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[Assistant]
Eyes of the Dragon, Part 3
(Shadow Council HQ)John Steele and Max Fury are discussing the problem they face with Steve Rogers and his crew. Fury asks Steele how he wants to handle the situation, assuming that the board still wants to keep their involvement under the radar. Steele replies that it's always been their policy. He can't see them changing it now. Steele knows that Rogers and his team haven't been an easy target to take on, but Thorn-Drake wants the old bastard back in play. Easy or not, it's gotta be done. Fury says Steele's seen Rogers in action, right? Formidable is putting it mildly.
Steele says he's seen him and recalls a time when they even fought side-by-side once. It was sometime during the war. The details are a little foggy, though, as he's been in a lot of battles. Steele adds that Rogers doesn't worry him. He can take him if it comes to that. He's just trying to figure out a way to grab the old bastard's kid without a full-frontal assault in broad daylight. Fury isn't sure there is one. He asks if the public outing has to be them. They already know about the old bastard. Why not use that to their advantage? Steele tells Fury that sometimes he forgets how much he likes him.
(Secret Avengers Quincarrier)Steve Rogers is with Hank McCoy, Shang-Chi and the Prince of Orphans. Hank, seated before a computer, explains that he's spent the last day cross-referencing everything he could find on both the Eyes of the Dragon stones and on Shang-Chi's father's history. He's been trying to figure out what he knew about the gems, or if he'd used them before. He stumbled across something. Bringing up the picture of the two wizards on the screen, he informs them that early legends of his father lead him to believe that he was one of the men who created the Eyes of the Dragon. The sorcerers who gave the gems their power were brothers according to several texts.
He continues to explain that the first mention of Shang-Chi's father in historical texts tells of an evil magician who steals his brother's life essence so he can live forever. If he's right, he's just found out His father's real name... Zheng Zu! Shang-Chi finds that fascinating. His father has always gone by so many names. Steve figures that this is why he needs Shang-Chi to properly use the gems; to drain the life from another family member. Hank believes this to be the case. He thinks they've stumbled onto one of the primary ways his ancient evil was able to achieve near-immortality. Shang-Chi reckons that killing his siblings and children won't be the first time his father has tried to use his blood for his gain. Steve wonders why their friends with the serpent emblems are trying to help him. What's their agenda? Sharon Carter then appears and informs them that there's something happening in Hong Kong.
(Downtown Hong Kong)Shang Chi's father and his ninjas are causing mayhem. They attack innocent civilians and cause explosions in the city center. Sharon tells them that the evil freak is attacking Downtown Hong Kong in broad daylight. Shang Chi replies that his father has always been a terrorist; it's just that his methods have changed this time. With Steve at the flight controls, the Quincarrier heads to Hong Kong. Steve sends War Machine ahead. James Rhodes has his EMP charged already. He'll disable any video feeds so they don't go too public. He rockets away from the craft and fires the missile. When it explodes, the EMP knocks out electronics temporarily and forces the ninja to look skywards. War Machine descends and takes out two ninjas as the rest of the team follows. Shang-Chi's father sees them land and outstretches his arm.
An explosion throws Valkyrie clean off her feet and a ninja rounds on her instantly. Steve barges towards her, knocking down two ninjas before reaching her just as the ninja is bringing down his sword. His shield intercepts the blade and Valkyrie kicks the ninja into touch, thanking Steve for his timely assist. Shang Chi uses his prodigious martial arts skills to take out more ninja, but something smells foul... like it's all a lie. This is not his father's handiwork.
(meanwhile)Whilst the team is on the ground, Sharon Carter and Beast are all alone. John Steele and Max Fury use a much smaller craft to land on the Quincarrier. They want to make this quick. Rogers' team won't be distracted for long. Max asks if he can handle Agent 13 .He knows her training and could be brought to their side. She'd be a definite asset. "Rogers' girlfriend?" grins Steele. "You think big!"
Fury discovers that the Quincarrier's security has been upgraded since last time he was there. When Steele asks if he can still get in, Fury says he can, but there ain't no way they're not going to know they are there. He accesses the hatch and alarms sound inside.
Back on the ground, Steve receives a call from Sharon telling him that they've been boarded. He asks if they can hold them off, but she doesn't know how many there are yet. As Steve fights, a ninja takes off running towards the Quinjet, carrying a belt armed with explosives. Steve calls for War Machine to stop him but, as James blasts him in the back, he is too late to stop the ninja releasing the bomb. The Quinjet explodes, destroying it in a huge blast. Steve cries out but it's too late. There's no quick way back to the Quincarrier now. Valkyrie shoves him away from the blast and he calls Sharon but there is no answer.
Shang-Chi, meanwhile, attacks his father. He leaps at him, but instead of connecting, he flies straight through him. It was all some kind of trick. His father vanishes along with the ninjas, leaving the Secret Avengers standing amongst the wreckage. Shang-Chi wonders why they would go to all this trouble just to vanish. Steve realizes that it's because this attack wasn't their real objective. They were just trying to draw them within arm's reach.
On board the Quincarrier, Hank is shot by John Steele before he can do anything, whilst Sharon Carter is attacked by Max Fury. Sharon tells him that she knows what he is and she sure as hell isn't going to let some Nick Fury wannabe get the better of her. She knees him hard in his square jaw but he responds with a kick to the face. He tells her that she doesn't know anything about him, or she'd know that he hates fighting her. He elbows her in the stomach and adds that they should be on the same side. He then picks her up and throws her over his shoulder, slamming her against the floor hard. He informs her that there's just too much in this world that they are keeping secret from her. He finishes her off with a punch to the head, though he feels real bad about it. Steele tells him that there's no time for pity.
Down below, Steve reckons the only way he can get back is to have War Machine carry him back. They fly at super speed, but James is wary because if they fly too fast it'll take off Steve's skin. "Just get me there," replies Steve. As they approach the Quincarrier, War Machine uses a fastball special to hurl him through the cockpit window and he lands gracefully amidst a wall of shattering glass. He calls out for Sharon but finds Hank McCoy lying there, dazed.
Steve asks if he's okay and asks where Sharon is. Hank weakly replies that they hit him with something. He looks for his glasses as Steve asks him who hit him. Hank looks away and replies, "Him..." Steve turns to look at a monitor. On it he sees John Steele standing with a really big gun next to Sharon Carter, who is chained to the ceiling but in a kneeling position. Steele says hello. Long time no see. He apologizes but says they won't have time for a proper reunion. If he ever wants to see his girl alive again, he will do exactly as he says. Steve is shocked to see who it is and recognizes him instantly. Steele is pleased that he remembers him. He'll know that he is serious.
James asks who the hell John Steele is. "Oh, damn," gasps the Prince of Orphans as he hears the name. Steele tells Steve Rogers that he wants a simple exchange. Shang-Chi for Sharon Carter. Steve barks back that if he hurts Sharon he will kill him. He swears. He will find a way and he will kill him. Steele replies that there's no need to be dramatic. The girl will be fine... at least until tomorrow. The video feed is switched off leaving Steve with a horrible choice.


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[Assistant]
The Trouble with John Steele part 1
John Steele is seated; hooked up to a machine, operated by Hank McCoy, which is able to reach inside his memories and exhibit them as visual images. They show some of the action John Steele has seen during his life. The first images to be shown are of John Steele during the Civil War, with Steele fighting on the Union side, smashing an enemy’s face in with the butt of his rifle. Next, Steele is riding a horse swiftly through what appears to be Arizona, probably several years later. A third image appears on screen. John is floating in some kind of energy beam as strange-looking scientists with hi-tech equipment experiment on him.
Steve asks Hank if they’re going chronologically. Hank explains that they should be, though it depends on a few important factors. But, it’s an image that keeps recurring so the chronology is uncertain. It’s possible that the subject experiences time differently than normal humans, though there’s no real evidence that this in the case.
Cap asks if the next image is of World War I. Hank says it is, and Steele looks fairly uncorrupted up to that point. He adds that it’s somewhere during World War II that they start running into trouble. A fresh image appears. Steele is an American soldier fighting the Nazis, using superhuman strength to wade through what should be overwhelming numbers. The next visual is open to interpretation. Steele has a weird look on his face as he leaves what appear to be several dead soldiers lying in a forest.
As Steele emerges into the open, Steve asks Hank to stop the process right there. On screen, Steele stands overlooking a large impressive building. It’s night time and he’s holding a pair of binoculars. Hank replies that it’s not how the machine works, but Steve asks him to do whatever he needs to do, because he knows the place. He remembers the mission. It’s exactly what he’s been looking for. It’s the last time John Steele saw action during World War II.
He asks Hank if they can unlock that moment and find out what happened. Hank taps on a computer keyboard and informs Steve that the chair was built so its subjects would experience virtual lives without realizing they were unconscious. He’s adapted it so they can examine memory, but as he said, it’s complicated. What they are seeing are the images Steele’s mind creates during recall. It’s not the exact truth and some of it makes no sense whatsoever. Like he said, there are pieces missing. Steve tells him that somewhere in that mission is the reason John disappeared… to what led him to the Shadow Council. He has to find a way to dig deeper.
A couple of scientists arrive and Gary informs Steve Rogers that there is one idea. Steve was with him on that mission, and they have another chair. They could isolate this incident in Steve’s memory and cross-reference to try and find the missing pieces. Hank interjects and says absolutely not. They’re not hooking Steve up to the machine. It’s only experimental. Steve reassures Hank that it’s okay. He’ll do it. Hank tells him he doesn’t understand. His mind will be linked with John Steele’s. Sharing a memory? They haven’t even tested that function yet. Steve points out that Steele has gaps and altered memories because of the Shadow Council. He needs him to remember what really happened so he can bring him back to the right side of the fight. If this will help, it’s a risk he’s willing to take. He drops into the chair. “Let’s get on with it.” As the process begins, Hank reminds Steve that what he’s experiencing isn’t real. It’s a recreation of a memory.
