Recap: "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" Part 1: Patriot Acts

Well, another Fourth of July, come and gone. For me it was a day filled with parades and sunburn, capped off with fireworks and an old man hitting my girlfriend’s car because she had the nerve to get rudely cut off by his poor driving.

But this guy more than made up for that.

So let’s begin the look at Captain America’s new place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe and see if he even likes where he’s ended up.

Probably likes it better than being in a Fantastic Four movie, that’s for sure.

Before the film begins, we get the second appearance of the second version of the flipping-pages Marvel logo. And seeing as how movies that mess with the Marvel logo are usually cursed for their hubris (See: Thor: The Dark World, Tim Story’s Fantastic Four films, and Hulk), we can only hope that Thor: The Dark World has absorbed all the bad karma like a sponge.

Why must you tempt fate, Marvel?

The film opens with a sunrise overlooking Washington DC. Specifically, the part that everyone imagines when they read the words "Washington DC." The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and some national monuments. Among the monuments, a man (Anthony Mackie) is having himself a nice, early morning jog. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), on the other hand, has decided to be a showoff today.

Steve Rogers: "On your left."

In the course of this guy's run, he gets passed by Steve Rogers no fewer than three times, each time...

Man: "Don't say it; don't you say it."
Steve Rogers: "On your left."

But the man manages to finish his run, though it leaves him very out of breath. Steve though? He's practically glowing. But he still walks up to the out-of-breath guy and strikes up a friendly conversation with him.

Man: "Dude, you just ran, like thirteen miles in thirty minutes."
Steve Rogers: "I guess I got a late start."
Man: "Really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap. ...Did you take it? I assume you just took it."

The man, Sam Wilson, identifies himself as a former member of the 58th Pararescue who currently works at the VA. He easily identifies the blonde-haired, blue-eyed superman as Steve Rogers and asks him how he's coping with the 21st century.

Sam: "It's your bed, right?

Sam, no stranger to the hard surfaces they had to sleep on in warzones, suggests that Cap should try sleeping on the floor until he gets used to being back home.

Sam: "You must miss the good old days, huh?"
Steve Rogers: "Well, things aren't so bad. Food's a lot better; we used to boil everything."

"Have you tried shawarma? I had some in New York; it was pretty tasty.”

Steve Rogers: "No polio is good."

Give it time, Steve. If the anti-vaccers get their way, it'll make a comeback soon enough.

Steve Rogers: "Internet, so helpful. I've been reading that a lot, trying to catch up."

And if the MCU internet is anything like ours, then I bet all those pictures of Cap and Tony kissing took a while for him to get used to.

"Have you seen that film on the You-Tubes, the one where the kid bites the other kid's finger?"

"Yeah. While you were still in the ice, actually."

"Oh. What about Charlie the Unicorn?"

"Yeah."

"What about...."

"I've seen Trogdor."

"...Oh."

Sam suggests Marvin Gaye's Trouble Man soundtrack from '72, and Steve adds it to his to-do list.

"Pisco"? Somebody told him to try brandy from Peru?

Amusingly enough, there were several versions of Steve’s list made for various parts of the world. The UK list, for example, lists Sean Connery, while Russia’s version replaces the moon landing with a mention of Yuri Gagarin, the official first man in space. I can only imagine the paradox that would ensue if somebody recommended Scott Pilgrim vs. the World to him. 

But as they talk, Steve's S.H.I.E.L.D. cell phone goes off, letting him know that duty calls. I'm of two minds on criticizing his text alert sound, though. Every single old person I know sets their phone to sound like an actual phone ringing... but Steve might not even know he can change the alert sound at all.

Even clandestine black ops missions look friendlier with a smiley!

Right off the bat, it’s pretty clear that this text isn’t from Fury. I mean, his smiley would look like this.

.-)

Anyway, Steve and Sam amicably say goodbye with a bit more good-natured ribbing. Speaking of which, Black Widow pulls up in a rather inconspicuous black Porsche.

Black Widow: "Hey, fellas. Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil."

In little time, Captain America is on a S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet, heading towards the Indian Ocean. En route, Cap and the members of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s special ops group, Strike, get their info from Agent Brock Rumlow (Frank Grillo).

