2132 Hours, February 13th

Thirteenth Precinct Nationalgarde Headquarters, Neu Berlin Financial District, Amerika

The more Steve saw of this place, the more confused he became. He stared at the handgun that his new friend had given to him. It was extremely angular and had a very thick rectangular barrel. This barrel told Steve that it had an integrated suppressor; a device that could smother the loud sound of a gunshot. Another detail that stood out to him was the fact that the weapon had a digital ammo counter on the back facing of the slide that displayed the current load of the magazine in simple block numbers.

"Do you have a name?" He asked his mysterious companion.

The black and yellow flight suit that embraced her form was what made Steve assume that she was Janet wearing some kind of new Wasp suit that he hadn't seen before. But, especially after seeing the woman kill a man without the need to, he was glad to learn that she was simply sent by Janet. This was the first familiar face he'd seen...well, apart from Schmidt's. Steve still wasn't sure if that actually was Schmidt on that poster. Maybe he was seeing things...and that was the problem. He didn't know. Hopefully Janet would be able to fill him in on what had happened, because Steve was certainly out of his depth.

She braced herself on the left-hand side of the door and jerked her head, gesturing for Steve to do the same on the opposite side. "Fleischer. I need you to shut up and move."

With a huff, Steve holstered his pistol and tightened the strap of his shield around his right forearm. He had qualms with Fleischer's attitude...but more pressingly, he had questions. Far too many of them. But he knew that now wasn't the time to ask. He and Fleischer were inside a hostile fortification with a high-ranking officer dead at their feet. It was only a matter of time before they were detected.

"What are you doing? I gave you that gun thinking you'd fucking use it." She snapped.

With a frown, Steve retorted. "What about your suit? Why don't you shrink us out of here?"

"I'm asking the questions here, dummkopf. It's out of power; needs to recharge." She answered harshly.

Although her tone was irritatingly hostile to Steve, he couldn't help but wonder about her suit. The Pym Particle suits Steve was familiar with; the ones that Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, and Scott Lang wore; could reduce atomic spacing indefinitely. There was never a 'recharge period'. Steve found it strange that Janet would arm someone with a sub-par piece of equipment like that...

Steve inhaled, paused for five seconds, then exhaled. "Breaching." He reported lowly, reaching for the door handle and electing to disregard his new ally's colourful words.

As the door slid open, Steve stepped through instantly. The guardsman barely had enough time to turn a single inch before the Captain gripped the barrel of his mag rifle with one hand and backhanded him with his shielded one. Much to Fleischer's shock, the Nazi was propelled one and a half metres down the hallway by Steve' single strike. The rifle remained in Steve's hands, and he tossed the weapon over to Fleischer.

She barely had enough sense in her at that moment to catch it. He shot her a stern glance, as if what had just occurred was his response to her previous remark.

Fleischer, still trying to process what had happened, stowed her pistol and readied her newly received assault rifle for operation as she opened a channel to Gunther. Fleischer reported, "Boss, I've got the package. Making our way through general processing."

"Copy, Four. Me and Two are going to hit them from the side, draw them away from the rear vehicle bay. That's your extraction point; Five is going to commandeer one of their transports and be waiting for you." He responded in hushed tones. Steve could only hear him through Fleischer's helmet thanks to how close he was to her coupled with the silence in the immediate area. Something as faint as dripping water would've masked the response from his ears.

Fleischer led Steve down the hall and took a left turn. They emerged in another corridor...this one lined with Nazi soldiers. Steve conducted a swift headcount, concluding that there were six armed soldiers there. Most of them were clad in advanced body armour that seemed halfway towards something that Tony Stark would build. As well as traditional fabric body armour vests, they were also slabbed within plates of solid material. Steve could only assume that they were some kind of alloy and ceramic composite.

Steve burst into a sprint, catching Fleischer off-guard. She didn't have time to berate his actions.

Before he barrelled into the closest Nazi trooper, one of the other soldiers spotted his fast-approaching blue shadow. The man shouted to his team and brought his assault rifle to arms. As a controlled burst of three rounds sputtered forth from the weapon, Steve raised his shield and angled it slightly towards his left. The rounds impacted on the shield's vibranium-adamantium alloy surface, ricocheting off its curvature with assistance from Steve's precisely calculated angling.

