Back to GatefoldIssue #7 by Mike Exner III
THE BEGINNING OF THE END Part 2: "Enemies and Allies Intertwined" |
He couldn't feel his arms. He couldn't feel his legs. He couldn't feel anything really. There was nothing but a shroud of darkness surrounding him. He wasn't sure if he was dead or not. He probably was though. Maybe all that happened when you died was that you lost all the feeling in your body and it got dark. He couldn't remember much. He had no clue as to how he'd died. He knew who he was. Or at least, he knew who he had been. His name was Ronald Bloch. Although he supposed most people didn't know him too well by that name. He was better known as the Ox.*
(* Ox was mangled and thrown, forgotten, in a corner in issue #2 - Russ)
His brother, Raymond Bloch had been the original Ox, a member of the Enforcers. They'd been a grouping of hired muscle that was contracted to pull jobs of varying criminal enterprise. One day however, after a battle with Spider-Man, Raymond had disappeared.* The other two members of the Enforcers, Fancy Dan and Montana, had come looking for a replacement. They found Raymond's twin brother. They found Ronald Bloch. They found the new Ox.
(* Way back in Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man #19 - Russ)
As a member of the Enforcers Ronald had found a confidence and an ease of life that he'd never previously known. His life had been one of abuse and hatred up until that time. His father had been an alcoholic that had taken every opportunity to beat on both Ronald and Raymond. Their mother had left as soon as the father had struck her the first time. In that, she was lucky. They'd received word soon after that she'd been killed in a hit and run accident. She'd left debts. Bloch had tried to avoid them and he went to jail. Ronald and Raymond had been forced to look after themselves.
At first Ronald had looked after Raymond and they'd began boxing. The trainer had seen something positive in Ronald from the start and began lining him up for amateur fights. Raymond on the other hand couldn't accept that his brother was getting all of the glory. He'd turned towards shadier characters. He started hanging out with Danny Brito and Jackson Brice. The three had started running jobs and soon became known as the Enforcers. With Danny's training in judo, Jackson's skill with the lariat, and Raymond's strength, nobody messed with them. They even took on Spider-Man numerous times and nearly won.
The trainer had abandoned Ronald soon after that. The Enforcers had been squeezing people and getting bad press and the trainer wanted none of that connected with his gym. Ronald was back to square one. Then, mysteriously, his brother had disappeared. The Enforcers came calling. Ronald was desperate and he was even stronger than his brother. He was the perfect fit. The Enforcers returned with a vengeance.
Still, they'd been defeated by Daredevil, Cloak and Dagger, and of course Spider-Man, time and again. Eventually the team broke up. Ox had done a few penny ante gigs that landed him in the big house more often than not. He'd finally been transferred to the Vault not long afterwards. Then his memory got hazy. He wasn't sure what had happened after that. All he knew was that he was dead now and that it wasn't much fun. He wished he were back together with the Enforcers, robbing payrolls and stomping people. He missed the good old days. They always ended before you wanted them to.
# # # # # # # # # #
"Oh for crying out loud, where the heck did the bad guys go?" yelled Atlas as he turned towards the unconscious Electro still lying on the Golden Gate Bridge's surface. The Thunderbolts had just reinforced the bridge as well as they could to make it strong enough for the real repair crews to work safely. The bridge had been damaged when the Masters of Evil had challenged the Thunderbolts to a fight in San Francisco.* The fight had been brief and violent and the Thunderbolts had won. Moonstone had been proud of their effort, but then things had gotten strange.
(* Last issue - Russ)
Baron Zemo had shown up just moments after the battle and had taken the Molten Man away on a V-wing. She-Hulk had mentioned that the Molten Man had used a form of fighting inconsistent with his powers and Moonstone had her suspicions about that. Could Molten Man have been Techno in disguise? If so, why? Atlas had wanted to pursue Zemo, but the bridge was the more pertinent matter. Now that they were done with it, three of the four remaining Masters were gone. Things were not going well.
"Thunderbolts, I suggest you follow me," said a voice from above and in unison the Thunderbolts looked up at the lithe form of Citizen V hovering above them. "It's not safe."
Moonstone flew up and in one swift motion knocked Citizen V from her hovering platform. The move was unexpected by any of the assembled and caught Citizen V completely by surprise. She fell heavily to the ground and Moonstone stood over her menacingly.
"Citizen V, that name has been held by quite a few people as of late, woman. What claim do you have to it and by what right do you suggest what is best for my team? Citizen V stopped leading the Thunderbolts a long time ago," Moonstone said as white-hot energy crackled around her fists. She-Hulk put a hand on Karla Sofen's shoulder.
"Moonstone, what are you doing? She was just trying to help us. Look," She-Hulk said, pointing away towards the point where the bridge met the mainland of San Francisco. "The police are cordoning off the area and beginning to make their way here. If we're going to get away, we've got to do it now."
"Take your hand off of me!" screamed Moonstone at the top of her lungs and whirled around, blasting She-Hulk in the stomach. The energy sent She-Hulk flying through the air and roughly into the pavement of the bridge. Moonstone flew to intercept her but Atlas stopped her with one giant palm. Songbird encased Karla in a wall of solid sound and Moonstone shot a look of betrayal at both of them.
"What are you doing Karla? She-Hulk has been nothing but a help to any of us since she's got here. What the hell is beating on her or Citizen V going to accomplish?" Atlas said, matching Moonstone's look so completely that Karla just became more enraged.
"And why is she here Atlas? What possible reason would she have for joining our merry little band of followers unless she were planning to take us down?" Moonstone's voice was like poison and it laced through the minds of every Thunderbolt gathered there.
"She's trying to help us clear our name Karla. She knows we're legit. She..."
"Oh grow up Atlas! She's just like all the others. Just like that self-righteous Captain America who they all fawn over! She'll betray us if we don't stop her now. She'll..." But then Moonstone stopped speaking and slumped to the ground. Atlas strained his eyes and he could see that there was a gas floating inside the sound bubble Songbird had crafted.
"Songbird, drop the bubble, Karla's in trouble!" yelled Atlas and then there was Citizen V, hovering over the assemblage of heroes again, holding a device in her hand.
"Relax Atlas, it was just a gas grenade with a powerful sedative. I threw it underneath Moonstone so she wouldn't hurt anyone else. Songbird just helped it out a bit by closing off that sound bubble around her," Citizen V said.
