost. Entire countries had been wiped from the face of the earth. But then the UN had triumphed over their enemies, and the UNSC had been born. Earth had been brought under the fold of a single banner, a single power. This had truly been the war to end all wars, human at least. Or on failing this, at least those of earth and the oldest core worlds. Hood was now standing right before the cryo-chamber, and he could see the sources of the lights emanating from within the pod. He placed a hand against the frosted, century old glass, and sighed.

"This was Captain America." He finally revealed, whipping away the frost and dust near the head. The clear glass revealed a man with a blue, hooded mask. It bore small Valkyrie wings on the sides of his head, and a large 'A' placed across the forehead. "In many ways, this man is the progenitor of all Spartans. He was one of the inspirations that drove scientists like Dr Catherine Halsey to develop them. Indirectly, this man is responsible for saving humanity from the Covenant."

None of the troops knew what to say. They all thought Captain America was long dead, lost alongside all those other wonders of the 21st century. A powerful virus created by China had wiped out many of the super humans of the western world, and killed millions of other human beings. The terrible act had amongst other events lead inevitably to the interplanetary wars. "How…how was he possible?" one of the ODST asked. Stunned. The puzzle of creating super soldiers had evaded the talents of UNSC research teams for decades. How had it been cracked by humans near enough to half a millennia ago?

"Genetic engineering, trooper." Hood immediately replied. "The UN illegalised all genetic engineering projects perpetrated on human beings towards the end of the 20th century: Healthy moral laws the UN still uphold to this day. The people that worked on the good captain here conducted all their work before those sanctions had taken hold. They never had the handicaps our Spartan programme had." Hood explained as he punched a few buttons, then backed up a couple of steps.

"I've just activated the defrost sub-routine...two things now might happen. The Captain is going to be dead after being frozen for so long or…he is going to attack us. Whatever you do, do not kill him! ONI will have your heads if anything happens to him!" Hood warned, backing up just a few more steps. The aging commander wasn't in the physical condition, or mood for fighting a powerful super soldier and his indestructible shield. He personally believed the old heroes' reputation had to be exaggerated. And surely his shield wasn't actually indestructible? The Titanic and the Pillar of Autumn had been 'indestructible'! All would be revealed in good time. He was sure that ONI had a multitude plans for Captain America.

Hood's troops meanwhile look at each other in apprehension. "Sir, what should we do if he attacks us?" One of the ODST's ask as he lifts his shotgun, watching the ice slowly disappearing from inside the Cryo-Chamber. Hood stood there impassively, as if he hadn't even heard the private. He then loosened to holster of his magnum, just in case.

"Just don't do anything stupid." The Lord Admiral finally answered...