Chapter Summaries

After the Lighthouse Base riot, Constantine prepared to transfer the captured S.H.I.E.L.D. agents while Enoch argued that Leopold Fitz should join the mission. Meanwhile, Salomon discussed Martian society and his dealings with Rodin, leaving Rodin’s future dependent on whether he obeyed orders.

• Leopold Fitz reacted with horror to Alpha-Bronze 2’s extensive cybernetic implants as the Ranger Cavalry escorted the captured agents from the Lighthouse Base.
• Constantine prepared to transfer the agents, keeping Daisy Johnson and Elena Rodriguez under threat of explosive collars, while Enoch argued that Leopold Fitz would improve the mission’s chances.
• Epsilon-Rodney-Radium 223 returned from Latveria and joined the discussion as the chapter described Mars’s ruthless, hierarchical scientific society and its struggle to build military power.
• Salomon explained to Bayonetta and Jeanne that Rodin wanted to work for him in exchange for remaining in the Material Universe, and warned that he might kill Rodin if he disobeyed.
• Salomon dismissed the matter and turned to dinner, playfully mussing Milia’s hair.

Salomon taught Milia through ideas and images while explaining the military principles behind his Rules of Engagement, and Jeanne and Bayonetta debated how best to educate her. The lesson ended with Bayonetta turning the meal into weapons practice, while Salomon accepted Milia’s dangerous training under supervision.

• Salomon explained that his Rules of Engagement drew on ancient military texts and taught commanders to gather information, seize initiative, and avoid hesitation.
• Salomon argued that Milia needed her thinking shaped through knowledge of love, art, and reality, while Jeanne doubted she could understand his lesson.
• Milia showed that she had absorbed Salomon’s ideas through the Sea of Aether despite not understanding spoken Chinese.
• Bayonetta gave Milia a Chainsaw Dagger and a pistol and encouraged her to practice cutting steak and firing at a plate during brunch.
• Salomon tolerated the weapons practice and warned Jeanne and Bayonetta that damaged estate furnishings would be incinerated rather than resold.

Salomon upheld his policies while accommodating Bayonetta’s concerns about military training at the manor. Aboard the Sky Sword Space Station, Tita and Natasha Romanoff prepared to meet Earthly allies as Tita learned that some visiting scientists were suspected spies.

• Salomon approved a separate nearby site for the Sisterhood’s indoor counterterrorism exercises after Bayonetta objected to turning the manor into a fortress.
• Tita was assigned to the Sky Sword Space Station while the station received freight shipments of ammunition from Mars.
• Natasha Romanoff questioned Tita about preparations for alien threats, and Tita explained that alien raiders might exploit the coming conflict to plunder Earth.
• Tita prepared to guide Natasha around the station to meet Earthly allies and their visiting scientists.
• Natasha identified a suspected CIA agent among the visiting delegation, and Tita proposed ejecting him through an airlock.

Natasha Romanoff accepted Tita’s help with investigating foreign scientists arriving at the Space Station while continuing to pass limited information to her handler. At the manor, Hammurabi prepared Pegasus for a run and discussed the talking horses’ ongoing experiments, while Tita and Victor von Doom spoke about the Emperor’s expectations and a fugitive who had escaped them.

• Tita advised Natasha Romanoff to question incoming scientists and offered to prepare disguises, which Natasha accepted.
• After Natasha left, Tita told Victor von Doom that Natasha was still passing information to her handler, and Victor urged Tita not to make that her main mission.
• Victor explained that the Emperor trusted Tita and had expressed his expectations through the genetically modified white horse he gave her.
• Pegasus complained about the restrictions on his food while Hammurabi tended to him and discussed experiments with talking horses.
• Hammurabi led Pegasus out of the stable and released him for a low-altitude flight.

Victor von Doom used ROOT to analyze Nick Fury’s old data while the Emperor’s surveillance tightened around him, and Salomon recruited Tony Stark for a lunar defense project. The chapter ended with Salomon revealing that there were Mutants on the moon.

• Nick Fury traveled the world to test the limits of the Emperor’s surveillance, unaware that the Emperor intended to tame him through pressure and controlled intelligence.
• Victor von Doom examined Nick Fury’s data cube and asked ROOT to extract its files so the Sacred Guard could identify hidden agents and safe houses.
• Victor von Doom treated Natasha Romanoff’s help to Nick Fury as part of a plan to predict his actions and bring him under their command.
• Salomon contacted Tony Stark and asked him to join a project to build a defensive network before the Dark Order fleet reached the Solar System.
• Salomon persuaded Tony Stark to begin the project by going to the moon, where he said there were Mutants.

