1958:
The Dragon’s Corridor:
Jimmy Woo’s team of superheroes and pilot Kit Yeager find themselves in an alien landscape with corpses strewn about, looking like an ancient battlefield. The strange triangles glow here, Venus observes. Bob Grayson aka Marvel Boy flies up to one of the triangles. This is some subsection of the time and space they know, he announces. Shining his light through it, he can see several other portals on the horizon. The commies they are chasing could go through any of them.
No, Jimmy Woo announces and points towards one of the gates. It’s shaped just like the emblems. He bets it helps those agents find their way back to their bases. Gotta be livelier than this place, Ken Hale aka Gorilla Man announces as they head for the portal.
On the others side, they find themselves in the communist basis, surrounded by agents. Their prisoner is Jimmy’s love, Suwan.
Jimmy orders M-11, the human robot, to put them down. The inscrutable robot obeys the order and unleashes energy rays at some of the agents, while Jimmy kicks the gun out of the hand of the man closest to Suwan.
Gorilla-Man unties her and she sinks into Jimmy’s arms, asking if he brought all the emblems. They did, he assures her and asks Venus to do an old standard. Venus begins singing it’s cold outside and all the agents are transfixed by her voice and beauty, unable to fight any longer. Jimmy as usual covers his ears, trying not to be affected.
No wonder, her uncle (Jimmy’s archenemy, the Yellow Claw) makes his men wear ear covers, Suwan states. She can’t be stopped. Ken sings along while Jimmy asks if those aren’t the Yellow Claw’s men. Suwan explains they are Soviets. Some KGB officer named Karpoc is paying for the use of the Dragon’s Corridor – what Jimmy’s team came through. She was to oversee, to ensure they travelled only for the operation agreed upon. But she wanted to see Jimmy again, so she took one of the men’s emblems.
These triangles deflect radiation in the corridor, don’t they? Marvel Boy inquires. Suwan agrees. They also show you where the doorways are.
Jimmy orders M-11 to scan for anyone approaching. So what’s the operation that the Russians needed a shortcut for? he asks Suwan. Her uncle only told her they were stealing containers from the FBI, she replies. Marvel Boy adds he got the rest from one man’s brain – he mentally shows them the parcels in the big transport.
Kit admits he has never seen a MIG like that – must be a prototype. Does Marvel Boy think this jet will go through that corridor? He guesses so, comes the reply, while Ken suggests Kit better not drool on the glass.
Jimmy wonders what the communists wanted from the Bureau. He’d think they use the corridor to raid labs or aerospace. Probably looking for Hoover’s comic books, Ken jokes.
They enter the cave where Marvel Boy has led them to see two men frozen sleeping in test-tubelike glass containers… Captain America and Bucky!
Present:
New York City, now:
The Agents of Atlas face the new Captain America. Their broken helicopter is about to fall. Only M-11s extended arms holding onto the roof of the skyscraper Cap is standing on is holding them aloof – until, of course, Cap uses his shield to pry M-11’s hands loose and they fall.
Jimmy Woo orders M-11 to grab a hold of the crane nearby. Cap jumps after them as M-11 catches hold of the construction site’s crane.
Gorilla Man warns that if he has to hurl he’s doing it on Cap. Jimmy calls for the Uranian who is resting in a part of his ship. Their clueseeding has worked. They could blow the operation by engaging too early. They need retrieval now. On his way, Bob Grayson, the former “Marvel Boy,” sends back.
Jimmy orders Ken that they need to dispose of the copter and to get Cap off it. Ken kicks Cap away. Now beat it! he shouts after him. And next time he shows a up dressed like a dead hero, say “trick or treat!” Cap hold on to the crane.
M-11 takes himself and Jimmy of the copter and Jimmy orders the Uranian to fry it.
From his ship, Bob tells them to prepare for the lift beam. Do they want the attacker brought in as well? Cap is lifted as well and tries to hold onto his line – until M-11 breaks it. Against his will, he too is lifted up to the ship.
Past:
They find the heroes in suspended animation. The support system is running on a battery and will need a new power source within three hours.
Does he think they are actually Cap and Bucky? Marvel Boy wonders. Jimmy doesn’t know but the Russkies don’t have any business keeping them. They’ve got to take the corridor back. He hopes they can find that door again.
The pilot Kit gets back into the plane. Jimmy warns him it might not be a good idea to take the jet back. He has to try, Kit replies. The Reds might be getting the jump on the US in Aero-space. He tries to figure out the systems with Bob’s help who states this is related to the portal generator. He’d bet his head band the jet is equipped to open a portal for itself. He shows Kit how to key in altitude and longitude for his destination of course.
The next moment, the base is attacked by bomber planes carpet bombing the base. M-11 carries the two tubes with the sleepers ahead and they all leave through the triangle. Bob looks back to see that Kit’s got the jet started. He cries stop as it begins to move. Those symbols… It’s him! The jet takes off and disappears in a triangle doorway!
Present:
Aboard the Uranian’s ship:
Let me out of here! Captain America, held fast by M-11, shouts, or at least make that robot stop crushing him! Jimmy orders M-11 to ease up. They just need to find out a few things. He asks the Uranian to go ahead. Bob Grayson connects them (himself, Jimmy and Ken) mentally to Cap and his recent past, but then his eyeballs roll backwards and he faints. Aw, this isn’t going to be good, is it? Ken mutters.
Captain America’s mindscape:
The next moment, Ken and Jimmy find themselves in a wartorn city, both of them dressed in Nazi uniforms. Jimmy figures they are inside Captain America’s head. But usually he can sense the world outside… That guy remembers WW II. He thinks he is the real Cap? Ken wonders. He never would have kicked him off the ‘copter, if he’d known….
