Heavy Burdens

The terrorist organization known as At’La’Tique have been sending their super-powered stike force, Fathom Five, to attack the surface world. This has led to Namor, the Sub-Mariner and the Prince of Atlantis to meet with the United Nations to discuss rooting out the group after they attacked New York City. This has led to a battle with Atlantean forces in the undersea canyons of Gel’Then’Amee. As most of the team — Llyron, Bloodtide, Dragonrider, Sea Leopard, and Manowar — fight back the battle is observed by Mistress Nagala and Tamara Rahn. While Rahn sees this as Namor sending a message to them that he can find them, Nagala is unafraid. She points to the Fathom Five and their strengths.[1] Soon the fight is over, and Llyron vows that they will have their revenger against both Namor and the surface world. As a symbolic show of the agonies they will inflict by ripping apart a Trans-Atlatic Cable line with his bare hands.

This causes the International Stock Market to go down, which is reported to Baron Strucker at Merovech Investments in Manhattan, a front operation for Hydra. He considers this a minor inconvenience. He then checks in with one of his operatives, Commandant Herzog, who confirms that things are moving along as planned. Strucker is pleased and believes that nothing will stand in the way of their goals this time. As he says this, he is unaware that he is being spied upon by the new Swordsman.[2]

As this is going on, the United Nations is in flames, the result of bombs that were set off by the Great Game after their operatives failed to eliminate Namor the Sub-Mariner as he addressed the recent activities of Fathom Five. Outside, Mach-IV of the Thunderbolts tries to get the flames under control with fire retardant missiles, but they are not enough. He worries about his teammates in the New Thunderbolts who were inside when the bomb went off.

Inside, the Thunderbolts — Songbird (Melissa Gold), Atlas (Erik Josten), Speed Demon (James Sanders), and Blizzard (Donny Gill) — as well as Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), and others trapped inside were saved when Songbird erected a sonic shield to protect them. Taking charge, Richards tells Blizzard and Speed Demon to use their powers to redirect the nearby flames and put them out.

Back outside, the NYPD’s special super-powered unit — Code: Blue — arrives on the scene. It’s leader, Lieutenant Marcus Stone, orders Mach-IV to surrender as they intend to arrest Speed Demon and Blizzard for their past crimes.[3] Abner protests this, pointing out to the lieutenant that making these arrests will not look good in light of the current crisis. Stone doesn’t care and orders his men to prepare to fire. However, before they can pull their triggers, their riffles are yanked away on web-lines as Spider-Man swings onto the scene. The wall-crawler has come to offer his assistance, but admits that he doesn’t entirely trust Mach-IV due to his criminal past.[4] Abe understands, but welcomes the veteran heroes assistance, and gets him up to speed on the situation.[5]

Inside, Reed Richards questions Joystick — one of the only survivors of the Great Game — what fuel source their battle amor used. She reveals that the fuel cells were powered by strontium, which is highly radioactive. Still, despite the risk, the heroes continue working to put out, while Atlas and the Sub-Mariner brace the building in order to prevent it from collapsing. However, they are pushing themselves to their limits. The strain on Songbrid’s sonic carapace and Blizzard’s freon suit to the limits and both start breaking down. At the same time, efforts are going on outside to keep the building from collapsing as Spider-Man uses his webbing to support the building outside.[6] Marcus Stone, meanwhile, is trying to get in touch with Damage Control to get them to deal with the situation. However, they are reluctant to show up until the excessive radiation is dealt with first.

As Spider-Man and Mach-IV help get the people trapped in the upper floors of the building, Jenkins come up with an idea on how to deal with the radiation, but it will require Spider-Man trusting him. The web-slinger is willing to give it a shot, so Mach-IV gives a call to Baron Strucker, who has been secretly financing the Thunderbolts. Abe asks him to locate and bring the Radioactive Man (Chen Lu), who is currently at the Chinas consulate in New York City. Strucker is reluctant to do so, even if it means dying from radiation poisoning along with the rest of New York.

