Chapter Summaries

Lake and Hermione discussed establishing a federal Magic Operations Department and a new passage to the Wizarding World, while Hermione considered the work arrangement. The chapter ended with Hermione releasing a young Arceus from a Cherish Ball.

• Hermione and her companions subdued Blue Skin Bass, and Lake let the fire truck enter the paper mill to collect it.
• Hermione explained that a Boundary Stone could open a passage to the Wizarding World after a year if anchored to a building under construction.
• Lake proposed placing the Boundary Stone at the Supervisory Bureau headquarters and recruiting Hermione’s people to cooperate with its Department of Magical Operations.
• Hermione said she would report Lake’s proposal to the Magic Committee, which was already cooperating with London’s S.H.I.E.L.D. against escaped Hell Demons.
• Hermione opened the Cherish Ball and released a young Arceus, which recognized her and rubbed against her leg.

Lake traveled to Washington to argue that the Department of Homeland Security should take over supernatural cases from S.H.I.E.L.D. and expand its enforcement authority nationwide. Nick Fury and Alexander Pierce joined forces to oppose the transfer, leaving the dispute headed for a meeting with the President.

• A Maw Unicorn devoured residents in New Jersey, and Hermione later explained that Fantastic Beasts incidents had become less frequent as the creatures reproduced and spread.
• Hermione told Lake that the Supreme Temple's failure to intervene meant Voldemort's defeat was inevitable, while Lake wondered whether his changes to the timeline had transformed Earth.
• Lake learned that Secretary Kelly had finalized a meeting for the next morning to discuss supernatural enforcement, and he assured Hermione he would visit her family on New Year's Day.
• Lake and Bass flew to Washington to seek nationwide enforcement powers for the Department of Homeland Security, while Lake insisted S.H.I.E.L.D. should hand supernatural cases over to them.
• Nick Fury and Alexander Pierce traveled to Pennsylvania Avenue to oppose the transfer, since Hydra depended on S.H.I.E.L.D. to maintain its influence.

Lake and Secretary Kelly challenged S.H.I.E.L.D.’s authority and competence before the President, securing the Department of Magical Operations’ role in supernatural cases. The chapter left S.H.I.E.L.D. under pressure to prove its value or risk being merged into the Supervisory Bureau.

• Nick Fury urged the President to bring Lake Edwin’s Department of Magical Operations under S.H.I.E.L.D., but Lake questioned why S.H.I.E.L.D. had failed to retain its extraordinary personnel.
• Lake argued that S.H.I.E.L.D. could not manage magical cases effectively, while Secretary Kelly criticized its recent operation and asserted the Department of Homeland Security’s jurisdiction.
• Lake offered to let S.H.I.E.L.D. handle future magical incidents if it stopped meddling in terrorism cases, and Nick Fury suspected the Department of Homeland Security wanted S.H.I.E.L.D.’s counterterrorism role.
• At the Homeland Building, Secretary Kelly explained that S.H.I.E.L.D. overlapped with his department, and Lake said the Supervisory Bureau had already won authority over supernatural matters.
• Lake and Secretary Kelly concluded that S.H.I.E.L.D. needed a major victory to prove its value, or it might be merged into the Supervisory Bureau.

Alexander Pierce approved Hydra’s Cobra Emergence Plan while Lake remained unaware of the scheme and traveled to Europe with his family. On New Year’s Day, Lake met Hermione in London and went with her to the Forest Villa, where a young woman waited at the entrance.

• Alexander Pierce rejected an uprising and an assassination attempt, then ordered Baron Strucker to execute the Cobra Emergence Plan after exposing a flaw for S.H.I.E.L.D. to find.
• Baron Strucker prepared to erase traces of Hydra’s involvement before launching the plan.
• Lake flew to Paris with Skye, Rachel, Helen, and Josie, then spent Christmas with his family and traveled to New York for the end of 2006.
• On New Year’s Day in London, Hermione picked Lake up and drove him toward the Forest Villa, where her family was vacationing.
• Lake sensed that more people were at the Forest Villa than Hermione’s parents, and the SUV stopped before a wooden villa where a young woman waited.

Lake visited the Grangers with Hermione and learned that Peggy Carter had helped Hermione enter Hogwarts and supported her secret identity. The chapter ended with Lake asking Hermione why she had never helped Laura find her missing father, Richard Crawford.

