Chapter Summaries

After Tony Stark publicly challenged Mandarin, Evenson recalled that Killian was behind Mandarin and decided he needed irrefutable evidence of Killian’s crimes. He sought Sherlock Holmes’s help, and Holmes agreed to hear the case as long as it was not S.H.I.E.L.D. business.

• Tony Stark declared war on Mandarin in front of reporters and challenged him to come to his home.
• Evenson recalled that Mandarin was a fake terrorist backed by Killian and concluded that Killian was the source of the attacks.
• Evenson decided not to tell S.H.I.E.L.D. or Tony Stark and resolved to gather evidence against Killian instead.
• Evenson returned to New York and visited Holmes, asking him to investigate the case.
• Holmes agreed to listen after Evenson assured him the matter was private and unrelated to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Evenson recruited Holmes to investigate the Theater Square bombing after confirming that S.H.I.E.L.D. was not handling the case. Holmes agreed after learning Evenson was an Avenger and became eager to test his Basic Deduction Method against a possible Mutant criminal.

• Evenson asked Holmes to investigate the Theater Square bombing, and Holmes questioned whether S.H.I.E.L.D. was secretly involved.
• Evenson said S.H.I.E.L.D. had withdrawn and that Nick Fury had suspended him, persuading Holmes to accept the investigation.
• Holmes asked Evenson to reveal his identity, and Evenson appeared in the Corruptor Set, identifying himself as an Avenger.
• Evenson warned Holmes and Watson that the culprit might not be an ordinary human, and Holmes eagerly described his Basic Deduction Method.
• Evenson invited Holmes and Watson to accompany him as they began the investigation.

Tony Stark investigated Mandarin’s attack with Jarvis when Holmes and Watson arrived to help. Holmes challenged Tony’s conclusions and pointed out that the explosion’s timing and location were wrong, leaving Tony curious about what was really happening.

• Tony used Jarvis’s files and a 3D crime-scene projection to examine information about Mandarin.
• Holmes entered Tony’s home and called the terrorist attack incompetent, prompting Tony to aim his hand cannon at him.
• Evenson introduced Holmes and Watson, and Watson asked Tony for an autograph before revealing she planned to trade it for a baseball player’s autograph.
• Evenson criticized Tony for publicly challenging Mandarin without preparation and said he had invited Holmes and Watson to help investigate.
• Holmes dismissed Tony’s investigation as superficial and said the attack’s timing and location were wrong.

Holmes and Watson argued that the explosion near the Grand Theater had been far less deadly than the Mandarin could have made it, suggesting it might not have been a terrorist attack. Holmes then examined the Mandarin’s video and found evidence that the supposed fortune cookies had been made after the explosion, leaving the real purpose of the incident uncertain.

• Holmes explained that the attack’s location and timing were poorly chosen, while Watson noted that a bomb inside the packed Grand Theater could have caused far more casualties.
• Holmes suggested that the explosion might not have been a terrorist attack and could have concealed something else.
• Holmes examined the Mandarin’s video and enlarged an image of a silver packet behind the cookies.
• Holmes found that the packet’s production date was within an hour after the explosion.

Holmes, Tony, Evenson, and Watson investigated clues showing that Mandarin’s responsibility video had been hastily assembled after the explosion. A dog tag found through Happy’s pose linked the incident to the military unit at Aliosalim Air Force Base.

• Holmes reasoned that the cookies in Mandarin’s video had been bought too shortly before its release for the attack and video to have been planned in advance.
• Tony used Jarvis to scan the cookie wrapper, which traced its purchase to a supermarket in Tennessee.
• Watson suggested the explosion might have been an accident, and Tony showed the group an image of Happy at the scene.
• Holmes and Jarvis used Happy’s gaze and fingers to locate a dog tag in the image.
• Holmes identified the dog tag’s unit as the one stationed at Aliosalim Air Force Base, the base Mandarin had attacked.

Tony linked the New York bombing to a suspicious Tennessee explosion and suspected the US Military had used Mandarin to conceal a weapons experiment. Holmes withdrew from the investigation out of fear, while Evenson hinted that circumstances might still change.