By this time, the fire is completely put out allowing for a plan to evacuate. Joystick is convinced to help Mister Fantastic find a way out through the debris so Songbird can create a solid sound tunnel to help everyone to get out. That’s when the Chinese government deploy the Radioactive Man to the scene. He instantly begins using his powers to absorb the radiation on the scene. This makes Atlas less sick, allowing him to push his powers even harder so he can grow large enough to continue bracing the building. That’s when Damage Control arrives on the scene and begins erecting gravimetric jacks so they can keep the UN Building from collapsing until repairs can be finished.

Watching things unfold on the news, Baron Strucker is surprised that the Thunderbolts were able to pull it off after all and realizes that they might be more of a liability to his plans after all. In the aftermath of the crisis, Songbird is taken to the hospital for her injuries, Abner Jenkins convinces Radioactive Man to join up with the Thunderbolts, and Namor uses the media on scene to publicly denounce Fathom Five for their recent terror attacks on New York. Annoyed by this, Strucker turns off the TV so he can decide what his next move might be.

When Strucker steps out on the patio of his office, he is ambushed by the Swordsman who announces that the Thunderbolts are under his protection and impales Strucker on his sword.

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Mach-IV, Songbird, Atlas, Speed Demon, Blizzard), Fathom Five (Llyron, Bloodtide, Dragonrider, Sea Leopard, Manowar, Mistress Nagala, Tamara Rahn), Mister Fantastic, Code: Blue (Marcus Stone, Mad-Dog Rossitano), Spider-Man, Joystick, Radioactive Man, Sub-Mariner, Baron Strucker, Swordsman

Continuity Notes

1. Mention is made here of how Llyron was created using DNA taken from Namor and the Lemurian woman known as Llyra. For more on this see Namor the Sub-Mariner #54-57.

2. Hydra is plotting to take over the world by destroying New York, as we’ll see over the next two issues. The identity of the new Swordsman is revealed in New Thunderbolts #17. He is Andreas Von Strucker, Wolfgang’s own son.

3. Marcus Stone mentions how Speed Demon and Blizzard don’t have presidential pardons. The OG Thunderbolts received these pardons in Thunderbolts #50.

4. Spider-Man refers to Abner as the Beetle, his former identity from when he was a criminal, which started in Strange Tales #123. As revealed in Thunderbolts #1, Abner originally became the hero Mach-1 to pose as a hero as part of a complex plan to take over the world. However, he eventually came to enjoy being a hero and has been working to redeem himself since Thunderbolts #12. Here, Jenkins says he goes by Mach-IV now, which represents the fourth time he has upgraded his flight suit technology. He has been using this name since New Thunderbolts #1.

5. Mach-IV refers to the Great Game as “old friends” of Spider-Man. The organization first appeared in Amazing Scarlet Spider #1. Subsequent appearances of that organization occurred in Spider-Man #64, Spectacular Spider-Man #231, Amazing Spider-Man #409, Spider-Man #66, and Spider-Man Unlimited #14. However, they always clashed with Ben Reilly, a clone of Peter Parker who had taken over the mantle of Spider-Man during that period of time. However, Abner would not know this, hence why he doesn’t make this distinction.

6. Spider-Man laments he’ll have to eat a lot of junk food to replenish his web supply. At the time of this story, Spider-Man had just recently developed the ability to create organic webbing as seen in Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #17-20. He will retain this ability until these powers are taken away from him following the events of Amazing Sider-Man #545.

Topical References

• When trying to put out the fire in the UN, Mach-IV wonders if this is what firefighters felt after 9/11. He is referring to a terrorist attack that occurred on September 11, 2001, in which members of al-Queda hijacked commercial airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center’s twin towers. Firefighters charged into the building to rescue people trapped inside, 313 of whom died when the towers collapsed. Following the attacks there was an emphasis on celebrating first responders, particularly those who lost their lives that day in the years that followed, hence the reference. This should be considered a topical reference a more contemporary example could be used in its place.

• Spider-Man specifically states that he will have to eat a truckload of Twinkies to replenish his webbing. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world product.