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Thunderbolts #12
Title: “Endgame”
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Penciller: Mark Bagely
Inker: Vince Russell, Scott Hanna, Larry Maklstadt, Greg Adams
Colors: Joe Rosas
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Zemo stands and says, “So this is victory. This is what it feels like. Ahh father… if only you could share in this.” He says to Moonstone that she could have been queen of the world. Moonstone tells Zemo to get on with it. Zemo says that Moonstone is so angry and yet dares not to attack because she knows she would be torn to shreds. Zemo says that he supposes that he could mind control them, but that might give them hope. He says that they are going to have to die. Zemo holds a revolver up to Jolt’s face and says that she has grated on him since Moonstone inveigled her onto the team. Suddenly Atlas swats the gun out of Zemo’s hand and says that Zemo is not going to kill her. Giant-Man grabs Atlas and says that none shall harm the master. Atlas flips Giant-Man into the other heroes. Zemo shouts for his minions to kill them all. Atlas rips off the wall and collapses the ceiling behind him. The Thunderbolts run away down the corridor. Thor and Thing tear through the wall and Human Torch and Quicksilver chase after them. Moonstone collapses the corridor, but Quicksilver gets through and punches her in the face. The Thunderbolts notice that Zemo’s mind control is dulling their reflexes. Jolt banks off the wall and hits Quicksilver. Moonstone blasts Human Torch to the ground. Suddenly Techno’s face materializes out of the wall. Techno laughs as the Thunderbolts run for the airlock.
They can’t find the Thunderjet, but
MACH-1 thinks that he can fly a quinjet so they blast out. Jolt
wonders why Techno didn’t try to stop them.
She looks back
and see that the entire satellite is a giant Techno head. Techno
laughs and says that there is no limit to what he can do with
this body. Techno wishes the Thunderbolts good luck. He says that
the Earth is now 47% Zemo’s and within three days it will
all be his. Techno asks them where they think they can run to.
The Thunderbolts fly away in silence. They realize that they have
lost everything. Suddenly MACH-1 remembers something he read in
the Avengers’ files. Moonstone asks MACH-1 how he got to
read them when Techno wouldn’t let her near them. MACH-1
says that Techno just didn’t trust her.
The team docks in Samarobryn Station. MACH-1 says that the station is still used eight months out of the year, and that there should still be supplies for a while. Moonstone says that at least they can catch their breath, but that they are going to have to figure out what they are going to do next. Jolt says that they are going to go after Zemo. Moonstone, MACH-1, and Songbird all tell Jolt to be reasonable and that it is a suicide mission. Jolt says that they don’t really have a choice. She says that it isn’t about doing the right thing now it is the only thing. They all concede. Iron Man steps forward and says that they have no idea how glad he is to hear that. The Thunderbolts attack. Iron Man blasts Atlas and MACH-1. Songbird pastes Iron Man with a giant sound mace. Iron Man stands up and says, “That was Screaming Mimi? Screaming Mimi?” Moonstone flares up to blind everyone. She says that Iron Man’s mind must be his own or he wouldn’t be there alone. Iron Man explains that he built in some failsafes within his armor to block mental control. Jolt is thrilled, but Iron Man says that he is only there because they are Earth’s last hope. He asks the Thunderbolts what Zemo's
After they tell Iron Man Zemo’s plan he asks if there is anyway to take out the bio-modem. MACH-1 says that Techno is merged with the ship and that he can just move it around before they could get to it. Moonstone says that the key then is to take out Techno. Jolt says that she has an idea. Jolt explains her plan and says that first Iron Man and MACH-1 have to find them a way to get in to the satellite safely. After Jolt finishes discussing the plan Iron Man and MACH-1 go to designing. Iron Man compliments Jenkins on his engineering skills. Jenkins wonders what he will do if they make it through this. He doubts that he could go back to being a crook.
Songbird stands staring out the window. She thinks about how risky this plan is, and that this is what she gets for caring and having a dream.
