Rare Talent and an Angry President

One was the man they had captured, now undergoing modification in an experimental chamber at the Deep Space Base. The other was still serving under Nick Fury.

Which one was real?

"Steve? Weren't you—" Pierce's voice caught, but he quickly regained his composure.

"What the hell is going on?"

Captain America looked at him. There was no emotion in those blue eyes. It was not indifference, but the bewilderment of someone who had only just been made and did not yet know how to express what he felt.

His hand tightened around the shield's grip, then relaxed.

Fury answered for him. "I assembled a team of specialists to analyze the research Red Skull and his people left behind. We harnessed the Tesseract's power and transferred it into the captain."

Beside him, Coulson's eyes widened. He could hardly believe the director had done such a thing to the captain.

Pierce watched Captain America on the screen, blue light shimmering around his body, while his mind raced.

If Nick Fury could transfer the Tesseract's energy into a person, how had Pierce not known? Ninety-nine percent of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s personnel were Hydra members.

That alone showed that the one-eyed Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was not as simple as Pierce had thought.

"This is excellent news." Pierce's voice returned to its steady, meeting-chairman cadence.

"I imagine our enemies will be deeply disappointed. But can Steve's new power deal with Russell, Magneto, Phoenix, and the others?"

Fury's brow creased slightly. He heard the probe in Pierce's question. Pierce was not concerned about Captain America's fighting ability; he wanted to know just how strong Fury's trump card was.

"I'm not sure," Fury replied. "But after Captain Marvel, we finally have enough power to take part in a fight on this scale."

Pierce did not press further. He knew