Chapter Summaries

Natasha reunited with Melina and discussed their family, their past, and Natasha’s new life in Hell’s Kitchen. When Yelena’s trap sparked a gunfight at the docks, Natasha realized Melina’s planned exchange had gone badly and joined her to face the fallout.

• Natasha drove Melina through New York and questioned her about stealing aerospace blueprints for a deal that might free her from hiding.
• Melina urged Natasha to stop avoiding her past, while Natasha described finding purpose, teammates, and enjoyment in her life in Hell’s Kitchen.
• Natasha and Melina joked about Alexei, Steve Rogers, and Melina’s love life as Natasha offered to help the family settle in Hell’s Kitchen.
• Natasha spotted a black SUV following them and decided to accompany Melina to the planned exchange despite anticipating trouble.
• Gunfire broke out at the docks, and Natasha deduced that Yelena had used her flashy car to lure the dealmakers into a trap.
• Natasha explained that Yelena had acted against people who never intended to negotiate honestly, while armed gangs raced toward the docks with weapons from Alexei’s discounted arsenal.

Alvin returned to Battle Axe School and reflected on the growing student body and the lack of a basketball team, while the Wolves remained the best athletic opportunity for students. As he left the gym to pick up Ginny and the others, he found Bucky Barnes waiting by the roadside.

• Alvin returned to school after saying goodbye to Duke, who had been sent to guard the police station.
• Alvin toured the expanded campus and considered how the growing student body had changed the school’s sports programs.
• Alvin noticed basketball players hoping for a school team but reasoned that the Wolves offered better opportunities and that students needed to ask him directly for a team.
• Alvin left the gym to pick up Ginny and the others, then spotted Bucky Barnes waiting by the roadside.

Bucky asked Alvin for a job as the school’s basketball coach, and Alvin agreed after learning he wanted to settle down in Hell’s Kitchen. Bucky’s reflections on war and the students’ loyalty prompted Alvin to rethink how the school’s honor affected their choices, while Ginny invited her friends over for hot pot.

• Bucky told Alvin he had received identification through Natasha Romanoff and wanted a meaningful job at the school.
• Alvin teased Bucky about Natasha, then agreed to have Nelson prepare a school contract and advised Bucky to earn a coaching certificate.
• Bucky explained that the students refused to leave the Wolves because they saw it as betraying the school, and he reflected on the life he might have had without war.
• Alvin realized the students should not have to sacrifice their interests to prove loyalty and told Bucky to prepare to coach them next semester.
• Ginny invited Cassie, Emma, and Lucy to Alvin’s restaurant for hot pot, so Alvin asked Bucky to shop for ingredients and invite Steve and Natasha.

Little Ginny and her friends helped clean up the trash cans she had smashed before joining the others for hot pot at the Peace Hotel. The dinner brought Bucky and Natasha together, but Natasha arrived with Yelena, whom Alvin immediately recognized as trouble.

• Little Ginny used Caesar to smash a pile of trash cans, then helped her friends and the others clean up the mess.
• Groot earned his first paycheck from Alvin for hauling baskets, then left with Sapling to show Rocket his money.
• Alvin served hot pot to the children and their guests, while Nick promised to protect Little Ginny and Mindy secretly made his meal spicier.
• Alvin warned Scott Lang not to bother Annie and asked Bucky whether Natasha was coming.
• Natasha arrived at the Peace Hotel with Yelena, prompting Alvin to warn Bucky that her relatives could bring trouble.

Natasha and Yelena joined Alvin, Bucky, and Steve for dinner, while Yelena’s car theft brought her into conflict with Bruto. Alvin challenged Bruto’s instinct to answer every provocation with violence, and Bruto began to understand that the dispute could be settled without bloodshed as Beckett moved to arrest Yelena.