"What right do you have to decide how a Thunderbolts is dealt with?" yelled Living Lightning and everyone turned to look at him. There was rage on his face and he was visibly shaken with emotion. "Ever since I got these powers I've wanted to be a hero, a member of the Avengers. I figured if I helped this team clear their name there'd be no limit to what I could accomplish. I've watched you people bicker and fight and turn members away without a second thought since the moment I joined. Why can't you just accept the fact that She-Hulk and I are trying to help you and just leave it at that? Why can't you just accept that maybe we just want to be a part of something important? Why can't you just accept me?"
"We do kid, we do. Karla is just having a rough time is all," Atlas said, obviously uncomfortable with the role of peacemaker.
"Not as rough a time as I'm having," said She-Hulk as she approached the group again. "That was a sweet speech kid, I've got to hand it to you. But that's not why I decided to hang out with the Thunderbolts."
"Then what are your reasons?" said the voice of Karla Sofen and the Thunderbolts turned to see that she had awakened. Citizen V grunted audibly and Moonstone smiled. "Sedatives don't work on my physiology as well as you might think. I'm a fast healer."
"Lucky for you, so am I Moonstone," said She-Hulk as she approached Moonstone and stared her down. "I don't know what kind of a ploy you were trying to pull back there, but I know you. I'm a lawyer. I've read your file. You're way too composed and calculating to pull something like that unless you knew it would get the reactions out of LL and myself that you wanted."
"Your assessment of my intentions is startling She-Hulk. I hadn't expected you to see through my façade so easily. Still, I needed to know whether you and Living Lightning were truly committed to the Thunderbolts or not. So I ask again. What are your reasons for joining us?" asked Moonstone with a light smile on her lips.
"At first it was so I could take you down more easily," said She-Hulk and every person there watched for Moonstone's reaction. If the statement affected Moonstone however, she wasn't showing it at all.
"And now?" Moonstone asked and Atlas thought he could sense a bit of tension in Moonstone's words. He could tell she was nervous. Strangely, it made him feel a little better. After a seeming eternity, She-Hulk answered.
"Now I feel the way LL feels," she said glancing over at Atlas as she did. Atlas felt himself blush slightly and Citizen V let out another grunt. The Thunderbolts let out their collected breath. She-Hulk presented her hand to Moonstone but Karla Sofen simply looked at it.
"I'm offering my hand Karla, I'm offering the services of She-Hulk to the Thunderbolts. Not as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Not even as a sheep in wolves clothing. Simply as a member of this team, for better or worse, on my honor as a hero," She-Hulk said, and another seemingly endless amount of time went by before Moonstone spoke.
"Keep your hand. All I need is that word as a hero. Your kind is pitifully adherent to your ideals. I trust you. For now," Moonstone said and then turned to Citizen V. She cast that same hard look upon the one-time member of the V-Battalion.
"Now what do you want?"
# # # # # # # # # #
The smell of manure and herbs were suffocating him. It was almost like the smell of death. His vision was blurry, his senses were dull and he felt weak. There was a dim light coming from a doorway to his left and he was lying on some sort of cot. He knew these things for a fact. He also knew he was alive. The pain in his stomach reminded him of that. The last thing he remembered was collapsing on the jungle floor in exhaustion. He thought he'd heard the voices of angels or demons talking about him. Pointing at him. He couldn't understand them so he'd just assumed that's what they were. Mac Gargan, the Scorpion, smiled. He was still alive. The devil hadn't gotten to him this time.
Still, with the way he felt and the pain in his stomach he might as well have been dead. He was in some major agony. Shadows were passing in front of his doorway and he tried to call out to them. The only sound that came out was a gurgling wheeze that he could barely hear himself. All the same, someone approached from the doorway and touched his face. The hands were cool and felt kind. The Scorpion could hear the sound of water dripping. Then a cool cloth was pressed to his head. He hadn't realized how hot he'd been until that cool cloth was lying on his head.
The person above him spoke in the strange language the Scorpion couldn't understand again and another figure came to the doorway. They spoke for a few moments and then the person in the doorway went away. The cool cloth was taken from the Scorpion's head and then dipped in water again. The person tending to him laid it back down on his head and spoke softly to him. It was a woman's voice. He wanted to tell her he couldn't understand her but he couldn't. The cool cloth on his head made him sleepy and his eyes fluttered shut, the blurriness replaced with darkness as he drifted off to sleep.
# # # # # # # # # #
"What do you have to report, Jenkins?" said one of the two men dressed in Vault-issued Guardsmen battle armor standing in front of Mach-1. Their weapons were primed, Mach-1 could hear the telltale whirring of the pulse blasters in their suits. That, and his armor had been running a full scan on them from the moment he set down.
"I don't have a damn thing to report to you Guardsmen. I'm here to see the boss," Mach-1 said angrily. The flight back to the rendezvous point had been uneventful and boring, quite frankly. Mach-1 passed the time by checking his system diagnostics. The suit had taken a bit of a beating from Justin Hammer's lackeys. It seemed to be in perfect working order though and Mach-1 was grateful for that. He needed all the good fortune he could get.
"I don't know what you're talking about Jenkins. You're supposed to be bringing a status report to me. That was the whole point of this meeting," said the Guardsman, and Mach-1 sighed. He'd scanned the area from above before he landed and he knew there was a bunker hidden in the trees behind the Guardsmen. He didn't know why the Commission had designed such high-tech goodies into his armor if they weren't going to take precautions against them. At the moment he didn't care, he needed to speak with Warton, the Director of the CSA, and he'd bet his life the man was watching him from the bunker even now.
"I don't think you heard me right, my friend. I said I needed to speak with Warton. Now send him out here or I'm going to get angry. Trust me, you won't like it," Mach-1 said and his sensors passed a warning message across his visor that the Guardsmen were powering their pulse blasters. Mach-1 stood his ground.
"Enough posturing," said a voice from the trees. Mach-1 took his eyes from the Guardsmen and looked towards the direction it had come from. A man with short-cut gray hair and a beautifully tailored gray suit stepped from the underbrush. He was a bit on the portly side, but the Guardsmen snapped to attention the moment he made his presence known. Mach-1 was tempted to follow suit.
"I'm not sure why you've called me out, Abraham Jenkins. I'm getting older and this cool mountain air and the high altitude aren't as good for me as you might think. If I catch a cold because you insisted on being a pain I'll insure you go back to the Vault for life once it's rebuilt," said the man, and he walked right up to Mach-1 until his nose was practically pressed to Abe's visor.
