The book starts off explaining that there is a criminal organization called the Org that only a handful of people know about. The Org has its’ hands in just about every criminal organization from AIM to the Maggia as well as “every mob and/or terrorist organization you could think of”. Taskmaster is one of the few people that not only know about the Org but works with them. The Org assigns Taskmaster jobs to train thugs to be fighters for various criminal groups but after Siege, Taskmasters’ escape from justice was taken as a sign that he was now working with SHIELD so the Org put a bounty of a billion dollars on his head. This brings seven criminal groups down on him including some of his former students.
The first confrontation takes place in a diner where Taskmaster is trying to remember something and during the fight Taskmaster saves the life of a waitress named Mercedes who will become pivotal to the storyline as she gets added to the bounty too. Taskmaster realizes that the only way to get the hit removed for himself and Mercedes is to find the Org and straighten the whole thing out one way or another.
Turns out however that Taskmasters photographic reflexes come at a price, and thet price is that he can’t remember details of anything else in his life, even his name… He goes on to explain that he receives phonecalls from the Org and they act as his memory by guiding him to his next mission and thus through life.
So the only way to find the Org is to travel to places he remembers which gives him memory hints as to where to go next. Taskmaster and Mercedes travel to Mexico to meet an old friend of Taskmaster’s who of course he doesn’t remember named Jefe Grande who lets it slip that Taskmaster used to be a SHIELD agent named Tony Masters.
Next Taskmaster & Mercedes proceed to the Bolivian Andes where more memories flood back into Taskmaster. In fact he remembers that he was in SHIELD and during a mission he injected himself with a substance that unlocks the minds full capabilities that was meant for agents of the Third Reich. That injection is what gave him his photographic reflexes and turned his memories into goo.
There he also remembers that Mercedes is the voice of the Org and so he shoots her. It just wings her before he recalls that she was also part of his SHIELD team and also his wife…
Some clown who goes by the name of Redshirt (Star Trek reference) and leads a group known as MILF is actually the one who started the rumor about a hit on Taskmaster. His goal was to have Taskmaster lead him to the Org so that he could take it over. Meanwhile Nick Fury & Steve Rogers are hunting for Mercedes to rein her in as she has gone rogue with Taskmaster.
So Taskmaster fights Redshirt and the only way to beat Redshirt is to record his muscle movement which Taskmaster does, but at the cost of all his recent memories. So things return to normal, Taskmaster wakes up to get a call from Mercedes playing the Org and assigns him on another mission for the betterment of the world.
After reading Siege and Deadpool & Thunderbolts Dark Reign I was really looking forward to the book. Finally Taskmaster was going to be getting the attention I think his under-developed character deserved. Time to put him in the spotlight to shine and this book had great potential and yet I was gravely disappointed with the outcome.