Thunderbolts #54
Thunderbolts #54
Title: “Cat and Mouse”
Writers: Fabian Nicieza and Michael Barreiro
Pencils: Patrick Zircher
Inker: Al Vey
Colors: VLM
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Zemo dreams of standing over Captain America with his sword buried in Cap’s chest. Cap breaks Citizen V’s daydream as he says that Citizen V seems distracted. Citizen V shakes Cap’s hand and says that he was just thinking of all the good that can be done here. Captain America suggests continuing Citizen V’s tour of Mount Chateris. Zemo considers running Cap through with his sword, but decides that letting Cap look back on this moment later and agonizing is more satisfying.
Cap says that their one official mission was rescuing a paralyzed Dallas Riordan from the political machinations of Dr. Doom. Citizen V jokingly asks if Dallas was paralyzed from the neck up. Cap says that the Secret Empire tried to kidnap Charcoal again, but that he stopped them himself. Citizen V asks Cap if he is going to deal with the Secret Empire. Cap says that he hopes to soon. Citizen V follows up that Charcoal is the one that hurt the new Beetle.
Captain America takes Citizen V to watch Jolt as she continues to try and rehab her physical body. Citizen V calls her an annoying cheerleader. Cap says that she hasn’t had much to cheer about since coming back from the dead. Citizen V says that he breaks out the Cristal everytime he comes back from the dead. Cap mentions that in her electric form Jolt is fine, but that she undergoes an intensive exercise program daily. Cap says that she can’t go back to school because of her very public death, but that she reminds him of Justice and Firestar and that with time she will overcome her current hardships.
Cap and Citizen V look down on Leila Davis, the new Beetle, and Valerie Barnhardt, the new Meteorite. Cap says that they are both motivated by their desire to wipe their previous criminal careers clean. Cap says that they should both be free to leave in a matter of weeks. Citizen V says that probably isn’t true of the Fixer. Cap agrees and says that when Fixer isn’t questioning his orders he is ignoring them outright. Cap says that Fixer is currently scouring the computer files. Citizen guesses that Fixer is looking for clues about his life from when he was the Techno robot. Cap says that he is actually looking for a missing Thunderbolt Ogre. Citizen V asks about Smuggler. Cap says that Conrad Josten has a furlough day. Citizen V asks about Scream. Cap says that he is still a mystery. Cap says that the CSA technicians found a sonic emitter in Baron Zemo’s abandoned lab and that when they triggered it Scream was created. Citizen V says that this is some team that Cap is leaving him. Cap says that Citizen V put them together, but Citizen V corrects him saying that he inherited them. Citizen V says that he would much rather be leading the original Thunderbolts team.
Karla adjusts herself so that Graviton will get a good look at Karla’s “whole package” as she approaches Graviton. She wonders if knowing what makes Graviton tick will enable her to stop the coming explosion. Graviton greets Karla and says that he is attending to his teacher’s syllabus. Graviton says that he has just taken a small stone in China and moved it through a woman’s head in Australia just to see if he could do it.
Back at Mount Charteris, Captain America says goodbye to the Redeemers. He says that they came together in a bad situation, but that they have made the best of it. Cap says that he hopes Jolt regain her sense of hope. He hopes Valerie’s actions continue to redeem her lapse in judgement. He hopes Leila finds closure for her lost husband. He hopes Scream finds its place in the world, and he hopes that Citizen V makes his grandfather proud. Citizen V inserts, “Or even my father”. Cap flies off and Citizen V says that it enough boredom for the day. He says that at four they will have tea and an introduction to how things will be done now. Citizen V thinks to himself that he hopes to be gone by four. He thinks about how in order to recreate Strucker’s plot to take over the world he needs information that the V-Battalion suspects was downloaded and encrypted by the Techno robot. Zemo wonders how he can best get it. He ponders bringing Fixer into his confidence, but decides against it. Zemo thinks that he trusted the Techno robot, but that Fixer’s humanity makes him a liability.
Fixer sits
looking for Ogre. Fixer says that he has looked everywhere for
him. Fixer wonders if Techno knew where Ogre went, but finds that
all the files about Techno have been firewalled. Fixer wonders if
this was done by SHIELD, CSA, Ogre, or perhaps by the Techno
robot itself. Fixer breaks down the firewall and discovers that
it was Ogre who blocked it. Techno discovers Ogre escaped through
a dimensional portal. Ogre’s alert goes off that Fixer has
found him. Ogre says that if Fixer disrupts the tesseract
interstellar fold that he will sever the power supply that is
keeping HS-1 in stasis.
