Captain America (vol. 5) #29

Feb 10

Feb 10 Captain America (vol. 5) #29

The Death of the Dream: Part 5

One Step Behind

Tony Stark is going over the footage of the Sin and the new Serpent Squad breaking Crossbones out of prison. Somehow they managed to sneak in disguised as SHIELD operatives and weren’t recognized until it was too late.[1] Even more surprising, Agent Patrick Stanfield, who was working the front door let them in without question. On top of this, a dozen or so agents didn’t even bother to show up for the prisoner transport. This means that Sin and her posse were get Crossbones free well before the alarm was even raised. All this adds up to the fact that SHIELD has a mole and Stark orders all available information to help him smoke them out. Tony also wishes there was day where he wasn’t juggling 20 different problems at once, but doesn’t think that’ll happen anytime soon.

Spy Versus Spy

Meanwhile, the Black Widow has been sent out to find the Winter Soldier and bring him in. She tries roughing up people in the underworld to see if they have heard from him, but it proves to be a useless exercise. No matter where she digs, nobody has seen Winter Soldier since his recent clash with Wolverine.[2]

She decides to rethink the situation. She knows that Bucky wants to get revenge on Tony Stark for Captain America’s death. She also knows that James won’t go after him until Tony is in a vulnerable moment.

The Prodigal Son

The Winter Soldier just heard on the news that Crossbones has escaped. He decides that enough is enough and it was time to investigate a lead he was avoiding until now. Namely, the connection between Red Skull and Aleksander Lukin. He knows that the two of them worked together on the attack on London, but he can’t understand why the two hated enemies would work together.[3]

Altered Egos

What the Winter Soldier doesn’t know is that Aleksander Luken and the Red Skull are both sharing the same body. The two are conferring with one another inside their shared mind. Lukin is unhappy with the direction of their temporary truce and tries to use their meeting to try and subdue the Skull with a massive statue of Joseph Stallin. The Skull, however, calls Lukin’s bluff. He tells Aleksander that he knows all of his secrets. Realizing that the Skull is telling the truth, Lukin relents.

Proactive

Elsewhere, Falcon and Sharon Carter continue their search for the Red Skull, as it will also lead them to the Winter Soldier. They have just raided a facility run by Advanced Idea Mechanics. One of the rogue scientists manages to light Falcon’s costume on fire. He tells Sharon that he’s got it handled and tells her to stop the AIM operative who ran off to activate their MODOC Squad.

Sharon manages to stop the AIM scientist from succeeding, but when he beg her not to kill him she suddenly has a flashback to the day Captain America died. Seeing herself shooting Steve Rogers all over again makes her physically ill. As she throws up on the floor, the AIM operative tries to shoot her instead. Luckily, Falcon has managed to catch up and saves her just in time. When Sam asks Sharon what’s wrong she tells him it is nothing.

As they later leave the facility, they are unaware that they have been spotted by the Black Widow. She is curious to know why the Falcon and Sharon Carter are working together and decides to follow after them.

Reactive

When Aleksander Lukin returns to his home, the Winter Soldier is waiting for him in ambush. When Bucky asks if Lukin is surprised, he replies that he’s only surprised that the ambush wasn’t fatal. James assures Aleksander that he’ll die by his hand, but not yet, as he has come for information. Barnes wants to know why Lukin is working for the Red Skull and where he can find him.

Lukin finds that all amusing and says that the Red Skull is closer than he could ever seem. That’s when Crossbones and Sin enter the room with guns drawn and Bucky realizes he’s the one who walked into a trap.

Recurring Characters

Winter Soldier, Falcon, Sharon Carter, SHIELD (Tony Stark, Maria Hill, Black Widow), Serpent Squad (Sin, Eel, Viper, King Cobra), Crossbones, Red Skull/Aleksander Lukin, AIM

Continuity Notes

Lots going on off the top of this issue:
- Crossbones is being held prisoner by SHIELD as the lead suspect in the alleged death of Captain America. See Captain America (vol. 5) #25.
- Steve Rogers isn’t actually dead however, he has been time displaced as part of a convoluted plot by the Red Skull to steal his body. See Captain America: Reborn #1-5.
- The Serpent Squad were able to break into the SHIELD facility where Crossbones is being held because Doctor Faustus has been brainwashing SHIELD agents since Captain America (vol. 5) #22. Including Sharon Carter, who is made to remember how she was forced to make the “fatal” shots on Steve.
- When Stark notes that there is a new Viper, it is mentioned that Madame Hydra won’t be impressed. He is referring to Ophelia Sarkissian, who originally went by Madame Hydra starting in Captain America #110. She later rennamed herself Viper after killing her predecessor, Jordan Dixon, in Captain America #180. Since then she alternates between the two names depending on if she is working with Hydra or not.
Wolverine clashed with the Winter Soldier in Wolverine (vol. 3) #38-40.
The Winter Soldier knows that Lukin and the Skull hated each other because he was sent to assassinate the Red Skull on behalf of Lukin back in Captain America (vol. 5) #1. What James doesn’t know is that the Skull cheated death by using the Cosmic Cube to jump into Lukin’s mind, as revealed in issue #14. This will remain the status quo until Captain America (vol. 5) #42. The attack on London happened in issues #18-21.