Aboard a SHIELD Helicarrier, a group of
Agents hack into the system...to watch a football game. Suddenly the
Winter Soldier appears among them and snatches away the expert hacker
for a job he needs done....
Steve Rogers is investigating the
incident and finds Bucky has left him a veiled invitation to a
meeting and heads to the rendezvous....
New Captain America Sam Wilson defeats
the eco-terrorist Green Skull and receives a message from his
mysterious informant the Whisperer calling him to a face-to-face
meeting; when he arrives he discovers that this unseen partner is
Rick Jones, cured of being A-Bomb....
Steve and Sam are filled in on the same
info: Despite promising to shut down Project Kobik and destroy the
fragments of the Cosmic Cube, SHIELD Director Maria Hill instead
preserved them and is using them for a mysterious purpose. Bucky and
Rick have independently gotten a lead to where Hill is using the
fragments. SHIELD Agents interrupt Sam and Rick''s meeting and Cap has
to fly Rick to a place of safety before following up on the news.
Meanwhile, Bucky heads off on his own and Steve is picked up by Maria
Hill in a SHIELD airship....
Hill takes Steve to Pleasant Hill, an idyllic small town in Middle America, a paradise where everyone is
happy and friendly and there is no litter or crime. Hill then takes
Steve to a soda fountain for a malted and shows him that the friendly
soda jerk is actually the Absorbing Man. Hill explains that the town
is a prison for super-villains, using the fragments of the Cosmic
Cube to change everyone''s appearance and brainwash them into
believing they are ordinary people. Steve insists the facility be
shut down and the Cube bits destroyed; Hill shows him the fragments:
they have formed themselves into a little girl called Kobik who
doesn''t really understand who she is. Dr Erik Selvig explains that
Kubik naturally seeks out what is good in everyone and makes them
whole. Steve knows that something in all this could go wrong....
Elsewhere, some of the citizens have
reclaimed their evil identities and, led by Baron Zemo and seeing
that Steve Rogers has come, decide to strike. At City Hall, local
crank Roger reveals himself to be Nitro and explodes. A radio
broadcast frees all of the villains from their spells and they gather
to await the coming of the Avengers who have been summoned by
Steve....