They were at Allied HQ briefing room and Phillips stood at the head of the table, grim with Steve, Peggy, Howard and the Invaders surround him.
"Johann Schmidt belongs in the bughouse. He thinks he's a god and he's going to blow up half the world to prove it." Phillips said and stabbed his finger at a map of the United States. "Starting with the U.S.A."
"That's insane." Dum Dum said.
"So's Hitler, but he's gotten pretty far with less than Schmidt has." Peggy said.
"But Hydra would need millions of men, fleets of transport. They'd have to be fed, fueled." Falsworth said and Howard shook his head.
"Schmidt's working with powers beyond our capabilities. He gets across the Atlantic, he'll wipe out the entire eastern seaboard in an hour." Howard said while Steve and Bucky stared at the map, eyes drawn inevitably to New York.
"Every able-bodied man we have is either here or in the Pacific. Our borders are wide open." Steve said.
"How much time have we got?" Jones asked.
"According to my new best friend, under twenty-four hours." Phillips said and dread-filled silence fell over the room.
"Where is he now?" Steve asked and Phillips pointed to a spy photo of a mountain.
"Hydra's last base is here, in the Alps..." Phillips said. "Five hundred feet below the surface." he said dragging his finger down.
"Damn." Bucky said while Morita got a closer look at the map.
"What are we supposed to do? It's not like we can just knock on the front door." Morita said and the room went silent then everyone turned to Steve.
Later Steve blast through the forest on his motorcycle. Trees whip by as he weaves through the woods. Unwittingly he tripped a wire across the road. A warning light blinked.
Flames shot out from his exhaust pipe, laying down several yards of fire behind him. The nearest Hydra rider is helpless as his uniform and saddlebags catch fire. He veers into the woods and flew off a cliff, exploding in midair.
One biker remains and caught Steve on a straightaway as he pulled alongside, grinning and reached into a side compartment and pulled a hand grenade but Steve snatched it from him and cracked the rider in the jaw. The rider's helmet dropped blinding him and wobbled. Steve bit down on the grenade pin and yanked it out. Then he tossed the grenade back in the rider's compartment. Steve throttled up and pulled away, as the rider recovered. He lift his helmet over his eyes and noticed the grenade burning beside him.
At the Hanger Red Skull stood beside a huge, mysterious wheel and toasts eight pilots.
"Tomorrow, Hydra will stand master on the world, borne to victory on the wings of the valkyrie. Our enemies' weapons will be powerless against us. If they shoot down one plane, hundreds more shall rain fire upon them. If they cut off one head..." Red Skull said raising his glass. "Two more shall rake its place!" he said and drink with his pilots.
"HAIL HYDRA!" Pilots said.
"HAIL HYDRA!" HYDRA soldiers said.
Skull turned and five hundred soldiers in formation salute in unison.
"HAIL HYDRA! HAIL HYDRA!" they said.
As Skull took in the devotion, he noticed a red light flashing on the wall and slowly turned.
On the mountaintop alarms sound at the surface entrance. Barbed wire tops an earthen walled compound. HYDRA soldiers race to take positions. One scrambled to look over the wall, only to see Steve shooting right at him. The bike ramped off a gun emplacement, launched through the barbed wire and crashed into the compound. Steve crushed one guard. Whipping wire slashed another. Guards open fire and Steve swerved, tossing a grenade. One guard leveled a bazooka. Steve raised his shield and deflected the blast back. Finally, a Hydra rifleman blew out Steve's tire. Steve's front fork dug into the ground, throwing him over the handlebars. He got to his feet, swinging, as dozens of guards move in pummeling him from all sides.
At Schmidt's office lab guards drag in Steve. He stared up at Skull's grotesque portrait then Skull stepped from the shadows. Steve struggled and the guards hold him tight.
"Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait... but I will say you do it better than anyone else." Skull said and leaned in, teeth gleaming in his crimson face. "There are limits to what even you can do, Captain. Or did Erskine tell you otherwise?"
"He told me you were insane. That seemed like enough." Steve said.
"He resented my genius and tried to deny me what was rightfully mine. Yet he gave you everything." Red Skull said. "What made you so special?" he almost wounded.
