Having discovered the map of Zolandia (last issue), the long-stranded Captain America is racing toward the exit back to his own world, with his adopted son Ian in tow. As he flies the jet-cycle, he warns Ian to kill him at the first sign the Zola-consciousness within him seems to be taking over. As they are halfway to freedom, Cap looks back and sees the Phrox village in flames, and must choose escape or rescue….
Arnim Zola is leading his forces against the Phrox in his quest for revenge against Captain America for killing his infant son (so he thinks). Zola unleashes his Captains of Zolandia—hideous mutated versions of Cap—on the tribe, but then Cap and Ian return with their weapons blazing. The hero takes a beating from the brutes—then Zola’s daughter Princess Jet Black enters to do combat with Cap. Her tachyon fu fighting style allows her to sense Cap’s moves before he makes them and she overwhelms the Living Legend; just as Cap resigns himself to death, Ian comes to his rescue. Seeing him, Jet Black realizes he is her brother, the surprise allowing Cap to defeat her. Leaving her under guard by Ian, Cap goes after Zola, who, also realizing the identity of the boy, orders his most dangerous troops to withdraw. The enraged mad scientist employs his powerful battle suit to punish Cap for depriving him of his son—and Cap acknowledges that he has wronged the villain in his self-righteousness. As Zola informs the defiant boy he will be retrained, he orders Jet Black to kill the helpless Captain America. When she balks, recalling Cap’s mercy to her in battle, Zola himself blasts the fallen hero off a cliff, then orders the Phrox exterminated, the women being taken for breeding purposes….
Cap recovers on a ledge to the sound of the Zola-consciousness taunting him. He musters all his strength to take a knife and cut the interloper from his chest, then he vows to fight the corruption, never giving up, and sets out to recover his son….