Captain America / Iron Man #2 (2022)

Brief Synopsis At the warehouse where they fought Veronica Eden, Iron Man and Captain America learn from the Paladins that her new ally Fifty-One is a former member of their team. After suddenly breaking bad, he's been trying to get the robot Myrmidon that used to be in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody to attack Minneapolis with it. Eden takes Fifty-One to The Annex, a S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker used to store seized weaponry and impounded alien technology to find what he's looking for. The Paladins track down Fifty-One to The Annex, and they're secretly followed by Tony and Steve. The duo uses a side entrance to get inside before the young heroes. As they take down guards, Steve attempts to lift Tony up to get him to stop being overly self-critical. The duo intercepts Eden and Fifty-One, but she has armed herself with weapons from Spider-Man's enemies: Doctor Octopus' tentacles, the Scorpion's tail and a Goblin Glider. Fifty-One arms himself with the armor used by the evil Steve Rogers, but he blasts away, leaving Eden to fend the heroes for herself. She manages to handle herself, but is overpowered when the Paladins arrive. Her neural interface malfunctions, causing her gear to power down. Pioneer attempts to take the opening to shoot her dead, but Captain America blocks the bullets with shield. Although her gear powers back up, Eden is knocked out with a punch from Cap. Meanwhile, somewhere eight miles above Minneapolis, Myrmidon is reactivated and reunites with its master, the super-computer Overseer. Detailed Synopsis Inside the decommissioned S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse, authorities are taking custody of Veronica Eden's henchmen while Iron Man and Captain America are debriefing on who the Paladins are and that Fifty-One used to be one of them until he broke bad. The team of young heroes is present in the scene, and they are approaching Tony and Steve. Tony brings up a hologram of Fifty-One, explaining his powers. Vox and Think Tank apologize on behalf of their team for their lacking performance. Prima Donna attempts to explain herself, but her teammates interrupt her. When Iron Man wonders why is Fifty-One helping Eden, Pioneer explains it has to do with Myrmidon. Tony recalls the robot from one of his earlier adventures, that it was the muscle behind a super-computer called the Overseer and that it was blasted to scrap. Think Tank elaborates that its remains had been in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody until the evil Steve Rogers took over, and they suspect they're in possession of Eden. Vox states that Fifty-One might want to use the Myrmidon to launch a catastrophic attack on Minneapolis. The Paladins don't know his motive, or even why he went rogue, with Pioneer explaining he suddenly became murderous. After Iron Man asks, Think Tank explains that reading Fifty-One's mind is very tricky. Vox tells the two older heroes that since Fifty-One was his teammate, they will take him down, and emphasize they plan to on their own. As the Paladins jump out of the scene, Iron Man and Captain America agree behind their backs to not let them do it alone. As she is walking down a hallway with her henchmen shooting down uniformed agents, Veronica Eden thinks to herself that she knows what people think of her; that she's smart, beautiful and a cold-blooded traitor, but wonders if they ever consider her dreams, aspirations and feelings, that she's a real person who cares about those under her command. She wonders if did it ever occur to people that all she wants is someone to confide in, a genuine friend. Walking up to Fifty-One, Eden admits to him that she finds him unsettling, but since he helped her escape, she has found what he is looking for. Opening a vault door, she leads him to a giant storage room with several pieced of technology. At Tony Stark's brownstone, Tony and Steve are both wearing civilian clothes. Steve is admiring Stark's new home, and Tony explains he wanted something less like himself. He elaborates that since his body rebooted instead of dying, he still hasn't figured his place in the world with this new lease of life. Steve assures him that it's not for him to decide; that all he gets to decide is who he wants to be any given day. He needs to let the world itself figure out his place in it, while he focuses on trying to be the best version of himself. Tony cites that "Do or do not. There is no try" and Rogers refutes that trying is what it's all about. As Steve places his hand on Tony's shoulder, Stark states that he always liked Steve's pep talks. Rogers jokes that when they're coming from him, they're just talks. The duo is interrupted by a beeping from Tony's wristwatch alerting him of the Paladins being on the move. Steve tells him to suit up. In upstate New York, Vox is attempting to blast open the doors of a farm's barn with the rest of the Paladins next to him. Iron Man and Captain America observe from a distance. Steve tells Tony this place is called the The Annex, and that it's an old off-the-record S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker used to store seized weaponry and impounded alien technology. Tony tells Steve that his scans show that the facility's security