Chapter Summaries

Adam told Wong to teach Loki, Hela, and Surtur how to act inconspicuously among humans, then explained Hela’s history with Odin and revealed that he had beaten Odin. Wong reported the situation to Ancient One, who calmly told him to follow Adam’s instructions, while Kamar-Taj kept Adam’s new ownership of the White Magic Dimension secret.

• Adam clarified that Wong should teach Loki, Hela, and Surtur to act naturally around humans rather than become human.
• Wong recognized Loki as Odin’s second son and privately asked Adam whether Odin knew about the arrangement.
• Adam explained that Odin had sealed Hela after she continued pursuing conquest, and said Hela and Surtur could beat Odin if he objected.
• Adam told Wong that Odin probably knew about their presence and that his earlier beating should not have left Odin in Odinsleep for so long.
• Wong reported his fears to Ancient One, who told him to follow Adam’s instructions and treated the matter as minor.
• Kamar-Taj kept secret that Adam had become the master of the White Magic Dimension.

Nick Fury enlisted Peggy Carter to introduce him to Loki, hoping to learn whether Loki was connected to Goose, the missing Flerken. Loki arrived after the musical and warmly greeted Peggy, leaving Fury ignored.

• After The Phantom of the Opera’s twentieth-anniversary performance, Peggy Carter agreed to introduce Nick Fury to Loki.
• Fury explained that Loki had become a powerful entertainment and media figure, while his real identity remained hidden behind a fabricated dossier.
• Fury’s AI matched the orange cat Loki had held at an arts gala to Goose with 99 percent probability, but no one knew where the cat had come from or where it stayed.
• Unable to approach Loki through ordinary channels, Fury found that retired Peggy Carter had met him at musicals and asked her to help.
• Loki entered the VIP room, greeted Peggy warmly, and recalled meeting her fifteen years earlier at a Phantom of the Opera anniversary performance without acknowledging Fury.

Loki met with Peggy Carter while Nick Fury tried to get his attention and learn about Goose. Peggy gave Fury a card and instructions to send a better-looking agent with a cleaner mind to meet Loki, while Loki later told Adam that Goose’s former caretaker had come looking and recalled challenging the house cats to a fight.

• Loki praised Peggy Carter’s beauty and ignored Nick Fury as he spoke with her for more than half an hour.
• When Loki prepared to leave, his bodyguards intimidated Nick Fury, who remained behind with Peggy Carter.
• Peggy gave Nick Fury a card and told him to send a better-looking agent with a cleaner mind to meet Loki after the banquet.
• Nick Fury considered Iron Knight for the assignment and planned to alter the story he told her so he could investigate Loki without revealing Goose’s secret.
• Loki told Adam that Goose’s former poop-scooper had come looking for him, then recalled challenging the three cats to fight.

Adam reflected on his pursuit of Chthon and Earth’s approaching transition into the age of superheroes while observing that the entities wary of him were beginning to lower their guard. He dismissed Loki’s concerns and said he was returning to recharge.

• Loki recalled how Kero, Suppi, and Mimi had beaten him senseless, leaving him buried in ruins overnight.
• Adam asked the date on Earth and learned it was July 12, 2007, a year before Iron Man’s arrival.
• Adam recounted how Chthon had repeatedly escaped him, prompting Adam to chase and beat him more than twenty times before abandoning the pursuit.
• Adam examined a Fate Card and saw a familiar figure reading, realizing that entities were gradually lowering their guard and testing him through Loki.
• Adam told Loki to do as he pleased and announced that he was going back to recharge.

Adam and the cats chose pizza for lunch, while Kero worried that his easygoing lifestyle made him less competitive than the others. Later, Adam prepared to take part in events to come by opening a magic workshop in New York, where he encountered a pizza delivery guy named Toby Maguire.

