Chapter Summaries

With a nuclear missile approaching Manhattan, Xia Yu and Tony Stark raced to steer it through the portal toward the Chitauri mothership. Xia Yu let Tony continue into space to guide the missile, promising to rescue him if he did not return within fifteen seconds.

• Nick Fury refused the council's order to launch a nuclear missile at Manhattan and shot down one unauthorized aircraft, but a second jet carrying a warhead escaped.
• Mar-Vell arrived unseen near Stark Tower and entered the building while the portal remained open.
• After Natasha reported that Dr. Selvig was awake, Xia Yu knocked Loki unconscious, took Loki's Scepter, and went to the roof to help close the portal.
• Tony told the team that a nuclear warhead would reach them in just over a minute, and Xia Yu flew to help him steer it toward the portal.
• At the portal, Xia Yu released the missile and gave Tony fifteen seconds to return after guiding it toward the Chitauri mothership.

After the Avengers defeated the Chitauri invasion, Xia Yu wondered whether his hidden mission was still active. The system then revealed that the hidden enemy had appeared and Natasha was in life-threatening danger, prompting Xia Yu to teleport to her.

• Natasha shut down the Tesseract with Loki's scepter, closing the portal as the nuclear missile destroyed the Chitauri Mothership and disabled the invading forces.
• Thanos learned that Loki had failed and sent Mar-Vell to Earth to retrieve the Tesseract and scepter.
• Tony and Xia Yu surveyed Manhattan and helped reunite the exhausted heroes after the battle.
• As the group gathered to find food, Xia Yu received alerts that the hidden enemy had appeared and Natasha was in danger.
• Xia Yu teleported away to reach Natasha immediately.

Mar-Vell attacked Natasha and stole the Scepter and the Tesseract, but Xia Yu arrived and subdued him. Xia Yu left Mar-Vell badly injured while Natasha urged him to finish the fight.

• Natasha took Dr. Selvig down from the roof and was shot by Mar-Vell, who seized the Scepter and the Tesseract.
• Mar-Vell explained his resentment toward Earth and his plans before Xia Yu emerged through a spatial portal.
• Xia Yu protected Natasha with True Qi and grabbed Mar-Vell as he tried to escape.
• Xia Yu crushed both of Mar-Vell's arms and one thigh after Mar-Vell had shot Natasha.
• Natasha told Xia Yu to kill Mar-Vell, but Xia Yu said he needed to question him first.

After the Battle of New York, Xia Yu healed Natasha and learned that Thanos was behind the attack on the Tesseract. He proposed expanding the Avengers and taking them into space, leaving the team looking toward the stars.

• Xia Yu told the arriving Avengers that Mar-Vell had attacked Natasha and tried to take the Tesseract and Loki's Scepter, and Tony ordered Thor to move them upstairs.
• Tmall awarded Xia Yu Points for defeating the Chitauri and completing the battle, along with a reward to absorb some of the Tesseract's power over at least three days.
• Xia Yu spent five or six hours healing Natasha, then carried her to a bedroom to rest.
• Hawkeye told Xia Yu that Mar-Vell had revealed Thanos was interested in the Tesseract, and Tony worried about a future attack.
• Xia Yu reassured the Avengers that Odin and powerful people on Earth could deter an invasion, then proposed expanding the team, securing independence from politicians, and venturing into the universe.

Xia Yu interrogated and killed Mar-Vell, learning about the Kree, Ronan, and Thanos. The system then issued Xia Yu a mission to kill Ronan, destroy his fleet, and infiltrate Hala to destroy the Supreme Intelligence.

• Xia Yu entered the Pikachu Apartment, where Hawkeye and Tony had held Mar-Vell for three days.
• Xia Yu taunted Mar-Vell about Kree honor and the Supreme Intelligence until Mar-Vell broke down and agreed to tell him everything.
• Mar-Vell revealed information about Captain Marvel, Ronan, Thanos, and the distribution of Kree forces.
• Xia Yu snapped Mar-Vell's neck and vowed to avenge Natasha by targeting the Kree and Ronan.
• The system issued Xia Yu a mission to kill Ronan the Accuser, destroy his fleet, and infiltrate Hala to destroy the Supreme Intelligence in exchange for the Power Stone's energy and attributes.

Xia Yu gathered the Avengers to discuss reorganizing the team and making it independent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and government control. After the Captain and Tony argued over the risks, Peggy Carter arrived with Natasha and proposed considering the problem from another angle.