measures are down, so it has already been infiltrated. He brushes off the Paladins, suggesting to use a side entrance. As the duo gets moving, Steve notices that Tony is sulking. He admits he's thinking about the Fifty-State Initiative being a wasted opportunity. How a team of government-sponsored heroes for every state, all connected to a central command for maximum coordination and efficiency resulting in something like the Paladins, a group of kids forming their own super-groups for exposure. As they traverse an underground tunnel using Tony's gauntlet as a flashlight, Steve tells him that the Initiative was never going to work because one can't assign a team to a state where nothing happens and expect them to wait until they're allowed to take action. Tony quips that no one ever wants to go to Ohio, and Steve states that he likes it there. Iron Man and Cap arrive at a hallway through a hatch door, and Steve clarifies that he thought the Initiative was a good idea, in the sense of it being a massive Avengers roster that covered the country, but didn't approve of the government supervision, and tells Tony that his heart was in the right place. The duo encounter and silently take down some of Eden's henchmen, and Tony expresses his heart isn't always in the right place. Steve brings attention to Tony being overly self-critical, and Tony states it's not something he's been called before. The two continue moving forward taking down henchmen, and Tony begins listing things he's been called until he gets to negative words like narcissist and egomaniac. Steve turns to Tony and tells him that's because of the person he presents to people, and that he personally doesn't know that version of Tony. Stark becomes perplexed as Rogers has to explain to him that he's being nice to him since they're friends. Tony asks him to quit it since it's weird. Back in the storage room, Eden is donning a cape and a headpiece. Fifty-One is welding a container box open. She ponders if he doesn't want something else from storage, he replies in his alien language, but Veronica can't understand him. She continues admiring her cape, and offers Fifty-One to give what he's trying to obtain a once-over once he's done tinkering it. Fifty-One lashes out at her, and Veronica assumes he's accusing her of stalling for time. Iron Man and Captain America appear on the room's entrance, and Tony asks her to surrender. Veronica orders her men via radio to evacuate while Fifty-One gets inside the container he was busting open. Tony notices the headset Eden is wearing. Stating that it's something she picked up, she dramatically removes her while a Goblin Glider flies toward her from behind. She also informs Captain America that Fifty-One has borrowed an outfit from him. He steps out of the container wearing evil Steve Roger's armor, aggravating Steve. In her inner monologue, Eden states that she expected to get this reaction from Rogers, and although it's a dumb idea, Fifty-One insisted on it. As she takes flight, revealing she has equipped herself with Doctor Octopus' tentacles and the Scorpion's tail, Eden attempts to tell Fifty-One a plan of attack. He suddenly blasts a hole in the ceiling and flies away. She's exasperated, and in her inner monologue she illustrates that this is what happens when one doesn't have friends. Eden decides to take the two heroes on her own, interrupting Tony's final warning. She punches Steve with one tentacle and shoots a blast out of the Scorpion's tail at Tony. Tony attempts to convince her that the odds are not in her favor, but she grabs him with the tentacles and slams him into a wall. Eden's headpiece, which is a neural interface, fizzles, causing her pain. She complains about it when Captain America throws his shield at the glider, breaking it and causing her to fall to the ground. Tony holds her by her collar and tells her that she's under arrest, but he catches him with the tentacles and lunges him over her head, joking that he'd be surprised how many ex-boyfriends say that to her. She takes charge at Iron Man and Captain America, but Think Tank appears from behind and attacks her telepathically. On the ground, Vox sends a current through one of her tentacles and, at his orders, Prima Donna grabs onto her from behind. Eden uses the Scorpion's tail to blast her on the back, but once she's freed, her headpiece fizzles again and the tentacles drop dead, much to her embarrassment. Pioneer shoots at her with her rifle, but Captain America covers Eden and deflects the bullets with his shield. Berating the young hero, Iron Man snatches her rifle from her hands. Veronica lashes out, pointing out that her gear is powered down and that she would never shoot somebody unarmed. Eden interrupts herself when she notices her arms are back online. However, Steve knocks her out cold with a punch, reiterating that she is under arrest. Somewhere eight miles above Minneapolis, Myrmidon lies still in a dock until its systems go online. It walks out of its station, disconnecting from a series of tubes in the process. The robot detects no life-forms or threats, only itself. As it walks towards a glow, it activates its prime subroutines and states repeatedly that it's rebooting god. It steps into the glow, entering a big chamber where the Overseer resides, and hails it.