Captain America #346

"Ambush"

Commissioner Sammish and Battlestar go to bail John Walker out of the county jail where he ended up after his massacre of the Watchdogs. The Commission isn't happy about the appearance of their Captain America going on a rampage. For his part, Walker remains almost catatonically impassive in the wake of his parents' deaths. Commissioner Rockwell angrily suspends him when he gets back, but after John slumps off, Rockwell privately contacts his shadowy superior for guidance and is ordered to reinstate Walker and put him back into action as soon as possible. Walker gets his uniform back but is told he has to obey orders unquestionably from now on. Still hopelessly sullen but willing to hold on to what he can, Walker complies.

Cap and Battlestar are next assigned to assist Freedom Force in the operation to counter the anti-registration mutant Resistants, who have been liberating and recruiting unregistered mutants. The Resistants' latest acquisition is Mentallo, who meets the group in the underground desert base originally belonging to Mesmero. All the Resistants are revealed to be previously known mutants that adopted new looks and identities to regain their anonymity while fighting registration. Mentallo agrees with the premise and becomes Think Tank, adopting a small weaponized vehicle to complete the wordplay in the name. He goes with the team on Meteorite's (Lifter's) telekinetically flying rock on a mission to rescue Quicksilver from his trial. They only realize when they get close enough for Think Tank to read the minds in the courtroom that "Quicksilver" is actually Mystique and the entire thing is a trap to get the Resistants to take a mole back to their hideout. Rather than turn around and avoid the trap entirely, the Resistants elect to attack and take Freedom Force out of the picture. Meteorite sends one of his rocks crashing down on the courthouse, and as soon as it looks like bystanders are getting killed, Captain America leaps from his station to violently and mercilessly beat the Resistants into submission. Mentallo tries to use his power to predict and counter Cap's movements, but is thwarted as the furious warrior is fighting without even thinking. When all the Resistants are brought down, the Commission isn't happy because they were supposed to let them escape and lead back to their base, but Battlestar insists that Cap made the right moves given the situation and will be commended. When Battlestar asks Cap why he's still crestfallen in light of that, Walker notes that his parents' funeral was that day, but he skipped it to take part in the mission as he was ordered.

• No letter column this issue.