Hello and welcome to another great week in Ye Olde School Café! This week, we’ll be wrapping up our look at the Captain America story – The Blood Stone Hunt! So far, we’ve seen Cap and Diamondback get together for somewhat of a reunion, as she was being attacked by Baron Zemo and his goon squad (Machete, Batrock, and Zaran). Once they discovered that Zemo planned on finding the missing Blood Stones (fragments from the piece that was embedded in the chest of Ulysses Bloodstone), they set out to stop him. The first adventure brought them to the jungles of South America. Once there, they were attacked by the local natives and captured. Zemo and his band were also captured, but Cap managed to get loose and save the day. As they tried to keep on Zemo’s trail, they found themselves underwater fighting not only Zemo and his gang, but sharks as well! After getting past that obstacle, Cap and Diamondback make a new game plan to follow Zemo and thwart his plan.
Now, Cap and Diamondback are navigating their way through a pyramid, and they get surprised by a trap door. They tumble downward into a pit filled with serpents, tarantulas, and scorpions! They struggle to get out and fight off the impending doom from the snakes and such. They do eventually get out, but Diamondback dislocates her shoulder in the process. Cap snaps it back into place, and the pain causes her to faint. He lets her rest for a moment against a wall, but when he swivels back around, she’s gone.
Meanwhile, aboard the plane of Baron Zemo, he and his cohorts are circling the pyramid that Cap and Diamondback are inside. They decide to venture down, and go inside to investigate. Cap’s doing a little investigating of his own, and it leads him to a door that he pushes open. Inside is none other than the Living Mummy! He’s hovering over Diamondback, and Cap assumes his intentions are sinister. He lunges at him, but soon finds out that this crusty old mummy is nothing to take lightly. They kind of are at a stalemate at first, but then the Living Mummy gets the upper hand and starts to choke the crap out of Cap. Diamondback then starts to come around, and moans. This distracts the Living Mummy just enough, and Cap uses his shield to smash him in the throat. Diamondback then fully awakens, and the two then communicate with the mummy, who reveals that he has one of the Blood Stones! He hands it over to them, and Zemo is outside questioning his psychic about two other people that are now hunting the Stones, as well.
Cap and Diamondback are trying to make their escape, but Zemo then attacks from his chopper. As he does, Cap drops the Blood Stone, and Batroc grabs it. Zemo then uses the bones of Ulysses Bloodstone to locate the final stone. He surmises that it’s in Tokyo, and once there, they bust into the back of a Japanese restaurant. The dudes inside don’t take kindly to people smashing their place, so the brawl of the century is on! It first looks like a Bruce Lee movie, but it quickly escalates and Zemo’s gang begins to shed some blood. They fairly easily obtain the stone, but are then greeted by Cap outside. They call Zemo and he tells them to give Cap a message. He tells him to meet him on top of an inactive volcano, and they will discuss the stones. When Cap arrives, Zemo threatens to blow up a block in Tokyo if Cap doesn’t surrender his two pieces of the Blood Stone. While this meeting is happening, Diamondback creeps aboard Zemo’s chopper and discovers the corpse of his his long dead father inside!
After some coaxing, Cap agrees to give Zemo the stones. Cap goes inside his plane, and finds the pilot half conscious. He states that he was knocked out by some unknown person. Outside, suddenly the body of Zemo’s father rises out from the chopper. A voice shrieks that the Hellfire Helix has returned! Cap takes away Zemo’s detonator, and aims his shield for the Blood Stone that now is whole again, and rests in the center of Zemo’s father’s head. Back inside the ship, Crossbones has arrived and is trying to get the stones for himself. The Helix grabs Zemo and tells everyone that he will be the first to have his mind sucked dry. Cap again tries to toss his shield, but the Helix stands ready to deflect it again. Close by, Crossbones has a crossbow, and just as Cap’s shield is about to hit home, the arrow smashes the stone on the head of the Helix. It explodes, and the volcano shakes and a hole opens up. The body of the original Zemo falls inside, and Cap grabs Zemo as he is ready to fall in, as well. He tells Cap to let go, because he wants to find his father. Cap tries to hold on, but in the end Zemo falls down into the pit. Cap is left wondering where Diamondback is, and who fired that shot that saved the day!
Well, that’s it for now. For more on Ulysses Bloodstone, the Hellfire Helix, and anything else involved, definitely click on the link above. See you next week!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
