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Captain America ('Steve Rogers')
| Captain America met Father Estevez at the
hidden village in the jungles of San Cubano. After a brief
misunderstanding and skirmish with the men of the village, Cap was able to
get the information he needed out of Estevez. He discovered Castrano has
atomic weapons, possibly supplied by the Soviets. Cap must now make his
way through the base and stop Castrano and the missiles…
This tale takes place concurrent with Avengers 1958 #8 |
Defending Our Honor
Part Three of
Three
The 1950s Captain America made his down the ventilation duct he had used as his entrance into Castrano’s base. Every once in a while, he’d come to a spot where he could peak into one of the rooms. It really bothered him to be sneaking around like this. He was Captain America! He should just drop down and fight his way through the base! There was no way a bunch of wetbacks could ever hope to defeat him. But then, his common sense took hold of him. If he stayed hidden until the right moment, there was less chance that Castrano would be provoked into launching the missiles. The longer the missiles were kept here in the base, the more chance Cap would have to get to them in time to disarm them.
The Captain was snapped out of his thoughts by sounds underneath him. He slowly slid himself up to a vent, trying to make as little noise as possible. He looked through the vent and saw several men in military uniforms arguing. They yelled at one another in Spanish, so Cap had no clue what they were saying. He’d taken Spanish in school, but these men spoke so fast he could barely catch a single word. They argued for nearly twenty minutes and then they left the room. Cap waited for a few minutes to make sure they wouldn’t return and then proceeded onward. He crawled along in the dark for another two hours before he noticed a creaking sound. It took a few seconds to register in his mind.
"The duct! It can’t support…" Cap fell through the ceiling, landing on a large table. He shook his head to regain his senses. He then noticed that he had fallen into a room full of soldiers. They all now held their weapons trained on him. Suddenly, the door burst open. A large man in a flowing trench coat entered the room. He puffed on a large cigar as he surveyed the sight in his control room.
"So…we are graced by the presence of the great Capitan America, no? Worthless gringo! Only a country of fools would choose to dress their champion in such gaudy, brightly colored clothing! You may as well wear a target on your chest, Capitan!"
Cap seethed with anger, gritting his teeth. How dare this Commie, wetback, candyass, piece of trash talk to him like this! How dare he insult his country!
"Where I come from, Castrano, those are fighting words!"
"If it’s a fight you want," Castrano laughed in between puffs on his cigar, "then it is a fight you will receive, Capitan. But you do not know what you have gotten yourself into, gringo DOG!"
He motioned for his men to back off. Slowly, the soldiers pulled back, lining the walls of the room. Cap got up off the table and strapped his shield to his forearm.
"What are you talking about, Castrano?"
Castrano threw off his trench coat, revealing his arms to be metallic.
"You’re an android! A no good, dirty, soulless android!"
Castrano threw his cigar to the floor and tackled Cap, wrapping his arms around him, squeezing tightly.
"The term is ‘cyborg’, my gringo friend. Not that it matters much. My robotic arms could crush the life from you in a matter of seconds. But no, I will take my time with you. I will savor this. Perhaps I should film this to send to your government, no?"
Cap grimaced at the pain Castrano’s bearhug was causing.
"You…shouldn’t be…so damn…confident!"
Cap brought his shield up against the side of Castrano’s head. The force of the blow was enough to make him release his grip. This opening was all Cap needed. He began to pepper his foe with punches, kicks and smashes from his shield. The assault momentarily staggered Castrano, but he quickly recovered, raining heavy blows down on Cap, who slowly began to be pushed back as he blocked the punches with his shield. His shield was by no means as good as THE shield, but it held up beneath Castrano’s onslaught.
"Where’s all of your confidence NOW, pig?" Castrano taunted. As much as Cap hated to admit it, Castrano had a point. Regardless of the protection his shield afforded him, Cap was still losing, and he didn’t like it one bit. Castrano’s barrage of attacks had caused him to back pedal till he was leaning with his back to the command table. Castrano’s blows began to drive Cap to his knees when he seized upon an idea. Castrano raised his arms high above his head for another double fisted sledgehammer blow. Seeing his opening, Cap threw his arms around Castrano’s legs and lifted him up and over, flipping him onto the command table, causing it to splinter and break under Castrano’s weight and the force of the throw. Castrano writhed in pain, clutching his back. Clearly, his arms were the only robotic part of his body. Cap stood over his fallen opponent, a smug look on his masked face.
