There's a late-night break-in at the
United Nations building. While the operatives search for what they
want, a gray-skinned weirdo on the team goes mad and kills a guard,
spray-painting anarchist slogans on the walls. He is hustled out but
one burglar is caught. Daily Bugle reporters Sid Franken and Dan
Davis are sent to the arraignment and learn that the prisoner is Ken
Bradley of Brand Industries and sense there is more to this than a
simple burglary....
The next day, Franken and Davis learn
that Captain America has asked to see their notes, checking on a
suspicion he had. Cap deduces that the mystery weirdo is his old
enemy Flag-Smasher but something about him is very different. Franken
and Davis deduce from Cap's interest that this is more than a simple
burglary and go deeper. They learn that Brand Industries was in
charge of covert activities for Roxxon Oil Corporation....
At Roxxon, President Calvin Halderman
takes his burglars to task for allowing their mission to come to the
attention of the press. He takes the operatives to the cell where
Flag-Smasher is kept and has the villain injected with a drug that
turns him into a murderous psychopath—then he locks the failed
henchmen in....
When Bradley is being transferred to
another prison, Flag-Smasher appears on the scene, sent to
assassinate the luckless burglar—but Captain America is also on the
scene and Cap prevents the murder though a sudden fire emergency
allows the killer to escape....
Cap meets with Franken, encouraging him
in his reporting and dropping hints as to how the reporters can
proceed. Franken and Davis go to Roxxon to interview Calvin Halderman
but the big shot instead lectures them on corporations as the true
powers that be and dismisses them. But Kenneth Bradley goes on
record, telling Franken and Davis all about the corporate espionage
caper and Halderman's role in it. Then Bradley is killed in prison
and Cap warns them that the two Bugle reporters are next. J. Jonah
Jameson throws his support behind his reporters, so they resolve to
follow the story to the end. Halderman dispatches Flag-Smasher to
invade the Bugle offices via jetpack but Cap is waiting for him. The
battle concludes with Cap defeating his enemy. The revelation of
F-S's Roxxon connection forces Halderman to resign in disgrace—with
a generous financial package from the evil company. Franken and Davis
are disappointed but Cap encourages them to keep at the job of
uncovering the truth....