Captain America races to Diamondback’s
apartment to find the ceiling destroyed and Rachel missing (see the
back-up stories in issues #385-386 for details). Cap contacts Paladin
who doesn’t have any answers but chooses to join Cap on his
mission. Cap hears that two members of the Serpent Society have been
found injured; questioning Rock Python, he learns that a giant head
was involved—MODOK?
Meanwhile, Diamond, with her pals Asp
and Black Mamba are in the Serpent Saucer piloted by the bizarre
MODAM; the huge creature invites them to a cruise aboard the S.S.
Superia luxury liner and the invites include a hundred thousand
dollars each. The ladies are delivered to the ship along with
Anaconda where they discover that all of the vacationers are female
costumed criminals; a testy Anaconda tries to fight MODAM but quickly
comes to regret it. Diamondback activates her homing beacon hoping
that Cap will find her….
Meanwhile, Cap and Paladin have been
flown by John Jameson to a Caribbean island which is the corporate
headquarters of a newly reformed A.I.M., the creators of MODOK.
Chairman Alessandro Brannex assures the heroes that A.I.M. is now a
legitimate company and that he knows nothing of a new MODOK (the
original died in issue #313); Cap can tell he is lying. On their way
back to the States the plane picks up Diamond’s signal and follows
it. The ship fires a missile at Cap’s plane but Jameson evades it.
Suddenly Jameson goes into a trance and the plane dives toward the
sea. Cap and Paladin manage to eject from the plane along with the
hypnotized John Jameson. As they float down MODAM suddenly appears
and cuts the lines to their parachutes….
2. “The Masque Club” 3/5
Writer: Mark Gruenwald. Pencils: Dan
Panosian. Inks: Dan Panosian. Colors: Nel Yomtov.
Synopsis: Atop the Smith Building in
Washington D.C. sits the Masque Club, a nightclub for villains,
created by the Red Skull. As the Skull is entertaining Baron von
Strucker he is called away by an urgent phone call. Assembling the
Skeleton Crew (Crossbones, Mother Night, Machinesmith, and the
Sleeper), the Red Skull takes the call: it is from Arnim Zola,
informing his boss that commandos have invaded Zola’s labs and
destroyed the Skull’s clone bodies and the Resurrection Apparatus.
An angry Skull orders the Skeleton Crew to find the persons
responsible. He unleashes some rage by shooting up his office then
returns to the club…with a mysterious masked man keeping an eye on
him….
Characters: Arnim Zola, Baron von
Strucker, Crossbones, Machinesmith, Mother Night, Red Skull, Skeleton
Crew