Captain America bursts out of the ice
block he was trapped in last issue and tries to get his bearings. He
crashes out of the back of a van to find himself surrounded by a
ragtag band of revolutionaries, many of whom are sporting mutations
and who didn't believe he was actually alive inside the ice block
they stole from the enemy who were using it as a monument.
They show
him that they are in the ruins of Washington DC and see a team of
enemy soldiers on the way; they run for cover but one of their group
is not so lucky: he is spotted by the soldiers and summarily
executed. The rebels have to hold Cap down to prevent him from
interfering which could only get more of the killed.
Rebel leader
Liang fills him in on recent history: the Forty-Minute War occurred,
where a massive nuclear strike destroyed the nation and 90% of the
population were killed; all of the superheroes died in the aftermath.
The attack is suspected to have been triggered by the fascist Rampart
and their leader Maximillian Babbington now rules as “King Baby”
atop his towering stronghold along with the chosen elite. America is
now a police state where the freedoms are unknown; Cap tries to
explain the Bill of Rights to Liang and gets his biggest shock: it is
only 2025—he was frozen for only seven years....
In the Rampart castle, a bureaucrat
called Shores is sent in to explain the loss of the frozen Captain
America to the King. He nervously approaches the throne and explains
the measures being taken to recover Cap. The King has him killed
anyway....
Drones are deployed to search for Cap;
one spots a kid wearing a Captain America shirt and prepares to
sedate him but Cap is on the scene to destroy the drones as only
Captain America can. He also defeats a squad of Rapidtroops. After
posing for a selfie with the kid, he tells Liang: “We're going to
take our country back.”