"Emil Warton, director of the Commission for Superhuman Activities and the man who ousted you from your cage. I expect a status report. Give it to me, now," said Warton, and his breath fogged the visor of Mach-1's helmet. Snuggled safely within his headpiece where Warton couldn't see, Abe smiled and played his cards.
"I know who you are Mr. Warton and I'm..." said Mach-1 but immediately Warton put up a hand to stop him.
"First things first Jenkins. It's Director Warton. I have a title and every man under my power will refer to me in such a manner as I see fit. So it's sir, or Director. Second, you will follow orders. You are under my power and I've asked for a progress report. I also suggest you don't raise your voice to me again. What is the status of your mission?" Warton asked with such frankness and authority that Mach-1 saw his plans crumbling right in front of him. He'd planned to act outraged that Hammer had known about the CSA's plan. He'd planned to worm his way under Warton's skin and make him let Mach-1 rejoin the Thunderbolts so they could take a crack at the "master" together. He'd planned to ask for an official pardon as a reward. Now it was all falling down around him.
"The mission has hit a snag Director," said Mach-1 in a respectful tone. The look on Warton's face as Mach-1 spoke made him wish he'd never said a word however. A simple look of annoyance from the man was frightening. Abe figured the only way to go about trying to get what he wanted was to be straight-up with this guy. He cleared his throat and continued to speak as fast as he could.
"Somehow Hammer knew about my attempt on your behalf to infiltrate his compound and his trust. He sent a few of his goons to try and take me out but I managed to fight them off. Hammer was adamant about not telling me whom he worked for. What he did say was that the master he was working for was the one who had told him everything," Mach-1 said and then paused to allow Warton to speak. When he didn't, Abe continued.
"I fled the scene when Hammer's security force showed up in what I thought would be too great a number to withstand. Hammer knew details of the mission, Director Warton. He knew things that I don't think anyone could have known. Whoever this master is, he's got his finger in a lot of pies."
"It appears that he does," said Warton as he looked off into space with the same disturbed but inquisitive look on his face as before. Suddenly he turned to Mach-1 and smiled. It was an ugly smile. His pudgy face warped to accommodate the gesture.
"But you have a plan Jenkins. Yes, you have a plan for a way to infiltrate and find out exactly who this master is, don't you?" Warton said as he approached Mach-1 again. Abe had to force himself not to step back.
"I have some thoughts on the matter, sir. But they would require a bit of distance from the CSA in order for them to work," said Mach-1 and Warton's smile fell into a deep frown.
"Indeed, I'm sure they would require just that," Warton said. "Tell me Mach-1, what is this plan?"
"To rejoin the Thunderbolts and investigate the matter firsthand with a team of trained super-humans sir," said Mach-1 and watched as Warton scratched at his chin. Mach-1 took it as a sign to continue. "I think that out in the field, doing work that I've done for quite some time with people that I'm comfortable with, I'm sure I can track this master down."
"It is a possibility that your plan could work. We've been getting reports that the master, as he's known, has been quite interested in your Thunderbolts lately," said Warton and Mach-1 froze. If Warton thought that perhaps the master was recruiting the Thunderbolts and that Mach-1 knew about it, he'd never let him go. The Thunderbolts would never sell out to some insane super-villain who was murdering countless people, would they? Mach-1 shook his head slightly. Never, not while Hawkeye was leading the team.* And Melissa would never betray Abe's trust like that.
(* Ah, but Hawkeye isn't leading the team, see M2K's Marvel Fanfare #4 for details - Russ)
Warton smiled again and put a hand on Mach-1's shoulder. Mach-1 didn't like the feel of that hand on his shoulder. It didn't feel right. It was too strong for a man who looked as fat and old as Warton. It was deceptive, like the man himself.
"I'm going to grant you this privilege to prove yourself to the Commission, Jenkins. You will be allowed to rejoin your team of lost souls and track down the mastermind behind all the recent violence that has been sweeping our nation. Your deadline will be one week. If within that week you have not found your target and informed me of his location, you will be re-incarcerated within a maximum-security prison," Warton said and his grip became tighter. Mach-1 could feel it through his armored bodysuit. "And I promise you Jenkins. I'll see to it that you don't see daylight for a long time."
Warton released Mach-1 and turned away. He walked a few steps to where the Guardsmen were still standing at full attention. He stopped and stood motionless for a time, as if waiting for something. Then he spoke.
"The clock is ticking Jenkins. What are you doing still standing there? Get to work." And with those words, Mach-1 wasted no time as he fired his thrusters and shot into the night sky.
"You shouldn't have let him go on such a long leash Emil," said a feminine voice from the same underbrush Warton had stepped from only ten minutes earlier. The owner of the voice stepped from the shadows and revealed herself to Warton, who smiled his ugly smile again.
"You underestimate the resources of the CSA, my dear Valerie," said Warton as he regarded Valerie Cooper with a stern eye. "There are multiple tracking units on the armor that Jenkins is now wearing. He could fly halfway around the world and he'd never find a place far enough to pry himself from our grasp."
"And if he sheds the armor?" Valerie Cooper asked. Warton's smile grew wider.
"If he tries to shed the armor, it will activate a timer that will cause the entire assembly to self-destruct within thirty seconds unless the suit is made whole again. I know young people these days are masterful at shedding clothing, but I think even Houdini would find that mine is a trap that is unavoidable."
"And what of the pardon? The CSA has never had a reputation as a lenient organization," Valerie Cooper said and she found that even she was hard-pressed to look at the leer of Emil Warton for any length of time.
"A flight of fancy for our brave young hero. When the time comes, the entire miserable team known as the Thunderbolts will be safely locked away. If the upstarts can lead the Commission to the force behind what has been happening lately, all the better. Perhaps they can share a cell," Warton said and chuckled dryly. Valerie Cooper shuddered deep in her bones. Working under Gyrich had been hell, but ever since Warton had been given the reins, Valerie was learning there were things that were far worse.
# # # # # # # # # #
"I'm afraid I'm not following you Techno, you're going to have to strain yourself and speak up," said Baron Zemo as he paced with a scowl etched on his scarred face. Since his last encounter with the Thunderbolts, things had been going badly.* All of Zemo's connections had been focused on one goal and one goal alone, the acquiring of information about the mysterious force behind the destruction of the Vault. Zemo knew who the role players were. The list was extensive. The main underlings consisted of Arnim Zola, Justin Hammer, and the high council of the V-Battalion, which seemed to have forsaken its responsibility to safeguarding the peace.
