Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Captain America, rushed to the emergency room with a gunshot wound, is already nearly healed but the doctors are still concerned with his mental state. Cap asks if they have "won the war" and is surprised to learn that an African-American woman is a doctor, not a nurse. Elderly Dr. Dysart mentions that his father fought alongside Captain America in World War 2 and this patient is far too young to be him. Cap startles him by knowing his father’s name and company and leaves behind a card with a six-digit number with which to call President Roosevelt. As Cap leaves through the waiting room, he is confused by the large number of languages he hears spoken as well as the unfamiliar slang by English-speakers. He is accosted by a young man he recognizes as Bucky, who is searching for the missing Avengers. The young man insists his name is Rick Jones and is confused that this costumed figure claims to be the real Captain America. In a coffee shop, where he is stunned by the high prices, Cap reveals that he has decided he is dreaming the whole experience, so is unable to take any of it seriously. As Rick tries to walk out on this lunatic, Cap slings his shield, ricocheting it off several vehicles then leaps through the air to make an impossible catch. Cap questions the instantly convinced Rick about the missing Avengers and realizes the odd statues he saw were the Avengers. They head to Rick’s cousin’s apartment to use the computer ("How is math going to help us right now?" Cap asks) and within seconds Rick has tapped into surveillance cameras to identify a masked man with a mystery device and e-mailed the picture to a large network of message boards and posted it on his website. As Rick watches the news (including a story on the biggest movie star in the world—a black man, Will Smith), Cap experiments with the search engine and is so shocked by what he learns that, when Rick mentions a possible address for their quarry, without a word he climbs to the roof and starts running. (Meanwhile the city and the nation are abuzz with the reports of a colorful new hero.) Cap smashes through the hotel window, dodges shots from an advanced energy weapon and overpowers the mystery man—who is revealed to be an alien in disguise. This last shock so overwhelms Cap that he begins laughing uncontrollably, and is still laughing when Rick arrives. Cap assures Rick that he knows this is no dream: what convinced him? The discovery that President Roosevelt did not live to see the end of the War. "I could never have dreamt something so cruel." But now that he is certain is he not dreaming his next step is to go home….