Chapter Summaries

Captain America’s group escaped the destruction of the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, while Evenson teleported to New York and later met the wounded Nick Fury. They learned that Hydra’s Project Insight was close to succeeding, and Evenson left to contact Gideon Malick as Nick Fury reconsidered when to act.

• Captain America, Peggy Carter, Natasha, and Sarah survived a missile strike on the underground base, but Arnim Zola was presumed dead and Evenson was missing.
• Evenson called the group from New York, then received a call from Nick Fury and traveled to a hidden safe house near Washington.
• Evenson found Nick Fury badly injured and joked with him about his wounds and possible treatments before Fury raised Project Insight.
• Evenson identified Zola as the Hydra scientist who programmed Project Insight and said he had visited the base with Captain America before the missile attack.
• Nick Fury asked whether Gideon Malick could help stop Project Insight, and Evenson left to contact him while Fury withheld a message on a modified pager.

Minister Pierce tried to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. steady as Hydra prepared to launch Project Insight, but learning that Evenson had helped Captain America convinced him that the Umbrella Corporation was involved. Pierce sought Baron’s help to counter the growing resistance.

• Pierce reflected on Nick Fury’s death, Zola’s sacrifice, and the failed attempts to capture Captain America and Black Widow, then decided to use the Winter Soldier to keep them occupied.
• Sitwell reported that Evenson might have aided Captain America and explained that Evenson’s car had been impounded after his dog Hubbs led police on a reckless chase.
• Pierce ordered Sitwell to retrieve the car and clear its tickets, then privately concluded that Evenson knew about Project Insight and that Umbrella might be preparing a larger attack.
• Pierce called Baron and asked him to repay the favor of receiving the scepter by helping Hydra.

Captain America and his allies recovered at Sam Wilson’s home, shared personal confessions, and planned to capture Sitwell to learn more about Hydra’s Project Insight. Sam joined their operation, and Sitwell agreed to meet him in a car, leaving Natasha confused in her hiding place.

• Sam Wilson sheltered Captain America and his allies, while Sarah and Natasha comforted each other and Peggy Carter discussed her past with Steve.
• Natasha identified Sitwell as a likely Hydra officer aboard the Star of Moria, where Zola’s algorithm was being transported.
• Sam offered to help the group retrieve flight equipment from Fort Meade, and Captain America accepted his assistance.
• Sitwell met Senator Stan under Pierce’s orders and then received a call from Sam, who arranged to take him for a drive.
• Sitwell agreed to Sam’s invitation, while Natasha waited in the bushes with an unused laser pointer.

Captain America and Black Widow interrogated Sitwell, who revealed Hydra’s mass-murder plan and agreed to help them. As they headed toward S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, a metal-armed attacker hurled Sitwell from the car, but he survived and disappeared.

• Captain America and Black Widow confronted Sitwell on a rooftop, where he dodged their attacks using extraordinary flexibility and stretching techniques.
• Sitwell said he opposed Hydra’s authoritarian plans and explained that Zola’s Algorithm used personal data to predict Hydra’s enemies for Project Insight to eliminate.
• Sam, Sarah, Captain America, Peggy Carter, Natasha, and Sitwell drove toward S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, while Sitwell protested that their plan to attack it was dangerously underpowered.
• A metal-armed attacker smashed through the car window and threw Sitwell into the path of a truck.
• Sitwell survived the collision, escaped to the roadside, and leaped off the elevated bridge.

Alexander Pierce learned Sitwell had betrayed Hydra and sent Captain America’s group into an ambush with Baron Strucker’s soldiers. Peggy Carter fought the attackers, Captain America was thrown from the highway while pursuing the Winter Soldier, and Chaos Knight Melinda arrived in a modified drone as War Machine confronted Tony at Stark Tower.

• Pierce tracked Sitwell and discovered he was leading Captain America’s group toward S.H.I.E.L.D., so he called in reinforcements from Baron Strucker.
• The Winter Soldier attacked Captain America’s car, and Peggy Carter blasted him off the roof before Strucker’s soldiers pursued the group with energy weapons.
• Peggy Carter protected Captain America and Sam with black smoke, then attacked the flying soldiers and destroyed a Jeep with a Fel spear.
• The Winter Soldier fired a rifle grenade at Captain America, who blocked it and was blasted off the elevated highway as the Winter Soldier jumped down after him.
• Three missiles destroyed the Jeeps, and Chaos Knight Melinda arrived clinging to a modified S.H.I.E.L.D. drone.
• War Machine confronted Tony at Stark Tower, suspecting him of inventing armor that let someone control the drone while riding on it.