(* As seen last issue - Russ)
Zemo didn't really care about the lower echelon of players though. He'd even been forced to encounter them in the form of the V-Battalion and the Taskmaster. The V-Battalion were inanely trying to hold onto their ideals as they were played for fools. They managed to injure Klaw so that Zemo was forced to abandon him.*
(* That there peculiar set-up went down in issue #3 - Russ)
Then the Taskmaster had killed the Scorpion, disabled Techno and nearly killed Zemo. Zemo had been forced to flee from his own base.* A Zemo was deserving of more than a cowardly retreat, but he had been forced to endure it. For the indignity suffered however, the master of the Taskmaster had to be forced to pay.
(* Well, most of that information is accurate, read issue #4 for details - Russ)
Instead of being forced to stop his gathering of information by the assault on his personage, Zemo was even more intrigued. He crafted a plan to infiltrate the mastermind's organization by posing Techno as a villain the master might want to have under his power. Techno did his job brilliantly, and it appeared as if Zemo's plans would work, then everything hit the fan.
The mysterious mastermind began calling the villains the Masters of Evil, obviously as an insult towards Zemo. Then they began battling the Thunderbolts religiously. Techno's circuits were nearly fried when he fought the young hero Charcoal.* Then in the final battle with the Thunderbolts, the muscle bound cretin, She-Hulk fried all of his circuits with the feedback from his electric wires.** Of course, none of it would have happened if Techno had simply stuck to the plan and not used his technological body in a way that would reveal himself.
(* In issue #4 - Russ)
(** Last issue again - Russ)
"You're a blasted fool Techno. If you'd simply stuck with the plan, we would have finally had a stranglehold upon this mysterious mastermind that's been making my life a living hell," Zemo said as Techno struggled to bring his audio systems back online. His vocal receptors were malfunctioning and all there was to hear was a strange static feedback.
"But you need every opportunity to showcase that monstrous technological body of yours and it has cost us valuable time and a very foolproof plan. Luckily, I am Zemo. And a Zemo always plans for the worst. My contingency plan has its risks, but it will be well worth the risk to reap the spoils," Zemo said and made some slight adjustments to the computer program trying to puzzle its way through the manufacture and repair of Techno.
"The mastermind will pay for his effrontery. I, Baron Helmut Zemo, swear it upon my ancestor's name!" Zemo said and walked out of the room to ponder his next course of action, leaving Techno alone.
# # # # # # # # # #
Charcoal landed a few yards away from the spot where he and Hallie were attacked by Arnim Zola's giant ship. Charcoal had awakened in a hospital room all by himself. The Thunderbolts hadn't come to save him. Apparently paramedics had. They'd only found him though. Hallie was nowhere around. The only thing Charcoal could think of was that someone must have captured her.
The Masters of Evil, the Living Laser, and Arnim Zola himself had never bragged or said anything about it. They'd been bragging about so many of their accomplishments lately that Charcoal doubted they would have left this one out if they'd done it. Charlie knew that Hallie had become Jolt as a result of the experiments Arnim Zola had performed on her. Zola was the likeliest suspect. Still, he didn't know how to find Zola even if he wanted to. He needed clues, and this was the best place to get them.
The ground was still charred where the blast had rocked into the earth. Charlie wasn't sure how long it took plant-life to adapt to fire, but it didn't look like anything would be growing here for a while. He found himself marveling at the fact that he was still alive. Then the thought of Jolt being dead passed through his brain and he clamped his mind shut. There was no point in him thinking about that. Jolt was alive and he had to find her.
"Hello my young friend," Said a voice from behind Charlie and he immediately flared back into his Charcoal form. He whirled around and looked incredulously at a man in skin-tight red, black, yellow and green tights standing in front of him. He was a black man with some sort of golden triangular symbol on his chest. He was well built, but he didn't look very threatening.
"Um, hello." Said Charcoal because he couldn't think of anything else to say. The guy was standing motionless, just looking at him strangely. He had on a type of visor that was shielding his eyes from Charlie, so Charcoal really couldn't tell if he had a threatening expression on his face or not.
"You're looking for your friend, the young Asian girl," said the man and it wasn't a question. Charcoal flared brilliantly and leapt up at the man, grabbing him by the throat with his large gray hands.
"Where is she? What have you done with her? Answer me!" Charcoal yelled at the top of his lungs. The man seemed unconcerned by the hands squeezing his throat. He seemed unconcerned about everything. He was completely motionless in Charcoal's arms.
Suddenly the man moved and Charcoal had never seen anyone move as fast. Like lightning, Charcoal's hands were grasping nothing but air as the man back-flipped out of his reach. He danced over the ground lithely and Charcoal had difficulty even following the man's movements with his eyes.
"I really don't think you're in any position to be making demands my young friend," said the man with the same steady even voice as before, and it infuriated Charcoal even more. He let loose with a searing hot blast of fire that rocketed at the man. The man moved out of the way easily and the fire hit the ground, sending up cascades of smoke into the air. Charcoal looked blindly for the man as the smoke stung his eyes.
"Where are you? What have you done with Jolt?" Charcoal yelled and he could feel his voice beginning to crack. All the battles the Thunderbolts had been through lately, the anguish of losing Hallie, the emotional confrontation between himself and his teammates, it was all catching up to Charlie Burlingame. His voice wasn't the only thing beginning to crack. He was too.
A fist came flying through the cloud of smoke and hit Charlie harder than he'd ever been hit before. He couldn't believe the force behind it. It hit him flush on the jaw and he hadn't been expecting it. The next blow came quicker than the first and the next, quicker than the last. Soon blows were raining down on Charlie Burlingame faster than he could count them and his knees began to buckle, his resolve began to weaken. A last punch cast him to the ground completely, where he lost consciousness.
The smoke cleared and standing over Charcoal was the man in his strange tight-fitting garb. He smiled strangely down at Charcoal for a long moment. Charcoal's body faded away into that of Charlie Burlingame, the rough exterior changing into that of a young boy. The smile on the man's face grew deeper.
"There you are my young friend. I knew you couldn't hide away under that fake skin for long. You'll come with me now I think. The elders will teach you as they taught me. Teach you to be whole again," said the man as he hoisted Charlie Burlingame onto his shoulder. He began walking away and soon disappeared, descending through the mist of the mountainside.