The bullets hurtled back across the hallway and impacted one of the other Nazis; the first one bounced off his body armour, whilst the remaining two sliced into his right thigh. In times where shedding blood could be avoided and it was appropriate, Steve would do his utmost to protect life fairly. He wasn't going to take lives until he knew exactly where he was and what was going on.

Before the previous guard dropped his weapon and fell, Steve reached the one closest to him. With incredible speed, he flexed his right arm, vibranium shield firmly affixed to it, and sent it upward into his opponent's chin. The edge of the shield violently rammed into the soldier's neck, the sheer impact of which was enough to propel the trooper off his feet.

Steve continued, twirling from the momentum granted from his upward strike. As he did, he pulled the shield from his arm with his left hand, reeled it back, then sent it flying as he came back around.

The makeshift projectile hurtled through the sky like the blade of a circular saw, cleaving through the air in a slight arc. With a 'crack', it punched into a trooper's body armour and floored him instantly.

When Steve recovered, he watched as another soldier caught a volley of rifle fire to the head, sent by Fleischer who fired from behind cover. The shield, which had bounced from its impact, fluttered back towards Steve, who fixed the location of one of the final two troopers in his mind. This one was about to open fire on Steve.

The super soldier thrusted himself into the air and unleashed a spinning back kick that connected with his returning shield. The impact sounded like someone had struck a gong, and the object flew again with the speed of an arrow. This time, instead of cleanly slicing through the air like a frisbee, it violently and sporadically spun end over end.

This second-last soldier was struck in the face by the shield, instantly knocking him out.

Although he knew how to reliably throw the shield against surfaces in such a way that it bounced some of the way back towards him, it obviously wasn't always possible. So, this time, the shield fell to the floor next to the Nazi.

The final soldier turned to Steve, shock in his eyes. Just as Steve prepared to rush him, he was punched full of holes by a flurry of rounds fired by Fleischer.

After the guard collapsed, only Steve and Fleischer were left standing. He promptly reported to Fleischer, "Clear". The latter emerged from cover and cautiously approached with her rifle still pointed forward. Steve could tell from her body language that she was taken aback by his abilities in combat.

"Are you...a mutant?" She asked quietly, relieving the downed soldiers of their rifle ammunition.

Steve followed suit, gathering as many magazines as he could for Fleischer after retrieving his shield. "No. I suppose 'augmented' is the best word."

As confused as he was at how Fleischer didn't know who he was, it was still possible. Not every single person on the planet knew Captain America...and it was possible that this place was incredibly remote. Yes...he felt as if he was looking at the streets of New York earlier this night, but Steve knew that wasn't possible. Wherever he was, Janet managed to send someone to help him...and that was incredibly relieving. That meant that, wherever he was, the Avengers were here. And they'd help him finally end Nazism for good.

Fleischer grunted. "You one of them?"

Steve's brow darkened. "Excuse me?"

"They experiment on their own. Turn them into killing machines. Is that what you are? A rogue Nazi superman?"

He shook his head and stomped over to Fleischer. He halted uncomfortably close to the woman and shoved his handful of magazines into her arms. "Call me anything you want. Throw your profanities at me, be an unlikeable person all around. Sticks and stones. But if you want to compare me to a group of fascists that I've dedicated my life to fighting, I can't guarantee that I'll keep being polite."

The agent shrugged Steve's warning off with a huff but said nothing.

Not wanting to lose their advantage, the pair continued moving through the building, making sure to avoid what patrols they could. However, when they were almost at the vehicle bay, Fleischer received a transmission. She knelt at the corner of the current hallway and listened, so Steve covered her flank and kept watch for hostiles. This time, there was too much background noise for him to eavesdrop on the incoming communications.

Fleischer responded to the signal. "Goddamn it. This was a bad idea. What about our exfil?"

Steve only picked up silence as Fleischer focused on her contact's words.

"Fuck you, Gunther. Fuck you." With that, she stood up and brought her rifle back up.

Steve had to prompt her for an update. "Sitrep?" He said lowly.

Fleischer clearly didn't like the idea of Steve making demands of her. "Three of our exfil guys are dead, squad leader's on his own. He can't provide support."

"Is the plan still viable without them?" The Captain asked as they started moving once again.

Fleischer shook her head dismissively and began to move out. "Calm down. I'll handle it."

