Captain America #358
The Bloodstone Hunt Part 2: Bones of Contention
Following a signal from a homing device, Captain America finds a secret tunnel below the city laid with traps and littered with the remains of Moloids. The signal leads him into a strange chamber with the remains of three men, a woman, and — oddly enough — a dolphin and wonders what circumstances led to this bizarre scene.[1] The signal leads him onward until he finds a wooden shipping crate in one of the tunnels. Opening it up, he is surprised to find Diamondback inside. She is glad she was able to reach Cap through the transmitter she had previously given him.[2]
She quickly explains how Baron Zemo and Batroc’s Brigade are seeking to reform the powerful Bloodstone and stole the body of its former owner, Ulysses Bloodstone in order to obtain part of his skeleton to use as a divining rod to find the gems. Taking Bloodstone’s skull, Captain America decides to investigate this. He takes Diamondback back with him to Avengers Island just as Cap’s new pilot — John Jameson — arrives with a modified Quinjet that will serve as Captain America’s primary mode of transport. Cap barely says hello to John as his Avengers Crew staff including Michael O’Brien and Fabian Stankowicz. While Stankowicz is given the task of fashioning Bloodstone’s skull into a tracking device, Cap looks up Ulysses on the Avengers database.
When Fabian comes back with a functional tracking device, Cap agrees to let Diamondback come along.[3] Soon, John Jameson is taking them into the air in the new Quinjet.[4] The tracking device takes them down south past the equator and into South America. Over the Amazon River, Captain America decides to parachute down to the jungle below. Diamondback insists on tagging along but her inexperience using a parachute causes her to get pretty badly banged up on the way down.[5] After Diamondback trips over an Incan idol they are surrounded by a group of natives who take them prisoner. They are led to an Incan temple where the leader of this group has a fragment of the Bloodstone imbedded in his ceremonial mask. They have captured Baron Zemo and his minions and tied them to the so-called Wheel of Death. He orders Captain America and Diamondback placed on the wheel as well and when they try to resist they are knocked out with curare tipped blow darts that will leave them paralyzed in seconds.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Diamondback, Baron Zemo, John Jameson, Michael O’Brien, Fabian Stankowicz, Batroc’s Brigade (Batroc, Zaran, Machete), Kaballa (corpse), Bloodstone (corpse)
Continuity Notes
Diamondback gave Captain America this transmitter when they worked together to stop Viper from plunging Washington, DC into chaos in Captain America #344. See Captain America #341-344.
These are the remains of the Conspiracy, a group who sought to claim the powerful Bloodstone from famous monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone. Nobody survived that whole fiasco. See Marvel Presents #1-2 and Rampaging Hulk #1-6 and 8.
Cap only agrees to let Diamondback tag along if she promises no “funny stuff”. He’s talking about the last time they were working together to find the Scourge of the Underworld. In an attempt to seduce Captain America, Diamondback pulled the key out of her Serpent Saucer and dropped it down the front of her suit to entice him to go after it, even at the risk of crashing. Cap was having none of that and bailed out with a parachute instead. See Captain America #319 for the whole sordid affair.
Here, Captain America asks John what his father thought of him working for Captain America. John’s father, J. Jonah Jameson, was publisher of the Daily Bugle newspaper and a critic of costumed super-heroes, particularly Spider-Man. This has been the case since Amazing Spider-Man #1. However, Jameson does view Captain America as a hero, as evidence by his positive endorsement when Cap considered running for President of the United States back in issue #250.
Here, Diamondback wishes she stayed with the X-Men in Australia. This is in reference to Uncanny X-Men Annual #13, in which Diamondback and the Serpent Squad tangled with one another in a weird body swapping incident loosely tied into the Atlantis Attacks event.
Night of the Scourge Part 1: Siege
The Scourge of the Underworld has arrived outside the San Fernando estate of Curtiss Jackson, the Power Broker. There he is confronted by the Broker’s strength enhanced security detail but they are easily mowed down by Scourge’s explosive tipped bullets. Disguising himself as one of the guards, Scourge goes inside the mansion through the kitchen and kills the cook and cuts the power.
Inside his office, Jackson is meeting with Pricilla Lyons, aka Vagabond, who is interested in undergoing the Power Broker’s strength enhancing process. When the lights go out, Curtiss quickly discovers the security has also been cut and that someone has broken in. Trying to radio his security, Jackson is spoken to by the Scourge, who vows to kill him.
Luckily, Jackson has a failsafe and uses a special communication system to contact General Lewis Haywerth.[1] Haywerth then contacts his operative, US Agent, at Avengers Compound and orders him to rescue Jackson. More than happy to rescue the man who gave him his super-human strength, US Agent takes on the Avengers sky-cycles and heads to the Jackson estate with a smile on his face.
Recurring Characters
US Agent, Scourge of the Underworld, Vagabond, Curtiss Jackson, Lewis Haywerth
Continuity Notes
Curtiss Jackson has connections with the military, as we saw in Captain America #328-331. US Agent is eager to help Jackson because he underwent the Power Broker process to gain his own super-human strength.