• Kero used his phone to pick a pizza place, then got startled when the owner angrily answered his question about pineapple toppings.
• Suppi ordered two pizzas from his own phone, and Adam reassured Kero that each cat had special qualities and could live as he liked.
• Adam updated his identity records at Kamar-Taj, bought a New York shop, and turned it into a magic workshop and collectibles store.
• The pizza delivery guy introduced himself as Toby Maguire, leaving Adam stunned before he gave him extra cash and wished him well.

After discovering that Toby had the background of Toby Spider, Adam decided to recruit him as a waiter, suspecting he could help make him Spider-Man. The chapter left Suppi in danger after Adam caught him thinking badly about his boss.

• Adam realized Toby's memories matched Toby Spider's and wondered whether he had influenced the Spider Totem.
• Adam declared that the shop would recruit Toby as a waiter because he wanted to keep him close.
• Suppi warned that hiring someone at the empty shop could make Toby suspicious, so Adam suggested giving him cleaning duties too.
• Suppi privately criticized Adam's hands-off management, and Adam threatened him for badmouthing his boss.

Toby Maguire met Adam Reed, who offered him an unusually high-paying job at his Midtown shop, but Toby left unsure whether he would be hired. A week later, Uncle Ben and Aunt May showed him Adam’s letter and a collection of documents, and Toby learned Adam wanted him to bring his things to the shop after school the following Monday.

• Toby Maguire questioned Adam Reed about the high pay for a janitor’s job, and Adam explained that he needed someone to handle most of the shop’s work.
• Toby told Adam he was a high school student and could only work after school, but Adam said he would think about hiring him.
• Toby left Adam his home phone number and assumed he had been rejected.
• A week later, Uncle Ben and Aunt May showed Toby a pile of documents that included a student loan and a letter from Adam Reed.
• Toby read Adam’s letter, which explained that Adam had investigated him and invited him to bring his things to the shop after school the following Monday.

Toby reviewed Adam’s generous student loan and work offer, and his family verified the documents and encouraged him to accept. He brought the signed paperwork to Adam’s shop, where Adam noticed that something was still missing.

• Toby read Adam’s documents, which offered an interest-free student loan based on his grades, generous pay and benefits for after-school work, and the chance to reduce his debt through good performance.
• Ben and May verified Adam’s credentials, and Ben concluded that Adam was investing in Toby’s talents and reminded him to be grateful.
• Toby accepted the offer despite continued bullying and arrived at Adam’s shop with signed forms and identification documents, ready to start work.
• Adam pointed out that Toby had forgotten one thing, and Toby looked away guiltily as he realized what it was.

Adam took Toby’s bank card for safekeeping and arranged his job at the company, where Toby became instantly infatuated with the elf Kyle. After work, Toby returned home determined to study hard and work for Adam in the future.

• Adam took Toby’s bank card, explaining that Uncle Ben had arranged for most of Toby’s wages to be saved until he came of age.
• Adam arranged Toby’s onboarding paperwork, and Toby stared at Kyle, an elf working at the company, as she collected the documents.
• Adam teased Toby for staring openly at Kyle, but Toby happily repeated her name after she left.
• Toby rode home after work and told Uncle Ben that he would study hard and work at Adam’s company in the future.

Toby witnessed a customer buy an expensive magical vase and began to grasp the shop’s real business. Adam sent Toby to restock an identical vase, then left to investigate the exorcist who had bought one and the evil spirit he had encountered.

• Toby greeted a customer who bought a vase for over sixty million and left with special packaging.
• Toby told Adam the shop could make money, while Adam reflected that the vase cost him nothing to produce and that magical tools were the shop’s main business.
• Adam sent Toby to restock an identical vase, leaving him bewildered about why it could command such a high price.
• Adam explained that the customer was a New York exorcist who used the shop’s magical tools to build his reputation.
• Adam left to investigate the evil spirit the exorcist had encountered, suspecting it might be a demon.

