Chapter Summaries

Spider-Man and Skye fought Tank Lizard in Prospect Park after the creature stole a concentrated Lizard Virus canister, while Lake and federal officials monitored the crisis. Tank Lizard detonated the virus in the park, and Spider-Man warned the arriving teams to evacuate as the green mist spread.

• Lake told the mayor that the Lizardman crisis had been resolved and that S.H.I.E.L.D. was responsible for the new incident.
• Gwen told George Stacy and Jack that Peter and Skye had entered Prospect Park.
• Spider-Man was exposed to the Lizard Virus while holding the canister, then threw it into the pond as Skye and Eevee attacked Tank Lizard.
• Tank Lizard abandoned its trapped tail, reached the pond, and transformed after the virus escaped into the water.
• Tank Lizard exploded, spreading the concentrated virus across Prospect Park, and Spider-Man warned Jack's team and the NYPD to evacuate.

Lake contained the Lizard Virus outbreak in Brooklyn and held Phil Coulson and Crossbones responsible while the city dealt with the casualties. A week later, Lake arranged a private room for Coulson after Maria Hill asked him to look after him.

• Lake ordered Phil Coulson and Crossbones taken into custody until the mayor approved their release, and he reunited with George after the virus was suppressed.
• Lake received a report that more than twenty-three thousand people had been infected, while Osborn Bio-Industry worked overtime to produce more antidote serum.
• Skye told Lake that Norman Osborn was ill and Harry might have to repeat the year because he lacked credits; Lake suggested Skye attend the graduation dance with Gwen instead of Peter Parker.
• A week later, Lake told Coulson that Maria Hill had asked him to look after him and gave him a private room.

Lake offered Coulson a place in the Supervisory Bureau while warning him that refusing would make him an enemy. He then helped Lisa Cardy protect Dr. House from Edward Vogler, who was arrested at a hospital meeting.

• Lake offered Phil Coulson a year to join the Supervisory Bureau and warned that he would treat him as an enemy if he refused.
• Coulson recognized Lisa Cardy as the hospital administrator and suspected Lake planned to target Edward Vogler.
• Lake told Cardy that an investor would support the hospital if Dr. House could stay.
• Vogler threatened to withdraw his one hundred million dollars unless the shareholders chose to fire Dr. House.
• Cardy announced that the Immortal Consortium of Europe would donate two hundred million dollars without conditions if House stayed.
• The FBI arrived at the meeting and arrested Vogler on suspicion of medical bribery.

Lake closed the Lizardman case and learned that Skye’s family-court hearing was set for after her graduation. He told Hermione he was considering killing Jiaying before she could expose the Inhumans, leaving Hermione shocked by his seriousness.

• The FBI exposed Edward Vogler’s medical bribery scheme, while the Black Governor was found dead after fleeing to his hometown.
• Lake signed the final report and officially closed the Lizardman case after S.H.I.E.L.D. and New York reached a deal.
• Tiffany told Lake that Skye’s family-court hearing was scheduled for the day after her graduation ceremony.
• Lake discussed the hearing with Hermione and admitted he was conflicted about Skye’s relationship with her biological mother, Jiaying.
• Lake revealed that Jiaying was planning to bring the Inhumans back into the world and said he might kill her before she could do so, leaving Hermione stunned.

Lake reconsidered his plan to kill Jiaying and promised to respect Skye’s choices about her mother and surname. The next day, he brought Skye to her Midtown High School graduation, where family and friends gathered before her speech.

• Lake told Jiaying that Skye could decide what to do after graduation and asked Jiaying to respect her choice.
• Lake drove Skye and Jiaying to Midtown High School for Skye’s graduation ceremony and speech.
• Lake greeted George and joked with him about their daughters graduating.
• Alexis arrived and reunited excitedly with Skye and Gwen.
• Cassel and Beckett arrived, and Cassel complained that Lake had ignored his honking on the drive over.

Skye and Gwen graduated from Midtown High School, gave speeches about choosing their own paths, and celebrated with their families. After the ceremony, Lake took Skye and Jiaying back to Starlight Tower before heading to the Homeland Building.

