Captain America #397
Shot in the Dark
While investigating the abandoned basement of Skullhouse, Captain America has found himself in a battle with Blackwing and Jack O’Lantern.[1] Exposed to Jack’s hallucinogenic, Cap appears to be falling through a chasm with a massive burning pumpkin head at the bottom. Knowing that his mind is being affected by drugs, Cap curls up into a ball behind his shield in order to protect himself while they shake off their effects. This has given Jack and Blackwing time to repair their damaged gliders and resume their attack on the Star-Spangled Avenger.
The Red Skull and Viper, miles away in the Colorado Rockies, observe this battle through the basement’s security cameras. Impressed by Blackwing and Jack O’Lantern’s skills, the Skull decides to recruit them into his Skeleton Crew. He summons Mother Night who is not happy that the Red Skull is spending so much time with Viper. Seeking to remain in his good graces, she agrees to go out and recruit the two mercenaries. She then heads down the hall to get Cutthroat — their newest employ — from his quarters to assist on this mission.
Back at the remains of Skullhouse, Captain America remains on the defensive as he waits for the hallucinations to stop. Suddenly, there is a bright flash of light as an impenetrable dome is erected around the abandoned foundation of the property. Unaware of what happened, Blackwing goes to check it out and when he reports his findings back to Jack, they both decide to break off their attack and find another way out.
While at Avengers Headquarters, John Jameson is sulking around when he accidentally bumps into Jarvis. When the Avengers butler asks why he hasn’t left to pick Rachel Leighton up from her class, John tells him that he wasn’t going to and storms into his room, confusing Jarvis. The reason for John’s outburst is because he had tried to make a move on Rachel even though she is dating his boss, Captain America. Realizing that he screwed up big time, John begins to wonder what to do and worries that Rachel might tell Steve what happened.
Meanwhile, Captain America’s mind is finally clearing and he tries to get back topside when he runs into the barrier blocking the exit.[2] Realizing that he has no choice but to find an alternate means out that might put him back into a conflict with Blackwing and Jack O’Lantern, Cap goes back downstairs. He soon finds a vent that takes him to a sprawling underground catacombs.
As this is all going down, the Red Skull continues to show Viper around his private chalet. He takes her down to his torture room and explains that it is not for prisoners, but for himself. He explains that he frequently subjects himself to torture in order to increase his threshold for pain. He then strips off his shirt and straps himself into one of the torture devices and invites the Viper to torture him. Unsure if this is a test or a show of trust, Viper decides to follow through on the request, dialing up the torture device to one of its most extreme levels.
Back in the catacombs, Captain America catches up with Blackwing and Jack O’Lantern and defeats them in combat. As he radios Thor for assistance, it appears as though Blackwing and Jack are murdered by the Scourge of the Underworld. Following after the assassin, Cap tosses one of Jack’s hallucinogenic bombs to stop the killer form getting away. The ploy works, however it turns out that it wasn’t Scourge at all, but Mother Night using one of his illusions. He quickly subdues her as well. When Thor arrives to help with the prisoners, Cap explains that Mother Night’s appearance here proves his suspicion that the Red Skull and his Skeleton Crew had faked their deaths recently, leaving him to wonder where the Skull could be hiding out now.
An hour later, Rachel Leighton wakes up to find herself being held prisoner in an abandoned subway terminal by Crossbones. The Red Skull’s former top man brandishes a knife and tells her that he wants to get reacquainted with her and insists that she tell him everything he wants to know about her boyfriend, Captain America.[3]
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Skeleton Crew (Mother Night, Cutthroat, Blackwing, Jack O’Lantern), Red Skull, Viper, Thor, John Jameson, Edwin Jarvis, Crossbones, Diamondback
Continuity Notes
Since the Red Skull faked his death in Captain America #393, Cap has been investigating to see if his demise was real this time, as the Nazi has faked his death many times in the past. This took him to Skullhouse of the last two issues. The structure was shrunk down in size and taken away by Arnim Zola last issue.
Captain America recognizes the barrier as a plastic force bubble that the Red Skull has employed in the past. A footnote here tells readers that this deep cut is from Tales of Suspense #89.
Crossbones, aka Brock Rumlow, kidnapped Rachel last issue. Years earlier, Brock was the leader of the Savage Crims street gang whose membership included two of Rachel’s brothers. Rachel wanted to join up too, but Brock was only interested in raping her. When her brothers came at him in retaliation he killed two of them. See Captain America #400.
Snake-Off
BAD Girls Inc — Asp, Black Mamba, and Impala — had broken into the former headquarters of the Serpent Society to steal one of their ships.[1] Setting off an alarm, the trio were ambushed by Sersi of the Avengers. The Eternal — annoyed by being pulled away from a party — then used her powers to turn the trio into snakes. Restoring Black Mamba to human form, Sersi then demands to know what they are doing in the abandoned hideout.
Explaining that they are allies of Captain America, Black Mamba answers all of Sersi’s questions who then relays this all back to Peggy Carter who confirms it all.[2] Sersi then restores Impala and Asp to human form and tells the trio to get lost. However, the BAD Girls don’t want to leave empty handed and convince Sersi to help them launch the Serpent Saucer, telling her that if she arrests them the amount of paperwork required will keep her away from her party for the rest of the night. Warning Mamba that she is pushing her luck, the Eternal complies and tells them to get going before she changes her mind.
With the Serpent Saucer in their possession, the BAD Girls can now focus on finding Snapdragon and getting revenge on her for almost killing their friend Diamondback. Impala suggests that the best place to start looking is Superia’s Island since that was her last known location and its possible that Snapdragon remained even after Captain America foiled Superia’s schemes.[3] Agreeing to check it out, they set a course for Superia’s private island.[4]
Recurring Characters
BAD Girls Inc. (Asp, Black Mamba, Impala), Sersi
Continuity Notes
The Serpent Society were recently shut down by Asp, Black Mamba, Diamondback, Captain America, and Paladin. See Captain America #380-382.
When Black Mamba shows Sersi how her powers work, she conjures up the image of Telemachus. In Greek mythology, Telemachus was the consort of Circe, a goddess best known from the tale of Homer’s Odyssey. Per Eternals #4, the Circe spoken of in this story as actually Sersi.
Superia gathered an island full of women to shield from a biological weapon that would render every woman across the planet sterile. This was all part of a plot to make her island of Femazonia a new political power since it would be home to the only women able to reproduce. Captain America foiled this plan over the course of Captain America #397-392. The BAD Girls and Snapdragon were among the women and it was during their time at sea that Snapdragon almost drowned Diamondback, as seen in issue #388.
The BAD Girl’s hunt for Snapdragon will lead them to the AIM Weapon’s Expo on the island of Boca Caliente in Captain America #411.
