Chapter Summaries

Salomon showed Nick Fury the City of Immortals and explained the Brotherhood of the Shield’s history and his plans for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s successor. Nick reviewed classified battle files under guard before Victoria Hand led him to his cell, where he would remain watched until he could work with Salomon.

• Salomon freed Nick Fury from his handcuffs, described the failed Brotherhood of the Shield and S.H.I.E.L.D., and showed him the underground city and its restored Brotherhood airship.
• Salomon promised Nick a look at classified secrets before confinement and said he hoped to work with him, while warning that using his pager would have made matters worse.
• Victoria Hand gave Nick authorized files on past battles and said Salomon had prepared a single cell for him, while the captured aliens faced a worse fate.
• Nick questioned the Super Soldiers and Salomon’s power, and Victoria warned him that the prison’s safeguards would thwart tricks and that he would remain under surveillance.
• The guards ended Nick’s file review and dragged him away, and Victoria led him to his new room after explaining that she had been remade to serve her authority.

Nick Fury questioned Victoria Hand about Salomon’s vision and the blood it would demand, while she defended the City of Immortals’ cause. After the City began repairing the Space Station, Salomon brought Wakanda into the project through a joint pact, leaving Shuri upset that he had hidden the military operation.

• Nick Fury spoke with Victoria Hand in prison and challenged Salomon’s plans, while she explained why she supported the City of Immortals.
• Victoria Hand ended Nick Fury’s visit without revealing what Salomon planned to do with S.H.I.E.L.D.
• The City of Immortals converted Assault Transports into Mars-class repair craft and began repairing the Space Station for future military and logistical use.
• Shuri and T'Challa learned of the Space Station project and joined Salomon aboard it as Wakanda prepared to move into space.
• Salomon and T'Challa signed the Joint Exploration Pact, granting Wakanda use of the Space Station in exchange for meeting its requirements, while Shuri sulked over the concealed operation.

Salomon attended dinner with the Wakandan royal family as they discussed his upcoming speech and Wakanda’s plan to export Vibranium. After Salomon left, T'Challa learned that his father had Vibranium Sickness and was urged by the Queen Regent to persuade him to reconsider; meanwhile, Bastet told Salomon that she had fulfilled her promise and that it was his turn.

• Salomon dined with the Wakandan royal family, where T'Chaka’s decision to lift Wakanda’s Vibranium export ban concerned T'Challa.
• The Queen Regent showed T'Challa a royal physicians’ report revealing that T'Chaka had suffered from Vibranium Sickness for nearly a year.
• The Queen Regent explained that T'Chaka was acting urgently because he had lost the Black Panther God’s favor and wanted to leave T'Challa room to act.
• The Queen Regent urged T'Challa to persuade his father, and T'Challa decided to ask Shuri for her opinion first.
• Salomon summoned the Black Panther God, and Bastet told him she had kept her promise and that it was his turn.

Natasha Romanoff set out to assassinate the Winter Soldier, but another group’s ambush forced her to intervene as he fought through a burning apartment building. The attackers tried to capture him alive, while Natasha came under fire from a nearby sniper.

• Natasha Romanoff received word that Steve Rogers, Pietro Maximoff, and Wanda Maximoff would join the mission, then prepared to shoot the Winter Soldier from a hotel across the street.
• The Winter Soldier found his route through the apartment building blocked by furniture and grew suspicious of a dressing table left in the stairwell.
• The Winter Soldier escaped an explosion and fought armed killers disguised as residents and movers as they pursued him through the smoke.
• Natasha Romanoff lost sight of the Winter Soldier in the smoke and realized another group had set a trap for him.
• Natasha Romanoff shot the disguised mover after a sniper killed him, then fired at the sniper’s window and dodged a bullet that struck the wall beside her.

Natasha Romanoff failed to capture the Winter Soldier and concealed what she had learned from Steve Rogers. Meanwhile, Salomon manipulated the Winter Soldier’s hunt with Bastet’s help and pressed the god to support his plans for Wakanda.

• Natasha Romanoff subdued an assassin but found no identifying information, then discovered the Winter Soldier and the other attackers had disappeared.
• Natasha Romanoff reunited with Steve Rogers before their flight to Romania and kept her encounter with the Winter Soldier secret.
• Salomon told Bastet he had delivered classified documents to the Winter Soldier and demanded help annexing Wakanda’s industry.
• Salomon explained that he had manipulated assassins to eliminate rival hunters and place the documents in the Winter Soldier’s hands.
• Salomon trimmed Bastet’s claws, and Bastet offered him magic to improve his relationships with his lovers.

