Synopsis
New Avengers (2010 series) #13 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
The New Avengers shut down an operation of the revived HAMMER organisation following a tip off from Victoria Hand, their liaison with Commander Steve Rogers, who used to be Norman Osborn's right-hand woman when *he* ran that org during his Dark Reign. But their new leader Superia got away and Mockingbird got shot badly. And Hand only knew about HAMMER's revival because they tried to recruit her, and she told Superia she 'betrayed' them to gain Rogers' trust and they should work together to rebuild HAMMER.
'Meanwhile' in 1959 Nick Fury led a group to take down a fake Red Skull who had created a fake Captain America and was building a 4th Reich.
Now Bobbi Morse is out of surgery but still in a bad way, and Wolverine is 'interviewing' a captured female HAMMER Agent in a police station and he wants to know what HAMMER were planning and where Superia is. He reminds her that Mockingbird is at death's door, and is she dies the charge will be murder if the Agent doesn't cooperate. But she tells him she doesn't care if the woman dies. Then Bobbi's ex-husband Hawkeye bursts in and threatens her with a nocked arrow. But she claims she's just a tech and knows nothing. Dr Strange, Iron Fist and Luke Cage are watching through a 1-way window, and the 1st 2 aren't happy about this type of interrogation.
Jessica Jones, Ms Marvel, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman and Thing are at the site of the battle. Jess calls hubby Luke to tell him that Spidey is reading through documents they've found and has come across some interesting stuff. She hands him the phone and SM tells him that the HAMMER Agents had been given a strong dose of Mutant Growth Hormone. But Superia also had another drug whose formula doesn't resemble anything he's ever seen, so he suggests Luke ask their prisoner about that. The interviewee again protests she doesn't know what it is but Superia claimed it was a gift from the past that would make their future. Ms Marvel remembers that when she started fighting Superia the woman had pocketed a vial of something, so she thinks she's carrying the mystery drug with her. Hawkeye tries to get the prisoner to tell them where her boss would expect any free Agents to rendezvous with her, but is told they'd wait for her to contact them. But Victoria Hand rings Cage to tell him she knows the target and 2 HAMMER scientists will be at a marina at midnight on the way to Cuba.
In 1959 Dominic Fortune is being debriefed in London. He tells them about the mission with Nick Fury in Sweden a month ago. They want to know where Fury is but he doesn't know. They ask if he was paid for the job. He says no but they'd assumed they would be. His interrogators tell him that his name has been mysteriously cleared in several outstanding international investigations. He tells them that the Skull had a mysterious briefcase which Fury took with him but he doesn't know what was in it. He's more concerned that the Nazis had created a bulletproof Captain America (but who's now dead).
Now we catch up with the New Avengers plus Avengers Hawkeye and Spider-Woman watching the marina. They're disagreeing about Victoria Hand. Spidey never trusted her and thinks she's still working with HAMMER. Iron Fist reminds him that she told them where to originally find HAMMER. SM responds that it led to Mockingbird getting shot. Thing claims that's *his* fault because he went off half-cocked (in #9), but Hawkeye says it's all on Superia. Wolverine believes that Hand is risking her life *pretending* to work with HAMMER to get them intel.
Just then their 3 targets arrive on the dock by car. But a gunship also turns up and blasts the building the team are standing on. The 2 scientists are frightened, but Superia says she knew that the Avengers had been told where to come and it was a trap. our guys seem to have survived. Ms Marvel flies in to get revenge on Superia for her beating in #10, but her foes blaster proves powerful. Luke Cage throws his ex-partner in Heroes For Hire Iron Fist at the gunship to bring it down, and Jessica leaps to catch him as he falls. Hawkeye fires 3 arrows at once to take out the scientists and Superia's gun. So she surrenders but offers a briefcase she carries for her freedom, which she says can save Mockingbird's life. She also claims to believe that Hand betrayed her. Most of our gang don't believe a word she says, but Dr Strange solves the dilemma by magicking the case out of her hands. So now she asks for a lawyer, but she gets a punch from MsM.
Then Nick Fury turns up to claim that the briefcase is his. It was stolen 3 months ago from a very secure, very secret facility. To explain what's in it he tells them about 1959. We see him back where it started in Bayamo, Cuba having another backroom meeting with Gen'l Hill who tells him that Red Skull had recreated a version of the Super-Soldier Serum that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America and they'd mixed it with a version of the Infinity Formula that gave Fury his long life. That's what's in the briefcase Nick took from the Skull, and Hill takes it to be kept safe.
But now at Bobbi's bedside Nick suggests they could give it to her to save her life, but he doesn't really know what effect it would have. This isn't something they should do without her permission. But Clint Barton doesn't want to wait for her to come out of her 'coma'. Nick warns him that longevity can be a curse, watching all those you love die. But everyone seems to agree it's worth a shot, so Fury injects her with it. And she wakes up.
Superia is taken to the Raft maximum security prison without a trial or a lawyer and put into solitary confinement. But someone slips a piece of paper under the door with a goblin mask symbol on it (Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, is also imprisoned here). And she sees it as a sign that Hand has her back.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Dominic Fortune.
Enemies
Superia (Deidre Wentworth).