• Hermione brought Lake to meet her parents, where Laura Crawford greeted them and Sharon Carter later escorted the tired Peggy Carter away.
• Lake and Hermione discussed his performance with the Grangers, and Hermione revealed that Peggy Carter was her aunt and had arranged her magical education through her connections.
• Hermione explained that Peggy had also helped her keep the Grangers unaware of the Wizarding World and establish a public career as a fashion design director.
• Laura left, and Lake wondered about his ties to Peggy Carter and Tony Stark before Hermione returned.
• Lake asked Hermione whether she had ever considered helping Laura find Richard Crawford.

Hermione explained that Richard Crawford had vanished while searching for Himiko, whom she believed could recover his wife’s soul from Hell. Lake realized Himiko might be the Spirit of Destiny he needed, then hurried inside to use the Scales of Fate to prepare a marriage ring for Hermione.

• Hermione told Lake that Richard Crawford had disappeared while investigating the Parasitic Demon and might have entered Himiko’s domain.
• Hermione explained that Himiko was an endlessly reincarnating spirit who might be able to retrieve a soul from Hell.
• Lake recognized Himiko as a possible Spirit of Destiny, one of the Four Elements of Creation he needed for his Divine Kingdom.
• Hermione reminded Lake that she wanted him to meet her family and ask Mr. Granger for permission to marry her.
• Lake rushed inside and used the Scales of Fate to make Hermione a pink diamond ring from the Wings series, then branded it with a lightning pattern.

Lake proposed to Hermione, won her parents’ approval, and married her, then discussed how to locate Himiko without using supernatural powers. He decided that Professor X could search as an ordinary person with Laura as the woman likely to draw Himiko out.

• Lake explained that the thunder consciousness in the diamond rings would alert him if one of his women faced danger and let him teleport to her.
• Lake asked Mr. and Mrs. Granger for permission to marry Hermione, then proposed to her with Sharon Carter as a witness, and Hermione accepted.
• The next morning, Lake and Hermione ate breakfast with the Grangers and Sharon Carter, who had been kept awake by the couple the night before.
• Hermione warned Lake that Himiko could sense supernatural beings and that finding her required an ordinary person and a suitable young woman.
• Lake decided that Professor X could search for Himiko as an ordinary person and that Laura would be likely to lure her out.

Lake traveled to Hong Kong Island to find the Creation Spirit and recruited Laura Crawford and Barney Ross’s Suicide Squad to help with the mission. Barney’s team gathered to discuss the job, where Yin Yang revealed he had used his earnings to buy a house.

• Lake checked into a hotel in Hong Kong Island and called Laura, telling her Richard Crawford was on an island and sending her a plane ticket.
• Lake contacted Barney Ross and offered the Suicide Squad ten million dollars to rescue Richard Crawford and eliminate a rival mercenary group on the island.
• Barney received five million dollars in advance and called his team together to discuss whether to accept the job.
• Yin Yang asked how much each member would earn and explained that he had bought a house with a down payment and would pay off the rest over thirty years.

Lake recruited the Suicide Squad to travel with Laura Crawford to an island where Richard Crawford was believed to be, and he explained that the journey would take them to Yamatai. The story left off as Lake handed Barney Ross the island’s coordinates and the team prepared to plan their departure.

• Barney Ross told Lake that the Suicide Squad needed two days to prepare, and Lake agreed to wait.
• Lake met Laura at Victoria Harbour, gave her money for a hotel, and warned her that Richard Crawford was on an island guarded by more than two hundred mercenaries.
• Laura returned to the harbour before seven the next morning, and Lake bought her breakfast while explaining the ten-million-pound rescue fee.
• Laura recognized Lake Edwin as the old man she knew, and Lake confirmed that Richard Crawford was on the island but might be dead or alive.
• Barney Ross and Christmas arrived, and Lake introduced Laura as the Croft Group heir and showed Barney the island’s coordinates.

Lake brought Laura and the Suicide Squad to the Devil Sea island where her father was trapped. After the squad attacked the mercenary camp from the air and landed, Lake and Laura stayed aboard while the team began clearing the shore.

• Yin Yang joked with Christmas about his real-estate investments as the plane approached the island, and Lake told Laura he had investigated her situation before agreeing to help.
• Barney evaded a rocket fired from the island, then Christmas attacked the mercenary camp with Gatling guns and incendiary bombs, setting off explosions at the weapons depot.
• Matthias Vogel recognized the Suicide Squad aircraft, while mercenary leader Doom cursed Barney and ordered his men to fight back.
• After the plane landed on the water, Barney told Lake and Laura to stay aboard and led the squad ashore, where Gunnar Jensen and the others began a one-sided assault.
• Half an hour later, Yin Yang reported that some mercenaries had fled into the jungle and warned Lake and Laura to be careful as they disembarked.

