Chapter Summaries

Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents defeated Iron Monger, but Obadiah Stane died when his armor exploded. Loki learned of the outcome, claimed Obadiah’s soul and assets, and used his majority stake in Stark Industries to call a shareholders’ meeting.

• Tony Stark taunted Iron Monger, but Obadiah Stane emerged from the smoke and chased him through the battlefield.
• Hawkeye and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents created an opening, and Brock Rumlow shot through the hole Hawkeye’s arrow had made, short-circuiting half of Iron Monger.
• Obadiah fired missiles at the Stark Tower sign, then Iron Monger exploded in a secondary blast that killed him and destroyed the armor.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. agents approached Tony Stark after the battle, while the outcome was sent to S.H.I.E.L.D. and forwarded by Hela to Loki.
• Loki summoned Obadiah’s soul, mocked him for losing the wager, and put him away.
• Loki announced a Stark Industries shareholders’ meeting at World Tree headquarters in fifteen days, using his 57.8 percent stake to call it himself.

After Obadiah Stane died and Stark Tower burned, Nick Fury learned that Loki had gained Obadiah’s Stark Industries shares and called a new shareholders’ meeting. Fury also ended Agent Hill’s slow investigation of Toby and ordered more aggressive action as he suspected Loki’s organization was preparing to move.

• The military and S.H.I.E.L.D. failed to obtain Tony Stark’s armor after Obadiah Stane died, and Nick Fury argued with the military over who was responsible.
• A logistics agent told Nick Fury that Loki had called a Stark Industries shareholders’ meeting for fifteen days later and had obtained all of Obadiah Stane’s shares through a wager agreement.
• Nick Fury questioned Agent Hill about her mission and learned that she was only nearing the point of asking Toby out to the New York Public Library.
• Nick Fury ended Agent Hill’s mission and ordered more aggressive measures because he believed Loki’s organization was close to acting on its plans.

Adam learned that Loki had taken control of Stark Industries and arranged its shareholders’ meeting at World Tree headquarters, then asked to attend for entertainment. Tony Stark prepared to negotiate with Loki to keep the company, while Loki wondered why Adam cared about the meeting.

• Adam read reports that the Iron Monger and Iron Man battle had destroyed Stark Tower, and saw that Loki had acquired Obadiah Stane’s shares through a betting agreement.
• Tony Stark learned Loki controlled more than half of Stark Industries and planned to hold its shareholders’ meeting at World Tree headquarters.
• Tony considered negotiating with Loki to protect his father’s company and its trademark, even if he had to surrender Mark III technology.
• Adam told Loki he wanted to attend the shareholders’ meeting, and Loki puzzled over Adam’s interest until Adam smacked him with a newspaper.

Adam confronted S.H.I.E.L.D. after Loki dealt with the agents sent to the art shop, then exposed the Nick Fury in the headquarters as Talos. He demanded that Talos contact the real Nick Fury and hinted that Carol Danvers was nearby, threatening to use the blue cube if Talos failed.

• Adam told Loki that S.H.I.E.L.D. was closing in, then went to speak with Nick Fury while Loki confronted the agents.
• Loki used mind-affecting illusionary clones to take on the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, while Adam appeared inside headquarters and found agents sorting through 084 files.
• Adam followed Nick Fury to his office, called himself the Manager, and revealed that Mimi had willingly left Nick Fury.
• Adam recognized that the Nick Fury before him was an impostor and slammed him into the wall, exposing him as Talos.
• Adam deduced that the real Nick Fury and Carol Danvers were on a spacecraft and gave Talos one minute to contact Nick Fury, displaying a blue cube as a threat.

Adam told Nick Fury he had come to sightsee and watch the fun, not conquer Earth. Nick Fury challenged his claim that Goose had left willingly, but Mimi confirmed it before returning to Adam’s shop.

