Thunderbolts #33
Thunderbolts #33
Title: "Ogres in the Shadows”
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Penciller: Mark Bagely
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colors: Joe Rosas
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Inside Mount Charteris. Karla and Jolt are having a session. Karla says that they have been circling it for a week and asks Jolt if she is ready to talk about the day it happened. Jolt says that she thinks so. Jolt says that she was a normal kid, not popular but not an outcast either. She had a “kind of” boyfriend named Aidan. Hallie was telling Aidan about how she saw Johnny Storm flame off twenty feet from her. Aidan said that if she doesn’t stop he is going to get jealous. Their friend Chester starts coming to them to tell them about a game he and the others were playing last night when one of the school bullies tripped him. They asked Chester if he was going to “roll dice” at them to get them to stop. Hallie stepped up and told them to back off. The bullies walked away mocking Hallie that they were afraid of the moves she had learned from her autographed photo of Captain America. He said that they were going, and that this would get her into the Avengers for sure. Aidan told Hallie not to worry about them. He said that they were seniors and then they would have the rest of their lives to be losers. He said that she should be having a good time today because it was her birthday.
Elsewhere in the mountain base, Hawkeye, Songbird, Charcoal, and Atlas are waiting by their trap. This is the fifth set of supplies that they set out for their mysterious repairman. Hawkeye says that he took all the other supplies and that he thinks that the guy is starting to trust them. Charcoal says that he found one of his old labs, and that it looked like someone tried to kill the guy before. Hawkeye motions for quiet as someone approaches.
Jolt says that it was her fifteenth birthday at home, and that everyone was there. They were singing happy birthday to her when there was an explosion. Jolt says that she looked up and the rest of her living room was just no longer there. She looked down two floors and saw her parents broken and dead. She heard another sound and looked up to see the Sentinels. She says that the Avengers and Fantastic Four were thought dead, and that it was just a stray blast from the Sentinels as they were fighting someone else that ripped through her house. Hallie couldn’t understand it, but that she thought that if the innocent people weren’t moved out of the way that they could be hurt. She ran down her stairs, but outside she came to find the three bullies that had been hassling her earlier killed by fallen concrete.
As the shadowed figure kneels down by the supplies, Songbird seals off the exit and Charcoal starts to rush toward the stranger. With one hand the shadowed stranger lets off a blast that knocks Charcoal off his feet, and with his other hand he disrupts Songbird’s sound wall.
Jolt says that she didn’t know what to do, but that there was trouble everywhere. She says that the Sentinels were berserk, and that they didn’t care who they hurt as long as they got the heroes, and the heroes couldn’t stop them. Jolt says that she was numb, and that he was gathering up all the kids that she could find that were separated from their parents and she took them all to the basement of the high school. She says that there was another blast and they high school collapsed trapping them. Jolt says that they dug out, but that when they did they saw… Jolt starts to cry. Karla says that it is okay. Karla thinks to herself that she knows that she saw all the devastation and death. Karla thinks about the Rat Pack, and how they kidnapped all the survivor, including Hallie. She thinks about how Arnim Zola experimented on all of them, but that they others all mutated and died while Jolt became a Thunderbolt. Karla thinks how Hallie was living a dream so different from her last life so it wouldn’t remind her of the nightmare she had been through.
Songbird says that she doesn’t believe that he just melted her wall. Hawkeye starts to tell everyone to get after him, but Atlas tells him to hold off. Atlas shouts down the corridor that the guy went, “Hey fella, I don’t know who you are. But I wanted to say I really like that atomic steed you made for me. It’s big enough so I can fly it while I’m like this, and it maneuvers like a dream. I’m really glad to have it… it’s beautiful work. So… thanks.”
Karla says that they don’t have to go any further today, but that maybe she should try thinking about those old days, as horrible as they were, and why they might have made her afraid to go to school. Jolt says that it isn’t that hard to figure out. Jolt says that her normal life was destroyed and everyone she loved was killed. Jolt says that school isn’t just a reminder, but that it is a place she associates with terror and trauma. Jolt says that she just never admitted it to herself, but now that she has talked about it she can start trying to get over it. Jolt says, “Thanks Karla… you may be manipulative and self-centered, but you’re a pretty good psychiatrist”. Karla watches Jolt leave the room, and she is reminded again of Deanna Stockbridge. She had held such contempt for Deanna, but now she can’t figure out why she feels protective of her and why she keeps remembering her. Karla wonders what it happening to her.
Hawkeye says
that the guy is gone, and that they had better move fast, but
Atlas tells him to wait. An old man steps forward out of the
shadows and says, “You… you really liked it?”
Back in the main galley, Hawkeye compliments Atlas on his handling of the situation. Hawkeye says that Atlas made him feel welcome instead of trapped. Atlas thanks Hawkeye, but inside he feels like a fraud. He thinks that the only reason Hawkeye thinks that he is a good team member is because he doesn’t know that he isn’t telling them that he knows where Man-Killer is laying low and that the thinks that he might have seen Techno. Jolt walks into the room and asks Charlie if this is the guy. Charlie says that he is an old supervillain called the Ogre. Jolt says that she never heard of anyone called Ogre. Charlie is stunned that there is a super-guy that Jolt never heard of. Ogre says that there is no reason that she would have ever heard of him.
