Steve Rogers and Bernie Rosenthal go out to the movies and see wartime newsreels of Captain America and Bucky in action; Steve is a bit uncomfortable dealing with his past. After they depart for home, a homeless wanderer is asked to leave the theater; outside, the young man spies Steve and is surprised…..
In San Francisco, Spider-Woman is searching for the villainous Viper, who Jessica has just learned is her mother (SPIDER-WOMAN #44). Spidey-W enters an abandoned warehouse which informants have told her is Viper’s headquarters; she is greeted by her foe communicating via a viewscreen; Viper tells Jess she is not her mother (and thinks that it was a deception Spidey-W was playing on her) and sics two enormous snakes on her. She maneuvers one serpent into ramming its head through the screen and using that one to fatally bite the other….
Back at their apartment, Steve finally asks the question that has been on his mind for some time: when Steve was being impersonated by Primus, did she sleep with him? (At least that’s what the writer hinting is on Steve’s mind—Comics Code and all that, you know) She says no. They are interrupted by the young man from the theater. Steve sees a dead ringer for Bucky Barnes and jumps to the conclusion that this is a trick by an enemy. Steve beats him up until the newcomer can reveal that he is Jack Monroe, the 1950s Bucky. He fills in the tale of how he became the new Bucky to a new Cap, both of whom underwent plastic surgery to resemble the original heroes, how the flawed Super-Soldier treatment eventually drove them mad, they were put into suspended animation for some years (explaining why Jack is still young after 30 years) until they were released to battle the real Cap, then they fell into the hands of Dr Faustus who convinced 50s Cap that he had murdered his Bucky. But now Jack has nowhere to go, so Steve apologizes and invites Jack to stay there until he finds his direction….
Elsewhere, Viper learns that Spider-Woman escaped her trap; she shoots the messenger (literally) as a warning to the rest of her gang (including an undercover SHIELD Agent Gail Runciter). Viper then changes into the costume of an ordinary housewife and we learn that her HQ lies below an ordinary small American town….
That night Captain America and his new old partner go adventuring in the streets. A helicopter swoops down on them and Constrictor leaps out. The villain zaps Bucky with his electrified coils and faces Cap. A henchman in the copter blasts Cap with a ray gun and Constrictor hustles Cap away before Jack’s helpless eyes….