• Nick Fury asked Adam about his goal, and Adam said he was sightseeing and watching the fun.
• Nick Fury accused Adam of taking Goose, and Adam said Mimi had chosen to leave because Nick Fury had failed to understand or feed him properly.
• Adam summoned Mimi and asked him whether he had left willingly, and Mimi nodded in front of Nick Fury.
• Nick Fury tried to persuade Mimi to come home, but Mimi frightened him with his tentacled maw and then opened a spatial passage back to the shop.

Adam confronted Nick Fury and demonstrated that he could defeat Carol Danvers, whom Fury had summoned to stop him. He left Fury with a clear warning not to challenge him unless he could overcome Carol first.

• Adam exposed Nick Fury's act and explained that using his mind-influencing powers was taxing.
• Adam opened a doorway to bring Carol Danvers to the ship, where she confronted him.
• Carol attacked Adam with an energy blast and then charged him, but he redirected her attacks and slammed her around the ship.
• Adam injured Carol badly enough to suppress her healing, then used her defeat to warn Nick Fury not to bother him.

Adam explained to Loki that direct force was often the simplest way to deal with powerful organizations, while Loki still failed to grasp the lesson. At the Stark Industries shareholders' meeting, Loki's control of the company left the other shareholders sidelined, and he used Tony Stark's earlier insult against him when Tony asked to talk.

• Adam told Loki that S.H.I.E.L.D. had backed off after Adam beat Carol Danvers, and advised him to favor direct methods over petty tricks.
• Stark Industries shareholders arrived and realized Loki's shares, combined with Tony Stark's, made their own support unnecessary for major company decisions.
• Tony Stark arrived unusually early, surprising the shareholders and drawing Loki's attention.
• Tony Stark asked Loki to talk before the meeting began, hoping to reach a private agreement.
• Loki answered that he had little to discuss with a man, repeating Tony's earlier dismissal of him and beginning his counterattack.

At a shareholders' meeting, Loki taunted Tony Stark and refused his offers, leaving Tony to wonder what Loki wanted. Adam decided Loki should sell transformation devices instead, while Tony grew alarmed that Loki might be after him personally.

• Tony Stark offered Loki the Mark III blueprints or money, but Loki dismissed both as worthless to him.
• Adam watched Loki provoke Tony and decided to pursue mass-produced Kamen Rider transformation devices.
• Adam told Loki he would be selling toys rather than weapons, and Loki accepted the change as a kindness.
• Loki told Tony he would learn what he wanted when the shareholders' meeting began.
• Tony looked around at the attractive World Tree Group staff, guessed Loki might want him, and buttoned his shirt while wondering whether Stark Industries or his chastity mattered more.

At the shareholders' meeting, Tony Stark proposed a new battery as the key to reviving Stark Industries, and Loki ended the meeting without taking control of the company. In an interview, Loki explained that he had invested because he believed Tony would find a way to save Stark Industries.

• Loki questioned Tony Stark about how he would restore Stark Industries and what would make the company competitive.
• Tony Stark presented his plan to launch a new type of battery that could give Stark Industries a valuable product.
• Loki accepted the plan for the time being, adjourned the meeting, and left the shareholders wondering why he had not taken over.
• Loki told a television host that he had bought Stark Industries shares as an investment because he believed Tony Stark would do whatever it took to keep the company alive.

Loki explained on television how he had acquired more than forty percent of Stark Industries for less than a hundred million, while the company’s stock rose as Tony Stark’s safety and Mark III became known. The host watched Loki leave with his bodyguards, who were wearing flashy new equipment supplied by Adam, and Loki realized they had become toy demonstrators.

• Loki told the host that he had gained Stark Industries shares from grateful shareholders and a bet with Obadiah Stane, spending less than a hundred million in total.
• Loki’s interview ended as Stark Industries shares climbed after reports that Tony Stark was safe and Mark III was spreading.
• The host warned Loki to stay safe, and Loki assured him his bodyguard team was professional.
• Loki found his bodyguards wearing flashing belts and learned Adam had given them the devices as new equipment.
• Loki remembered Adam’s plan to sell toys and realized his bodyguards were demonstrating them.

