Thunderbolts #47

Title: "Heroic Tendencies- part 3: Big Problems”

Writer: Fabian Nicieza

Penciller: Mark Bagely

Inkers: Greg Adams & Scott Hanna

Colors: Joe Rosas

Editor: Tom Brevoort

Jolt shouts for Scourge to get away from Atlas.

Jolt remembers being shot as her friends looked down on her. She says that she was headed down the tunnel to the bright light, but that before she got there everything turned gray. She says that the next thing she saw through green slime and Plexiglas was Techno looking at her like a specimen. She realized her eyes weren’t open, but that Techno was downloading information directly into her brain. She says that he wanted to study her so he placed a body fake of her in the police morgue and completed their autopsy of her. He placed her in one of the containment tubes and began studying her. She says that she is unsure how she is alive again or why her powers have evolved, but that she will worry about that later.

Jolt knocks Scourge down again. She wants to kill him, but watches him roll. She says that he moves like Captain America. Jolt zooms up to Erik’s face. Erik asks her to leave, but Jolt says that she doesn’t want to lose him. Scourge flies up on his glider and Jolt asks what he did to him. Scourge says that he did nothing and tells her about the Thunderbolts and Avengers fighting against Nefaria and the exploding ion bomb. Jolt says that Erik can’t deal with the changes in his ion flux. Scourge says that is why he is out of control. He says that they have to get him out of there before he reaches Burton Canyon. Jolt asks if he cares. Scourge says that he has to take out Atlas, but not by letting thousands die when he explodes.

On Titan, Songbird’s ambient sound is being absorbed by a gathering of worms hanging off her jaw. Charlie and Abe are also restrained. The MACH-2 armor lies on the ground. Songbird focuses her hatred and feeling of violation at Captain Marvel. Rick asks Marv why he is torturing himself by staying there, Marv tells Rick that he just feels guilty. Rick says that he didn’t like it when Mentor asked for their help after Karla approached the Supreme Intelligence, but that he went along with it. Marv says that he agreed because if anyone knows about being in a situation beyond one’s ability to control that it is the two of them. Rick says that may be, but that Moonstone is as bad as they come and that she has fought alongside the Masters of Evil against the Avengers about a dozen times. Marv says that as he understands it that so did the other Thunderbolts. He asks if they don’t deserve the chance to redeem themselves. He asks if Charcoal, MACH-2, and Melissa deserve to be treated like this. Abe looks at Melissa and wonders how the two of them got on a first name basis. Abe watches Melissa watching Marv and wonders if it is more than anger… almost like betrayal from someone she wanted to consider a friend or more than a friend. He wonders if it is his insecurity, but that Marv seems to be looking at Songbird too. Suddenly he notices a light blinking on his helmet.

Hawkeye tells Mentor that this ends now and that he doesn’t want to mess with the Avengers. Mentor says that is a hollow threat and that Hawkeye’s former team would probably agree with their plan to remove Karla’s moonstone. Karla is restrained with a beam directed at her chest. Karla begs Clint to make them stop. Hawkeye says that they can’t be judge, jury, and executioner. Isaac says that they are not killing Dr. Sofen, but Hawkeye says that they are invading her body like a butcher. Isaac says that they are removing a power that she gained illegally, unethically, and immorally. He asks if Hawkeye can honestly say that Dr. Sofen should wield the moonstone. Clint doesn’t answer and Isaac says that his silence betrays him. He says that the Lifestone gems were meant for those that were worthy to be Guardians of the Galaxy. He says that she only got it through psychological theft. Karla says that she knows what she did, but asks if it can read her mind now. Karla asks if it knows how she feels about the person she was, and the person that she could be. She asks how he arrives at his conclusion without that necessary data. She says that he admitted that her problems began when her own subconscious mind sought out the archival library to help her with the new path she had chosen to walk. She says that she was trying to make sense of the new feelings of duty, responsibility, and friendship that she had. Hawkeye smiles. Mentor says that she Dr. Sofen has a point, but while Mentor and Isaac are debating Hawkeye is making a makeshift bow and arrow. Mentor and Isaac turn to Hawkeye, and Hawkeye shoots a staff into a hole on Isaac’s forehead and momentarily incapacitates him.

