The Falcon, Stark and The Winter Soldier

Isaiah Bradley

BALTIMORE , MARYLAND

Sam and you were walking the cold, dark streets of Baltimore. With your arm tucked in with Sam's because you were cold, you were following Sam who spite two boys playing basketball. You had the shield in the case in your right hand.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what you doing man? Where you goin'?" One of the kids question Sam and you.

"I'm going to see your grandfather." Sam in a stern voice tells the kids.

The kid hesitated, "Alright, he in the back."

"Thanks." Sam nods his head.

Sam and you walk a couple of feet but Sam stopped and is hesitant, taking a deep breath.

"Hey, you alright?" You squeeze Sam's hand to let him know it's alright.

Sam nodded and smiled weakly. You nodded, giving him the look that everything is going to be alright. "I'm here if you need me." You smiled sweetly to Sam. You hand the shield to Sam.

Sam pecks you on the cheek, "I know, Stark."

You watch as Sam walks forward but stops once again. "I need you to come with me." Sam turns his head towards you. You nodded and follow Sam to Bradley's backyard.

Walking with the shield in hand, Sam and you reach the backyard and see Isaiah watering his plants. "That what I think it is?" Isaiah stops his water and noticed Sam had company behind him.

As Sam went to take off the cover, Isaiah shakes his head. "Mm-mm, leave the cover. Those stars and stripes don't mean nothing good to me."

Sam sets down the shield. "I need to understand."

"You understand. Every black man does. Whether you wanna deny it or not--"

"Don't do that bitter old man thing with me." Sam interrupts Isaiah.

"If you ain't bitter, you're blind." Isaiah corrected himself.

Sam sighed, "I don't get it, okay? What went wrong?" Sam desperately asked Isaiah.

"I used to be like you, until I opened my eyes. Until I saw men in the Red Tails., the famous 332, fight for this country only to come home to find crosses burned on their lawn." Isaiah explained more deeply.

"I'm from the south, I get that. But you were a supersoldier like Steve, you could've been the next—"

"The next? What? Huh? Blonde hair, blue eyes, stars and stripes?" Isaiah chuckled sarcastically. "The entire world's been chasing that great white hope ever since he first got dosed with that serum."

"Steve did not put you in jail." Sam sternly told Isaiah.

Isaiah then welcomed you and Sam into his house. Isaiah leads himself to get a box that was on the top shelf. He pulls up a chair as you and Sam were sitting on the couch in front of him. Isaiah hands you a picture of a woman.

"She died while I was in jail. They, uh... never let a single one of her letters get to me. They locked 'em in this box. They told her I was dead. And, after a while, she was gone. And, uh..."

He struggles not to cry, then collects himself.

"Sorry. You wanted to know what went wrong? A handful of us got shot up with different versions of that serum. But they don't tell us what it is. They tell us it's tetanus. They send us on missions, even though the others weren't stable. Some of us started dying off and a couple of the boys get captured on a mission. I heard the brass talking about blowing the POW camp to hell to hide the evidence, but those were my men. My brothers. Not evidence. So I busted out of the facility one night and I brought them boys back, not that it made a damn bit of difference. It wasn't long before it was only me left. And what did I get for saving their lives?"

You closed your eyes, not believing what you were hearing.

He pulls up his shirt to reveal a scar across his stomach. Sam and you look horrified.

"For the next thirty years, they experimented on me, trying to figure out why the serum worked. There was a nurse. She took pity on me. Wrote up some fake reports, something. She had me declared dead. That's who gave me this." Isaiah hands you pictures. "My God, I loved her so much..." Isaiah closed his eyes to keep it in.

"Mr. Bradley, um... We gotta do something. We gotta tell somebody." Sam desperately told Isaiah.

"No. Leave me dead. My name is buried." Isaiah told Sam.

"But the world's different now. I know people!" Sam tried to convince Isaiah but it was no use.

"Man, that's why you're here? You think things are different? You think times are different? You think I wouldn't be dead in a day if you brought me out? You wanna believe jail was my fault because you got that white man's shield. They were worried my story might get out, so they erased me. My history. But they've been doing that for five-hundred years. Pledge allegiance to that, my brother. They will never let a black man be Captain America. And even if they did, no self-respecting black man would ever wanna be."

You turned to Sam, who seemed heartbroken. Sam eyes the shield.

Sam then gets up and takes the shield and has it hanging by his side.

Before you follow Sam out, you make contact with Isaiah. Isaiah grabs your hand gently and pats it and smiled weakly. You tucked in your lips and gave Isaiah a hug. Isaiah took it with open arms. Without words, you rushed out and followed Sam out of the door.

"Sarah, I'm coming home." Sam then locks eyes with you as you slowly walked down the steps, giving Sam some space. You nodded to Sam, grabbing his hand to let him know it's all going to be alright. Sam sniffed, as you pulled him for a hug.