Loki saw Adam’s bodyguards transform into armored fighters and questioned whether the devices were safe to sell as toys. Adam explained that their power depended on a user’s desire to protect, while stronger upgrades required paid support items, then hinted that a lucky draw could let Loki defeat Odin.

• After a bodyguard transformed, Loki tested the armor and found it could withstand his energy-enhanced attacks without a scratch.
• Loki confronted Adam about the devices’ power, and Adam argued that their effects were limited during ordinary horseplay.
• Adam shot Loki with a toy-like weapon that left him unharmed and explained that transformation strength came from the user’s desire to protect.
• Loki read the manual and discovered that extra functions and increased stat limits required card draws and payments through the Nine Realms Bank.
• Adam placed the weapon in Loki’s hand and claimed a lucky upgrade could let him beat Odin senseless, rekindling Loki’s interest.

Loki left with Adam’s handmade Don Blaster, while World Tree Group turned Stark Industries’ military factories into toy factories and launched transformation devices. Tony Stark and Nick Fury grew concerned as the devices drew public attention and suspicious preorders, leaving their true purpose under scrutiny.

• Adam persuaded Loki to take a handmade Don Blaster, though its power depended on upgrades and might force Don Momotaro’s truth-telling trait onto him.
• Loki let Tony Stark resume control of Stark Industries and agreed to sell its military factories to World Tree Group.
• Pepper Potts told Tony Stark that Loki had converted the factories into toy factories, and Tony watched a spokesperson transform into armored gear on a launch broadcast.
• Tony denied having supplied Loki with Mark III technology but suspected that officials would use the toys to pressure him for his armor designs.
• Nick Fury and Congress debated whether the transformation devices were safe toys, while Nick noticed that preorders had sold out and buyers were concentrated in sensitive regions.

Nick Fury had Agent A test a World Tree Group Transformation Belt, while Adam gave Toby and Winter Soldier customized transformation devices. Toby transformed into a Kamen Rider and discovered his game-themed armor had unusual proportions, while Loki chose to keep his irritating Don Momotaro transformation sound after Adam warned him against changing it.

• Nick Fury had Agent A bind a Transformation Belt, transform, and undergo tests while Nick monitored him.
• Adam gave Toby and Winter Soldier customized transformation devices, and Loki encouraged them to try the belts.
• Toby used the Amazing Action X Gashat and transformed into a game-styled Kamen Rider.
• Toby questioned the proportions of his armor, while Loki wondered why Toby's transformation sounds were normal.
• Adam told Loki that changing his Don Momotaro sound could cost him power, so Loki decided to keep it.

Adam took Toby and Winter Soldier into the Mirror Dimension to test their transformation armor, and both discovered its unusual strengths and appearances. Winter Soldier then challenged Loki to reveal his transformation, and Adam offered to show his own as well.

• Adam opened a passage into the Mirror Dimension and took Toby, Winter Soldier, and Loki there to test the armor.
• Toby smashed a café with one punch, then leapt high into the air and used the armor's spider-silk launcher to swing safely to a balcony.
• Winter Soldier transformed with the Orange Lockseed and revealed cherry-blossom samurai-style armor after Loki laughed at the orange helmet.
• Winter Soldier asked Loki to show his transformation, and Adam said he could show his own too as he patted his Ohma Zi-O Driver.

Loki transformed into Don Momotaro and was embarrassed by the elaborate performance that came with it. After Winter Soldier laughed at him, Loki attacked, and the two began fighting as Toby and Adam watched the building collapse around them.

• Loki used the Don Blaster to transform into Don Momotaro, and the transformation sequence surrounded him with a motorcycle, a palanquin, and performers.
• Winter Soldier fell from a sign in surprise, while Toby praised Loki’s special effects and Loki privately regretted the spectacle.
• Winter Soldier laughed at Loki, so Loki punched him through a building wall and caused the building to begin collapsing.
• Toby grabbed Adam and ran from the collapsing building, then cleared the dust and found Loki and Winter Soldier still fighting.
• Adam watched Loki’s superior strength match Winter Soldier’s combat skill as Loki stubbornly kept fighting at close range.