Adam discovered that Blackheart was planning to use the San Venganza Contract to rise in power and prepared to open a gate to Hell. Ancient One sensed the danger and found Adam through a portal as he drew the summoning circle.

• Adam captured a little demon scout and learned from its memories that Blackheart had sent demons to Earth to seek the San Venganza Contract.
• Adam learned that Blackheart believed the contract’s souls could make him powerful enough to join the Hell Lords, though the rumors motivating him were false.
• Adam decided to recruit Blackheart into his Father's Revenge League and gathered the little demon and San Venganza Contract needed to open a gate to Hell.
• Ancient One worried that Hell’s unusual silence signaled a larger threat and wondered whether Adam was on Earth to respond.
• Ancient One sensed Adam’s magic and opened a portal to find him drawing a magic circle.

Adam and the Ancient One opened a Hell Gate using demons she had imprisoned, and Blackheart emerged with the San Venganza Contract. After the Ancient One restrained him, Adam kept him alive and questioned his hatred of Mephisto, leaving Blackheart ready to guide them to his father.

• The Ancient One returned and found Adam preparing a magic circle to open a Hell Gate.
• The Ancient One supplied imprisoned hellish creatures as sacrifices, allowing Adam to open the gate.
• Blackheart rushed out, took the San Venganza Contract, and demanded that Adam and the Ancient One kneel to him.
• The Ancient One bound Blackheart with Crimson Chains of Cyttorak, but Adam stopped her from killing him.
• Adam asked Blackheart about his resentment toward Mephisto, and Blackheart offered to lead Adam to his father.

Adam forced Blackheart to open a path to Mephisto by making him sacrifice parts of himself, while Blackheart hoped the two would kill each other. The magic circle gained enough power to open the way, and Blackheart thanked Adam for hastening his sacrifice despite fearing what Adam would do next.

• Ancient One left after watching Adam manipulate Blackheart into leading him toward Mephisto.
• Blackheart eagerly offered to open a path to Mephisto, hoping either Adam or his father would die.
• When Blackheart claimed he was too weak to open the gate, Adam told him to sacrifice something.
• Blackheart sacrificed a finger and an arm to fuel the magic circle, but Adam cut off his other arm to fill the remaining energy.
• Blackheart thanked Adam for his mercy as Adam raised his deathly greatsword over him.

Adam used Blackheart to open a passage into Hell, pinned Mephisto in place, and forced him to answer questions. Mephisto explained that Hell’s lords had sealed their dimension after learning that Chthon and Dormammu had fallen to a hunter of Dimension Lords.

• Adam stabilized the passage to Hell with the World Tree and entered with the other dimensions supporting it.
• Adam used the Spear of Longinus to pin Mephisto to his seat and prevent him from escaping or using his power.
• Mephisto noticed Blackheart’s missing hands and realized his son had helped Adam open the gate.
• Adam slapped Mephisto when he failed to listen, then asked which demon lords he knew.
• Mephisto said Hell’s lords had sealed their dimension after learning that Chthon had been tortured and Dormammu had been defeated by a being targeting dark and evil dimensions.

Adam revealed that he had come to seize the entire Hell Dimension, not merely gain a foothold, and began invading it through Mephisto’s territory. Mephisto was blamed for betraying Hell, while Adam investigated why the dimension’s authority was divided among so many lords.

• Mephisto urged Adam to join Hell’s Dark Dimension faction and become a powerful leader.
• Adam told Mephisto he wanted the entire Hell Dimension, as his other dimensions began detecting and invading it.
• Adam revealed he had also defeated Dormammu, Chthon, Nightmare, and Vishanti, and had used Blackheart to find Mephisto.
• Hell Lords arrived, accused Mephisto of betraying Hell, and Mephisto considered siding with Adam.
• Adam stripped darkness from Mephisto and discovered that Hell’s many lords each held genuine authority over their own territories.

Adam confronted Satan and the Hell Lords, then unleashed holy light that purified Hell’s demons and left the dimension empty. As control of the Hell Dimensions passed to him, Adam sensed a change and glimpsed a green door.

