The return of the Captain

Phil met Steve in the local diner nearby the captain's apartment. After getting his ass kicked in the morning by Hope, he spend the rest of the day at the lab sorting out the future events he knew in the MCU timeline.

The first mission with Howard stark was very important. He knew starks died due to HYDRA and Bucky was the killer. He was brain-washed and controlled like a robot but still, this event will lead to the future Civil war. Another most important thing was the five vials of super-soldier serum Howard was carrying in his car that were taken away by HYDRA to create 5 better winter soldiers than Bucky.

Imagine, 5 trained and groomed super killers that Bucky once said - 'They speak thirty languages, can hide in plain sight. Infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night, and you'd never see them coming.' Such assassins were already there even before the serum and with the serum, they could defeat bucky easily and yet they became so violent that HYDRA was afraid of them. Truly HYDRA stuff.

The second event would be the birth of Extremis. In 1999 at the Bern 2000 conference on New Year's Eve, Maya Hansen met Tony Stark and just after sleeping with her Tony was able to guide her with the idea she had. He actually gave her the formula that she can improvise which led to the whole Iron Man 3 storyline.

The third was again related to Iron Man or more specifically Iron man 2. The arc reactor project that stark displayed in their last 'Stark Expo' was the result of the work of both Howard Stark and Anton Vanko. They wanted to replicate the Tesseract's energy and while the project was a success it failed to achieve any military applications. Hence government was hardly interested in it.

But this was a goldmine. Remember, the whole IRON MAN series is based on arc reactors. Take that out of the picture, and the Iron man suit is just a fancy suit for display. Without a proper power source, how can you use such a machine? So, the Arc reactor was the third main point.

The fourth was the new element that Howard stark discovered but was unable to create because of the limitations of the technology in this time period. Ryan had already collected the schematics of the Stark Expo building by looking at various images Martha combined from papers and some videos and Martha had already concluded after the various tests that it was theoretically possible to make it. Still, he was facing the same issues as Howard. Anyway, this will wait for the next 10-15 years before he can create a new element become an immortal scientist and win a noble prize. That was such a great dream.

Back to the diner meeting. Both Cap and Phil were facing each other talking and discussing things that happened in their lives. Captain was initially very happy to meet Carter once again but when he realised she already had a family and was living her life peacefully, he didn't have the heart to go and meet her. He was late. Too late for her now. She had moved on and created her own life and he cannot become a part of it or destroy it. He felt alone in this world so after spending a few weeks touring the country, he asked Phil for a meeting.

"Phil, I am very thankful to you for rescuing me. But I want you to tell me why? It cannot be a coincidence for you to find me. You were purposely looking for me in the ocean when everyone had given up. I have seen this country now. It is safe, secure and there is peace now. So, why look for a soldier when there is no war?" questioned Cap when he found the crowd in the diner had almost gone.

"Cap, I can answer all this and explain the things you want to know but for that, we need to go to my lab or my base. There are so many things, secrets hidden underneath this peace that can basically cripple this country if anyone finds out. The world may not be at war but peace, peace is just the illusion provided by some people with the silence over it," replied Phil while getting up and taking cap with him towards his car.

"You know Phil, you are hardly 20. I have seen war. I have seen boys younger than you dying and losing their lives for a greater purpose and you are saying we have achieved nothing. Let's go I need to know my purpose here and I think I can still trust my instincts," said cap while fastening his seat belt.

Phil then drove the captain over to the New York seaport. This was where his main lab was hidden. He had created many safe houses and many labs hidden all over the US but this was the main one. The Factory. It was on his private property, allowed easy access for transporting many materials, and the servers for Martha that needed huge power supply and space were easily hidden and maintained here. The containers were protected by coast guards and many falcon drones that would easily hide among the birds here.

"Welcome captain. This is the factory. You are the first person to come here apart from me. The Alkali Complex in Canada is mainly used for training and rehab purposes but here is my playground. My tools and my secrets are here. This is also the home of Martha. You asked me why I looked for a soldier and specifically you. Well, Martha please play the files of Winter Soldier for captain and introduce him to this SHIELD and HYDRA." Phil introduced Cap to his private lab and showed around while talking to him.

"What HYDRA? Are you joking Phil because this is not funny? we destroyed HYDRA and I paid a huge price for that," Cap questioned in a grim tone.

"No captain. Not a joke. Please watch these clips here and then I will brief you and give you all information I have," answered Phil while making Cap sit in front of the monitors. He went to get some files he had already printed and were more clear in a timeline manner and sorted a lot of information properly.

Captain sat in front of the huge screens. Literally, there were 20 different screens all attached in a high-tech way giving him all information about the Winter Soldier project. After an hour when the clips were finished, Cap was too shocked to say anything.

