Agent Sakuara

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS - BRIEFING ROOM

Colonel Phillips stands at the head of the table, grim. Steve, Agent Carter, Howard Stark and the Howling Commandos surround him.

"Johann Schmidt belongs in the bughouse. He thinks he's a god and he's going to blow up half the world to prove it." Colonel Phillips stabs his finger at a map of the United States. "Starting with the U.S.A."

"That's insane." Dugan said.

"So's Hitler, but he's gotten pretty far with less than Schmidt has. " Agent Carter commented.

"But Hydra would need millions of men, fleets of transport. They'd have to be fed, fueled—" Falsworth started saying but Howard Stark shakes his head.

"Schmidt's working with powers beyond our capabilities. He gets across the Atlantic, he'll wipe out the entire eastern seaboard in an hour." Howard Stark informed.

Steve stares at the map, eyes drawn inevitably to New York. "Every able-bodied man we have is either here or in the Pacific. Our borders are wide open."

"How much time have we got?" Jones asked.

"According to my new best friend, under twenty-four hours." Colonel Phillips replied. Dread-filled silence falls over the room.

"Where is he now?" Steve asked.

Colonel Phillips points to a spy photo of a mountain. "Hydra's last base is here, in the Alps..." Dragging his finger down "Five hundred feet below the surface."

Morita gets a closer look at the map. "What are we supposed to do? It's not like we can just knock on the front door."

The room goes silent. Everyone turns to Steve.

FOREST

Steve presses a red buŧŧon. Flames shoot out from his exhaust pipe, laying down several yards of fire behind him. The nearest Hydra rider is helpless as his uniform and saddlebags catch fire. He veers into the woods and flies off a cliff, exploding in midair.

One biker remains. He catches Steve on a straightaway. He pulls alongside, grinning. He reaches into a side compartment and pulls a hand grenade. Steve snatches it from him and cracks the rider in the jaw. The rider's helmet drops blinding him. He wobbles while Steve bites down on the grenade pin and yanks it out. Then he tosses the grenade back in the rider's compartment. Steve throttles up and pulls away.

The rider recovers. He lifts his helmet over his eyes and notices the grenade burning beside him but it was too late. The next second, there was an explosion.

HYDRA HEADQUARTERS - HANGER

Red Skull stands beside a huge, mysterious wheel. He toasts eight pilots. "Tomorrow, Hydra will stand master on the world, borne to victory on the wings of the valkyrie. Our enemies' weapons will be powerless against us. If they shoot down one plane, hundreds more shall rain fire upon them. If they cut off one head..." He raises his glass. "Two more shall rake its place!" He drinks. His pilots drink and respond with "HAIL HYDRA!" .

The Hydra soldiers also respond with the same statement. Red Skull turns, below stretching before him, five hundred soldiers in formation. They salute in unison and proudly shouts "HAIL HYDRA! HAIL HYDRA!"

As Red Skull takes in the devotion, he notices a red light flashing on the wall. He slowly turns surveying his surrounding.

HYDRA HEADQUARTERS - MOUNTAINTOP

Alarms sound at the surface entrance. Barbed wire tops an earthen-walled compound. Hydra soldiers race to take positions. One scrambles to look over the wall, only to see Steve shooting right at him. The bike ramps off a gun emplacement, launches through the barbed wire and crashes into the compound.

One guard levels a bazooka. Steve raises his shield and deflects the blast back. Finally, a Hydra rifleman blows out Steve's tire. Steve's front fork digs into the ground, throwing him over the handlebars. He gets to his feet, swinging, as dozens of guards move in, pummelling him from all sides.

HYDRA HEADQUARTERS - SCHMIDT'S OFFICE LAB

Guards drag in Steve. He stares up at the Red Skull's grotesque portrait. Then the same person in the portrait steps from the shadows. Steve struggles. The guards hold him tight.

"Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait...but I will say you do it better than anyone else." Red Skull leans in, teeth gleaming in his crimson face. "There are limits to what even you can do, Captain. Or did Erskine tell you otherwise?"

"He told me you were insane. That seemed like enough." Steve respond.

"He resented my genius and tried to deny me what was rightfully mine. Yet he gave you everything." He almost looked wounded. "What made you so special?"

"Nothing..." Steve slowly raises his head, staring into the Red Skull's sunken eyes. "I'm just a kid from Brooklyn."

Red Skull seethes. He smashes Steve in the face. The guards grip Steve's arms, holding him up as the Red Skull batters him again and again. After a long time, the Red Skull steps back.

Steve pants, beaten, exhausted. Then finally he smiles. "I can do this all day."

"I believe you can...but can your woman do the same?" The Red Skull taunts Steve while the latter grits his teeth. "Unfortunately, I am on a schedule." He pulls his Luger.

Steve stares down the barrel. "So am I." Then a rhythmic sound was heard approaching their location.

Red Skull turns toward the window to see three specks in the distance, flying straight toward the glass. He spins back to Steve, pistol leveled and pulled the trigger.

Steve swings a guard around, blocking the blast. The guard is incinerated as Dugan, Falsworth and Jones smash through the window on ziplines. Jones lands on Red Skull's desk, blasting away with his .30 cal.

The zipline extends from a powerful grappling gun. Dernier hooks to the wire and shoots away.

Morita barks into his radio. "We're in. Go! Go! Go!" On a combat radio, Morita orders again "Assault team! Go!"

Atop a ridge, Colonel Phillips stands. "You heard him! Move out!"

Agent Carter and hundreds of Allied troops slip out of hiding. Colonel Phillips looks to Agent Carter and ċȯċks a shotgun.

At the mountaintop, Allied soldiers open fire, pouring into the compound.