The Emperor pressured Tony Stark to join a secret planetary defense effort, then ended their call and returned to the Witches. At Lighthouse Base, he questioned Enoch about his past and arranged for him to visit Kamar-Taj after suspecting that someone was watching through the Immortal Men.

• Tony Stark accused the Emperor of lying, but the Emperor urged him to bypass Congress and join the Planetary Defense Plan anonymously.
• The Emperor offered to send an aircraft to collect Stark near his vacation cabin, then cut off their conversation before Stark could respond.
• Bayonetta shared a cocktail with the Emperor and invited him to join her and Jeanne, giving him ten minutes to finish his business.
• The Emperor asked Enoch whether he had seen him before and explained that he wanted Enoch's experience for a journey into the past.
• The Emperor ordered Constantine to take Enoch to Kamar-Taj and warned that someone might be monitoring them through the Immortal Men.

Enoch recognized the Emperor as a supernatural phenomenon, felt fear, and was ordered by Constantine to surrender his memories for research. Meanwhile, Tita welcomed Agent Coulson’s team to Sky Sword Space Station for harsh training and challenged Amon to the arena when he questioned her methods.

• Enoch struggled to observe the Emperor, whose presence disrupted his systems and made him realize that he had developed emotions.
• The Emperor vanished, and Constantine ordered Enoch to accept modifications and surrender his memories for research.
• Salomon returned to the manor and explained to Bayonetta that Dinah had sent Sisterhood soldiers for Lighthouse Base security and was training them in service.
• Tita welcomed Agent Coulson and his team to Sky Sword Space Station, warned them to obey strict rules, and threatened them with lethal force if they broke them.
• Tita defended her harsh treatment of Coulson’s team to Amon, and a Sisterhood soldier invited him to challenge their commander in the arena.

Agent Coulson’s team examined their files and learned they were expected to undertake a mission tied to humanity’s future, while Tita and Amon discussed how to manage the agents’ distrust. The chapter ended with Tita saying she was willing to communicate with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Amon.

• Agent Coulson’s team searched their quarters and found manuals and detailed medical files, including a report on Coulson’s GH-325 damage and blank genetic analyses for Daisy Johnson and Elena Rodriguez.
• Agent Coulson hid the reports from his team, apologized for concealing the truth about Lighthouse Base, and promised Alfonso Mackenzie that he would share intelligence.
• Agent Coulson told the team that Enoch’s past experiences pointed toward a mission they had already encountered through time, and Melinda May suspected Nick Fury had arranged Enoch’s involvement.
• Tita accused Melinda May of refusing to accept responsibility for deaths at Lighthouse Base, while Amon said distrust and guilt shaped her view of the conflict.
• Tita proposed using overwhelming force to make the agents cooperate, but Amon offered to mediate and prepare a plan for when to negotiate or fight.
• Tita left the monitoring room and said she was willing to communicate with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Amon.

Victor von Doom ordered efforts to extend Agent Coulson’s life and protect Laura Croft while the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. began spacewalk training aboard the Sky Sword Space Station. Pietro Maximoff appeared as their instructor, leaving the agents surprised by his presence and his speed.

• Supiluliumas told Victor von Doom that Agent Coulson was dying from severe genetic damage, and Victor ordered every possible treatment and a secret channel to Coulson.
• Victor offered Coulson a meeting with Steve Rogers if he accepted treatment, then instructed Supiluliumas to keep Laura Croft protected.
• The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. inspected their spacesuits as First Secret Regiment soldiers supervised their preparations for an untethered spacewalk.
• Melinda May and Daisy Johnson questioned the dangers and safety procedures as the agents entered the airlock for their first walk.
• Pietro Maximoff greeted the agents outside the hatch and introduced himself as their spacewalk instructor; Alfonso Mackenzie explained that Pietro was an Avenger who ran faster than Elena Rodriguez.

Pietro Maximoff supervised S.H.I.E.L.D. agents learning to work outside the Sky Sword Space Station while Agent Coulson questioned his decision to serve Latveria. At Salomon’s manor, Wanda underwent a routine inspection of her magic and discussed seeing a phantom of her mother, leaving Salomon determined to investigate it.

• Pietro Maximoff led Agent Coulson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. trainees through their first spacewalking lesson and warned them about micrometeoroids.
• Agent Coulson challenged Pietro about using his abilities to work for the Emperor, but Pietro insisted Earth had given him and Wanda little to begin with.
• Wanda told Salomon that her mother’s phantom had appeared again despite her belief that her parents’ souls had returned to primordial spiritual essence.
• Salomon inspected Wanda’s recorded spells with the Serpent Bone Staff and suggested her longing might have created the image, while promising to determine whether it was an external specter.
• Salomon said Bayonetta and Jeanne wanted Wanda to join their hunting plans, then explained that they were changing into clean clothes after afternoon tea.