Inside the machine, Captain America and John Steele approach the imposing structure. Cap tells him that his intel was right. It looks like the Germans have a major operation there. John explains that the area used to be Prussia. He’s not sure what that means but he recalls some strange rumors about Prussia from a long time back. As they use stealth to approach the walls, Steele reckons it looks like they’ve found the safest way into the lion’s den. The Nazis must think that they’re pretty safe there. There are only two guards at the rear entrance. John readies his rifle and thinks he can get both of them from there. Cap moves his rife away and asks him to hold his horses. He’s got this. He hurls his shield which smacks the first soldier in the neck before rebounding into the neck of the second.
As they rush towards the door, John asks if he’s ever gonna let him toss that thing. Cap replies he won’t let him throw it even once. He’s dangerous enough as it is. They reach a solid metal gate which blocks their access and Cap reckons it’s centuries old. It won’t bend or pry out so easily. John grabs the gate and says he’s got this. With some effort, he yanks the gate clean off the wall, breaking the masonry that held it in place. Cap says it’s good to see Fury wasn’t lying about him. Steele hopes not, because he has a bad feeling about this place.
The two men soon discover an access hole and climb up inside. They emerge in the dungeons and creep along the corridors until they come across some more soldiers. Cap wraps his fingers around one of their mouths and forces him unconscious. Steele is a little more ruthless, snapping the neck of his victim. As they continue, John asks Cap if he knows his favorite part of the mission. Steve says no. What? Steele replies that it’s that he decided not to bring his Invaders pals along. Who needs a Human Torch or two, right? Cap informs him that Bucky’s on leave and Fury said this was a clandestine thing. He enters a room where they see rows of specimen jars and a body lying on a slab.
As he speaks, they both hear a growl and they turn to see a very large, muscular, semi-naked guy approaching with his arms outstretched. He’s clearly no longer human in appearance. “Oh, God,” exclaims Cap as he looks up. “What the hell is that thing?” Steele thinks he knows. He shoots the creature several times, but it smashes Cap against some specimen jars. He continues shooting but the creature grabs his throat with its massive fingers and crunches him against a wall. Fortunately, Cap has recovered and he uses his shield to smash the monster in the back, forcing it to release its grip. Once it’s down, Steele finishes it off with more ammo. “And stay down,” he cries.
Cap reminds John that he said he knew what it was. Steele replies that his intel came from local villages. They said the Nazis were taking away their men in the dead of night. They thought they were taking them there to work, but now he’s thinking they’ve been experimenting instead. They continue through the building. Cap reckons it doesn’t look like those monsters would be so easy to control, but John isn’t too sure. He then says, “Damn it…” and Cap asks what the problem is. Steele thinks there’s just something about this place; it’s like he can feel the evil in the air. And it feels familiar. He’s not sure why, but it reminds him of something, or someplace. “Think you cold be a bit more vague?” quips Cap. Steele apologizes, but he’s got some empty spots in his memory. He then asks Cap to hold on and take cover.
They two men hide, and look down to see four robed men in Shadow Council garb, leading what appears to be an alien in chains. John whispers that he knows what’s happening there. Even in this godforsaken war zone, they still work in the shadows. Cap asks who, but Steele ignores him and asks Cap to take the corridor. Cap asks what the hell he’s talking about, but John tells him that there’s no time. You don’t waste any time with these people. “What people?” asks Cap, slightly exasperated. Suddenly, John Steele turns and asks, “Wait. What is this…? What are you doing to me? Cap doesn’t know what’s going on and tells him he’s not doing anything.
“This isn’t right,” Steele says as he doubles over slightly. Cap asks him to get it together, but Steele believes that Cap is doing something. He stands upright and opens fire. Cap falls backwards as blood spurts from his chest. He lands on the ground, and his eyes open in surprise.
(reality)“Gahhh!” screams Steve as he wakes from the dream. Hank thanks God. He thought that might harm him. Steve informs Hank that this isn’t how he remembers the incident. That’s not what happened. Hank says he knows, but he told him it was experimental. He informs him that Steele became aware of Steve’s presence in his mind. Before he can continue, Gary calls his name. “Professor McCoy. We’ve got t-t-troub… troub…” Hank turns to see John Steele, now out of the machine, with one arm around the other scientist’s neck. He grins insanely. “I think he’s trying to say ‘Trouble.”


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The Trouble with John Steele part 2
John Steele has taken one of the scientists captive. He has one arm around his throat and the other arms pushed against the guy’s head. Steve Rogers tells him that it doesn’t have to be this way. He’s trying to help him. To get answers. John replies to hell with his answers. He wants out of there or he’ll snap the nerd’s neck. Beast says that he supposes now is the time to mention that his assistants are Life Model Decoys. “What?” exclaims Gary, standing beside him. Enraged, Steele tosses the other scientists aside, which gives Steve Rogers the opportunity to lean in and smash him in the face. Steele punches back but Steve blocks him with his energy shield. “Damn you! shouts Steele, “No way you’re this fast.” Hank presses a switch and tells Steele that he’s not. It’s him that’s slower. They’re prepared for him this time.
A green mist swirls around their feet, as Steele maintains his attack. He says that first they dope him and now they gas him. They’re covering their bases. “Wrong again,” replies Steve. Behind John Steele, the Prince of Orphans forms from the mist and informs Steele that it’s mist, not gas. He kicks him in the back of the head towards Steve, who knocks him to the ground with a massive uppercut. Steele groans as the three heroes stand around him. Steve reckons that now they’ll find out what happened to him, whether Steele wants to know or not.
Steele is strapped back into the chair and the leads are connected. Hank makes his adjustments, assuring his assistant that they’re not really LMD’s. He was bluffing. Gary sighs with relief. Steve asks Hank if there’s some way, like how Steele took control of his memory, that he can communicate with him while they’re under. Hank thinks he might be able to make that happen. “Then put me back in,” says Steve.
(inside the machine - the past)Steve talks to John as their former selves make their way through the building. He asks John to remember that this is important. They were halfway to the dungeons and they separated. Where did he go? What happened to him? Steele orders him out of his head, but Steve replies, “Don’t you want to know, John?” Pieces of his memory have been erased. Doesn’t he want to know the truth? Steele replies fine, and in that case, what happened to him? Where the hell was he?
(flashback)In the past, Captain America moves stealthily along a corridor, alone. As he walks, a green mist forms before him. Cap is surprised and even more so when the mist form a human shape. The Prince of Orphans appears and tells Cap that there’s no time. He needs to run. Cap asks why, but the Prince of Orphans asks Cap to trust him. A moment later, a huge creature with teeth the size of a man’s arm crashes through a nearby wall with a German soldier hanging off one of its claws.
Another soldier flees, terrified. “Good God!” exclaims Captain America. The Prince sees Cap grab a weapon from a suit of armor and Cap tells him they have to stop the thing. “Don’t be insane,” replies the Prince. Cap ignores him and charges the creature, piercing its stomach and forcing it backwards. The creature squeals as it moves upwards, crashing through the ceiling and out of the building. Cap goes along for the ride, hanging on to the weapon “By the stones of Renk Timma… that glorious fool,” exclaims the Prince of Orphans.
Speaking through their mindlink, Steve informs Steele that this is what he was doing… running into the Prince of Orphans and getting dragged across the countryside by some Wyrm monster. While he was…? Steele tries to remember but it keeps slipping away. Steve asks him to focus. They don’t want him to remember this. He tells him to find out why. Steele crawls along a tight gap in the rock and comes out on a ledge. He looks down and sees a group of people: Nazi soldiers and costumed Shadow Council members. With them are chained creatures like the one they fought earlier.
He remembers now. This is why he split off from Steve. He heard weird things, like echoes of his own thoughts from then. But, he knew it in his bones that the Shadow Council was deep in the caverns under the castle. He knew what they were doing and who they were trying to call from beyond. It was too horrible to even think about. “Bastards…” Steele grimaces as he picks up his machine gun and aims it towards the crowd.
Steele then leaps from the edge, firing as he drops. Soldiers fall and a burning cauldron from which smoke drifted upwards is knocked to the floor. Steele knows he’s not being smart as he charges in but he does so regardless, using his weapon as a clubbing instrument whilst bullets bounce off his near-unbreakable skin. He becomes lost in his rage. He is without a plan. Because of this, he is shot from behind by a futuristic energy weapon.
Steele drops to the ground in a smoldering heap. The assailant tells him it’s nice to see him after all these years. He removes his cowl to reveal the face of Aloysius Thorn-Drake. “We were wondering when you’d arrive,” he grins. Steele reckons that would have been a good time for Rogers to show up. He now guesses he had his hands full too.
Out in the forest, Captain America does indeed have his hands full. The Prince of Orphans pulls Steve out of danger as the creature lunges at him with its razor sharp teeth. They begin to run, but Cap says they can’t just do that. They need to kill it. The Prince agrees, but asks if he has any ideas on how to do that. Cap replies he has one, but it depends on him. “I’m listening,” he replies. Cap asks if he can carry grenades while he’s in his mist form.
Back inside, Steele is now on his knees and in chains. He tells Thorn-Drake that he has to stop this. It’s crazy. Behind Thorn-Drake the chained creatures are stabbed to death one by one as he tells Steele not to be so ridiculous. They’re doing all this for his benefit. They lured him there. “Lunatic,” replies Steele. Thorn-Drake holds Steele’s head in his hand and asks if it was really that long ago that he was willing to do nearly anything to feel the master’s touch one more time? Thorn-Drake turns and walks to the centre of a painted pentagram on the floor. Steele tells Steve through the mind link that he felt it again… the dread as memories flooded his mind, because Thorn-Drake was right. He had been like him at one time and there was so much blood on his hands. A dagger floats within a vertical strip of glowing energy. Thorn-Drake grins as reality opens up and the abyss gazes upon Steele once again.
Steve tells him that he and the Prince didn’t get back for hours. The Wyrm creature, whatever hell it sprang from, was tougher than he hoped. By the time he got back to the castle again it was in ruins; almost like it had imploded. They searched the rubble for hours but there was no sign of Steele.