Next Issue: The Thunderbolts and Citizen V have a heart to heart and decide on a plan of action for taking down the mysterious master. Only you faithful readers know who the mastermind is. Will the Man-Beast be revealed to the Thunderbolts as well, or will they remain in the dark? Who is the mysterious man who's kidnapped Charcoal? What's going to happen to the Scorpion and Ox? What is Zemo's plan for revenge? Will Mach-1 ever rejoin the ranks of the Thunderbolts? Think I'm going to answer all these questions next issue? Wait and see.
(* Ox was mangled and thrown, forgotten, in a corner in issue #2 - Russ)
His brother, Raymond Bloch had been the original Ox, a member of the Enforcers. They'd been a grouping of hired muscle that was contracted to pull jobs of varying criminal enterprise. One day however, after a battle with Spider-Man, Raymond had disappeared.* The other two members of the Enforcers, Fancy Dan and Montana, had come looking for a replacement. They found Raymond's twin brother. They found Ronald Bloch. They found the new Ox.
(* Way back in Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man #19 - Russ)
As a member of the Enforcers Ronald had found a confidence and an ease of life that he'd never previously known. His life had been one of abuse and hatred up until that time. His father had been an alcoholic that had taken every opportunity to beat on both Ronald and Raymond. Their mother had left as soon as the father had struck her the first time. In that, she was lucky. They'd received word soon after that she'd been killed in a hit and run accident. She'd left debts. Bloch had tried to avoid them and he went to jail. Ronald and Raymond had been forced to look after themselves.
At first Ronald had looked after Raymond and they'd began boxing. The trainer had seen something positive in Ronald from the start and began lining him up for amateur fights. Raymond on the other hand couldn't accept that his brother was getting all of the glory. He'd turned towards shadier characters. He started hanging out with Danny Brito and Jackson Brice. The three had started running jobs and soon became known as the Enforcers. With Danny's training in judo, Jackson's skill with the lariat, and Raymond's strength, nobody messed with them. They even took on Spider-Man numerous times and nearly won.
The trainer had abandoned Ronald soon after that. The Enforcers had been squeezing people and getting bad press and the trainer wanted none of that connected with his gym. Ronald was back to square one. Then, mysteriously, his brother had disappeared. The Enforcers came calling. Ronald was desperate and he was even stronger than his brother. He was the perfect fit. The Enforcers returned with a vengeance.
Still, they'd been defeated by Daredevil, Cloak and Dagger, and of course Spider-Man, time and again. Eventually the team broke up. Ox had done a few penny ante gigs that landed him in the big house more often than not. He'd finally been transferred to the Vault not long afterwards. Then his memory got hazy. He wasn't sure what had happened after that. All he knew was that he was dead now and that it wasn't much fun. He wished he were back together with the Enforcers, robbing payrolls and stomping people. He missed the good old days. They always ended before you wanted them to.
# # # # # # # # # #
"Oh for crying out loud, where the heck did the bad guys go?" yelled Atlas as he turned towards the unconscious Electro still lying on the Golden Gate Bridge's surface. The Thunderbolts had just reinforced the bridge as well as they could to make it strong enough for the real repair crews to work safely. The bridge had been damaged when the Masters of Evil had challenged the Thunderbolts to a fight in San Francisco.* The fight had been brief and violent and the Thunderbolts had won. Moonstone had been proud of their effort, but then things had gotten strange.
(* Last issue - Russ)
Baron Zemo had shown up just moments after the battle and had taken the Molten Man away on a V-wing. She-Hulk had mentioned that the Molten Man had used a form of fighting inconsistent with his powers and Moonstone had her suspicions about that. Could Molten Man have been Techno in disguise? If so, why? Atlas had wanted to pursue Zemo, but the bridge was the more pertinent matter. Now that they were done with it, three of the four remaining Masters were gone. Things were not going well.
"Thunderbolts, I suggest you follow me," said a voice from above and in unison the Thunderbolts looked up at the lithe form of Citizen V hovering above them. "It's not safe."
Moonstone flew up and in one swift motion knocked Citizen V from her hovering platform. The move was unexpected by any of the assembled and caught Citizen V completely by surprise. She fell heavily to the ground and Moonstone stood over her menacingly.
"Citizen V, that name has been held by quite a few people as of late, woman. What claim do you have to it and by what right do you suggest what is best for my team? Citizen V stopped leading the Thunderbolts a long time ago," Moonstone said as white-hot energy crackled around her fists. She-Hulk put a hand on Karla Sofen's shoulder.
"Moonstone, what are you doing? She was just trying to help us. Look," She-Hulk said, pointing away towards the point where the bridge met the mainland of San Francisco. "The police are cordoning off the area and beginning to make their way here. If we're going to get away, we've got to do it now."
"Take your hand off of me!" screamed Moonstone at the top of her lungs and whirled around, blasting She-Hulk in the stomach. The energy sent She-Hulk flying through the air and roughly into the pavement of the bridge. Moonstone flew to intercept her but Atlas stopped her with one giant palm. Songbird encased Karla in a wall of solid sound and Moonstone shot a look of betrayal at both of them.
"What are you doing Karla? She-Hulk has been nothing but a help to any of us since she's got here. What the hell is beating on her or Citizen V going to accomplish?" Atlas said, matching Moonstone's look so completely that Karla just became more enraged.
"And why is she here Atlas? What possible reason would she have for joining our merry little band of followers unless she were planning to take us down?" Moonstone's voice was like poison and it laced through the minds of every Thunderbolt gathered there.
"She's trying to help us clear our name Karla. She knows we're legit. She..."
"Oh grow up Atlas! She's just like all the others. Just like that self-righteous Captain America who they all fawn over! She'll betray us if we don't stop her now. She'll..." But then Moonstone stopped speaking and slumped to the ground. Atlas strained his eyes and he could see that there was a gas floating inside the sound bubble Songbird had crafted.
"Songbird, drop the bubble, Karla's in trouble!" yelled Atlas and then there was Citizen V, hovering over the assemblage of heroes again, holding a device in her hand.
"Relax Atlas, it was just a gas grenade with a powerful sedative. I threw it underneath Moonstone so she wouldn't hurt anyone else. Songbird just helped it out a bit by closing off that sound bubble around her," Citizen V said.
"What right do you have to decide how a Thunderbolts is dealt with?" yelled Living Lightning and everyone turned to look at him. There was rage on his face and he was visibly shaken with emotion. "Ever since I got these powers I've wanted to be a hero, a member of the Avengers. I figured if I helped this team clear their name there'd be no limit to what I could accomplish. I've watched you people bicker and fight and turn members away without a second thought since the moment I joined. Why can't you just accept the fact that She-Hulk and I are trying to help you and just leave it at that? Why can't you just accept that maybe we just want to be a part of something important? Why can't you just accept me?"
