Recaps

Xiang Qian treated Lorna's gunshot wound in a church basement and discovered that her metal-controlling ability might involve magnetic fields. After using magic to obscure the group's memories, he met the X-Men outside, where Beast questioned his disguise and Xiang Qian confronted him about tracking Raven's phone.

• Xiang Qian brought surgical supplies through a portal and operated on Lorna while Marcos stayed beside her.
• During the operation, Lorna's ability made nearby steel vibrate, and Xiang Qian explained that she might control magnetic fields like Magneto.
• John reported that Sentinel checkpoints blocked their escape, and Xiang Qian used a spell that made the group forget the golden light and other details about him.
• Xiang Qian led the group outside to meet the X-Men, including Colossus, Shadowcat, Iceman, and Beast, who had arrived in a stealth jet.
• Beast asked why Xiang Qian wore a fake face, and Xiang Qian challenged him about tracking programs on Raven's phone.

Lorna, Xiang Qian, and the X-Men launched a rescue at the Laredo county jail, but a Sentinel Task Force mutant abruptly disabled the rescuers’ powers. The team was left under fire, and John identified the enemy standing atop the prison wall.

• Lorna argued for rescuing the prisoners before they were transferred, while Beast Hank and Piotr favored caution.
• Xiang Qian criticized Hank’s hope of negotiating and proposed sending the children to safety while the others rescued the prisoners; Hank stayed on the plane to avoid a political scandal.
• John located the prisoners, Surge disabled the prison’s power, Colossus opened the fence, Shadowcat freed the inmates, and Iceman blocked the guards.
• A mysterious effect stopped Shadowcat, Surge, Iceman, Colossus, Lorna, and John from using their powers, and guards opened fire.
• Xiang Qian shot at the guards to protect Piotr and Iceman, while John spotted a Sentinel Task Force mutant whose glowing eyes and raised hand coincided with the loss of their powers.

Xiang Qian rescued the X-Men by knocking out a mutant who could suppress mutant powers, then took the man prisoner to study his unusual ability. After the X-Men flew back to the X-Mansion, Xiang Qian and John headed for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to meet someone who would help deal with local drug-trafficking gangs.

• Xiang Qian crossed the prison yard and knocked out the golden-eyed mutant, restoring the X-Men's abilities and allowing them to defeat the guards.
• Lorna angrily removed the bullets from Colossus while Xiang Qian explained his interest in the captive's power to suppress mutants.
• Xiang Qian freed the rescued mutants from their electronic collars and put three collars around the unconscious captive's neck.
• The X-Men boarded their plane with the rescued mutants, while Xiang Qian used a Nano Mask to disguise John and insisted on keeping the captive.
• After the plane departed, Xiang Qian told John they were going to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to pick up someone who would handle the local drug-trafficking gangs.

Xiang Qian left his operation against drug dealers to confront Nick Fury after Peggy Carter vanished, and learned that Tony Stark had disappeared as well. He headed for London, suspecting an old man was responsible.

• Xiang Qian met Shen Ran and his investigators at Fort Worth Airport, then arranged for John Proudstar to help investigate and considered recruiting him to Wude Group.
• Shen Ran told Xiang Qian that their investigation had uncovered a retired trace analyst, while both worried that a powerful organization was hiding behind S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Xiang Qian received an emergency alert, left the car, and forced Nick Fury to answer his call by disrupting S.H.I.E.L.D.'s communications and computer systems.
• Nick Fury told Xiang Qian that Peggy Carter had vanished from her apartment and that the only witness saw an old man kidnap her.
• Xiang Qian announced that he was going to London and asked Nick Fury to keep S.H.I.E.L.D.'s people out of his way; Nick Fury revealed that Tony Stark had disappeared too.

After Peggy Carter and Grant escaped an assassination attempt, Xiang Qian deduced that S.H.I.E.L.D. had become untrustworthy and learned that Hydra had taken control. He was left stunned by Grant’s claim that Peggy had rebuilt Hydra after its defeat.