"Where’s YOUR bravado now, you filthy cyborg spic?"
Cap gave Castrano a swift kick to the small of the back, causing him to howl in pain.
"That’s the trouble with you people. You need to learn your place in this world…AT OUR FEET!"
Cap stomped hard on Castrano’s head. Cap was nearly overcome by the sheer joy his opponent’s cries brought over him. He began to stomp Castrano’s head repeatedly, oblivious to the blood that began to gush out. After several minutes he finally stopped and looked around the room. Castrano’s soldiers stared at him, their countenances showing fear, horror or a mixture of the two. Cap slowly looked down at the crumpled mass at his feet. Castrano’s head was a bloody mess, his gray hair matted by the blood and his face bruised and splashed by the blood. Would HE have done this? Would the original Cap have beaten an opponent this badly? Cap pushed the thought from his mind. The missiles! Cap grabbed the nearest soldier by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
"Where’s the controls to the missiles?"
The soldier choked, unable to respond due to Cap’s strong grip on his throat. Cap shook him hard.
"NOW, unless you want to see what it’s like to breathe out of a tube!"
The soldier pointed to a door on the far end of the room. Cap threw the soldier hard into the nearest wall.
"There had best be a radio in there, too."
The soldiers standing near the door scrambled to get out of Cap’s way for fear that he’d turn his wrath on them next. Cap checked the door, only to find it locked. Without a word, he simply kicked the door in, sending wood splintering about the room. He stepped over the remains of the door and entered the room. All along the farthest wall was a bank of computers, all twinkling with multi-colored lights. In the center of the computers was a view screen showing the missiles. In the lower right corner of the screen was a countdown.
"That sunnuva…he’s launching the missiles!"
Cap turned and walked back into the control room. The soldiers had gathered up Castrano and were trying to escape. Cap grabbed the closest soldier by the collar of his shirt and threw him into the computer room. As much as he’d like to stop them from escaping, the missiles were his top priority. He walked back into the computer room and stood over the soldier he’d tossed in a few seconds ago.
"The missiles. Stop them…NOW!"
The soldier cowered before Cap, the fear evident in his eyes.
"S…Senor," he stammered, "I…I…do not know h…"
Cap picked him up by the hair and shoved his face into the view screen.
"Do you see those missiles? Do you see that countdown? I want them stopped, and I want them stopped now or I crush your pathetic, wetback skull."
The soldier began to stammer, tears welling up in his eyes. Slowly, he extended an arm, pointing to a particular bank of computers.
"I…I think that one…"
Cap dropped the soldier and headed for the computers. There were several buttons, all marked in Spanish. He racked his brain, trying to remember the Spanish word for ‘abort’ or ‘off’.
"Which one is the ‘off’ button?" he demanded from the soldier. Unfortunately, the last drop he had given the man rendered him unconscious.
"Blast it!"
Cap turned to the computers again and tried to remember. After a few moments, he realized the word was not going to come to him. With little other options evident to him, he took his shield and began to smash the computers. Sparks flew everywhere, but Cap ignored them and continued to drive his shield into the computer bank. Suddenly, he was thrown back as the computer console exploded. His mind faded into blackness.
Captain America awoke in a plane. He tried to sit up, but found that he was strapped to a military cot. He felt a ringing pain in his head as he looked around. The soldiers who had dropped him off were with him now.
"Congratulations, Cap! You stopped Castrano and destroyed his base! It’s too bad you didn’t catch him, though."
"Yes, too bad" said Cap as he faded into blackness once more.
Comments, criticisms, and concerns for this issue of JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORDS accepted at mailto:%20captainamerica3@mailcity.com
The Journey Into Unknown Worlds web page is at http://www.cae.wisc.edu/~gansler/journey/journey.htm
#66
of
the 1950's