• Satan crushed Mephisto into scattered corpses, then demanded Adam’s name and learned it was Adam.
• Hades mocked Adam and was struck by lightning, while Osiris lost a finger and discovered that the lightning was destroying his authority over Hell.
• Adam summoned the Wand of Darkness and used holy light to drive Satan from the battlefield.
• Adam engulfed King Yama and the other Hell Lords in holy light, purifying every demon in Hell and leaving only souls behind.
• Adam gained ownership of more Hell Dimensions and faintly saw a green door.

Adam took control of Hell and made Blackheart his subordinate, restoring his arms and assigning him to manage Hell’s contracts and influence. Blackheart recognized Adam’s description of the green door as a legend about the true ruler of Hell beneath Hell, which Adam identified as One Below All.

• Blackheart realized Adam had spared him because he could manage Hell’s business, and Adam warned him to obey or be replaced.
• Adam restored Blackheart’s arms with Hell’s power, banned actively tempting human souls, and explained that the San Venganza Contract would never make Blackheart Mephisto’s equal.
• Adam gave Blackheart Hell’s contracts and summoning requests to process, telling him to develop subordinates without tarnishing Hell’s brand.
• Adam asked Blackheart about the vanished green door, and Blackheart recognized it as a legend about the true ruler of Hell beneath Hell.
• Adam connected the legend to One Below All.

Adam learned that gathering ownership of all Hell might let him reach OBA, then returned to his shop and told Toby he had fought demons in Hell. Toby struggled with the morality of Adam’s actions until Agent Coulson arrived, prompting Toby to panic that Adam was in trouble.

• Adam recalled that OBA lay beneath Hell and reasoned that controlling all of Hell might bring him closer to it.
• Adam returned to Earth, found Toby asleep in the shop, and let him rest before sending him to class with breakfast.
• Toby asked Adam where he had gone, and Adam said he had traveled through Hell and left only one enemy alive.
• Toby spent the next two days wrestling with the idea that Adam had killed people, while Adam watched his distress.
• Adam invited Toby to ask what was on his mind, but Agent Coulson entered the shop and introduced himself as an FBI agent.
• Toby toppled out of his chair and looked at Adam in alarm, while Coulson wondered what was wrong with the boy.

S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Coulson investigated Adam’s antique shop after noticing that a suspected supernatural criminal had visited several times. He identified the suspect as Adam’s customer, but the chapter ended with Coulson clarifying that the criminal had caused major property damage without killing anyone.

• S.H.I.E.L.D. investigated the shop’s unusual customers and found no evidence of wrongdoing, so Coulson decided to investigate in person.
• Coulson arrived at the shop, where Adam laughed at Toby’s nervous reaction and welcomed the agent’s questions.
• Coulson showed Adam a photograph, and Adam confirmed that the pictured man had bought vases, necklaces, and amulets from him.
• Toby recognized the customer and asked if he was dead; Coulson explained that the case involved major property damage and had caused no casualties.

Adam explained that his remark about killing someone had been a joke, and Agent Coulson left to investigate him. Meanwhile, Alexander Pierce learned that Nick Fury had secretly devoted years of S.H.I.E.L.D. resources to finding an unusually long-lived orange cat and began to suspect the cat had special significance.

• Coulson questioned Toby about a possible murder, and Toby panicked before Adam explained that he had only joked about killing someone.
• Coulson decided to investigate Adam's activities and later reviewed surveillance footage near Adam's shop at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
• Coulson reflected that Nick Fury's recent efforts centered on an orange cat, though Fury had not given his agents evidence of its importance.
• Agent Sitwell reported to Alexander Pierce that Fury's cat-related search and a long-running supercomputer selection task were connected.
• Pierce realized Fury might have been searching for the same orange cat for twenty years and suspected its unchanged appearance pointed to something extraordinary.