The Extremists: Part 5

Captain America has been on the trail of Inali Redpath, a Native American SHIELD agent that has gone rogue. Having gained the power to control the wind, Redpath now seeks to destroy American society so that his people can reclaim the land that was rightfully theirs to begin with.

After failing to stop the destruction of Miami, Captain America and his new Atlantean ally Hana were taken aboard SHIELD’s new Sky-Destroyer to compare notes with Nick Fury. Cap has just learned that Redpath went rogue after entering a cloning facility he was assigned to investigate for SHIELD. When he emerged — or at least a clone of Redpath — emerged, he went on his insane quest with an assistance of an army made up of clones of Captain America and Bucky that were made in the facility.

When Fury asks how they plan on dealing with Redpath, who claims to have been given his powers from the Sioux wind god, Cap says he’s called in a god of his own. Moments later, Thor, the god of thunder, arrives to aid Captain America on his mission. By this time, Dum Dum Dugan has managed to dig up more information about the cloning facility that created the Cap and Bucky clones. Although SHIELD didn’t run it themselves, he found that someone was funneling some of SHIELD’s budget to fund the operation. He also managed to secure the security footage at the facility on the day it was destroyed. Redpath had interrupted the scientists who were working there. One of them panicked and fatally blasted Inali with one of their high tech weapons. Dying, Redpath is seen clutching his prayer stick and asking the spirits of his ancestors offering his heart to them in exchange for power. That’s when the feed went dead and an hour later, Barricade and Susan Telltrees showed up with the platoon of Cap and Bucky clones to face off against Redtrees, a conflict that led to the destruction of the cloning facility. With the final pieces of the puzzle in place, Captain America has figured out what’s going on and has come up with a way to stop it.

Before heading out, Captain America and Hana run through some training exercises so that they fight better as a team. He is impressed by her skills as not many people can keep up with him like she has. When they finish, he tries to get her to reveal who sent her to rescue him earlier, but she continues insisting that her finding him in the ocean was a lucky coincidence.[1]

SHIELD manages to triangulate Redpath’s location from the SHIELD issued cell phone he had been using to communicate with his co-conspirators. They pinpoint his location as Washington, DC, but Inali begins his attack before they can arrive. Thor is sent ahead of the others and seeing Redpath’s command over the winds is viewed as an insult by the thunder god. Thor strikes back against Inali, who not only can get up after receiving from Mjolnir, but his powers actually grow stronger. Not only does Redpath continue to claim his powers are godly in origin, but he is also able to make the image of Haokah, the Sioux thunder god and begins firing bolts of lightning from his finger tips.

While Inali is distracted by Thor, he is ambushed by Captain America. Cap is able to knock him down as his powers are suddenly gone. He promises Redpath that he will beat him to death if it means stopping him from murdering another innocent person. This amuses Redpath, who says that there are no innocent people in America as anyone is complicit in the crimes committed by their country. In his mind, this could mean anything as insignificant as paying their taxes. Inali can’t understand why Captain America still fights for his country, especially after the drugs he Steve unlocked memories that revealed the government was really responsible for putting him in suspended animation decades earlier.[2] Redpath explains that his own government froze him because he was against using nuclear bombs against the Japanese near the end of World War II.

Captain America doesn’t have any answers and soon Inali Redpath begins to start fading away. He reveals that he has been a clone this entire time and he explains that the process only works a limited time before they disintegrate into nothingness. However, Redpath vows to return and next time he won’t treat Steve with kid gloves. That’s when Cap reveals that Inali won’t be coming back again. Steve explains that when the real Redpath mentioned his ancestors on the security footage, he was reminded of how Inali’s only surviving relative was his grandfather an elderly Sioux with anti-American attitudes and deep shamanistic beliefs. He then deduced that it was this grand-father who was ablle to summon Haokah and transfer his sons consciousness from cloned body to cloned body. As his body begins to disintegrate, Irnali pleads with Steve to spare his life. Cap says he can’t as he has left Redpath’s fate to others, those whose rules are different from his own.

At that moment, in North Dakota, Nick Fury leads a team of SHIELD agents on a raid of the home owned by Inali Redpath’s grandfather. Sure enough they find cloning equipment. Fury orders his men to take the old man into custody and destroy the remaining clones. When the elder Redpath says this will be murder, Fury tells him to say that to the 147 people who died in Miami. When he pleads with them not to murder his son, Fury says that Inali Redpath died in the service of his country days earlier at the Miami cloning facility. This sends the old man into a rage as he is dragged away as he refuses to believe his son would waste his life for America. After the house is cleared out, Fury rigs it with explosives and blows the place up.

This entire experience has given Captain America a lot to reflect on. He recognizes that the the forefathers of America have a lot of blood on their hands. However, they were men and men can be wrong and that governments can be flawed, but he is proud of his country. The land itself is still good and while sometimes it’s not as easy as before, he still has pride in America. He will continue to love his country and fight to the death to protect it. He knows that others will too and that they will make her right again, most of the time.

Seeing his comrade mourning the loss of his enemy, Thor shares the words of Richard the Third:

Conscience is but a word that cowards use, devised at first to keep the mighty in awe. Our strong arms be our conscience — hammer and shield our law. We march on together, you and I, bravely, to do what we know is right..

Captain America knows the quote and finishes it for his friend

“… If not into a world we remake as heaven, then together, side by side — into hell.”

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Thor, SHIELD (Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan), Inali Redpath

Continuity Notes

1. Hana is, of course, lying to Steve here. It is later revealed in Captain America (vol. 4) #16 that she was sent by the Sub-Mariner to look out for Steve as he was being targeted by a villain called the Interrogator. He had her sworn to secrecy.

2. Steve saw these visions in Captain America (vol. 4) #10. They refute the events of Avengers #4, revealing that Steve was put in suspended animation by his own government after protesting the planned atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This will be revealed as false narrative created by the Red Skull in issue #16. However, that doesn’t explain how these false memories got in Cap’s mind. I’ve posited a theory on how in my index entry for issue #7. Redpath knows about the falsehoods probably because the Red Skull showed him the fake documentation he created that “proved” those claims.