Captain America Vol 5 29

Tony Stark and Maria Hill review tapes of the new Serpent Squad--Sin, King Cobra, Eel, and Viper--break into the Subcarrier and rescue Crossbones, killing everyone in their path and doing so with ease. When he asks how they got in she shows them that Patrick Stansfield, Agent 776, seems to have simply let them in. Further, the dozen agents that were supposed to be on hand for Crossbones' hand off have gone missing. Stark orders a detailed report on Stansfield's whereabouts for the last few weeks believing there's a mole inside S.H.I.E.L.D..

Spy Versus Spy[]

Black Widow is hunting down the Winter Soldier at Stark's behest, but is getting dead ends trying to find him through the underground. She reassesses what she knows about him; knowing that he'll wait for Stark to be vulnerable instead of attacking him on the Helicarrier she considers what else he'll do for revenge, then smiles.

The Prodigal Son[]

Winter Soldier makes his way across the city, connecting his recently uncovered A.I.M. surveillance of S.H.I.E.L.D. teams with Nick Fury's belief that something was rotten inside the organization. With Crossbones free and doubtlessly making his way back to Red Skull, Winter Soldier only has one lead left and makes his way to the Kronas Corporation building, drawing lines connecting people who hate each other just to "add fuel" to the Civil War. He crashes through a window, taking out a guard, seeking answers.

Altered Egos[]

In a red backgrounded "Russia" Aleksander Lukin and Red Skull argue about their deal, each mocking the others' countries outcome in World War II. Skull spends the time crawling on a large statue of Lenin, and when Lukin threatens to crush him the statue he does just that, controlling the statue with his arm. Skull, however, he shrugs it threat off and says he knows Lukin's part in the their alliance means too much to him and asks if he thinks he's been "sleeping in here the whole time."

Proactive[]

Falcon and Sharon Carter have gotten in to an A.I.M. facility and are fighting off the guards with relative ease, leading one of them to call for another to signal the MODOC squads. Sharon stops him, but Falcon is set on fire, forcing him to rip off his costume and send Sharon ahead to find the computer bank before it's erased. She finds it with two A.I.M. guards in front of it, firing on them and killing one. Holding the gun on the other one she has flashbacks to Captain America's death and gets dizzy. Falcon arrives just in time to disarm the surviving guard about to fire on a confused Sharon. They get the information they need and leave, unaware that Black Widow has seen them and plans to report them to Stark.

Reactive[]

Lukin enters his office distractedly talking to himself--speaking both sides of the dialogue from earlier--until Winter Soldier throws him against the wall. Winter Soldier says he's figured Lukin out, that he's working with Red Skull, which is low even for a mass murderer. He demands Skull's location, which Lukin says is amusing for more reasons that he knows, and Crossbones and Sin appear holding guns telling him to back off "the boss."

Solicit Synopsis

Nominated for the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series! The Red Skull's minions have crawled out of the shadows to make another strike at the American spirit, still reeling from the death of Captain America. But this time, they've got the Winter Soldier. A very mad Winter Soldier, gunning for them, with vengeance in his sights! All this, and Sharon, and the Falcon fighting for their lives, too!

Notes

Part of the Death of Captain America event.

The current incarnation of the Viper is a new recruit of Sin and the Red Skull. He remains an unnamed character with very little background information.

Links and References

References