When Strikes Protocide!

After a series of test runs, Advance Idea Mechanics is pleased with their new assassin, Protocide. They give him his first official mission: Destroy Captain America, claiming that the hero stole Protocide’s legacy from him.[1] Thanks to memory implants, Protocide doesn’t remember much about his past, but believes that they telling him is true and looks forward to carrying out this mission with zeal.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Captain America catches a gang of thieves trying to rob a jewelry store. He takes them down quickly and races off the scene when police arrive as he has more important things to be doing right now. This is because he is running late for a date with his girlfriend, Connie Ferrari. The two had agreed to meet up and catch a baseball game.

He arrives a little late but they are still have time to get to their seats before the game begins. However, the two are briefly stopped by one of Connie’s clients, Chet Madden, who just so happened to be the one that got Connie her tickets to the game. Chet is introduced to Steve, and he says that Connie represented him against the United States government who was going after him over him regarding his recent purchase of some property in Jersey. The whole thing sounds suspicious to Steve who, after Chet leaves, asks Connie if she was representing someone innocent of any wrong doing.[2] Connie reminds him that as a lawyer it’s not her job to defend her client’s innocence, but provide effective client representation as guaranteed by the Constitution. This answer doesn’t sit well with Steve at all.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, Nick Fury is investigating if Agent David Ferrari (Connie’s brother) is still alive.[3] The search has taken him to a massive dome that has been erected in the region. Inside are the remains of a city which are being sifted through by SHIELD agents in hazmat suits. Apparently, the town was wiped out when Ferrari unleashed the Omega Compound while on a mission for the spy agency. There they meet with senior officer Jasper Sitwell to discuss the circumstances of David’s death. Ferrari was a deep cover operative, whose status as a SHIELD agent was kept secret even from their immediate family. He was selected to work for the Furnace, a unit that handles bio-weapons developed or contained by the agency. He was sent on a covert operation to shut down an AIM lab before it could launch a gene altering chemical that would have infected the entire Middle East. As a precaution, David had prepared two drops of the Omega Compound in the event of a life or death situation presented itself. He was given the order to use the Omega Compound when it was the only option for success left.

Fury is angered to learn about this, saying that he would have never green lit such a deadly action on his watch. Sitwell points out that it happened because, at the time, everyone believed Fury was dead.[4] After the incident, Sitwell says that Ferrari’s body ended up getting lost and they had to substitute it with a Life Model Decoy at the funeral. The hazing accident was used as a cover story so that David’s sister Connie wouldn’t go snooping around in her capacity as a lawyer.

In Colorado, SHIELD director Sharon Carter and Dum Dum Dugan have taken US Agent, aka John Walker, to a medical facility there following his recent life-threatening injuries.[5] Walker is being fitted with an exo-skeleton to help with his recovery. With this out of the way, Dugan discusses his reservations about moving a supply of the Omega Compound out of New York City. However, as the Red Skull has recently stolen SHIELD’s helicarrier, they don’t have much choice in the matter.[6] However, construction of a temporary replacement, the Minute Max, are underway and once complete they’ll track the Skull down and take back their property.

By this time, Steve and Connie’s date is over and he is seeing her home for the evening. When she invites Steve upstairs to her apartment, he really wants to but says he has work to do that evening and asks for a raincheque. She agrees and as Rogers takes off, Connie makes a point to remind herself to find out more about Steve’s actual job.[7] Steve soon changes into Captain America and rendezvous with the SHIELD unit that will be transporting the Omega Compound across the city. Little do they know that AIM is aware of what they are transporting and are preparing to deploy Protocide to intercept the shipment.