Agent Rumlow: "Target is a mobile satellite launch platform, the Lemurian Star. They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them 93 minutes ago."
Captain America: "Any demands?"
Agent Rumlow: "Billion and a half."

Oh, come on, you might as well just ask for two billion at that point.

Captain America: "Why so steep?"
Agent Rumlow: "Because it's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s."

Cap's a little bummed over this, because this means that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been trespassing and just got caught with their pants down. By pirates. The pirates themselves are led by Georges Batroc (Georges St-Pierre). Known in the comics as Batroc the Leaper, but best known to me as an oft-recurring minor nuisance in Ultimate Spider-Man.

Because when I think “gritty, realistic Captain America film,” I think “goofy French stereotypes.”

Batroc the Leaper is based around one joke: He’s French. And since “frogs” is a derogatory way to refer to the French, we have a Frenchman with the power to jump. And in case you thought that was just a coincidence, “Batroc” sounds a lot like “batrachian,” meaning “frog-like.”

And yet, somehow, the film version of this gimmick character is an ex-DGSE agent, meaning that he’s essentially a French James Bond gone rogue.

Agent Rumlow: "He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice."

...This guy? I mean… really? Geez, Tony Stark really must have created world peace if Interpol's most wanted is a French pirate. No offense meant to the French, but they haven't produced any fearsome pirates since Francois l'Olonnais. Now he was a tough ol' scallywag. Shame about that incident with the Kuna, though.

But Batroc is apparently determined to be a force to be reckoned with, despite his lack of superpowers or gadgets. And to that end, Batroc's taken some hostages. Among them, Coulson's buddy from the Marvel One-Shots, Agent Jasper Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernandez). Captain America gives everybody their particular orders for this mission and then prepares to jump out of the Quinjet while Black Widow continues to exercise her newfound talent at snarking. As does Cap.

Black Widow: "You do anything fun Saturday night?"
Captain America: "Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so no, not really."

Before he jumps, Widow throws out her two cents.

Black Widow: "You know, if you ask Kristen out, from Statistics, she'd probably say yes."
Captain America: "That's why I don't ask."
Black Widow: "Too shy or too scared?"
Captain America: "Too busy!"

Sound like the real answer is “both.” But with that, he jumps out into the waters of the Indian Ocean.

Strike Agent: "Was he wearing a parachute?"
Agent Rumlow: "No. No he wasn't."

Hopefully, that shield can save him from the fact that hitting water from a few hundred feet up is like hitting concrete.

Cap climbs onboard and quickly takes out a few pirates keeping watch with shield tosses and choke holds.

Man, this Silent Takedown makes me want to play one of the Arkham games.

He even uses a knife to incapacitate one of them, though, to be fair, the guy tried to stab Cap with it first.

And the guy was reaching for the fire alarm, even though there was no fire.
Captain America’s a stickler for the rules.

Before one final pirate can get lucky and score a headshot on the good Captain, Rumlow and the other members of Strike come in to lend a quick hand. After Black Widow joins them to continue her matchmaking....

Captain America: "Secure the engine. Then find me a date."
Black Widow: "I'm multitasking."

…We take a look at the hostages, who really don’t have that much to do. Partially because they're secured with zip-ties, but mostly because they're being looked after by a rather nutso pirate who's yelling at them about how he should kill one of them to prove his group's seriousness to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Elsewhere, Batroc has his men prepare the ship for the next phase of their plan while Widow attacks some guys in the engine room.

And since they stole a mobile launch platform, I await Batroc’s declaration of “Zen fire ze missiles!”

Back with the hostages, the nutso pirate arbitrarily decides that unless Batroc tells him otherwise within two minutes, he's going to start killing hostage. A thug outside says he'll inform Batroc, but gets tazed before he can let anyone know. Meaning that strike just gave themselves an arbitrary time limit to deal with these pirates.

Within that two minutes, Cap, Strike, and Black Widow all get into position before launching their rescue mission. Though for Widow, she's got a few more guys to zap with her wrist-tasers than the other guys. The last guys she fights even gets a pipe wrench to the face.

Though I still feel sorrier for the poor security guard who got a hit of Mace to the face.
The guy was just doing his legitimate job.

With two minutes up, Nutso the Pirate gets ready to randomly kill hostages. Luckily, our heroes enact their plan to strategically take out all the pirates with bombs and sniper rifles.

