5 years before, General Aleksander Lukin and the Red Skull were stationed at a camp near the Kazakhstan border. Lukin's Armed guards capture the Red Guardian, who was trying to breach the perimeter. Lukin questions the Red Guardian, then pulls out a gun and shoots him in the head. Lukin goes on to deal some sort of tool that opens up a window into the Negative Zone. Skull notices a containment tube with a body inside. He recognizes the man inside and asks how much Lukin wants for it. Lukin says that only the Cosmic Cube would be of worthy value for such a specimen. In the present, the Red Skull overlooks the city and admires his newly recovered Cosmic Cube. He reminisces about his feud with Captain America. The story switches over to Steve Rogers. He is training in his apartment while vaguely paying attention to Agent Thirteen, his ex lover Sharon Carter. She talks with him about his stress level, and how his recent actions have been a little on the...violent side. The next panel shows Steve dealing with some terrorists the previous week on a train. Sharon talks about his recklessness in dealing with them, while Steve defends by saying it got the job done. Steve takes Sharon back to her car, while a bald man with a red beard walks by. Steve walks through a holographic that hides the entrance into his apartment. It is then revealed that the bald, red bearded man was actually the Red Skull in a mask. Skull looks over his Cosmic Cube when his phones rings. A short conversation ensues with General Lukin over the phone until he falls to the ground, with a bullet hole in his back. A dark figure enters Skulls apartment, picks up the phone and says 'Mission Accomplished, General....the Cube is yours' The final page shows the Red Skull laying dead on the floor, blood strewn all around his body.
