In Nrosvekistan, Captain America has spent hours in a brutal fight with the renegade super-soldier Nuke. Cap’s anger and grief slows his responses so that Nuke gets the upper hand. Staring down the barrel of the baddie’s gun, Cap reminds Nuke that patriotism taken too far is fanaticism and that all soldiers ultimately want peace. Nuke calms down and Cap promises him a fair trial while shaking his hand. Undercover Bugle reporter Samantha Chan snaps a picture at just that moment. Nuke hears her and goes off on another rant about the traitorous media while pursuing her. Chan’s life is saved by the timely intervention of the Falcon, who is then defeated by the muscular villain. Cap takes on Nuke while Falcon rescues Chan who has tumbled over a cliff in her panic. Once she is safe, Falcon demands her camera and Chan shames the hero by pointing out that he is violating her Constitutional rights by following the orders of the arrogant and unelected SHIELD; he goes off to ponder the matter….
Meanwhile, Nuke is firing a flame thrower at Cap while declaiming how Vietnam veterans were mistreated; this sends Cap into a rage and he savagely beats his foe while denouncing the mindset that seeks peace through violence. Falcon has to stop Cap from decapitating the fallen Nuke (see the cover). The subdued villain whimpers that he only wanted respect for the fallen troops….
Soon, Nick Fury Jr arrives to take Nuke into custody and he shows Cap a newspaper headline on the incident—and the picture of him shaking Nuke’s hand….
Epilogue: the Iron Nail takes pride in how his scheme to destroy SHIELD is progressing….