Atlas thinks about how his entire life has been defined by his betrayals. He thinks how he betrayed his sister, how he betrayed Dallas. He says that he even betrayed Zemo, the man who saved his life. Atlas says that he just couldn’t let Zemo kill Jolt. He says that would have been like betraying Lindy all over again. Atlas thinks that he doesn’t even know what side he is on, but that he knows before it all that he is going to wind up betraying someone.
Jolt sits wondering how much of this she is doing because she wants to be a hero or is she is trying to prove that she isn’t the dupe she was made out to be. Jolt also wonders how much of it is because she has nowhere else to go.
Moonstone creates a new uniform for herself. She says that clean clothes always help her think, and that a new costume represents a new start. Moonstone says that the others are no doubt wallowing in regrets and trying to figure out who they are and what they want to do. Moonstone says that she knows who she is and that she has always known. She tries to think of the best move to benefit herself. She decides to stick with Iron Man and Jolt for now.
Iron Man and MACH-1 finish up. Iron Man says that this should block reception of the bio-modem for a 300-yard radius for maybe an hour. MACH-1 goes to tell the others. Iron Man thinks to himself that the Thunderbolts just don’t seem like villains. He thinks that there is something different about them, and that Jolt doesn’t seem all that different from people he served on the Avengers with.
Back on the satellite, Baron Zemo stands
before a mind controlled Captain America. Zemo is pondering all
the years that he wasted trying to get revenge on Captain America
for killing his father. Zemo says that he knew Captain America
hadn’t killed him, but he just couldn’t acknowledge it.
He says that he knows that now. Zemo says that when he heard that
Captain America was dead that he finally decided to take his true
place as a Zemo. He decided to be a ruler of the world. Zemo says
that now 67% of the world is his, and that it just feels right.
Zemo says that Captain America was delivered right into his hands
anyway. Zemo says that he isn’t one to argue with fate.
Zemo orders
Captain America to walk into an airlock where he will jettison
him into space. As Cap walks towards the airlock the Thunderbolts
and Iron Man are flying towards the satellite. Zemo tells Techno
to use the bio-modem on them, but Techno says that they have
shielded themselves against it. The ship crashes through the wall
and Zemo tells Techno to awake the heroes to kill them. Techno
says that he must first repair the damage to the hull.
The Thunderbolts and Iron Man leap out of the ship. MACH-1 throws down the bio-modem jammer, and suddenly the heroes are awakened. Iron Man warns the waking heroes that the Masters of Evil are attacking. The Thunderbolts lay into the heroes. Atlas punches Giant-Man. Wasp stings him and says that he can’t do that. Atlas says that they are the filth of the Earth and that they can do whatever they want. The Thunderbolts are trying to draw the heroes into a fight as a distraction, but the heroes are starting to think on their own. Techno is drawn into the fight. Hoping this is enough to distract Techno Moonstone and Jolt take off after the bio-modem.
Quicksilver grabs jolt, but she gives him an electrical burst. Jolt is free but comes face to face with Captain America. Jolt is stammering and wondering what to do next. Iron Man blasts the ground near Cap and blames it on a robot that ducked.
Atlas is laying into Giant-Man. Atlas says that his power is just better than Giant-Man’s. Atlas hears a voice and turns to catch Mjolnir across the face. Thor says that maybe he is better suited to fight him then. Atlas starts to get up, but then Thing lays into him. Thing thanks Atlas for blowing up his home.
Reed Richards is looking over some of the machinery. Sue is trying to protect them with a force field, but Songbird says that she can hear them through the force field so sound must go through the field. Songbird makes a mallet out of sound and conks Sue on the head. Scarlet Witch hits MACH-1 with a hex that causes all his armor to shut down together. Songbird starts to freak because she is fighting all alone now. Iron Man shouts to the Avengers to come help him with these robots because they are giving him trouble. Techno responds by making more robots and the Avengers go to help.
Moonstone comes face to face with Zemo. Zemo
warns her to stay away, but Moonstone breaks the bones in
Zemo’s hand when she crushes his gun. Zemo’s jaw
shatters as Moonstone hits him. Moonstone says that she does have
something else to be doing, but she thinks that she’ll just
leave that to Jolt while she enjoys herself. Jolt arrives in the
signal room and sees Moonstone pounding Zemo. Moonstone explains
to Zemo why she was always undermining his authority. Moonstone
says that her philosophy is “Don’t get caught”.
