As America's greatest hero and a national icon, Captain America was an exceptionally empathetic listener.
From the very beginning of their encounter, he had noticed the heavy clouds hanging over Superman's face. Even when he had been teasing Coulson about the Tesseract, the deep furrow in his brow had never relaxed.
It was an expression Steve knew well.
Back during the war, when the Allied forces on the Western Front had been getting absolutely hammered by HYDRA's Tesseract-powered energy weapons, everyone wore that same look day after day.
Fortunately, HYDRA had vanished along with the Red Skull's death, and the Tesseract had supposedly been secured by S.H.I.E.L.D.
As for Steve himself, he had already fought his generation's war. These days he spent most of his time like a retired old man with nothing to do.
In fact, today's mission had only been approved after he repeatedly requested it. The people at S.H.I.E.L.D. seemed to treat him more like a fragile antique than a super soldier.
And from what Steve could tell, Joey was the same kind of person he was.
As his childhood friend Bucky Barnes used to say, they were the sort of people who had looked like worrywarts carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders since childhood.
"This way."
The Superman who had been floating in the air landed softly on both feet and led Steve into a lounge on a lower floor.
"Hi, Cap!"
"It's been a while!"
"Sup!"
Steve looked around in confusion as three or four people greeted him naturally as if they knew him personally.
Unsure what was going on, he smiled and nodded in return.
Still, something felt off.
Hadn't those young people all looked exactly the same?
Wait...
Wasn't Stark supposed to be an industrialist?
Had he started researching cloning technology now too?
Before Steve could ask, Superman had already led him to a secluded corner of the lounge.
"Captain, my name is Joey. Joey Joseph Kent."
With a serious expression, Joey carefully confirmed that neither the room nor Captain America carried any surveillance devices.
Thankfully, this was Captain America. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't gone completely insane yet.
"Steve Rogers."
After exchanging names, the atmosphere became noticeably less awkward than it had been when Coulson was present.
Just as Joey was about to continue, Steve interrupted him.
"Are you dealing with something you need my help with? I promise you, if it's for the good of the world, then you can count me in."
"You misunderstand, Captain. There are simply some things I need to tell you."
Steve's words did remind Joey of something, though.
He definitely needed to recruit more allies.
Captain America, however, wasn't particularly useful right now.
His ties to S.H.I.E.L.D. meant any cooperation between them would have to be handled carefully.
And Joey couldn't exactly expect a super soldier from seventy years ago to bring down a flying, dimension-hopping Doctor Doom with nothing but a vibranium shield.
Though that might change soon.
Because Joey was about to give this hundred-year-old veteran a crash course in modern reality.
"HYDRA still exists. And S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to manufacture weapons."
"...What?!"
Steve immediately stiffened.
The word HYDRA alone was enough to put him on high alert.
"Would you repeat that?"
"I said HYDRA is still around. And they're using the Tesseract to create new weapons."
Back during World War II, Steve had personally stopped HYDRA's efforts to build superweapons powered by the Tesseract.
The price had been decades frozen beneath the Arctic ice, missing everything that came afterward.
Now someone was telling him HYDRA still existed.
How could he not react?
"Where are they?"
Facing Steve's question, Joey spread his hands helplessly.
"That's hard to say. Ever since Operation Paperclip, who can really tell the difference between your people and the Nazis anymore?"
Operation Paperclip had been the postwar program through which the United States recruited large numbers of former Nazi scientists, often by covering up crimes, granting pardons, and issuing visas.
In the original timeline, the program helped America maintain technological superiority for nearly a century.
In the universe shared by Joey and Steve, S.H.I.E.L.D. had likewise absorbed vast amounts of former HYDRA personnel, resources, and research.
That influx had allowed the organization to expand rapidly after the war and become the most powerful force operating behind the scenes in the superhuman world.
It was no exaggeration to say that S.H.I.E.L.D. had grown by feeding on HYDRA's corpse.
Anyone with functioning eyes should have realized there was something suspicious about that.
A month ago, Joey could have rattled off an entire list of names without hesitation.
But after everything he'd experienced—the Flashpoint Universe, and the revelation that Tony Stark could become Doctor Doom—he no longer trusted himself to make absolute judgments.
So instead, he decided to start with a few random spot checks.
Three seconds later, Joey snapped back to reality, his wandering thoughts returning along with his focus.
He gave three names.