• Xia Yu asked Tmall why the Mind Stone mission had not come first, and Tmall explained that Xia Yu needed to strengthen his body before absorbing more Infinity Stones.
• Xia Yu left Natasha to recover with Pepper Potts, Peggy Carter, and Betty Ross, then met with the Captain, Tony, Hawkeye, and Banner to discuss the Avengers' future.
• The Captain argued that the Avengers should not become a weapon for those in power, while Tony warned that they could not escape political influence while living and operating on Earth.
• Hawkeye questioned how the Avengers could act without legal authority, and Xia Yu suggested gaining strength and alien technology to secure a more independent position.
• Peggy Carter entered with Natasha in a wheelchair and asked the Avengers to consider another way to avoid political influence.

Peggy Carter advised the Avengers to protect their independence by building and maintaining public prestige, while Xia Yu proposed traveling into space to gather technology and allies. The team was left considering his plan to defend Earth beyond its own borders.

• Peggy Carter told the Avengers that their post–Battle of New York prestige gave them leverage over S.H.I.E.L.D. and the government.
• Peggy Carter advised them to use modern media and public service to maintain their standing with the public.
• Xia Yu proposed traveling into space to acquire technology, make allies, and establish an outpost to protect Earth from threats such as Thanos and the Kree.
• Tony asked whether the Avengers should contact other planets, and Xia Yu said they should prepare to confront threats beyond Earth.
• Xia Yu asked Banner for advice, but Banner deferred to the others and jokingly suggested asking Hulk before everyone shouted him down.

The Avengers settled plans to recruit Peggy Carter and Betty Ross, destroy Hydra, and seek United Nations recognition after Hydra was rooted out. As Peggy turned the team into public figures and sued the military over Captain America merchandise, Nick Fury arrived grievously wounded and asked Xia Yu for help.

• The Avengers agreed to visit Asgard when Thor returned, recruit Peggy Carter and Betty Ross, pursue United Nations recognition, and destroy Hydra before approaching governments.
• Peggy Carter secured funding by selling the Avengers' likenesses and arranging endorsements, including a thirty-million-dollar annual deal for Natasha with Xia Yu's Herbal medicine Group.
• Peggy sued the United States military for earning over a billion dollars from Captain America's likeness without his authorization, and Tony lent her Stark Industries' legal team.
• The Avengers appeared in advertisements and on television, leaving Hawkeye and Natasha uneasy about their new fame.
• Thor still had not returned, and Xia Yu could not contact Heimdall while trying to reach him about the Tesseract.
• Nick Fury arrived grievously wounded and told Xia Yu that matters were more serious than they had imagined and that he had nowhere else to turn.

Nick Fury warned that Hydra had attacked him and that the Avengers Compound was in danger, so Tony led everyone into his underground shelter. Just after the group settled in, an explosion shook the base, leaving them under attack.

• Xia Yu treated Nick Fury while Tony activated the compound's defenses and summoned the others.
• Nick Fury warned that his attackers might target the Avengers Compound, and Tony ordered everyone to the underground shelter.
• Nick Fury revealed that he had secretly steered the Avengers to a site built over Obadiah Stane's arms depot and admitted he had known about Tony's hidden base.
• Tony led the group to the concealed entrance and took them down to the shelter in a large elevator.
• Nick Fury told Peggy Carter that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., the World Security Council, and senior government ranks.
• An explosion violently shook the shelter, knocking Betty Ross's chair over and making Xia Yu shout at Tony.

Nick Fury told the Avengers that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and that Project Insight could fall into its hands, prompting them to condemn the plan and debate S.H.I.E.L.D.’s future. Peggy Carter ended the discussion by insisting that S.H.I.E.L.D. be disbanded and the Avengers protect the world.

• Tony Stark complained about damage to his buildings before agreeing to hear Nick Fury explain the crisis.
• Nick Fury described Hydra’s infiltration, the deaths and disappearances of detained agents, and Agent Hill’s discovery of missing items and altered records.
• Nick Fury explained that he had tried to suspend Project Insight, then discovered sealed files and was attacked while fleeing S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
• The Captain, Banner, and Tony condemned Project Insight, and Nick Fury admitted he was an asshole but asked how to stop Hydra from taking control of it.
• Peggy Carter proposed defeating Hydra and disbanding S.H.I.E.L.D., then declared that the Avengers should keep the world safe.