Sarah was grievously wounded by the aircraft attack and vanished after saying she had been summoned, leaving Natasha consumed by grief and fury. Peggy Carter and Natasha fought the Winter Soldier until Captain America recognized him as Bucky and stopped Peggy from killing him.

• Sarah was shot from the sky, and Natasha dragged her into cover, but Sarah vanished after telling Natasha she had been summoned.
• Melinda attacked the flight soldiers from the aircraft while Peggy Carter left the overpass to pursue the Winter Soldier, and the Winter Soldier destroyed two arriving police cars.
• Captain America fought the Winter Soldier, but Natasha joined the battle and attacked him in a grief-fueled rage over Sarah.
• Peggy Carter blasted the Winter Soldier, severed his metal arm with her battle axe, and pursued him after he escaped through an exploding car.
• Peggy Carter emerged from the flames in demon form, but Captain America twisted her horns to redirect her Eye Beam and recognized the unmasked Winter Soldier as Bucky.

Captain America, Peggy Carter, and Natasha were cornered by Rumlow’s Strike Team, but Elizabeth Ashe and Bob rescued them with gunfire and a tank cannon. Maria Hill revealed that Nick Fury had sent her to bring them back, where Evenson was waiting, while Natasha remained devastated.

• Captain America recognized the wounded Winter Soldier as Bucky and lowered his shield when Rumlow threatened Sam Wilson.
• Elizabeth Ashe shot Sam’s captor and attacked the Strike Team with explosives, while Bob arrived and blasted their forces with a handheld tank cannon.
• Rumlow and the remaining Strike Team agents fled, and Ashe and Bob disappeared.
• Maria Hill revealed herself to Captain America and said Nick Fury had ordered her to bring them back to coordinate with Evenson.
• Natasha raised her head at Evenson’s name, then lowered it again in sorrow.

Natasha learned that Sarah had survived after Evenson summoned and healed her, while Nick Fury joined the group to plan the destruction of Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. The group settled on exposing the organizations, and Evenson privately questioned Peggy Carter about her pursuit of the Winter Soldier.

• Captain America insisted that the Winter Soldier was Bucky and said he would save him despite the crimes he had committed under Hydra’s control.
• Evenson revealed that he had summoned and healed Sarah, and Natasha reunited with her in relief.
• Peggy Carter confronted Nick Fury about S.H.I.E.L.D.’s collapse, and Nick proposed using chips to disable the Insight Carriers.
• Captain America and Peggy Carter rejected Nick’s plan to preserve S.H.I.E.L.D., and Nick agreed to destroy it along with Hydra.
• Evenson asked Peggy Carter why she had pursued the Winter Soldier despite knowing his identity.

Peggy Carter explained to Evenson that Bucky’s brainwashing had trapped Steve Rogers between loyalty to Bucky and grief for Howard Stark, and admitted she had tried to kill Bucky to spare Steve that dilemma. She asked Evenson to help stop Bucky during the effort against Project Insight, and Evenson agreed to do his best without accepting her heart as payment.

• Evenson asked Peggy why she had pursued the Winter Soldier, and she explained that Tony would be enraged by learning Bucky had killed his parents.
• Peggy described how Steve was caught between his friend Bucky and Howard, who had risked much to help Steve and had cared deeply for him.
• Evenson realized Peggy had intended to kill Bucky before his identity became known so Tony and Steve would not face their painful choices.
• Peggy gave Evenson the box containing her heart and asked him to kill or capture Bucky when he intercepted their mission to stop Project Insight.
• Evenson returned the box and promised to do his best, saying Peggy could consider it a favor rather than a bargain.

Evenson and the others prepared to confront Hydra while Nick Fury secured the help of a dangerous-looking cat and Doctor Jouso explained how Gospel medicine had aided Fury’s recovery. Pierce persuaded the committee to advance Project Insight’s launch, leaving the heroes racing against the shortened deadline.

• Doctor Jouso showed Evenson Gospel’s red medicine and said it had helped Nick Fury recover rapidly.
• Nick Fury entered a hidden chamber and appeased a fierce cat, asking it to protect him.
• Evenson used Sacrificial Fire to dry Captain America’s washed World War II uniform.
• Hill told the group that the committee’s convoy had arrived and Pierce had moved up Project Insight’s launch.
• Pierce blamed Umbrella Corporation for the Winter Soldier’s attacks and urged the committee to act quickly.
• The committee agreed to launch Project Insight early and depart immediately.

Project Insight’s launch caught Nick Fury off guard, while Teresa received a warning that made her distrust Pierce’s security measures. As the committee members discussed preserving Umbrella Corporation, Pierce mistook their plans for an effort to shelter and rebuild it, then resolved to destroy the major powers himself.