"Brock Rumlow. Jasper Sitwell. Alexander Pierce."
Just like that, Joey successfully transferred his clouded expression and furrowed brow onto Captain America's face.
Steve's expression turned grim.
Tightening his grip on his shield, he stepped forward.
"You'd better be prepared to stand behind those accusations."
Despite being nearly a century old, the Super Soldier Serum still granted Steve a flawless memory. He knew exactly who those three people were.
Brock Rumlow was the leader of the special operations team assigned to this mission—a soldier among soldiers, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s finest.
As for Sitwell, Steve wasn't particularly familiar with him, but he was clearly someone within S.H.I.E.L.D.
The reason Steve was so certain, however, was because of the third name.
Alexander Pierce.
Chairman of the World Security Council.
The Security Council stood above S.H.I.E.L.D., overseeing its funding, political environment, and major operations.
In other words, S.H.I.E.L.D. ultimately answered to that council.
What Joey had just said amounted to a direct accusation that S.H.I.E.L.D. itself had been infiltrated—and controlled—by HYDRA.
"I don't guarantee anything," Joey replied calmly. "I'm only telling you what I know. Besides, the truth may be far worse than the worst scenario you're imagining right now."
Joey had no intention of taking responsibility for his claims.
If HYDRA had managed to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. on such a massive scale without being detected, it could only mean one thing:
A lot of people inside S.H.I.E.L.D. had already gone wrong long before HYDRA arrived.
It wasn't merely a matter of die-hard Nazis hiding in the shadows.
Most of them were opportunists.
People looking out for their own interests.
The power and resources controlled by S.H.I.E.L.D. had long outgrown the status and rewards offered to its personnel. Lofty slogans about protecting world security weren't enough to keep everyone principled forever.
HYDRA, as a secret society with a clear ideology and vision, offered them what appeared to be a brighter future.
"Trust no one."
Joey placed a hand on Steve's shoulder and leaned close enough to speak quietly into his ear.
After a brief pause, he added:
"Coulson's fine, though. He's just a slightly naive good guy. And—"
"No."
Steve cut him off immediately.
"No need to continue."
He couldn't listen to any more of what sounded dangerously close to manipulation.
"You're telling me not to trust anyone," Steve said.
"So I want to know—does that 'anyone' include you?"
After hearing everything Joey had said, Captain America couldn't help noticing that Superman himself sounded suspiciously like someone trying to sow distrust.
---
Ten minutes later, Coulson welcomed Captain America back and accompanied him aboard the return flight.
"You don't look so good, Cap."
He glanced over curiously.
"What did he say to you? Don't tell me he was still upset that we took too long to recover you from the ice."
"Mmh."
Steve forced a smile.
"Don't worry."
Though visibly distracted and weighed down by his thoughts, he still made the effort to reassure his biggest fan.
"I'm fine, Coulson. You know I'm not the kind of person who holds grudges."
And he genuinely meant it.
Steve had never blamed S.H.I.E.L.D. for finding the Tesseract decades before finding him.
No one could reasonably have expected him to survive frozen in Arctic ice for seventy years.
While responding to Coulson's conversation absentmindedly, Steve's eyes drifted across the rear of the cabin.
His gaze swept over the strike team personnel.
Then settled briefly on Brock Rumlow.
It was only a casual glance.
Yet Rumlow immediately returned it with a cautious, alert look.
Steve's expression darkened further.
Now he saw only two possibilities.
The first—and best—possibility was that Superman was lying.
That he had deliberately planted false information in Steve's mind, hoping to create doubt and chaos within S.H.I.E.L.D.
The second—and worst—possibility was that Superman had been telling the truth.
Emotionally, Steve wanted to believe the first scenario.
Logically, he knew he had to prepare for the second.
And there was still one more problem.
---
After the Quinjet landed, Steve descended the ramp alongside Coulson.
Eventually he managed to shake off his overly enthusiastic shadow.
Once alone, he carefully scanned his surroundings.
Then he pulled a small notebook from his jacket.
It was the same notebook he used to keep track of things he needed to learn about in order to adapt to the modern world.
Whenever he encountered an unfamiliar term, he wrote it down to research later.
Opening the notebook, Steve looked at the growing list:
Star Wars
E.T.
Friends
007
The Bourne Identity
...
After a moment's hesitation, he added a new entry beneath them.
He wrote two words:
Operation Paperclip.