From what intel Cap had seen from his hack the top baddie calling the shots for this operation was a Juarez cartel LT named Salazar. He was an up and coming cartel LT that was ambitious and sought to impress his cartel superiors with his ops here. His crime ops spanned moving junk weapons and people. Cap had only seen the weapons and people aspect. Not the junk; but it only made sense this same base had it all. Either way it had to go down; and it would.

The base security continued to be on high alert. The enemy reinforcements were due to arrive at any time; Cap could see that from his gauntlet scanner. It didn't matter. Cap would bug out if he couldn't take them all down. He could just as easily tag and monitor the baddie activity from another site if need be. He would ultimately take them all down. But this was all irregular warfare; and constant adaptation was needed. Sometimes tagging them for later takedown was the better measure.

For now he'd remain in the striking shadows. He returned to his knife and waited for them to draw in closer. A group of four assailants came near; the next ideal hit for tactical purposes. Cap waited for them to go by before hitting them next. He jump kicked one to snap his neck then there. He went at the others even before that next baddie fell dead and the others could turn around. His knife went into the throat of another and he smashed his face into another to kill him as well. When dealing with non enhanced Cap like most other enhanced had to consciously control their blows. Obviously in this instance that wasn't needed. In all fact lethality was absolutely what was required.

Cap dispatched them soon enough and returned to the shadows. This second group Cap had taken down hadn't managed to get a shot off unlike the first group. That did give Cap a greater renewed stealth element in that sense. He would build on it. The continued hit run strikes for now would remain his ideal way to operate.

The baddie reinforcements arrived; his scanner warned him. Time to go hot and loud. He brought up his assault rifle and readied for real war. He was ready for the baddies to use the captives as human shields. It wouldn't matter. This was war and there would definitely be collateral damage. Cap was ready for all these possibilities. When it came to these assholes that was how it had to be.

The next group of baddies entered into view. He shouldered and fired. He didn't need to really aim with his abilities. Point and shoot more or less did the job. His rounds tore into them and dropped them. They returned fire but he drilled a few more in that initial exchange and found cover. They yelled out; Cap still heard everything they said at all spoken levels. Advantage of having extra good ears.

They continued to surround him; but his tac sense was already multiple moves ahead of them. Time to light these bastards up. He ran out from cover and fired on semi, as he typically chose to. Being enhanced meant that he could conserve ammo as his hitting percentage was typically higher anyway. His shots remained super true and he dropped more. Their shots continued to go wide. He found more cover then flanked the flankers yet again. He went to auto this time and shot down the cartel hitters to finish out the remainder of his current mag.

He reloaded secured his rifle and pulled out his sword again. More came into the fray. Cap slashed out and cut them down. He did some fancy acrobatics and brought his sword down and into them with speed and enhanced precision. They too fell away fast enough. The greatest generation member was making them feel the pain. Definitely not Captain America anymore but that was okay. It was what was in his heart that mattered most. It was about freedom; and all things that went with it. The Spartans and Scots among others had fought for independence long before Cap or Americans had. The freedom fight was an eternal one. Blessed by almighty God. It didn't matter what anyone else thought on that matter.

Only fighting for what was right did. And doing what was right no matter what was what Cap was all about; what Steve Rogers was all about. He defined his role; not the other way around. Originally Cap had been just a way to sell war bonds for the effort. It was only because Steve had been compelled to save fellow soldiers that Cap became something more; what the allies had needed to win. Thus Nomad had the same soul as Cap did. The man defined the role; not the opposite. Steve would remember that as he took on the baddies here and worked to save lives.

He took down that group and returned to the structural shadows again. He was about to resume his offensive when he received a text alert on his gauntlet screen. What the hell.

It was his girlfriend Sharon Carter; agent 13. She'd texted him to withdraw immediately to the coordinates she provided. It was nearby. Why now Sharon. Didn't matter. She wouldn't have done it without a good reason. Pull out now Steve. Deal with this later.

Xxx

He safely rendezvoused to her at the sent coordinates. She was on a nearby rooftop. "Sharon. What're you doing here?" "Good to see you too." "I'm in the middle of an op." "Couldn't have guessed." She picked up a covered circular object off the ground and tossed it to him. It was the same size shape of his old shield... "Sharon..." "just open it Steve." He exhaled and did so...

It was an all black shield; with the Spartan symbol on it. It was about the same size and weight of the old shield. "All domestic adamantium. So it won't cause any ownership issues with Wakanda." "Who's idea was this?" "Hill fury and me. We started making it not long after you hung up the other shield. Now you can stand for something else you believe in; American Spartan."

"Thank you Sharon. Really." She gave a lopsided smile and crossed her arms before her. "Is that it?" "They're lives still down there needing saving." "I know. Shield's watching them."

They shared a quick kiss. "Go get em nomad." "Copy that ma'am." He went back to work; with his new weapon and timeless warrior symbol now equipped. It felt good to have a shield again. Now it was time to test it out. Nothing like real situations to make it prove itself...