• Nick Fury ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to investigate the attack on Tony Stark’s villa and pressure the media for information.
• Peggy Carter told Xiang Qian that a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had tried to poison her and that Grant had taken her away.
• Grant admitted that he had known about the assassination attempt in advance, and Xiang Qian inferred that S.H.I.E.L.D. could no longer be trusted.
• Xiang Qian concluded that Grant’s silence about his investigation into S.H.I.E.L.D. corruption meant that revealing the truth could alter the future.
• Grant told Xiang Qian that Fury had not betrayed anyone, but S.H.I.E.L.D.’s senior commanders had lost control of the organization to Hydra.
• Xiang Qian asked whether Peggy had rebuilt Hydra after Grant and others defeated it.

Xiang Qian moved Ms. Carter and Grant to a hidden laboratory in China, then investigated Tony Stark’s disappearance at the site of the attack. He confronted Nick Fury over S.H.I.E.L.D.’s control of the case and revealed a woman connected to the attack whose identity had been sealed.

• Xiang Qian used a portal to reach Grant and Ms. Carter in London, then brought them to his underground laboratory in China for safety.
• Grant told Xiang Qian that Mandarin was behind the attack on Tony, and Xiang Qian said he had killed the real Mandarin.
• Xiang Qian went to the ruins of Tony Stark’s villa and investigated the damage while Nick Fury questioned him about Ms. Carter’s rescue.
• Xiang Qian asserted Stark Industries’ authority to join the investigation and used government agencies to push S.H.I.E.L.D.’s investigators aside.
• Xiang Qian showed Nick Fury a photograph of a woman who had entered the villa before the attack and left with Pepper Potts, then accused S.H.I.E.L.D. of concealing her identity.

Xiang Qian used Maya Hansen’s public records to pressure Nick Fury and the law enforcement agencies, then learned that Tony Stark’s damaged Mark Armor was in Tennessee. He tracked the armor to a home and confronted a wary boy who knew Tony’s whereabouts and believed James Zion was a bastard.

• Xiang Qian revealed Maya Hansen’s identity and accused Nick Fury of hiding evidence, prompting Fury to leave while DHS and FBI agents took over the investigation.
• Xiang Qian privately admitted that he had planted a Trojan in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Helicarrier system, which helped him find Maya Hansen’s information.
• Jarvis told Xiang Qian that Tony’s Mark Armor was in a garage in Tennessee, and Xiang Qian found the residence belonged to a single mother and her son.
• James Zion called the boy, who dodged his questions and called him a bastard because Anne Hathaway had said so.
• James Zion arrived at the boy’s porch and insisted that he was not a bastard.

Xiang Qian reunited with Tony Stark, who was searching for Pepper and Maya after his mansion was destroyed. They infiltrated the fake Mandarin’s estate and encountered Aldrich Killian, whom Xiang Qian suspected of imitating Tony.

• Xiang Qian found Tony’s damaged Mark 42 at Harry’s house and spoke with Tony after Jarvis located his signal.
• Xiang Qian teleported into a broadcast van to meet Tony, damaged its equipment, and promised the owner compensation.
• Tony led Xiang Qian to an old estate after tracking the fake Mandarin’s broadcast signal there.
• Xiang Qian and Tony entered the estate to find Pepper, and Xiang Qian gave Tony an illegal handgun before they continued inside.
• Aldrich Killian confronted Tony and Xiang Qian, and Xiang Qian asked whether Killian’s smug expression was an imitation of Tony.

Xiang Qian and Tony confronted Killian over his human experiments and learned his modified followers could be driven into uncontrollable combustion. They cornered Killian in a basement, where he held Rhodey hostage, and Xiang Qian realized Rhodey’s capture was connected to his role in the President’s upcoming speaking tour.