"Nothing..." Steve said and slowly raised his head, staring into Skull's sunken eyes. "I'm just a kid from Brooklyn." he said and Skull seethed and smashed Steve in the face.
The guards grip Steve's arms, holding him up as the Skull battered him again and again. After a long time, Skull stepped back. Steve panted, beaten, exhausted then finally smiled.
"I can do this all day." he continued.
"I believe you can. But I am on a schedule." Skull said, pulled pulled his Luger and Steve stares down the barrel.
"So am I."
Skull turned toward the window to see three specks in the distance, flying straight toward the glass. He spun back to Steve, pistol leveled. Steve swung a guard around, blocking the blast. The guard was incinerated as Bucky, Dum Dum, Falsworth, and Jones smash through the window on zip lines. Jones landed on Skull's desk, blasting away with his .30 cal.
In a corridor the zip line extended from a powerful grappling gun. Dernier hooked to the wire and shot away while Morita barked into his radio.
"We're in. Go! Go! Go!" Morita said.
At the forest ridge.
"Assault team! Go!" he said on a combat radio.
Atop a ridge, Phillips stood.
"You heard him! Move out!" Phillips said.
Peggy and hundreds of allied troops slip out of hiding and Phillips looked at her and cocked a shotgun.
Up top, a mountaintop allied soldiers open fire, pouring into the compound.
In Schmidt's office lab Dugan landed a haymaker. Steve knocked out the other guard. Skull got off a few blasts as he back out the door. Down the hall, allied soldiers blow through the double doors. Falsworth cut down a guard while Bucky taking the shield from him and tossed it to Steve.
"Thanks." Steve said.
"You got it." Bucky said and Steve strapped on the shield and raced after Skull.
'And be careful.' he thought.
In a corridor four HYDRA troopers back up to the entrance, firing. One fell, shot, a second tried to lob a grenade but fell, dropping the grenade at the feet of the third. Trapped, the last one panicked, tongue fumbling in his mouth.
"Cut off one head, two more shall rise." the soldier said and fell dead as Phillips stood there, shotgun smoking.
"Let's go find two more." he said and a dozen marines follow him inside.
In a corridor Skull ran down a corridor, jackboots pounding. Steve tore after him, racing around the corner, only to be met by a vicious barrage. Schmidt unloaded his Luger, blasting blue bolts and Steve barely got his shield up in time.
In a corridor Schmidt raced past an intersecting corridor. He dashed through a doorway and hit a button: Blast doors started closing.
Steve saw the closing doors. He calculated and hurled his shield. It whirled down the corridor and jammed between the doors, holding them open. He took off after Schmidt but a HYDRA flame trooper stomped out of the intersecting corridor, blocking his way. The flame trooper raised his twin guns. Steve raised his arm, only to realize his shield was stuck in the door. Blue fire flickers from the trooper's nozzles. Then the trooper staggered and the tank on his back exploded.
Peggy stepped out of the corridor, rifle in hand.
"You're late." Steve said.
"Tell me you're not complaining." Peggy said. "Weren't you about to...?" she said nodding at the door.
"Right." he said and sprinted for the door, sliding below the shield, grabbing it as he left and the doors slam behind him.
Peggy waved on a squad of SSR troops behind her.
Meanwhile Bucky, Dernier and Falsworth fight along a corridor, outnumbered. Bucky nodded to Falsworth and Dernier and they retreat around a bend. Surprised, the HYDRA troopers gave chase. After a moment the HYDRA troopers came running back. Dum Dum stepped out, firing a HYDRA cannon.
Inside the bomber, dim monitors line an impressive Cockpit. A high-tech cradle stood in the center. Skull approached, carrying the titanium box. He put it over the cradle and dispensed the Cube. Blue circuits flash. Lights and gauges flicker.
In another corridor Steve ran toward another door. Beyond, a huge hanger looms. Suddenly, a deep rumbling shakes the base. He gaped. Through the doorway, he saw a gigantic plane roll past.
Then he skid into the hanger. The massive plane taxies down the runway. In the shadows, five more bombers wait. Schmidt's plane picked up speed. Steve took off after it.
At suborbital bomber cockpit Skull throttled up and pressed a button.
At the far end of the hanger, a door opened, letting in the glare of daylight. Steve chased after the plane, but the huge bomber picked up speed and started pulling away. Suddenly, an engine revs and Schmidt's car came up alongside the still-running Steve, Phillips behind the wheel.