• Skye and Gwen discussed attending New York University, and Gwen explained that a job offer from Dr. Helen Zhao had influenced her decision to stay in New York.
• Gwen said Peter would miss the ceremony, and Skye joked about him being a superhero who had repeated a grade.
• Gwen and Skye gave graduation speeches encouraging graduates to follow their values and do what made them proud.
• Lake teased George about crying during the ceremony, and George insisted the wind had made his eyes water.
• After the graduates received their certificates, Lake arranged dinner with the Stacy and Cassel families, then took Skye and Jiaying to Starlight Tower before going to the Homeland Building.

Skye told Jiaying that she knew she was her biological mother but wanted to remain Lake’s daughter and look forward to the family court hearing. Lake then met Jiaying, accepted Skye’s choice, and allowed her to visit Skye while warning her to keep Mr. Johnson away.

• Skye explained that she had discovered Jiaying’s identity and refused to let her disrupt the family court hearing she eagerly anticipated.
• Skye told Jiaying that Lake had raised her and that she wanted him to walk her down the aisle someday.
• Jiaying visited Lake at the Department of Homeland Security Building, and Lake realized Skye had chosen to stay with him.
• Lake told Jiaying he would not deny her place as Skye’s biological mother but warned that Skye had to be willing to see her.
• Lake had Tiffany bring Mr. Johnson out of Room Five for Jiaying and warned her that he must not visit Skye.

Lake released Karl Johnson to leave with Jiaying, then welcomed Karen back to New York for Skye’s graduation. The family court formally declared Skye and Lake a family, with their friends and relatives filling the gallery.

• Lake had Karl Johnson released from Room Five and ordered the surveillance of Jiaying withdrawn after they left New York.
• Skye celebrated her graduation with Lake, and Karen and Betty arrived at the apartment after missing the ceremony.
• Lake, Skye, Karen, Betty, and their friends and relatives went to family court for Skye’s adoption.
• Skye told Judge Delia Rebecca that she wanted Lake to become her father.
• Judge Delia Rebecca declared Skye Edwin and Lake Edwin a family and signed the legal document.

Lake saw Karen and Betty off as Karen returned early to take over as Minister of Education, then sent Skye, Gwen, and Alexis on a supervised vacation to the Island Nation. He planned to travel to Washington, D.C., for Karen’s inauguration and to recruit Maria Hill as an administrative supervisor for the overburdened Supervision Bureau.

• Lake learned that Karen was returning early because the Minister of Education had died, clearing the way for her to take the position.
• Lake saw Karen and Betty off at Kennedy International Airport and joked with them about Karen becoming a minister.
• Lake vetoed the girls’ first vacation ideas, approved their trip to the Island Nation, and gave Skye a satellite phone to contact his trusted local friend.
• Cassel and George tried to follow the girls, but Lake warned them he would prevent them from leaving and assured them the girls would have local help.
• Lake told Rachel he was going to Washington, D.C., for Karen’s inauguration and to recruit Maria Hill after David Bass pressed him to find help for the Supervision Bureau.

Lake returned home by parachute, attended Karen Ross’s swearing-in as Federal Minister of Education, and then left Washington to recruit Maria Hill. The chapter ended with an author’s note lamenting canceled holiday plans.

• Lake parachuted into his backyard, threatened to reveal Bruce Banner’s location, and got Betty to pack away the parachute.
• Lake discussed the next day’s Senate vote and prepared for Karen’s swearing-in with his family.
• Karen Ross won the Senate vote with sixty-five votes and took the oath of office as Federal Minister of Education.
• Lake, Ross, and Betty joined Karen onstage for photographs after the ceremony.
• Lake left Washington to recruit Maria Hill.

Lake visited Maria Hill at the Army base in Quantico and recruited her to help organize the Supervisory Bureau. Hill accepted after Lake agreed to grant her top-level clearance and allow her to bring Natasha Romanov; they left their arrangement based on mutual trust.

