Captain America (2002 series) #30

Steve (Captain America) Rogers and Rachel (Diamondback) Leighton go to a baseball game at Yankee Stadium but Steve is not enjoying himself, as he keeps brooding on all that the Avengers have been through lately. Suddenly crooks appear and, announcing that the stadium has been wired with explosives, proceed to rob the spectators. Steve and Rachel don their working clothes and battle the hoods. Cap’s old enemy Batroc the Leaper attacks Cap with a blow designed to render the hero insensate for hours; Cap surprises the baddie by immediately punching him in the face. Batroc snatches the detonator and threatens to set off the explosives; Cap calls his bluff: the detonator is a pen (which Cap had noted earlier) and there are no explosives. The French mercenary tries to leap away but Cap nails him by throwing his shield.

Aboard the SHIELD Sub-Carrier, renegade agent Mark Nolan meets his with sinister ally the Red Skull. Nolan reminds the Skull that all is going according to Nolan’s plan to take over the spy organization and that the Red Skull owes him for his new armor. When the Skull announces he has no intention of paying, Nolan tries to trigger the failsafe but the Skull had anticipated it and disabled the command. Nolan orders his henchmen to fire but the weapons cannot penetrate the villain’s SHIELD-supplied armor. The Red Skull overpowers the guards and leaves, and a shaken Mark Nolan gets back to his business.

Returning from the ballgame (and the attendant excitement), Steve and Rachel spend the night together. In the morning she heads home where she meets with the Red Skull who supplies her with a poison to put in his drink on their date that night….

On the Sub-Carrier, Nolan is contacted by Nick Fury who orders him to investigate an incident that took place on Hydra Island a few days earlier (we saw it in issue #29)….

That evening, Rachel arrives at Steve’s apartment and she produces a bottle of wine, slipping the poison into Steve’s glass when his back is turned. As he is about to drink, suddenly the wall comes crashing down. Three members of the Serpent Society—Bushmaster, Puff Adder, and Asp—attack the two young lovers. Asp’s venom takes down Steve but Rachel is unaffected so Puff Adder has to bonk her on the head…. When they awaken, they are in their Captain America and Diamondback costumes and chained to the wall of the Serpent Society’s lair, and King Cobra announces they have a score to settle….