• Tony theorized that a soldier connected to the Aliosalim Air Force Base attack had been targeted in New York to silence him.
• Tony used Jarvis to find a matching explosion involving military personnel and identified a suicide bombing in Rose Hill, Tennessee, that killed Charlie Davis.
• Tony suspected the Tennessee blast came from an experimental military weapon and that Mandarin had been cultivated to provide a pretext for military action.
• Tony ordered Jarvis to arrange a flight to Tennessee so he could investigate the site in person.
• Holmes backed out of the case because he feared the military's senior leadership, and Evenson agreed to send Holmes and Watson home.
• Evenson warned Holmes to forget what had happened but suggested that a turning point might still come.

Maya Hansen arrived at Tony's villa to ask for his help, but her history with Tony prompted an awkward exchange with Pepper. The group noticed a flaming object flying toward the villa on television.

• Tony armored up and confronted Maya Hansen when she arrived at his villa.
• Maya asked to speak with Tony alone, and Pepper joined them after hearing the commotion.
• Evenson learned that Maya worked for Aldrich Killian and had met Tony at a science congress in 1999.
• Tony introduced Maya to Pepper, and Maya revealed they had once been one-night friends before explaining she wanted Tony's help.
• Maya pointed out a television report showing a flaming object racing toward Tony's villa.

Savin led Killian’s attack on Tony’s villa, but Evenson protected the residents and destroyed the attacking helicopters. As the villa collapsed, Tony flew to Tennessee, and Evenson sent Agent Black Lily to begin Operation Venice.

• Savin fired a missile at Tony’s villa, but Evenson blocked it with a barrier while Tony’s Iron Armor protected Pepper.
• Holmes and Watson led everyone out as the helicopters strafed the villa with Gatling guns.
• Evenson used Ignite to make the Extremis-filled helicopters explode, killing Savin and the other attackers.
• The damaged villa began sliding off the cliff, and Tony escaped by flying toward Tennessee.
• Evenson told Pepper that Tony was safe and messaged Umbrella Corporation Agent Black Lily to take suitable personnel and designated items to Tennessee for Operation Venice.

Dottie left Peggy and Captain America to respond to news that Tony Stark’s home had exploded and he might be dead, then reported to Gospel Company for a mission. She took a Gate-related suitcase, four cryogenic pods, and a newly developed weapon operated by Farrell, and boarded a transport plane with Agent 47.

• Dottie abandoned her dinner plans with Peggy and used a news report about Tony Stark to send Peggy rushing out, with Captain America following her.
• Dottie arrived at Gospel Company, where Gernos gave her a suitcase of Gate items and four cryogenic medical pods.
• Gernos introduced Farrell, an Egyptian weapons operator recruited by the Eredar Twins, and asked Dottie to test Adrian’s new weapon in combat.
• Dottie and the armed group headed to the transport plane, where she found Agent 47 waiting in the cabin.

Tony Stark survived Jarvis’s mistaken flight to Tennessee and called home, only to learn Peggy Carter planned to punish him for his recklessness. Meanwhile, Peggy and Steve Rogers caught Savin climbing a cliff after he escaped the explosion at Tony’s villa.

• Jarvis flew Tony to Tennessee before his armor had finished charging, and Tony crash-landed outside town and dragged the bundled armor into town.
• Tony called home from a phone booth and discovered Peggy Carter had answered after finding an active Iron Armor faceplate in the villa wreckage.
• Peggy reassured Tony that he was safe but threatened to teach him a lesson, then crushed the faceplate and left Tony dreading his return.
• Peggy sensed someone suspicious near the villa and went with Steve Rogers toward a distant cliff.
• Savin, badly injured but regenerating after escaping the explosion, climbed the cliff and was seized by Peggy.

Peggy Carter killed Savin after he tried to trigger his Extremis power, then set out with Captain America to question Pepper about the attack on Tony's house. In Tennessee, Tony investigated the blast site with Harley while Dottie and Evenson prepared to intervene.