(present)Steele is now out of the machine and standing at the window. He tells Steve that there wouldn’t have been at that point. He was long gone. He was off under the influence of… he can’t say what. Steve asks how he is now. Steele replies that he’s finally him again. Steve wonders if that’s a good thing or bad. Steele reckons it’s probably a bit of both.
Steve asks who the Shadow Council are. What do they want? Steele replies that they’re the original sore losers - sons of a revolution that failed a long time ago. He was running from them when they all stumbled into a portal; a path between time and space. The things they met inside changed them. As for what they want… they want it all, he adds. The whole world.
Steve asks how he can stop them. Steele isn’t sure he can. They’ve got more power buried deep in the dark than Steve can know. He spent half his life on the run from those sons of bitches and the other half under their thumbs. “So,” replies Steve. “You’d rather rot in a cell or do you want to do something about the men who stole half your life? Steele thinks for a moment before turning towards him. “What did you have in mind?”


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Untitled
(Swiss Fort Knox, just outside Gstaad, Switzerland, one hour ago)It’s a cold evening and all is quiet. Outside the fort, a soldier sits slumped against the wall, either dead or unconscious. Inside, more bodies line the corridors leading to a room filled with computers. There, a frightened employee cowers before a man dressed as the Captain. He begs him not to do this. He has a daughter. Can’t he just tell him what he wants? the Captain replies, “What do I want? All of it!!”
(East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, one hour later)There is a knock on the door. A guy named Franklin answers and is surprised to find Mister Negative there with his masked companion. Mister Negative hopes this isn’t a bad time but Franklin replies no, not at all. He guesses they are there for the gauntlets. “Are they ready?” asks Mister Negative. Franklin reveals them, a pair of metallic-colored Fistigons. He explains that he had to pull double time to get them on the schedule he needed, but he got ‘em. Mister Negative thanks him. It’s most impressive. Good weapons specialists are tough to find these days. He blames the economy.
Franklin says he knows how much he loves this stuff. As Mister Negative’s colleague puts the Fistigons on, he explains that he had to steal the design from some kid in L.A. Mister Negative finds them to be magnificent as always. Just perfect. However, he thinks Franklin works too hard sometimes. He should get more rest. Franklin assures him that he’s doing all right. Mister Negative says sure but, still, it’s an occupational hazzard for those who enjoy what they do so passionately. You have to know when to relax, just lay back, watch some television.
Franklin thinks television’s crap. It rots your brain. He looks at the flat screen nearby and says he told them to get it out of there. Mister Negative finds that to be a very narrow point of view. There are many interesting programs out there these days. He uses the remote to switch on the television and tells Franklin to check it out. A live news program comes on hosted by a female journalist. The story turns out to be very important.
“Government officials are scrambling tonight in the wake of a massive leak of classified documents outlining a sure-to-be-controversial information network, with contacts in virtually all of the world’s most powerful criminal and terrorist organizations.” She adds that the documents include the un-redacted names of confidential sources who cooperated with various law enforcement and counter-terrorism agencies.
Franklin suddenly becomes frightened. He apologizes to Mister Negative. He wants to explain, but he replies that there’s no need. He’s a fast reader. It was a smart move, selling information about his clients in exchange for immunity. Anyone in the position he was in would have done the same. It’s understandable. After all, he adds, Franklin is a very smart man. He should listen to him more often. Without another word, he uses a long scalpel to stab Franklin in the top of his skull. He falls to the floor, dead. Mister Negative walks away, quipping that maybe television really is bad for you.
(elsewhere)On board the Secret Avengers Quincarrier, Steve Rogers is briefing everyone present on the situation. Gathered around are Valkyrie, Beast, Sharon Carter, Moon Knight, Ant-Man and War Machine. He informs them that, from what they know, the information was taken by force from a high-security data storage facility in Switzerland just three hours ago. They’re still working on identifying the attackers. This information was uploaded to an FTP server and e-mail links were anonymously sent to the media a few minutes later. From there, it’s gone global. The dossiers have been handed out and they each have one.
Everyone sits in silence as Steve continues to say that they are potentially looking at the greatest security compromise in history. A complete list of anyone that’s ever provided them with any kind of tip, ever. Named names. Beast reads the dossier and says that he fought against some of these men. The one he’s looking at publicly called for the assassination of any mutant sympathizers the day they buried Moira McTaggert. He can’t believe they’ve been making deals with these people? Steve says that everyone on the list provided them with information that saved lives. Some did it for the right reason. Some did it to evade imprisonment. Some just did it for profit. Pretty soon, he’s sure the entire world will be having a conversation about this program’s moral legitimacy and effectiveness. He reckons that’s good. When that, time comes, he will answer for it.
In the meantime, however, what they have are four hundred and nineteen high-level government informants exposed and out in the open. Most of them are behind enemy lines. The best estimate they have, he continues, says they have less than thirty minutes to get them before this information if fully disseminated... and the mass executions start. Steve reminds them that their team was formed to deal with secret dangers before they have a chance to become a world-level threats. The names on the list are people who actually provide them with this information. As of now, this is their mission. They are protecting their own secrets.
Hank says that, despite his other reservations, this sounds impossible. Ant-Man makes a feeble joke but War Machine ignores it and tells Steve that he agrees with Hank. There’s no way they can extract this many assets in that time frame. Steve knows this and replies that they’re not going to. They’re going to extract one.
An image appears on screen of a man named Benjamin Abrams. Steve informs them that he is an A.I.M. genetics researcher who has been on their payroll for the last ten years. Six months ago he sent them, via covert transfer, a flash drive with his name all over it. The documents held on that drive helped them prevent a major biological attack in Boston. This led to the shutdown of an entire branch of their operation. It’s the only contact they’ve had with him but it saved thousands of lives that day. His investigations show that the man gave this information as an act of conscience rather than greed or malice. He points to a board showing a map of the Washington D.C. area and explains that he recently transferred and now works in a quasi-independent offshoot of A.I.M. day-to-day. This may buy them a few more minutes in the confusion. Geographically speaking, he adds, they know he’s in Arlington so they can get to him quickly. And… he has a family.
Sharon Carter doesn’t like the situation but listens patiently as Steve says that splitting their resources would spread them too thin to be effective. They don’t have enough time to call in reinforcements. A lot of women are going to die tonight; at least a few of them quiet heroes. He wants to go to sleep knowing they did all they could to help them, even if it means they only get to save one of them. Hank asks if they have his exact location. Steve replies that the Black Widow is on it as they speak.
(Foggy Bottom, Washington D.C.)Natasha is in a quiet diner where only one man is eating. She edges past him and asks if he’s going to offer to buy her a drink. He grunts that it’s such a boring cliché. If a woman doesn’t want to be alone, she should tell a man what she wants. None of this cat and mouse nonsense. They both know what this really is. Natasha pretends to blush and tells him he is direct. She confesses to be a bit surprised. The man replies that he’s a busy man. He has no time for such pleasantries, especially when an opportunity for pleasure is so near. Does she understand?
Natasha replies of course she does. She isn’t one for tired trite pleasantries either. She’s electing to forgo the little game she was about to play with him. He asks what game that would be. Natasha replies that it’s the one in which she pretends to let him seduce her and take her back to his hotel room where they would embrace passionately for a moment. But then, just as she is about to undress, she pulls her gun on him instead.
Natasha does indeed pull out a pistol and aims it at the guy’s head. “We should all be past such boring clichés now, yes?” she asks. “No, please,” he replies. Natasha tells him that he’s been an independent contractor for A.I.M. for the last fifteen years. There is a man working in his department. She needs to know his whereabouts and he needs to keep his skull intact. There is room for agreement here. The man tells her she wouldn’t. There are bartenders… witnesses! Natasha tells him that isn’t a concern. The United States government tips very well.
(soon)War Machine and Ant-Man make their way to the coordinates that the Black Widow supplied them, with Ant-Man unable to keep his mouth shut all the way about Natasha. He hopes she might discover a newfound respect for him once they break into the honeycomb hideout (so named for the A.I.M. headgear). War Machine reckons they won't have a hard enough time down there for him to impress anyone. Valkyrie’s already on the ground.
Below, Valkyrie faces off against several agents. Using her mighty sword, she slices and dices her way through her opponents with ease. Ant-Man asks War Machine if he means they will be dead already. “Pretty much, yeah,” replies James.
Once they land, Ant-Man grows to full size and War Machine calls in to control that they have a visual on the asset. Ant-Man is disappointed that he isn’t wearing a funny helmet. Abrams is tied to a chair and gagged. He sees the two Avengers and tries to speak but it comes out as a mumble. Ant-Man takes it off and Abrams calls them idiots. Ant-Man is surprised, but Abrams informs them that they’ve come to the wrong place. It’s not him they want. It’s his damn wife! They untie him and he explains that it’s a spouse identity decoy program - a security measure. He turns up for eight hours and does nothing. That’s his job. He’s the cover. His wife is the one that works for them, out of their home. James asks why they would set up something like that. Abrams asks if he’s kidding. He should look at what just happened. He says they need to hurry. They know now and they’re going to kill her.
Ant-Man asks Steve if he got that through their link. Steve replies yes, and that they’re on their way right now. Abrams puts his head in his hands. He told her not to send them that information. She said it was the right thing to do. She said that they would protect them if anything happened. He should have stopped her… “I should have stopped her,” he cries.
At Abrams’ home, Moon Knight crashes through the window and quickly takes out two armed A.I.M. agents. Steve radios him and asks for a sit-rep. Moon Knight says he’s sorry, but he was too late. Steve Rogers closes his eyes and then lashes out, smashing the computer next to him. Sharon and Hank share his sorrow in silence.
(Elsewhere)A man wearing a version of Captain America’s old “Captain” uniform films a message for the internet. He says that the first thing people should know is that he loves his country. He has dedicated his life to serving it and he doesn’t regret that for a second… even now, knowing what he knows. Around the world, the assassinations begin. Informants are stabbed, hung, shot.
