-MEMORIES-//Captain America

INTRODUCTION

How powerful...is a legend?

How much influence does a myth, a tale, or a story hold over someone? Many would argue that they have very little power over anything; that it's the error of the weak and foolish who believe in things as childish and absurd as talltales...

These individuals are known to the world as Hydra---a well-organized shadow government hellbent on bringing the world to order by any means necessary, whether it be instigating a world war or overtaking a country's government to puppet until further notice.

Others, on the other hand, would disagree with the former assertion. They would advise being cautious of the stories that seem too convenient and sound to be just mere hoaxes. They would avow that some legends, while ridiculous to the untrained ear or any person who thinks they have more sense than to believe such things, may just be too plausible to allow them to slide off of the radar so easily...

This organization is known as S.H.I.E.L.D---a mouthful of an acronym dedicated to the protection and security of not only the United States of America, but of the world, especially from criminal groups as organized and elusive as Hydra.

In the shadow of an ever-shrinking world, the two factions find themselves engaged in an ongoing, bloody struggle. Nevertheless, in spite of everything, S.H.I.E.L.D. has prevailed over the forces of evil time and time again, proving themselves to be the next line of defense against chaos and desolation if Earth's Mightiest Heroes ever fail, which isn't likely to happen any time soon.

But, in its aftermath, the Battle of New York revealed to the world just how completely and utterly vulnerable it is in the face of extraterrestrial life. Things like the helicarrier, while just a mere dream in a time like the forties, pale in comparison to the alien technology that made the very foundations of Manhattan shudder. So, in an effort to level the playing field, S.H.I.E.L.D.---with Tony Stark's help---has taken it upon themselves to design weapons powerful enough to even make the most advanced invaders think twice before coming toe to toe with earth.

Enter Project Insight. All who reside within the organization's protective watch have no clue it even exists---it's gone as far as only cluing in alpha-level members while excluding all other branches of S.H.I.E.L.D.. A great deal of effort has been put into keeping most information regarding Project Insight under wraps from the news and prying ears who would do anything to discover what S.H.I.E.L.D. has been developing behind the scenes.

Nick Fury takes great pride in confidentiality. And unfortunately, so does Hydra.

All is not what it seems in S.H.I.E.L.D.. A sickness, no, a parasite, grows ever so subtly in the body of its host, sapping the energy, resources, and power from the operation like a leech on some poor, unsuspecting prey.

Hydra has sunken its claws in too deep for S.H.I.E.L.D. to wiggle free this time. The century-long struggle seems to be coming to an end...

But the hunt has barely even begun.

Throughout history, figureheads have unknowingly disappeared from the face of the planet---a cruel trend ignited only a few months after America's beloved Steve Rogers brought the world's doom at the hands of Hydra down in a sheet of ice deep within the Artic Circle. One by one, presidents, prime ministers, and even the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. herself have been subjugated to attempts on their lives by those who lurk beyond the known and unknown.

Those in the intelligence community hardly believe they exist...and the ones that do collectively refer to them as Hydra's dogs of war.

Rumors of a man with an arm made from the most ghastly of silver roam throughout the continuity of time, his legend spanning from the JFK assassination to the murders of Howard and Maria Stark just before the turn of the twenty-first century...but even before the likes of what the conspiracists and the superstitious have dubbed The Winter Soldier, there was another.