Synopsis
Thunderbolts (2006 series) #138 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Mr X dreams about killing Iron Fist and Wolverine. (He failed to kill Iron Fist last issue and Wolverine has been his bête noire since we 1st saw him.) Suddenly he wakes sensing the invisible Ghost watching him. He throws a knife but of course Ghost is intangible as well. Ghost partially materialises and tells X he's worried about him. It's been too long since their last mission and X needs relief from brooding over his failures. Mr X denies it and Ghost leaves. But then X admits he was right.
Later Ant-Man and Paladin are watching Rockford Files reruns instead of a gym session when Scourge (Nuke) blasts the TV screen and announces that Mr X has gone AWOL via the teleporter. Ghost has retrieved the coordinates of his destination.
Mr X himself is surprised to find himself on the Colombia/Venezuela border watching a line of guerrillas who he proceeds to kill in various ways.
The rest of the Thunderbolts team (the other 4 plus Headsman) arrive and immediately face some more FARC guerrillas which they see off. As they trek through the jungle Frank Simpson (Scourge) is haunted by memories of people he killed in the Vietnam War, and almost shoots Ant-Man.
Meanwhile invisible Ghost haunts Headsman with a recording of Mr X threatening to kill him (Ghost) at the beginning of this issue. But Headsman thinks Mr X is threatening *him* again (see #134). So when Headsman finds Mr X nearby he attacks 1st catching his foe unawares. But it only takes seconds for X to recover and take Headsman's axe off him and prepare to kill him with it.
Ghost has called the rest of the team to the spot. Scourge makes a better showing but Mr X definitely has the upper hand. The other 3 prefer to watch. Headsman retrieves his axe and slashes at Mr X, who ducks so that Scourge gets sliced. Scourge now turns on his perceived attacker.
The mêlée is broken up by the Colombian army. Paladin tosses some big guns to Mr X and Scourge. Everyone attacks the army except Ghost who draws their fire by being visible but still intangible. Paladin only uses a stun gun but the others fire real bullets or missiles and Headsman chops some heads off.
When it's over a H.A.M.M.E.R. craft picks the Thunderbolts up because their boss Norman Osborn has a real mission for them. But before telling them about it he has a little chat with Ghost on a private channel. Osborn has deduced that someone (implicitly accusing Ghost) deliberately set the teleporter to send Mr X into a war zone. Maybe the intention was for some of the team to get killed, either by the soldiers or each other. Or maybe he hoped the situation would force them to bond as a team. And maybe he had his own ulterior motives.
But Norman leaves these questions hanging and switches to an open channel and tells them he's sending them after the Agents Of Atlas. The Atlas Foundation made a deal with Osborn and then broke it. They must pay for that.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: H.A.M.M.E.R. (
HAMMER), Headsman, Mr. X, Nuke, Paladin.