Sunrise Serenade

01

Six months after Avengers: Endgame

[New World Order]

Birds chirped as a man was ironing his white button-down shirt.

Sam Wilson slipped on his shirt and put on his suit jacket as he stared at himself in the mirror.

In the sunlight, Captain America's shield caught his attention and he stared at it.

He went to pick the shield up and hesitated a moment before doing so. He held it in both hands and put it in a bag, zipping the bag up.

He remembered Old Steve asking, "How does it feel?"

Sam answered, "Like it's someone else's."

"It isn't."

---

In a plane, the Major said, "The criminal organization known as LAF is targeting Captain Vasant, one of our military liaisons."

"LAF?" Sam wondered.

"Yeah, they're high-powered. We lost contact with Vasant's plane just after it took off." The two looked at a screen with an image of the plane. "We need you to make sure that LAF doesn't deliver on their threat." Sam walked towards the other end of the plane. "Vasant's plane has already entered Tunisian airspace." The Major followed Sam towards the exit. "US military cannot be seen operating out there."

"I got it." The door buzzed as Sam went to open it. "You guys fly low, drop me off, I fly up to intercept. No treaties violated."

"First Lieutenant Torres, our intel officer, will be helping on the ground." Sam put on his goggles. "And Sam, this has to be subtle."

"Subtle. Got it." He fell out of the plane on his back.

Mid-drop, he flipped onto his stomach and released his wings.

On the ground while riding in a car, Lieutenant Torres looked through binoculars and saw Falcon flying.

"Sam, Torres here," Lieutenant Torres said. "Sending intel to your HUD right now." He did so. "I'll be your boots on the ground, sir."

Sam continued flying and shot up. "I got eyes on a plane. Any sign of LAF?"

"Nah. Nothing yet. But I'll keep tracking the chatter."

Propellers roared as Sam flew closer to the plane. He looked through the cockpit window to see a dead man and another man who glanced out.

"They've already hijacked the plane," Sam informed.

Torres lowered his binoculars. "Oh, we're gonna need to call some people."

The man flying the plane noticed Sam peeking in and jumped, letting out a gasp. Sam flew off.

The pilot pointed and asked in French, "Did you see that? I just saw a man on the windshield."

The man who had walked up behind the pilot rested his arms on the seats and said in French, "Louie..." he pushed the pilot's head, "I'm gonna kill you!" He walked away.

Sam, in English, said, "Okay, switching to plan B."

He used his googles to see what was going on inside the plane.

Two men pulled up another man with a grunt.

"Hey," Georges called as he walked up to the others. "Stop his flopping! He's like a fish, right?"

A man grunted and the captured man struggled to break free.

Georges continued. "Maybe we should gut him here."