As Nick Fury prepares for a grim mission, the scene quickly flashes back to Louisiana six days earlier: a group of striking workers are informed by union official Adam Hauser that the company is bringing in a group of scabs from Mexico to take their jobs, and suggests they can take illegal action.
The next day, Fury drops by Avengers Mansion to find Captain America working off his anger at losing Connie by wrecking training robots. An equally angry Sharon Carter rushes in to confront Fury about his taking back the Directorship of SHIELD, demoting her back to Agent 13. Fury explains that she is being assigned to recover the Helicarrier, stolen by the Red Skull months earlier.
In Louisiana, Hauser takes the strikers to the motel where the Mexicans are staying and supplies the men with masks so they can slaughter their rivals.
Cap asks Iron Man to use Avengers technology to locate the missing Helicarrier. Drawing a blank, Shellhead notes the large-scale death of fish in the Gulf of Mexico and deduces the craft is submerged there. Sharon sees reports of the violent hate crime nearby: a group of visiting Mexican schoolteachers was killed by a mob of white men who believed themselves to be striking workers for a nonexistent corporation. The heroes draw the conclusion that the Red Skull is at work. Meanwhile, the Skull meets with his agent who has been disguised as "Adam Hauser, union official" and they proceed with their plans to destabilize America.
Back in the present, Nick Fury arrives at a remote area for a funeral involving a flag-draped casket….