On the orders of its creator Arnim
Zola, Doughboy absorbs Captain America and Thor (Eric Masterson) into
its gooey innards and floats off to drown them in a nearby lake;
settling to the bottom, Doughboy bursts open from Mjolnir hurled by
Thor. When it returns, it breaks the monster wide enough for the two
heroes to escape....
Interlude One: Cutthroat is being
trained by Taskmaster to replace the fired Crossbones as the Red
Skull's muscleman. It isn't going well....
Interlude Two: John Jameson drops
Rachel Leighton off at her class; on impulse he kisses her on the
cheek. She is offended and stalks off, wondering what is going on....
Cap returns to Skull House to discover
the building missing, all that's left is the basement. As he
investigates, a pair of villains arrive, a new Jack O' Lantern and
the bat-themed Blackwing. They too are surprised to see the house
gone as they were hoping to loot the deserted manse. Cap challenges
them and a battle breaks out....
Interlude Three: The Red Skull is
interrupted in his negotiations with Viper by a call from Arnim Zola,
asking where to relocate Skull House. The villain just tells him to
bring it here (i.e. the Skull's Rocky Mountain hideout)....
After dodging bats and blasts, Cap
wards off a bomb tossed by Jack O' Lantern and suddenly the ground
cracks open and Cap is plunging into the mouth of a giant flaming
pumpkin....
Leaving her computer class, Rachel
hails a cab but Crossbones is waiting inside and snatches her....
2. “Where to Begin” 2.5/5
Writer: Mark Gruenwald. Pencils: Larry
Alexander. Inker: Dan Panosian. Colors: Dan Slott.
Synopsis: Asp, Black Mamba, and Impala
break into the deserted Serpent Society headquarters, hoping to find
the whereabouts of Snapdragon and learn what happened to traumatize
Diamondback on the cruise ship (issue #388). They find the power off,
rendering the computers useless. Unbeknownst to them, their entry
triggered an alarm at Avengers Mansion and Peggy Carter dispatches
the nearest Avenger, Sersi, to investigate. Sersi, annoyed that she
had to leave a party for this, challenges the interlopers. Impala
hurls a spear and the Avenger turns it into a bunch of flowers—then
changes the B.A.D. Girls into snakes. She reports back to Peggy, who
wants to know who they are; grudgingly, Sersi restores Black Mamba to
her human form (naked) and demands answers....