Agent Sitwell: "I told you. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't negotiate."

Unless you destroy Harlem, in which case you’re offered ajob.

Cap makes his way up to Batroc on the bridge, but it seems that the guy's legs are still pretty well-developed, even without the title of "the Leaper." The Frenchman runs off while Strike infiltrates the rest of the ship. But Black Widow isn't where she's supposed to be. Cap tries to contact her, but ends up having to block a boot to ze face with his shield.

"Boot to ze face!"

As I mentioned earlier, Batroc, is played by Georges St-Pierre, who, long story short has been consistently ranked as the best MMA fighter in the world. And the guy has a knack for kickboxing, which he uses in this fight to portray the man with the world's deadliest legs.

I will not be making the obvious “leapfrog” joke to discuss their fight.
...Except that saying I won't make the joke is kind of a joke in and of itself. Aw, nutbunnies.

It's a really cool fight. Less cool is St-Pierre’s's acting. Luckily, he has few lines. And they're in French, so it's harder to tell that he's not putting much emotion into them.

Batroc tells off Cap for hiding behind a shield, so Cap puts it on his back and kicks Batroc's hiney mano a mano. Or rather, mano a pie.

He knocks down Batroc with an ironic boot to ze face, but the fight spills into a nearby room filled with computers. Computers which the Black Widow just happened to be using. After knocking out Batroc, Cap asks what exactly she thinks she's doing in the middle of this rescue mission.

Black Widow: "Backing up the hard drive. It's a good habit to get into."

She's downloading some classified S.H.I.E.L.D. intel, which Captain America assumes is going against their assigned mission, until Widow tells him that Nick Fury gave her the task of getting the data while not informing anyone else.

While Cap tries to give her a piece of his mind, Batroc escapes by lobbing a grenade. The heroes dodge the ensuing blast and try to regain control of the situation.

Black Widow: "Okay, that one's on me."
Captain America: "You're damn right."

Oh, the irony.

Presumably, the rest of the mission goes off without a hitch, because we cut to the Triskelion, the headquarters of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Triskelion originated in the Ultimate Universe, and it’s nice to finally see it, as opposed to just getting teased about its existence in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Anyway, Captain America waltzes into Fury's office and chews him out about how he didn't give Cap all the intel about the mission.

Captain America: "Those hostages could have died, Nick."
Nick Fury: "I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn't happen."
Captain America: "Soldiers trust each other; that's what makes it an army, not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns."
Nick Fury: "Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye."

"So now, I get my own damn eyelashes out."

But Fury did this on purpose, since he knew that Cap isn't exactly comfortable with the dirtier side of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick Fury: "Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything."

There’s a joke about slash fic in there somewhere….

Nick Fury: "It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them all."
Captain America: "except you."
Nick Fury: "You're wrong about me. I do share."

"Can't you tell by my warm smile and friendly demeanor?"

To throw Cap a bone, Nick Fury takes him past his clearance level into the Triskelion's lowest levels. Since there's no "The Girl from Ipanema" muzak in the elevator, Fury tells a story to pass the time.

Nick Fury: "My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years. Granddad worked in a nice building. Got good tips. He'd walk home every night, a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say, "Hi." People would say hi back. Time went on, the neighborhood got rougher." He'd say hi, they'd say keep on steppin'. Granddad got to gripping that lunch bag a little tighter."
Captain America: "Did he ever get mugged?"
Nick Fury: "Every week some punk would say "what's in the bag?""
Captain America: "What did he do?"
Nick Fury: "He'd show 'em. Bunch of crumpled ones and a loaded .22 Magnum. Yeah, granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much."

Huh. I’m sure that little conversation won’t end up resonating with the central themes of the film.

Anyway, as the elevator descends, Fury's version of "protection" comes into view. Project Insight. Three brand-spanking new helicarriers, armed to the teeth with guns, jets, and who-knows-what, linked to targeting satellites that were launched from the Lemurian Star. Helicarriers that can fly forever, thanks to some repulsor engines designed by Tony Stark.

Nick Fury: "He had a few suggestions once he got an up-close look at one of our old turbines."

Fury's optimistic over the prospect of being able to eliminate threats before they happen, but Cap disagrees with Fury's literal "shoot first and ask questions later" approach, as do I.

