Chapter Summaries

Lake discussed Skye’s plan to support Gwen after Gwen ended her relationship with Peter Parker over his secret decision to protect Osborn Industry. When Skye revealed Karen had approved her Christmas trip, Lake told Betty, who was astonished and questioned Skye about how she got permission.

• Lake decided not to hold another press conference or interfere in the rumors surrounding Peter Parker and Osborn.
• Skye told Lake that Gwen had broken up with Peter after he secretly changed his mind about acting against Osborn and publicly vowed to protect his friend’s inheritance.
• Lake advised Skye to support Gwen rather than punish Peter, and Skye said she planned a Christmas trip with Gwen and others.
• Lake called Betty after learning Karen had approved Skye’s Christmas trip, and Betty reacted with disbelief because Karen had never let her take Christmas off.
• Betty called Skye and questioned her closely about how she had persuaded Karen, while Lake explained Betty’s long-running Christmas leave campaign.

Lake learned that Felicia Hardy had taken control of Osborn Industry and met with her after she admitted using his reputation to reclaim its shares. He accepted that she had only told the truth, leaving her plan to rebuild the company underway.

• Lake laughed at Betty’s borrowed excuse for taking leave, then retaliated by telling Karen that Betty was secretly dating a man in India.
• Lake reviewed Osborn Industry’s ownership records and realized Felicia Hardy had become its largest shareholder.
• Tiffany told Lake that Felicia was waiting outside the island, and Felicia met him to thank him and ask for forgiveness.
• Felicia explained that she had merged with the Stealth Black Cat, returned to New York, and persuaded Peter Parker to help her secretly restore Osborn Industry.
• Felicia admitted that she had invoked Lake’s name when buying back shares from the companies of imprisoned shareholders, and Lake said she had committed no wrong by telling the truth.

Lake let Felicia use her connection to him to reclaim Osborn Industry, while Wall Street mistook her for his illegitimate daughter and hesitated to invest. Pepper visited Lake and Rachel with invitations to the Second Stark Future Technology Expo, leaving Lake wondering whether Tony had finally perfected nanotechnology.

• Lake reassured Felicia that he would not blame her for invoking his name, and she admitted she had feared he might kill her.
• A week later, Peter transferred Harry Osborn’s inheritance to Felicia, and Wall Street tycoons panicked as they reconsidered their assumptions about Lake and Osborn.
• Lake and Rachel discussed the rumor that Felicia was his illegitimate daughter, and Lake said he preferred that misunderstanding to people believing Peter was his son.
• Rachel told Lake that Felicia had invited them to an Osborn party, and Lake looked forward to seeing how Wall Street would react if Osborn recovered.
• Pepper visited with four invitations to the Second Stark Future Technology Expo, and Lake wondered whether Tony had mastered nanotechnology.

Lake reluctantly agreed to attend Stark Industries’ expo after learning that Tethys would perform, while preparing for a new military role and plotting against S.H.I.E.L.D. At the expo, he arrived in his new general’s uniform and asked Pepper where Tony was.

• Lake learned that Stark Industries’ expo would take place in New Jersey and agreed to attend after Pepper mentioned Tethys was on the bill.
• Lake saw Skye off on a cruise after arranging security and receiving a protective amulet from Gordon.
• Lake spent Christmas with his family, then traveled with Karen to London and Hungary before returning to New York.
• Lake ordered Tiffany to represent him at Hammer Industries’ upcoming expo and learned his general’s uniform was on its way.
• Lake planned to meet Ocean Giant Nereus and later eliminate S.H.I.E.L.D., then arrived at Stark Industries’ expo as a major general and asked Pepper where Tony was.

Lake attended a technology expo with Rachel, met singer Tethys Rogers, and listened to her perform. After he praised her backstage, Tethys invited him to be her escort the following weekend.

• Lake met Tethys Rogers before her performance and told her he looked forward to hearing her new song.
• Lake and Rachel socialized with media executives while Skye and Josie collected autographs backstage.
• Tony Stark made a dramatic entrance at the expo and introduced its future-technology theme.
• Tethys performed her new song, “Of Heroes,” and Lake applauded before going backstage to praise her.
• Tethys asked Lake to be her escort the following weekend, leaving him surprised.