Xia Yu, Hawkeye, and Captain America confronted armed men attacking the Avengers Compound while Tony pursued their leader. After the fighting, they heard Captain America call out to Bucky.

• JARVIS warned Tony that armed squads and helicopters were approaching the compound, and Peggy ordered the team to capture their leader and leave the others for the police and media.
• Xia Yu, Hawkeye, Captain America, and Tony emerged from underground; Captain America sent Tony to pursue the leader while Hawkeye and Xia Yu handled the helicopters and ground forces.
• Hawkeye destroyed both helicopters with two arrows, and Xia Yu rapidly knocked out the armed men while carefully controlling his strength.
• Captain America went to assist Tony, while Hawkeye stayed back to watch for escaping attackers; Xia Yu finished subduing the ground forces.
• Xia Yu carried Hawkeye toward the main gate, where they heard Captain America call, "Bucky!"

Xia Yu stopped the Winter Soldier and rescued Agent Sitwell after the attack on the Avengers Compound, while Peggy Carter and Natasha identified the Winter Soldier as Bucky Barnes, Steve's presumed-dead childhood friend. Alexander Pierce learned that the operation had failed and ordered his people to find Sitwell and the Winter Soldier before the Avengers could expose them.

• The Winter Soldier attacked Tony and the Captain, who recognized him as Bucky despite his insistence that he was not.
• After Peggy Carter ordered Xia Yu to end the fight, Xia Yu pulled Tony away, knocked the Captain aside, and knocked the Winter Soldier unconscious.
• Xia Yu and Hawkeye carried the Winter Soldier and Agent Sitwell downstairs, where Peggy Carter recognized Barnes and explained his history with Steve.
• Natasha identified Barnes as the legendary Winter Soldier, and Xia Yu arranged to restrain him while Natasha and Hawkeye dealt with Sitwell.
• Alexander Pierce learned that Nick Fury was likely alive and ordered his people to locate Sitwell and the Winter Soldier before the Avengers could interrogate them.

Tony and Peggy planned to use the investigation into the bombing to expose Hydra, while Natasha and Hawkeye revealed Hydra's infiltration of the government and S.H.I.E.L.D. Xia Yu helped the Captain restore Bucky's memories, and the chapter ended with Bucky recognizing Steve and Peggy.

• Tony said reporters and federal agencies would force a thorough investigation, and Peggy urged Nick to have S.H.I.E.L.D. gather intelligence.
• Natasha and Hawkeye reported that Alexander Pierce, the secretary of defense, and several senators were Hydra, and they explained that Hydra had brainwashed the Winter Soldier.
• Natasha and Hawkeye advised the Captain to help Bucky recover his memories, and Xia Yu suggested showing him old footage of them together.
• Xia Yu repeatedly knocked Bucky unconscious when the footage triggered painful confusion, then showed him the footage again as he spoke with Steve and Peggy.
• Bucky woke up and recognized Steve and Agent Carter, then proved his identity by recalling Sarah's name and Steve's habit of stuffing newspapers in his shoes.

Xia Yu and the Captain helped Natasha and Hawkeye extract Agent Hill, then learned that a set of coordinates hidden in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network pointed to a military base in New Jersey. The group prepared to investigate the site, which the Captain and Peggy Carter recognized as a place tied to their past and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s beginnings.

• Tony Stark planned to pressure officials to investigate the missile attack while Xia Yu, the Captain, Natasha, and Hawkeye went to meet Agent Hill.
• Hydra agents followed Hill, and Xia Yu and the Captain used Gatling guns to drive them back while Natasha and Hawkeye took Hill away by river.
• Xia Yu and the Captain struggled to start the speedboat before returning to the underground base.
• Hill said JARVIS's hacking program had been discovered, but she had seen an encrypted folder's coordinates pointing to a location in New Jersey.
• The Captain identified the location as his former training site, Peggy Carter said S.H.I.E.L.D. had begun there, and Xia Yu urged everyone to go investigate.

The Avengers traveled to the abandoned New Jersey base where S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded and woke Dr. Zola’s computer system. Zola recognized Steve Rogers and was shocked to see Peggy Carter still young and alive.