I mean, sometimes you need to step back and say "Are we ever going to find ourselves in a situation where we'll need to kill a thousand people in sixty seconds?" Because that is literally what Fury says these things are capable of.

A thousand per minute.

On the one hand, yes, hostile aliens did invade New York. And being able to eliminate hostile aliens quickly could have saved a lot of lives. On the other hand, this is textbook supervillain technology that's pointed at the ground, not the skies.

And not only that, but their satellites can identify targets by scanning their DNA. From space.

Privacy is dead.

Nick Fury: "We're gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen."

I'm sure they do good work in the pre-crime department.

Nick Fury: “After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis."

Well, I'm glad Fury didn't say a "quantum leap," which actually refers to the tiniest possible change... But according to the internet, a "quantum surge" is an energy burst created by an object emerging into normal space from subspace. And the cited source is an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. The worst episode of Star Trek: Voyager, in fact. You know, the one where Tom Paris goes so fast that he turns into a fishman, then he turns the captain into a fishlady and mates with her.

…I’m getting off track.

Nick Fury: "For once, we're way ahead of the curve."
Captain America: "By holding a gun to everyone on Earth and calling it 'protection.'"

Hey, the NRA would have you believe that the only way to stop people secretly carrying guns into public places is to secretly carry your own gun into a public place.

But this is just another version of the age-old debate: security vs. freedom.

On the one hand, eliminating potential threats, by definition, prevents them from becoming threats.

On the other hand... how far can S.H.I.E.L.D. take the idea of crime prevention?

Stopping a bomber before he can trigger his bomb? Good.

Arresting a bomber as he builds his bomb? Great.

Arresting a man who might decide to bomb something at some point in the future? Then you're arresting an innocent man.

It's the old "Going back in time and killing baby Hitler" dilemma, only you're not sure if the baby in question is actually Hitler.

But Fury calls Steve out on his hypocrisy, since no generation is completely clean.

Nick Fury: "You know, I read those SSR files."

"Midnight Oil. What a horror show.
And don’t get me started on all the stuff that went down after Whitney Frost was stopped.
Things only got crazier from there.”

Nick Fury: "'Greatest Generation'? You guys did some nasty stuff."

Captain America: "Yeah, we compromised. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so that people could be free. This isn't freedom. This is fear."

I probably don’t have to tell you how much this draws on real life concerns. And much like real life, each side has some good points. Cap is justifiably concerned about the lack of freedom and the apparent abolition of “innocent until proven guilty,” but Fury is more concerned with protecting those people Cap is worrying about. And since Fury’s the one in charge, it’s his way or the highway, and he wants Cap to be on his side with this.

Captain America: "Don't hold your breath."

In need of some “me-time,” Steve rides his motorbike over to the Smithsonian, where Gary Sinise narrates the life story of Captain America. Steve takes a look at his own exhibit while dressed inconspicuously. And by "inconspicuously," I mean "dressed like he's about to blow the place up."

“If you don’t tell the guard about my bomb, I’ll let you live.”

He looks around at the old pictures and memorabilia, making sure to take some time at Bucky's memorial.

Voiceover: "Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country."

Except for Junior Juniper, who died in the Agent Carter episode "The Iron Ceiling." Though, to be fair, that episode was written after this film was made.

Steve also watches the informational film there, featuring Peggy Cater (Haley Atwell) in 1953, telling a story.

Peggy Carter: "A blizzard had trapped half our battalion behind the enemy line. Steve... Captain Rogers, he fought his way through a HYDRA blockade that had pinned down our allies for months. He saved over 1000 men. Including the man who would... who would become my husband, as it turned out."

Because of this line, once Agent Carter started, my money was on on Agent Sousa. Not only does his prosthetic leg harken back to pre-Super Soldier Steve Rogers, but he's the only character in the show who actually fought in Europe during WW2. So much for the mystery there, I guess. Even before the Season 2 finale where they hooked up.

But to try and prolong that mystery, when Steve visits his best girl in the present, this mysterious husband is noticeably absent from Peggy's pictures with her kids.

The years have taken their toll on Peggy.

Leaving CG wrinkles on her face.

