Inheritance

An unknown assassin has shot and killed Hallie Takahama (Jolt) of the Thunderbolts. While her teammates — Clint Barton (Hawkeye), Karla Sefton (Moonstone), Melissa Gold (Songbird), Erik Josten (Atlas), Charlie Burlingame (Charcoal) — mourn her loss, reporter Gayle Rogers (unaware of Hallie’s double-life) reports about the tragic murder in between her usual focus on the Thunderbolts.[1][2]

Clint feels incredibly guilty because Hallie wouldn’t have been shot had he not benched her and Charlie when they went off to fight the Hulk.[3] Erik is hit pretty hard as well as Hallie’s death reminds him of the loss of his younger sister, many years earlier.[4]

At the Thunderbolt’s secret headquarters, Techno watches the funeral, still disguised as the Ogre.[5] He has found a copy of Hallie’s video journal and wonders if he should withhold it from his former teammates or let them know he has it.

By this time, Gayle Rogers looks over the footage that was shot during her report. Looking at the mourners in the crowd, she recognizes one of them as Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye. She wonders if this is out of some kind of civic duty or if he knew the deceased. When she looks into the “Hallie Shimosato” she discovers there is very little known about her. When she gets a copy of the coroner’s report, she notes that no bullet was found lodged in her corpse. She wonders if this girl could possibly be Jolt of the Thunderbolts.

Back at Thunderbolt’s headquarters, the “Ogre” has outfitted Hawkeye with a new wrist mounted crossbow while he heals from injuries sustained fighting the Hulk. That’s when Moonstone arrives to tell Clint that she received an e-mail from Hallie post-humorously and it contains a video diary.[6] Hawkeye isn’t sure he can bring himself to listen to it, but Karla insists that they should since this is Hallie’s final words and a chance for some closure with them all.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Europe, the new Citizen V is undergoing a training session. She thinks about her recent mission to dismantle the Thunderbolts to avenge the Citizen V legacy, but something stopped her from doing it.[7][8] When the training session is over, Citizen V is told that the civilian casualties in the simulation were too high. When she reminds them that there are casualties in war, her handler within the V-Battalion speaks up. He tells her that while casualties are expected, there is a fine line of acceptable losses as the V-Battallion must maintain in order to protect the innocent.[9] They then give Citizen V her next assignment. Her next mission is to assassinate a target. She is shocked by who it is and tells her handler she can’t bring herself to do it. She is warned that if she doesn’t comply she will be stripped of her title of Citizen V.[10]

By this time, Hawkeye has sat down to watch Hallie’s video diary. It has a recording of her thoughts on each of the Thunderbolts, starting with Clint himself.[11] She says she thinks he is one of them through and through. She appreciates that he came up from being a villain, redeemed himself, and became a true leader, a teacher, and a friend. She admits that she looks up to Hawkeye over any other hero because who he is.[12] That only he could be the one to lead their team. More, she trusts him with her life and her dreams. The rest of the team also watches their copies of the videos and mourn privately. They are all unaware that they are being observed by Techno from his monitoring station. Although he has convinced himself that he lacks any emotion since becoming a machine, he wonders what Jolt would have had to say about him.

Meanwhile, Abner Jenkins watches the news coverage about Jolt’s death as he is putting on his new suit of Beetle armor. He is joined by Commission on Superhuman Affairs operatives Val Cooper, who reminds him how important this mission is. They have just one chance to take down Justin Hammer, so it is vital that Abe doesn’t screw this up.

At Hammer’s headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, his team of scientists are hard at work trying to duplicate Omega 32 with information stolen from Roxxon by their spies. Unfortunately, they have been unsuccessful. That’s when Beetle comes crashing in through the wall. Justin Hammer is being protected by the Blizzard, Whiplash, Hydro-Man, and Speed Demon who swing into action to defend their employer.[12] However, Beetle has devices built into his armor to counteract their various powers and incapacitate them. As Justin Hammer watches the battle, he can’t tell if this really is Abner Jenkins returning to life of crime, or some new criminal who has taken up the mantle. Once his super-powered bodyguards are defeated, the Beetle hands over the stolen sample of Omega 32, saying that this was all to demonstrate his value and an offer of good faith. When Hammer asks who he really is, the Beetle is about to remove his helmet to reveal his identity when, suddenly, the Thunderbolts come crashing in through the wall. Songbird calls out Abe’s name and Hawkeye tells the new Beetle to show them who he really is before they peel the armor off his body.

As this tense stand-off is occurring, an employee is leaving the Roxxon facility where Omega 32 was being developed. Her name is Bobbie Haggert and she has smuggled out the company files on the compound. She meets up with Gayle Rogers and hands the file to her, saying they are now even after Gayle was able to find out what happened to her brother in the army two years ago. As Bobbie leaves, Gayle looks through the file and learns the compound was for something called “hard air” and wonders what that could be. Little does she know that Jolt’s assassin has her in his sights and is about to pull the trigger.