• Lake asked Maria Hill to leave her post and join the Supervisory Bureau, and Hill explained that she had anticipated his offer based on the bureau’s growing disorder.
• Lake said he wanted Hill to establish the bureau’s internal management system, and Hill agreed on the condition that she receive the same highest security clearance as Director Edwin.
• Hill asked to bring Natasha Romanov with her, and Lake agreed without hesitation.
• Hill said she trusted Lake’s promises, and Lake reaffirmed that he had agreed to both demands.

Lake recruited Maria Hill, who asked whether immortality was a gift or a curse and suggested that true immortals might owe their existence to Hell. Later, Lake investigated the sealed file of Marine Niall Ryan and found footage suggesting she survived a fatal throat wound.

• Lake welcomed Maria Hill to the Supervisory Bureau, but she said she would report to New York only after resolving a confidential case.
• Maria asked Lake what he thought about immortality, and he suggested that someone who could not die might have made a bargain with Hell.
• Lake returned home and asked Red Queen to find Marine Niall Ryan, whose military file was sealed.
• Red Queen traced the seal to General Charles Blanc and uncovered footage of a woman slashing a Marine's throat in Afghanistan.
• Red Queen told Lake that the woman in the footage had not died.

Lake discovered signs that Maria Hill’s unexplained recovery might be connected to her maternal family, then learned that the CID had arrested her for espionage. He rushed to Quantico and called Secretary Kelly for help, leaving the confrontation at the military police building unresolved.

• Red Queen reported that Maria Hill had appeared alive and unharmed in Afghanistan a day after her throat was cut, and Lake ordered an investigation into her family.
• Lake found that Maria Hill’s maternal family records were missing, then received a call from Lieutenant Sully saying the CID had taken Hill.
• Lake asked General Ross to contact General James Gregg and drove to Quantico after learning that Madley Harris had authorized Hill’s arrest.
• Lieutenant Sully told Lake that the military police were holding Hill on espionage charges, and Lake entered their building with her.
• Lake called Secretary Kelly and urged him to come to Quantico because Homeland Security was being bullied.

Lake defended Maria Hill after the Army arrested her on suspicion of espionage, forcing the generals to consider Homeland Security’s jurisdiction and proposing a joint investigation. After uncovering suspicious details in the case, Lake prepared to expose Colonel Lawrence Morey, but General Ross arrived before he could finish.

• Lake presented Maria Hill’s transfer order and Homeland Security filing, and Secretary Kelly agreed to a joint investigation with the Army.
• General Harris explained that Maria Hill had been detained after investigators linked her office phone to a call from an Afghan rebel group and learned she planned to fly to Afghanistan.
• Lake used the Chaos Force on Lawrence Morey and realized the colonel was hiding something.
• Lake challenged Morey’s evidence, pointing out that Army bases had received thousands of overseas signals but none had originated outside Afghan bases.
• General Ross entered and confronted General Gregg for badmouthing him.

Lake intervened to protect Maria Hill from espionage charges, and Hill told him how her father’s attempted murder awakened her inherited immortality. She revealed that her family descended from the First Humans of Midgard, leaving Lake with the discovery that Earth’s ancient inhabitants had once been immortal.

• General Ross joined Lake’s side, and General Harris ordered Colonel Lawrence Morey to provide Lake with the files.
• Lake visited Maria Hill and learned that Sergeant Ryan had arranged the fabricated espionage charges to keep her from leaving Quantico for Afghanistan.
• Hill recounted how her father, Hemlock Hill, shot her after she confronted him about her mother’s empty coffin and the Grave Digger investigation.
• Hill’s forehead wound healed, and she realized that she and her family were immortals descended from surviving First Humans of Midgard.

Maria Hill told Lake how her mother faked her death and abandoned her, then revealed that she had noticed Lake's lack of scars in a photograph. Lake avoided confirming whether he was immortal and discussed Hill's plan to retrieve Sergeant Ryan Lane from Afghanistan, where Merrick Pharmaceutical Medical Group was behind the attempt to capture her.

• Maria Hill explained that her mother survived childbirth, faked her death, and vanished, leaving Hemlock Hill to treat Maria coldly.
• Hill said she had secretly searched for someone with extraordinary abilities and asked whether Director Edwin was the same.
• Hill revealed that a photograph taken by Maureen Hand showed Lake without scars, and that she had suppressed it after Natasha Romanov reported her suspicions.
• Lake told Hill she would soon learn whether he was immortal, then noted that she planned to take Sergeant Ryan Lane from the Afghanistan base.
• Hill confirmed that the base was watching Ryan Lane, and Lake identified Merrick Pharmaceutical Medical Group and its owner, Darley Dursley, as being behind the events.