They reminisce and talk about Steve's growing uneasiness. In the 21st century, things aren't as black-and-white as he remembers, and not just because they have TV in color now. He's not sure what to do with himself, and his heroics aren't successfully distracting him from this problem.

Peggy: "Look, you saved the world. We rather mucked it up."
Steve: "You didn't. Knowing that you helped found S.H.I.E.L.D. is half the reason I stay."

But Peggy gives Steve the one piece of advice he needs to keep in mind.

Peggy: "The world has changed. And none of us can go back. All we can do is our best. And sometimes the best we can do is to start over."

But alas, as a clear reminder of how much things have changed, Peggy has a small fit, after which she looks at Steve like it's been forever. Because in her mind, it has been.

Peggy: "It's been so long... so long."
Steve: "Well, I couldn't leave my best girl. Not when she owes me a dance."

It's pretty freaking tragic.

As Steve works his way through a memory-loss-fueled encounter that would make Nicholas Sparks jealous that he never thought of it, Fury tries to look at that Project Insight data he had Widow steal from the Lemurian Star.

Computer: Access denied."
Nick Fury: Run decryption."
Computer: "Decryption failed."
Nick Fury: "Director override, Fury, Nicholas J."
Computer: "Override denied. All files sealed."

"Say 'Access Denied" one more time, motherf-"

Nick Fury: "On whose authority?"

Computer: "Fury, Nicholas J."

Huh. Usually, in fiction, telling a computer to not do what you tell it results in a paradox that shuts the whole thing down.

So Fury decides to head to the World Security Council floor, where Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) is meeting with the WSC's holograms from The Avengers. They're a little concerned over the whole "S.H.I.E.L.D. boat gets hijacked by pirates" thing, but Pierce manages to give a little speech about playing the long game and trusting those appointed to make these decisions, which he cuts short to meet with Fury real quick. The two old friends greet each other, and Fury calls in a favor to ask if Pierce can get Project Insight delayed.

Alexander Pierce: "Nick, that's not a favor, that's a sub-committee hearing. A long one."
Nick Fury: "It could be nothing, probably is nothing; I just need time to make sure it's nothing."
Alexander Pierce: "But if it's something?"
Nick Fury: "Then we'll both be damn glad those helicarriers aren't in the air."

Pierce agrees, but tells Fury that he needs to get Iron Man to stop by his niece's birthday party.

Pierce: "And not just a flyby. He's got to mingle."

A flyby would be difficult anyway, since Tony just blew up all his armors.

Elsewhere, Steve visits Sam over at the VA, holding a meeting for vets with PTSD, including a woman who was pulled over for swerving to miss a plastic bag on the road. Her gut told her that it was an IED despite what all logic said.

It's good to see some veterans who are seeking therapy after their time overseas. I can't help but think it was added to provide a nice contrast to what was largely seen as Iron Man 3's legion of Extremis-enhanced traitors.

Sam: "Some stuff you leave there. Other stuff you bring back."

Some sentences are redundant. Other sentences aren't redundant.

Sam: "It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be in a big suitcase, or in a little man purse?"

It sounds like Sam has experience with some stuff he brought back. After the meeting, he and Cap have a talk where he explains exactly what that stuff was.

Steve: "You lose someone?"
Sam: "My wingman. Riley. Flying a night mission. Standard PJ rescue op. Nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before. Until an RPG knocked Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch."

Sam says that after that, finding a reason to be over there was hard. And Steve can relate. In this strange new world, it's hard to keep being the star-spangled man with a plan.

Big man wrapped in a flag. Take that away, what is he?

Sam: "Ultimate fighting? Just a great idea off the top of my head.”

Makes sense. We already saw him beat up Georges St-Pierre.

Sam: “Seriously, you could do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy?"
Steve: "I don't know."

Elsewhere, Nick Fury is driving his S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued Chevy Tahoe down the D.C. streets, calling Agent Maria Hill and telling her to get her rear end over there under "deep shadow" conditions. He pulls up to a stoplight next to a Chevy cop car. Instead of the occupants of both vehicles bonding over their love of product placement-enforced Chevys, the officers inside give him a dirty look.

Nick Fury: "Wanna see my lease?"