James Buchanan Barnes recovered from his injuries in an assassins’ safehouse and used their documents to pursue answers about Hydra. Meanwhile, Salomon and Stephanie monitored his hunt and weighed how to keep him from crossing paths with the Avengers.

• James Buchanan Barnes removed a bullet from his leg and found a notebook listing targets, including his own name.
• James used the assassins’ cash, identification documents, and safehouse equipment to prepare for his next moves, then rested before planning to capture a Hydra agent.
• Stephanie told Salomon that James was approaching a Hydra officer from Alexander Pierce’s faction who had helped train the Azov Battalion.
• Salomon ordered that the officer be killed if James spared him and asked Malphas to calculate the chance of James encountering the Avengers.
• Malphas estimated the chance at 68.2% and offered ways to draw the Avengers toward James, but Salomon chose not to intervene yet.

Victoria Hand confronted Nick Fury about his role in protecting plutocratic interests and the crimes committed under his leadership, then prepared him to confess and face punishment. As the interrogation began, a man Fury had never expected to see entered his cell.

• The City of Immortals targeted plutocrats and secret societies, taking their assets and using political and corporate pressure to advance its strategy.
• Victoria Hand told Nick Fury that he had served plutocrats and that the City of Immortals held him responsible for the harm caused by his ignorance and inaction.
• Hand demanded that Fury confess to his crimes against humanity and warned that professional interrogators would break his resolve.
• Two Fimbulwinter First Secret Regiment soldiers opened Fury’s cell, and a short-haired man in skull-painted armor entered, shocking Fury.
• Hand told Fury that the man had already confessed and that it was now Fury’s turn.

Stephanie ordered the Winter Soldier’s targets punished after he spared a former Hydra agent, while Nick Fury was brought before Frank Castle in the City of Immortals for questioning. Elsewhere, Salomon studied the Feathered Serpent God in the Kamar-Taj Library.

• Stephanie reviewed the Winter Soldier’s surveillance footage and ordered the former Hydra agent executed while his wife and daughter were kept alive and informed why he died.
• Stephanie learned that Victoria Hand and the Fimbulwinter First Secret Regiment had begun the repentance procedure for Nick Fury, the only Deep Crimson prisoner.
• Frank Castle told Nick Fury that he had helped attack Langley to find his enemies and said the City of Immortals wanted him to explain what happened afterward.
• Salomon read in the Kamar-Taj Library, prioritizing research on the Feathered Serpent God over the Dram family’s curse.

Salomon helped Laura Croft investigate the ruins and learned that Dr. Domínguez was connected to The Trinity, while the Feathered Serpent God's powers remained mysterious. He prepared to support Laura's expedition and invited Wanda to dinner, where he planned to introduce her to someone.

• Laura told Salomon that clues in the Brazilian ruins pointed to a true location in Peru and that she planned to wait for archaeologist Dr. Domínguez.
• Salomon warned Laura that Dr. Domínguez was with The Trinity and promised to send her his dossier.
• Salomon redeployed Camila's forces and supplied them with weapons to support Laura and prepare for a planned attack on The Trinity's London headquarters.
• Salomon investigated the Feathered Serpent God's worship and concluded that its appearance was associated with eclipses, though this year's eclipse had already passed.
• Salomon called Wanda and invited her to dinner, promising to introduce her afterward to someone she knew.

Salomon showed Wanda evidence that American-backed forces had helped shape Sokovia’s coup to secure its uranium and thorium deposits. After Wanda struggled with the revelations, Salomon decided to intervene and planned to send related information to Steve Rogers.

• Salomon warned Wanda not to kill Nick Fury because he still needed him.
• Victoria Hand watched Wanda read a report revealing that multiple forces, including factions beyond Radical Hydra, had been involved in Sokovia’s coup.
• Salomon explained that securing Sokovia’s nuclear deposits would help the City of Immortals develop its nuclear industry, though spies remained a threat.
• Salomon told Victoria Hand to give Natasha Romanoff information for Steve Rogers and considered preparing a red Power Armor for him.
• Salomon asked Aura for a hot towel and decided to intervene because the revelations were harming Wanda’s mental health.

Salomon interrogated Nick Fury about S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, and the Skrulls while revealing his plans to prepare humanity for an approaching alien invasion. He then comforted Wanda after she learned that the US military had exposed children in Sokovia to radioactive experiments and began explaining why he wanted humanity to unite.