"Get in." Phillips said and Steve jumped in without the car ever slowing down. In the back, Peggy chambered a round into Phillips' shotgun.
In the cockpit Skull accelerated and on his monitor, he spied his car.
At the Hanger Phillips gained on the plane. Just then, the bomber's rear propellers spun into a blur. The plane widened the gap and Phillips saw a toggle switch on the dash, "Compressor." He hit it and the car leapt forward, throwing them back. Steve climbed over the windshield and steadied himself.
"Closer!" Steve said and Phillips floors it.
The car surged toward the propellers. Steve dropped just as the propellers shave off the HYDRA hood ornament and shared a worried look with Peggy.
In the cockpit Skull raced for the mouth of the tunnel.
At the Hanger Phillips came up alongside the plane's huge tire.
"Hold it steady this time." Steve said.
"Wait!" Peggy said, grabbed him by the neck and kissed him.
When they broke off, he looked at her, wide-eyed.
"Go get him." she said and he nodded stunned then looked to Phillips.
"I'm not kissing you!" Phillips said.
At the cockpit Skull punched the throttle, the speedometer red-lining.
At the Hanger Steve braced himself on the hood. Phillips pulled to within inches of the spinning wheel.
On the cliff the plane burst out of the tunnel and Phillips saw the gorge ahead. He slammed on the brakes. At the last moment, Steve leapt, snagging the landing gear. The plane shot over the edge, sailing into the air. Phillips skid to a stop and Peggy saw Steve hanging on.
At Suborbital bomber, landing gear Steve locked his arm around a strut. The plane gained altitude and he looked for a way in. Just then the landing gear groaned and the wheels retract. Steve found himself riding the landing gear right into the flight deck. He stared, awestruck and realized the propellers are attached to eight fighters inside the wing. Each features a snub-nose cube bomb as its nosecone. A bullet ricochets off his shield and he spun as the eight pilots rush down a ramp from the bridge. He flipped into a flying spin kick, dropping two pilots where they stand. The others move in on him. He threw one across the flight deck and out of the plane then smashed another with his shield. A huge pilot faces off against Steve. He swung a chock, clocking Steve in the head. Steve staggered onto a fighter and the big pilot leapt on him.
Inside the fighter's cockpit, another pilot saw his chance.
He pulled the release lever and the fighter dropped, with Steve and the pilot still aboard.
At the pod fighter Steve held on as the fighter shot through the air. The big pilot hung on to Steve's boot but Steve kicked. Once. Twice. The big pilot lost his grip, tumbling into the propeller.
Inside, the fighter pilot looked up, astounded to see Steve still hanging on.
He executed a barrel roll. Steve's eyes roll back, skin rippling form the G-force. The pilot jerked the stick but Steve hauled himself forward and grasped the edge of the cockpit and slid it open.
The pilot evaded Steve's grasping hand. Then Steve reached down and pulls red the ejector switch. The pilot blasts into the sky, smashing into the underside of the bomber's wing. Steve climbs in and hauls on the stick, righting the plane.
At the Suborbital bomber cockpit Skull checked an electronic map, showing the plane's progress toward America. Then he looked out the windshield and froze. Steve's ragged fighter came swooping up out of the clouds, propeller whirling.
On the Pod fighter Steve yanked the stick, flying shakily toward the flight deck.
His pod fighter skid across the flight deck finally coming to a stop in a shower of sparks and screeching metal. He pushed the canopy off and climbed from the wreck. Then he strapped on his shield and looked toward the cockpit.
He kicked open the door to find stillness and stepped warily toward the control platform. He saw the pilot's chair empty. Suddenly, he heard the whine of a HYDRA assault rifle powering up. His eyes dart to the window and saw a reflection of Skull aiming at his back. Steve whipped around, shield raised, deflecting Skull's shot. The blast ricocheted, blowing out a pane of the cockpit glass and the wind roared.
"You don't give up, do you?" Red Skill asked.
"Nope." Steve said and charged at Skull, who fired again.
Blue bolts ricochet around the cabin. Steve swings, bashing the rifle from Skull's hands. Skull swings. Steve puts Skull in a headlock. Skull throws Steve into a bulkhead.