The man explains to the camera that he fought in Afghanistan and watched a lot of his brothers die. Some of their men turned out to be Skrulls during the invasion. He guesses a thing like that makes you think a lot about who you should trust. Then, when he got home, all he saw was a bunch of people fighting over who gets to be in charge of keeping them ‘safe.’ None of them were doing a very good job of it. Just ask Broxton. He explains that he doesn’t give a damn of those people call themselves good guys or bad guys. The way he reads it, they all do the same things, and they just keep doing more and more of it without wanting anyone to be held accountable to anyone.
He concludes by saying he thinks it’s time the rest of them had their say, too. So, this message is to all of those who appoint themselves their protectors who break the public trust; when they put themselves above the law and above what is just. “We’ll be there. We have a right to know what you do in our name.”
Once he’s finished his rhetoric, his assistant Ronnie tells him that was real good. He thanks Ronnie and asks him to upload it and send a link to The Guardian, The Times, The Bugle… he knows the list. “After that, I want you to…” He doesn’t finish his sentence. An explosion blows them off their feet and Steve Rogers appears at the door, arms folded. He says he can tell the guy this much. If he’s trying to persuade him to make him the next USAgent, then he’s going about it all wrong. The guy stands up and brushes the dirt off his uniform. He tells Steve that it’s funny, but his memory is a little longer than his.
Does Steve remember when he wore this uniform? he asks. The government cronies told him to do Captain America their way or walk. He walked, and became The Captain instead. He was taking a stand against corruption back then. Now look at him. They got what they wanted in the end, didn’t they. All they had to do was give Steve a little power after all those years of ‘holier than thou.’ Then they put him in charge and there they are. He points his finger at Steve and informs him that their government is in bed with a bunch of terrorists, murderers and despots. Most of them are selling each other out to get ahead. Secret Avengers teams that don’t answer to anyone but him… “You sold us out! he cries. They deserve to know what’s going on.
Steve finally runs out of patience and punches him in the face. The guy hits back but Steve blocks him and smashes him in the face again. He then uses his elbow to wind him and his knee to break his teeth. “Now,” he asks. “Are you ready to listen,” he asks, “Or do I have to hit you a few more times?”
Steve stands over the guy and informs him that he’s not the first person to come at him carrying a flag. He certainly isn’t the first to call him a traitor. He’s gone up against plenty who believed what they were doing was right - that they were the hero and he was the villain. Sometimes he’s wondered if they were right. The job he has now, he adds, he fell into, really. There’s shades of grey to all of it. What he said might even be true. In a different time, he might be the one fighting to end something like this. But, if he ever starts to really question himself, and whether or not he’s fit to do this, he remembers that he and the people he stands with, good and bad, no matter what they believed they were, they would never let people die to prove their damn point. He doesn’t know if that’s enough for him, or for the rest of the world but, for the time being, it’ll have to do.
He turns and walks back towards the Quincarrier where his team awaits him, leaving the terrorist to face the consequences of his actions.


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[Assistant]
Fear Itself
(Washington, D.C.)Armored Nazi machines driven by Skadi’s troops attack the nation’s capital. They blast away almost indiscriminately as their reign of terror begins. Nearby, War Machine, Beast and Ant-Man exit the Avengers Quincarrier and head to the ground, with Hank McCoy being assisted by a small jetpack.
Ant-Man as usual tries his best to lighten the situation, but the others aren’t in the mood for his frivolity, as usual. Hank says that they are the first to respond to Steve’s call but he’s sure their friends are on the way. War Machine hopes so. They need reinforcements soon as they’re not going to be able to do much against something like this. Hank sees a female soldier ducking down to avoid enemy gunfire and says he’s sure they can make themselves useful in the meantime. He grabs the woman and pulls her to safety.
Once safe, she thanks him for his assistance and, upon realizing who he is, informs him that Major Stephenson is looking for him. He said that if they saw him, he needs to report in… now! War Machine is looking for assistance, but Hank decides he’d best do as asked. He quickly heads to a makeshift headquarters where Major Stephenson is waiting for him. There, the major informs Hank that he has an awkward situation and is hoping he can help him out. He says they cleared out the leadership as soon as the invasion started, as protocol dictates, but they have a member of the United States Congress ignoring the damn evacuation order. He’s locked himself inside and won’t come out.
Hank thinks that’s strange, but points out that the major has lots of guns and bombs. He has to imagine he is perfectly capable of making his way through a two-hundred year old oak door. Stephenson replies that they believe he may be armed and, quite frankly, his men have their hands full without dealing with a House member off his nut. Hank says it’s frustrating for sure, but he hardly sees why he is needed for this. Major Stephenson informs him that the guy said he wanted to speak to ‘Hank McCoy.’ He has enough to worry about. With this kind of fire the dome isn’t going to make it an hour. Hank understands, but asks exactly which distinguished gentleman they are dealing with here. Stephenson says he’s never heard of him, but he’s from Mississippi. Leonard Gary? Does Hank know him. “Hank sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “Lenny.”
Hank wastes no time in bounding up the steps and dashing through the corridors of power. He finds the locked door and smashes it open with ease. Inside he finds an almost empty room with his old friend Lenny seated on a desk in front of the flag. “Well, it sure took you long enough ya big ugly,” he remarks. Hank says hello and says it’s funny. He doesn’t look crazy, but then it’s been a while. Leonard says it sure has and then turns to give Hank a big hug. Hank tells him it’s good to see him. “You too Henry,” smiles Leonard.
He asks Hank if he ever got to see the place empty before. Hank says almost. He was usually the first one in the guest chamber those days when Senator Bob Kelly’s anti-mutant bills never made it to the floor. Leonard replies that House guys like himself don’t take kindly to the Senate telling them what to do. Hank’s fairly certain that Leonard’s belief in civil rights has something to do with that. His friend admits he was a younger man back then, itching to fight the good fight. That son of a bitch always gave one. Hank tells him they were heady days indeed. Why don’t they go reminisce over a cup of tea? “Tea?” he asks. “I’m from Mississippi. At least offer me good food when you talk the fool to me,” he adds.
Hank tries to explain that the building won’t stand up to this kind of attack for long. He doesn’t know what this is about but they have to get out of there immediately. Leonard says that’s gonna be a problem, because he has the floor.
(outside)Ant-Man and War Machine stand alongside the soldiers in trying to defend the building, but Ant-Man knows this is bad. War Machine asks him to concentrate his fire on the left flank before asking soldiers to get any civilians out of there. He asks people to cover each other and watch each other’s backs. He then orders everyone to fall back, just before a huge explosion sends both Avengers sprawling to the ground.
Inside, Hank doesn’t really follow. The floor has been cleared. How can he continue? Leonard explains that he didn’t hear the gavel. The boys ran out of there so fast they didn’t close proceedings. As far as rules of parliament go, everybody’s present. He shows Hank a bill. It’s his bill. Some miners from West Virginia are looking for some earmark money for a free health clinic to get some regular breath tests. The Congressman in their district is in bed with the coal companies so they came to him. He gave them his word he’d see it through and that was eight years ago. Half those miners are dead now, but they kept at it and he’s finally got his bill through the damn door. Now, are they going to adjourn just because some alien God or whatever the hell it is comes knocking? “No, Sir!”
Hank tells him that he admires his perseverance, but he’s sure the speaker would allow him to resume when next in session. Leonard replies that he doesn’t get the microphone much these days. The speaker doesn’t give a damn what an old man like him wants. Hank reminds him that he’s a hero. He marched with King! He’s done more than most of these political hacks could dream of.
Leonard replies that all he ever wanted was to be a history teacher. Hank didn’t know that. Leonard explains that he was working in a little elementary school in Jackson when the sit-ins started. He admits he didn’t even want to go. It was Louise’s idea. Then he was organizing. Then he was coming to Washington with the Baptist conference. People then started asking why he didn’t run for Congress. He always missed being with those kids. He missed bringing history to life for them and watching their eyes light up. He always thought he’d retire and get back to teaching, but he guesses it’s too late now.
The two men hear a loud boom up above and Hank apologizes, but they have to get out of there. The mall won’t hold out much longer. Leonard replies that Hank always was a gloomy fella. He wouldn’t give up hope just yet. He doesn’t know why they never gave them one of those Initiative teams.
As the battle rages outside, something strange begins to happen. The statue of President Abraham Lincoln starts to move from his seated position. He stands up and reaches out at some of the armored Nazi war machines. He crushes them in his hands with ease. He then hurls it towards another machine as several dinosaurs emerge and join the battle too, all brought to life from the museums and monuments in the area. A tribe of Native Americans joins the fracas, as do several war planes. Ant-Man looks at Lincoln towering over him and gasps. “Dude!”
As explosions rock the Mall, a figure strides through the flames and stands before the crowd. They fall silent in his presence. George Washington, the first president of the United States looks at the soldiers present before him and then points commandingly at the enemy.
Back inside, Hank asks Leonard, “This isn’t about those miners, is it?” Leonard replies that people are scared out there. It seems to him that the best that a man like himself can do is show them business just goes on. Maybe if they see them do it, they can keep going too. Hank finds that to be a noble gesture, but then asks why Leonard asked for him. Leonard looks over at the television cameras and replies, “Those.” He explains that they left them on when they ran out, but he imagines they’ve switched over to the fighting outside by now. He needs them back... and then some, so the people can see and not be afraid. He figures that if anyone could make that happen, it would be his buddy, the Avenger. Can he do that for him?
Hank says if that’s what he really wants, then sure. First, though, he’d like Leonard to answer a question for him. “Anything,” he replies. Hank asks him how old he was when he realized he was a mutant.
Leonard smiles and says he’s heard some silly things, but Hank presses him, telling him that when one of Congress’s most faithful pro-mutant voters talks about ‘bringing history to life” - someone trained security forces seem loath to confront, and then he sees a statue of Abraham Lincoln pulverize an invading army… suspicions arise.
