In a New York hospital, Aleksander Lukin waits anxiously by the bedside of his aide Leon, whom he inexplicably beat for touching the Cosmic Cube. When he learns that Leon’s condition is still uncertain, he determines that "this cannot continue" and walks out….
Back at Steve’s Brooklyn residence, Captain America and the Falcon are trying to puzzle out Lukin’s scheme against Cap. The villain doesn’t seem to have reason to hold a grudge over the massacre in his village when he was a kid (besides, Cap wasn’t responsible for that), or a reason for waiting so long to put it into effect. Falcon prods Cap into deciding what he really wants to do; Cap wants to save Bucky….
At Kronas, Lukin orders the Winter Soldier to take the Cosmic Cube away. When the assassin questions that decision, Lukin becomes very upset and orders him to go. But after the Winter Soldier leaves, Lukin’s decision is also questioned by a voice in his head….
The next morning, an AID warehouse is assaulted by Captain America, the Falcon—and Iron Man, who defeat the scientist-terrorists, even easily destroying a huge suit of battle armor. They demand to know a way to track the Cosmic Cube. Later at Stark enterprises, Tony Stark uses the device’s energy signature to learn that the Cosmic Cube is en route to a NextGen underground facility Kronas owns in West Virginia. The heroes plan to retrieve it but Tony announces he cannot go with them: an attack on a Kronas holding would look like corporate warfare and he could lose his company. As Cap and Falcon head to the NextGen facility, Sharon Carter contacts them in flight and they explain the situation: find the Cosmic Cube and they’ve found the Winter Soldier. Cap suggests SHIELD sent a backup team as soon as possible. Arriving at the target site, they reconnoiter and discover that the plane carrying the Cube has already arrived. As they watch from the woods, they are unaware that the Winter Soldier has them in his sights, and following Lukin’s orders to kill anyone who threatens the Cube, he fires….