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Hawkeye, Moonstone, Atlas, Songbird, Jolt, Charcoal, “Ogre”), Beetle, Man-Killer, Henry Gyrich, Val Cooper, Justin Hammer, Blizzard, Whiplash, Hydro-Man, Speed Demon, Scourge (unidentified), V-Battalion (Citizen V, Roger Aubrey (unidentified)), Gayle Rogers

Continuity Notes

1. The shooter is identified as the newest Scourge of the Underworld in Thunderbolts #38. In issue #49 its explained that Scourge is an assassin for Henry Gyrich to eliminate the Thunderbolts.

2. Hallie isn’t entirely dead. This is one of those “briefest sparks of life” situations that the general cast doesn’t notice. Her body is taken by Techno who manages her restore her back to life, as we’ll see in Thunderbolts #46. Her tombstone here reads “Hallie Shimosato” because the Thunderbolts set her up with a false identity in Thunderbolts #27 so she could attend school.

3. The Thunderbolts unsuccessfully attempted to capture the Hulk (isn’t that the way it always is?) last issue, which was also when Hallie got shot.

4. Lindy Josten was hit by a driver while she was riding her bike on a dark road. Erik blames himself for her death as she was following her brothers into town after they refused to take her with them. See Thunderbolts #10.

5. Techno had taken the Ogre’s place in Thunderbolts #33, he will maintain this disguise until his cover is blown in issue #46.

6. When Clint asks Karla if she wants to train again, she quips “if it was like last time, for sure”. The last time the two trained things got hot and heavy. Check out Thunderbolts #29-30, you pervert. She also mentions how she has been using her skills as a psychologist to help Hallie process her negative feelings about going back to school. That started in Thunderbolts #32.

7. The identity of Citizen V is unrevealed here, she is identified as Dallas Riordan in Thunderbolts #38. She was chosen to take on the mantle due to her family’s connection with the family of John Watkins, the original Citizen V from World War II, and the fact that his most recent descendant is in a coma.

8. The V-Battalion wants revenge against the Thunderbolts because their leader, Baron Zemo, posed as Citizen V from Thunderbolts #1-12. This Citizen V was sent to take down the Thunderbolts in issues #24-25. Seeing that the team was legitimately trying to redeem themselves from their criminal pasts, she went against her orders.

9. Citizen V’s handler is not identified by name here, his true identity is revealed in Thunderbolts #40. He is Roger Aubrey, who operated as the Destroyer during World War II.

10. The target that Citizen V is being asked to assassinate turns out to be Henry Gyrich, a member of the United States Commission on Superhuman Activities. Gyrich had been compromised by Baron Strucker and Hydra and was engaging in a plot to eliminate all the world’s superhumans. See Thunderbolts #49-50 for details on this the very complicated plot.

11. Hallie was suggested to do this to process the grief that her family and friends were killed during Onslaught’s attack on New York City. This was during the Onslaught Crisis which was primarily told in Onslaught: X-Men, Uncanny X-Men #335-336, X-Man #18-19, Cable #34-35, Fantastic Four #415-416, X-Men (vol. 2) #55-56, Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1. The story of how Hallie’s family and friends were killed was told in Thunderbolts #30.

12. Hydro-Man hopes this Beetle is Abner Jenkins because Abe screwed him over when they were in the Sinister Syndicate. Incidentally, the Beetle, Hydro-Man and Speed Demon were all founding members of the Sinister Syndicate back in Amazing Spider-Man #280.

Topical References

• Hallie’s video diary is laughably depicted as being able to fit on a 3.5” floppy disc, which is pretty impressive since they can store a whopping 1.4 megabytes of data. At any rate, this should be considered a topical reference as this is now an obsolete technology.

• Gayle Rogers has the coroner’s report faxed to her. Fax machines were still a common means of transmitting information at the time this comic was published. While fax machines are still around they have long fallen out of popular use and are on their way to obsolescence.

• The Thunderbolts watch Hallie’s video diary on a CRT televisions that are hooked up to VCRs. This should be considered a topical reference as these are both obsolete technologies.

• In her final recording, Hallie hopes that Hawkeye will let her and Charlie play more Sega Dreamcast. At the time of this story, the Dreamcast had been out for about a year. However, this system proved to be a flop and was quickly discontinued in 2001. As such, it being referenced here should be considered a topical reference.

• Hallie compares Charcoal to “Oz on Buffy”, she is referring to the character Daniel Osborn (nicknamed Oz), who was portrayed by actor Seth Green on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (often referred to as just “Buffy” for short). This series was at the height of its popularity with teens in Hallie’s age demographic when this comic was originally published. It ran from 1997 to 2003. As such, this should be considered a topical reference.