Leonard replies that what he’s suggesting sounds damn near impossible. A little schoolteacher from Mississippi serving in Congress; a secret mutant the whole time? Staying off all those government lists? Ducking those robots and surviving the decimation? How could he do that? Hank replies that he’s seen it before with very powerful mutants, able to bend and warp reality, not to mention he’s sure someone in his position could easily get themselves access to a power dampener so as to elude Cerebra and others.
Leonard closes his eyes and says he guesses if somebody did, and he’s certainly not saying he does, have that kind of power, they’d owe it to their country not to leave them in their darkest hour, wouldn’t they? Hank places his hand around Leonard’s shoulder and says, “So, you’re not fighting to stay here, you’re staying here to fight.” Leonard smiles and tells him he still has it all wrong. To stay there is to fight.
As Hank prepares the cameras, Sharon Carter appears and reminds Hank that they don’t have time for this. Hank replies that this is important. It’s perhaps the most important thing they can do right now. As Leonard stands before the cameras, preparing himself, Hank asks Sharon if they have everyone on board. She informs him that they have every network; BBC, Al Jazeera, you name it. Whatever this guy has to say, the entire world is going to hear it. “Good,” replies Hank, whispering, “Come on then Lenny.”
Leonard pauses a moment before thanking Mister President. He struggles momentarily and looks inwardly to his wife for strength. He composes himself and tells his audience that he’s just going to talk. He begins by saying his daddy couldn’t read but his momma could and she read to him every night. They had mobs back then - men that didn’t like what part of town they lived in. So, she read him speeches from a man who fought a war for folks like them, so they could be free, free from oppression, free from fear. Over and over she read them until he knew every word by heart. When she read them, no matter what noise he heard outside, no matter who came knocking, he wasn’t scared no more. So, he figures since he’s never been one for big speeches, maybe right now the best thing he can do is use his words… the words his momma taught him and then he taught his boys.
He clears his throat and then begins. “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation…” He continues to read the Gettysburg address verbatim as battle rages outside. Heroes fight, villains attack, brave soldiers rise and fall and both man and monument fight side-by-side. He speaks as families watch on their television sets at home, huddled together. One by one the monuments and statues slowly return to their original positions until Leonard, tears streaming down his cheeks, reaches his final phrase.
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not, shall not perish from the Earth.”
As these final words come out, a fireball engulfs the House chamber where Leonard is standing and the camera feed is lost. Hank, watching from afar, sighs. “Good work, Lenny. Good work.”


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[Assistant]
Subland Empire
Steve Rogers, Beast, Moon Knight and the Black Widow descend towards the unknown. Hank McCoy finds their mode of transport fascinating. Standing on a solid platform, he explains that they are being lowered by chains, counterweights and switches. Indubitably, he adds, the counterweights will flip over and they will be pulled back to the surface. He admires the Secret Empire’s work. Putting a secret city more than a mile under Cincinnati was clever. There’s no subway system to disturb or discover it. If they hadn’t detected stray particles of Von Doom radiation there’s no way they’d have through to look. Their shielding would stop a nuke, let alone radio waves. Moon Knight asks why it didn’t stop Von Doom radiation. Hank replies that nothing stops Von Doom radiation.
He explains that it’s almost impossible to screen any kind of time-travel emission, and a Von Doom platform is very dirty and very noisy. He uses a holographic display from his wristband to show members of the Fantastic Four using the machine and says it projects a rising ‘plate’ field. Natasha is more interested in a large red convertible in the middle of the spacious room which Hank finds grotesque. Steve reckons it’s something only a Soviet girl could love and asks Hank if it will run. He flips the hood and is astounded with what he sees inside. He reckons it’ll probably run for another two hundred years! “Natasha, you’ve found yourself an atomic Cadillac,” he grins.
He further inspects the engine and thinks it’s quite frightening. Chromium tank, some kind of tritium replacement… Steve ignores his rambling and asks the others to check their weapons. They’re more open down there than he expected, adding that Natasha‘s widow‘s bite has never been terrific at long range.
Hank hands over their weapons. For Steve, he has a gun which fires flechettes, provided by an eager government contractor. It fires something sadly called shocktoxin. They’re milled to a monofilament edge and they’ll cut through body armor like a spoon through mousse. He continues to explain that shock toxin is a nerve agent. One flechette will put a healthy bull into a chemical coma for six hours. Hapless test subjects reported nightmares on a scale usually known only to those who recreationally smoke cleaning products. “Secret bullets for Secret Avengers.”
Moon Knight comments that he doesn’t understand his weapon. Hank tells him it fires flechettes machined to the size and weight of his signature crescent darts. Marc says he knows that, but he doesn’t understand why his isn’t the same as Steve Rogers’. Hank informs him that Steve is a super-soldier who can master any weapon in seconds. Spector, on the other hand, is a borderline psychotic who wears a white bag over his head in public. He imagines everyone thought it best to make things easy for him. Steve tells him that’s enough and says they’ll take Quincarrier Zero. It’s smaller but faster. He asks them to move out and for Moon Knight to do an aerial recon. Moon Knight leaps over the edge of the building they’re on and plummets vertically before opening his cape to glide along silently and gracefully.
Underneath him is a city with high buildings, seemingly unsupported roadways and space-age towers. Everything is grey. It’s not there for its aesthetic values. The others climb into the atomic convertible and Natasha asks if they’re really worried about a time-machine, particularly one based on some ancient Doctor Doom design. Beast replies that firstly, they don’t know who’s down there. The Secret Empire’s long gone. This could be another Shadow Council enclave. Secondly, any time machine is a weapon and an incredibly complex and dangerous one.
Hank relaxes in the back seat and says that people always forget that a time machine is also a space machine. As they go forward in time, they move forward in space. The Earth turns around the Sun, the Sun orbits the Galaxy and the Galaxy spins around the universe. If you go back in time on Earth, you also have to be sent to the position your target was at that time in the past. He leans forward and looks over Natasha’s shoulder, explaining that if he were to send them back a week without doing the other calculations, they would materialize in deep space and be dead within thirty seconds. “…ah,” replies Natasha, leaving Hank to it.
As they drive through the city, Hank imagines all those old Secret Empire agents tooling around their hidden city in their atomic Cadillacs. Party town. Vodka martinis and world domination. Moon Knight radios in and tells them it seems quiet. However, he keeps glimpsing some kind of structure further out to the northeast. He pauses. “…Wait.” Down below a Jeep comes into view with a couple of soldiers inside. One of them points to Moon Knight and they then both open fire with machine guns. Moon Knight pulls out his gun and folds his wings, dropping towards them feet first. He explains that he’s under attack by a right-hand-drive Shadow Council security patrol vehicle. He thinks right-hand-drive sounds less sinister when he says it out loud for some reason. “Stand by.”
When he impacts the vehicle he keeps his legs straight and the whole front of the Jeep crumples, throwing its inhabitants high into the air. Moon Knight shoots one of them as he flips over but his gun is knocked from his hand by the other performing a karate chop. Moon Knight responds by thwacking him in the face with his truncheon, smashing the glass in his helmet and putting him on the floor. The other one manages to pull his weapon out but Moon Knight flips a switch and the end of his club opens up releasing a grappling hook. The hook shoots into the guy’s face, putting him down for the count too.
Meanwhile, as Hank continues to ramble on, Moon Knight contacts Steve and informs him that they have to assume at this point that the Shadow Council has reactivated the facility. They’re not alone down there, so they should watch their backs. Suddenly, a bullet crashes through their windscreen, narrowly missing them. Steve asks Hank to return fire. He asks with what? He can’t fire a gun as he has paws! Steve decides to do it himself. He asks them to get down as he fires three flechettes from his weapon (all in the shape and color of his old shield). Two more agents fire at them again using an automated weapon but they are put out of action when the Black Widow fires at them which hits home.
The car crashes through a wall and lands on the level below. Natasha reckons her widow’s bite is still effective enough at medium range. Steve asks her not to get smug. They need to look for a way back to higher ground. As they head towards an archway, Hank says it’s interesting that the Shadow Council would reactivate an old Secret Empire installation using the old vehicles left down there. That may mean the Secret Empire was more of the way to having a working time platform there before they abandoned the place. Still, he adds, a few operatives in cars aren’t much to worry about.
Several shots are then fired at them from above and Hank looks up to see a small helicopter. “Oh, just tell me to shut up next time,” he sighs. Steve uses his shield to block the attack and simultaneously fires flechettes at the craft. They hit the target and the helicopter soon flounders and crashes into the ceiling before hurtling to ground in a ball of flame. Moon Knight drops into the car and says he meant to mention the choppers. He asks Natasha to take the next ascent ramp. There’s something up there he’d like to show them.
(flashback)Hank explains to the trio that Von Doom radiation is emitted by Von Doom time platforms. These are four field generator pylons under a foot-plate. He shows them a diagram of what one looks like - a tall device with a ball on top. He tells them that between them they generate a planar field and a plate of energy rises up. You need four pylons to do it. He points out that the field doesn’t send the footplate back in time because you can set the field to ‘go live’ as it were, at any position. So, in this instance the field doesn’t go live until it clears the footplate. Then, whatever it passes through is moved through time.
(present)Looking out across the city, Steve sees one of the pylons and it’s massive. “Why the hell is it so big?” he asks. Hank’s face drops as he explains that it’s because there are going to be three more of them somewhere on opposite corners of the city. It’s going to be a Von Doom field two miles across. It’s going to be so big and powerful that it’s going to go right up through the shell over this city and through a mile of dirt and go live at ground level in Cincinnati. He expects that in the aftermath, Cincinnati will look deleted, just smoothly erased from the Earth. That’s not the worst of it either, he adds. Kicking this place loose in time turns it into a bomb. They could put it anywhere. On top of another city… drop it on a small country from three miles up…
Steve rushes into action, figuring that if they can take out one pylon the field cannot generate. He asks Natasha to drive and they head towards the giant pylon. Hank points out that the thing even has a wireless power feed. He can see it from there. There could be a dozen reactors around the place feeding all the pylons. Steve thinks it’s clever and insane at the same time. They could issue any demands they wanted afterwards and no one would know they couldn’t pull the same trick twice. He asks them to stay focused. He wants options for destroying the pylon as soon as they get a good look at its base. Natasha suggests a frontal assault. Hit them fast and use their panic against them. “Nice and simple,” replies Steve.