Begrudgingly, Steve complied...seeing as he didn't have much of a choice. Instead of arguing with his hot-headed comrade, he simply followed her every step. They arrived at the vehicle bay after smashing through a pair of double doors. The place was empty save for the armoured trucks, transports, and tanks that it housed. Fleischer instantly approached one of the armoured trucks and pulled a device from the outer fixings of her backpack. It was a circular slab about the circumference of a dinner plate, and as thick as a small cake. It appeared to be hastily put together; wires, cables, and other electronic components were exposed between its unpainted steel plates.

However, the sound of heavy footfalls stopped her dead in her tracks. Steve thought that it looked like she froze...in fear. He wrenched his head back to the now closed double doors as the footsteps only grew in volume.

"Steven. You fucking idiot. Run." Fleischer hissed. "Meistermänner." She whispered to herself.

A colossal figure weaved through the doors with incredible grace and fluidity. It was encased in a suit of heavy powered armour with deep navy blue hull plating. Its helmet covered its occupant's face entirely, and instead only possessed a total of eight red dots upon its face; assumedly some kind of camera system. The armour didn't have any kind of integrated weapons like Stark's suits, seeing as the wearer was firmly gripping a large, blocky rifle in its hands.

Meistermänn... Steve knew that name. In the war, there were several Nazi attempts at creating super soldiers. The product of one of these attempts was a man named Willhelm Lohmer, known to most as the Master Man. The Nazi answer to Captain America. Was this Lohmer back from the dead...?

With blinding reaction speed, the Meistermänn opened fire with his weapon. Its barrel exploded in a mess of sparks and lightning that Steve barely had time to dodge. Quite frankly...he'd never seen this kind of reaction speed in any human being. The bolt of energy snaked passed Steve in under an attosecond and reduced the car behind him into slag. An energy weapon... Steve wasn't sure if vibranium would be impervious to its destructive power. After all, it didn't deal impact damage...it might just tear things apart at the atomic level.

"I'll buy you some time! Get that thing running!" Steve barked.

Captain America bounded forward as he noticed the Meistermänn turn to face Fleischer, who was sprinting towards the getaway vehicle. Before he could fire off a shot, Steve raised his shield and charged headlong into his chest like a raging bull. The Meistermänn slid backwards several centimetres but was otherwise unphased. With Steve now within melee range, the armoured being moved impossibly fast. Faster than Steve, who wasn't wearing an unwieldy suit. The Meistermann swept the butt of his rifle across Steve's face. Not able to evade the strike, Steve pushed through the pain that lanced through his skull and instantly prioritised his targets. The weapon that the Meistermänn clutched posed too much of a threat to Steve and Fleischer, so it had to go.

Spinning with borrowed momentum from the Meistermänn's melee, Steve came back around with his shield and slammed it into the Nazi's rifle with every ounce of strength he could muster. The force he dealt could've shattered the midsection of an assault rifle into shrapnel or snap the bend of a chaingun.

However, the result against the Meistermänn was not as spectacular. The weapon flew free of his grip but remained in one piece. Steve acknowledged his feelings of shock, then set them aside. He didn't exactly have time for them right now.

The Meistermänn was subjected to another attack by Steve's shield, this time aimed at his helmet. As if Steve were moving in slow motion, the Nazi super soldier firmly seized the rim of the shield and easily equalised Steve's strength. Once again, much faster than Steve could ever hope to be, the Meistermänn drove a clenched fist into Steve's gut. With that one single blow Steve was driven to his knees, gagging on his own blood. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt before...and it was dealt with one swift motion.

He couldn't believe what just happened. This Meistermänn was over a head taller than Steve, brandishing power armour that was bulkier than most recent Iron Man suits Steve had seen, but he outmatched Steve in both strength and speed without lifting a finger. The Captain was beginning to think that maybe he had bitten off more than he could chew.

Unlike most unthinking brutes who would choose to hurl Steve across the room in some miscalculated attempt to assert their physical strength, the Meistermänn showed at least a tinge of a strategic mind; he wasn't going to waste time on that. He quickly scooped up his energy rifle and lined up its iron sights with Steve's centre of mass.

Steve had no choice. He couldn't outrun a beam of energy. He had to roll the dice. Either he was going to lose his shield, or he was going to lose his life. He brought it up, braced for impact behind it, and gritted his teeth.

Suddenly, there came an ear-ringing 'clang', and with it, Steve was skipped backwards across the concrete like a stone on water. The pain was indescribable as sections of his uniform were shredded, and patches of his skin were scraped away by the sandpaper effect of the pavement. It all came to a halt as sudden as its beginning when Steve's body crashed into the side of a transport vehicle.