• Salomon questioned Nick Fury about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s role in Sokovia and the later radioactive experiments, and Fury blamed Harvard while admitting he could not distinguish S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from Hydra agents.
• Salomon told Fury that he was capturing Skrulls for interrogation and using their remains for Maya Hansen's genetic research.
• Salomon explained that he had sent Frank Cassell after a high-ranking CIA official and directed him to investigate drug smuggling in Afghanistan.
• Salomon warned Fury that an alien fleet, including the Chitauri biological fleet, was heading toward Earth and said humanity needed to understand the threat.
• Salomon brought Wanda hot tea and explained that the milk given to her and Pietro as children had been part of the Fernald School Experiment conducted in Sokovia.
• Salomon told Wanda he wanted the people of the world to unite, even if pursuing that cause would destroy him.

Salomon revealed his vision for humanity’s future and judged Wanda ready to approach more dangerous magic. He assigned her a mission involving an ancient grimoire and the newly appointed Ghost Rider Robbie Reyes, while giving her essays to complete first.

• Salomon explained to Wanda that he hoped to end humanity’s suffering and create a world where everyone had wisdom and power.
• Salomon told Wanda that her magical abilities likely came from a witch ancestor and that her studies of The Witch’s Path had prepared her for Dark Magic.
• Salomon said an ancient grimoire tied to Camelot, the Dark Dimension, and the Knights of the Round Table was about to appear, and ordered Wanda to retrieve it.
• Salomon gave Wanda fifty pages of essay questions due Monday, postponing her exploration of The Witch’s Path for the week.
• Salomon planned for Wanda to observe new Ghost Rider Robbie Reyes and intended to question Johnny Blaze about sharing Ghost Rider’s soul without Kamar-Taj’s consent.

Salomon equipped Wanda Maximoff’s squad for its mission while the Fimbulwinter First Secret Regiment’s officers worked with Constantine to develop future military doctrine. Wanda described how Pietro’s blunder nearly endangered the Avengers’ Hydra mission, and after sending her off, Salomon hurried to Kamar-Taj.

• Constantine held exhausting meetings with the Fimbulwinter First Secret Regiment’s officers to develop military doctrine based on the regiment’s battlefield experiments.
• Salomon assigned Sophia of the Lost City and her clan a future role as potential Gene-modded Warriors rather than letting them join Wanda’s squad.
• Wanda told Salomon that Pietro had tripped over weapons he carried during the Avengers’ Hydra mission, breaking his leg before Steve Rogers shielded him and Wanda subdued the agents.
• Salomon urged Wanda to protect civilians and erase witnesses’ memories if necessary, then went to Kamar-Taj after she left.

Wanda prepared to investigate the new Ghost Rider while Salomon gave Natasha Romanoff Nick Fury's testimony and explained why he could not help her find the Winter Soldier. In the United States, N'Jadaka struggled to recruit capable allies for the City of Immortals' plans, and Stephanie reported his shortcomings to Salomon.

• Wanda reviewed intelligence on Ghost Rider and prepared to confront the new one as Salomon's envoy.
• Salomon gave Natasha Romanoff Nick Fury's testimony, but said he could offer little help finding the Winter Soldier because other groups were pursuing him.
• Stephanie asked Salomon whether he would tell Natasha Romanoff about the City of Immortals' plans in the United States, noting N'Jadaka had recruited only petty criminals and serious offenders.
• The chapter described how fees, private prisons, and bail bond companies profited from the United States' justice system and shaped which offenders remained imprisoned.
• N'Jadaka insisted that he would continue his father's Black Panther Party cause, while Stephanie ended a call and showed Salomon her contempt for his efforts.

Salomon and Stephanie tightened the City of Immortals’ control over N'Jadaka by cutting off his ammunition sources and planning to infiltrate his organization through FBI positions. N'Jadaka seized control of his gang through violence, while recognizing that reaching Wakanda was his only chance to escape the City of Immortals’ surveillance.

• Salomon decided to use N'Jadaka as a pawn against Wakanda, and Stephanie supplied him with ammunition while secretly arranging for black-market dealers to refuse him bulk rounds.
• N'Jadaka killed a subordinate who had tried to organize a coup, burned the evidence the man had collected, and cowed the remaining criminals into submission.
• Stephanie told Salomon that the City of Immortals had secured FBI positions for its agents through her father’s Congressional Black Ops Task Force.
• Stephanie proposed using City of Immortals agents as undercover FBI infiltrators in N'Jadaka’s organization, with soldiers monitoring him and assassins eliminating rival infiltrators.
• N'Jadaka concluded that only entering Wakanda could free him from the City of Immortals’ surveillance, so he ruthlessly took command of his organization.