• Killian defended his experiments as an attempt to advance human evolution, while Tony accused him of killing disabled veterans.
• Tony shot Killian’s attendants, but their magma-like modifications healed their wounds, so Xiang Qian struck them and triggered a fatal loss of control.
• Killian transformed himself and fled, with Xiang Qian and Tony pursuing him to a basement where Rhodey was chained up.
• Killian took Rhodey hostage and used him as leverage while Xiang Qian demanded that he reveal Pepper’s location.
• Xiang Qian inferred that Rhodey’s capture served a larger purpose and discovered that Rhodey was due to accompany the President on a speaking tour in the Iron Patriot armor.

Xiang Qian forced Killian to release Pepper and then uncovered that the Mandarin was only an actor, while he and Tony realized Killian might still target the President. The chapter ended with Tony preparing to deploy more Iron Man suits for a rescue, while awkwardly trying to explain the plan to Pepper as a fireworks display.

• Xiang Qian negotiated Pepper’s release by threatening to alert federal authorities, and Killian agreed to leave after showing that Maya Hansen’s survival was necessary to stabilize Pepper’s Extremis infection.
• Killian departed by helicopter, his remaining guards surrendered, and Tony woke Pepper and promised to cure her.
• Xiang Qian and the others found the Mandarin’s broadcast room and learned that the feared terrorist was a stage actor hired to play the role.
• Xiang Qian and Tony suspected Killian had changed his plan and might now kill the President, so they decided to use Tony’s hidden suits along with the Mark 42.
• Tony borrowed Xiang Qian’s Electronic Bracelet to control multiple suits and tried to reassure Pepper by describing the coming deployment as a grand fireworks display.

Xiang Qian and Tony tracked the attack on Air Force One while Tony remotely operated the Mark 42, and they reasoned that the hijacker probably could not learn Killian’s changed orders in time. Tony discovered the President had already been abducted and trapped in armor, then turned to fight a fire-element attacker.

• More than thirty Mark Armors crossed Los Angeles, evaded surveillance, and drew intelligence agencies away from Tony Stark’s location.
• Xiang Qian shut down the Electronic Bracelet’s monitoring as he and Tony learned that someone had infiltrated Air Force One.
• Xiang Qian and Colonel Rhodes concluded the hijacker probably could not receive Killian’s changed plan because the Secret Service blocked outside communications.
• Tony revealed War Machine had a self-destruct feature, and Rhodes protested that he had never been told about it.
• Tony remotely entered the battle, found the President trapped inside armor, and asked Xiang Qian how to defeat the fire-element attacker.

After the rescued group reached the harbor dockyard, Tony and Xiang Qian prepared to fly off in newly delivered armor while Colonel Rhodes stayed behind to protect the women and the captured “Mandarin.” Xiang Qian struggled to control his stealth suit as he followed Tony toward the family members.

• Colonel Rhodes returned with a car, and Xiang Qian said he and Tony planned to use armor to reach the family members nearby.
• Tony and Xiang Qian teased Rhodes that the available armor was the wrong size for him, then left him with two guns and responsibility for guarding the women and “Mandarin.”
• Two suits arrived: Tony received red-and-silver armor, while Xiang Qian received a translucent, camouflage-capable suit fitted to his Electronic Bracelet.
• Tony identified Xiang Qian’s suit as the Mark XVI Type A, called “Bar Ghost,” and explained that its stealth was enhanced at the expense of its defenses.
• Tony took off first, and Xiang Qian clumsily activated flight mode and wobbled after him.

Xiang Qian and Tony Stark defeated Killian and erased the evidence of the battle, then Tony accepted Xiang Qian’s invitation to join a secret effort to save the world. The two flew back toward Pepper and the others, with Tony eager to learn more about the crisis.

• Tony Stark and Xiang Qian watched Killian’s strength fade as the Mark Armors repeatedly drove him into the sea and extinguished his flames.
• Killian’s body petrified, and the Mark Armors shattered him into fragments that did not regenerate.
• Xiang Qian and Tony looted Killian’s yacht for intelligence and destroyed the evidence as the yacht sank.
• Xiang Qian teased Tony about the planned fireworks display and the cost of the remaining Mark Armors.
• Tony reminded Xiang Qian of his promise to let him join the secret world-saving operation, and Xiang Qian confirmed that his admission had already been approved.
• Xiang Qian withheld further details about the crisis, and he and Tony flew toward Pepper and the others while joking about politics and their romantic histories.

