At the Cube, Thunderbolts leader, the Black Widow (Yelena Belova), is in the middle of a training session.[1] She is aware that the Ghost is spying on her and asks him to show himself. The Ghost phases out of the wall and says he has come because he had heard that she was looking for him. This is because Yelena has been conducting one-on-one interviews with each of the Thunderbolts.

The Ghost believes that this is to find out who she can trust. Belova reveals that she trust nobody and points out that neither does the Ghost. In reality, she is trying to understand the motivations that keep the team working together. She admits that she finds it hard to understand why the Ghost — a staunch anti-corporate sabateur[2] — is working for somebody like Norman Osborn. What she does know is that he is highly secretive and paranoid, but knows he will not open up to her as long as the cameras are recording their ever move.

That’s when the Ghost reveals that he has hacked the security systems, making the monitoring devices go dead whenever he passes by. He did so because he knows why the Black WIdow really joined this team. Seeing this as a threat, the Black Widow pulls her gun and puts it to the Ghost’s head. The Ghost points out that this won’t harm him since he can become intangible. The Widow counters this by telling him that she has been hiding a single nanite into all of the MRE rations that he has been living off of and that he has consumed enough of them to form a composite bomb in his lower intestine. The Ghost can’t believe it until the Widow shouts a verbal command to arm the bomb and warns him that she only needs to utter a single syllable word to make it explode.

The Ghost pulls back and tells the Widow that they actually serve the same goal. He explains that soon all of SHIELD’s compromised Starktech will be replaced with technology developed by Oscorp. Once that process is complete, Norman Osborn will become the most powerful man on the planet and the very definition of corporate control.[3] When Yelena asks why he would tell her all of this, the Ghost explains that he wants her and her boss (her real boss) that he can be trusted.

Meanwhile, in under a Cleveland, Ohio overpass, HAMMER agents have been deployed to break up a homeless encampment in the area. One of the older members of the encampment confronts these soldiers, reminding them that they live in America and they have the right to a place to live. The commander of the unit asks the old man to show some identification but, because he’s homeless, he has none. The HAMMER operative says that without ID the homeless man is not a citizen and not guarantied any rights. By this point a young woman has tried to talk her friend down, but she is too late and the HAMMER agent punches him in the face. This agitates the rest of the people in the camp, but the young woman tells everyone to remain calm. Seeing the homeless people picking up weapons (broken bottles, sticks and the like) the commander deems them a threat and orders his soldiers to open fire.

When they do, the young woman cries out and suddenly erects a solid sound force field to deflect their bullets. As it turns out, the young woman is the fugitive former member of the Thunderbolts known as Songbird (Melissa Gold).[4] Melissa easily trounces the HAMMER soldiers and decides that the time for hiding is over. She is finally going to do something about Norman Osborn and flies off.

Meanwhile, at Avengers Tower, Norman Osborn is interviewing a new recruit for the Thunderbolts. He is not happy to see what he has done to his face, especially after they went to the trouble of creating a mask to hide his true identity. Still, the new guy accepts the mask and enjoys the way it feels. Osborn tells him that he is to wear this mask at all times and that his new codename will be Scourge.[5] That’s when Norman’s second-in-command, Victoria Hand, comes barging into his office with some important intel to show him. She goes to his laptop computer and pulls up video footage of Songbird’s attack on HAMMER operatives on Ohio, confirming that she is still alive. Osborn is furious that Andreas Von Strucker lied to him about Songbird’s death, but is glad he punished him pre-emtively.[6] Needing to deal with Gold immediately, Osborn asks the new Scourge if he will follow orders without question. Osborn is pleased when Scourge confirms that he will.

Back at the Cube, Paladin is in a training session when Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady) comes in with some beers. Eric wants to talk about how much their newest member, Mister X, creeps him out. He is always looking at O’Grady like he’s thinking of ways to kill him. Paladin agrees that he too is unsettled with X, saying that while killing is part of the job, taking joy out of it is sickening to him. That’s when Eric admits that he feels really out of his depth on a team of killers, admitting that he actually doctored his SHIELD file to get this gig. Eric tells Paladin that he was nothing short of a coward who stole his Ant-Man suit from SHIELD.[7] Eric wants out, but he knows that Osborn will sooner see him dead than let him quit the team. Paladin advises O’Grady to hang in because sooner or later Osborn is going to snap and his entire operation is going to come crashing down.[8] Eric worries that it’ll come down to him or Osborn before then and hints at the idea of potentially assassinating their boss. Paladin tells him to get the idea out of his head. Eric, presses on and asks Paladin for help, but the mercenary tells him that on this unit, it’s every man for themselves.

Later, a helicopter arrives at the Cube bringing Scourge in to the team. He is greeted by the Black Widow who is pleased when he greets her like a professional soldier would. However, she tells him to call her “sir” instead of “ma’am”. After Scourge heads off, the Widow then heads to a part of the facility where she knows she is not being watched to report back to the person she is really working for.

When she reveals that the Ghost may have figured out her true identity, her handler wants to pull her out. However, the Widow insists on remaining as she has one last task to complete and believes she can use the Ghost for help. Her handler decides to allow for it but tells her that she can call for back up if things get out of control. She insists that she can take care of herself. Her boss tells her to spare him the false bravado because she is talking to Nick Fury!

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Black Widow, Scourge, Headsman, Mister X, Ant-Man, Ghost, Paladin), Songbird, Norman Osborn, Victoria Hand, Nick Fury

Continuity Notes

1. This is not really Yelena Belova, but Natasha Romanov in disguise, as we’ll discover next issue.

2. When he first appeared back in Iron Man #219, the Ghost committed acts of corporate sabotage, particularly aimed at Tony Stark as he was an anti-capitalist. Per his own account in Thunderbolts #151, this is because he once had one of his inventions stolen by a corporation.

3. At the time of this story, Tony Stark — aka Iron Man — had just experience a fall from grace. Per Secret Invasion #1-8, the Earth almost fell to a Skrull invasion under his watch. He was personally blamed for it because the Skrulls were able to compromise all Startech, which was then being used to run SHIELD. Norman Osborn took his place in Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1.

4. Songbird had been a Thunderbolt since the very beginning. After Norman Osborn took control of the team in Thunderbolts #110, she frequently sparred against him. She started getting her way after obtaining material to blackmail him in issue #121. However, after the Skrull invasion, this could no longer protect her and she was forced to flee the Thunderbolts to save her own life and has been a fugitive ever since. She has been in hiding ever since after the Swordsman helped her fake her death. See Thunderbolts #126-127.

5. The new Scourge is secretly Frank Simpson, aka the super-soldier known as Nuke. This and the fact that Nuke disfigured his face will be revealed in Thunderbolts #136.

6. Norman impaled Andreas on his sword and tossed him out a window to his seeming demise in Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1. Andreas survived however, and will turn up again in Illuminati #2.

7. Eric O’Grady stole his Ant-Man suit from SHIELD and was on the run from the organization for a time. See Irredeemable Ant-Man #1-12.

8. Paladin’s prediction turns out to be true as we’ll see in Siege #1-4.

Topical References

• Eric O’Grady states that he thought that being a superhero was going to include “Bling”, which is an outdated slang term meaning flashy accessories like jewelry. This term was quiet popular in the early 2000s. However, it has fallen out of popular use and is now considered dated. As such, it should be considered topical as it could be replaced with more contemporary slang.

Translations

At one point the Black Widow says “SLEDI ZA BAZÁROM--!.” which translates to “HERRING BEHIND THE BAZAAR--!.” Again, I am at a loss if this is an actual Russian turn of phrase.