Lake accepted Tethys’s invitation to be her male companion and discussed Tony Stark’s Iron Man technology and Hammer Industries with him. He received an invitation to Poseidon’s maiden voyage and approved of its route through the Pacific Ocean.

• Lake accepted Tethys’s invitation, then teased Tony Stark about failing to hatch a star and urged him to keep cultivating.
• Tony told Lake he was designing a suit for Adam and insisted Hammer Industries’ mechanical soldiers could not match his Iron Man Suit.
• Lake warned Tony that Hammer Industries’ weapons were cheap and said he would send him evidence that could expose its patent infringement.
• Lake gave Tiffany a folder to deliver to Stark Industries and told her to avoid Hammer Industries’ exhibition.
• Lake received Tethys’s invitation to Poseidon’s maiden voyage and noted that the cruise liner’s route passed through the Pacific Ocean.

Lake postponed his Pacific trip, but a week later, three hundred Hammer Industries Iron Soldiers went rogue during their Detroit launch, killing Justin Hammer and a Black general. Tony Stark joined the fight as Lake learned Ivan Vanko had been arrested over espionage and security concerns, leaving the Iron Soldiers' rampage unexplained.

• Lake decided to wait until the Poseidon cruise ship crossed the Pacific before seeking out Nereus.
• Augustine reported that three hundred Hammer Industries Iron Soldiers had broken from their launch script and were attacking Detroit.
• Justin Hammer died in the initial attack, and the Black general later died when an Iron Soldier struck his helicopter.
• Lake contacted Tony Stark, who was using Jarvis-controlled Iron Man armors to fight the rogue machines.
• Tony told Lake that Ivan Vanko had been arrested after the FBI investigated his Russian background and security credentials.

Stark mechs crushed the Hammer mech uprising in Detroit, and Tony told Lake he had sold Stark technology to the Federal Military Alliance. After Lake criticized Tony for neglecting Cosmo cultivation, Tony left in a huff, and Lake later called him after Rachel explained that Tony was hurt.

• Stark mechs defeated the Hammer mechs across Detroit and Lake St. Clair, ending the unrest.
• Tony visited Lake and explained that Stark Industries had sold outdated mech technology to the Federal Military Alliance and authorized energy patents to Rockefeller.
• Lake criticized Tony for pursuing technological ascension instead of mastering the Cosmo cultivation method, and Tony stormed out.
• Rachel told Lake that Tony had been stuck on the final punch and was likely upset by Lake's remarks.
• Helen fined Lake for swearing, and Rachel advised him to comfort Tony discreetly.
• Lake called Tony, then returned as Rachel asked whether his Nini had forgiven him.

Lake disguised himself as Kanon to escort Tethys on Poseidon’s maiden voyage while his clone handled the fallout from Detroit in Washington. As the ship filled with passengers drawn by Tethys, Lake and Tethys settled into the luxury section for the two-month voyage.

• Lake asked Tethys to call him Kanon and explained that his clone had gone to Washington to keep Homeland Security from being blamed for the Detroit incident.
• Lake used a CIA disguise mask to change his appearance, and Tethys agreed to treat him as her escort during the voyage.
• Lake watched passengers board Poseidon and reflected on how Federation citizens used credit to afford expensive purchases.
• Tethys arrived without her assistant and teased Lake about protecting her, while he assured her that anyone who tried to harm her would have a hard time.

Lake and Tethys became lovers aboard the Poseidon, then revealed their identities as the King of Midgard and Princess of Atlantis. Lake learned that Tethys was the granddaughter of the sea giant Nereus and still intended to seek him, while Tethys’s age left Lake wondering whether she was truly a mature woman.

• Lake and Tethys woke together after spending the night together, and Lake realized that Tethys possessed a supernatural nature.
• Lake and Tethys introduced themselves as the King of the Midgardians and the Princess of Atlantis, and Tethys explained her use of the Rogers surname.
• Tethys told Lake that her father had considered Captain America a rival for her mother’s affection.
• Lake asked Tethys to guide him to Atlantis, and she believed him when he said he had planned to find her even before their night together.
• Lake revealed that he sought Nereus, and Tethys told him that her grandfather had been asleep in a deep-sea rift since she was born.
• Lake learned that Tethys had been born twenty-five years earlier and questioned his assumption that she was a mature woman.

