Story #2Gulag—Part 3
Writer: Ed Brubaker. Penciler: Butch Guice. Inker: Stefano Gaudiano. Colorist: Bettie Breitweiser.
Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In the Russian prison camp, James "Bucky" Barnes is locked in combat with Boris Bullski, the original Titanium Man, a savage and gigantic foe, in a fight to the death. Bucky relies on his agility to evade his opponent’s brutal attacks, noticing in the crowd of prisoners Niko Constantin and his Wolf Spider gang. Up in his secret room, Warden Rostov also watches with interest, following the progress of the plan to break the Winter Soldier through savagery. Bucky finds himself cornered by his foe; it seems like the end until the guards throw weapons into the field. Realizing this game has no rules, Bucky scoops up a mace and beats Bullski into a pulp.
That night in his cell, Bucky has the worst nightmares he has ever had of his experiences as the Winter Soldier. In the prison yard, Bucky is confronted by Yuri Petrovich, one of the former Crimson Dynamos, enraged at the beating Bucky gave his star fighter. The confrontation quickly explodes into a riot, with prisoners overpowering guards and taking their weapons. Niko Constantin leads Bucky to safety, warning him that he can’t trust Alexi, his new pal from last issue, because he works for a cabal of ex-KGB leaders, along with the Warden. They enter the sewers where Niko explains that his only motive is to thwart the plans of this cabal and that he will show Bucky a way to escape from the camp. The hero declines, because it would create an international incident and he prefers to hang on for the next few days when the scheduled inspection by the Avengers is to take place. Niko then springs the trap and the guards who were following gas Bucky. He awakens strapped to a lab table where Rostov announces his intention to unlock the activation codes that were implanted in Bucky’s mind years ago….
Story #3Super-Soldier
Writer: Ed Brubaker. Penciler: Chris Samnee. Inker: Chris Samnee. Colorist: Bettie Breitweiser.
Synopsis / Summary / Plot
After taking the call from
Sharon (in story #1),
Steve Rogers continues questioning
Henry Peter Gyrich about the attack on the latter’s office by an armored Russian killer in the previous issue. After stonewalling for a few minutes, Gyrich admits that, when he thought
Bucky Barnes would be acquitted on treason charges, he was approached by a Russian diplomat named
Sergei who produced evidence that the
Winter Soldier had killed on American soil before. That was when Gyrich pulled strings to get Bucky into Russian hands. Steve tracks the diplomat by means of surveillance, all the while blaming his failure to save Bucky in World War 2 for the entire Winter Soldier fiasco. He arrives at the site to find
SHIELD agents; inside Sergei lies dead on the floor, a bullet in the brain.
Nick Fury is on the scene and explains that the evidence shows that Sergei had come to visit an elderly Russian man; the old man received a phone call from overseas, murdered Sergei, and then poisoned himself. The elderly man is an old Soviet spy, planted in the US and living undercover since 1978. So Fury wants to know: what is going on?