Steve swings his shield, but Skull grabs it with both hands. The two super soldiers strain, eye to eye.
"You wear a flag on your chest and think you fight a battle of nations? I have seen the future, Captain. There are no flags but Hydra's." Red Skull said.
"Keep the future. I'm looking for a little here and now." Steve said and slammed Skull in the jaw with the shield.
Skull staggers then Steve cocked back and hit Skull with an uppercut. The impact drove Skull up and into auto pilot controls and the autopilot disengaged and the plane lurched violently.
At Suborbital bomber the massive plane spun into a barrel roll. Through the cockpit window Steve and Skull tumbled to the ceiling.
They crash across the whirling cockpit. Steve grasped for a handhold. The plane jerked again, throwing them together. They battle in chaotic ZERO-G. Steve powered Skull into the ceiling and Skull elbowed him into the wall then tried to reach the autopilot but Steve used his momentum to swing around a strut and slammed his shield into Skull's head. Skull based against the wall, but adeptly bounced back. He grabbed a strut and kicked Steve toward the back bulkhead. Skull flew at the autopilot controls and Steve slammed hard into the steel wall. Skull found a handhold and hit the autopilot button.
At the bomber the giant plane pulled out of its dive.
At the cockpit gravity returned with sudden violence. Steve smashed to the floor, his shield rolling away. He lied momentarily dazed with his eyes flutter.
"You could have the power of the gods..." someone said and Steve looked up to see Skull advancing, luger drawn. "And you will not admit you want it?"
Standing in front of the cube housing, Skull took dead aim at the star on Steve's chest.
"I want what every soldier on every battlefield wants..." Steve said and eyed the shield at his feet. "I want to go home."
"I want this war to end." someone said.
Steve slammed his heel onto the shield, flipping it into the air. Skull fired but Steve jumped to his feet, grabbing the shield, blocking the blast and whirled and hurled his shield.
The spinning disc hit Skull in the ribs with a sickening crunch, knocking him off his feet smashing him into the cube console. Blue energy arcs and crackles from the damaged machinery. The energy gauge pins at overload.
Skull pulled himself to his feet, staring in alarm as the cube rise from the machine, glowing with a violent intensity. He stared, reached out and extracted the cube. Steve gaped as the cube burn the glove off Skull's hand, exposing the scarred flesh.
The plane seemed to vanish around him. Visions of the nine realms dance in the light and a rainbow portal stretched past an observatory and into space.
"Valhalla..." Red Skull said.
"I was right..." someone said.
"It is real..." someone else said.
"Yes, I understand..." someone else said.
"I have waited so long..." someone else said.
The visions sped up until they blur. Suddenly, the cube vibrated violently and Skull looked worried.
"No." he said and Steve whipped up his shield as energy shot from the cub. "NO!" he said and energy bolt ricochet off the ceiling and strike the skull, vaporizing him as the cube went NOVA.
At the bomber a massive column of energy shot toward space, growing in intensity until it explodes outwards, evaporating the clouds.
Light glared through the cockpit windows. Then faded and the plane whipped past.
In the crockpot Steve stood, woozy. When his vision returned, he saw the inert cube and took a step toward it. Suddenly, the plane banks violently, its engines roaring. He raced for the controls and the forgotten cube tumbled across the flight deck. Tink... tink... tink... and flew out a hole in the fuselage.
Steve climbed into the chair as the control stick steered automatically. He wrestled it, trying to override the plane but it won't alter course. He stared at the monitor and the green map of Manhattan.
In the Control Tower the radio squawked in the empty control room.
"Agent Carter, Sergeant Barnes, come in..." Steve said on the radio and Peggy ran in and grabbed the radio, frantic and relieved.
"Steve, is that you? Are you okay?" Peggy asked.
"I'm fine."
Through the window, the invaders were rounding up the surrendered HYDRA men.
"Where's Schmidt?" Peggy asked.
"Schmidt's dead." Steve said on the radio.
"What about the plane?"
"That's a little bit harder to explain."
On the suborbital bomber Steve stared at the New York map, radio in hand. His compass lied open on the control board.
"Give me your coordinates. I'll find a landing site-." Peggy said.
