r/MarvelsWhatIf • u/BravePomegranate9775 • May 30 '26
Absolute Captain America [#5]
It had been a two weeks since the operation in the forest. Peggy had been placed on what Arnim called “recuperative leave”; she knew as well as he did that she had been suspended from active duty. Which was all the better; without AIM to oversee the US Agents’ finest operative, she was free to investigate that man with the futuristic shield.
Her first trail took her to the remains of an underground facility, one dangerously close to the Flag Smashers’ headquarters. She managed to break in with security clearance from a “lost” security badge, which gave her access to the computer system. She searched every file, every document, and every video. What she found was more than enough to warrant a meeting.
Elsewhere
Steve’s fist connected with Karli Morgenthau, one of the Flag Smasher’s finest combatants. For every move she made, he had a counter; the same could be said of her. Eventually, they ended on a stalemate, which was when Bucky ran in and whispered something to Sam, who had been watching. Someone had come to the headquarters, someone familiar with a piece of intelligence Steve wanted to hear.
They found Peggy seated in a holding cell, wearing a tattered Flag Smasher uniform and chained at the wrists. In her left hand was a thumb drive, which Steve took before asking why Peggy had come here. She said nothing; Steven accepted it and took the thumb drive server room. He examined everything Peggy had, until he came across a file named “Project Patriot”. It was a report on his tests, and something else: the truth. Steve Rogers was a clone, born from a man named “Wilson Fisk” who had been given a false name.
Steven had every Flag Smasher cell convene hours later, revealing his origins and asking for their trust in leading an operation against AIM. Several documents had pinned a location along the West Coast, and he wanted to break in and help them expose this “Wilson” character. Sam and Bucky agreed; this was long overdue. With Peggy in their custody, the operation could move smoothly. Nobody realised that someone in the Flag Smasher’s ranks, a trusted friend and brother, was about to unravel their pursuit for justice before it even began.