Luckily, the white cops choose to not harass the sarcastic black man, which should make one wonder if they’re really cops. Instead, they just hit the siren for a quick burst before going on their way. Unfortunately, that seems to have been the signal to the other cop cars, one of which blind sides Fury in his literal blind side.

Cop cars surround Fury's Chevy, as do cops. According to the Chevy's onboard computer, Fury's already got a fracture in his wrist, so he uses the anesthetic in the glove compartment while SWAT surrounds him.

The computer voice... well, he's basically a JARVIS knock-off, so let's give him a name. I'm thinking... GERVAIS.

Anyway, GERVAIS (Robert Clotworthy) tells Fury that the DC Metro Police dispatch is showing no officers in the area. Fury tells GERVAIS to autopilot him out of here, but the feature seems to be offline. Luckily, this is fiction, where any problem like that can be solved by rebooting. As the system reboots, the not-cops open fire and chip away the integrity of the Chevy's armor plating.

And to finish the job, the not-SWATs boot up a mechanical battering ram which reduces the armor to 1% of its normal integrity, allowing Fury to whip out a machine gun turret from his armrest.

With the systems rebooted, Fury keeps firing as the car drives to safety. He tries to get his car to do the flight trick, as seen in the pilot of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Back to the Future films, but most of the gadgets and gizmos in the Chevy have been taken out by gunfire.

Nick Fury: "Well, what's not damaged?"
GERVAIS: "Air conditioning is fully operational."

The high-speed chase streaks down the road, as Fury is forced to navigate through the bullets and traffic to make his getaway through the only open path. Unfortunately, this seems to have been the plan all along. A mysterious masked figure waits in the middle of the road, launching a magnetic mine to the underside of Fury's Chevy, blowing it up into the air and down the road. The figure heads towards his prey, though he finds nothing.

Man, this guy was determined to see that lease.

Fury managed to escape with what appears to be a plasma pocketknife, slicing through the car and below the city streets to make his escape.

Later that night, Steve returns home to his apartment building, finding his neighbor, Kate (the nurse Black Widow tried to convince him to ask out earlier, played by Emily VanCamp), getting off the phone with her aunt and going to do her laundry. Steve offers to let her use his machine, maybe get her a cup of coffee but she's busy and her scrubs are, like, super grody.

"There are bodily fluids you didn't even know existed on these clothes."

But before Steve heads inside, she tells him that he seems to have left his stereo on. There's music coming from his apartment.  Suspicious, he enters like an intruder and goes in-tru-der window, grabbing his shield real quick before peeking into his dark living room, finding Nick Fury, battered, bloody, and drinking, waiting for him as old-timey jazz blares.

Nick Fury: "My wife kicked me out."
Steve: "I didn't know you were married."
Nick Fury: "A lot of things you don't know about me."

For example, he’s a Jedi Master.

As they talk, Fury shows Cap a note on his phone.

EARS EVERYWHERE

Which is why Fury keeps turning the lights off...?

But Steve gets the hint as Fury shows him the worst note of all.

SHIELD COMPROMISED

Because he's an old man and doesn't have a cell phone handy, Steve starts speaking in code.

Steve: "Who else knows about your wife?"

YOU AND ME

Nick Fury: "Just... my friends."

They don't get much further before Fury gets shot through the window. With little time, Fury hands Steve the flash drive from the Lemurian Star and gives him a final warning.

Nick Fury: "Don't trust anyone."

Having heard the gunshots, Steve's neighbor bursts in to check up on things. With her gun.

Kate: "Captain, I'm Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Service."

This whole time, she had been assigned to protect Cap on Fury's orders. As she radios in to get some EMTs on the scene, Steve jumps through his window to the adjacent building to chase after the shooter. He parkours his way through the office building, breaking down anything he doesn't feel like running around. Walls are broken, papers go flying... I just feel sorry for the guy who had been working for the past month on the Penske File, only for his hard work to go flying as Steve tries to propel himself across the room by trampling over the desks.

Steve gets to the other end of the building and watches the shooter jump off the roof onto the next, lower building and follows him by leaping through yet another window. Once on the other roof, Captain America throws his mighty shield, expecting all those who chose to oppose his shield to yield.

But instead....

A game of Frisbee breaks out.

And without a trace, the mysterious shooter disappears into the night.

Coming up in Part 2! Traitors, turncoats, and trust issues.