• Peggy Carter confronted Savin over the attack on Tony's house, and Savin pushed his Extremis power toward an explosion rather than reveal Killian.
• Peggy transformed into her demon form and used her fel fire to kill Savin, then destroyed his remains.
• Peggy and Captain America decided to find Pepper, whom Peggy believed could explain what had happened.
• Tony reached an empty warehouse in Tennessee, traded with Harley for supplies, and followed him to the initial explosion site.
• Dottie watched Tony investigate the blast site and followed Evenson's instructions to open a briefcase and activate a magic circle.
• Evenson appeared on the rooftop through the magic circle.

Evenson teleported to meet Dottie and the Eredar Twins' team, where he encountered Farrell, a former customer who recognized him as the seller of a fake Ra statue. Farrell demonstrated Pharaoh's Eagle, a new aerospace combat armor, and Evenson mocked its name before suggesting Pharaoh's Hawk.

• Evenson appeared through a Demon Array and startled the armed team until Dottie reassured them he was one of them.
• Farrell recognized Evenson as the seller who had sold her a bronze Ra statue with peeling paint and a missing lead weight.
• Dottie explained that Farrell was a weapons operator and that Gernos intended to test the company's new product during the operation.
• Farrell demonstrated Pharaoh's Eagle, a mechanical combat suit with turbine-powered wings and neural connections.
• Evenson criticized the armor's name, proposed Pharaoh's Hawk, and asked who Farrell's Pharaoh was.
• Farrell and the others saluted the Twins and shouted their slogan, prompting Evenson to tell them to act more maturely.

Tony Stark investigated the explosion and found evidence that Chad Davis had been framed, while Evenson and Dottie identified unstable people in town as their mission’s targets. The scar-faced woman attacked the sheriff’s office, and Evenson ordered his team to capture her without exposing their connection.

• Tony Stark examined the blast site, noticed only five human silhouettes despite six reported deaths, and suspected Chad Davis himself had exploded.
• Harley led Tony to Mrs. Davis, who offered her son’s military experiment agreement in hopes of clearing his name.
• Dottie detected unusually high energy readings in the scar-faced woman who had bumped into Tony and in several other people in town.
• Evenson told Dottie that capturing the targets for experiments was the mission’s primary objective, and Farrell revealed a non-lethal weapon.
• Tony met Mrs. Davis at Walker Bar and concluded that someone had framed her son, but the scar-faced woman cuffed him and killed the sheriff and other officers with her red-hot hand.
• Tony escaped through a window, and Evenson ordered his team to split up and capture the woman without revealing they knew one another.

Tony escaped from the bar but was cornered by an Extremis attacker, whom Dottie disabled before Evenson arrived to free him. Evenson stopped the woman from exploding, but Farrell knocked her out with a concussive missile, leaving Tony to complain that she should pay him royalties.

• Tony fled the bar in handcuffs, but an armed man confronted him outside and Dottie shot and incapacitated the attacker.
• Dottie subdued the man with shadow poison gas while Tony recognized her from the Battle of New York.
• Evenson found Tony, rusted his handcuffs away, and insisted he handle the approaching Extremis woman himself.
• Evenson destabilized the woman's Extremis power, then stabilized it before she could explode.
• Farrell struck the woman with a concussive missile and incapacitated her, prompting Tony to say she should pay him royalties.

Dottie and her soldiers took the captured suspects away for experiments after Tony agreed to hand them over. Tony then used a satellite truck to uncover videos that identified Aldrich Killian as the mastermind behind the apparent bombings.

• Farrell knocked a woman unconscious, and armed soldiers sealed her inside a coffin as Evenson challenged them.
• Dottie arrived with a captured man and asked Evenson to hand over the suspects; Tony agreed after she promised Peggy could return to the United Kingdom with her.
• Dottie and the soldiers secured the coffin and the prisoners to ropes and were lifted away by a transport plane.
• Evenson and Tony went to a Christmas beauty pageant, where Tony used a fan's satellite truck to download encrypted video recordings.
• Tony watched footage showing Aldrich Killian's experiments on disabled soldiers, whose limbs regenerated or whose bodies exploded, and realized Killian had staged the bombings.