Ogre says that he only went on one field mission against the X-Men. Ogre says that he was an operative of a secret cabal called Factor Three. He says that he had been sent with a controlled Banshee to capture Professor X. Ogre says that he failed and that the mutants freed Banshee from their power. Ogre says that he escaped, but that it was only to face the wrath of Factor Three- Vanisher, Unus, Changeling, Blob, and Mastermind. Ogre says that he was ordered to report to Mount Charteris and wait for Factor Three’s leader, Mutant-Master, to come and punish him. Ogre says that he waited and waited.
Hawkeye says that it must have spooked him to have stayed there for so long. Ogre says he was never very assertive, and that it was years later when most of them returned. Unus, Mastermind, Vanisher, and Blob reformed Factor Three and had learned of all the mutants in the world that existed, but which Professor X had not yet contacted. Ogre says that he didn’t know why they had reformed, but that he was just happy to be useful again. Ogre says that after a week or two that they left and told him to keep an eye on things, but that they never returned. Ogre says that he picked up the reasons on the news, but that he was alone again. Ogre says that over the years that many groups used the mountain as their base. He says that there was the racist Sons of the Serpent, Hydra, and a private army that was lead by a man named August Masters. Ogre says that none of them knew he was there, and that when he would try to contact them that they would try to kill him. Ogre says that he knew the place far better than any of them, and that he got by living in the recesses and scavenging for food. Ogre says that he learned as each group brought new technology and eventually left. Ogre says that all of them left. Ogre says that after August Masters was defeated that SHIELD came and sealed the place up. Ogre says that he hid from them too, and that after that nobody came for a long time.
Ogre says that eventually Crimson Cowl showed up with her Masters of Evil. Cowl told the Masters, “I’ve erased all records of this place from the government’s files, my associates, so from now on, it’s ours. All ours!” Ogre says that they came in arrogantly as if they owned the mountain. Ogre says that he didn’t like them at all. Ogre says that they were cold and harsh, Ogre says that when the Masters imprisoned Moonstone that he left her a key. Songbird says that is how Moonstone got loose, and that she would never say how she did it. Ogre says that then they came in, and that they were so different and nice. Ogre says that it had been so long since he had felt useful that he helped them out. Ogre says that he thought they would like it. Hawkeye says that they do like it, and that they need a tech guy. Hawkeye says that he has an offer for Ogre. Hawkeye says that he wants to do some checking and find out how bad a badguy Ogre was, but that if it all checks out that he would like Ogre to join the Bolts as their resident engineer. Ogre asks if he would have to leave the mountain. Hawkeye says that only if he wanted to. Ogre says that he accepts then. He thanks Hawkeye and says that they won’t regret this. Hawkeye tells Ogre to go grab his stuff so they can get him living quarters near the rest of them.
Suddenly an
alarm goes off. Ogre says that he forgot to tell them that he
reprogrammed the comm-equipment to scan the news for subjects
that would interest them. The Bolts get to the room and see the
replay of the news item. The news says, “There was a daring
daylight robbery today, at the first bank of Wardville, in Rapids
County, Louisiana. The robber was armored, and shrugged off
gunfire from security guards as if it were nothing. In addition,
he exhibited an extreme level of super-strength. Police theorize
that jamming fields generated by his armor prevented bank
security cameras from tracking correctly, and as such, we’re
unable to get a clear picture of him. But as he left, one
pedestrian got camcorder footage. And those in the bank agree
that the intruder called himself the Beetle. The screen fills
with an image of a tank like Beetle armor flying off with bags of
money. Songbird says, “Abe?”
Ogre walks into the depths of the mountain and hears as the Bolts’ ship takes off. Ogre is feeling good about his new position when he is suddenly attacked from behind by Techno. Techno compliments him on his defenses, and that they would have stopped anyone whose body couldn’t merge with machinery. He says that the Bolts invited him to join them, and that it is a lucky stroke for him.
Soon in one of the sub-basements, Techno loads Ogre into a cryogenic storage space. The chamber next to Orge is filled by another form. Techno says that he can always thaw him out if he needs him, but that for now all he needs is a cell sample. Techno’s onboard computers analyze Orge’s chromosomes and morph him into a replication of Ogre. Techno says that he is back where he belongs, and that best of all the Thunderbolts won’t suspect a thing.
Traitor’s rating: 8 out of 10
Nice character development for both Jolt and Ogre. Ogre is another cool little known character that Busiek has once again made relevant. The surprises of the Beetle and Techno really set up well for the next issue. What’s odd is that Kurt Busiek doesn’t write the next issue. Not to worry as Fabian Nicieza has been fully briefed on Kurt’s intentions for our favorite rogues turned heroes. Bagely forges on and continues to impress even with a plot that didn’t have much action. Wishing Kurt the best, but since I already know Fabian does a great job as the writer it makes it that much easier to let him go.