Synopsis
Over the past 3 issues Revolution (Bucky Barnes) and the Val de Fontaine LMD have assembled a team of 6 other Thunderbolts:- The Destroyer (Sharon Carter) and Red Guardian (Alexei Shostakov). Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) and White Widow (Yelena Belova). Shang-Chi and U.S. Agent (John Walker). Now the 8 are going to invade Latveria to reach the latest (or earliest?) Red Skull hiding beneath its capital Doomstadt.
Dr Doom contacts Barnes and thanks him for handing over his enemy Wulfgang Fortunov (the Power of the Outer Circle in the Captain America Finale 1-shot). But that doesn't mean he'll allow them to invade his country. He deems the idea preposterous that Red Skull has a base beneath his city, and any attempt at infiltration will be met with destruction within 10 minutes.
The 8 leap from their plane and the countdown begins. Black Widow's Venom-symbiote forms a parachute with dangling cords for them to hold on to. When they land Shang-Chi uses the power of his 10 Rings to blast away the snow cover from a golden hatch cover adorned with Nazi symbols. US Agent tries to lever it open with his shield and White Widow tries to cut through it with something from her backpack, but Destroyer smashes it in half with her Neganite bat. Red Guardian dives shield-1st into the hole and fights his way through layers of defences and then collapses with exhaustion.
With 8 minutes left the others explore the dungeon with Skull's voice taunting them with the horrors they see. And we see him sitting on a throne of skulls surrounded by cyborg warriors. He claims not to be Johann Shmidt but his perfected 'mission' and he's been waiting and watching from here for the past 80 years (since WWII).
With 6 minutes left D, SC & WW mercilessly hold off the cyborgs. At the 5 minute mark the other 4 reach the throne room. At 4 minutes RS breaks BW's leg, crushes USA's windpipe with his own shield and shatters Val's robot body. At 3 minutes only Bucky is left to face the Skull, but RG has managed to crawl to the battle scene. And then Revolution falls. With 2 minutes to go he rallies and fights back, telling Alexei to run. 1 minute left and RG has Val's cyborg head and Yelena pulls another device from her backpack. Barnes tells Skull his plan has worked - they were never supposed to just beat him in a fight. Then he leaps back to join all the others.
It's zero-hour (minute) and a mighty blast from above incinerates the Nazi. Dr Doom gloats, and then realises he hasn't killed the Thunderbolts. We see them elsewhere. WW's device was built by Val based on the pocket dimension of the Vault in #2. She turned it into a tunnel which they've escaped into. Shang would like to buy the tech for his 5 Weapons Society, and Val says her OXE group is always up for deals. Then Val gets a message from angry Doom who doesn't appreciate being used as a weapon. Bucky welcomes him to the Thunderbolts.
The tunnel leads back to their base in Thunderbolts Mountain. As Bucky plays with his cat Alpine he's joined by his old friend/love Natasha in the ruins of what was the Outer Circle's meeting room. Later they gather the others together and propose to continue the team. They all accept, including John Walker who can't speak so he has to write his answer, and Val who now has an obviously robotic body. They just have to choose their next target.