Phil came and gave him the file. "Have a look Cap. These are the overall details of the HYDRA that I am aware of."

Captain was heartbroken and angry. His best friend is alive but was turned into a mindless killing machine. He had killed many people over the years and some of them were their war buddies. HYDRA made Bucky kill many soldiers of the howling commandos group. These people survived the war and went on to create a family for themselves and tried to have a life but HYDRA used BUCKY to kill them. Such sick twisted bastards.

"How is this possible? HYDRA is still operating and no one knows about this? So many soldiers from our unit died and no one noticed?" finally asked Cap. He was hating himself more now. If only he had saved Bucky that day from falling.

"Oh, they noticed Cap. But you have to understand all these killings were covered by natural tragedies or converted into natural death. From a car crash to a pipeline explosion, there was hardly any evidence left to show this was foul play and no one cares for retired soldiers after the war captain. No one. Even if you were alive after the war, do you really believe you could live a life with Peggy carter?" answered Phil before saying out loud a very stupid thing.

Steve suddenly rose from his chair and looked at Phil with menacing eyes. Phil was sure if he didn't explain clearly he was going to get a good beating from a super soldier today.

"Look cap, no offence but you were created by the Military. For the Military, the super-soldier program was a failure when they could only create one killing machine like you. Even after the war, they would have never let you go anywhere.

You will either become a lab rat where your blood, tissues and every other thing that they can take from you will be taken and experimented upon until they create the serum again or you will spend your entire life in a closely monitored facility somewhere where you have no means to harm the interest of politicians," explained Phil while moving back slowly trying to put some distance in them as Hope always instructed.

How much this gap will help in running if Cap decided to let out his anger on him now, he was not sure.

Captain was silenced. Hurt even. You can see that he understood what Phil was saying. Cap dedicated his entire life to this country, to do something for the people and to realise that the same people would use him as a lab-rat or treat him as a threat was enough for him to feel more pain than when he saw Peggy with her family.

"Tell me the whole story, Phil. This is not everything, is it? You were training soldiers and making those armours in that lake complex, not for fighting politicians. What is coming?" Steve after finally calming down his emotions, questioned Phil.

"Bucky is coming. HYDRA has decided to eliminate Howard stark and his wife thereby killing the last of the enemies that are still alive after the war. If my sources are confirmed, then on 16 December this year, they will die in a sudden car crash after Howard's car loses breaks or something. Bucky will again be used as a robot and he will again kill his own people. No one can stop him Cap except you. I want you to contain and control him and bring him here. I can help in fixing his memories and whatever they did to his brain with enough time and we must take the killer winter soldier away from HYDRA hands," replied Phil in a more relaxed manner now. Thank god, the Cap is still a good guy. It is never a good idea to be in the same room with an angry super-soldier.

These words were enough to give steve a new hope and new direction. Destroying HYDRA has always been his lifelong pursuit. Being a good soldier was the only thing he knew. Bucky was the only piece of his time that was left. He will bring his brother back.

"I will need a shield and a new suit. I cannot be Captain America anymore. He is dead. He died for this country and gave everything he had. He is no more. I won't be working for any government or agency Phil. I will choose my own mission and I will make my own decisions. Can you agree to that all that?" Cap asked his final question. Steve has spent his life following orders and doing missions handed to him. But now, he wants to choose his own mission and do things the way he sees fit personally.

"You must be joking cap. I never asked you to follow my orders blindly or hoped that you will become my weapon. I have knowledge of this HYDRA and other agencies working in shadows trying everything possible to control the true freedom of the people. Since you don't want to be Captain America anymore, what codename will use Steve?" asked Phil with a curious look. In the MCU, steve changed his uniform multiple times to show his change of identity but his codename remained the same. Well, this is the original change he was bringing in MCU.

"You call your unit shadow knights and there is Silent Bee Ms. Hope. So I think you can give me some ideas here," answered Captain while taking his seat back and looking at various details in the file Phil gave him.

"Well, we have one ICARUS and one Valkyrie, you know. They are training with their own suits that come with wings and stuff. You will meet them soon. You know captain based on your love of shield and present situation, you can pick 'Knight Commander' or 'Commander Shield'. You know you can think about it and let Martha know later. For now, we need to give you a little makeover and new identity in a legal way."

"No need. I like the word commander. Lord commander of shadow knights. Even the whole thing sounds fancy. You know when I was a kid, we grew up listening to the tales of knights and thinking we will be such men. With enough bravery and loyalty and chivalry. Knight Commander is the best name I think," replied Captain while Phil felt his mind was blown.

A real knight commander related to Starks who spent years near an Ice wall. Also, a virgin, gentleman and evidently came back from the dead. This is surely not GOT, right?