Chapter Summaries

Tony discovered that Howard had survived by leaving this universe and returned with Josh, who had rescued him from his supposed death. Howard revealed that Tony was being tested, told him Maria was in New York, and ordered him to return to Hogwarts and reforge himself.

• Tony failed to recognize Howard until Josh identified him as Tony's father, Howard Stark.
• Tony accused Howard of getting Maria killed, and Howard restrained him with magic while reminding him that wizards did not die in ordinary accidents.
• Josh explained that he had taken Howard to another universe after helping him escape an assassination, and showed Tony a vision of countless universes.
• Tony asked why Howard had not told him and where Maria was, and Howard said she was in New York at their old church.
• Howard criticized Tony for failing his test and for being beaten by weak opponents, then ordered him to return to Hogwarts and start over.

Tony recognized Josh as the legendary former Hogwarts professor and learned that magic and wizards were part of his world. Josh left with Howard after ordering Tony to take Yinsen with him, and Tony began explaining the hidden magical world to Yinsen.

• Tony recognized Josh from his portrait at Hogwarts, and Josh explained that he had brought the school from another world.
• Josh told Tony that this world had powerful wizards and mythological figures, then called Master Ancient One on a phone.
• Josh warned Tony to take Yinsen with him and threatened to erase his memories or cripple his magic if Tony refused.
• Josh and Howard departed through a portal, leaving Tony and Yinsen behind.
• Yinsen agreed to return with Tony and asked about the wizards, Howard, and Josh.
• Tony began explaining his magical schooling and the wizard organization Howard had kept him away from.

Josh and Howard returned from Afghanistan after witnessing Tony survive captivity and build his first Iron Man armor, then reunited with Natasha and Maria. As Tony flew home, Josh learned he planned to close Stark Industries’ weapons division, prompting someone to urgently summon him.

• Josh and Howard left Ancient One and found Natasha and Maria, and Josh apologized to Natasha for being gone nearly a week.
• Howard told Maria that Tony had survived the bombing with Yinsen’s help and built an Iron Man armor, though Maria was disappointed that Tony had abandoned magic.
• Howard showed Maria around the Secret Ones Alliance while Josh and Natasha spent time together in New York, and Garen went to the Himalayas to train.
• Josh had Red Queen monitor Tony and learned that Tony and Yinsen had been rescued and were flying home.
• Someone knocked on Josh’s door and urged him to bring Tony over before he shut down Stark Industries’ weapons division.

Josh intervened after Tony's decision to shut down Stark Industries' weapons division angered the Secret Ones Alliance, whose members held a large share of the company. Howard explained the alliance's stake to Tony and agreed to tell him about the organization and Josh, leaving Tony to decide whether to continue with his plans.

• Howard told Josh that Tony's announcement had caused Stark Industries' value to plunge and the Secret Ones Alliance was considering replacing Tony.
• Josh reassured the alliance members and left Howard to handle the crisis as Tony arrived at the church with Yinsen.
• Tony entered the hidden magical world with Yinsen, then reunited with Howard and Maria.
• Howard explained that the Secret Ones Alliance held nearly thirty percent of Stark Industries and depended on its profits.
• Tony confronted Howard over the weapons sold to enemies in Afghanistan, and Howard offered to explain the alliance and let Tony treat the dispute as a trial.

Howard explained the Secret Ones Alliance and Josh’s history to Tony and Yinsen, while Josh returned and outlined Tony’s tests. Josh then offered Yinsen a choice involving his deceased family, leaving the chapter with Yinsen’s decision pending.

• Howard told Tony and Yinsen about Josh’s origins, the Secret Ones Alliance, and the events in the Wizard World and Muya Continent.
• Josh said the Judges had accepted his handling of matters and told Tony to investigate the problems at Stark Industries and resume his magical training.
• Tony decided to deal with the mole at Stark Industries, combine magic with technology, and investigate the attempt on his parents’ lives.
• Josh told Yinsen that he knew Yinsen’s wife and children had died and offered to erase his memories or revive his family in exchange for Yinsen working for him.

Josh explained how he could resurrect Yinsen’s wife and child by placing their souls in cloned bodies, and Yinsen agreed to provide what was needed. He then removed the shrapnel from Tony’s chest but put the Arc Reactor back, leaving Tony baffled.