"There isn't going to be a landing. Schmidt's locked the navigation system." Steve said and eyed the relined engine gauges in front of him. "And there's more than enough power to reach the East Coast." he said and she looked grave then waved Phillips down.
"I'll get Howard on the line. He'll know what to do."
"I'm sitting on a hundred tons of explosives. Hot wiring this thing's not an option." he said and looked out the window at the vast, blue expanse of ocean. "I've got to put her in the water."
Peggy spread her fingers on the wall, her knuckles white.
"But you said you couldn't steer it." she said and Bucky grabbed the radio.
Steve scanned the control panel and saw a thick cable running from the ignition to the engines.
"I can't. But I think I can crash it." he said and yanked the cable out.
Blue sparks flare then all the lights die. The engines stop and the plane went quiet.
"Steven Grant Rogers don't you dare do what I think you're doing!" Bucky said fighting tears.
Steve eyed the navigation charts.
"I already did. Right now, I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer, a lot of people are going to get hurt." he said. "Bucky, this is my choice."
"Goddamnit Steve!" Bucky said as tears started to go down.
Peggy and Phillips looked at each other, slowly accepting what's happening and noticed something wasn't right with Bucky.
"Just let us send out rescue ships. We'll find you." Bucky said.
"I don't think there's going to be much left to find." Steve said and leaned on the stick with all his might and the plane started a screaming dive. "Bucky?"
"Yeah?"
Steve's compass spun wildly and he just stares at her picture.
"I'm going to need a rain check on that-" he started when the radio in Bucky's hand went silent and he shut his eyes tight.
Phillips put a hand on Peggy's shoulder while Peggy just stared out the hanger at the blue sky beyond.
'Steve.' Bucky thought and felt the soldier in him finally break down.
Phillips, Peggy and everyone else noticed and decided to let their strongest soldier to let him break.
"Let it out Sergeant." Peggy said gently and Bucky looked at her. "He was your best friend, let it out." she said and the soldier in him finally cracked as tears started coming down and wouldn't stop while he fell to his hands and knees.
It continued for another twenty minutes while the others looked at him heartbroken.
At Trafalgar Square people lean from balconies, holding the V for Victory sign. A paper on a newsstand read, "WAR OVER!"
At The Whip & Fiddle Pub amidst the revelry, Morita, Jones, Dernier, Falsworth and Dugan stood at attention. Their bags rest against the wall. They solemnly raise their glasses while Bucky sat there with his hands on his face and a beer in front of him.
At Stark search boat a trawler bobs on the ocean's surface, at anchor. All sorts of antennae sprout from the wheelhouse.
At Stark search boat, Wheelhouse Howard hunched over a monitor on a high-tech bridge.
His assistants eye SONAR and Radiation detectors. One featured a steady green blip.
On Howard's screen: grainy video footage of the sea bottom.
Sand and fish roll past as the camera explores the terrain.
Howard peers. He stops the camera sub, adjusts the monitor, bringing into focus...
The cracked inert cosmic cube.
He operated a pair of joysticks and two robotic claws extend. They reach out and clasp the cube and he exhaled and looked to his assistants.
"Move us to the next grid point." he said.
"But there's no trace of wreckage, sir. And the energy signature stops here." his assistant said and Stark pushed back from the monitor, spent, grim.
"Just keep looking."
At the Arctic Ocean the plane's wingtip slipped below the ice.
At allied headquarters, briefing room Phillips signed and official report. "CLASSIFIED-CAPTAIN AMERICA." He stamped it: "INACTIVE" and slid it into a red box marked "TO BE DESTROYED." He looked up as Peggy walked in and regards her, stoic, suppressing his emotion.
"No one said we have to forget the man, Agent." Phillips said and she nodded.
Then she picks up the box and put it with others on a table near the door. For a moment, she just stood there, overwhelmed.
She opened the box, taking out A photo of pre-rebirth Steve and smiled, tucked it in her pocket, closed the box and left.
Meanwhile Bucky was at his new apartment looking at a picture of him and Steve together smiling.
He had visited his family telling them he was home and alright the day before and they were happy, relieved, proud of what he did for the last three years but heart broken about losing Steve, the closest thing to another son or brother they had.
Then he put the picture down, went to the kitchen, grabbed a beer, sat down and tried to get drunk to relax.