As the rest of the
Avengers head into space to locate the
Shi’ar Nega-Bomb (with
Iron Man feeling guilty about leaving the captive
Captain America behind), Cap is brought before the
Supreme Intelligence. He is buried by an explosion and awakens to find himself in a dark room; there he is attacked by a team of enemies—
Red Skull,
Crossbones,
Batroc the Leaper,
King Cobra,
Flag-Smasher, and
Viper—who seem very real. They insist that they have been brought there by the
Kree overmind to kill the hero. Cap uses them against each other with Batroc switching sides at the end. Cap asks his new ally to unmask—and Batroc has no face, revealing that the enemies were created from Cap’s memories. The Supreme Intelligence, who was testing Cap to see if his mind would be valuable to absorb, rejects him for his independence and casts him away….
Meanwhile, the
Skrulls are towing the captured Nega-Bomb into our solar system and toward the stargate to Kree space....
Continued in
AVENGERS WEST COAST #82
Excelsioring your collection
Story #2Out in the Cold
Writer:
Mark Gruenwald.
Penciler:
Larry Alexander.
Inker:
Kathryn Bolinger.
Colorist:
Marie Javins.
Synopsis
The amnesiac D-Man, living with the Eskimos since his near-death in issue #349 returns to the ULTIMATUM stronghold where he is taken captive by Flag-Smasher. The anarchic villain contacts the Avengers to demand that Captain America come to get him. Cap being out in space for Operation Galactic Storm, USAgent insists on going to pay back Flag-Smasher; against USAgent’s wishes, Falcon insists on accompanying him. The Agent walks in and the villain, realizing this is not the real Cap, orders him taken out and shot; the hero overpowers his guards and heads back inside for a confrontation with his foe. Meanwhile, Falcon has entered secretly and located D-Man. USAgent’s duel with Flag-Smasher ends with the two hanging from a deadly precipice; the villain refuses help from his enemy and falls to his apparent death while USAgent is rescued by the Falcon.
Enemies
Flag-Smasher (Karl Morgenthau), ULTIMATUM.
Story #3Crossing Back
Writer:
Mark Gruenwald.
Penciler:
Rik Levins.
Inker:
Dan Panosian.
Colorist:
Gina Going.
Synopsis
Diamondback, captive of Crossbones, is about to crush his skull with a cinder block while he sleeps and she flashes back to their first meeting. Young Rachel Leighton followed her delinquent brothers Danny and Ricky to a meeting of the gang led by the brutish Brock Rumlow. Wanting to joing the gang too, Rachel goes back later and is caught by Rumlow who rapes (implied) and beats (specified) her. Rachel’s disabled veteran brother Willy goes to shoot Rumlow but the gang leader is faster and kills Willy with a knife. After that Danny ran away and Ricky turned to crime, dying in a holdup gone wrong. And now Rachel has the chance for vengeance—but she decides becoming a murderer is no way to make peace with her past, especially if she wants the respect of Captain America….