• Josh told Tony and Yinsen that he could summon the dead and return their souls to newly cloned bodies without using soul contracts.
• Yinsen apologized for doubting Josh and asked him to bring back his wife and child.
• Tony volunteered to handle the cloning himself, and Josh agreed after teasing him and suggesting Osborn as an alternative.
• Josh removed the shrapnel from Tony’s chest with magic, stopped the bleeding, and returned the Arc Reactor to the opening.
• Josh praised the reactor as a potential energy source and warned Tony about palladium poisoning, while Tony questioned why he had put it back.

After Josh restored Tony and showed Yinsen the souls of his wife and child, Tony returned home with Yinsen and began planning how to help clone bodies for them. Agent Coulson arrived to question Tony, who dismissed him and focused on upgrading his armor and using his wealth and resources to prepare for Yinsen’s mission.

• Josh removed Tony’s shrapnel, installed an Arc Reactor, and showed Yinsen the sleeping souls of his wife and child before closing the passage between life and death.
• Tony advised Yinsen to wait before returning to retrieve his family’s DNA, and Yinsen agreed to stay with him.
• Tony returned to his mansion and brushed off Agent Coulson’s request for a report about his capture and Yinsen.
• Tony told Yinsen he would upgrade the armor they built in the cave with technology and magic while also arranging help with cloning research.
• Tony promised Yinsen he would handle the preparations within a month, and Yinsen said he trusted him.

Tony completed and tested his magic-enhanced Iron Man armor, while Josh and Natasha confronted S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who approached them for information about Tony. Josh revealed how much he knew about Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D., then left the agents shaken and confused.

• Tony studied magic and completed his Mark armor with help from Yinsen and Howard, adding weapons and Jarvis.
• Tony used the armor to attack terrorists in the Middle East and escaped two F-22s on his way home.
• Josh and Natasha noticed they were being followed and found themselves surrounded by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in a café.
• Coulson asked Josh about Tony, but Josh identified Coulson and revealed details about S.H.I.E.L.D., Howard Stark, and Nick Fury.
• Josh warned Coulson not to follow him, then left with Natasha while the agents stood frozen and later could not remember the mission.

After Coulson reported Josh and Natasha’s abilities and their claim of meeting in 1943, Fury investigated their identities. Natasha matched a decades-old Soviet file, and the information Fury found about Josh left both agents stunned.

• Coulson returned to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base and told Fury how Josh and Natasha had controlled the agents and erased their memories.
• Fury asked Coulson to send the couple’s photographs and learned their names and that they claimed to have met in 1943.
• Fury found a highly classified Soviet file whose old photograph showed Natasha as a young girl, with records ending in 1943.
• Fury searched for Josh by his photograph, waited for information, and dismissed an International Security Council complaint about accessing Russia’s intelligence database.
• Fury opened three files about Josh, and he and Coulson grew alarmed by what they read.

Fury and Coulson investigated files linking Josh to Natasha, Howard Stark, and a mysterious amnesia incident, then decided to visit Josh’s church. There, Tony learned Josh planned to recruit John MacTavish from another world, and their conversation revealed Josh had also visited Middle-earth and brought back Legolas.

• Fury and Coulson examined three files showing Josh had taken Natasha from a Soviet training base, appeared with Howard Stark in a postwar photograph, and was present during a mass amnesia incident.
• Fury and Coulson reviewed satellite photographs placing Josh in New York and Afghanistan less than ten minutes apart, then decided to visit his church.
• Tony arrived at the church and found Josh, Howard, Natasha, and Maria; Josh mentioned that he wanted to hire active soldiers from another world.
• Josh named John MacTavish as his intended recruit, and Tony recognized him as Soap from Call of Duty.
• Josh told Tony he had visited Middle-earth and brought Legolas back.

Josh prepared to recruit soldiers from the Call of Duty world while Tony and Natasha considered joining him. When S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury and agent Coulson arrived, Josh decided to show them the power of the mage world and ensure they could not reveal what they saw.

