Having resigned as Captain America, Steve Rogers walks the streets pondering Hawkeye’s advice to adopt a new costumed identity. Lost in thought he walks in front of a car but is so elated at the solution to his dilemma, he just does a bunch of acrobatic flips through traffic to get across the street. Down in Virginia, Viper is being transported to a Grand Jury hearing by three U.S. Marshals when the car is halted by a dart piercing the bullet-proof glass. A sudden spray of gas forces the occupants from the car where the Marshals are coldly gunned down by Madame Hydra. She tells Viper that she is through with Hydra and has devoted herself to the cause of nihilism and terror and is taking on the name of …Viper. She then kills the former bearer of that name for his betrayal and takes his costume, heading off to meet up with her new Serpent Squad. Elsewhere at that moment, Princess Python is breaking Cobra and Eel out of prison and the gang’s roster is complete. In New York, Steve officially resigns from the police force and breaks the good news to Sharon. He is surprised that she is less than thrilled; she was hoping to finally have a normal life. But Steve tells her he is doing what he was born for, and Sharon sends him off to her parents’ home in Virginia to work on his new identity. Meanwhile, the new Viper holds the first meeting of the new Serpent Squad; he breaks the news to Eel that his brother died valiantly against the forces of order (omitting further details), and fights off a challenge from Cobra for the leadership of the gang. The next day, Steve is welcomed to the Carter home in Virginia where he has the privacy to work on his new costume and identity ("I hope a bat doesn’t fly in my window.") and devises a darker caped outfit and, to symbolize his break with the past, the name Nomad. End Part one.
Part two: Roscoe the gym attendant comes to Sam Wilson’s office seeking Steve Rogers. Instead he finds the Falcon and explains that he wants to be the New Captain America and would like Steve to be his trainer (not realizing that Steve is the original Cap). Falcon ridicules his dream and sends him home grumbling. On his maiden voyage that night, Nomad patrols the streets of Washington DC and discovers the Serpent Squad kidnapping a man from a theater. He swoops down, pursuing the villains into the building. As a documentary on the career of Captain America plays on the screen, Nomad takes on the Serpents, holding his own—until he trips on his cape. While he is dazed, the villains escape with their victim. At their hideout later, Viper explains that the man thy have hostage is the president of Roxxon Oil, and his knowledge is needed for their plan. She then introduces the group’s silent partner: the Warlord Krang…and he has the Serpent Crown of Lost Lemuria.