• Xia Yu stayed in Tony Stark’s RV while the others entered the base, ready to intercept a missile.
• Peggy Carter led the group to the underground headquarters and recalled how she, Howard Stark, and Colonel Phillips had chosen it.
• Tony connected JARVIS to the old servers, and the system started up with Dr. Zola’s face on the screen.
• Dr. Zola identified Tony and Steve, then expressed disbelief that Peggy was still young and walking beside Steve.
• Peggy confronted Zola and reminded him that she had approved uploading his brain.

Dr. Zola revealed that Hydra had secretly manipulated history from within S.H.I.E.L.D. and told Tony Stark that Hydra was responsible for his parents’ deaths. After Zola destroyed his data, Tony left determined to uncover the truth and destroy Hydra.

• Dr. Zola said Hydra had spent seventy years fostering crises and profiting from war while changing history to suit its interests.
• Dr. Zola showed that Howard Stark and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had died in staged accidents, and Tony asked whether Hydra had murdered his parents.
• The Captain noticed Bucky’s guilty expression and suspected that he was connected to Howard and his wife’s deaths.
• JARVIS reported that Xia had detonated an incoming missile, and Dr. Zola warned Tony that the truth about his parents was unexpected.
• Tony ordered JARVIS to copy Zola’s data, but Zola destroyed the servers before the files could be recovered.
• Tony blasted the ruined servers, grieved over his mother’s death, and left with the others to question the bald man.

After learning that Hydra murdered his parents, Tony attacked Sitwell and set out with Xia Yu to confront Alexander Pierce. They burst into Pierce’s office as he pushed to launch Project Insight using Chitauri technology.

• Tony flew back to the base and beat Sitwell, who named Alexander Pierce and Senator Stern as Hydra leaders who might know about his parents’ murder.
• Xia Yu joined Tony instead of trying to stop him, and the two flew toward Washington while Banner stayed behind with Sitwell.
• Captain and Peggy Carter learned that Tony and Xia Yu had headed for Washington, and Peggy urged the group to find Nick Fury and plan for the aftermath.
• Alexander Pierce ordered Project Insight to proceed quickly and said Hydra needed to master Chitauri technology.
• Xia Yu punched through the glass wall of Pierce’s office as Tony aimed his weapons at Pierce.

Tony confronted Alexander Pierce at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters to learn who had ordered his parents’ murder, while Xia Yu kept the building’s staff and armed responders at bay. The chapter ended with Xia Yu inviting Jeniel Smith and two Hydra squads to talk after displaying a heavily armed barricade.

• Tony grabbed Alexander Pierce and demanded to know who had ordered his parents’ murder.
• Tony shot Pierce in the leg after Pierce denied knowing about Hydra and claimed the Starks had died in an accident.
• Xia Yu left Tony with Pierce, drove the hallway staff away, and warned them that Pierce was Hydra and planned a mass-casualty attack.
• Xia Yu waited in the hallway behind missiles and mounted miniguns as Jeniel Smith arrived with two Hydra squads.
• Xia Yu greeted Jeniel Smith and his men and invited them to talk.

Xia Yu forced Jeniel Smith, a S.H.I.E.L.D. operations team leader, into a bizarre coffee break while Hydra operatives watched. When Jeniel tried to regain control, Xia Yu threatened him with a live grenade over the price of the coffee.

• Xia Yu moved an M134 aside, fired two shots, and ordered Jeniel Smith to come over for a chat.
• Jeniel approached and began protesting, but Xia Yu startled him by producing a chair and tossing it to him.
• Xia Yu offered Jeniel coffee or tea, and Jeniel accepted the coffee after misunderstanding the question.
• Jeniel remembered why he had come and prepared to assert his authority, but Xia Yu slapped the table first and complained about his twelve-dollar coffee.
• Xia Yu pulled out a grenade, removed its safety pin, and demanded that Jeniel drink the coffee.

Xia Yu subdued Jeniel Smith and the Hydra squads with spiked beer, then knocked Jeniel unconscious and left the unexploded grenade in his Space Ring. He shifted to Asgard’s Bifrost control hall, where Thor and Heimdall were waiting.

• Xia Yu intimidated Jeniel Smith with a grenade and made him and the Hydra squads drink beer from his Space Ring.
• The spiked beer knocked the two squads unconscious, and Xia Yu punched Jeniel Smith unconscious.
• Xia Yu decided not to use Life and Death Talismans on the Hydra members and left Tony alone to deal with his situation.
• Xia Yu stored the nearly exploding grenade in his Space Ring, then appeared in Asgard’s Bifrost control hall before Thor and Heimdall.