At Seagate Prison, Hawkeye is up to 151 of his one-armed push ups with his left hand. A guard comes by and messes up Clint’s count. The guard says that Hawkeye is moving out in the morning. Hawkeye wonders how his rotation could already be up. Mentallo enters Hawkeye’s mind and says that it took a lot of mental coaxing. Mentallo says that he also planted the other three inmates that will join Hawkeye’s rotation to Ryker’s in order to maximize his ability to escape and complete their mission.
Conrad Josten stands inside one of Atlas’ giant footprints by Mount Charteris. Conrad thinks about how he accepted the Smuggler costume and the place on the Redeemers in order to make up for the shame that Erik brought to the Josten name, but now he is wondering if he can live up to the heroic example Erik set when he sacrificed himself so that thousands could live.
Ogre starts scrambling the signals to block Fixer from finding him. Fixer calls him a rude little troll and quickly matches the new frequency by predicting two moves ahead. Ogre prepares to move, but Fixer turns off the dimensional portal. Fixer then locks onto Ogre’s attempt to find a secondary power source. Ogre appears on a screen to Fixer and tells him that he has to stop. Ogre says that this is not a game, but Fixer says that it’s all a game. Fixer says that Ogre is good, but that he is better. Ogre concedes the point if only he stops tapping his power reserves. Ogre says that if HS-1 is released that the Earth will be irreparably harmed. Fixer says that was the wrong thing to say because now he is really curious.
In Flagstaff Arizona, Dallas Riordan is trying to adjust to life. She is in a wheelchair inside her father’s home, and his condition has forced her father into a full time nursing home. Dallas is on the phone saying that she can’t get to the nursing home today because they are building the wheelchair ramp today when she hears a voice call out, “Dallas”. Dallas says, “Erik?”
Ogre says again that Fixer is his superior. He says that he replaced him and brought Jolt back to the dead. Fixer says that those were both the Techno robot, but that driving Ogre out of hiding was him. The power reserves are down to 4% when HS-1 awakens in his pod. Ogre says that for the love of god Fixer must stop. Fixer says that he didn’t come this far to not see what Ogre has been hiding. Fixer suggests that Ogre come back now, and that they might be able to keep his package on ice. Ogre asks if he should just let SHIELD have him. Fixer says that maybe he and Ogre could work out their own deal. Ogre says that he would rather see the boy kill them all than see him kill for them. Ogre severs the communication link. Ogre and the container are pulled back into Mount Charteris. HS-1 is banging on the Plexiglas of the container.
Reality ripples and spreads out from Mount Charteris. Smuggler and Charcoal both feel it and head towards Mount Charteris. Abe Jenkins wonders if he should call Melissa, but remembers that without their equipment that they are powerless.
Melissa is talking a kid into buying some equipment. She uses a subtle range of her powers to control him. The kid agrees to buy the equipment just as the reality ripple washes over them.
Back at Mount Charteris, Jolt says to Citizen V as they run towards that the problem that she’ll bet him five dollars that this is Fixer’s fault. Citizen V says that is a sucker’s bet.
Ogre punches Fixer and says that he spent years protecting humanity from HS-1, and protecting the boy from power hungry fools like him. Ogre congratulates Fixer on being the man who just doomed all life on Earth. HS-1 emerges from his container.
Two people in Brazil fall over dead.
Leila gets into the Beetle armor as Meteorite starts to fly off. Smuggler and Charcoal both make it back to Mount Charteris together. Jolt notes that the ripples are starting to cause chunks in the ceiling to fly off. Citizen V asks if Ebersol has anything to say about this. Fixer says, “Uh…whoops?”
Humus Sapien floats there before the Thunderbolts thinking how he is going to make all of humanity pay for the mistakes they made against him and against Mother Earth.
Traitor’s rating: 8 out of 10
Firstly, I love the meeting between Zemo and Captain America. I love Zemo thumbing his nose at the unknowing Cap. I know that a lot of people don’t seem to care much for the Redeemers, but I kind of like them. I like Leila and Conrad Josten because of their involvement with the “core” Thunderbolts. I don’t really know about Meteorite’s deal, but I’m hoping that we’ll get to it soon. I do wish that the regular Thunderbolts were involved in the book more, but I love the angles that are being taken with each. The only current direction that I don’t care for is with Hawkeye. I just don’t buy that Hawkeye would sell out even if it meant his own skin. The guy is a hero.
I also know that many felt let down by the Humus Sapien revelation, but I kind of like it. Not so much because of the character’s back-story but because who could it have really been that would have matched all the suspense? All the big Marvel villains have been around since the 1960’s. The unknown works better in this case.
Zircher is still doing a very good job on the title and I look forward to seeing how his style evolves with the characters as the main players begin to return to the front.
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