Adam assigned Toby to teach Loki a lesson in close combat, but the fight ended when Loki used magic to drive Winter Soldier back and Adam stopped the battle. Adam then demonstrated his Ohma Zi-O transformation, leaving Loki baffled by the claims that it was supremely benevolent and supremely good.

• Adam told Toby that Loki needed to lose a fight to recognize his weakness in close combat, and Toby agreed despite lacking money for accessory pulls.
• Loki unleashed lightning at Winter Soldier, and Adam froze the attack before restoring the damage around them.
• Loki complained that he had been beaten without a chance to retaliate, while Adam reminded him that he had attacked first.
• Toby asked Adam to demonstrate his transformation, and Adam transformed into Ohma Zi-O amid magic that carved a giant clock face into the ground.
• Loki questioned Adam's claims of supreme benevolence and goodness, and Adam defended the titles as his own chosen identity.

Adam demonstrated his Kamen Rider transformation, while the others learned that using the belts consumed stamina. As World Tree Group’s Transformation Belts reached the public, their protective potential alarmed police officers already facing heavily armed criminals.

• Adam transformed into Oma Zi-O and summoned Woz to celebrate, while Loki questioned the rituals and Toby wished he could afford an upgrade.
• Winter Soldier reverted after exhausting his stamina, and Adam explained that transforming consumed physical strength as well as mental power.
• Customers complained that the Transformation Belts came without straps or chargers, while others tried them out and headed to Nine Realms Bank to open accounts.
• Chief George and the New York police officers worried that the belts would let armed criminals withstand bullets, turning dangerous police work into a potential suicide mission.

S.H.I.E.L.D. failed to study or open the Transformation Belt, while Nick Fury sought help from Tony Stark and called Coulson back. Far away in Sokovia, a pair of twins woke from a dream in which someone invited them to become Kamen Riders.

• Researchers found that the Transformation Belt resisted chemicals, extreme temperatures, and immense physical force, and they could not open it.
• Nick Fury learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. had made no progress and ordered Agent Hill to ask Natasha about Tony Stark.
• Natasha told Nick Fury that Tony had disappeared from the company and was probably upgrading his Iron Man armor.
• Nick Fury ended the call with Natasha and contacted Coulson, telling him that America and S.H.I.E.L.D. needed him.
• A pair of twins in Sokovia woke after dreaming of a voice inviting them to become Kamen Riders.

Wanda and Pietro discovered that they had both heard Adam’s voice in their dreams, and Wanda chose to trust it rather than alert Hydra. After meeting Adam and learning about Kamen Riders, she contracted with him for the power to protect Pietro, leaving her wish granted but its cost still unknown.

• During a break, Wanda and Pietro realized they had heard the same voice in their dreams, and Wanda told Pietro to keep it secret from everyone at the base.
• Wanda returned to sleep and asked the voice to meet her, where Adam appeared as a strange white creature and introduced himself.
• Adam showed Wanda different kinds of Kamen Riders and explained that greater power required a greater price.
• Wanda asked to exchange everything she had for the power to protect Pietro, and Adam accepted her offer and formed the contract.

Wanda and Pietro woke with transformation devices from their dreams, only for Wanda to discover Pietro had blindly chosen the same contract option she had. Wanda transformed with the Liberation Driver and met the scarlet Giant Serpent that had emerged as her other side, which immediately proposed escaping the base.

• Wanda and Pietro found transformation devices beside them when they woke, and Pietro revealed he had accepted the same contract option as Wanda without asking what it was.
• Wanda punched Pietro for his careless choice, then examined her Liberation Driver and equipped its recommended components.
• Wanda used the King Cobra Sin Stamp to transform, activating the Devil Component and summoning a scarlet Giant Serpent that spoke in her voice.
• The Giant Serpent introduced itself as Wanda's other side and proposed killing the base's lecherous supervisor before taking Pietro somewhere safe.