In the caverns beneath the mysterious Damocles Research Facility, Captain America and Hawkeye are locked in furious battle with a horde of gruesome dinosaurs. These resemble ordinary reptiles empowered by symbiotes (of the Venom/Carnage variety) and prove difficult to kill. Suddenly a huge winged lizard snatches up Cap and carries him off; Hawkeye tries to hitch a ride on a line but is scraped off on the journey through the narrow caverns. He recovers his arrows but is at a loss for what to do next….
Upstairs in the Damocles lab, project director Kashmir Vennema makes plans to deal with the interfering Avengers while Dr Henry Reese continues to examine the creature that was once a security guard. When Reese turns his back, the symbiote rises up and absorbs him and Kash is forced to blow it away with a huge gun. She prepares her report to their secret employer on the resiliency of the hybrid creatures, though the host is the worse off for it….
When Cap awakens he finds he is in the presence of Stegron, the human scientist who had injected himself with dinosaur DNA. The reptilian villain tells Cap that the caves they are in was once the city of a great race of lizard people who were wiped out by an otherworldly presence. Stegron now hopes to bring this noble race back from the dead, and he sends a symbiote toward Cap….
After much walking, Hawkeye reaches the remnant of a city. He evades a patrol of dinosaurs, then creeps up behind a tendril-laden red creature, preparing to stab it in the back. He then notices that the monster is wearing a red-white-and-blue uniform under its tendrils and realizes with a shock that this monster is Captain America….