Castle Zemo

Baron Helmut Zemo stood before the large display in the war room, replaying the footage from the battle at Roxxon between the Thunderbolts, the Masters of Evil, and Justin Hammer’s hired help. His hands were clasped behind his back and after watching for the umpteenth time, he turned his back to the screen.

“Turn it off.”

The Fixer sighed as he stopped the video. He sat at the table in the room along with Zemo’s other lieutenants—the Radioactive Man and the Abomination. Zemo sat at the head of the table and linked his hands together, staring straight ahead at no one in particular.

“Tell me what happened.”

“A team of Masters led by Klaw intercepted us. We fought back, obviously, and we were actually doing pretty well…” The Fixer sighed. “But then Half-Life, the Sandman, and Tarantula showed up and things went straight to hell.”

“This would be the same Half-Life we set free to cover up the breakout at the Raft,” said Zemo, recalling a mission some time ago.

The Fixer gave a solemn nod.

Zemo grunted and leaned back in his chair. He regarded the lieutenants now with a glance. “So now we have lost both the Metalloid and the Null-Bands. To Justin Hammer no less. This loss came at no strategic advantage—no damage was inflicted on Hammer’s soldiers. And the Masters only received minor scrapes—at Half-Life’s hands, no less.”

“Carnage is also gone,” said the Fixer. “Slipped away during the chaos.”

“Hardly a great loss,” said the Radioactive Man. “Kasady has been a liability for some time.”

“The symbiote is very powerful and the man is easily manipulated. Had we not brought Carnage onto our side, there was the chance another faction would have brought him onto theirs,” said Zemo. “That being said, I do see your point. We should concern ourselves with professionals, not attack dogs.”

“First Octavius and now Kasady…” muttered the Fixer. “Fuck it, I say in our next recruitment drive, we stay the hell away from Spider-Man villains. They’re either untrustworthy, psychotic, or just plain stupid. No Electro, no Mysterio, and hell-fucking-no to any symbiotes or goblins.”

“We now know something more of Hammer’s forces,” said the Abomination. “Half-Life is powerful, but also difficult to control. She may prove to be Hammer’s own Kasady. We’re also aware that Sandman appears to be the muscle and this Tarantula woman seems to handle tech.”

“There are many factions to this war,” said Zemo. “We know the players. We know where we all stand. Now the time has come to decide how best to position ourselves where we want to be…”

CRESCENDO

Part V

By Steve Seinberg and Dino Pollard

“That about covers it,” said Lodestone.

She stood before a desk and seated behind the desk was the leader of the Masters of Evil—Justine Hammer. She wore the costume of the Crimson Cowl, but the cowl itself had been pulled down around her neck, revealing her red hair. And standing behind Justine was one of her trusted lieutenants—Pierre Fresson, the Cyclone.

“Parks and the Tentacle Twins are in the lab with Klaw, working to repair his sonic weapon,” said Lodestone. “I get Parks and Octavius—Klaw’s one of our heaviest hitters and gotta put our best minds on getting him up to snuff—but why’s Constrictor in there?”

“Keeping watch,” said Cyclone, his arms folded over his chest.

“Hmph.” Lodestone paused for a moment then continued. “Sorry if this isn’t appropriate boss, but if Doc Ock is such a flight risk that we need to have someone watching him twenty-four/seven, then maybe he’s not worth keeping around.”

“Let me worry about Otto. Continue with the report,” said Justine.

“Well, Smuggler’s mostly okay. He could do recon work, but anything more than that would take some weeks before he’s back to full strength,” said Lodestone.

“And the Thunderbolts who were in the battle?” asked Justine.

“The Fixer was leading the team of Killer Shrike, Jack O’Lantern, and Carnage,” said Lodestone.

“No Tiger Shark?”

Lodestone blinked. “Umm…nope.”

“You’re certain?”

“I…think I’d know if I saw a man-shark walking around.”

Cyclone noticed the look on his commander’s face. “Everything okay?”

“It’s nothing,” said Justine, setting her clasped hands on the rests of her chair. “Maybe we lost our shot at turning Arliss. What about the other group of operatives?”

“There were three of ‘em, but I only recognized Sandman,” said Lodestone. “The lady with the bluish skin, I heard the T-Bolts call her Half-Life. Then there’s that Latina chick, she looked like she was the tech girl.”

“Thank you, that’ll be all for now,” said Justine.

Lodestone nodded and left the room. Cyclone moved away from the wall and sat on the edge of Justine’s desk.

“Your father?” he asked.

