With Friends Like There…

Diamondback wakes up in a strange cell and wonders where she is. Thinking back to the recent past she recalls how she received a note warning her that she was being watched. Unable to figure out who was after her, Rachel tried to seek protection from Captain America at Avengers Headquarters. However, as she arrived at the service entrance she was knocked out from behind by some unknown attacker.[1] She discovers that someone put her in her original costume for some reason, but she has none of her trademark weapons.[2] She then begins searching the room for a way out and discovers it is impossible, especially since she has been shackled.

That’s when King Cobra enters the cell and reveals that she is a prisoner of the Serpent Society.[3] The group are concerned that she has betrayed them to Captain America and intend on putting her on trail. If she is found guilty of treason, they will put her to death. As King Cobra leaves the cell he orders Anaconda and Puff Adder to escort Diamondback to the council chamber for her trial.

Meanwhile, at Avengers Headquarters, Captain America is running the members of the Avengers Support Crew — John Jameson, Peggy Carter, and Michael O’Brien — through an exercise routine when Jarvis interrupts to announce Fabian Stankowicz. Fabian was the group’s resident inventor and has just returned from drug rehabilitation. Fabian is welcomed back with open arms and Cap is pleased to hear that he has kicked his addiction to Ice.[4] Steve pulls Fabian aside and tells him how his mission to shut down Ice operations in the city led to himself getting high on the substance. It reacted with the Super Soldier Serum requiring a complete blood transfusion to get both out of his system. Since this happened at a time when he was questioning if the serum was on par with the street drugs he was combating, he decided to turn down an opportunity to have the cleaned out serum returned to his bloodstream.[4] Then Jarvis interrupts their discussion to remind Cap that he is scheduled to attend a party in Brooklyn Heights that evening.

At that same time, back at the Serpent Society’s headquarters, Diamondback is brought to her “defense attorney” Black Mamba, her closest friend on the team Tanya asks her point blank if the new man she is dating is Captain America. Rachel admits it and explains how despite this she has not betrayed any of the group’s secrets to him. She then runs down the series of events that led to her relationship. She found herself attracted to Captain America during the Serpent Society’s hit on MODOK.[5] At first, Cap resisted her advancements but he began warming up to her after she assisted him in stopping Viper’s attempt to take over the Serpent Society.[6] He finally started relenting when she assisted him in preventing Baron Zemo from obtaining the Bloodstone to resurrect his deceased father.[7] Regardless of the facts, Black Mamba admits to Rachel that proving her innocent is going to be difficult to pull off.

Later that evening, Steve Rogers shows up at his old apartment in Brooklyn Heights. There is a welcome back party being thrown there by his former landlord Anna Kapplebaum. However, Steve is shocked to discover that the party isn’t being thrown for him, but for his former neighbor and girlfriend Bernie Rosenthal, who has moved back into the building after completing law school in Wisconsin.[8]

Meanwhile, Diamondback’s trial has begun and Rachel puts in a plea of not guilty. After Puff Adder swears her in, Diamondback is questioned by Coachwhip. Despite her aggressive examination, Black Mamba’s objections to the line of questioning are overruled.

Hours later, Steve and Bernie are out on a walk on the Brooklyn Bridge. Bernie finds herself as nervous around Steve as she did on their first date. The conversation is light, sticking to Rosenthal’s schooling and how she graduated suma cum laude in criminal law. They get to talking about their relationship status later, with Bernie saying that things with Paul — the man she started dating in university — didn’t end up working out.[9] Steve mentions that he has been dating but it has been difficult with his duties as Captain America and with the Avengers. He doesn’t mention that he is currently dating Diamondback, because he’s not sure how to explain it.

As Diamondback is answering Black Mamba’s questions about the nature of her relationship with Captain America, and how she didn’t divulge any of the Serpent Society’s secrets. This leads to closing arguments where Coachwhip tries to convince the jury that Diamondback is guilty, reminding them of the time she revealed the location of their hideout to Captain America, requiring them to make a costly relocation. Black Mamba counters this by recounting how she only did so to save the lives of her fellow Society members when Viper was staging her coup of the organization. With closing arguments made, King Cobra tells the others to vote on a verdict. While Asp, Black Mamba, Bushmaster, and Rock Python vote innocent the others — Anaconda, Black Racer, Coachwhip, Cottonmouth, Fer-De-Lance, Puff Adder, and Rattler — vote against their former teammate. With the verdict decided, King Cobra announces that Diamondback will be executed by lethal injection at midnight.

After the trial, Asp and Black Mamba head to King Cobra’s office to continue to plead their case. They find their leader fooling around with Coachwhip. When their pleas don’t change his decision, the pair quit the Serpent Society on the spot. King Cobra accepts their resignations, but warns them that there will be repercussions should they try to help Diamondback escape. Still, the two friends plan to do just that and when they return to Black Mamba’s quarters she puts in a call to the only person she believes can help them.

At that same moment, Steve Rogers is walking Bernie back to her apartment. The two part as friends. Steve leaves wondering why he couldn’t bring himself to mention his relationship with Rachel.

When the clock strikes midnight, Diamondback is strapped to a table and is about to be injected with snake venom by Puff Adder. However, Sidewinder — the Society’s former leader — teleports into the room and absconds with Diamondback before he can be stopped. Furious over this betrayal, King Cobra declares war on their former leader.[9]

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Diamondback, Serpent Society (King Cobra, Anaconda, Black Racer, Bushmaster, Coachwhip, Cottonmouth, Fer-De-Lance, Puff Adder, Rattler, Rock Python), Asp, Black Mamba, Peggy Carter, Fabian Stankowicz, John Jameson, Michael O’Brien, Edwin Jarvis, Anna Kapplebaum, Josh Cooper, Mike Farrel, Bernie Rosenthal, Sidewinder

Continuity Notes

1. Rachel has been spied upon by the Serpent Society since Captain America #372. She was a founding member of the group in Captain America #310, but drifted away from the group in issue #344 due to a growing infatuation with Captain America and decided to go straight. She and Cap began officially dating in Captain America #371.