Lake exposed forged call records implicating Ryan Lane and revealed a broader investigation into Merrick Bio-Medical Group’s infiltration of military bases. He presented evidence of foreign capital dealings among military personnel to senior generals, leaving Colonel Lawrence Morey under suspicion.

• Lake told Maria Hill that Ryan Lane was still at the Afghanistan base and said he would be able to leave soon.
• Red Queen, speaking through Alice, determined that the call records were forged at Quantico twenty-three minutes earlier.
• Lake confronted Colonel Lawrence Morey with the forgery findings, but Morey denied involvement and blamed his Information Analysis Division.
• Lake reported that an informant had revealed spies and foreign capital had infiltrated military bases, linking the activity to Merrick Bio-Medical Group.
• Lake projected Merrick’s military supply business and files on more than thirty-five personnel who had traded with the company, prompting the generals to question the evidence and the Afghanistan base’s commander.

Lake exposed Colonel Lawrence Morey’s role in a military corruption case and secured his detention. He then offered the Supervisory Bureau’s resources to G.I. Joe in exchange for replacing S.H.I.E.L.D. as its ally.

• Lake claimed Maria Hill had secretly investigated military corruption and said Morey was suspected after accusing her of espionage.
• Lake presented evidence linking Morey’s home IP address to an overseas bank account, and General Harris opened it using Morey’s name as the password, revealing nearly three million dollars.
• General Gregg ordered guards to take Morey for close observation while he determined whether the accusations were true.
• General Gregg said Maria Hill’s inspection authority fell under the Army Criminal Investigation Division and promised the generals would vote at the appropriate time.
• Lake asked General Gregg to bring G.I. Joe into an alliance with the Supervisory Bureau instead of S.H.I.E.L.D., offering access to Fantastic Beasts and other resources.

Maria Hill secured authority to investigate financial ties between Merrick Bio-Pharmaceutical Group and soldiers at the Afghanistan base, while Lake gained an agreement for Homeland Security to work with G.I. Joe on overseas investigations. After General Ross teased Lake about Maria, Hill asked to bring Lieutenant Sully with her, and Lake agreed.

• Lake thanked Lieutenant Sully for helping Maria Hill avoid being transferred and assigned Hill to investigate soldiers connected to Merrick Bio-Pharmaceutical Group.
• Lake and Maria Hill finalized an arrangement that gave the military the investigation and allowed Homeland Security to form an overseas-investigation alliance with G.I. Joe.
• Maria Hill presented her account to General James Gregg, obtained formal investigative authority, and received clearance to see General Marcus at the Afghanistan base.
• Secretary Kelly ordered Lake to meet him the next morning, and General Ross told Lake that sharing benefits with the military had strengthened his position.
• General Ross teased Lake about Maria Hill being another daughter-in-law, and Lake denied having improper thoughts about her.
• Maria Hill asked to bring Lieutenant Sully with her, and Lake agreed.

Lake declined Secretary Kelly’s request to succeed him as Secretary of Homeland Security, choosing to remain in New York instead. Before returning there, he explained Merrick’s exposure and the strange survival of the girl at the Afghan base, and congratulated Kelly on his eventual retirement.

• Maria Hill arranged to leave for New York with Lieutenant Sully, while Lake stayed behind to avoid appearing to interfere in the military’s affairs.
• Lake returned to Betty’s home, where Karen asked about Maria Hill and confirmed that Katherine was in Forks Town.
• Lake met Secretary Kelly, who urged him to become the next Secretary of Homeland Security, but Lake refused and suggested Kelly retire in New York as a consultant.
• Lake told Kelly that Merrick’s exposure was connected to a girl at the Afghan base who survived a nearly fatal throat wound and recovered by the next day.
• Lake toasted Kelly’s retirement and said he would not return to Washington after going back to New York.