As they approach the base, they see that it’s many times higher than a human, possibly sixty feet high. In front of it is a line of Shadow Council agents and a large tank. “Okay,” quips Natasha, “How about a Plan B?” The tank fires a missile but thanks to some snazzy driving it misses the car. Hank notices that they’re powering up the pylons. The field is going to form in minutes. Steve tells him he knows more about this than anyone and asks for a plan. Hank tells him that there is something that he can do but it’s horribly easy. He can turn the car into a fissile bomb - a nasty one. “You mean like a dirty bomb?” asks Steve. Hank replies that he means like an enhanced radiation tactical device, like a small low-rent neutron bomb. He can’t blow up the entire city to blow up all the time platform struts, but he can make an electromagnetic pulse that should fry it. However, it’s a burst of radiation that would instantly kill everyone down there, including them.
Steve asks what if they could get back to their entrance point. Hank replies that the ‘sky’ above the city is at least three feet of dense metals and there’s a mile of dirt between this spot and Cincinnati. If they can get back to their exit, then… Steve knows full well what he has in mind. Their mechanical system will still work after the bomb goes off because it’s not electronic. He asks Moon Knight for his truncheon and then fires the grappling hook at an approaching helicopter, bringing it down with a strong yank. Hank gets to work on the car’s engine, finding it insane that he’s making a neutron bomb out of an atomic convertible. Natasha shoots one of the helicopter’s occupants and says she can hear more cars. Steve reckons they have a minute static in the air. “It’s now or never, Hank.”
Hank tells him he’s done and leaps into the helicopter with Marc Spector at his side at the controls. As several cars approach the helicopter takes off. Natasha and Steve grab the landing skids and return fire, but Moon Knight is shot through the thigh. Hank is shocked, but Marc says with a hint of sarcasm that he’s too borderline psychotic to feel the pain. They’re nearly there, anyway. He then says he might actually pass out. He lands the helicopter and Hank grabs him, throwing him over his shoulder. He calls for them all to move and both Steve and Natasha rush after them as fast as they can possibly run. They reach the mechanical lift and Steve asks Hank how long it will be. Hank reckons it should already have gone off. He can see the planar field forming.
As their lift ascends the shaft, the bomb detonates inside the old Secret Empire base, evaporating everyone inside. Hank’s head drops. “How many people did I just kill?” he asks, despondently. Steve asks how many he just saved. He reckons Hank’s a clever man. He should do the math. It’ll help him sleep.


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[Assistant]
No Zone
Shang Chi, the Master of Kung Fu, faces half a dozen Shadow Council agents. Each of them sports two long, fierce-looking, sharp blades attached to their arms at the elbow. Steve Rogers calls him on his Bluetooth and asks him to shift to extreme combat protocol with immediate effect. He asks him to incapacitate all-comers and proceed to zero point. “Incapacitate,” comments Shang Chi. As he clenches his fists, Steve adds that they’re in a sealed box. If he knocks them down, they’ll just get up again and back them into a corner. Shang Chi replies, “Yes,” and prepares for battle. “Yes?” replies Rogers. “What does ‘yes’ mean?”
Shang Chi swings his right leg out and snaps the shin bone of the first assailant. He thrusts his wrist into the chin of a second and slams his elbow into third agent’s throat. He delivers a punishing knee to the fourth guy’s stomach and kicks the fifth in the face, smashing his face mask. With five agents down, the sixth approaches gingerly. He is right to do so, as Shang Chi smashes him in the face, knocking him out with one blow. As he falls, Shang Chi calmly walks to an observation point and looks into a large room that resembles an M.C. Escher painting. Shadow Council agents wander around apparently unaffected by the forces of gravity.
(not so long ago)Beast is with Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter. He explains to them that he’s reviewed the material and, though he’s not an expert in the field, he is shallowly versed in it. He tells them that the multiverse is a living structure. Entire new universes bubble off it every day. Not all of them have a perfect big bang and some emerge broken or malformed. These are called Bad Continua. He adds that the Negative Zone which was famously discovered by Reed Richards is an example of bad continuum. It’s big, though other continua can be only a couple of hundred miles across. They are notable for flaws in the laws of physics. A bad continuum might have gravity, for example, but water will boil at ten degrees or frozen water will turn into music instead of ice. The material inside a bad continuum will always adhere to the physics that were local to it, even if taken to another universe. This, he concludes, is called the transmatter.
(present)Steve and Sharon Carter sprint down a corridor. Steve wonders what ‘yes’ means. Sharon reckons Shang Chi is a man of few words. What can he hear? Steve can hear bones breaking so he guesses they’re still good. He says that it’s not often he’s wished for a gun but the station hull is too thin. Sharon’s glad she brought something along with her, a gauntlet which she attaches to her forearm. Steve asks if it’s what he thinks it is. She replies that it’s a little souvenir from the old days at S.H.I.E.L.D.
(not so long ago)Hank explains that the Shadow Council is mining transmatter in a bad continuum. This transmatter, it seems, can be electrolyzed into nuclear fusion. A two gallon can of transmatter when subjected to a child’s chemist experiment could very easily stellify Earth. When Sharon asks what that means, Hank replies that it means it could turn the Earth into a sun. As domestic machines go, he continues, it is horribly ultimate and depressingly simple. They’re going to need to speak to someone about an intramultiversal dropship.
Sharon turns to Steve and asks how they even got this material. Steve replies, with sorrow, that an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent he knew infiltrated the Shadow Council alone and offered him information in return for safe exfiltration. He was found in eight pieces on an Oregon beach, but the datachip was intact. He turns and walks away, asking her never to let him play spymaster again.
(present)Sharon leaps at some Shadow Council agents in the Escher-style environment crying, “Satan Claw!” She tears through the agents like a hot knife through butter and clears a path for Steve. Once she’s finished, Steve quips, “I love you,” as she tells him that the place makes her eyes hurt just looking at it. And, she adds, she has no idea where Shang Chi is. However, she then spots him approaching her upside down long a staircase, demolishing another few agents as he goes. Steve takes out one more and Shang Chi tells him, with respect, that he said to incapacitate them. One does not brush a reed to the ground if you want it to stay out of your path. You snap it. He turns and kicks an approaching assailant, adding that he came to aid them in a mission of stealth, extraction and honor avenged. He resents being made his thug!
More agents approach up a staircase as he adds that they still haven’t seen the mining operation, nor a flight deck. Steve warns him of more encroaching agents, but Shang Chi already knows they are there and he deals with them in his own inimitable way. As he fights, Sharon crawls up (or down, depending on how you see it) a ladder, closely followed by Steve Rogers. She asks him to let the Master of Kung Fu work. They need to find the flight deck before they ship the transmatter back home.
They soon come to an opening. Sharon reckons that whatever Shang Chi is doing to those agents, it’s horrible. Steve reminds her that she’s the one who said to let him work. He verbally kicks himself, as the Avengers are supposed to survive through teamwork and they never seem to have any. He looks around and sees some tubes which he believes may be access tubes. Sharon notes that they’re unmarked, which explains why Steve’s inside man’s blueprints never seemed to make sense. Out of nowhere, Shang Chi appears and asks them to wait. Sharon is startled, but Shang Chi explains that one of the tubes is colder and connects to a large corridor that is open to outside conditions. “Flight deck,” states Rogers. Steve is pleased, and tells Shang Chi that he’s not there to be a thug. He’s there to be an Avenger!
They slowly make their way to the deck and drop down onto platforms overlooking the hangar. Below them they see several Shadow Council agents and a familiar hulking figure among them. “Is that?” asks Sharon Carter. “Affirmative,” replies Rogers. “Arnim Zola 4.2.3.” Shang Chi says that doesn’t explain anything to him, so Steve explains.
Zola, he replies, is a crazy man who broadcasts his mind into mechanical bodies. 4.2.3. is one of his personality updates that got locked in one android body, a broken copy stuck to the machinery. The Shadow Council is good at recruiting broken copies of things. Sharon asks what they should do. Steve replies that he has the transmatter so they’re out of choices. They need to rush them. He will take Zola so they need to make a hole for him. Instantly, the trio goes into action and start wading through agents. Zola sees them and calls for the engines to be started.
As the engines kick into life, Steve runs as fast as he can towards Zola’s craft. He is burnt as he leaps on the back of the craft, grabbing hold with one hand as it takes off. He rolls inside but is smashed by Zola who towers over him in his robotic form. He asks Rogers if he thought he wouldn’t know him or how much his drive-father hated him? Steve replies by turning and delivering a stiff uppercut. Zola’s Shadow Council agents come forward to fight for him, but Rogers uses his amazing agility, super strength and handy shield to take them out. Zola states that he will burn his world and live on the surface of a new star like the god he is! Steve replies that he’s met gods and he is just a broken phone.
He leaps at Zola and kicks him where his computer-imaged face sits. With Zola down, he stands over two pilots and informs them that he has a new destination for them, and argument would be unhealthy.
Soon, they arrive on the roof of the Baxter Building where they are met by Reed Richards. He marvels at the ship and tells Steve that Shang Chi and Sharon just arrived downstairs in the vessel he loaned them, but where did this come from? Steve grins and replies, “It’s a secret.”


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Encircle
(Zero point, Evje, Norje)The Avengers are fighting a losing battle against superior numbers. Sharon Carter is already dead, War Machine is badly injured and Captain America is shot in the chest. The Black Widow continues shooting back at their assailants as they emerge from a strange portal but she knows she’s in trouble.
