A flashback to 1995 shows a young man, devastated when his girlfriend is killed in the Oklahoma City Bombing, trying to join the Navy but being turned down for his scrawny build. Later he was approached by two agents from the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) and offered an opportunity….
In the present, the Anti-Cap washes up on the Florida shore in the midst of a hurricane and is discovered by a pair of rescue workers searching for storm victims. He calmly kills the two men and takes their truck….
In Cuba, the real Captain America and SHIELD Agent Ali Morales search the Rivas Estate for some clue as to what Leila Taylor found in their lab that would cause the US government to intern her at Guantanamo Bay. They theorize it is some sort of bio-weapon and that Leila had stolen it planning for the Falcon to follow her, and for Cap to follow the Falcon. (And ONI sent their man disguised as Cap to get it first.) Leila’s scheme was for Cap to bring the bug into the US undercover. Cap realizes why Falcon’s pet bird Redwing is still in the Rivas house: his master told him to stay there. The bird is perched on the toilet tank. Cap looks inside and finds Falcon’s Avengers ID and taped to the back is the bug they are looking for….
In Miami, we learn Falcon and Leila had narrowly escaped death when they plunged to the sea. Now, Falcon—the former "Snap" Wilson—gets in touch with some old underworld contacts and asks for help in getting to Atlanta and the Center for Disease Control. His pal Stokes tells him that the Rivas family is seeking revenge for the murder of Manuel Rivas (issue #1) and arranges for them to leave under cover….
Cap calls the Avengers and after a preliminary analysis Hank Pym tells him the bug is not a bio-weapon but something worse, "WWIII in a petri dish" —which he does not want to reveal over the radio. The Avengers decide to leave the matter in Cap’s hands. In Miami, Falcon and Leila contact her friend Deke at the hospital; Deke is a former doctor, now a clown, and he can tell them that the bug is safe to transport—though they don’t have it. Leila calls Robbie Robertson at the Daily Bugle, who is likewise disappointed that she does not have the mystery virus in hand. The Anti-Cap arrives and Falcon shoots him down, but the villain is not dead, in fact, not seriously injured. He savagely beats the Falcon with his enhanced strength—until the real Captain America arrives, hurling his shield to split Anti-Cap’s in half, and challenges the impostor to a fight….