Wanda Maximoff joined Salomon’s witches’ gathering as he assessed her mental stability and arranged for her to communicate with him through dreams. Meanwhile, Laura Croft explored Kamar-Taj’s dangerous library, and Milia’s drunken goat disrupted the manor.

• Wanda Maximoff selected Salomon’s scented candles, and he warned her about entities that might contact her through dreams.
• Hammurabi asked Salomon to rate Wanda’s mental stability, and Salomon kept her at Alpha-class while noting that she was at the manor for a reason.
• Salomon ordered Seraphim Serum for Laura Croft and told Hammurabi to address Kamar-Taj’s objections to her library access.
• Laura Croft encountered a strange woman in the Kamar-Taj Library after finding that someone had supplied her with protective equipment.
• Milia burst into the reception room riding a goat, and she admitted she had fed it a large amount of afternoon tea.
• Salomon ordered Hammurabi and Tatyana to take the violent goat to the forest, sparing its life to prevent Milia from crying.

Salomon tried to reassure Milia about life at the manor while Laura Croft became lost in its vast, supernatural library with an eccentric woman. Laura settled in to wait for help and discovered a Kamar-Taj case file, while Salomon left for Kamar-Taj to handle urgent business.

• Dinah tightened the manor’s stable routine and planned to plant rose-family flowers beside the seasonal blooms to deter the goats.
• Salomon explained to Milia that she did not need to force herself to eat and promised to invite her aunt to visit.
• Jeanne called Salomon and Milia to Witch and Wanda’s women’s party, but Salomon warned that Milia needed to go to bed early.
• Laura Croft followed a strange woman through the freezing library, encountered enslaved Ghosts, and learned that tiny demons sought to enter the world through its books.
• Laura offered food and camping gear to the woman, then used a modified phone to translate a book and found a Kamar-Taj case file about a tenth-century Black Warlock.
• Salomon opened a portal to Kamar-Taj and asked Hammurabi to bring thermal weapons to the manor.

Laura Croft and a strange woman fled a Dust Demon in the library, where a steel statue attacked them. Meanwhile, Salomon negotiated over the Seraphim Serum at Kamar-Taj, and Master Wong revealed that the library’s defenses had been loosened.

• Laura Croft told the woman a history-based horror story, then discovered that the woman had survived in the library for twelve days without food or water.
• A Dust Demon pursued Laura Croft and the woman, so Laura Croft used a signal flare to drive back the gray fog.
• The woman claimed she was a witch but could not remember her spell as Laura Croft confronted the Dust Demon.
• A steel statue activated and charged at Laura Croft and the woman with a cannon and glowing weapon.
• Master Hamir objected to Salomon’s plan to use Seraphim Serum, while Salomon entered the Zen Room with Master Wong and left Hammurabi outside.
• Master Wong told the others that the strange woman had been placed in the library and that its defenses had been loosened.

Laura Croft and a woman survived a fog creature’s attack when a Library Protector incinerated it. Meanwhile, the Emperor ordered Master Hamir to secure the meditation chamber and accompanied Master Wong to the library to rescue Laura, while assigning Hamir authority to build the Psionic Academy.

• Laura Croft pulled the woman out of the Library Protector’s path as the giant robot attacked the fog with its heated pincers and eliminated it.
• The woman identified the robot as the Library Protector and said such an attack should not happen because the library had powerful defenses.
• The Emperor ordered Hammurabi to bring melt weapons and kill anyone who left the meditation chamber, then set out for the library with Master Wong to save Laura Croft.
• The Emperor told Master Hamir that the Arcanist Families would lose their privilege to use the Seraphim Serum and that Hamir’s new Psionic Academy would control its use.
• Master Hamir accepted the authority and asked to establish the academy’s branches, while the Emperor hurried toward the library.

Laura Croft prepared to find a way out of the library with the woman, while the Emperor arrived at Kamar-Taj to take control of the library’s defenses and prepare a rescue. The chapter left Sherlock Holmes and Stephen Strange under Master Wong’s watch as the Emperor revealed a massive explosive rounds gun.

• Laura Croft recovered her weapons and supplies, rejected the idea of leaving the woman behind, and asked whether she still had a ball of yarn.
• The Emperor entered the library with Master Wong and appointed him its new librarian and controller of its defenses.
• The Emperor ordered Master Wong to keep Sherlock Holmes and Stephen Strange from leaving and made them agree to keep the coming events secret.
• The Emperor produced a .75-caliber Mk. II Mars-pattern Explosive Rounds Gun and told Sherlock Holmes and Stephen Strange to swear by it.

