Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In 1480 Harbin Zemo single-handedly held a bridge against a small Slavic army to protect his village until Holy Roman Empire troops came to the rescue. For this he was made the 1st Baron Zemo.
Now the 13th Baron Helmut Zemo leads the Thunderbolts. He and Moonstone confront the Prime Minister of the Slavic country Carnelia and demand that he stop work on a secret fusion reactor and hand over all details about it. The PM of course refuses and his bodyguards pull their guns. But Moonstone, floating a few inches above the ground, mentally removes the guns. So the TBolts do it the hard way. A news report shows Zemo holding off the Carnelian army with Blackheath, Songbird and Vantage while Moonstone dismantles the reactor with Atlas and Fixer - all with no casualties. President Putin thanks them for defusing a tense international situation. Apparently this is 1 of a series of interventions that have made them international heroes.
In Avengers Mansion the TBolts ex-leader Hawkeye is proud of them, but Captain America, Scarlet Witch and Wasp aren't so sure. But there's no time to discuss it as Vision brings news of Cobalt Man (supposedly long-dead) attacking an electronics research lab. Cap scrambles the Avengers, including calling for Iron Man and Yellowjacket. Another news report say that they stopped him but he escaped. And we later see another bit where C-Man pleads for the Avengers to leave him alone to do what he *has* to do.
In Aberdeen, Scotland Erik Josten (Atlas), Melissa Gold (Songbird) and Dallas Riordan (Vantage) have just been enjoying some time off in a pub. The 2 females still don't trust their leader but Erik is feeling good. The plant-being Blackheath surprises them by emerging from a hedge, and he doesn't like being reminded he used to be human Sam Smithers. Moonstone (Karla Sofen) pops into existence near them to ask if they've got some monofilament for Norbert Ebersol (Fixer). They admit they haven't got round to it yet, but Blackheath tells them he's acquired some ammonium nitrate by ingesting fertilizer.
This issue has a continuous voiceover by Zemo which began with him narrating Harbin's story. Here he comments that Fixer and Moonstone, the most duplicitous of his troop, are the only ones he can rely on to get Project: Liberator working, a project that will save humanity from its petty squabbles. Moonstone tells the 3 that Zemo's not happy with their attitude but they respond that if it weren't for them the Baron would be dead or in jail or stuck on Counter-Earth. They head off to get the monofilament while Moonstone gravitic shifts herself and Blackheath back to base ...
... Stormfront-1 in the North Sea where Blackheath delivers the ammonium nitrate to Fixer by puking it at (and over) his feet. Helmut contacts Karla asking for a report but she's having a shower. When she's finished we see her mentally forming her uniform around her (or just making it seem like she's wearing it?). Zemo is getting frustrated with delays to the Project, and Karla says they only have 3 weeks before their popularity wanes and the public won't be convinced of their plan. Norbert doesn't credit such a prediction, but does say they need a nuclear engineer to solve some of the problems.
It's interruption time again as the remains of the Carnelian Air Force arrive to attack them. But Moonstone just flies out and surrounds the helicopters with a gravity shell which holds them immobile in midair. Fixer sends video of the encounter to CNN as the other 3 arrive with the monofilament. Zemo gets him to also send another video to Carnelia of the PM sleeping with the wives of his Generals, who aren't happy about it.
We now flash back 4 weeks to Parsons Minimum Security Prison in Illinois. Cap and Wasp arrive by quinjet where they've arranged to be met by Homeland Security's Superhuman Liaison the ex-Avenger Warbird. She takes them in to see ex-Thunderbolt Abner Jenkins (Beetle and Mach-1, 2 & 3) who had voluntarily handed himself in to complete his sentence, even after being pardoned. It turns out Songbird has been keeping him updated on what Zemo is up to, but she doesn't know the whole story. Cap and Jan think he may be able to guess what Zemo and Fixer are doing. It turns out he can, and he says 2 things:- If it works then it's not Helmut and Norbert they should be worried about. And that the TBolts are going to use Liberator to save the world, and the Avengers must stop them.