"We do kid, we do. Karla is just having a rough time is all," Atlas said, obviously uncomfortable with the role of peacemaker.
"Not as rough a time as I'm having," said She-Hulk as she approached the group again. "That was a sweet speech kid, I've got to hand it to you. But that's not why I decided to hang out with the Thunderbolts."
"Then what are your reasons?" said the voice of Karla Sofen and the Thunderbolts turned to see that she had awakened. Citizen V grunted audibly and Moonstone smiled. "Sedatives don't work on my physiology as well as you might think. I'm a fast healer."
"Lucky for you, so am I Moonstone," said She-Hulk as she approached Moonstone and stared her down. "I don't know what kind of a ploy you were trying to pull back there, but I know you. I'm a lawyer. I've read your file. You're way too composed and calculating to pull something like that unless you knew it would get the reactions out of LL and myself that you wanted."
"Your assessment of my intentions is startling She-Hulk. I hadn't expected you to see through my façade so easily. Still, I needed to know whether you and Living Lightning were truly committed to the Thunderbolts or not. So I ask again. What are your reasons for joining us?" asked Moonstone with a light smile on her lips.
"At first it was so I could take you down more easily," said She-Hulk and every person there watched for Moonstone's reaction. If the statement affected Moonstone however, she wasn't showing it at all.
"And now?" Moonstone asked and Atlas thought he could sense a bit of tension in Moonstone's words. He could tell she was nervous. Strangely, it made him feel a little better. After a seeming eternity, She-Hulk answered.
"Now I feel the way LL feels," she said glancing over at Atlas as she did. Atlas felt himself blush slightly and Citizen V let out another grunt. The Thunderbolts let out their collected breath. She-Hulk presented her hand to Moonstone but Karla Sofen simply looked at it.
"I'm offering my hand Karla, I'm offering the services of She-Hulk to the Thunderbolts. Not as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Not even as a sheep in wolves clothing. Simply as a member of this team, for better or worse, on my honor as a hero," She-Hulk said, and another seemingly endless amount of time went by before Moonstone spoke.
"Keep your hand. All I need is that word as a hero. Your kind is pitifully adherent to your ideals. I trust you. For now," Moonstone said and then turned to Citizen V. She cast that same hard look upon the one-time member of the V-Battalion.
"Now what do you want?"
# # # # # # # # # #
The smell of manure and herbs were suffocating him. It was almost like the smell of death. His vision was blurry, his senses were dull and he felt weak. There was a dim light coming from a doorway to his left and he was lying on some sort of cot. He knew these things for a fact. He also knew he was alive. The pain in his stomach reminded him of that. The last thing he remembered was collapsing on the jungle floor in exhaustion. He thought he'd heard the voices of angels or demons talking about him. Pointing at him. He couldn't understand them so he'd just assumed that's what they were. Mac Gargan, the Scorpion, smiled. He was still alive. The devil hadn't gotten to him this time.
Still, with the way he felt and the pain in his stomach he might as well have been dead. He was in some major agony. Shadows were passing in front of his doorway and he tried to call out to them. The only sound that came out was a gurgling wheeze that he could barely hear himself. All the same, someone approached from the doorway and touched his face. The hands were cool and felt kind. The Scorpion could hear the sound of water dripping. Then a cool cloth was pressed to his head. He hadn't realized how hot he'd been until that cool cloth was lying on his head.
The person above him spoke in the strange language the Scorpion couldn't understand again and another figure came to the doorway. They spoke for a few moments and then the person in the doorway went away. The cool cloth was taken from the Scorpion's head and then dipped in water again. The person tending to him laid it back down on his head and spoke softly to him. It was a woman's voice. He wanted to tell her he couldn't understand her but he couldn't. The cool cloth on his head made him sleepy and his eyes fluttered shut, the blurriness replaced with darkness as he drifted off to sleep.
# # # # # # # # # #
"What do you have to report, Jenkins?" said one of the two men dressed in Vault-issued Guardsmen battle armor standing in front of Mach-1. Their weapons were primed, Mach-1 could hear the telltale whirring of the pulse blasters in their suits. That, and his armor had been running a full scan on them from the moment he set down.
"I don't have a damn thing to report to you Guardsmen. I'm here to see the boss," Mach-1 said angrily. The flight back to the rendezvous point had been uneventful and boring, quite frankly. Mach-1 passed the time by checking his system diagnostics. The suit had taken a bit of a beating from Justin Hammer's lackeys. It seemed to be in perfect working order though and Mach-1 was grateful for that. He needed all the good fortune he could get.
"I don't know what you're talking about Jenkins. You're supposed to be bringing a status report to me. That was the whole point of this meeting," said the Guardsman, and Mach-1 sighed. He'd scanned the area from above before he landed and he knew there was a bunker hidden in the trees behind the Guardsmen. He didn't know why the Commission had designed such high-tech goodies into his armor if they weren't going to take precautions against them. At the moment he didn't care, he needed to speak with Warton, the Director of the CSA, and he'd bet his life the man was watching him from the bunker even now.
"I don't think you heard me right, my friend. I said I needed to speak with Warton. Now send him out here or I'm going to get angry. Trust me, you won't like it," Mach-1 said and his sensors passed a warning message across his visor that the Guardsmen were powering their pulse blasters. Mach-1 stood his ground.
"Enough posturing," said a voice from the trees. Mach-1 took his eyes from the Guardsmen and looked towards the direction it had come from. A man with short-cut gray hair and a beautifully tailored gray suit stepped from the underbrush. He was a bit on the portly side, but the Guardsmen snapped to attention the moment he made his presence known. Mach-1 was tempted to follow suit.
"I'm not sure why you've called me out, Abraham Jenkins. I'm getting older and this cool mountain air and the high altitude aren't as good for me as you might think. If I catch a cold because you insisted on being a pain I'll insure you go back to the Vault for life once it's rebuilt," said the man, and he walked right up to Mach-1 until his nose was practically pressed to Abe's visor.
"Emil Warton, director of the Commission for Superhuman Activities and the man who ousted you from your cage. I expect a status report. Give it to me, now," said Warton, and his breath fogged the visor of Mach-1's helmet. Snuggled safely within his headpiece where Warton couldn't see, Abe smiled and played his cards.
"I know who you are Mr. Warton and I'm..." said Mach-1 but immediately Warton put up a hand to stop him.
