Reporter Sally Floyd reflects on her career as she prepares to interview Steve Rogers. She thinks back to when she interviewed Rogers during the first superhero civil war, when he and Iron Man were fighting over whether heroes should have to register with national governments and serve as their agents. During those interviews she accused a despondent Rogers of being out of touch and not knowing what twitter is, so she's surprised that he apparently likes her enough to offer her a rare exclusive interview. As she sets up, Doctor Faustus greets her and murmurs that she can ask questions on absolutely any topic except for the recent destruction of Las Vegas by HYDRA. Floyd thinks back to how HYDRA warships leveled Las Vegas even as Rogers gave a press conference calling for peace, order, and a better tomorrow, but even though she wants to ask him about the hypocrisy of his comments she decides to focus on other topics.
Floyd opens the interview by identifying Rogers as both 'the HYDRA Supreme' and also Captain America. She says that he took control of America, but Rogers corrects her and says he was given control under the SHIELD act. Floyd notes that he would never have been given control if anyone had known he was working for HYDRA, to which Rogers responds that not giving him control would have been a mistake. He claims that Earth's heroes kept fighting each other in endless civil wars to the point where they were no longer strong enough to protect the world, forcing HYDRA to step up and become the world's guardians in their steed. He also notes that he lifted Mjolnir, verifying his worthiness as a hero. This means, he claims, that if the world's elected leaders would have overlooked him and HDYRA, maybe they were bad at their jobs and should be disregarded.
Changing course, Floyd asks Rogers what happened to those elected leaders anyways, and Rogers says they're in protective custody for the duration of the emergency. Floyd points out that there is no longer an emergency; the planetary shield is preventing the Chitauri fleet from getting through, and while New York is still in the Darkhold Dimension, the Dimension isn't expanding and the rest of the country seems to be safe from it. Rogers disagrees, saying that not only did the previous government allow America to devolve into a stagnant, crime-ridden morass of corruption, and not only was it ineffective at fending off the various monsters and supervillains that kept attacking, but it also let dangerous Inhumans mingle with the populace.
Meanwhile, New Attilan—the nation of Inhumans—has been turned into a prison camp run by Calvin Zabo as its warden. He broadcasts a message greeting the latest round of detainees, saying he looks forward to working with them to make their stay a pleasant one. As his message plays, Zabo himself removes organs from an Inhuman test subject for one of his experiments. A lizard-like Inhuman named Naja approaches one of the new detainees, Brian McAllister. She offers to show him around, saying that they look after each other and help make life in the prison camp livable. She also tells him they are all praying for their royal family to return from space and save them; in the meantime, their leader is a woman named Xiaoyi or "Iso."
Rogers tells Floyd that he's inspected the camps and found them to be humane. Floyd says that the families of Inhumans don't agree, but Rogers says he's more concerned with the families of those lost to Inhumans who used their powers for evil or simply lost control of them. He also says that Inhumans are in fact victims, as they were given unnatural powers by an alien race with incompatible morals and a history of anti-human violence; keeping them in a secure facility until they can be treated or otherwise made safe, he claims, is a reasonable policy. Floyd asks why Rogers doesn't just give them a nation like he did with the mutants, but Rogers quickly insists that HYDRA does not recognize the nation of mutants called New Tian. He says that mutants are occupying the territory illegally and will eventually be dealt with.
Shortly before the HYDRA takeover, however, Rogers led a task force to track down Magneto and make a deal with him for a mutant nation. Magneto disposes of Rogers' agents but agrees to talk with Rogers himself, and when Rogers tells him he's working for HYDRA, Magneto is unsurprised. He says he thinks humans will abandon allegiances and join their enemies in a moment if offered more power to oppress those whom they hate. Rogers offers a truce: he will allow the mutants to take over a large part of California and rule it as a separate nation, in exchange for mutants being prohibited from entering the rest of America without Rogers' express permission. This is a tacit agreement that Charles Xavier's dream of peaceful coexistence is dead; humans and mutants will live in separate segregated nations just as Magneto has always wanted.
Magneto points out that surrendering California to mutants will make Rogers look weak, and Rogers acknowledges that the official story will be that mutants have seized the land for themselves. He predicts that it will take a few years for HYDRA to stabilize the nation enough that they can risk war with New Tian, and in that time the mutants will be able to build up the strength to defend themselves. He also says that Magneto himself can remain in hiding as HYDRA has already picked out a leader for the mutant nation who will lead it in a suitable way. This leader turns out to be Kuan-Yin Xorn, a mutant who had previously impersonated Magneto. As a way to sweeten the deal, Rogers gives Magneto Red Skull's skull as a trophy.
Back in the present, Floyd challenges Rogers on what HYDRA is calling 'The Great Illusion,' which is the theory that HYDRA really won the second World War but then the Allies changed either reality or people's perception of it to make people think the Allies won. Rogers won't go into details as to how that happened, but says people can tell he's right by noting how society was somehow 'off' or 'broken' in some way. He charges the media with perpetuating the Illusion, claiming they're so out of touch they couldn't even begin to perceive that reality had been altered and HYDRA had really won the second World War. Floyd says that scientists and historians also believe the official story (that the Allies won), but Rogers points out that scientists like Hank Pym and Tony Stark keep almost destroying the world with their inventions and actions and so are not reliable sources either. He blasts the media for lying to people and manipulating them with propaganda, and says it's no question why people now believe Rogers' story about how World War 2 really happened over that of the media's.
Floyd acknowledges that some people believe him, but others don't. Rogers, however, says the dissidents don't matter and are overrepresented in the media's analyses. He notes that HYDRA is putting people back to work building warships, and its robot police force (the Americops) is protecting the streets while HYDRA soldiers defend America from international threats. He claims America has never been stronger. Floyd challenges him on this, saying he's just gathering power by artificially bolstering the economy and making up nonexistent foreign threats. They argue over whether America is better or worse under HYDRA, with Floyd saying that the media censorship, prison camps, and erosion of fundamental liberties has made America worse, while Rogers insists that the safety and economic security his regime provides make up for it, and that people across the nation are proud to say "Hail HYDRA." Floyd snaps and points out that the dead in Las Vegas can't enjoy any of that security or prosperity, and though she immediately covers her mouth, it's too late.
Rogers ends the broadcast and has Floyd arrested for compromising national security. Floyd insists that he can't do this and that people will find out, but Rogers just mocks her by noting that the people on twitter—the service she once claimed he didn't understand—will indeed be upset.
In her cell, Floyd notes that Rogers is right; lots of people are genuinely happy to have him as an authoritarian leader.
Tropes:
- Extranormal Prison: The camp in New Attilan is designed to hold Inhumans.
- Penal Colony: New Attilan has been turned into one.
- Repressive, but Efficient: Rogers reiterates that under HYDRA, America is much safer and more prosperous.
