Thunderbolts #63
Thunderbolts #63
Title: "Criminal Intent”
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Penciller: Patrick Zircher
Inker: Al Vey
Colors: Hi-Fi Designs
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Melissa Gold sits on her hotel room bed as
Screaming Mimi. She thinks how Screaming Mimi never liked puzzles
or thinking too much. She thinks how Mimi was about action. She
thinks how Mimi wasn’t a schizo and that really she was just
a way of coping like a shield. She thinks how to do this job she
needs to be Mimi again and she wonders why that scares her. Mimi
is on her third beer and sixth cigarette. Melissa thinks about
how she forgot how much she hated cigarettes. She thinks about
how easy it has been to trail Hawkeye and the others with the way
that Hawkeye has been using five different credit cards in a set
pattern. 
She thinks how
he must have been doing this so his “road trip buddies”
wouldn’t notice, but that someone looking for him would. She
looks at the pictures of Clint’s three fellow escapees:
Headlok, Cottonmouth, and Plantman. She thinks about how Hawkeye
went to Seagate Prison for them and how Dum Dum Dugan approached
Hawkeye about uncovering a big super-villain scam. Mimi starts to
take off her clothes. She unhooks her bra and puts on a t-shirt
to sleep in. Melissa looks down at the picture of the Guardsman
that was killed when he wound up tracking Hawkeye and the others
down. She thinks how he was found from an anonymous tip which she
equates to Hawkeye’s guilty conscience. She thinks how the
Guardsman died because of Plantman’s powers, but that
Plantman shouldn’t have been able to use his powers because
of power inhibitor manacles. She says that is when she was
brought in. She thinks how at least SHIELD figured out that
Headlok is housing the mind of Mentallo. She says that Mentallo
knows what is going on. She wonders if Mentallo is making them
all do these things. She wonders if Plantman would kill someone
or if Clint would allow him to if he had a choice. She thinks to
herself how she hates puzzles and turns out the light. Mimi
lights her cigarette and lies in bed thinking about the love and
the hope that she once had. She thinks how being a Thunderbolt
was the toughest thing that she had ever done and that it is
easier to fall back on old habits. She looks down at her
cigarette.
The next day, Melissa is driving thirty miles north of Kalispell, Montana. She parks her jeep and walks into Freeman’s Roadhouse. The bartender, presumably Freeman, recognizes her as Mimi. He says that he thought that the Thunderbolts died during the fight with Graviton. He asks if that was the real thing or a scam. Mimi says that it was both. She holds up pictures of Hawkeye, Plantman, Cottonmouth, and Headlok and asks Freeman if they came through there. Freeman says that she knows the rules indicating that he can’t tell her, but Songbird uses her subsonic powers to influence him.
Mimi follows the paper trail from Montana
towards Vancouver, but stops at Bellingham, Washington on the way
and stops 
to visit the
Tailor. The Tailor changes your looks right before you hit the
border. The Tailor asks if that is really Melissa, but realizes
that she is Mimi when he sees her. She says, “What do they
look like now?” Tailor starts to say that she knows that he
can’t tell her, but Mimi cuts him off and says that her
harmonics have improved. Tailor tells her what she wants to know,
but as Mimi is leaving she spots her old green costume on a
mannequin. She thinks to herself that everyone has made their way
though the Tailor’s shop at one time. She thinks how Tailor
gave them fake I.D.’s, make-up for Headlok, a beard for
Cottonmouth, and cologne to cover Plantman’s mulch smell.
In Vancouver, Mimi is taking a shower and thinking about how much she hates puzzles. She thinks to herself about all the stops. There was Omaha, Little Springs, Denver, Cheyenne, Billings, Butte, Portland, and Tacoma. Suddenly it occurs to her why they stopped there.
Mimi drives along in her jeep. She thinks to herself that all super-cons on the lam look for one of three things: lay low, go ballistic, or new work. She dismisses the first two and thinks about the usual suspects for new work. There is Taurey, the Power Broker, Strucker, Zemo, the Red Skull, and Justin Hammer. Songbird looks at one of Hammer’s old installations and tells Hammer to “rest in peace, you dried up old snake.” She says that Hawkeye made eight stops and that in each of them there is a Hammer facility. She says that in Vancouver it is Crecy Enterprises. She says that she and the Thunderbolts trashed the place a little while back. She looks down at the place and says that while she can’t see if they are inside that they have to be. She says that means that they have been hired all along, or that they have come to an agreement.