War Machine looks up at her from his ground position and warns her that she has to escape. She tells him to get back to cover but he replies that it’s too late. He opens a small cover on his armor and asks Natasha to take the escape hatch. It’s the red button. She asks him to use it, but again he says it’s too late. He’s already disconnected it from his armor so it won’t work for him now. He tells her he’s dying so she must use it, now. She takes the device but admits she doesn’t know what it is. She assures him that she can use it to get help and orders him not to die. As soon as she disappears into the timestream, War Machine joins Captain America and Sharon Carter as he loses his fight for life.
(Zero minus five years, Trieste, Italia)Natasha arrives five years in the past outside a beautifully located house on the Gulf of Trieste. She pauses a moment to get her bearings before recognizing where she is and what the escape hatch has done. She barely recalls that she was there before. She loved the place. She damns Henry McCoy for being so incredibly boring that she didn’t listen to him talk about time travel. She heads inside and grabs herself a glass of wine. She figures that, given that she’s five years in the past and the Evje mission hasn’t happened yet, she’s going to take her time in working out her next move. She wonders how the escape hatch works.
The small circular device lights up and offers two warnings. One, its location-shifting may be inexact in this pre-GPS era and two, the timeflow must be preserved. It adds that it has some preloaded spacetime frames in its system. Would Natasha like to know more? Natasha says she’d like to know where it came from. It loads up Preload 2 and explains that Oscar Khronus, a timeshift specialist, commenced work on it at Zero minus forty-four years. His image appears in the middle of the device. Natasha says that he vanished forty years ago so that’s not an answer. Why is she there? It loads up Preload 1 and explains that Villa Vedova holds a large currency cache, a gold store, arms and documents.
Natasha twigs that she left Trieste six years ago and remotely blew it up three years back to destroy some materials. So, she muses, why can’t she just jump back to five minutes before they got hit and kill everybody? The device repeats that the timeflow must be preserved. “I have to let everybody die?” she asks. It loads up Preload 3 and informs her that it is Henry McCoy’s lab at their Secret Avengers base - Zero minus one month. She asks if it’s saying she should talk to Henry and tell him what happened, or what will happen. It once again repeats that the timeflow must be preserved and words appear on its screen. ‘No No No. Very Bad.’
She says that Oscar Khronus spent years trying to get funding for time-travel research and then disappeared. The device repeats that he can be found at Preload 2 and then repeats that at Preload 1 she can find currency and weapons. The Black Widow catches on. “I hate you,” she smiles.
(Zero minus one month, Secret Avengers HQ)Natasha disappears and then reappears next to Hank McCoy. She tells him she has a question about time travel. He says he does like talking about that subject. She explains that she has an old friend who had a time-jumper on his mission team. They ran a mission and the time-jumper died first. In fact, the whole team died apart from her friend. Her question is, if the time-jumper had been the only survivor, could she have saved her team?
He asks if she means by going back in time and changing things? He imagines that she imagines that the time-jumper could go and get two big guns and then appear behind the bad guys three minutes before it all went bad. “Couldn’t she?” asks Natasha. Hank informs her that causing something to violently “unhappen” is like throwing dynamite into a pond. You get waves and unpredictable splashing. The flow of time must be preserved. Everything after she time-jumps, he adds, is up for grabs because it hasn’t happened yet. But again, she can’t land at a point that means, going forward, that two of her are running around at the same time. Natasha closes her eyes and cradles her forehead in her hand. “God, I hate time travel,” she sighs. Hank reckons she wishes her friend had never mentioned it. Imagine how much more complicated it might be to change time in such a way that you appear not to have changed time, he adds. She asks him to keep talking.
(Zero point minus one week, Vila Vedova, Evje, Norge)The Black Widow dashes through the complex and finds one of the many weapons stored there. She relaxes in a chair and asks the escape hatch if there is a weaponeer in its preloads. It replies that there is - Harry Grindell ‘Death-Ray’ Evans. Natasha groans, “Oh, God. Why him. I hate you.
(Zero point minus forty-four years, Republik Osterreich)The Black Widow waits for a car to pass by in the hills. Once she hears it coming, she readies her arrow and then fires it at the car’s tire. It skids to a halt and she rushes towards it as the two occupants get out. The driver is a large man named Kongo and his passenger is Count Oscar Khronus. He asks Kongo to destroy her but he soon succumbs to her Widow’s bite. Khronus grabs a large weapon from the car and orders her to turn and face him. He tells her his time gun will send her heart to be eaten by dinosaurs. She quickly throws a dart at him, which stabs him in the wrist, causing him to fall backwards and drop the weapon. Natasha stands over him and says she wants him to work for her. She wants him to disappear and, in return, she will give him more money than he’s ever seen to build her a time-travel device. Khronus can’t believe it. That’s all he’s ever wanted.
(Zero minus six years, Gogogogooch, Cymru)Thirty-eight years later, the Black Widow visits Harry Evans at his base. Sitting in a chair made of weapons, he tells her that it’s his sanctum of sorrow, where he drunkenly bemoans the lack of really big stuff to kill these days. Why does she disturb his misery? She tells him that she wants to know everything about the gun. If he sells it, copies it or derives functions from it, there will be nowhere he can hide from her. She’s paying in gold. He smiles and asks if she should really be funding terrorists like him. She tells him that no one will ever know, will they? He says it won’t come from him. He can’t wait to shoot someone with it to see what it does.
(Zero minus five years, New York City)Using Preload 4, the Black Widow visits Dr. Anthony Ludgate, otherwise known as Dr. Druid thirty-six hours before his death. She explains to him that, in the future, because of the relatively short window, they went into the mission without enough intelligence. Will he help her? Ludgate asks if she’s talking about the Shadow Council and the things they worship. She asks if he knows them. Ludgate replies that he knows of them. He asks why she’s not going to her friend Stephen Strange with this. She replies that he has a reputation for being more… pragmatic than Doctor Strange.
She explains that all she needs to know is how to close the portal. She doesn’t know magic. He replies that magic is the creation of physical effort through will and art. So, he could give her a mantra and a dead chicken to kill her magic portal, but really a suitcase nuke might do the same thing. Really? she asks. She’s seen magicians attack each other with mystic blasts or something. He explains that it’s radiation. They irradiate each other. They surround these things with art and iconography simply because it increases their power. So, he adds whilst reaching for a book, what she needs to know is how to irradiate the portal into dissolution.
(Zero minus six months, Washington D. C.)The Black Widow blackmails U.S. General Barger into uploading the escape hatch device into War Machine’s armor by threatening to upload a video he has of him in a compromising position. It’s now over four weeks that she’s been at this. “I hate you,” she groans as the escape hatch informs her of this fact.
(Zero minus thirty-eight years, Cicade Kang, Brazil)Natasha visits Oscar Khronus, who shows her iteration number twelve of the time-travel device. She stands looking at it and comments that it’s the size of a bus! He says she should have seen iteration nine. Actually, he adds, she can’t. He can’t get it out of the basement. She tells him she wants it to fit on her wrist and Khronus assures her that it will before offering her some dinner. “Kongo cook good,” says the faithful Kongo.
(Zero minus five years)Natasha then revisits Harry Evans, who informs her that the gun is much more complicated than it looks. He asks if she saw it make entry wounds. She doesn’t recall seeing that, and Harry isn’t surprised. The beam it projects isn’t the weapon. It’s a guideline, like a tube. The guide beam is reporting distance–to-target back to the gun. The gun then shoots a tiny bullet of phased matter down the tube that is primed to go off inside the target. Natasha gives him something to work out.
(Zero minus thirty years)She revisits Oscar Khronus but finds the latest version still too large. He begins to explain that he needs a computer to calculate the motion of spacetime but she already knows that, without the correct calculations, she could theoretically timejump into vacuum. “God save us from men who like explaining things.”
(Zero minus four years)Back to Harry again and he puts the gun under a laser beam. He tells her this goes against the grain - building a gun-diluter. Natasha says he now gets to have fun and hands him some specs. He replies that a chunk of occult dimension is a very big thing to kill.
(Zero minus twenty-four years)Khronus hands her iteration two hundred and forty-nine. It’s the size of a football helmet so a big improvement, as it were. She smiles and says he’s getting there, but now they have to talk about voice-control and recording. She offers him more wine.
(Zero minus three years)Harry Evans visits the Black Widow in Trieste. He has the escape hatch and it’s now at the appropriate size. He asks her to power it up and she’ll see three buttons on the touchscreen. Button one will switch every one of the weapons in its vicinity to stun mode. It’ll still hurt like hell and, if you’re hit, you’ll pass clean out for a few minutes, but it’s the best he can do. Button two is an overload. Once pressed you hit button three and throw the thing as far as you can. Very good, she tells him and then asks if he wondered why she wanted to take possession of it there. He admits he was curious. He thought that maybe she wanted to go on a holiday.
Natasha explains that she’s in America at the moment and she’s realized she needs to get rid of a lot of documents and materials. “You’re in America. Right,” he replies, perplexed. She then reveals that she is a hologram and tells him that she’s remotely detonating the explosives in the building’s foundations. She’s doing this because he was right. She can’t live with having funded him and she found out that he sold the gun design to the Shadow Council. “Goodbye.” She disappears from his sight and the entire building goes up in a massive explosion, killing him.
(Zero minus four years)Count Khronus has also died and both Kongo and Natasha visit his grave. She tells him she’s sorry, but he says he’ll be okay. He tells her that the Count was happy. For forty years, he was happy. He had work, a house, money and time. The Count would say to him, ‘Tasha gave us the best life. He informs her that the strap is finished and is at the house waiting for her. He has taken some poison and will sleep there with the Count. “Goodbye ‘Tasha,” he adds. “Thank you.” Natasha pauses a moment before saying goodbye to him, and thank you.
(Zero minus thirty seconds, Evje, Norge)Captain America is shot in the chest.