Xiang Qian tested Lorna’s blood and discovered that Wanda and her brother were mutants whose powers had been activated by the Mind Stone, then added their samples to an inheritance analysis. After Tony bombarded him with questions about the ancient threat beneath the Indian Ocean, Xiang Qian told him to study the records and focus first on Pepper’s Extremis Virus.

• Xiang Qian returned to the Kunlun base, reassured Carter and the Captain about Tony, and gave them a distorted account of Tony’s recent ordeal.
• Xiang Qian confirmed that Wanda and her brother had mutated X-Genes and added their samples to a DNA inheritance test alongside Lorna’s blood.
• Grant and Carter teased Xiang Qian for expecting a meal after spending his visit in the laboratory, so he flashed back to his plane.
• Xiang Qian found Tony’s messages about the creature beneath the Indian Ocean and called him, learning that Pepper had responded well to Tony’s plan to seek surgery.
• Xiang Qian told Tony that the threat beneath the Indian Ocean was unlikely to erupt for years, while Pepper’s Extremis Virus required more immediate attention.

Tony Stark learned how Zhang Heng discovered an ancient threat beneath Earth and left behind a star chart that enabled later investigators to find its location. Geological surveys confirmed a vast, human-shaped anomaly beneath an active Indian Ocean island, suggesting that something powerful was gestating below the crust.

• Xiang Qian told Tony Stark how a golden, three-eyed being visited the Eastern Han dynasty in 114 CE and warned Zhang Heng about a god-child beneath Earth.
• Zhang Heng used his astronomical knowledge to record a star chart identifying the remote volcanic island closest to the god-child.
• Spear Bureau investigated the warning for nearly two thousand years, and the Strategic Scientific Reserve verified Zhang Heng's star chart against computer calculations.
• Investigators used the chart to locate the island and found unusually large amounts of upper-mantle material beneath its surrounding seafloor.
• The Strategic Scientific Reserve mapped a geological anomaly spanning more than ten thousand square kilometers and found that its boundary resembled a human body.

Xiang Qian explained to Tony that the Divine Child beneath the Great Wasteland was a real, sleeping organism whose awakening could destroy human civilization. He recruited Tony to improve Project Houyi, humanity’s space-based weapon, while warning that they could not risk trial and error against a threat embedded inside Earth.

• Xiang Qian told Tony that researchers confirmed the Divine Child was a living organism stimulated by the brain waves of intelligent beings, so they built Cerebral Wave Disruptors to keep it dormant and hide it from telepaths.
• Xiang Qian asked Tony to help build a weapon against the Divine Child, and Tony objected that he no longer made weapons intended to kill.
• Xiang Qian described simulations predicting that the Divine Child’s awakening could trigger global earthquakes, tsunamis, and the extinction of humanity.
• Xiang Qian revealed that the former Soviet Union had prepared a live Tsar Bomba and that several nations maintained secret nuclear bases and patrols in the Indian Ocean to defend against the Divine Child.
• Xiang Qian explained that Project Houyi was a space-based laser weapon designed to destroy the Divine Child’s consciousness, and Tony proposed adding power from the Arc Reactor.
• Tony asked whether Xiang Qian and his companions could defeat the Divine Child without technological weapons, and Xiang Qian said they could not afford to find out through trial and error.

Xiang Qian arrived in London and secretly exchanged documents with an MI6 agent while S.H.I.E.L.D. monitored his movements. After he avoided Ms. Carter’s apartment and contacted Captain Rogers, Pierce grew wary of what Xiang Qian had learned.