"First things first Jenkins. It's Director Warton. I have a title and every man under my power will refer to me in such a manner as I see fit. So it's sir, or Director. Second, you will follow orders. You are under my power and I've asked for a progress report. I also suggest you don't raise your voice to me again. What is the status of your mission?" Warton asked with such frankness and authority that Mach-1 saw his plans crumbling right in front of him. He'd planned to act outraged that Hammer had known about the CSA's plan. He'd planned to worm his way under Warton's skin and make him let Mach-1 rejoin the Thunderbolts so they could take a crack at the "master" together. He'd planned to ask for an official pardon as a reward. Now it was all falling down around him.
"The mission has hit a snag Director," said Mach-1 in a respectful tone. The look on Warton's face as Mach-1 spoke made him wish he'd never said a word however. A simple look of annoyance from the man was frightening. Abe figured the only way to go about trying to get what he wanted was to be straight-up with this guy. He cleared his throat and continued to speak as fast as he could.
"Somehow Hammer knew about my attempt on your behalf to infiltrate his compound and his trust. He sent a few of his goons to try and take me out but I managed to fight them off. Hammer was adamant about not telling me whom he worked for. What he did say was that the master he was working for was the one who had told him everything," Mach-1 said and then paused to allow Warton to speak. When he didn't, Abe continued.
"I fled the scene when Hammer's security force showed up in what I thought would be too great a number to withstand. Hammer knew details of the mission, Director Warton. He knew things that I don't think anyone could have known. Whoever this master is, he's got his finger in a lot of pies."
"It appears that he does," said Warton as he looked off into space with the same disturbed but inquisitive look on his face as before. Suddenly he turned to Mach-1 and smiled. It was an ugly smile. His pudgy face warped to accommodate the gesture.
"But you have a plan Jenkins. Yes, you have a plan for a way to infiltrate and find out exactly who this master is, don't you?" Warton said as he approached Mach-1 again. Abe had to force himself not to step back.
"I have some thoughts on the matter, sir. But they would require a bit of distance from the CSA in order for them to work," said Mach-1 and Warton's smile fell into a deep frown.
"Indeed, I'm sure they would require just that," Warton said. "Tell me Mach-1, what is this plan?"
"To rejoin the Thunderbolts and investigate the matter firsthand with a team of trained super-humans sir," said Mach-1 and watched as Warton scratched at his chin. Mach-1 took it as a sign to continue. "I think that out in the field, doing work that I've done for quite some time with people that I'm comfortable with, I'm sure I can track this master down."
"It is a possibility that your plan could work. We've been getting reports that the master, as he's known, has been quite interested in your Thunderbolts lately," said Warton and Mach-1 froze. If Warton thought that perhaps the master was recruiting the Thunderbolts and that Mach-1 knew about it, he'd never let him go. The Thunderbolts would never sell out to some insane super-villain who was murdering countless people, would they? Mach-1 shook his head slightly. Never, not while Hawkeye was leading the team.* And Melissa would never betray Abe's trust like that.
(* Ah, but Hawkeye isn't leading the team, see M2K's Marvel Fanfare #4 for details - Russ)
Warton smiled again and put a hand on Mach-1's shoulder. Mach-1 didn't like the feel of that hand on his shoulder. It didn't feel right. It was too strong for a man who looked as fat and old as Warton. It was deceptive, like the man himself.
"I'm going to grant you this privilege to prove yourself to the Commission, Jenkins. You will be allowed to rejoin your team of lost souls and track down the mastermind behind all the recent violence that has been sweeping our nation. Your deadline will be one week. If within that week you have not found your target and informed me of his location, you will be re-incarcerated within a maximum-security prison," Warton said and his grip became tighter. Mach-1 could feel it through his armored bodysuit. "And I promise you Jenkins. I'll see to it that you don't see daylight for a long time."
Warton released Mach-1 and turned away. He walked a few steps to where the Guardsmen were still standing at full attention. He stopped and stood motionless for a time, as if waiting for something. Then he spoke.
"The clock is ticking Jenkins. What are you doing still standing there? Get to work." And with those words, Mach-1 wasted no time as he fired his thrusters and shot into the night sky.
"You shouldn't have let him go on such a long leash Emil," said a feminine voice from the same underbrush Warton had stepped from only ten minutes earlier. The owner of the voice stepped from the shadows and revealed herself to Warton, who smiled his ugly smile again.
"You underestimate the resources of the CSA, my dear Valerie," said Warton as he regarded Valerie Cooper with a stern eye. "There are multiple tracking units on the armor that Jenkins is now wearing. He could fly halfway around the world and he'd never find a place far enough to pry himself from our grasp."
"And if he sheds the armor?" Valerie Cooper asked. Warton's smile grew wider.
"If he tries to shed the armor, it will activate a timer that will cause the entire assembly to self-destruct within thirty seconds unless the suit is made whole again. I know young people these days are masterful at shedding clothing, but I think even Houdini would find that mine is a trap that is unavoidable."
"And what of the pardon? The CSA has never had a reputation as a lenient organization," Valerie Cooper said and she found that even she was hard-pressed to look at the leer of Emil Warton for any length of time.
"A flight of fancy for our brave young hero. When the time comes, the entire miserable team known as the Thunderbolts will be safely locked away. If the upstarts can lead the Commission to the force behind what has been happening lately, all the better. Perhaps they can share a cell," Warton said and chuckled dryly. Valerie Cooper shuddered deep in her bones. Working under Gyrich had been hell, but ever since Warton had been given the reins, Valerie was learning there were things that were far worse.
# # # # # # # # # #
"I'm afraid I'm not following you Techno, you're going to have to strain yourself and speak up," said Baron Zemo as he paced with a scowl etched on his scarred face. Since his last encounter with the Thunderbolts, things had been going badly.* All of Zemo's connections had been focused on one goal and one goal alone, the acquiring of information about the mysterious force behind the destruction of the Vault. Zemo knew who the role players were. The list was extensive. The main underlings consisted of Arnim Zola, Justin Hammer, and the high council of the V-Battalion, which seemed to have forsaken its responsibility to safeguarding the peace.
(* As seen last issue - Russ)
Zemo didn't really care about the lower echelon of players though. He'd even been forced to encounter them in the form of the V-Battalion and the Taskmaster. The V-Battalion were inanely trying to hold onto their ideals as they were played for fools. They managed to injure Klaw so that Zemo was forced to abandon him.*
(* That there peculiar set-up went down in issue #3 - Russ)
Then the Taskmaster had killed the Scorpion, disabled Techno and nearly killed Zemo. Zemo had been forced to flee from his own base.* A Zemo was deserving of more than a cowardly retreat, but he had been forced to endure it. For the indignity suffered however, the master of the Taskmaster had to be forced to pay.