• Evenson accepted Hydra’s early launch as an opportunity to begin the fight, while Nick Fury realized his plan to replace Teresa with Natasha could no longer work.
• Teresa received an alarming phone call as the committee convoy entered S.H.I.E.L.D.’s garage and hid her unease from the others.
• Pierce welcomed the committee members into headquarters and gave them biometric brooches, but Teresa refused to wear hers because of her pacemaker.
• Petrov, Brissac, Teresa, and Mr. Li discussed keeping Umbrella Corporation’s technology, scientists, and access to researchers rather than exterminating the organization immediately.
• Pierce interpreted the committee’s proposals as an Umbrella Corporation plan to divide itself among the major powers and later reunite, then decided he would destroy the nations.

The World Security Council debated whether to delay Project Insight as Steve Rogers broadcast that Hydra had taken over S.H.I.E.L.D. Pierce dismissed the warning as dementia, but his attempt to seize control exposed him as Hydra’s leader, and Teresa turned Mack and two Strike Team agents against him.

• Pierce’s casual attitude toward Umbrella Corporation led the Council members to suspect he had secretly allied with it, while they debated whether to halt Project Insight.
• Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter infiltrated an external communications room, and Steve broadcast a warning that Pierce and the Strike Team served Hydra.
• Pierce secretly ordered Project Insight to launch, then claimed Steve and Peggy had dementia and urged the Council to dismiss their accusations.
• Teresa proposed postponing Project Insight, and the Council members agreed to delay the launch and investigate Steve’s claims.
• Pierce summoned Mack and two Strike Team agents, drew a gun on the Council, and declared that Hydra ruled the building.
• Teresa calmed Mack with a command, causing him and the other agents to obey her and aim their weapons at Pierce.

The Eredar Twins persuaded the financial dynasties to expose Hydra’s Project Insight conspiracy through their media, while Malik worried that his missing daughter Stephanie had joined the fight. At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, a mysterious woman calling herself the Silver Snake Lady slaughtered Pierce’s agents and announced her allegiance to Hela.

• Malik said Teresa had received Project Insight’s truth and security codes, while Saloras argued that the move would only address the immediate danger.
• Saloras proposed using the dynasties’ media outlets to publish the Hydra conspiracy at once, and Malik agreed that being first would give their outlets enormous influence.
• The dynasties agreed to the plan from their bunkers, and Malik revealed that Stephanie had run away to punish heretics in the Goddess of Death’s name.
• Malik recalled Stephanie’s strange behavior and concluded that her supposed divine revelations were an extreme case of eighth-grader syndrome, though her new power had caused it.
• At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, the Silver Snake Lady used mercury to cut through the floor and kill Pierce’s tactical agents while their bullets failed to reach her.
• The Silver Snake Lady identified herself to the last surviving agent, hailed Hela, and crushed him with mercury.

Evenson and the agents learned that Hydra’s control of S.H.I.E.L.D. had been exposed in a widely pushed news report, but Pierce launched the Insight Carriers before the government could act. As Ghost Rider attacked the bridge, a virus opened the hangar automatically, leaving Rumlow and the command center stunned.

• Evenson delayed taking action while waiting for the Insight Carriers to launch, then read a news alert exposing Hydra and Project Insight.
• Teresa and the others saw the same report, but Pierce argued that the government would not act quickly enough to stop him.
• Pierce revealed that he had ordered the Insight Carriers to launch early, and they began rising from the hangar.
• Rumlow confronted the command center programmer, while Sharon Carter and other agents resisted his attempt to force the hangar doors open.
• The command center saw Ghost Rider burn through Pierce’s forces on the bridge, then a virus took control of the computers and opened the hangar doors.

Sambora and Ghost helped the assault on S.H.I.E.L.D. as the Insight Carriers launched, while Evenson joined the battle by summoning demons and attacking a carrier. The fight escalated as Evenson’s Hellfire damaged a turbine, and he prepared to land after a rough flight.

• Sambora hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s systems and opened the Insight Hangar while Ghost killed the squad guarding the terminal.
• Sambora began draining S.H.I.E.L.D.’s funds as Evenson summoned a Magic Bat to reach the airborne Insight Carriers.
• Captain America and Peggy Carter fought aboard a carrier and used their Eye Beam combination attack to defeat nearby soldiers.
• Evenson summoned hundreds of Magic Bats to draw the carriers’ cannon fire away from him.
• Evenson summoned a Hellfire that struck a carrier’s turbine, transformed into a rock giant, and climbed onto the deck.

