Burning Down the House, Part 2

Earth has just been saved from a Skrull invasion, and Norman Osborn is using his new popularity to reorganize the Thunderbolts.[1] Bullseye has been sent to eliminate Songbird (Melissa Gold) for her interference with the team’s operation.[2] Coming at her from behind, Bullseye intends to torture her until she begs for him to kill her. Instead, she uses her sonic carapace to generate wings to knock him off her in an attempt to fly away. However, when she takes to the air, Bullseye throws one of his sais and hits her carapace with enough force to render it non-functional.

Melissa lands hard and tries to escape through a floor hatch in the hanger bay. Although she manages to get the hatch open, its not before Bullseye gets close enough to throw his other sai. She instinctively holds up her arm to protect her eyes, causing the weapon to impale through her hand. This allows her to escape through the hatch, and she uses the sait to smash a control panel that controls the door locks.

He reports back what happened and asks where this support duct ends so he can head Melissa off at the pass. Moonstone (Karla Sofen) tells Bullseye that pinpointing where she’ll come out is impossible because it is a maze down below and there are no cameras to track her movements. At least the entire facility is on lockdown so she can’t get out of Thunderbolts Mountain. However, Sofen doesn’t trust Bullseye not to screw this up so she sends Venom (Mac Gargan) down to help.

While in the service tunnels, Songbird tries to alert security to the fact that Bullseye is on the loose. When she gets no reply, she realizes that Norman Osborn is really gunning for her. She then strips off her useless carapace and continues moving. When Venom enters the tunnel, he is able to follow the trail of blood left by Melissa as she fled. Meanwhile, Karla determines that Melissa’s transponder has been deactivated so she uses the facility’s PA system to communicate with her. She tries to trick Melissa into thinking that Bullseye has been contained and that she cannot find Penance (Robbie Baldwin). Songbird responds with her sonic powers, and — knowing this is a trap — still responds in the positive.

By this time, Bullseye has returned to the control room where Karla is monitoring things. He doesn’t understand why they don’t just fry Songbird with the nanochain that keeps them all in line. That’s when Moonstone reveals that the nanochains have been disabled since their headquarters was attacked during the Skrull invasion.[3] Bullseye is furious to learn this and asks why he shouldn’t just kill Karla now. Sofen explains that Osborn has bigger plans and whispers in his ear what he plans on doing next. The assassin finds this new scheme hilarious enough to spare her life and go along with things moving forward.[4]

When Bullseye asks how she could have used her sonic powers without her carapace,[5] Karla realizes too late that Melissa keeps a spare in the Zeus. When she turns to look, the ship has already taken to the air. Songbird already has the two locked with the Zeus’ weapons system and fires two missiles at them. While Bullseye manages to leap to safety, Moonstone turns intangible making the explosion harmless too her. Annoyed with Melissa, Karla decides enough is enough because she is done with the Thunderbolts.

That’s when Venom leaps onto the Zeus and begins tearing his way into the craft. As Melissa panics, the ship flies through the outer wall of Thunderbolts Mountain, but not before Bullseye hops onto the ship as well. As Melissa defends herself from Venom’s attack by erecting a sonic shield, the Zeus crash lands. The force of the sudden landing sends Venom flying out of the ship and hitting the ground hard enough to knock him out.

Songbird then crawls out, surprised that she somehow managed to survive the crash. That’s when Bullseye ambushes her from behind and puts a knife to her throat. However, before he can kill her he is taken out by a bio-energy blast from the Swordsman (Andreas Von Strucker). He wants to help her get free and blows up the Zeus, saying he’ll tell Osborn she died in the explosion. Melissa thanks him, but as she flies off he tells her that she might come to regret that as she sees what will become of the world, warning that a dark reign is coming and they each still have their own parts to play.

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Moonstone, Venom, Bullseye), Songbird, Swordsman,

Continuity Notes

1. The primary coverage of the Skrull invasion occurred in Secret Invasion #1-8, affecting the Thunderbolts specifically in issues #122-125 of their own series. Norman Osborn became the hero of the conflict after he killed the Skrull Queen in the final battle. This will lead to him becoming in charge of SHIELD as seen in Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1.

2. There is a lot of context going on here that isn’t fully addressed, so let me spell it out:

   • Melissa has been a member of the Thunderbolts since they were first founded, as seen in Thunderbolts Annual 1997. Since Thunderbolts #12, the team has been about former villains trying to redeem themselves. This changed when the team signed up with the government following the passage of the Super Human Registration Act in Civil War #1. The team was then under the command of Norman Osborn circa Thunderbolts #110, who had less than noble ambitions for the team.

   • Melissa had been fighting for control of the team, eventually getting footage of Norman Osborn rampaging in Thunderbolts Mountain as the Green Goblin, and used it to blackmail her way into some control over the team, as seen in Thunderbolts #120-121.

   • Bullseye is looking forward to killing Songbird because she tricked him into being rendered into a catatonic state in Thunderbolts #115. This was later corrected by surgery in issue #121.

   • The reason why this blackmail footage hold no sway over Osborn anymore because he has already come up with a means of discrediting it, as we’ll see in issues #128-129.

3. Thunderbolts Mountain was attacked in Thunderbolts #122 by a Skrull posing as Captain Marvel.

4. What Karla is telling Bullseye here is Norman’s plan to set them up as a team of Avengers. Bullseye himself will get to pose as a new Hawkeye. Check out Dark Avengers #1 for that story.

5. Actually, Melissa’s ability to throw her voice using her sonic powers are independent of her carapace which only has the power to create solid sound constructs as detailed in Thunderbolts Annual 1997 and Thunderbolts #47. That still doesn’t negate Melissa’s need to get her spare carapace in order to escape Thunderbolts Mountain. One can assume that Moonstone and Bullseye are mistaken about how her powers work.

Topical References

• Karla quips that she is wearing Prada. As this is a real world line of fashionable clothing, this should be considered a topical reference.