• Josh discussed recruiting Gaz and Soap from the Call of Duty world, and Tony asked to accompany him.
• Natasha asked to try the game before deciding whether to go, so Josh agreed to wait while Tony arranged a computer for her.
• A patrol mage told Josh that Coulson and Nick Fury were waiting to see him, and Josh recognized them as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
• Josh ordered the agents brought through the mage passage and said he would prevent them from speaking or writing about what they saw.
• Grant escorted Coulson and Fury through the church, intending to show them how terrifying the mage world could be.

Grant led Fury and Coulson through the hidden Mage Corridor to meet the Chief Judge, revealing that the church was the Secret Ones Alliance’s headquarters and that Howard Stark had helped establish it. Fury confronted Josh, demanding to know who he was and why the organization existed.

• Grant made Fury and Coulson walk through the church’s vast hidden passages instead of letting them use the teleportation array.
• Grant brought them through a guarded gate into Mage Corridor, where they saw mages using spells and enchanted household items.
• Grant explained that Mage Corridor was home to mages from around the world and that the church was the Secret Ones Alliance’s headquarters, founded with Judge Stark’s help.
• Grant led Fury and Coulson through a solemn section of the corridor, where Maria opened the gate to the room holding the Chief Judge.
• Josh confronted Fury and Coulson, and Fury demanded to know who Josh was and what purpose the organization served.

Josh revealed to Fury and Coulson that the mages had organized people with unusual abilities to protect the world, then warned that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s research into the Space Stone had exposed Earth to the universe. He left Fury doubting the warning and alarmed by Josh's claim that he was not from Earth and planned to recruit help from another world.

• Josh overwhelmed Fury and Coulson with his power, then confirmed that he and the others were mages.
• Fury questioned Josh about his connection to the Starks, and Howard revealed that he was alive, a mage, and the founder of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Josh described how the mage organization gave people with unusual abilities work, education, and rules, while eliminating those who broke them.
• Josh warned Fury and Coulson that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Space Stone research had signaled to cosmic civilizations that Earth had entered the age of cosmic civilization.
• Fury rejected Josh's warning, and Josh said he was not from Earth and planned to visit another world to recruit people to deal with troublesome people like Fury.

Fury and Coulson returned from the church unable to share what they had learned, while Josh revealed his overwhelming power to Tony and explained how travel between worlds worked. After Natasha rejected the game, Josh planned another trip to watch a battle, and Tony decided he might join him.

• Fury and Coulson discovered that Josh's spell prevented them from speaking or writing about the church, so Fury sent Coulson to investigate how the Secret Ones Alliance traveled between worlds and whom they sought.
• Josh took Natasha and Tony to Tony's mansion, where Jarvis detected Josh's energy and estimated that it could destroy Earth.
• Josh told Tony that he could destroy Earth and that a powerful threat in the universe had set its sights on it, while explaining that he would not stop the coming superhero age.
• Natasha tried Tony's game but decided she had no interest in it, then reminded Josh that he had disappeared for a week while visiting Afghanistan.
• Josh explained that unanchored world travel could last any amount of time while only an instant passed at home, and told Tony to come early if he wanted to join his next trip.
• Tony agreed to go and considered testing his Iron Man armor on the battlefield or disguising himself as a soldier.

Josh took Tony and Coulson through a portal to a mission in the world of Modern Warfare, where Coulson was captured by Price’s SAS team and given a forged FBI identity. Josh left Coulson to play undercover agent while he and Tony prepared to follow the soldiers toward the Middle East.

• Josh agreed to take Coulson to another world, then opened a portal to a stormy ship in the Bering Strait in 2011.
• Josh and Tony recognized the ship as the setting of Soap’s first mission, while Coulson asked about the world’s brewing conflict.
• Price’s SAS team boarded the ship and captured Coulson, unable to see or hear Josh and Tony.
• Josh told Coulson he had been given a forged identity as an undercover FBI agent and warned him not to die.
• A British soldier accepted Coulson as an emergency agent, and Price ordered Gaz to give him a gun before the mission continued.

Josh let Tony accompany Price’s team to the Middle East but stopped him from interfering with the events surrounding the nuclear bomb, promising he could revisit the timeline later. Back at the SAS camp, Josh fused Void Gate with Void Blind Zone and created a new spell that formed a silver halo, then took it into the dimensional space to test.

