A Jolt to the System!

After being kidnapped off the streets of New York, Hallie Takahama was experimented upon by her captors, giving he enhanced speed, reflexes and the ability to fire bolts of electricity.[1] Escaping captivity, she had come to the Four Freedoms Plaza seeking the aid of the Fantastic Four, unaware that they are apparently deceased.[2] Instead, she found the new tenants, the Thunderbolts. After hearing the girl’s plight and that other children are still being held prisoner they agree to help her. Songbird takes Hallie to a machine which fashions her a costume. Meteorite notices how Songbird bonds with the young girl and raises her concerns to Citizen V. This is because the Thunderbolts are secretly the Masters of Evil, posing as heroes as part of a grand scheme to take over the world.[3] Citizen V — secretly Baron Zemo — brushes off Meteorite’s concerns, telling her that he can keep everyone in line.

Now calling herself Jolt, Hallie leads the Thunderbolts to the location where she was held prisoner. Citizen V recognizes the castle as belonging to Doctor Doom.[4] As the team disembarks their ship, Citizen V tells Jolt to stay behind. However, she disobeys his orders as she wants to tag along. This annoys Citizen V, but Atlas points out that there is no reasoning with a teenager some times so he allows her to accompany them, much to his chagrin. Once they enter the castle, Techno is ordered to activate his camera drones so this less-than-public conflict can be recorded in order to boost the Thunderbolt’s already glowing publicity. Soon they end up running into a bunch of humanoid creatures, part human and part animal. As the Thunderbolts fight their way through this inhuman horde, Citizen V orders Atlas to smash open a wall to give them more room to fight.

What they uncover is the laboratory of geneticist and Nazi war criminal, Arnim Zola, who has even more mutated creatures at his disposal. Seeing this a victory over Zola as a huge publicity win, Citizen V orders Techno to highjack a television signal so their battle will be broadcast in homes across America. Because of the highjacked signal, the media and the public are asking for a statement from the mayor’s office about it. Dallas Riordan, the Thunderbolts’ liaison at the mayor’s office takes questions and uses the opportunity to announce that her office is petitioning the United Nations and federal government to give the Thunderbolts the same sort of security clearance as the Fantastic Four and the Avengers so they can do the job of defending the world easier.

Back at Doom’s castle, the Thunderbolts continue to battle with Zola’s mutates. Jolt gets in danger and is rescued by Atlas because Hallie reminds him of his sister.[5] That’s when Arnim Zola activates his bio-lith device. However, Techno quickly finds its ionic power source and orders Songbird and Meteorite (accidentally calling her Moonstone) to blow it up. It’s then that Zola activate a device that causes all his creatures to merge together into one massive protoplasmic mass and orders them to kill the Thunderbolts. That’s when Jolt recognizes the creatures as being the other children that were kidnapped along with her. She tearfully tells them to fight back against Zola. She gets through to them and rather than continue living this horrific existence the amalgamated creature kills itself. This devastates Jolt who has to be held back when Zola explains that he did all of this for fun. Composing herself, Jolt — in front of the cameras — says that she won’t stoop to Zola’s level by killing him. Instead she looks forward to having him rot away in prison.

In the aftermath of the battle the press arrives on the scene and begin asking Citizen V questions about Jolt and her future with the Thunderbolts. Communicating to him through her helmet mic, Meteorite suggests that they make her an official member of the team as rejecting her will raise questions and possibly compromise their secret plans. Realizing that he has no other choice, Citizen V invites Jolt to join their team, a request that she eagerly accepts. Meteorite watches this with cunning eyes as Jolt’s inclusion on the team will mean they will have to pretend to be heroes 24/7. This will create many opportunities for her to exploit and pivot things into her own advantage.

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Citizen V, Atlas, Meteorite, Mach-1, Songbird, Techno, Jolt), Arnim Zola, Dallas Riordan, (in flashback) the Rat Pack

Continuity Notes

1. Hallie was kidnapped in Thunderbolts #1 and got free in issue #3.

2. The Fantastic Four were believed to have died in battle during Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1. In reality they and other heroes were transported to a pocket dimension where they relived reimagined versions of their past lives. They will eventually be found and returned to their proper reality in Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4.

3. The reveal that the Thunderbolts were secretly the Masters of Evil happened in issue #1. The general public won’t learn the truth until Thunderbolts #10.

4. This is Doctor Doom’s castle first seen back in Fantastic Four #5. Per Fantastic Four #200, this castle is located in upstate New York. Doom is not around because he too seemingly perished in Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1.

5. Atlas’ sister, Lindy Josten, died at a very young age when she was hit by a car while riding her bike down a dark street. Lindy was trying to catch up with her brothers who were going into town. Erik has blamed himself for her death ever since. See Thunderbolts #10 for the tragic tale.

Topical References

• The televisions in this story are all depicted as CRT models. This should be considered topical as this is an obsolete technology.