It crumpled like it was a cardboard box, and Steve fell face first onto the concrete, wincing in pain. He tasted more blood... That wasn't a good sign two moves into a fight.

He sent his eyes back to the Meistermänn, who was charging his rifle up for one final shot. Fortunately for Steve, it wasn't an energy rifle at all...it was a magnetic accelerator rifle. It simply used energy to propel a solid projectile, meaning that his shield could protect against it. However, that wouldn't do Steve any good seeing as he simply was too weak to raise his shield in time.

A blazing projectile streaked in from the left side of Steve's field of vision and impacted directly on the Meistermänn's chest. Another followed, then another. As the Nazi super soldier staggered backwards and retreated incredibly swiftly to cover, Steve traced his eyes over to the origin of the shots that had saved his life.

Atop the armoured car that Fleischer had entered was an open hatch mounted with a rotating turret that she currently manned. The turret was a belt-fed automatic impact grenade launcher, so instead of the grenades bouncing then exploding after their fuse timed out, they would detonate as soon as they struck an object. "Get your ass in here! Do you want to die!?" She yelled at him.

He didn't have to be told twice. Grimacing and grunting through the pain, Steve shot upward and made a mad dash for the armoured personnel carrier. All the while, Fleischer continued unloading the automatic grenade launcher at the entrance to the vehicle bay. It was starting to eviscerate the structural supports around the doors.

Steve reached the APC, pulled its troop compartment door open and threw himself inside. He sealed the door as Fleischer slid in from the turret position, secured the hatch shut, and scurried over to the driver's seat. Amidst all the panic, Steve noticed that the circular device Fleischer had been holding was now affixed to the ceiling of the driver's compartment. "Hold on."

She started the car's engine, then slammed a button on the circular device.

To Steve, it felt like the vehicle shook for a second, but nothing happened. However, after he pulled his helmet off and laid it alongside his shield in the troop compartment and joined Fleischer at the front of the APC, he realised that wasn't the case.

Everything looked to be at least fifty times larger than normal. He added two and two together...realising that the circular device was none other than a Pym Particle actuator; it allowed for atomic resizing of inanimate objects. Again, much like Fleischer's suit, Steve was used to seeing much more advanced and compact variations of this technology.

Rather anti-climatically, the escape was rather uneventful. At that size, the Meistermänn couldn't see the vehicle and instead paced around looking for a full-sized APC while Fleischer drove the tiny thing up and onto the street, hiding in plain sight. Once outside of the Nazi facility and making as much distance from it as possible, Fleischer scoffed. "That was a stupid move, Steven. Despite the fact that you should be fucking dead... 'Augmented'? Verdammt... What the fuck are you?"

Steve finally relaxed in his seat. "Listen...there's a lot I don't understand."

"I'm just a soldier. I can't answer your questions."

"So am I." Steve answered compassionately.

Fleischer growled and cursed under breath. "Fine. What do you want?"

"Where...are we? What...w-what year is it?" Steve muttered. His time in the war left scars. They weren't visible to most people, but they were still there despite the efforts he made to ignore them. To have everything that tormented him suddenly return... It was overwhelming. He felt like he was back on the Western Front in 1942.

"You're crazy. You're fucking crazy, aren't you?"

"P-Please. Tell me." He insisted.

"This is Neu Berlin, Amerika."

Steve twitched. "America... What happened to it? The Nazis...when did they..." His voice trailed off.

Fleischer, still clad in her helmet, turned to face Steve in disbelief. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Steve outstretched his foot and pressed it onto the APC's brake. The vehicle screeched to a halt, jolting its two occupants violently forward. Fleischer snatched her pistol from its holster and growled, "One more fucking move, dummkopf. One more fucking stupid move and I'll shoot you."

"When...?" Steve repeated lowly. It was as if he couldn't even see the pistol pointed at his head.

"For fuck's sake." Fleischer groaned and angrily retracted her sidearm. "Look, I'm no historian...but I think it was nineteen-forty-six. The Nazis won. They fucked the Allies. Britain, France, the United States, and all their subject nations. They're everywhere and everything now."

Steve's innards froze from the inside out. His palms shivered and his brow began dripping with sweat. It was real. It was all real...and now with the adrenaline out of his system, with no enemy to fight, his mind began to race. Being thawed from the ice...was it all a dream? Was this reality?