Pierce’s forces kept Captain America and Peggy Carter pinned while Pierce killed Brissac and the other hostages’ allies, but Melinda arrived in a strange aircraft and destroyed the escort fighters. She landed on the carrier deck beside Captain America and Peggy, leaving the fight against Pierce’s forces to continue.

• Hellfire drew fire from Captain America and Peggy Carter, but escort fighters attacked it until the carrier’s cannons blasted it into ash.
• Pierce’s soldiers killed Mack and two others after Brissac refused to press Pierce’s button.
• Melinda arrived in her stealth-equipped aircraft and shot down the escort fighters pursuing Captain America and Peggy.
• After her aircraft was destroyed, Melinda seized control of an enemy plane, dove toward the carrier, and leaped onto its deck beside Captain America and Peggy.

Melinda struggled to communicate with Peggy Carter and Captain America while Farrell helped Falcon destroy the pursuing fighters and rescue the committee members. Pierce’s Hydra conspiracy collapsed, and Evenson’s awkward arrival left him trying to recover his dignity.

• Melinda failed to remove her stuck helmet or explain herself, so Peggy Carter and Captain America moved on while she searched for weapons on the Helicarrier.
• Farrell destroyed the fighters pursuing Falcon, opened a way into the Helicarrier’s control room, and then rescued Brissac, Teresa, and the other committee members from Pierce’s operatives.
• Pierce claimed that Malik and the Black Badge Division were tied to Hydra and Umbrella Corporation, but Petrov rejected his accusations.
• Evenson arrived on a giant bat, crashed, and vomited before asking everyone to pretend the entrance had not happened.
• Pierce called Evenson a high-ranking Umbrella Corporation leader, but Petrov doubted his latest claim.

Evenson rejected Pierce’s offer as the Council learned that Pierce’s biometric brooches could kill them, while Natasha and Sarah arrived after sneaking up the building. Natasha began disabling S.H.I.E.L.D.’s security protocols, and Nick Fury appeared to provide the second Level 10 clearance, carrying an orange cat.

• Rumlow rushed to the Council after hearing it had been breached, then turned back when he learned Evenson Richter was there.
• Pierce tried to recruit Evenson, but Evenson refused, and the Magic Bat frightened the Council by eating a corpse.
• Evenson found Pierce’s phone and used its termination program to destroy the Council members’ biometric brooches after they removed them.
• Natasha and Sarah arrived exhausted after climbing the building in a crouch beneath Sarah’s wings, and Natasha began disabling the security protocols to expose Hydra’s secrets.
• Natasha said the protocols required two Level 10 clearances, and Nick Fury stepped off a helicopter carrying an orange cat.

Nick Fury’s orange cat devoured Evenson’s Magic Bat, then spat it back out and asserted its dominance over the room. As Pierce argued that Project Insight could impose security through force, Mr. Li, Petrov, and Teresa condemned Hydra’s rule-by-fear and defended S.H.I.E.L.D.’s role as a global housekeeper; an angry voice interrupted Mr. Li’s curse at the end.

• Nick Fury opened a door, startling at Evenson’s Magic Bat, and his orange cat swallowed the monster with its tentacles.
• Nick Fury persuaded the cat to spit the Magic Bat back out, and Evenson banished it to the void after it eagerly answered the cat’s meow.
• Nick Fury asked Pierce why he had made him director, and Pierce said Nick was the most outstanding and cold-blooded person he knew.
• Pierce warned Nick that global crises could escalate into nuclear war and urged him to bypass the committee and use Project Insight.
• Mr. Li, Petrov, and Teresa argued that S.H.I.E.L.D. should serve as a housekeeper for global security and denounced Hydra’s reliance on terror and rule by man.
• Mr. Li cursed Pierce and said he belonged in hell, but an angry voice interrupted to say Hell was not a garbage disposal.

As Pierce’s plan faced opposition, Mephisto arrived to honor his contract with Evenson and warned the committee about Goose, revealing that all of Hell opposed Hydra. The chapter ended with Gabriel appearing, showing that Heaven also stood against Pierce.

• Mr. Li condemned Pierce’s plan as a reign of terror that would provoke endless resistance.
• Mephisto appeared before Evenson, Nick Fury, and the committee, declaring that he had come to stop Hydra under their contract.
• Mephisto recoiled from Goose and warned the committee that the Flerken was dangerous and had a powerful owner.
• The committee confronted Nick Fury for hiding his deal with Mephisto, then agreed to seek the United Nations’ support for his residency contract.
• Mephisto revealed that all the Hell Monarchs opposed Hydra’s plan, but Pierce dismissed their motives as lies.
• Gabriel appeared and Mephisto identified the newcomer, startling the committee with Heaven’s intervention.