Inside, Carpenter tells Hawkeye that they have a deal. Hawkeye says that before they do anything for him that he has to get the manacles off of them. Carpenter says that the techs will figure out something.
Mimi sits trying to decide what she is going to do. She tries to decide who she wants to be: Mimi, a con, Melissa Gold, a SHIELD agent, or Songbird, a super hero. She spots Cyclone off the horizon coming towards them.
Inside, a still manacled Hawkeye, reminds Carpenter that he said it would be no problem to get the manacles off. Carpenter says that it wasn’t, but instead of removing it they decided to simply reprogram them. He says that they can move as they want and utilize their powers and skills, but that he kept the neuroshock feature for “corporate interests”. Cottonmouth says that he is going to bite Carpenter’s head of. Suddenly the wall explodes.
Songbird keeps watching from a distance still unsure of what actions she is going to take.
Cyclone swirls in the air before them. Cyclone blasts Cottonmouth away with a cyclonic wind blast. Cyclone grabs a disc and says that this is what he came for. A tree swats Cyclone. Plantman says to Cyclone, “You are an elemental of sorts as well. Wind. We don’t much like the wind…” Mentallo tells Hawkeye that his telepathy doesn’t work while he is controlling Headlok’s body. Hawkeye tells Mentallo to go hide in a corner as he fashions a bow for himself.
Songbird puts out her cigarette and says that they will kill you.
Hawkeye shoots a chunk of wood into Cyclone’s chest. Cyclone shouts that is enough and lets off an enormous wind. As Hawkeye struggles to rise, Cyclone tells him that no one has ever struck him like that. He calls Hawkeye an Avenger and Hawkeye says that he is not an Avenger. Cyclone says that Hawkeye has hurt him, but that he can’t stop him. Cyclone tries to pick the disc up, but before he can grab it the disc is surrounded by a pink sound lock box.
Hawkeye wakes up to see Songbird looking down at him. Songbird says that his beard has to go. He asks her what happened. She says that he got knocked out. He starts to ask her how she found him, but Songbird cuts him off and says that SHIELD put her on his trail after the Guardsman. Hawkeye says that it was an accident. He notices that the manacles are gone and Songbird says that Dugan gave her the deactivation codes. He asks about the others. Songbird says that Mentallo, Carpenter, and Cottonmouth are in sound constructs until SHIELD arrives. Hawkeye sees that Plantman is still loose. Songbird says that Mentallo picked the team for a reason. She says that Headlok was so he could have a body, Cottonmouth was for muscle, but until they figure out why he chose Plantman that he is going to stay with them but with his manacles on. Hawkeye asks about Cyclone. Songbird says that he got away, but that he didn’t get the disc. Hawkeye says that he and Smithers are still on the lam, and that they only have half a clue. Songbird says that they know Cyclone and Symkaria. She throws him a bag and says that she wasn’t sure she would get a chance to give it to him and that she wasn’t sure she wanted to. Hawkeye asks her what it is. She says that it is a reminder of who she is. Hawkeye looks in to see his Thunderbolt outfit.
On Counter-Earth, Abe Jenkins, Karla Sofen, Fixer, Atlas, and Jolt walk with Zemo through a swirling blizzard. Zemo says, “My fellow Thunderbolts… say hello to… the new capital of Counter Earth!” They stand before Attilan, home of the Inhumans.
Traitors rating: 8.5 out of 10
The insight into Melissa Gold’s mind was pretty cool. The story itself was pretty cool watching the path and mindset of a criminal mind as they move on the lam. It was also nice to have the Hawkeye story finally move forward into a new stage, Now on to Patrick Zircher… hotchee motchee. His Songbird pictures need no explanation, but overall he has really been finding his niche on the Thunderbolts. Just excellent work, and I hope he stays on the Bolts for a long time to come.