Synopsis
Late one night, Sharon Carter and the Contessa are on their way to the uptown bar where a wake for Captain America is being held. Sharon tells Val about her meeting with the New Director of SHIELD, Tony Stark: it did not go well. The meeting five days earlier began with Sharon confronting Tony about his removal of Steve’s body from the hospital; then Tony showed her the corpse, revealing that the effects of the Super-Soldier Serum were reversed on death, leaving Steve an emaciated elderly man. She responded to Tony’s feeble attempts at distancing himself from the tragedy by slapping his face…then she resigned. At the wake, Sharon spots Sam (The Falcon) Wilson and compliments him on his moving eulogy at Steve’s funeral. She tries to confess to shooting Cap but can’t, due to a hypnotic block. They are interrupted by Rick Jones but Sharon, overcome by grief, rushes off to the rest room to cry. Later, as the Falcon is gliding over the city he pies a candlelight vigil in Central Park, with people on both sides of the Registration Act debate peacefully united in mourning. At his lair, the Red Skull watches the news reports on television, then dispatches his daughter Sin on her new mission. Arnim Zola announces that he is on the verge of a breakthrough in reverse-engineering Doctor Doom’s time travel technology, and the arrogant Skull takes the opportunity to put Zola and Dr. Faustus in their places. Later, Sam Wilson drops by the hideout of the Secret Avengers and talks to them about matters: they debate Tony Stark’s responsibility for Cap’s death, Spider-Man points out he was a hero to the end, and they drink a toast to his memory, before Falcon has to leave. At a bar, Bucky (Winter Soldier) Barnes is brooding over Cap’s death when a loudmouthed patron calls Captain America a traitor…and Bucky loses his temper and ends up beating every man in the. Falcon meets with him there and as they leave, the TV plays Tony Stark’s halting comments at Steve’s funeral. At that moment, Bucky realizes that though he can’t bring Steve back, he can kill Tony Stark.