Zemo’s incisors turn to powder as Moonstone hits him again.
His ribs crack as Moonstone hits him again. She says that they
could have done the posing as heroes thing for years. They could
have pulled schemes for years, but Zemo had to blow it all for
just one scheme. Moonstone asks who cares about ruling the world.
She says that she doesn’t want to work that hard. Moonstone
says that Zemo wanted to be Hitler like his dad and that now it
is bunker time.
Techno’s
face appears on the wall. He tells Moonstone to stop or suffer
the consequences. Jolt radios Moonstone that Techno moved the
bio-modem. Techno tells Moonstone that he is the ship now, and
that they can’t distract him. Moonstone says that Techno is
awfully proud of his new body and says that it sure seems like he
is in denial about it. She says that he will never know the feel
of a woman’s touch again or physical pleasure. Techno says
that he never cared about that and that he could invent whatever
he needed indistinguishable from the real thing. Moonstone says
that Techno would still know the difference. Techno says that he
doesn’t care about love, only respect. Moonstone says that
even if that were true why would he spend his time as Zemo’s
lackey. Zemo crawls away bleeding as Techno shouts that he is not
a lackey. Techno says that he has a reputation. Moonstone says
that Mentallo is higher on the FBI’s most wanted list.
Techno starts to look up the list.
Reed Richards realizes what is happening and leads everyone to the central processing unit. Reed has Scarlet Witch fire a hex into Techno’s brain. The Techno satellite screams silently.
Atlas wakes up on the floor. He sees Zemo lying bloody and broken. Zemo tells Josten that he needs him to get him to the escape pod. Zemo says that he must escape and get his revenge on those who betrayed him. Zemo reminds Josten that he saved his life and that Josten owes him. Atlas says that he is going to regret this, but he gets Zemo to the escape pod. Zemo tells Josten to get in and that he needs more help than this. Josten says that they are now even. Zemo saved his life, and now he has saved Zemo’s life. Atlas launches Zemo’s escape pod. Atlas watches the pod escape and for just a second the pod seems to have the face of Techno.
Suddenly the other Thunderbolts go racing by Atlas. They say that the satellite is about to blow. Jolt asks what about the Avengers and Fantastic Four. Moonstone says that they have had plenty of practice at this kind of thing, and to let them worry about themselves. The satellite explodes.
All the heroes are inside Mr. Fantastic as Reed form a sphere. The air is going to quickly run out, and Iron Man and Thor can’t get outside to pull them to Earth. The heroes are in dire trouble when MACH-1 contacts them through Iron Man’s armor. He says that he is calling them from Samarobryn and to prepare to be brought on board.
Inside Songbird says that Abe saved not only them, but all of the heroes as well. MACH-1 says that he still isn’t sure that was the best move. Moonstone asks the heroes what they are going to do now. Thing says that they are a bunch of criminals and that they are going to jail. Moonstone says that they might be criminals, but that they did just save all of their lives and that they did just defeat the menace of Zemo for them. Iron Man starts to confirm that, but Wasp says that it was them that put Zemo in power in the first place. Hawkeye says that they might have started out wrong, but that they did the right thing in the end. Captain America speaks up and says that this isn’t a decision for them to make. Cap says that this is why they have a judicial system for, Cap asks Moonstone if she plans on resisting being brought to stand trial. She thinks for a second and then says that they won’t resist and that they appreciate his fairness. Suddenly the Thunderbolts start to glow, and in the next second they are gone. Wasp says that she can’t believe they all just let them escape. Hawkeye says that it didn’t look like they were escaping. He says that they looked just as surprised as the rest of them did. Thor says that they just don’t know.
Traitor’s rating: 10 out of 10
Another triumph and a perfect wrap up to the first twelve pages. (Though I would have liked to have seen Atlas remain evil myself) The issue couldn’t have been better. You can already see the fantastic dynamic between the Avengers and the former Masters of Evil. Heroes are born and Zemo is finally established as a true threat. Bagely continues to shine and only gets better the longer he stays on the book.