Stephanie reviewed N'Jadaka's report without bringing it to Salomon's attention, then spoke with Phoenix, who had come to retrieve Salomon's watch and share news of its published poetry collection. Stephanie later ordered staff to prepare Skrull interrogation records and conceal evidence from regulators.

• Stephanie signed off on the report about N'Jadaka and buried it beneath Salomon's other documents.
• Phoenix arrived in Stephanie's office to retrieve Salomon's forgotten watch and said its poetry collection had been published.
• Phoenix offered its royalties as military funding, but Stephanie advised it to spend them on snacks instead.
• Stephanie told her secretary to prepare the Skrull interrogation records for Salomon and have foundation managers clean up evidence that had drawn the Securities and Exchange Commission's attention.
• Stephanie explained that insider trading was how they made money.

Diana List, Stephanie Malick’s secretary and a Hydra heir, was escorted through the City of Immortals’ dungeon to observe the interrogation of a Skrull. The guard told her Mithra would soon break the prisoner and reveal how many Skrulls remained on Earth.

• The City of Immortals used mind-entering interrogators and neural sensors to extract memories from Skrull prisoners.
• Diana List entered the dungeon and was frightened when a prisoner with her own face appeared behind an iron door.
• A black-armored female guard escorted Diana by patrol vehicle to the interrogation room.
• Diana saw a Skrull prisoner resisting an interrogation while the interrogator in white robes suffered in the subject’s mind.
• The guard explained that three interrogators worked together and said Mithra would produce a report within half an hour.

The City of Immortals uncovered evidence that Skrulls living on Earth were drifting toward rebellion and began a covert campaign to eliminate them. Eighteen days before the main events, Salomon and Victoria Hand assessed the operation after soldiers killed five hidden Skrulls in New York.

• Constantine reviewed matching interrogation reports revealing that Skrulls had struggled to find a home and that younger Skrulls increasingly favored settling on Earth and seeking revenge.
• Victoria Hand and Constantine concluded the Skrull threat could grow into a rebellion, and Constantine ordered intensified interrogations and mobilized the Fimbulwinter First Secret Regiment.
• Twenty days earlier, Victoria Hand confronted Nick Fury with intelligence about the Skrulls and warned him to resolve the danger.
• Eighteen days earlier, the Fimbulwinter First Secret Regiment killed a Skrull posing as a New York homeowner and uncovered the human remains hidden by the impostor.
• Victoria Hand told Salomon that the City of Immortals had traced more Skrulls through communications but faced narrow windows for operations to protect human hostages.

Commissioner George Stacy faced mysterious killings that the FBI swiftly concealed, while Salomon rebuked Nick Fury over the Skrull crisis and took control of his countermeasures. Sam Wilson relayed Stacy’s request for help to Steve Rogers, and the Avengers added the massacres and five new cases to their intelligence network.

• George Stacy warned Detective Carter and Detective Francisco not to investigate the strange cases privately, then called someone for help.
• Detective Carter told George Stacy that the armed FBI agents seemed connected to the mysterious military unit that had abducted people.
• Nick Fury offered his hidden S.H.I.E.L.D. countermeasures to Salomon, who assigned Victoria Hand to take them over and warned that he would kill any Kree who entered the Solar System.
• Sam Wilson answered George Stacy’s call and promised to seek help from military contacts and Stark Industries’ artificial intelligence.
• Sam Wilson informed Steve Rogers that George Stacy might need the Avengers, and the Avengers added the two massacres and five strange cases to their intelligence network.

Sam Wilson and Commissioner George Stacy investigated bodies whose remains had been dead for years even though their families believed they had been taken only yesterday. Meanwhile, Salomon directed the cleanup and transport of Skrulls, while Victoria Hand prepared to take over Nick Fury’s work.

• Sam Wilson examined the victims’ skeletons and learned that they had changed jobs and rebuilt their social connections around the time they were determined to have died.
• Commissioner George Stacy told Sam that the attackers had destroyed evidence and used a large-caliber weapon, leaving the police with no clear leads.
• Victoria Hand reported that the Skrulls in New York State had been eliminated and their bodies were being airlifted to the City of Immortals.
• Salomon ordered the biological Gene Laboratory to receive the Skrulls for Dr. Maya Hansen’s experiments and told Victoria to finish the cleanup in New Jersey.
• Salomon joked with Victoria about his alchemical body and her liquor cabinet, then praised her potential to take over Nick Fury’s work.