File:Marvel Team-Up Vol 1 71 001.jpg

Description
After responding to an urgent phone call from Captain America, the Falcon, accompanied by his pet, Redwing, finds the red-white-and-blue Avenger lying on a Harlem sidewalk. A quick check discloses no bruises, but the Falcon finds a peculiar red flower clutched in Cap's hand. Captain America is still alive, although his breathing is shallow and his heartbeat is weak. After a quick telephone call, Captain America is picked up by the SHIELD Medical Station and placed in a life-supporting cylinder. The Chief of Staff, Dr. Jonas Cobb, gives Nick Fury and the Falcon the distressing news that Cap is dying. SHIELD's technicians have also discovered that the flower is highly toxic, but because the flower belongs to a hitherto unknown species, they may be unable to develop an antitoxin in time to save Cap. The surest way to save Captain America's life, says Nick Fury, is to find whoever attacked him and get the antidote. Dr. Cobb mentions the brilliant scientist Dr. Leroy Katz, who has been troubled by a spate of recent thefts at his government research labs. The Falcon requests Katz's address, and soon he is on his way. Meanwhile, one of those thefts is in progress at a federal warehouse just as Spider-Man web-swings by. When he sees the gang of costumed criminals, obviously up to no good as they load bags into the back of a truck, he swings down and starts to battle them. In a few seconds, the criminals are disarmed and knocked unconscious. When Spider-Man looks at what they were stealing, he is surprised to find that it is Top-Secret, Priority-A U. S. Government fertilizer. Unfortunately, just as he is puzzling over this, one of the men revives and shoots him with a blaster. The shot grazes Spider-Man's head and momentarily knocks him out, and by the time his head clears, the criminals have sped away. Drawn by the commotion, the Falcon and Redwing glide down to the street in front of Spider-Man. The Falcon is frantic with worry about Captain America. He quickly explains the situation to Spider-Man, but Spider-Man is still slightly groggy, and the Falcon interprets his slowness as a delaying tactic and starts to punch him. He has been running down leads for hours, he says, and when he finally got to his warehouse, he found Spider-Man standing over a supply of the substance that poisoned Cap. When the Falcon demands that Spider-Man give him the antitoxin, Spider-Man hurls him at a nearby wall. Then the Falcon sees one of the criminals, abandoned by the others. He realizes that he jumped to the wrong conclusion, so he revives the thug and forces him to talk. Soon Spider-Man is web-swinging along Long Island Sound. Although the criminal was unable to name his boss, he certainly told the Falcon everything else he knew. As Spider-Man arrives at the boss's mansion, he takes note of the costumed guards, all heavily armed, as well as the electrified fence surrounding it. Behind the mansion we several interconnected greenhouses. Spider-Man creates a web-trampoline for a soft landing-spot as he vaults over the fence, but the noise of his landing attracts two guards. Spider-Man quickly knocks them out and dresses himself in one of their costumes. Thus disguised, he enters the building and heads for the main room, where he finds more troops, including an AIM technical advisor, and several technicians. Quickly concluding that the room is an ultra-scientific plant nursery, he enters one of the greenhouses, where he sees plants that resemble familiar blossoms but are nevertheless subtly different. Then, some distance away, he sees the mastermind of the operation, the Plantman. As the disguised Spider-Man listens, the Plantman takes delight in feeding his plants "stolen government nutrient." All his life, he has been a second-stringer, he complains, forced to work with bunglers and incompetents. But he is the Plantman, master of botany, he continues, and since he has widened his horizons, with financial assistance from AIM, he has created the most lethal army on Earth. As the Plantman walks around his greenhouse, he examines with glee his strangler vine, which can break every bone in the human body in two heart-beats, his black orchid, which fires dartllke projectiles laden with various narcotics, and his favorite, "pretty poison," the flower he field-tested on Captain America and that produces a deadly toxin in its powder-globes. All his plants are commanded by his plant-gun. Then the Plantman gloats that Captain America will be dead within the hour. When Spider-Man hears this, he rushes out of the green-house and finds a guard. Arnie, whom he knocks unconscious. Then he runs into the Plantman's chamber and says that Arnie accidentally touched the "pretty poison" plant and is out cold. The Plantman replies that he should let the fool die, but instead he will take the opportunity to test his antitoxin. So, grabbing a vial of liquid, the Plantman accompanies the disguised Spider-Man down a corridor. Just then the Falcon, who remained hidden outside, gives the signal, and Spider-Man grabs the vial and removes his disguise. The Falcon shatters the greenhouse ceiling, but before he and Spider-Man can finish off the Plantman, guards begin shooting. The two crime-fighters then head for another greenhouse, but the Plantman exhorts his guards to trap them there, where they can be killed in any of a dozen ways. Spider-Man tells the Falcon that Cap has less than an hour to live, so the Falcon summons reinforcements—his pet hawk, Redwing. The Plantman uses his plant-gun to activate the strangler vines, which instantly grab Spider-Man and start squeezing the air from his lungs. Spider-Man tosses the antidote to the Falcon, telling him to get out while he can, but the Falcon refuses to desert him. Then the Plantman commands his black orchids to fire their narcotic darts, but the Falcon deflects them with his metallic wings. The wings were built in Wakanda, and the Falcon is pleased with how useful they are. As Spider-Man continues to struggle against the strangler vines, he uses the last of his web fluid to uproot the plant. Then, barely conscious, he makes a last effort to extricate himself. The Plantman then activates his poison-gas plant, but the Falcon soars above it and lures one of the guards into taking a shot at him. The Falcon dodges, and the bullet shatters a pane in the greenhouse wall and allows Redwing to enter. Just then, as Spider-Man finally snaps the vines holding him, the Plant-man aims his plant-gun into Spider-Man's face. Fortunately, Redwing swoops down and grabs the weapon with his talons. The Plantman declares that he can still control the plants with his mind, but the Falcon knocks him unconscious. Spider-Man quickly takes care of the guards, and he and the Falcon rush back to SHIELD with the antidote. At SHIELD, Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, Spider-Man, the Falcon, and Redwing we all delighted when Captain America recovers. Fury congratulates Spider-Man for doing a good job, saying that even public menaces like he can occasionally help out the "good guys."