Lake learned that Tethys was twenty-five but had been conceived long before her birth, then chose to delay his trip to Atlantis and stay with her. In Atlantis, Namor confronted Dorma with DNA results proving Tethys was Steve Rogers’s daughter, and prepared to punish his queen.

• Tethys told Lake that she was twenty-five and explained that her unusual conception had made her gestation last far longer than a human pregnancy.
• Lake told Tethys that being with her mattered more than reaching Atlantis immediately, and they stayed together.
• Namor received DNA test results showing Tethys was not his biological daughter and that her blood was a 99.9 percent match with Steve Rogers’s.
• Namor confronted Dorma, who admitted that her relationship with Steve began after they returned from the land and said she had sought stability for the ocean.
• Namor restrained Dorma with his trident and summoned a giant deep-sea blue-ringed octopus.

Namor discovered that Tethys was not his biological daughter and sent the Abyssal Blue-ringed Octopus to kill her. Lake learned of the danger aboard Poseidon and prepared to confront the sea monster, leaving Tethys to trust that he would protect her.

• Namor used his trident to bind Dorma and ordered the Abyssal Blue-ringed Octopus to find and kill Tethys.
• Lake and Tethys discussed the powers of her father's trident as Poseidon sailed toward Atlantis.
• Tethys sensed that Namor knew she was not his daughter and had sent the Abyssal Blue-ringed Octopus after her.
• Lake realized that Dorma had likely known the truth first and resolved to protect Tethys, whatever the cost.
• Tethys warned that the Abyssal Blue-ringed Octopus could destroy Poseidon and everyone aboard, but Lake told her to trust him and dropped the Cloth Token into the sea.

Lake summoned the Gemini Gold Cloth and took Tethys away from the Poseidon, while S.H.I.E.L.D. detected him in the Pacific and identified him as Kanon, the Gemini Saint who preferred to be called the King of Midgard. The chapter leaves Nick Fury and his team confronting the revelation that Saga was not the only Gemini Saint.

• Lake summoned the Gemini constellation and put on the Gold Cloth, asking Tethys to place its mask on him.
• Lake took Tethys away from the Poseidon in a flash of golden light.
• Nick Fury ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to monitor a supernatural energy signature detected in the northern Pacific, and the agents connected Barton, Morse, and Sharon Carter to the Operations Center.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. identified Tethys beside the masked man in satellite footage, and Sharon Carter named him Kanon, the Gemini Saint who called himself the King of Midgard.

S.H.I.E.L.D. searched for Midgard and was confronted by Lake, who warned them to stay out of the Supervisory Bureau’s affairs. In the Pacific, Lake protected Tethys from Atlantis’s Abyssal Blue-ringed Octopus and counterattacked with Great Horn.

• S.H.I.E.L.D. agents searched for Midgard, but found little information, and Lake explained that Maria Hill had deleted the agency’s records.
• Lake hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Operations Center, warned Nick Fury to leave supernatural matters to the Supervisory Bureau, and invited Victoria Hand to join him; Hand refused.
• Nick Fury ordered his agents to withdraw and told them to contact Harold Finch because S.H.I.E.L.D.’s systems were no longer secure.
• Lake shielded Tethys from the Abyssal Blue-ringed Octopus with Crystal Wall as the creature’s waves and tentacles battered the barrier.
• Lake shattered Crystal Wall and struck the octopus with Great Horn.

Lake defeated the Abyssal Blue-ringed Octopus and learned that Tethys Mackenzie might not be Namor McKenzie's biological daughter. Hermione admitted she knew the secret but refused to reveal it, and Lake told her that Namor had already tried to have Tethys killed.

• Lake destroyed the Abyssal Blue-ringed Octopus and carried Tethys back to the Poseidon.
• Tethys wondered about her identity, and Lake reassured her that she remained his love.
• Lake contacted Hermione and asked whether Tethys was Namor McKenzie's daughter.
• Hermione admitted she knew the truth but refused to tell Lake, warning that its exposure could provoke war between the sea and the land.
• Lake told Hermione that Namor had sent the Abyssal Blue-ringed Octopus to kill Tethys, shocking her.

Lake learned from Hermione that Tethys was rumored to be Steve Rogers’s daughter, born from a wartime love triangle involving Steve, Dorma, and Namor McKenzie. Namor learned the Abyssal Blue-ringed Octopus had died and set off toward the Poseidon to confront Steve.