He doesn’t recall being kicked by a gorilla, the real Cap announces and kicks him in the face, but they are kicking them out of France! Now the Reich is using animals! his partner Bucky exclaims. He thinks they are going crazy!
Gun drawn, Jimmy still tries to be the voice of reason. This isn’t right, they are Americans. What the hero actually hears and sees is the Red Skull explaining it will be an American who finally kills Rogers. He fires at Cap.
It can’t happen here! Bucky shouts. They can’t do this! Gorilla Man holds him back.
In reality Cap (the former Bucky) breaks free of M-11’s grip.
On the other plane, he breaks Gorilla Man’s grip, transforming from the young to the grown up Bucky. He runs to Captain America’s side, urging him to rest. He’s going to get through this. Go back under the ice. They’ll bring him out again when his country needs him most! He buries Cap under the snow.
Jimmy and Ken finally get it. Bucky. He became Captain America. Does he think that was really them whom they saw in those Russian chambers back in ‘58? Ken wonders.
They turn around, hearing a plane. Hey, those Germans didn’t have supersonic jets, Ken protests. Bucky must be damaged! No, that’s Kit, Jimmy replies. Doesn’t he remember their last FBI mission? He’s done a lot of stuff since then, Ken reminds him.
Down there. Jimmy points downwards. Where they see themselves, and the rest of their team running, M-11 carrying the capsules. Whose memory are they in? Ken wonders. It’s too complete, Jimmy states, believing this is Bob’s or rather his headband’s. It was recording everything down to atoms, they just never realized it. They witness the scene playing out again.
Marvel Boy realizes that Kit is the pilot he saw the other day. He thinks the radiation made Kit’s cells transparent. He was trying to signal Marvel Boy with the symbols on the cockpit’s window. He’s trapped in a loop, exiting and re-entering. Kit opened a portal to Edwards Air force Base, but arrived too early. The device is alternating between the coordinates.
Bob explains he can’t catch up to Kit in here. The intervals are too short and he gave the Air force the time and place that he appears today.
They’ve got to get back there, Jimmy opines. They enter the portal to San Francisco. Jimmy orders Ken and Venus to stay there with the chambers; the rest of them will take the rocket straight to Edwards…
Not her, Suwan announces. She refuses to accompany Jimmy. Her uncle, the Yellow Claw will need to know what happened. They will be together again, one day, she promises as the portal closes behind Jimmy.
The other Jimmy and Ken who watched see the scene with only Suwan left.
Ken regrets Jimmy had to go through that again. It’s okay, Jimmy tells him. He wonders what Bob was thinking about that mission.
He was thinking about links, a familiar voice announces. Between times. Between places.
They turn around to see Bob Grayson in the form he thinks of as himself half human, half Uranian. Bob adds that he knows how Temugin transported into the saucer. His metal gave him the connection. It has a red triangle like the ones they used to transverse the Dragon’s Corridor. He sees how appropriate the name is. Now that his headband processes fully, he has a complete composition scan from his examination in 1958. The cells are an extremely dense keratin, specifically reptilian… the exact structure of Mr. Lao’s scales. They are molted dragons scales, cut to focus light, so one can view the energy discharge in the corridor.
He touches both his friends. Ken informs him he is grossing him out. Tell them about this later. He needs to wake up and let them out! Bob doesn’t understand.
Jimmy explains that his trip into the Sentry’s mind strained him and he passed out while connecting them. He thinks if Bob takes off his headband…
Is he suggesting they are trapped in a loop? Bob asks and takes off that headband.
That, moment he awakes on his ship, Ken and Jimmy next to him.
Later on the ship, Jimmy asks if Bob is sure Cap learned nothing about their operation. He never ventured outside his memories, comes the reply. Bob went into his. He’s not only in contact with the real Avengers. He’s hiding them. Perfect, Jimmy replies. Bob adds he left the information Jimmy wanted in Cap’s mind. A tractor ray drops the unconscious Captain America onto a roof. Then it’s time for the showdown.
Over Edwards Air Force Base, 1958:
The Agents’ ship is almost there. They see that the planes are almost upon Kit’s jet. Jimmy gives the order for the point not to fire on that jet. But it is too late.
Later, Jimmy’s team asks Hoover if those to sleeping men are really Captain America and Bucky. He gets the reply that the government isn’t in the habit of giving out secrets. Now, has Mr. Grayson had any luck in duplicating the effect of the Dragon’s Corridor? He might be able to get closer, if his men would return the triangles they confiscated. Not a chance of that though.
Are they saying they don’t trust them? Jimmy asks and gets the reply that they may be the darling of Eisenhower but they take too many liberties with procedure for FBI standard. He thinks they’ve come to the end of the usefulness of Department Zero.
Later, Venus pouts that you’d think at least her charm would have some effect on Hoover. Does Jimmy think they are really going to shut them down? Bob asks. Jimmy replies Hoover’s been looking for excuses ever since they started. He thinks Kit’s death finally gave him the one they needed… If he does, then America just lost its best agents…
Brooklyn, New York. Today. Cap’s place:
Cap talks to the New Avengers. They’re formidable he warns them. They were able to get inside his head, which means they know about them. Their munitions factory is on a supertanker, anchored nearby. If the sources he found were right, they can arm thousands of Osborn’s troops with tech beyond anything HAMMER has yet.
No time to waste then, Avengers, Wolverine announces. They are going out there to bring Atlas down. Cage, Spider-Man, Ronin and Ms. Marvel certainly agree.