Abe realizes that the light blinking is an audio receptor that picks up frequency beyond human hearing. He wonders if Mel is doing that and says that he thought her powers were useless without the sonic carapace.

In Latveria, a doctor puts on a pirated CNN channel from Symkaria. He says that if Doom knew they had done this that he would be very upset. CNN shows Atlas growing larger and larger over Mount Charteris. Dallas thinks to herself that she can’t walk so she can’t help and is useless.

At the Commission on Superhuman Activity, a create arrives from Colorado. A worker brings the crate to Mr. Warton’s attention. The worker says that Warton must have pulled some big strings to get this. He says that it had a hold order from Mr. Gyrich himself. Warton smiles and says that Gyrich is intimately involved in the reasons for the material being released into his care.

North of Los Angeles, Bob Haggert looks at Andrea Sterman’s report on the reason his sister was killed at Roxxon. Bob says that this is bigger than he thought. Bob asks how much of this would stand up under scrutiny. Andrea says that it wouldn’t be much, and that is why she wanted his permission before she continues. She says that revealing the reasons for his sister’s murder would cause a lot of tension between man and superhuman. She asks if the truth about his sister’s death is worth starting a superhuman world war.

In Symkaria, Castle Masada stands as the original headquarters for the V-Battalion. Inside, Roger Aubrey is working out in a kind of danger room. Roger sees Elizabeth Barstow enter the room and says that she shouldn’t be in there. Elizabeth says that she may not have a super-soldier serum derivative keeping her moving like a man half his age like he does, but that she can still move fast enough to hit an off switch. Elizabeth accidentally activates combat sequence level 10. Roger says that’s lethal force. He leaps through the tendrils trying to catch him and smashes the control panel with his foot deactivating the combat sequence. He says that he might be wearing his Mighty Destroyer uniform more lately, but that he doesn’t want to play the role of the super hero again. Elizabeth apologizes and says that she guesses her memory isn’t what it used to be. Roger says that her keen mind solved many a mystery, and that he is sure that whatever she has left is more than most of them had to begin with. Elizabeth thanks him for his chivalry. Roger asks what she wanted him to see. Elizabeth turns on the coverage of Atlas and Scourge. Roger says that their suspicions were accurate and that he has activated the weapon. Roger says that they were right to have ordered the assassination. Elizabeth says that Riordan was right questioning the orders too. Roger says that they had no choice and that now they have to accelerate their contingency plan.