Salomon and Stephen Strange discussed the library’s dangerous new security while Sherlock Holmes asked Master Wong about access to its inner doors. Lost in the deepest part of the library, Laura Croft and her companion sought shelter and read a secret archive that raised questions about the Holy See.

• Salomon checked an assault rifle and headed toward the library’s second door as Stephen Strange commented on its power.
• Sherlock Holmes asked Master Wong when they could enter the restricted door, but Wong said only the Sorcerer Supreme or a master could authorize it.
• Laura Croft continued testing routes through the freezing library with her companion, then decided to stop and make hot drinks.
• Laura Croft followed her companion’s advice to hide in a warm spot and began reading an archive about Louis IV’s death and the Holy See’s heretical tendencies.

Laura Croft read a dossier about the Holy See and then set out to retrieve the second volume, while the Emperor inspected Kamar-Taj’s dangerous artifacts and prepared to reshape its authority. The Emperor confirmed the collection was intact and relied on the Sorcerer Supreme’s secret network of Arcanists to justify placing the elders under house arrest.

• Laura Croft read a dossier challenging the legitimacy of John XII and later Popes, but recognized that the document alone could not undermine the Vatican.
• Laura Croft borrowed the woman’s yarn and watch, promised to return within three minutes, and went back toward their original camp to gather supplies.
• Laura Croft found matches and other supplies, then opened the blast door to the cold artifact vault.
• The Emperor inventoried Kamar-Taj’s magical artifacts and resolved to turn Kamar-Taj into a fortified, centrally managed institution.
• The Sorcerer Supreme’s list of Arcanists stationed off-world gave the Emperor confidence to place the elders of the Arcanist Families under house arrest.

The Emperor entered Kamar-Taj’s meditation chamber to meet its ancient Arcanists, while Laura Croft searched the archives for records about Kitezh and Jacob. The Emperor then set out to bring Laura back, reassuring her companion that she would wake in her room.

• Hammurabi reported that the meditation chamber was quiet, and the Emperor ordered him to prepare a transfer of supreme security authority before radio contact ended.
• The Emperor communicated with the ancient Arcanists by projecting his thoughts, and several died when his released essence burned them; he avoided a bloody conflict as promised.
• Laura Croft lit candles in Kamar-Taj’s library and searched its archives for records about Kitezh, Jacob, and the Source of Divinity.
• Laura found books about late Byzantine Orthodox sects and ninth-century alchemy, hoping they would contain clues about Jacob and the golden angel in the Syrian Prophet’s tomb.
• The Emperor accepted tea from Laura Croft’s companion, promised to bring Laura back, and told the woman she would wake in her room watching television.

At a fireside party, Laura Croft recounted how she had been trapped in a dangerous library while searching for information about angels and the Philosopher's Stone. She revealed that an unseen enemy had anticipated her ambush, and the story ended as a cigar-scented hand reached out behind her.

• Dinah served drinks to Laura Croft and the other party guest, then carried the sleepy Milia and the Cheshire Cat away to bed.
• Bayonetta and Jeanne invited Laura Croft to tell how she had been rescued from the library, and Jeanne offered to share the manor's firearms collection.
• Laura Croft described photographing passages about angels and the Philosopher's Stone before hearing footsteps and noticing her phone had regained signal.
• Laura Croft armed herself with a gun and a flare, but the cold stiffened her fingers and the red yarn tangled around them revealed her position.
• Laura Croft tried to prepare an ambush, then realized the unseen enemy had also been waiting for her to make a move.
• Laura Croft explained that the moving bait had not necessarily drawn a fish, as a cigar-scented hand reached out from behind her.

Laura Croft was attacked by a nightmare of Constantine in the dark library, then heard Trinity soldiers fighting something on the floor below. Bayonetta and Wanda explained that the Sea of Aether reflected Laura’s thoughts and warned that demons had set their sights on her.

• Laura Croft fought off an apparent Constantine, who attacked and tried to strangle her, but he vanished into black dust when she struck him with her climbing axe.
• Laura Croft recovered her HK USP and struggled against the pain and disturbing sensations as black Aether essence drifted through the library.
• Laura Croft heard Trinity soldiers exchange gunfire on the floor below, followed by screams that abruptly stopped.
• Jeanne questioned why Laura’s nightmare had featured Constantine, and Laura said the story was not over.
• Bayonetta and Wanda explained that the Sea of Aether reflected Laura’s thoughts and that she needed to learn to control them.
• Bayonetta warned Laura that demons had set their sights on her.