"The Sentinels aren't coming."

That's how Val put it during a Congressional hearing regarding her bid to rebuild Project Storm Shield. We needed someone to protect us, and the golden super soldier serum was the next evolution of super soldier serum. Beyond what Griffin and Grant had been given. What the world didn't know at the time was that she had already created The Storm Shield.

The Storm Shield, Aaron if you wanted to use his given name, seemed like a sweet guy. And he was, he really was. The problem, though, was that the golden super soldier serum he had been given was unstable, untested... and he himself was mentally unstable. A combination that split his personality into two distinct beings:

The Storm Shield and The Casm.

The Storm Shield was a paradigm of good. But The Casm... He was a completely evil version of The Storm Shield. A creature of pure chaos and destruction. And he possessed the power of a million suns.

He was too strong.

You and the other members of the Crimson Pact*' (No, you weren't really calling yourselves that.) learned that the hard way. Having your as-es handed to you in the same place the Sentinels defeated Marek all those years ago was extremely humbling.

Laying scattered across the room, all eyes were on Griffin as he faced off against The Void. You knew it was going to be bad when Bucky threw a punch and The Void caught his vibranium fist, stopping it short.

"You thought you were going to be some great saviors?" The Casm mocked Griffin before yanking his vibranium arm clean off his shoulder and sending him flying across the room. You lunged from where you had been pushing yourself up to your feet, trying to catch Griffin and soften his fall. The two of you ended up in a pile on the floor.

"You can't even save yourselves." The Casm taunted, tossing Griffin's arm, sending it clanking across the floor toward Griffin's feet.