Protocide ambushes Captain America from atop of the truck that is transporting the Omega Compound. As the two brawl with one another, Protocide raves about how Cap stole his destiny, but Steve has no idea what he’s talking about. Meanwhile, his AIM handlers remind Protocide that his mission is to obtain the Omega Compound and that Captain America can be destroyed later. Refocusing on his job, Protocide rips open the back of the truck to get at the bio-weapon. However, Captain America recovers long enough to nab it from him. By this time, Sharon and Dum Dum have determined that Protocide matches the description of the man who attacked US Agent and realizes Cap is in deep trouble. In order to save his life, Sharon and Dugan pilot a ship that swoops down and lift him and the Omega Compound sample back to base. Once on the ground, Sharon assesses Steve’s injuries and tells Dugan that they are worse than they appear.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, SHIELD (Sharon Carter, Dum Dum Dugan, Nick Fury, Jasper Sitwell), Connie Ferrari, Protocide, AIM (Clete Billups, Chet Madden), US Agent

Continuity Notes

1. As per Captain America Comics #1, the Super-Soldier Formula was famously lost when its inventor, Abraham Erskine, was killed by a Nazi spy. Although Steve has been commonly referred to as the "only” recipient of the formula, that’s not entirely true. The man found by AIM was a soldier named Clinton McIntyre. As will be revealed in Captain America Annual 2000, he was a rejected candidate due to not meeting the psychological profile. However, one of the military brass stole a second dose of the formula and gave it to McIntyre. However, this was only one part of a three part process, and without the other three components of the formula, Clinton went on an insane rampage until his heart gave out on him. The military then quickly covered it up and lost his body in a top secret storage facility. His body was recovered by AIM in issues #26-27.

2. Chet Madden is revealed to be the current leader of AIM in Captain America (vol. 3) #39.

3. David Ferrari is a SHIELD agent and sister to Connie Ferrari, who is dating Stever Rogers at the time of this story. In Captain America (vol. 3) #20, we learned that Connie believes that her brother died after enlisting to the military and dying in a hazing ritual gone wrong. This was actually a cover story. In Captain America (vol. 3) #35-36 that he was secretly a SHIELD agent. After using an a bioweapon called the Omega Compound to destroy the enemy while on a mission, he was believed dead for years. However, he faked his death and has been secretly operating as the Answer and plotting to take over the world. See Captain America (vol. 3) #41-43.

4. Nick Fury had just recently returned from the dead, so to speak. He was seemingly assassinated by the Punisher in Double Edge: Omega #1. However, it was later revealed that this was a Life Model Decoy of Fury, as the genuine article was on a secret mission. Nick was recently found and brought back in Fury/Agent 13 #1-2.

5. US Agent was fatally wounded fighting Protocide in Captain America (vol. 3) #33.

6. The Red Skull stole the SHIELD helicarrier in X-Men (vol. 2) #91 and X-Men Annual 1999. It will remain in his possession until Captain America (vol. 3) #45-48.

7. Steve has been keeping his double identity a secret from Connie ever since learning about his brother in issue #20. Due to how she believes her brother died, Steve isn’t sure how she’ll respond to the discovery that her boyfriend is secretly Captain America, given his ties to the military.

Topical References

• There are a number of baseball references in this story that are now dated and could not have happened in Connie Ferrari’s lifetime due to the Sliding Timescale. These should all be considered topical references:

  • Steve and Connie are going to see a New York Mets game. They also mention New York’s other team, the Yankees. The Mets are playing against the Cardinals. While there isn’t anything anachronistic about this in itself, this is topical due to the fact that these are real world baseball teams. However unlikely it may be to us now, a team can easily change its name, move to another city, or disband at some point in the future.

  • What is anachronistic is that Steve and Connie are seeing the Mets at Shea Stadium. This stadium was torn down in 2009 to make room for Citi Field, the Mets brand new stadium.

  • Steve states here that he was a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers until they moved to Los Angeles and since then he became a Mets fan. The Dodgers originated in Brooklyn 1883. They played int he area until 1957 when they moved to Los Angeles where they have played ever since time of this writing in February, 2023. While Steve Rogers would have been alive when the Dodgers where in Brooklyn, claiming he remembers them playing there in his civilian identity during a period where his double identity was a secret would be subject to the Sliding Timescale. In the year 2000s, nobody would have blinked at Steve making this statement since at the youngest person around to have seen the move would be in their early 40s. Compared to now, where they’d have to be in their early 60s, this would really stand out. So the reference here should be considered topical.

• It is stated here that its been about sixty years since the creation of Captain America. This measurement of time should be considered topical as it is relative to the date of publication. For more on computing the time between World War II and the Modern Age, click here.