• Hermione confronted Lake about Tethys, and Lake admitted fault before explaining how he had become her trusted escort.
• Hermione told Lake that Aunt Peggy Carter had heard Tethys was Steve Rogers’s daughter and recounted the wartime history of Steve, Dorma, and Namor McKenzie.
• Lake questioned how Dorma became Atlantis’s queen, and Hermione said she had taken the throne five years after Steve disappeared.
• Lake told Hermione that he knew he was a scumbag but would stand by the women he loved.
• Namor learned that the Abyssal Blue-ringed Octopus had been killed, attacked his subordinate in anger, and flew toward the Poseidon to confront Steve.

At a Poseidon banquet, Tethys and Lake saw Namor McKenzie arrive atop a giant wave and attack them. Lake sided with Tethys, declaring their conflict a family matter, and the battle began with Namor summoning a Water Elemental Giant against him.

• Lake and Tethys left the Poseidon's banquet and went to the upper deck, where Tethys worried about her mother.
• Passengers spotted a hundred-meter wave approaching, and Tethys recognized Namor McKenzie standing atop it with a trident.
• Lake protected the Poseidon with Aries's defensive technique and confronted Namor as the King of Midgard, refusing to move aside.
• Namor told Tethys she was not his daughter and called her the child of her mother and a human.
• Lake declared that Namor's family matter had become his too, then sent Tethys into the Chaos Universe to protect her from Namor's attack.
• Namor attacked Lake with raging waves and summoned a Water Elemental Giant, which swung a fist at him.

Lake defeated Namor McKenzie’s summoned forces and pursued him beneath the sea after Namor fled. In Asgard, Thor returned from a hunting ceremony and asked Heimdall what he had been watching on Earth.

• Lake shattered Namor McKenzie’s Water Elemental Giant, blocked his ocean attacks with Crystal Wall, and removed his Gold Cloth to offer a chance to talk.
• Namor McKenzie betrayed the offer and attacked Lake, who struck him with Light Speed Fist and sent him crashing into an island.
• Namor McKenzie summoned sea creatures and Atlantis soldiers, but Lake destroyed them with Stardust Rotation.
• Lake grabbed Namor McKenzie’s trident and blasted him with Eye Impact, but Namor escaped into the sea; Lake followed him while tracking him with his Sixth Sense.
• Thor returned to Asgard with his hunting companions and asked Heimdall where he had been looking.

Odin learned that Sea Giant Nereus had become enraged over Midgard, but he refused to leave Asgard before Thor’s confirmation as heir, believing the warning was a ploy to trigger Ragnarok. Meanwhile, Lake reached Atlantis and disguised himself as Namor McKenzie to stop its defenders from attacking him.

• Heimdall reported that Sea Giant Nereus had erupted in anger, though he could see nothing when he looked toward Earth.
• Odin recalled the Giants’ curse of Ragnarok and his past conflict with Ice Giant Laufey over Midgard, then decided to remain in Asgard and guard the Eternal Fire.
• Namor McKenzie returned to Catalantis and ordered its guards to eliminate any attacking enemies.
• Lake approached Atlantis, where Atlantean soldiers and the defensive cannon prepared to fight him.
• Lake transformed his appearance into Namor McKenzie’s and told the Atlanteans to lower their weapons because they had been deceived.

Lake impersonated Namor McKenzie to enter Atlantis, where he uncovered the king’s motives for pursuing Dorma and resolved to help the people overthrow him. Lake and Tethys reached Dorma’s chambers and exposed Namor’s attempt to take her oceanic authority, leaving Namor and Dorma stunned.

• Lake disguised himself as Namor McKenzie, fooled the soldiers guarding Atlantis, and made his way into the palace.
• Lake sensed the people’s fear of Namor and decided that Tethys should become queen and restore freedom to Atlantis.
• Lake killed Ex, a loyal guard captain, and learned from his memories that Namor pursued Dorma to strengthen his rule.
• Lake stopped Tethys from charging into Dorma’s chambers and blasted open the doors with his trident.
• Namor McKenzie was caught trying to persuade Dorma to surrender her oceanic authority, and both froze when Lake arrived.