[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/7rzp20d.jpg?1[/img][/center]
[right][sup]Helicarrier Aethon. Washington DC.[/sup][/right][hr]
The Quinjet came around and touched down on the deck of the Helicarrier Aethon, which itself hovered over the Potomac River. When he was brought out of the ice, it took him ages to adjust to the modern world. Almost eighty years of technological progress was a lot to process all at once, but there was nothing quite like when he witnessed an aircraft carrier rise effortlessly into the sky. It was both awesome and terrifying. But the truth of the matter was, whenever he walked the deck, he felt at home. SHIELD had given him a purpose and a mission, and he was going to see it through.

A blast of cold air hit him as the hatch of the Quinjet opened and he stepped on the deck of the helicarrier. It wasn't high over the river, but still the air was chilled. He took a deep breath and made his way towards the entrance of the bridge. All around him, SHIELD agents went about their duty. If he closed his eyes, he almost felt like he was back on a carrier in the Pacific. 

Behind him, Piotr Rasputin plodded close by. Piotr was a "mutant", a naturally born metahuman, and Russia's representative on Cap's team. Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD, thought it would be prudent to have a Mutant on the team. While the public at large considered superpowers necessary, there were still bigots out there. Cap guessed there always would be. People scared of anything new or different. He had seen it in Nazi Germany, but it made him sick that it was still as strong in his home all these years later. His Russia heritage showed in his stoic nature. He was a cypher, though Charles Xavier vouched for him personally. He and Steve were yet to be friends, per say, but Steve knew he was good in a fight.

As they passed into the interior of the Aethon, a hard slap on the back had Steve turning quickly, only to come face-to-face with the beaming smile of Sam Wilson. Steve was flabbergasted, "Sam! What the hell are you doing here? Last I heard you were running recon over Quarac!"

Sam was the first partner Steve had as a SHIELD agent, and the person who truly helped him adjust to the modern age. Outside of Bucky, he was Cap's best friend, and a trust confidant. A former Army Ranger, Sam had signed up for an experimental flight test while in the military. Using a special flight suit, he became an indispensable one man infiltration unit. Now he flew under the codename "Falcon" for SHIELD.

"Yea, well, I got tired of getting shot at every damn day," Sam rolled his eyes. "UN Peacekeeping missions are for the birds...well other birds. I wanted to be where the real action was."

Steve's eyebrow raised at that, "You don't mean?"

"You bet, you are looking at the newest member of the A-Team...but BA Baracus ain't got nothing on me. I am way more handsome," he brushed his shoulder off. "Fury got the security council to allow another American. You better watch out or I'm gonna be on the kids' posters soon."

Flinging his arm around his friend, Rogers laughed, "I would not be surprised, buddy." 

If he was being honest, Steve was relieved to have a true friend on the team. While Strike Team Alpha, affectionately nicknamed "The A-Team", worked well in the field, team bonding was generally nonexistent. Most of the international squad bristled under American leadership, even if they did begrudgingly admit Steve was the only man for the job. All of them being political appointees meant they all had agendas. Not that all of that was subversive, though there was some of that. But when each member of a team had slightly differing goals, it meant the mission could never go smoothly.

Sometimes he was jealous of the Justice League, even if he did think their freewheeling ways were dangerous. At least they didn't have to send something to a committee every time they wanted to go some place.

The three members of the strike team pass into the bridge of the Helicarrier. There, standing in the center, peering out of the large, floor to ceiling windows of the command deck, was Nick Fury, director of SHIELD. The sunlight filtering through the windows shone dully off his bald head, and he turned to face Cap, his one, good eye smiling, "Bout time you showed up. How was the geriatric support group?"

"You should show more respect to your elders, whippersnapper," Steve admonished Fury, who looked to be a good two decades Cap's elder at this point in time. "Someday you'll be old, too."

"God willing," Fury nodded. "Come on, the rest of the team is in the briefing room."

They made their way to a room off the bridge, this one devoid of windows with a long, silver table down the middle. Sitting around it were the rest of the A-Team.

Lord Joseph Falsworth, also known as Union Jack, sat closest to the door. He looked the stereotypical British lord, even in his SHIELD-made espionage getup. His dark hair was slicked back, and his face was full of sharp angles, as if he was a portrait come to life. There was a lot of his grandfather, the first agent to bear the Union Jack moniker and a former member of Cap's Invaders squad, in him. Falsworth was all business in the field, but a bit of a ladies man. 

Vivian D'Aramis was next, picking at her nails absent mindedly. A French beauty with deep green eyes like emeralds and hair spun of gold, she was known as "Crimson Fox" in the field. A scientific accident had allowed her to control her pheromones' and confuse others, more easily men. She had also trained with French special forces before her time with SHIELD.

Finally, at the other end of the table was Ryan Choi, China's representative on the team, known as the Atom. The youngest member of the team had his head down, working on something on a tablet, with a wire leading to a belt laid on the table. Steve knew that was the source of his abilities. He had, according to himself and the Chinese Communist Pary, "perfected" a technology that Hank Pym had invented. His ability to shrink was more efficient and allowed for longer times altered. Some in the US believed China stole the tech he perfected, but Steve learned that this was a common occurrence. 

Ryan was the team member Rogers didn't understand the most. He was brilliant beyond his years, and had the world in front of him. But he still supported a government that controlled its people with an iron fist, especially in his home of Hong Kong. Ryan claimed America could be just as cruel. Steve could admit his country seemed to have lost its ways in certain respects, but its people were still free. They didn't have the "Party" controlling them.

"Finally," Choi put down his tablet. "I was beginning to think we missed our mission window."

"Yes, now that we're all here, let's begin," Fury waved his hand and the lights in the room turned off and a holographic display sprung from the table. It showed some sort of tank attacking New York, flanked by AIM soldiers. "This, is the situation in New York. AIM's deployed a new weapon, and is threatening the city."

"So what are we waiting for?" Sam asked, obviously ready for the fight.

"Iron Man is on the scene, he can handle it," Fury waved again, and the image of the attack on New York switched to a view of an armored cargo plane with the SHIELD insignia painted on the top. "We believe the attack on New York is little more than a diversion meant to draw our gaze away from here."

"A plane?" Falsworth asked, his eyebrow raised. "Who's in it?"

"Not who, but what," Fury continued. "This cargo plane left a SHIELD covert research base in Northern Canada two hours ago. One hour ago it disappeared off of all radar communication."

"Someone take it down?" Vivian asked.

"Doubtful," Fury shook his head. "More likely AIM's taken it. Last known coordinates had it headed for..."

"Madripoor," Atom seethed. "A cesspool of disorder and criminality."

"Somewhere that AIM could make a SHIELD plane disappear for good and take what's inside it," Steve agreed. "What is in it?"

"A prototype energy source," Fury explained. "We've been working on it for a while. It's not ready for prime time, but if AIM gets ahold of it, who knows what they can do."

"Okay," Cap shrugged. "Wheels up in five. Let's go get that plane."