At Operation Firebird, the secret science lab where they
seek to recreate the Super-Soldier formula, FBI espionage expert Mickey Flynn
explains how he knows the Red Skull is not behind the abduction of Dr. Smythe:
he himself had a battle with the Skull on a bridge in Washington D.C. The two
of them fell into the Potomac but only Flynn surfaced; the Red Skull is dead. Flynn
discovers that Smythe had been working on a remote controlled robot soldier,
called S.A.M. (Semi-Automated-Militia) and insists on taking it down into the
caves to sees what it is capable of. Afterward, he assures Captain America that
he can handle the investigation by himself so Cap and Bucky can return to their
duties as test subjects….
Agent Betsy Ross decides to search the caves for clues and
she discovers Dr. Smythe’s blood-stained ID badge—and then she is knocked out
from behind. When she doesn’t turn up, Cap and Bucky go down to the caves in
search of her and they find Betsy atop a cache of explosives. Cap disarms the
bomb and discovers it’s a fake—a distraction. They return to the labs where
Miss Vinegar tells them Dr., Todd has now been kidnapped. They discover that
S.A.M. has been tampered with, a built-in camera has been removed, likely
because it held incriminating footage of the villain. Mickey Flynn suggests Dr.
Todd is the mastermind behind the crimes but everyone else rejects the idea.
Cap takes charge of improving security measures because Miss Vinegar, as Dr.
Todd’s assistant, is the next logical candidate for abduction. Cap and Bucky
take turns guarding Vinegar but when Cap comes on duty, the lady scientist
knocks him out with a drugged chocolate chip cookie….
Cap wakes up in a secret lab, strapped to a table. Todd and
Smythe are being held in cages. Vinegar explains she is no Nazi but a patriot:
she wants the Super-Soldier formula recreated. She kidnapped Smythe so that his
doomed S.A.M. project would be shut down, saving money; she kidnapped Todd
because he found the film that revealed her capturing Smythe. The best way to
recover the formula would be to dissect Cap’s muscles—after death of course….
Flynn locks Bucky and Betsy in an office and uses the S.A.M.
robot to locate the hidden lab. He attacks Miss Vinegar who claws at his face,
revealing it is a mask and underneath is the visage of the Red Skull….
“Q & A with Dr. Michael J. Ryan”
Synopsis: Paleontologist Michael J. Ryan of the Cleveland
Museum of Natural History on the discovery and naming of a new dinosaur,
Medusaceratops Lokii, after a certain Marvel God of Mischief.