Justine nodded. “He’s been recruiting. It was one thing when it was just the Masters and the Thunderbolts. But now we have to concern ourselves with my father entering the fray… Things have gotten a lot worse a lot faster than we’d planned.”

“There’s something I learned when I was with the Maggia,” said Cyclone.

Justine looked up at him and leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs. “I’m listening.”

“The wise group is the one willing to alter strategies mid-campaign,” said Cyclone. “When circumstances change, the strategies should be re-examined to see if they’re still valid choices. Clinging to outmoded schemes is pure folly.”

Justine gave a nod of understanding. “You’re right. Changes are certainly in order at this stage in the game. Maybe even radical changes at that…”

Justin Hammer stood on a catwalk as he watched his team offloading the stolen loot. The Sandman was in the process of positioning the inert Metalloid onto a platform set up by Tarantula. As he struggled with the robot, Half-Life simply stood by and watched him. He stopped for a moment and looked at the alien.

“Y’know, wouldn’t hurt to lend a hand,” he grumbled.

She just smirked and continued to watch. The Sandman grumbled and continued with his work. Hammer watched them from above and turned when he heard the Tarantula’s footsteps. She held out a case and opened it. Inside were the Null-Bands. But Hammer simply shook his head.

“No thank you, my dear. I have no desire to wear them myself,” he said.

“Then who?” asked the Tarantula as she closed the case.

“I’ve sent you a list of candidates from our human ranks to be promoted to supervillain status,” said Hammer. “One will wear the Null-Bands, the other will pilot the Metalloid via remote. Your job is to prepare the gear as well as begin the tests.”

“I’ll get right on it, sir,” she said.

“Sooner rather than later,” said Hammer.

She nodded. “Of course.”

Hammer turned from the catwalk and put his full attention on the Tarantula. “Now, tell me your impressions of our opposition.”

“Judging from the combatants present, the Masters had more raw power, especially with the likes of Klaw and Lodestone, plus there’s a lot of potential in the Smuggler’s darkforce abilities,” said Tarantula. “But the Thunderbolts seemed more cohesive. Better trained, better organized. Despite the raw power, I think we’d have more luck if we had to throw down with the Masters. Although, we’ve only seen small factions of each. So things could be very different with all members involved.”

“What would you suggest?”

“Pit them against each other, then wipe out whoever’s left standing with minimal risk and expenditure of resources.” Tarantula looked down over the catwalk and motioned to their alien recruit. “Half-Life could probably handle that part of it on her own.”

A smile spread across the old man’s face. “Yes, that’s a very interesting proposition. Thank you, Maria.”

Franklin Hall hovered above the ground, his legs crossed and his chin resting on his hand as he looked over the horizon in boredom. The man called Graviton looked at his companion. Karla Sofen was dressed in the white and gold costume of her namesake, Moonstone, and stood on the ground, arms folded over her chest and waiting patiently.

“Why the hell are we waiting for Hydra to pick us up?” asked Graviton. “We could both make it there and back in the time it’s taken them to send a transport.”

“Franklin, calm down,” said Moonstone. “The Swordsman made this call and we’d be wise to accommodate him for the time being. His resources would be a great help to us in the long run. You need to learn that choosing a path other than crushing everything within sight doesn’t necessarily make you weak.”

Graviton grunted in response, but Moonstone continued anyway.

“That kind of outmoded, knee-jerk thinking could ruin this deal.” She looked up at him. “Do you know why it’s the same people who end up at the top of the supervillain food chain? Why is it always the Red Skulls, the Baron Zemos, the Justin Hammers, the Doctor Dooms who are calling the shots? It’s not because they have power. It’s because they realize that there is no greater weapon than a strategic mind.”

Graviton scoffed. “We’ll play it your way, Karla. But—”

“No,” said Moonstone. “No conditions. Either you are with me on this or you are not. Which is it?”

Graviton hesitated but then closed his eyes and nodded. “I’m with you, Karla.”

“Very good,” she said. “We were fortunate that no one thought to seek us out in Mount Charteris. But that wouldn’t have lasted forever. And if we’re going to upgrade our status quo, we’ll need help from a man like the Swordsman.”

Graviton used his hand as a visor to block out the sun as he looked up into the clouds. “I think I see something.”

A green aircraft flew towards them. On the plane was the emblem of a yellow skull with tentacles beneath it. Hydra had arrived.

Castle Zemo

Ebersol hit pause on the video and turned from his workstation to Baron Zemo. Frozen on the screen was an image of Graviton and Moonstone inside Mount Charteris.

