Serpents and Eagles Part III: Capital Punishment

Earlier

In order to find out which government agency has been supplying weapons to a racist organization called the Sons of the Serpent, Captain America has returned to Washington for answers.[1] He calls on his old friend Nick Fury and they meet at the Lincoln Memorial.[2] Cap has fond memories of vacationing in the area with his family, before remembering that they were just Life Model Decoys.[3] Inquiring what happened to his “wife” and “son”, Steve learns that the Peggy LMD is now acting as a mistress to a foreign dictator while Ricky has been stripped for parts.

When Steve tells Fury that he’s looking into the Sons of the Serpent, he is informed that SHIELD is already aware and looking into it. In fact, they got intel on the location of the Serpents’ hideout and are preparing to send a unit in to deal with them. Cap insists on tagging along as he wants to make sure they are shut down for good.[4]

Before Steve prepares for the mission he meets with his new partner Bucky. She tells him that things have been weird on the SHIELD helicarrier since he went on his road trip across America. Steve tells her to remain aboard the station as his eyes and ears and warns her to remain vigilant. He then meets up with Sam Wilson who has since left the Navy and become a crime fighter called the Falcon.[5] He wants Sam to try and locate the Sons of the Serpent independently of SHIELD to make sure they have truly found the location of their hideout.

As Captain America and a SHIELD mech-suit unit prepare to storm the Serpents’ hideout, Bucky notices that there is one room on the helicarrier that is off limits for some unknown reason. Meanwhile, Falcon found the Serpents but has been captured and is now being tortured by the racists. When Cap and the SHIELD agents arrive on the scene, Steve becomes aware of the fact that all of the agents on this mission are non-white. He realizes too late that they’ve walked into a trap when they are ambushed by the Sons of the Serpent. The tunnel is then collapsed when one of the Serpents lets off a grenade.

The SHIELD agents survive the blast and emerge to report that Captain America was killed in action. Fury tells them to rest up as they will be going after the Serpents to avenge Cap soon enough. Nick then takes his flying car back to his home estate, unaware of the fact that Captain America is still alive and hiding in his trunk. Once Fury goes inside, Cap sneaks up to one of the upper floor windows and peers inside. There is sees that the Sons of the Serpent are holding a rally and have the Falcon as their prisoner. The King Serpent tells his men that Captain America is dead and with him all opposition to their efforts to cause the downfall of America. The King then removes his mask to show the others his true identity. Captain America is shocked to discover that the Serpents’ leader is none other than Nick Fury!

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Falcon, Bucky, SHIELD (Nick Fury), Sons of the Serpent

Continuity Notes

1. With the exception of Captain America and the Falcon, all of the characters in this story are constructs created by Franklin Richards to populate the Heroes Reborn pocket dimension. See Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4 for all the details.

2. As we’ll learn next issue, this isn’t the real Nick Fury, but a rogue Life Model Decoy that replaced him.

3. In the Heroes Reborn reality, Captain America was deactivated and placed in a civilian life with no memory of his past. In order to sell the illusion, two LMD’s were created to pose as his wife and son so SHIELD could keep a close eye on him 24/7 to make sure he didn’t remember his past. This became a moot point when Steve had to be reactivated to deal with the return of the Red Skull. See Captain America (vol. 2) #1-5 for all the details. The revelation that his family were LMDs was revealed in issue #2.

4. Fury asks if Cap working with SHIELD mean that he is “Putting the eagle back on your head?” This is in reference to the fact that the Heroes Reborn version of Cap’s uniform had an American Eagle emblem on its cowl instead of the trademark A of most integrations. However, after Cap cut ties in issue #7, he started wearing the iconic A again in the following issue.

5. Heroes Reborn Falcon was a member of the Navy, as seen in Captain America (vol. 2) #2. He later got powers from drinking some of Cap’s Super-Soldier Serum infused blood (gross) in issue #5.

Topical References

• This story states that World War II ended 50 years prior to this story. This should be considered a topical reference due to the Sliding Timescale. As the Modern Age is pushed forward in time, the gulf of years between the end of World War II and the start of the Age of Heroes will continue to grow.