Captain America #12: Review

At the Kronas Corporation’s New York headquarters, Aleksander Lukin addresses a gathering of wealthy and powerful business leaders and offers the Cosmic Cube to the highest bidder, the price starting at 100 billion dollars….

At his Brooklyn residence, Steve Rogers shows the mysterious Winter Soldier file to Nick Fury and Sharon Carter, giving his opinion that the Cosmic Cube was used to transport it there for his attention. Steve now believes the file is authentic and he realizes that part of his old friend and partner Bucky Barnes still exists inside the conditioned mind of the Soviet assassin and needs to be rescued. Steve’s mind flashes back to Camp Lehigh and his first meeting with James Buchanan Barnes, a natural fighter, proposed as a partner to Captain America for publicity value (and intended to do the dirty work Cap wouldn’t). Later, Steve gears up as Captain America and is met by Sharon who tries to convince him that the Winter Soldier is no longer Bucky Barnes but a programmed killer, and that he can’t be saved. Cap resists the implication that it would be a mercy to kill him, calling him a mere tool in Aleksander Lukin’s hands. Cap heads off, while Sharon contacts Fury about calling in someone else to talk to Cap….

At Kronas, a skeptical CEO demands a demonstration that the Cosmic Cube is what it’s claimed to be. Lukin uses it to cause merger agreements to appear in front of each businessman and commands them to sign over their companies to Lukin. After the meeting when the "guests" have gone, Lukin collapses from the strain. His aide Leon, who has been increasingly worried about the changes coming over his boss since he obtained the Cube, picks up the object to warn him again. Lukin, enraged that someone else has touched the Cube, beats Leon over the head with a small table….

Elsewhere, Cap swings through the night, trying to work off his anger and confusion. Pausing briefly to clobber a mugger, he wonders what Bucky would want. He recalls being with Bucky at the Battle of Arnheim (September 1944) when it was discovered that the Nazis has turned British prisoners into zombies and turned them against their comrades. Bucky’s shocked and disgusted reaction convinces Cap that he would not want to live as a mindless killer under an enemy’s control. As he begins to seek an alternative to killing his friend, he is met by the Falcon. Nick Fury told him Cap would need a friend about now….