4

This is in 1997.

This is Augsburg, Germany. It's one of the oldest cities in Germany. A great man once lived here. He invented part of a supersoldier serum here...and then a whole one in the United States some time later.

Subtly down the back roads, a prison convoy rolls. They're SHIELD agents. They've made the biggest bust of their existence yet. And by the will of the Howling Commandos, they will NOT screw this up...

Their inmate of honor is Wolfgang von Strucker, an officer of Hydra. He's in chains, and surrounded by guards. It's hard for him to feign despair, when he knows that some of his loyal coworkers are in the guards' ranks. But feign he must, until the right time...

Onward, the convoy continues. They've all got a long way to go before they can rest.

Somewhere else in Augsburg, Mitch Carson, a seasoned assassin of public officials, is on the prowl. He's a very loyal Hydra agent, who was once SHIELD's head of defense...back when Howard Stark was still alive and Peggy Carter could still work. He's here for the biggest job of his career. He's here to spring Hydra's head.

Not that it would matter if Strucker died, of course. "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place," and all that. Nothing's going to stop Strucker today. He'll get this promotion...if he has to raze Dr. Erskine's precious hometown to the ground to do so...

He's always envied Hank Pym-even though his face still hurts from where he slugged him right before he retired from SHIELD. If only Hydra had been able to fully duplicate the Ant-Man suit before Pym caught them, thinking that he'd caught SHIELD doing it instead...

One of the SHIELD agents guarding Strucker is a cyborg. His name is Jon Garrett-or Deathlok, as he calls himself. His belly is literally made of metal. He and many of the other guards are poised for action...and they'll get it soon.

From a cybernetic in his ear, Garrett gets an order straight from Alexander Pierce, at the Triskelion. He smiles, and gives his comrades a look. The few others who only work for SHIELD-the weaker ones-look on in vain. The poor souls have no idea what to expect...

Garrett and the other Hydra moles stun the weaker SHIELD agents, and kill them. They pull Strucker from the prison transport. Garrett leaves a few grenades in the transport. They improvise, and made it look like Strucker escaped on his own.

At last, and too late, Carson arrives. The fun's already happened. The prison convoy's gone up in flames-as has SHIELD's victory. Carson didn't get there in time to save Strucker-even if he did get there in time to have that pinned on him by SHIELD...if SHIELD's yet gotten the memo that their precious former head of defense has gone bad.

Carson is outraged. He really wanted to get the credit for saving Strucker.

Garrett only smiles sadly, and pats Carson on the shoulder. He reminds him that the world will know about Carson's little victory over SHIELD. And for that reason, Carson still has his job. But until then, Strucker needs someone to take him back to Hydra headquarters in Sokovia, and SHIELD's expecting Garrett and his surviving coworkers to report back.

With that, Garrett and his team extract. Carson gets to go to Sokovia with Strucker...albeit in weaker spirits than he'd imagined.