“I kept a few things in Charteris before we moved out,” said the Fixer. “Thought it’d be good to keep an eye on what’s going on. With everything else going on lately, I haven’t had much chance to check up on them. But when I did, I found this.”

“Very interesting,” said Zemo. “And you say that they haven’t returned since?”

Ebersol shook his head. “They left not long after this conversation.”

“Do you know where they’ve gone?”

“Nope. All we know is what they said on the tape—they’re going to try and strike an alliance with Wolfgang,” said Ebersol. “Which, as we both know, is impossible, so…”

“So it would stand to reason they’ll seek out the new Supreme Hydra.” Zemo produced a smartphone from one of the pouches on his belt and entered in a message to summon another Thunderbolt. “Fortunately, I keep a full roster of complementary abilities and sources for just these occasions.”

A few moments passed and the door to the Fixer’s workshop opened. The Fixer’s former partner, Marvin Flumm—the psychic called Mentallo—stood in the opening and smiled at Ebersol.

“Great…” muttered the Fixer, rolling his eyes.

“We have a situation, Marvin,” said Zemo.

“Moonstone and Graviton, I know,” said Flumm.

“Reading our minds, Marvin?” asked Zemo, narrowing his eyes behind the lenses of his purple mask.

Flumm shook his head. “Never yours, Baron. Not even if I could. Norbie may have let his old Hydra ties lapse, but I’ve still got a lot of connections in that organization.”

“Connections, Flumm? Or telepathically-controlled stooges?” asked Ebersol.

Flumm grinned and gave a shrug. “To-may-to, to-mah-to.” He folded his arms. “Anyway, point being that I recently got an update from them. Seems our two friends have requested a meeting with the Swordsman. A questionable method, too—they trashed a Hydra facility and killed a lot of people.”

“Show of strength is more like it,” said Ebersol. “They were auditioning.”

“And guess it worked. Seems Andreas is planning a meet.” Flumm flashed a smile at Ebersol. “Too bad the master of technology had all these blank spots in his network. Good thing the Baron had the foresight to bring in some extra eyes.”

Ebersol bristled under the insult but Zemo gave a nod of satisfaction. “You’ve done well, Marvin. And sooner than I imagined. We’ll need to monitor the situation and if this alliance comes into being, factor that into our strategies.”

“There’s something else I got from my source,” said Flumm. “Sofen and Hall aren’t the only ones looking to team-up. Strucker also took a meeting with a certain prune-faced, presumed-dead industrialist.”

Ebersol stood from his console and one of his waldos grabbed hold of Flumm by the collar of his shirt. “What the hell do you know about Hammer?”

“Whoa, ease up!” said Flumm, holding up his hands. “I’m just telling you what I’ve heard. Thought you’d be interested in Hammer as well, that’s all.”

“Enough. Fixer, release him,” said Zemo.

Ebersol did as he was told and the waldo released its grip on Mentallo’s shirt. Flumm brushed his clothing off. He examined the point where the waldo grabbed him.

“There better not be any tears in this thing or else you’re reimbursing me.”

“That’s enough, Marvin,” said Zemo. “You may go. See if there’s anything else your contact knows.”

“Sure thing, Baron.” Flumm gave a final nod and left the room. The door to the Fixer’s workshop closed as soon as Mentallo was gone.

“That went beyond your usual characteristic hatred of Mentallo,” said Zemo.

“It’s more than that. There’s a lot about him that can’t be trusted.” Ebersol held up a finger for each point he made. “First, he knew about Karla and waited until you asked before he said anything. Second, he made that crack about never reading your mind even if he could. And third—which is connected to the second—he brought up Hammer. How would he know we had any interest in Hammer unless he breached our defenses and uncovered what we know about Control?”

Zemo thought on the new information. “Keep an eye on him.”

After Mentallo left the workshop, he felt a familiar presence in his mind and smiled. He walked through the halls of Castle Zemo, none of the Thunderbolts he passed any wiser to the fact that he was engaged in conversation with one of his teammates.

{How’d it go?} The “voice” in his head belonged to Regan Wyngarde, the Lady Mastermind.

{Zemo ate up the information and we were right, he’s worried about Justin Hammer,} said Mentallo. {We should dig deeper into his role in all this.}

{Things seem to be heating up quite a bit,} said Lady Mastermind.

{Oh yes, quite hot. And we should also check in on Tiger Shark, see where he stands with respect to the Crimson Cowl,} said Mentallo. {After all, she is Hammer’s daughter.}