FENRIS / SWORDSMAN III: Page 3 of 3

BIOGRAPHY - Page 3

Faced with the very real possibility that Osborn would not uphold his promises, Swordsman began looking for other avenues to restore his sister. He found an opportunity when the Thunderbolts were hunting for an old friend of his father's, Arnim Zola the Bio-Fanatic. While infiltrating one of Zola's bases, Swordsman broke off from the others and confronted Zola privately. He offered to help Zola escape in exchange for Zola's knowledge of genetic engineering being used to bring Andrea back to life. Zola agreed and promised to be in touch with Andreas soon about his progress. [Thunderbolts: International Incident #1]

Back at Thunderbolts Mountain, Swordsman's restlessness caused him to spiral deeper and deeper into old habits. His descent was exacerbated by a small group of unregistered telepaths who got themselves captured in order to destroy the Thunderbolts from within. Their "pushing" led Andreas to fully adopt the attitudes and bearing of a Strucker, even shaving his head to emulate his father. The Swordsman used his family fortune to pay off a small group of CSA security guards, intending to stage a coup against Norman and force the issue of Andrea's cloning. Swordsman skillfully killed a number of guards and even beat Venom in single combat, impaling the symbiote and channeling his bio-blast through the blade, nearly killing his teammate. All the psychic prodding done by the telepaths released the demons inside Norman Osborn, though, and Andreas was completely, utterly and hopelessly outclassed against the Green Goblin unleashed. His mutiny ended in seconds, and the Goblin left Andreas crucified to the wall by the tips of his razor-bats. While Bullseye eventually killed the telepaths and Swordsman physically recovered, the whole incident just pushed him further to the breaking point and increased his pathological devotion to his sister's return. [Thunderbolts (1st series) #118-121]

And then one day, Andrea von Strucker appeared walking up the road to Thunderbolts Mountain. Swordsman was overjoyed at his sister's return, and believed Arnim Zola had been successful where Osborn's resources had not. Osborn, Moonstone and practically anyone other than Swordsman were highly suspicious, but Andreas wouldn't hear any slander against his sister. Although he hadn't heard from Zola, she simply must be his work. Additionally, the full restoration of her memories and personality merely meant that Zola had been in touch with Baron Strucker, who habitually backed up his memories and those of his children for just such a purpose. In order to avoid being hunted fugitives, Swordsman promised to serve out what remained of his contract with the Thunderbolts, and Andrea WOULD remain with him at Thunderbolts Mountain. [Thunderbolts (1st series) #122]

The debate over Andrea was cut short when the Skrull invasion of Earth began. After the Thunderbolts fought off the attack on their headquarters, Osborn rallied the team for defending Washington D.C. against the invaders. 

When Osborn rammed their ship, the Zeus, into one of the Skrull attack craft, Andrea and Andreas fought their way to the control center. Moonstone misjudged the situation and blasted Swordsman unconscious before offering to make a deal with the Skrull crew and Andrea (whom she believed to be a Skrull infiltrator). To everyone's surprise, Andrea von Strucker was the genuine article. She disintegrated the Skrulls and turned on Moonstone for daring to strike her brother. Before Andrea could finish Moonstone off, Bullseye appeared and stabbed Andrea in the heart with his sai, killing her. When Swordsman awoke, Osborn blamed the Skrulls for her fate and turned Andreas' rage against their enemies. [Thunderbolts (1st series) #123-125]

Despite Osborn's maneuvering, Swordsman still blamed him for his sister's death. When the war ended, Andreas privately vowed to kill Osborn as soon as his term with the Thunderbolts was up and the restrictive nanochains in his system were disabled. He saw well in advance how Osborn planned to manipulate his success during the invasion into more personal power, and agreed to help Norman and some of the other Thunderbolts remove their more altruistic teammates from play. Still, he owed Songbird enough to arrange for her escape, knocking out Bullseye and setting the Zeus ablaze so that Norman would think she died in her escape craft. [Thunderbolts (1st series) #126-127]

It wasn't enough, however. Without the promise of cloning Andreas's sister to keep him in line, Osborn found the Swordsman too unstable to use in his rise to power. Andreas discovered he was being left out of Osborn's new Initiative, and even his promised freedom at the end of his tour of duty was a lie. Swordsman threatened to go public with the nasty secrets he had learned about Osborn and the Thunderbolts, but his threats proved to be decidedly hollow. In a fit of rage, Norman simply grabbed Andreas by the throat, removed his sword and then rammed it through Swordsman's chest. For good measure, he then charged Andreas to the window and launched him out, tumbling down the side of the mountain. [Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1]

A few months later, Baron Strucker called Norman Osborn in the hopes of negotiating a favor from the new head of the Initiative: kill Nick Fury. During their banter, Norman gleefully revealed to Wolfgang that he had killed the twins and Wolfsgang's son, Andreas, had died squealing on the end of his own sword. After a moment's digestion, the Baron Wolfgang von Strucker eulogized his children with all the love and respect he held for them:

"Fine. Make it two favors I owe you."