Tony learned that Killian was behind the human bombs and used Jarvis to locate Mandarin in Miami, but his armor could not recharge. After Evenson snapped him out of an anxiety episode, Tony bought an arsenal at a gun shop and headed toward the confrontation armed with fully equipped weapons.

• Tony learned from Harley that his armor could not recharge, then panicked about facing enemies without it.
• Evenson survived being thrown through the windshield and punched Tony until he regained his composure.
• Tony drove Evenson to a nearby town and first considered making weapons from supplies at a department store.
• Evenson led Tony to Oliver Weapons Shop and offered the owner triple the normal price for illegal automatic weapons.
• Tony bought fully equipped firearms and protective gear, including Level 3 Armor, a Level 3 Helmet, and a Level 3 Backpack.

Tony remembered that he had written the formula used to stabilize Killian’s modified humans and had given it to Maya Hansen, who was now with Pepper. While Pepper and Maya took refuge in a New York hotel with Holmes and Watson, Killian tracked them down and attacked.

• Evenson warned Tony that Killian’s modified humans carried unstable energy restrained by a fragile shackle, prompting Tony to remember a business card and a formula he had written.
• Tony told Evenson that he had taught Maya Hansen the formula in 1999, and Evenson realized Maya was connected to Killian and was currently with Pepper.
• At a New York hotel, Maya admitted her relationship with Killian and revealed that he was working with Mandarin, while Pepper said she forgave her.
• Holmes asked Maya for more information about Killian, but the hotel waiter rang the doorbell before she could answer.
• Killian killed the waiter, seized Pepper, and drew a pistol on Holmes and Watson as they prepared to fight back.

Killian attacked Pepper, Holmes, and Watson, but Maya Hansen stopped him and convinced him that keeping them alive could help secure Tony Stark's support. After learning that the mysterious Black Scythe Lord was involved, Killian took them hostage, while two new arrivals reached the hotel.

• Holmes and Watson attacked Killian, but he threw Pepper into Watson and kicked Holmes onto a sofa.
• Maya Hansen stopped Killian from killing the captives and argued that Tony Stark's support could help sell Extremis.
• Killian chose to use Pepper as leverage against Tony, then raised his gun at Holmes and Watson.
• Maya warned Killian that the Black Scythe Lord was at Tony Stark's place and that Holmes and Watson were his friends, persuading Killian to spare them.
• Killian took the captives away, and less than ten minutes later a woman in sunglasses and a man carrying a shield arrived at the hotel.

Peggy Carter and Captain America went to Pepper's hotel, where they discovered she had been abducted after a struggle. They identified her kidnapper as Killian and sent his image to Peggy's contacts, since S.H.I.E.L.D. was avoiding the case.

• Peggy Carter and Captain America arrived at Pepper's hotel after a rude taxi driver demanded his fare and refused to return their change.
• Peggy Carter and Captain America found Pepper's room unlocked, a dead waiter inside, and signs that Pepper had been taken recently.
• Captain America failed to convince the hotel manager to show them surveillance footage until Peggy Carter revealed her Demon Hunter eyes.
• Captain America and Peggy Carter watched the footage, identified Pepper's abductor as Killian, and took a picture of him.
• Peggy Carter sent Killian's image to her contacts and told Captain America she would investigate through her network because S.H.I.E.L.D. would not help.

Evenson split from Tony Stark to capture Maya Hansen and rescue Pepper, but discovered that Dottie's transport plane was stranded after Farrell accidentally triggered a rocket pod launcher’s self-destruct switch. He left the mission stalled while the crew dealt with the damage.

• Evenson told Tony Stark to continue to Miami while he went to rescue Pepper, and Tony urged him to act quickly.
• Evenson teleported into Dottie's transport plane and ordered her to capture Maya Hansen and find where Pepper had been taken.
• Dottie revealed that the plane had made an emergency landing and could not take off because of damage.
• Dottie explained that Farrell had triggered the launcher’s self-destruct switch, causing an explosion that damaged circuit boards and forced the landing.
• Evenson recognized the switch as a Gargan-made self-destruct device and learned that Farrell had thrown the launcher aside before it exploded.