Out of Time: Part 3

In a deserted tunnel of London’s Tube System, members of Advanced Ideas In Destruction (or AID), are waiting for a signal from the Red Skull to set off bombs he has planted in various major cities. When the call does come in, it comes from the Skull’s right hand man, Crossbones. He tells them to set the bomb off at the appointed time anyway because, apparently, the Red Skull is dead.[1] The is reported back to Mother Night, who the Red Skull put in charge of the London operation. She barely has time to process the news when she hears gunshots coming from further down the tunnel.

Meanwhile, the SHIELD helicarrier is racing across the Atlantic. They have discovered that the Red Skull has set up explosives in major cities across the globe in the hopes of using the death and destruction to re-power the Cosmic Cube. Now that whoever killed the Skull has the Cube, they are racing to stop the bombs to save lives and prevent the killers from reaping the reward of the late Nazi’s final plot. While they wait for the London team to send back intel, Sharon pulls Captain America aside for “tactical insight”. In reality, she noticed how out of it Steve is. She understands that he has had a lot to process that evening but they need him to be focused on the task at hand. She tells him to get some rest and she’ll get him as soon as they hear back from London.

Captain America goes to his quarters and as he is splashing water on his face he suddenly recollects his last mission with Bucky. However, the events play out differently. In this version of events, Cap and Bucky search the Allied warehouse on a tip that the Nazis were going to strike it. In the middle of their search they were then ambushed by Baron Zemo, who then opened fire on Steve. Although his chainmail was enough to stop the bullets, the force of the impact was enough to knock him off his feet, allowing the Nazis to take them both prisoner. This is the first time that Steve has seen these memories and it leaves him confused because that’s not how he has always remembered these events.[2] That’s when there is a knock at the door as a SHIELD agent has come to tell him they just heard back from the London team.

A half-hour earlier, Union Jack and a team of SHIELD agents had entered the abandoned tunnel to investigate. They are surprised to find that someone had beat them there and murdered everyone there and took the bomb. When Union Jack reports this back to SHIELD, Captain America recognizes one of the dead as Mother Night.[3]

As Captain America and Sharon Carter head to the location in one of SHIELD’s flying cars, they spot an advanced aircraft that is commonly used by Advanced Idea Mechanics. Cap leaps out of the car and onto the AIM craft and forces it to crash land. Sure enough, it is piloted by AIM operatives. Captain America quickly takes them down with relative ease. However, once the prisoner are interrogated they insist that they knew nothing about the murder of the Red Skull and his associates. As it turned out, they had only come to take back the explosives that AID stole from them the group splintered off. When they report this back to Fury, he informs them that the DNA tests on the corpse came back and positively identifies the dead man in their morgue as the Red Skull. While this doesn’t give them much to work with, it is still more than they had when this mystery began. Fury tells Sharon and Steve to the night off before heading back.

The two spent the evening together, seeing the sights in Paris. For Steve, being here brings back memories from World War II. He remembers how he and the Invaders — the Human Torch, Namor, Bucky, and Toro — participated in the push to liberate France during Operation Dragoon. He remembers the fights were brutal, but the collateral damage was harder to look at, such as the massacre of civilians in Buchenwald, or the murder of 600 men, women, and children in the town of Oradour-Sur-Glane that was done in retaliation toward the Maquis resistance helping with D-Day on the beaches of Normandy. The French people were brave and proud and once their country was taken back there was a parade on the street. Captain America and his allies all stood on the sidelines and saluted the French resistance fighters as they were the real heroes that day. Hearing all this, Sharon is reminded how worldly Steve really is. When they change the subject back to the Red Skull, his mystery killer, and AIM, neither can figure what’s really going on. Whatever it is, Sharon believes that this is only the beginning.

Meanwhile, at a dive bar outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jack Monroe is drinking his life away, as usual, when there news on the TV about the incident in Paris. When Jack says he used to work with Captain America, the bartender doesn’t believe him.[4] This upsets Jack that he squezes his glass with enough for to shatter it. The bartender tells Jack to chill out, but Monroe storms out instead. Muttering to himself all the way back to his car, Jack is approached by someone who knows his name. Turning to face the man, Jack asks if he knows the stranger. The stranger says no, shoots him point blank in the chest, killing Jack instantly.[5] The shooter then stuff Jack’s corpse into the trunk and drives the car into the city.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, SHIELD (Nick Fury, Sharon Carter), Union Jack, AID, Mother Night, AIM, Winter Soldier (unidentified), (flashback) Invaders (Captain America, Bucky, Sub-Mariner, Human Torch, Toro), Nazis

Continuity Notes

1. The Red Skull was fatally shot in Captain America (vol. 5) #1. However, he managed to cheat death by transferring his mind into the Cosmic Cube, which he will use to jump ship into the mind of Aleksander Lukin, as we’ll learn in Captain America (vol. 5) #14.

2. It’s later explained in Captain America (vol. 5) #6 that the Cosmic Cube is straightening out Cap’s confused memories about what happened on the day that Bucky allegedly died. The original version of events were told in Avengers #4. The flashback here is a new memory that joins the countless other stories that expand on these events. See also Avengers #56, What If? #4, Captain America #215, 220, (vol. 5) #4, 6, 8, 11, 25, Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #12, Captain America: Reborn #1, Captain America: Man Out of Time #1, not to mention the false accounts told in Captain America (vol. 4) #10 and 12.

3. Aka Susan Scarbo, she got her start as the villain Suprema in Captain America #123. However, he ties to the Red Skull go back to when he was stationed on the Isle of Exiles as revealed in Captain America #350, (vol. 5) #15, and Fear Itself: Sin’s Past #1. Her first appearance as Mother Night was in Captain America #356. As of this writing (Feb. 2023), Mother Night is still considered among the deceased.

4. When William Burnside decided to become the next Captain America in the 1950s, he picked Jack Monroe to be his Bucky. However, the Super Soldier Serum they used on each other was defective and drove them crazy, forcing the government to put them in suspended animation, as per Captain America #155. When Jack was later revived in the Modern Age he eventually ended being de-programmed by SHIELD. With nowhere else to go, he convinced Steve Rogers to take him on as his new partner in Captain America #281. As Nomad, Jack fought alongside Steve until they two parted company in issue #305. They worked together a second time between Captain America #337 to 345 before — other than the odd team-up — drifting apart for good.

5. Jack’s mystery killer is the Winter Soldier, as we’ll learn in Captain America (vol. 5) #6. How Jack got to be in this sorry state before his death is revealed in issue #7. As of this writing (Feb. 2023), Jack Monroe remains among the deceased.

Topical References

• When recounting the war, Captain America tells Sharon that he gets upset when he hears people calling the French cowards. This is in reference to the international response following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the subsequent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. When the United States was looking for allies to help fight their war, France was one of the most vocal countries against the invasion. This led to a huge public outcry in the United States as the average American (very ignorant of the centuries of war France has experienced in all its existence) had the nerve to call the French cowards. In the typical dumb American fashion it went to the point where Americans were buying bottles of French wine and pouring them out and renaming French fries “Freedom Fries”. To give you a real example of his idiotic this way of thinking was (and still is in America) one of the Freedom Fries restaurant owners also renamed sauerkraut, even though that dish originates from Germany. Yes, some Americans can be that stupid.

• The TV at the dive bar Jack Monroe is drinking in is depicted as a CRT television. This should be considered a topical reference as this is now an obsolete technology.