• Pierce ordered Sitwell to conceal the surveillance record mentioning the Child of God and to monitor Xiang Qian more closely than Captain Rogers.
• Xiang Qian met an MI6 agent by the Thames, traded document envelopes with her, and asked her to help bring Ms. Carter back safely.
• Xiang Qian left the MI6 agent’s envelope in plain sight before driving past Ms. Carter’s apartment twice without stopping.
• Pierce became increasingly suspicious that MI6’s documents and Xiang Qian’s connections could disrupt S.H.I.E.L.D.’s plans.
• Xiang Qian called Captain Rogers and offered to show him some interesting information.

Xiang Qian arranged a private meeting with Captain Rogers and exposed S.H.I.E.L.D.’s surveillance of him. After revealing the contents of the document pouch, Xiang Qian said the information was worthless.

• Xiang Qian met Captain Rogers in a crowded café, then used paid background actors to empty it and ensure privacy.
• Xiang Qian’s assistants searched the captain and found several listening devices hidden in his flight jacket and belt.
• Xiang Qian checked the captain’s phone and discovered that S.H.I.E.L.D. had installed its own surveillance software.
• Xiang Qian showed the captain surveillance devices removed from his own vehicles and aircraft, along with others found by the recruited actors.
• When the captain asked about the document pouch, Xiang Qian said its contents were worthless.

Xiang Qian showed Steve Rogers evidence that S.H.I.E.L.D. surveillance and assault teams had been neutralized, then argued that Peggy Carter’s disappearance led back to a corruption scandal at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in Washington. Alexander Pierce arrived to question him about a valuable document, leaving its contents and the conspiracy unresolved.

• Xiang Qian showed Steve footage of surveillance teams and armed assault teams being incapacitated around the café.
• Xiang Qian told Steve that Peggy’s disappearance was tied to a secretly released Hydra operative and a corruption case within S.H.I.E.L.D.’s upper ranks.
• Xiang Qian said the key to finding Peggy lay at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in Washington, not in London.
• Xiang Qian predicted that someone would come to explain the attacks, and Alexander Pierce entered the café before he finished his coffee.
• Pierce claimed he had come to find Peggy, while Xiang Qian hinted that the document envelope on the table was priceless to the case.

Xiang Qian negotiated an intelligence exchange with Alexander Pierce while investigating Peggy Carter’s kidnapping and a possible S.H.I.E.L.D. connection. After detecting Pierce’s reaction to Reinhardt’s name, Xiang Qian left him believing that they could cooperate to find the truth.

• Xiang Qian rejected Pierce’s jurisdictional claims and demanded firsthand access to the residents and attendants involved in Peggy Carter’s case.
• Xiang Qian and Pierce agreed to exchange information and arrange monitored questioning of the suspects.
• Xiang Qian gave Pierce access details for his intelligence and mentioned Hydra operative Reinhardt to test Pierce’s reaction.
• Xiang Qian described Peggy Carter’s investigation into a 1990 refugee-camp attack and the report left with Spear Bureau by a dying S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
• Pierce concluded that someone inside S.H.I.E.L.D. might be involved in Carter’s kidnapping, while Xiang Qian concealed his suspicions and agreed to keep working with him.

Xiang Qian used a deal with Alexander Pierce to mislead him while secretly preparing to capture Whitehall and investigate S.H.I.E.L.D. He kept Peggy’s whereabouts from Steve Rogers, then learned Pierce was urgently promoting S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Helicarrier defense system.

• Alexander Pierce left the café after striking a deal with Xiang Qian, who explained to Steve Rogers that he had fed Pierce misleading information to buy time.
• Xiang Qian revealed that Tony Stark was investigating Whitehall while Shen Ran was preparing to capture him with Jiaying’s Inhumans, hoping to uncover S.H.I.E.L.D.’s role in the elder Starks’ deaths.
• Xiang Qian asked Steve Rogers to remain in London for several days and distract Pierce, then refused to tell him where Peggy was.
• Shen Ran reported that Pierce and Nick Fury were pushing the World Security Council to approve S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Helicarrier defense system.
• Xiang Qian criticized the system’s promised safeguards and objected when Shen Ran compared it to Project Houyi.