Lake led the Suicide Squad through the island to rescue Richard Crawford, using the Dragon Seeking Ruler and his Sixth Sense to find and protect the group. Richard reunited with Laura, and Lake prepared to pursue his own mission after securing a promise of payment.

• Lake used the Dragon Seeking Ruler with Laura's help to point the team toward Richard Crawford's location.
• Lake detected hidden mercenaries on the way, and he and Yin Yang killed more than a dozen with flying knives.
• The Dragon Seeking Ruler led the team to a cliff, where Lake fired his gun so Richard would recognize Laura calling to him.
• Richard climbed out of a cave and reunited with Laura after nine years apart.
• Lake reminded Richard to pay him ten million pounds, while Christmas and Yin Yang realized Lake had arranged to receive ten million dollars from the client as well.

Lake reunited Laura with Richard Crawford, then led the Suicide Squad toward Himiko while explaining that he intended to find her for reasons other than world domination. At the entrance to Himiko’s tomb, Lake questioned why Richard had abandoned his quest to resurrect his wife and asked whether he had forgotten his original dream.

• Richard Crawford grew suspicious when Lake admitted he had come to find Himiko, but Laura explained that their mutual connection through Hermione had brought Lake to the island.
• Laura used the Dragon Seeking Ruler to help Lake locate Himiko, and the group set off through the jungle with Richard alongside them.
• Barney Ross and the Suicide Squad captured Matthias Vogel, and Barney ordered him taken to the plane so he could face revenge later.
• Lake found a newly appeared mechanism door leading to Himiko’s tomb and asked Richard to help open it.
• Richard warned that freeing Himiko would return her to the human world, and Lake challenged him over abandoning his search to resurrect his wife.

Lake opened the entrance to Himiko’s tomb and went inside alone, while Barney’s team waited above and rejected Richard’s offer to stop him. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived on the island as Lake reached a bone-filled chasm deep within the tomb.

• Lake used the Dragon Seeking Plate to locate the mechanism, then shot the door until it collapsed and revealed the tomb entrance.
• Lake told Barney to wait five minutes before withdrawing, threatened Richard over one million pounds, and descended into the tomb alone.
• Barney, Christmas, and Yin Yang refused Richard’s offer to hire them, citing their contract with Professor Xavier and their rules.
• Hawkeye Barton and Barbara Morse arrived with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, while Nick Fury and Natasha tracked their arrival from the operations center.
• Lake reached a cliff overlooking a chasm filled with bones and wondered whether Himiko was targeting him or trying to force Laura and the others to descend.

While Lake continued toward Himiko’s resting place, Richard tried to persuade S.H.I.E.L.D. to stop him, but Laura realized the man claiming to be her father was an impostor. She joined Barney’s team to follow the Dragon Seeking Ruler, which led them to a concealed, filled-in section of a cave wall.

• Lake crossed the Soul Chasm with climbing claws and continued toward the Spirit of Destiny of Creation without using supernatural power.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. learned the history of Himiko and asked Barney to help stop Lake, but Barney refused and prepared to leave with Laura.
• Richard insisted on entering Himiko’s tomb, and Laura recognized he was not her real father because he called her by name.
• Laura used the Dragon Seeking Ruler to track Richard’s name north, and Barney agreed to take her to the cave where they had found him.
• Barney, Christmas, and Laura entered the cave, where the Dragon Seeking Ruler pointed to a section of wall that appeared to have been filled in.

Lake reached Himiko’s tomb and confronted the Creation Spirit of Destiny, revealing his nascent World Tree and demanding help cultivating it. The Spirit appeared as Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, offered a test, and moved to bind Lake’s fate through an intimate trial.

• Lake evaded the tomb’s poisoned-arrow traps and used the Dragon Seeking Plate to open the collapsing passage.
• Lake received a call from Barney Ross and learned that the Richard Crawford rescued earlier was an impostor, while the real Richard had been dead for at least six years.
• Lake switched his consciousness into his true body, rushed to Himiko’s coffin, and trapped the Creation Spirit of Destiny inside his Gemini Maze.
• The withered body gave way to Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, who said they would help weave the destiny of Lake’s World Tree if he passed their test.
• The three Creation Spirits pressed close to Lake and began flooding him with erotic images and sensations as they sought to make him submit to their judgment.