• The SAS team completed its mission, and Price pulled Soap aboard the aircraft before it departed.
• Josh sent Tony with Price’s team to the Middle East and warned him not to interfere with the nuclear bomb or the events surrounding it.
• Tony agreed to let events proceed after Josh promised to reset time later so he could try saving the thirty thousand soldiers.
• Josh followed Price’s group to the SAS camp, entered an unused room, and began experimenting with Void Gate and Void Blind Zone.
• Josh fused the spells into a new silver-halo spell and brought himself and the halo into the dimensional space to test it.

Coulson and Tony survived a nuclear strike in the Middle East and joined Josh in watching the events surrounding the SAS mission to capture Zakhaev. As Price, Sop, Gaz, and Griggs became trapped after stopping the missiles, Josh prepared to intervene before anyone died.

• Coulson served with the American military for two months while Tony secretly tested an Iron Man Armor, until Tony rescued him from a nuclear blast that killed the soldiers below.
• Coulson mourned his military friends and resolved to warn Fury never to provoke Josh, while Tony took him to meet Josh.
• Josh used time-control magic to watch Price and the others capture Al-Asad and uncover Zakhaev as the true mastermind.
• After Victor Zakhaev killed himself, Zakhaev launched nuclear missiles, but Price, Sop, Gaz, and Griggs stopped them and became trapped during their retreat.
• When Griggs dragged Sop from their overturned vehicle, a bullet flew toward Griggs's head and the space around him turned hazy as Josh prepared to act.

Josh brought the dead Gaz and Griggs into a Dimensional Space and explained that he had revived them because he wanted to recruit them to handle ordinary-world matters. He revealed his wings to reassure them, then asked whether they had heard of S.H.I.E.L.D., hinting at the universe where he was vacationing.

• Gaz and Griggs watched Sop use Price's pistol to kill Zakhaev and his men, while Kamalov arrived to rescue the survivors.
• Josh told Gaz and Griggs that they had died and that he had pulled them into the Dimensional Space, where they could watch events outside unseen.
• Josh explained that he wanted to recruit them and other soldiers to help with ordinary people, rather than force them into service.
• Josh unfurled his Elemental Light Wings, introduced himself as Josh Augustus, and said he wanted Gaz and Griggs as helpers and bodyguards while he vacationed in another world.
• Josh asked Gaz and Griggs whether they had heard of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Josh showed Gaz and Griggs the future by accelerating time, revealing how the Russian invasion of the United States unfolded and how Task Force 141’s pursuit of Makarov led to General Shepherd’s betrayal. The chapter ended after Soap killed Shepherd, with Josh, Ghost, and Roach discussing Soap and Price’s fate.

• Josh took Gaz and Griggs to the United States and accelerated time while giving them a document about future events.
• Gaz and Griggs learned that Russia’s rebels won the civil war, Task Force 141 was formed, and Price was captured during Operation Kingfish.
• Josh showed them the events that triggered World War III, the Russian invasion of the United States, and Price’s rescue from the Gulag.
• Price launched an EMP that crippled Russian forces, allowing American troops to reclaim the White House and turn the war’s tide.
• Shepherd betrayed Price and Soap, but Makarov gave them the location of Shepherd’s secret base and revealed Shepherd had exposed Allen as an undercover agent.
• Soap killed Shepherd after Shepherd stabbed him, and Josh, Ghost, and Roach discussed Soap and Price as Soap lost consciousness.

Josh watched Roach and Ghost reach the extraction point, where General Sheffield betrayed and killed them, then brought their spirits to meet his group. He refused Ghost’s request to return to battle but offered the soldiers a chance to earn the resurrection of their loved ones, and prepared to watch their former captain and the others.

• Josh warned Coulson, Tony, Gaz, and Griggs that the arriving helicopter would bring betrayal rather than safety.
• General Sheffield shot Roach and Ghost, then ordered their bodies burned after taking the intelligence case.
• Josh appeared to the dead Roach and Ghost and had Gaz explain how Josh had rescued the others and gathered them.
• Ghost asked to join the battle for revenge, but Josh refused and said it was their captain’s mission.
• Josh offered to consider resurrecting their relatives based on their work, and Ghost agreed to follow his instructions.