(* Well, most of that information is accurate, read issue #4 for details - Russ)
Instead of being forced to stop his gathering of information by the assault on his personage, Zemo was even more intrigued. He crafted a plan to infiltrate the mastermind's organization by posing Techno as a villain the master might want to have under his power. Techno did his job brilliantly, and it appeared as if Zemo's plans would work, then everything hit the fan.
The mysterious mastermind began calling the villains the Masters of Evil, obviously as an insult towards Zemo. Then they began battling the Thunderbolts religiously. Techno's circuits were nearly fried when he fought the young hero Charcoal.* Then in the final battle with the Thunderbolts, the muscle bound cretin, She-Hulk fried all of his circuits with the feedback from his electric wires.** Of course, none of it would have happened if Techno had simply stuck to the plan and not used his technological body in a way that would reveal himself.
(* In issue #4 - Russ)
(** Last issue again - Russ)
"You're a blasted fool Techno. If you'd simply stuck with the plan, we would have finally had a stranglehold upon this mysterious mastermind that's been making my life a living hell," Zemo said as Techno struggled to bring his audio systems back online. His vocal receptors were malfunctioning and all there was to hear was a strange static feedback.
"But you need every opportunity to showcase that monstrous technological body of yours and it has cost us valuable time and a very foolproof plan. Luckily, I am Zemo. And a Zemo always plans for the worst. My contingency plan has its risks, but it will be well worth the risk to reap the spoils," Zemo said and made some slight adjustments to the computer program trying to puzzle its way through the manufacture and repair of Techno.
"The mastermind will pay for his effrontery. I, Baron Helmut Zemo, swear it upon my ancestor's name!" Zemo said and walked out of the room to ponder his next course of action, leaving Techno alone.
# # # # # # # # # #
Charcoal landed a few yards away from the spot where he and Hallie were attacked by Arnim Zola's giant ship. Charcoal had awakened in a hospital room all by himself. The Thunderbolts hadn't come to save him. Apparently paramedics had. They'd only found him though. Hallie was nowhere around. The only thing Charcoal could think of was that someone must have captured her.
The Masters of Evil, the Living Laser, and Arnim Zola himself had never bragged or said anything about it. They'd been bragging about so many of their accomplishments lately that Charcoal doubted they would have left this one out if they'd done it. Charlie knew that Hallie had become Jolt as a result of the experiments Arnim Zola had performed on her. Zola was the likeliest suspect. Still, he didn't know how to find Zola even if he wanted to. He needed clues, and this was the best place to get them.
The ground was still charred where the blast had rocked into the earth. Charlie wasn't sure how long it took plant-life to adapt to fire, but it didn't look like anything would be growing here for a while. He found himself marveling at the fact that he was still alive. Then the thought of Jolt being dead passed through his brain and he clamped his mind shut. There was no point in him thinking about that. Jolt was alive and he had to find her.
"Hello my young friend," Said a voice from behind Charlie and he immediately flared back into his Charcoal form. He whirled around and looked incredulously at a man in skin-tight red, black, yellow and green tights standing in front of him. He was a black man with some sort of golden triangular symbol on his chest. He was well built, but he didn't look very threatening.
"Um, hello." Said Charcoal because he couldn't think of anything else to say. The guy was standing motionless, just looking at him strangely. He had on a type of visor that was shielding his eyes from Charlie, so Charcoal really couldn't tell if he had a threatening expression on his face or not.
"You're looking for your friend, the young Asian girl," said the man and it wasn't a question. Charcoal flared brilliantly and leapt up at the man, grabbing him by the throat with his large gray hands.
"Where is she? What have you done with her? Answer me!" Charcoal yelled at the top of his lungs. The man seemed unconcerned by the hands squeezing his throat. He seemed unconcerned about everything. He was completely motionless in Charcoal's arms.
Suddenly the man moved and Charcoal had never seen anyone move as fast. Like lightning, Charcoal's hands were grasping nothing but air as the man back-flipped out of his reach. He danced over the ground lithely and Charcoal had difficulty even following the man's movements with his eyes.
"I really don't think you're in any position to be making demands my young friend," said the man with the same steady even voice as before, and it infuriated Charcoal even more. He let loose with a searing hot blast of fire that rocketed at the man. The man moved out of the way easily and the fire hit the ground, sending up cascades of smoke into the air. Charcoal looked blindly for the man as the smoke stung his eyes.
"Where are you? What have you done with Jolt?" Charcoal yelled and he could feel his voice beginning to crack. All the battles the Thunderbolts had been through lately, the anguish of losing Hallie, the emotional confrontation between himself and his teammates, it was all catching up to Charlie Burlingame. His voice wasn't the only thing beginning to crack. He was too.
A fist came flying through the cloud of smoke and hit Charlie harder than he'd ever been hit before. He couldn't believe the force behind it. It hit him flush on the jaw and he hadn't been expecting it. The next blow came quicker than the first and the next, quicker than the last. Soon blows were raining down on Charlie Burlingame faster than he could count them and his knees began to buckle, his resolve began to weaken. A last punch cast him to the ground completely, where he lost consciousness.
The smoke cleared and standing over Charcoal was the man in his strange tight-fitting garb. He smiled strangely down at Charcoal for a long moment. Charcoal's body faded away into that of Charlie Burlingame, the rough exterior changing into that of a young boy. The smile on the man's face grew deeper.
"There you are my young friend. I knew you couldn't hide away under that fake skin for long. You'll come with me now I think. The elders will teach you as they taught me. Teach you to be whole again," said the man as he hoisted Charlie Burlingame onto his shoulder. He began walking away and soon disappeared, descending through the mist of the mountainside.
Next Issue: The Thunderbolts and Citizen V have a heart to heart and decide on a plan of action for taking down the mysterious master. Only you faithful readers know who the mastermind is. Will the Man-Beast be revealed to the Thunderbolts as well, or will they remain in the dark? Who is the mysterious man who's kidnapped Charcoal? What's going to happen to the Scorpion and Ox? What is Zemo's plan for revenge? Will Mach-1 ever rejoin the ranks of the Thunderbolts? Think I'm going to answer all these questions next issue? Wait and see.