Lake defeated the Creation Spirit of Destiny’s trinity, accepted their submission, and used their power to connect his developing universe to the Force, where a new Aries constellation appeared. In the Twelve Palaces World, Wanda prepared to meet Lake’s other women and then visited the Ancient One at Kamar-Taj.

• Lake fought Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos in the Gemini Maze until they submitted and agreed to weave destiny for his unborn universe.
• Lake returned to Himiko’s burial chamber and identified the object in her hands as the Plague Disk, whose plague power had greatly weakened over time.
• The Creation Spirit helped Lake’s World Tree connect to his universe, fusing the Force with the power of the Cosmo and revealing an Aries constellation beside Gemini.
• Wanda made Da Vinci a Gold Saint of Aries and gave him the Cloth of Aries; Da Vinci promised that Aries Palace and Taurus Palace would protect Hebe.
• Wanda decided Hebe could visit Lake after her confinement ended and traveled to Kamar-Taj, where the Ancient One welcomed her as Hera.

Lake confronted the S.H.I.E.L.D. team in Himiko's tomb, exposed Richard Crawford as a Skrull, and killed Hawkeye Barton and the other agents. He questioned the Skrull about the Plague Disk and Richard Crawford's death, but began doubting whether the information he uncovered was true.

• Lake sensed a new Aries Nebula in his Chaos Universe before Hawkeye Barton, Barbara Morse, Richard Crawford, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents entered the tomb chamber.
• Lake identified Richard Crawford as a Skrull by probing his memories and learning that he wanted the Plague Disk to attack the Kree and reclaim his people's home.
• When Hawkeye Barton ordered Lake to put down the Plague Disk, Lake used his Sixth Sense to blast the agents aside and trap Barbara among the maidservants' bones.
• Lake killed Hawkeye Barton by twisting his neck, then silently killed the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents while Nick Fury watched through a satellite feed.
• Lake questioned the immobilized Skrull about Richard Crawford's death and suspected the Skrull had killed him, but his Sixth Sense warned that the information might be false.

Lake exposed and killed a Skrull impersonating Richard Crawford, then revealed that Nick Fury might also be an alien impostor. S.H.I.E.L.D. halted its attack and suspended Fury pending a medical examination, and Fury called Talos to confront him about Skrull operations on Earth.

• Lake reasoned that the Skrull posing as Richard Crawford had killed the real Richard and turned against Trinity, then learned that Nick Fury might also be a Skrull disguise.
• Lake forced the Skrull to reveal what it knew, then killed it by tearing it apart and stomping on it.
• Lake told the S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite that Nick Fury might be impersonated by an alien, prompting Fury to order an attack on the island.
• Alexander Pierce canceled the bombing, suspended Fury's authority pending a medical examination, and put Maria Hill in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operations.
• Fury entered his office, called Talos, and demanded to know why Talos had allowed Skrull operations on Earth without his approval.

Nick Fury warned Talos against unauthorized Skrull operations after learning Kuhard was dead and the Plague Disk was gone. Lake reunited with Laura and the others, explained his theory about her father’s death, and met Anna Miller, who was shocked to hear the truth.

• Nick Fury told Talos that Kuhard was dead, the Plague Disk had been taken, and the Skrulls must stop acting without his approval.
• Lake escaped the cavern and reassured Laura that the man impersonating her father had been an alien.
• Lake theorized that the Skrull killed Richard Crawford and secretly obstructed Trinity to keep them from finding what Himiko wanted.
• Three armed helicopters arrived, and Lake let them land, suspecting their occupants might be allies.
• Anna Miller arrived with Trinity soldiers, embraced Laura, and learned that Richard Crawford was dead and had been replaced by an impostor.

Lake learned the truth about Richard Crawford’s replacement on the Demon Sea island and returned to New York to contain the Plague Disk. He later checked on Skye, who was researching school bullying for her thesis.

• Anna Miller told Laura that Richard’s helicopter crashed on the northern part of the island, and that the man Saint Trinity found afterward had changed and killed their members.
• Lake explained that an alien had killed Richard and impersonated him to keep Saint Trinity from finding Himiko’s treasure, and said the Plague Disk’s plague-spreading power was the real target.
• Anna told Laura about a secret workshop in Crawford Manor where she might learn more about her father, and Lake left for New York to contain the Plague Disk.
• Lake reflected on how the Fates’ promise left his destiny unwritten, then went to check on Skye, who was struggling with her thesis on school bullying.
• Skye told Lake that bullying at Midtown High School was shocking, and Lake ended their conversation and wished her good night.