2. Captain America discovered that Fabian was addicted to Ice — a designer version of meth created by the Red Skull — and ordered him to rehab to kick the habit. See Captain America #372-373.

3. Diamondback calls King Cobra by his old name. The Cobra changed his name to better reflect his role as leader of the Serpent Society in Captain America #367.

4. Steve had to have it pumped out of system when it became tainted following a meth lab explosion. See Captain America #372-378. This doesn’t completely remove the serum from his body, which will begin replenishing itself in Captain America #384.

5. The Serpent Society were hired to eliminate MODOK by his creators, Advance Idea Mechanics. They carried out this hit in Captain America #314. Although MODOK was killed then and there, he will be resurrected again in Avengers #387.

6. Viper: Formerly known as Madame Hydra, Diamondback interfered with her plot to usurp control of the Serpent Society in Captain America #342-344.

7. Baron Zemo: Rachel assisted Captain America in preventing Zemo from recovering the Bloodstone and using it to resurrect his father. See Captain America #357-362. FYI, Zemo’s dad was killed in battle against Captain America years earlier in Avengers #15.

8. Steve moved into Kappelbaum’s apartment building back in Captain America #237. Bernie moved in shortly thereafter in Captain America #247. Steve and Bernie began dating shortly thereafter in issue #251. Bern figured out his double-identity in Captain America #275-276. Although Bernie proposed to him in issue #292, his duties as Captain America drove a wedge and Bernie ultimately decided to leave New York to pursue her legal career in issue #317. The two drifted apart shortly thereafter.

9. Steve discovered that Bernie was seeing a guy named Paul in Captain America #323.

10. Sidewinder was the one who formed the Serpent Society back in Captain America #310. However, he has been on the outs with the group since Viper’s failed coup. He turned over leadership to King Cobra, an event that will be detailed in Captain America Annual #10.

The Unremembered Past

After Battlestar revealed that his memories have been altered, US Agent returns to his government handler, General Lewis Haywerth and demands to know what was done to his mind.[1] Haywerth admits the truth and says that the brainwashing was done at John’s insistence to help set up his new identity as well as help him get over the traumatic experience of witnessing his parents murder.[2] When US Agent demands that the brainwashing reversed, Haywerth agrees to do so since the cat is already out of the bag.

Soon, a doctor sets up the a chemical cocktail that will be fed into John intravenously. From there they will verbally guide Walker through his true past memories in order to undo the brainwashing. The first memory John experiences is when he was 13 years old and his parents told him and his sister that their older brother Mike was killed in action while serving in the military overseas. It was a sleepless night in the Walker home that evening and in the middle of the night John was visited by his mother. She came to ask her son not to join the service as she cannot bear to lose another son. John refuses to make this promise, reminding her that the men in the Walker family have a long history of serving their country and he intends to do the same once he is old enough to do so.

Emily Walker never brought the issue up again after that night and when John turned 18 he enlisted in the military the day after he graduated high school. On his first day at Boot Camp, John met his bunkmate Lemar Hoskins. Hoskins asked if a black man from the north was going to have an issue with a white boy from the south. Walker tells his future best friend that there wouldn’t be, prompting Lemar to think that they’ll get along just fine. John agrees, as long as long as Lemar promises never to call him boy again.

Recurring Characters

US Agent, Lewis Haywerth, (in flashback) Kate Walker, Caleb Walker, Emily Walker, Lamar Hoskins

Continuity Notes

1. This is a bit of a long story that started when the government chose John Walker to become the new Captain America in issue #333. Walker didn’t pan out and Steve Rogers was given back the role in Captain America #350. However, the government still had a use for Walker and faked an assassination in issue #351. From there, John was brainwashed under the auspices of setting him up in his new identity of US Agent, as explained in Captain America #354. His former partner, Battlestar, tracked John down and got him to see the truth. See Captain America #372-378.

2. When John was Captain America his secret identity was revealed to the public by his former comrades Left-Winger and Right-Winger in Captain America #341. This led the Watchdogs terrorist organization to kidnap and murder John’s parents in issue #345.

Topical References

• In this story, it is specifically stated that Mike Walker was killed in the Vietnam War. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale. Presumably, Mike like many other Modern Age characters with a military history would now be said to have served in the Sin Cong Conflict a fictional war created to replace these topical references. See History of the Marvel Universe #2.

John Walker’s Timeline

From the US Agent stories in this and next issue we get painted a picture of John Walker’s lifespan. Here, we see that John was 13 years old when he was told his brother was killed in action. Next issue, it is explained that John Walker underwent the Power Broker’s strength augmentation process and became the Super-Patriot after spending two years in the military. This issue states that John joined the military when he was 18 years old. With these dates we can plot John’s lifespan on the Sliding Timescale.

John first appeared as the Super-Patriot in Captain America #323. Per next issue, he was about 20 years old at the time. Issue #323 was published on November 1986. This places that story in “Year Seven” of the Modern Age. Subtract two years, and John was 18 in “Year Five” and subtract 5 years from that and John was 13 the year prior to the start of the Modern Age (which began circa Fantastic Four #1). This means that John was born approximately 13 years prior to the start of the Modern Age.