Bucky Barnes looks back on his wartime adventures as the partner of Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, and as a junior member, with Toro, of the Invaders. But they were senior members of the Kid Commandos and before that, of the Young Allies. The other members of this latter team were four non-powered boys: Patrick "Knuckles" O’Toole, Washington "Wash" Jones, Geoffrey Worthington "Geoff" Vandergill, and Hank Tinklebaum. Together they adventured against the Nazis and were the stars of a fictionalized comic book and eventually went on to distinguished careers in the military and good lives after the War.
Now, Bucky finds himself attending the funeral of Wash, the last surviving member of the group and there he spies a familiar face, a young attractive Asian woman who smells of lotus blossom. He tries to catch up to her but misses her as she drives away. Who is she? She resembles the hypnotic Lady Lotus, one of their enemies from the War, but much too young. A database search reveals Lady Lotus, real name Lotus Newmark, is in a federal prison in Colorado. As Captain America, he hitches a plane ride west with an old pal of Steve’s, Texas Jack Muldoon. On the way he recalls a run-in with Lady Lotus during the War: the Young Allies were appearing at a bond rally held in a Los Angeles movie theater. The young heroes were objecting to the enlarged comic book poster decorating the stage, especially the insulting racial caricature of Wash. Toro solves the problem by immolating the offending picture. Outside a group of zoot-suited Latinos start a riot; when they are quelled by a dazzling flash from Toro they have no memory of what they have done. They didn’t know it then but the men’s actions were the result of Lady Lotus’ mind control….
Cap is dropped into the wilds of Colorado and visits the prison in the guise of a news reporter who has come to interview Lotus Newmark. But the woman brought out to him is not Lotus—the villainess has used her mind-manipulating powers to switch places with an inmate set for release and hypnotized everyone into not noticing the difference….
In Hollywood, the real, youthful Lady Lotus smug in the knowledge that all her old enemies are dead, plots to regain the power they denied her years ago—the power of the gods themselves….