Story #2Double Danger
Writer: Mark Waid. Penciler: Dougie Braithwaite. Inker: Robin Riggs. Colorist: Kevin Tinsley.
Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Captain America is battling the inmates of the asylum’s violent ward released by the
Chameleon so he can escape with his prisoner
Randall Jefferson. Cap is trying not to hurt any of the patients, though they have no scruples about attempting to kill him. Cap uses his acrobatic skills to leap clear of the psychotic mob and manages to get Jefferson away from his captor. At this point Cap realizes that Jefferson is not insane but a telepath, panicking at the storm of information in his head and overwhelming Cap with his broadcast. Chameleon slugs Cap from behind, seizes Jefferson and makes it to his escape copter. Cap follows and, with a mighty leap, catches hold of the copter’s landing struts. Entering the craft he sees two Jeffersons before him; his foe has pulled this trick to slow Cap down long enough for the pilot to shoot him in the back. Cap thinks the word, "Duck" which only a telepath could pick up: the real Jefferson ducks and Cap clobbers Chameleon and the pilot. Later, as Jefferson is getting help from
SHIELD’s scientists,
Nick Fury explains that the man’s latent mutant abilities were unlocked by being in close proximity to SHIELD’s telepaths; with his mind opened to the
Federal Ethernet, the sudden influx of classified intel threatened to drive him mad. Fury thanks Cap for his handling of the mission.
Story #3American Life: The Sordid Story of Captain America's First Non-Appearance
Writer: Polly Watson.
Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Text article takes a wry look at the comic classic
STRANGE TALES #114, wherein the
Human Torch faces a
Captain America impostor.
Story #4Come the Revolution
Writer: Roger Stern. Penciler: Ron Frenz. Inker: Roger Langridge. Colorist: Tom Smith.
Synopsis / Summary / Plot
1781:
Captain Steven Rogers of the
Continental Army is facing British aristocrat
Sir William Taurey in a duel at dawn. His mind goes back to how his path led him to this pass. Five years earlier he had been a humble blacksmith; when a British soldier cheated him out of payment, he appealed to the passing William Taurey for justice and was rebuffed. When word came that the colonies had declared independence, Steven and his friends joined the fight—but a stranger named
Ulysses Bloodstone warned them that democracy inevitably spawns a new dictatorship. Steven disagreed, voicing the belief that America will be different, a nation that will hold to its ideal. As the war progressed, Steven distinguished himself in the Continental Army, rising to the rank of Captain. Recently Steven was assigned to unmask a traitor to the patriot cause, requiring him to go undercover in the home of the spy’s contact, loyalist William Taurey. At a masked ball at Taurey’s home, Steven watched as the aristocrat had his nephew dress in a red, white, and blue uniform, and calling himself
Captain Yankee Doodle, Andrew parodied the patriots as buffoons. When Taurey was called to a secret meeting of loyalists, Steven stole the Yankee Doodle costume and infiltrated the meeting as Taurey’s nephew….