Xiang Qian changed his plan after Shen Ran discovered two separate S.H.I.E.L.D. teams were secretly watching Whitehall, while he arranged for Steve Rogers to escape London with MI6’s help. He then personally abducted Whitehall and confronted him about exploiting superpowered people.

• Shen Ran told Xiang Qian that two unaware S.H.I.E.L.D. groups were investigating Whitehall, including one led by Phil Coulson, so Xiang Qian decided to handle the kidnapping himself.
• Xiang Qian arranged for Steve Rogers to leave London with help from an MI6 officer, while Sitwell and Alexander Pierce tried to track the captain after he escaped S.H.I.E.L.D.’s surveillance.
• After learning Steve Rogers had boarded a plane, Xiang Qian opened a portal to Washington and went to Whitehall’s residence as Shen Ran’s and Jiaying’s forces attacked its security.
• Xiang Qian killed Whitehall’s two bodyguards, shut down the study’s surveillance, and revealed that he knew Whitehall’s former identity as Reinhardt.
• Whitehall recognized Xiang Qian and pointed out the superpowered people attacking his residence, while Xiang Qian condemned Whitehall’s exploitation of them.

Xiang Qian interrogated Whitehall about his release and S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets while revealing that Jiaying would take revenge on him. As attackers clashed with Coulson’s team outside, Queen Magik appeared, and Xiang Qian prepared to question Whitehall after death.

• Xiang Qian told Whitehall he wanted to learn who had arranged his release and how it had been kept secret.
• Two armed groups arrived at the villa, Shen Ran’s people and the Inhumans withdrew, and Coulson’s outnumbered team came under fire.
• Xiang Qian revealed that Jiaying had survived and would be Whitehall’s executioner, then said he would obtain Whitehall’s secrets after his death.
• Xiang Qian discussed judgment after death and introduced Queen Magik as the ruler of Limbo, equal in status to Lucifer and Satan.

Xiang Qian left Jiaying to exact revenge on Whitehall, then told Magik that merging with his extreme personality and developing his Soul Universe were eroding his humanity. He explained that restoring his humanity involved instinctive drives, and Magik realized his proposed solution was sexual intimacy.

• Magik teleported Xiang Qian, Jiaying, and Whitehall to an operating room, where Xiang Qian restrained Whitehall and Jiaying prepared to torture him for an hour.
• Magik marked Whitehall’s soul so he would enter her hell after death, and Xiang Qian explained that his memories would reveal every secret once he died.
• Xiang Qian left Whitehall with Jiaying, and Magik teleported him back to Hong Kong to ask why he had acted so coldly and revealed so much to Whitehall.
• Xiang Qian told Magik that merging with his extreme personality had weakened his social nature, while his Soul Universe’s growth had increased its corrosive effect on his soul.
• Xiang Qian explained that he was trying to preserve his humanity through natural instincts, and Magik blushed as she understood his explanation of reproduction.

Xiang Qian and Magik entered the Soul Realm after Jiaying killed Whitehall, then learned that Nick Fury had been attacked while Project Insight was activated. Tony sent Xiang Qian footage identifying Fury in the attack, and Xiang Qian wondered whether they should let him die.

• Magik and Xiang Qian spent an hour together in the Soul Realm, causing unusual tremors and eruptions across Limbo.
• Xiang Qian and Magik found Jiaying beside Whitehall's disemboweled body, and Magik sensed that Whitehall's soul had reached Limbo.
• Jiaying said she felt better than she had in twenty years, while Xiang Qian suspected her pain remained; he promised her Whitehall's soul would suffer in hell.
• Nick Fury escaped an armed attack by crawling through sewers, Steve Rogers returned to the United States, and Alexander Pierce persuaded the World Security Council to activate Project Insight.
• Tony sent Xiang Qian processed footage that identified Nick Fury in the attack, and Xiang Qian asked whether they should let Fury die.