(Zero point)Natasha materializes behind the invading Shadow Council troopers and clicks button one on the device. All the weapons they carry go to stun mode and they incapacitate the soldiers. “Almost worth the wait,” says Natasha as she reaches for the next button. She then tosses the device at the portal and ducks for cover as it explodes, shutting the portal down for good.
With the Shadow Council threat at an end, she removes the escape hatch module and throws it to the floor before zapping it with her Widow’s bite, effectively destroying it. Captain America comes round and hazily asks what happened. She kneels beside him and informs him that their assailant’s guns malfunctioned and blew up. “Must’ve been untested weaponry. Dumb luck,” she replies. Cap quips that dumb luck seems to be the only way they survive these missions. Sharon Carter appears and asks what the smoke is. Natasha says it’s blowback when their guns cooked off. Sharon says it’s one hell of a way to close a tunnel. War Machine then asks about the smoking escape hatch, to which Natasha says she activated it and it caught fire. Untested kit again. James replies that he guesses they didn’t need it after all. “Yeah,” replies Natasha… her mission a worthwhile success.


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Final Level
(the O*N*E station in Houston - 600 seconds to go)A fire alarm is sounded inside the skyscraper, the primary storage and admin facility of renditioned resources. The cause is a wall of flames and a plume of black smoke ascending from the rooftop.
Inside, four people gather around an octagonal computer bank. Baum is the last to arrive. He wants to get this done and get out. The fire is barely two floors above them. He asks if anyone know how it stared. Unseen by him in the Avengers’ ship, Beast calls Steve Rogers on the radio and informs him that the microwave heaters are running, the holographic projectors are running and the sound cannons too. They have a rather lovely false fire going. He could even crank up the force-field thrower to fake a little earthquake just to induce more haste, perhaps? Steve asks him not to over-egg it but to stay close. Team one is closing on command whilst team two is en route to storage.
Inside, Mr. Akins says that he can’t get the fire control systems up. It’s starting to smell like sabotage to him. Ms. Sung informs him that the building’s clear. It’s just them left but she can’t lock the doors. Steve Rogers appears behind them holding a pistol and tells them it’s his fault but he asks them to remain calm. He needs to know which one of them is working for the Shadow Council. There are 450 seconds to go.
Akins asks how he dare walk in with a gun. This is the Office of National Emergency. Steve replies that he understands Akins runs the alpha team and his instincts are to protect his people, but he doesn’t wish to incapacitate him. Ms. Hood recognizes him as being Steve Rogers, and Steve replies that she is Ms. Hood, a former lieutenant in the Marine Corps. Flanked by the Black Widow and Moon Knight, he informs them that they made it look like the building was aflame to ensure their privacy. Ms. Hood salutes him. 400 seconds to go.
Moon Knight reminds Steve that they have a time factor. Steve explains that their intel says that the Shadow Council member in this room is going to sabotage their storage facility today. Their mission is over. If they make themselves known, they will be treated well. 350 seconds to go. No one responds, so Steve turns his back and tells them he doesn’t believe in torture, so he’s going to let his colleagues do it. Moon Knight instantly jams one of his crescent darts into Mr. Baum’s hand causing him to scream in pain. He tells him it’s been a while since he cut a man’s face off. Even longer since he had them survive it. The Black Widow blasts Mr. Akins in the leg and the two assaults convince Ms. Hood to come clean.
With 300 seconds to go, Steve says he doesn’t believe her. Ms. Hood says, “Paraguay, one year ago.” Hank, listening in from the ship, tells Steve that they’re definitely storing something recovered from a dig in Paraguay. Steve tells her to come with him and asks Natasha to get the others out of the building. He also asks Hank to kill the alarm and start the lockdown. Hank activates an elevator for their use and starts cracking the security on the Paraguay file.
As Hank guides War Machine, Valkyrie and Sharon Carter to the storage facility, Steve sits down with Ms. Hood and asks her about Paraguay. She is very compliant and informs him that she was given the location by her superiors in the Council. She made it look like it’d been obtained in the course of ordinary intel gathering. The Council set up the appearance of a breeding experiment from the 1950’s. It was a remote village called Nueva Thule, which had evidence of yet another band of mad Nazi scientists hiding in South America. Steve asks if it was a fake. Ms. Hood replies yes and no. The operation did happen, but it wasn’t Nazis and it wasn’t sixty years ago. The Council just made it look that way.
Steve can’t believe that she… the Shadow Council, conducted breeding experiments. She explains that they were mostly volunteers - men mostly. The Council was hoping for a hybrid that could more easily communicate with the owners. That wasn’t quite what they got back, but the results were useful. So, a scenario was constructed very carefully. Nazis. Things from beyond space. Half-alien spawn so awful they had to be hooked to nuclear-powered refrigerant units and buried.
With 150 seconds left to go, Ms. Hood continues to explain that there’s a magic word that casts a spell on anyone in military intel. Super Soldier. Since 1941, there have been more than five hundred recorded attempts to create a ‘super soldier’ with his capabilities. Fewer than ten of the subjects are believed to be alive today. O*N*E had only to be told that weird, buried superhumans were there for the taking. Now, they’re down there in the basement with all the other things they’ve gathered that they think could one day be useful against some threat or another. Should they take out this building and its stockpile, they would take out one future hurdle against the rise of the Shadow Council.
Steve replies that there’s one thing he doesn’t understand. She was prepared to do something to destroy this building and kill all the people in it, but she balked at her colleagues being tortured. Why? Ms. Hood tells him she had a plan. She can control all kinds of building operations from the command level. She was going to set off the fire alarm and ensure everyone got out. She was briefed that it would take less than ten minutes for the creatures to awaken after she shut off the refrigerants. So, the fire alarm went off anyway and she was the first person on the command level. She killed the refrigerants on the assumption that an ordinary evacuation would follow. Everyone she knows would be well clear of the building before it was too late. She adds that she wasn’t interested in killing anyone, just destroying the stockpile. Now, they’re all going to die.
Deep underground on sublevel 30, War Machine, Sharon Carter and Valkyrie locate the two refrigerant units that were put there. There are just 50 seconds remaining. Steve radios them and asks if they can hear him. Hank adds that he’s getting some strange readings from their location. Sharon replies that the signal is bad down there. She doesn’t know what was going on but the place was obviously a deep freeze, which is now thawing. She then notices that whatever’s inside the tanks are waking up. Steve asks Hank if he can reactivate the refrigerants but he reckons the circuit looks dead. Steve asks James Rhodes to get his biggest gun online straight away. 20 seconds left.
Steve asks Ms. Hood what she’s done to the refrigerant system. She replies that she put a power surge through it and then locked the circuit off. There’s nothing he can do now. “I thought you were a marine,” he replies, “There’s always something we can do.” She says there’s nothing they can do but die. Hank picks up multiple life signs within two sources. He asks Steve about his Symkarian mission. Didn’t he say something about ‘many-souled ones?’
Underground, as the Black Widow and Moon Knight ask Steve what’s next, the capsules open violently and Valkyrie raises her sword for battle. Rhodey doesn’t know what he’s looking at as a strange blue creature emerges from the tank. It has an enormous head in relation to its body. It soon stops and vomits, expanding its size quickly. Valkyrie lowers her sword and says that the creature is not a warrior or a weapon. Steve orders War Machine to open fire, but he is reluctant. He thinks they look sick. Maybe they should get the medics in. Sharon Carter follows her orders. She targets a third eye which appears on the first creature’s head and shoots. The bullet tears it in two and Valkyrie doesn’t know whether she’s disgusted or hungry.
Sharon continues firing as the monster grows rapidly, soon looming large over them as its body becomes flea-like in shape. War Machine takes to the air. “All right, all right,” he sighs. “Kill me for showing a little human compassion.” Sharon replies that they might. The second creature reaches for Valkyrie and she slashes at it with her sword. The creatures continue growing until they scrape the roof and smash the machinery attached to it. Despite Sharon Carter blasting away, they sense that they are losing the battleground. War Machine has them covered and he fires a rocket in the monster’s direction. He wants to find their heads and put holes in them before they stick them out the window.
Elsewhere, Steve Rogers tells Hank he said not to use force-field throwers. Hank replies that it’s not his doing. The creatures appear to be drawing mass from somewhere else. Steve asks for an explanation. Hank informs him that the two breeding experiments downstairs would seem to be living portals to the dimension of the Shadow Council’s beloved otherworldly masters. They are looking at an alien invasion conducted through the medium of, not space or air, but flesh. When Steve asks if it can be contained, Hank says they’re growing faster than their team can blow bits off them. Steve asks how much power he can put through the force-field throwers but Hank offers a blunt no to that idea. He has the greatest respect for Steve but he will not kill again for him and especially not his own team. “Then give me options,” replies Steve.
Hank tells everyone to get to the roof. Steve gives the order and grabs Ms. Hood. Sharon and Valkyrie get into the elevator and War Machine asks them to get ready. This is gonna be scary. “Scarier than what?” replies Sharon, blasting a tentacle in two. Rhodey uses his boot’s propulsion system to rocket them upwards quickly. Meanwhile, Hank uses the ship to build and position the force-field attack. It envelops the building, though he admits he might have to redirect power from the cloaking system. Steve asks him to crank up the false fire projection and make it look good.
Steve and Ms. Hood get to the roof and she wonders how they’re supposed to get up to the ship. He asks how she thinks they got down there from the ship. Behind them, the elevator comes shooting out from the building and Steve tells Ms. Hood to jump. Valkyrie and Sharon Carter to likewise and they all fall to Earth as Hank cranks up the power and pulverizes the building. Once it’s destroyed, he creates a small force-field to catch everyone and bring them to safety.
Hank informs Steve that the only life signs he reads now are theirs and Ms. Hood’s. The entire weight of the building, plus the force-field rams, has reduced their two friends to paste. Now safe, Ms. Hood says she supposes they expect her to tell them everything about the Shadow Council. Steve replies that it would be nice and better for her. Fewer consequences. “Consequences,” she says, pulling a pistol from her back pocket. A second later, Ms. Hood is dead.