The Extremists: Part 2

Now

Inali Redpath, a Native American SHIELD agent, has just arrived in Washington, DC, after faking his death. He has come to the Lincoln Memorial to contemplate. He thinks about Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address and the inherit hypocrisy of it and American freedom. This is because he views the white men who came to America from Europe invaders that stole the land from the Native Americans. The idea of American freedom is an illusion to him when you consider that it was founded people who were largely enslaved or confined to living in internment camps. He wonders if Lincoln thought about any of this when he was giving that famous speech.

He then takes out his cell phone and calls Samantha Twotrees, another SHIELD agent. She doesn’t believe that she is talking to Inali Redpath, because she is looking at his dead body right at that moment. He confirms to her that the skeletal remains at her feet is actually a clone and asks to speak with Captain America. Twotrees tells him that he just missed the hero and he deduces that Cap is walking into a trap that Samantha set up for him down the road. This is confirmed when Twotrees hangs up the phone without another word. He then thinks about how he is planning on destroying the American government so he can restore the land to its proper people. He wonders if he should delay his return to Florida and how much he owes his old friend Steve Rogers.

Five Years Ago[1]

Steve Rogers and Inali Redpath were part of a United Nations humanitarian effort in southern Europe. The two both became fast friends, but it was clear that Inali had issues with the American flag, something he inherited from his father back home on the reservation. One night, Redpath revealed that he was actually there on a covert mission for SHIELD to do a job that Steve Rogers wouldn’t do himself. Inali tells Steve about a prison camp nearby and how his job is to free the women and children trapped there and kill all the guards. As he puts together his rifle, Inali asks Rogers who is the better American, the man who does what his government tells him no matter what, or the man who dresses in a flag who lives a higher ideal than the country he is named after. Although this was a rhetorical question, Steve tells him that the better American is the man who does what his heart tells him is right for the betterment of all of humanity, not just other Americans.

With that, Steve suited up as Captain America and went along with Redpath on his mission. While staking out the prison, they are spotted. When the guard aims a rocket launcher at them, Steve tells Inali to hold his fire as he has an idea. Charging at the prison, Steve used his shield to deflect the rocket, then leaped up over the wall. The guard — in a panic — jumped over the other side and ran away on a broken leg. Moments later, Captain America was freeing the prisoners. All was said in done in under 25 minutes with no loss of life. It was then that Inali Redpath came to realize that there was nothing stupid about Captain America.

Now

Redpath then makes a call to Barricade, who is just now setting his trap for Captain America. He too doesn’t believe that he is speaking with the real Inali Redpath because Baracade just killed him. However, Redpath demonstrates that he is speaking the truth by using his newfound power to control the wind to summon a tornado in Barricade’s location. However, Inali is too far away and doesn’t have the strength to sustain the wind so far away. Barricade then hangs up for the phone because Captain America is just arriving and he needs to spring his trap.

Although he puts up a wall in front of the hero, forcing him to stop. When Barricade then tried to immolate Cap with his flame thrower, the hero was able to leap up into the branches of a nearby tree out of harms way. Steve then leaps down and easily defeats all of Barricade’s armed soldiers. However, Barricade refuses to give up. Tossing a pair of high tech manacles onto the ground, he promises to force them onto Captain America. This is easier said than done as Cap proves to be the better fighter in hand-to-hand combat. Luckily for Barricade, a school bus is happening to pass by. Leaping through the windshield, Barricade knocks out the driver and orders Rogers to put on the shackles or else he’ll start killing kids.

Captain America does as he says, but Barricade decides to toss a stick of dynamite at the school bus anyway. However, before it can reach it, the wind picks up and blows out the explosive. Barricade knows that this is Redpath and challenges him to do his worst. Seconds later, the madman is enveloped by a mini-tornado and collapses to the ground with a slit throat. Seconds later, the manacles on Captain America’s wrists unlock and fall to the ground. That’s when Redpath walks out of the tornado and greets Captain America.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Barricade, Inali Redpath, Samantha Twotrees

Continuity Notes

1. According to Avengers, Thor & Captain America: Official Index to the Marvel Universe #13, this flashback takes place between Cap’s appearances in Falcon #4 and Captain America #290. Measuring this up to the Sliding Timescale shows that those events happened about five years ago. As such this measurement of time is factually accurate.

Topical References

• The cell phones in this story are depicted as having antennae and flip down receivers. These types of cell phones are obsolete technology.

• In the flashback, Captain America and Inali Redpath are stated as being in the Balkans. From the perspective of the publication date (2003) that places them in that region in the 1990s. That region was one of much political instability in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The region in the former Yugoslavia in particular was the region experience 7 different armed conflicts between 1991 and 2001.