Isaac pulls the staff out of his head. Mentor tells Hawkeye that he could rend him unconscious by just lifting a finger. Hawkeye tells Mentor that he has a finger for him. Hawkeye frees Moonstone and tells her to power up. He says that he is going to need some help. Isaac asks if they can stop humoring the humans now. Mentor tells Isaac that he is merely trying to gain the measure of their resolve and understand their character. He says that when he finds that lacking that Isaac will be able to proceed. Suddenly Captain Marvel, MACH-2, Songbird, and Charcoal appears. Marv says that if that happens that they will stop him. Mentor asks what the meaning of this is. Marv says that the Bolts convinced him that what they are doing is wrong. Abe wonders to himself if that is so. He says that he and Charlie were trying to talk some sense into Marv and suddenly he is freeing them. He thinks that it is almost as if he were brainwashed or at least influenced by something or someone. Marv says that they should be bound by human laws and custom, not theirs. Mentor asks if they aren’t outlaws. Melissa admits that they are. Marv says that he isn’t saying that it is a clear cut decision, but that he believes that they are sincere about what they are doing. Marv says that they have committed crimes, but it isn’t like they’ve killed anyone is cold blood. Abe and Melissa look wearily at Karla remembering what happened on Kosmos. Karla says that she has learned the hard way that just because you have the power to do something doesn’t give you the right to. Marv says that her teammates have promised to keep and eye on Moonstone. Moonstone asks where they get off, but Hawkeye tells her to nix the attitude. Marv says that he doesn’t think Mentor wants to turn Titan into the watchdogs of the solar system. Isaac asks who will watch those watching her. Marv says that he will. Rick and Hawkeye both ask if they will. Marv says that he isn’t joining their group, but that he is based on Earth. He says that he can keep his cosmic awareness attuned to the Thunderbolts’ activities. Mentor says that is good enough for him for now, but that if she strays from a righteous path or an alien invasion develops an interest in her lifestone, but Hawkeye interrupts and says that it isn’t like everyone wasn’t watching them already. Genis says that he will do his best to keep his interest subtle and looks over at Songbird. Abe thinks to himself that he is as subtle as a hammer. Isaac says that he will abide his programmer, and asks if Karla wants her rehabilitation to continue without emotional confusion. Isaac has Karla become partially intangible and reroutes her neurosynaptic access so that she can’t access the memories of the gem’s original wielder. Moonstone says, “Yes… finally!” Moonstone creates a new costume for herself. Isaac says that her mind and will are her own again, and that now good or ill is all up to her. Karla says that she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Atlas is getting bigger and bigger. He tells Hallie to go away. Hallie says that they can’t do that, and that he has to stop moving. She says that she knows that he is moving away from Burton, but that because of his size that trying to spare these places is actually endangering them. Scourge asks if blowing up there wouldn’t as well. Jolt says that Scourge doesn’t get a say in this. Scourge says that he has reached someone that might. He opens a communication to Hank Pym of the Avengers. Goliath asks how he got access to an Avengers priority line. Scourge says that there is no time for that, and that he is sending him all his information on Atlas. He says that they have to stop him from turning the Rockies into speed bumps. Hank says that he has been working on Atlas for some time, but that it seems that Erik won’t be able to gain the same control that Simon has until he goes through the same experiences. Jolt says that Erik has to die to learn how to prevent himself from dying. Jolt begs Erik not to do this. Erik says that he has no choice and that it has to be done. Jolt says that her life was stolen, and that he can’t just give his up. Erik tells Hallie to look at him and says that he can’t control himself anymore. He asks how he could save himself by hurting others. He says that he doesn’t want to die that way. Hallie says that she doesn’t want to lose him. Erik says that she will never lose him. Erik asks Scourge how he can let himself go without hurting others. Scourge says that Goliath told him that Wonder Man’s big bang happened in outer space. Jolt asks how they can get Erik into space.

Gyrich watches the feed and says, “What is he doing?”

Warton watches and says, “Yes, Roger, I’m watching it…”

Bob Haggert looks at Scourge and asks if that is the man that killed his sister. Andrea says that she thinks so.

Scourge says that they can’t get him out of Burton Canyon, and so maybe they can get him so far inside it that he won’t hurt anything. Jolt asks what he means. Scourge says that his weapons are all miniaturized with Pym Particles. Jolt asks if he has enough, and Scourge says that there is only one way to find out.

Roger watches and says that of course he would have access to such materials.

Enchantress watches and says that returning her favor would have been fun… for her.

Erik tells Hallie that he loves her as Scourge showers him with Pym Particles.

A man wearing a black suit says “good riddance” to Erik.

Scourge sucks Erik up into his gauntlet. He takes it off and throws it down into a chasm between Mt. Fenton and Mt. Alter. Erik explodes, but is small enough not to hurt anyone.

Jolt says, “I loved you, too, big brother…”

Hours later, at the old X-Factor headquarters in Washington DC, Citizen V meets with Warton and opens the crate revealing the Beetle armor. He says that this is quite a mischievous gambit that Aubrey has come up with. Citizen V wonders if their target will appreciate the irony. Warton says that he doubts it and that he is the most humorless man he has ever met. Citizen V says that he means other than Roger, and Warton agrees. Citizen V says that he thinks that they have enough power to do the job, and that since most of the team is assembled that it is time for them to meet their new leader.

Traitor’s rating: 8 out of 10

Review and picture 1 by The Leader

Picture 2 by Captain Nate

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