• Natasha hugged Alvin and Steve, while Yelena questioned Bucky about the red star on his arm and mocked his advice about facing the past.
• Bucky revealed that he had applied for a high school basketball coach position, and Natasha kissed Alvin on the cheek as Nick secretly filmed them.
• Alvin pulled Bruto into the restaurant, where Bruto complained that Yelena had stolen his car and made him look weak; Alvin warned him against retaliating with violence.
• Bruto panicked at Alvin’s disappointment and reconsidered how Alvin had used his power to bring order and change to Hell’s Kitchen.
• Beckett arrived and moved to handcuff Yelena, while Richard grinned at Bruto; Bruto asked Alvin how much time car theft carried.

Alvin accepted Bruto’s decision to pursue legal action instead of violent revenge, while Beckett arrested Yelena for stealing a car. The meal continued as Natasha stayed quiet and Beckett challenged Yelena to help report the shootout if she wanted the other attackers arrested.

• Alvin told Bruto to arrange an invoice and have his lawyer pursue Yelena’s punishment through the legal system.
• Bruto praised his son Domi’s Columbia professor, and Alvin sent him away with an unopened bottle of whiskey.
• Alvin joked with the diners and welcomed Beckett, then insisted everyone eat before Natasha spoke.
• Beckett arrested Yelena on suspicion of stealing a vehicle, and Yelena accused the police of protecting gangsters.
• Beckett told Yelena she could report the shootout, identify the attackers, and testify if she wanted the police to arrest them.

Yelena revealed that the Red Room had become a Hydra base and warned Natasha and Bucky that its agents were coming for them. The confrontation ended with Beckett arresting Yelena, while Natasha accepted that she might have to return and settle matters with the Red Room.

• Yelena accused Natasha of abandoning the Red Room and revealed that Hydra had taken it over.
• Yelena questioned Bucky's loyalty, but Steve vouched for him as his brother and a Howling Commando.
• Natasha apologized to Yelena and said she and Bucky would fight the Red Room, while Steve declared that they had a duty to act against Hydra.
• Yelena warned that Hydra was seeking space technology and planned to establish its own country, but Alvin dismissed the threat and urged everyone to focus on coaching.
• A golden vine restrained Yelena as Beckett cuffed her, and Alvin warned her not to cause trouble or hurt anyone in Hell's Kitchen.

Natasha took Yelena to the police station with Beckett’s help, while Alvin urged Bucky to follow them and put him in charge of forming a basketball team. Beckett intercepted a truck carrying Bruto’s Javelin missiles, leaving the weapons confiscated and their drivers headed to the station.

• Alvin told Bucky to follow Natasha and Yelena because Yelena’s warning suggested someone would soon try to kill them.
• Alvin agreed that Bucky could start building a basketball team for Battle Axe School, and Bucky said he was ready to recruit talented boys who did not fit the Wolves.
• Alvin noticed a commotion near the Police Station and suspected Beckett was helping Natasha.
• Beckett explained that Natasha had arranged her help and admitted to Yelena that she had used Bucky and Steve to gain Alvin’s support.
• Beckett stopped Bruto’s men as they transported Javelin missiles and ordered them to drive to the Police Station while she confiscated the weapons.

Beckett’s attempt to take Yelena into custody turned into a running gun battle when Natasha’s pursuers attacked their police car. After the attackers were stopped and the group reached the station, Beckett mobilized New York’s top law-enforcement fighters to arrest Natasha’s team and defend Hell’s Kitchen.

• Beckett arrested Yelena and warned Natasha that Bruto would pursue a long lawsuit unless Yelena was bailed out or left Hell’s Kitchen.
• A Sniper and several sedans attacked Beckett’s police car, but Natasha destroyed three vehicles with an explosive Disc while Hawkeye and armed gangsters helped stop the attackers.
• Murphy radioed that officers had arrested two suspects, including the suspect in the Manhattan Burglary, and Beckett ordered them brought to the Police Station.
• Beckett revealed her Behemoth Combat Suit and confronted Natasha for lying, then had Misty, Barbara Moore, Blade, Brian Mills, Murphy, and the Emergency Squad take custody of Natasha’s group.
• Natasha apologized to the handcuffed Hawkeye, who worried that he would miss a family picnic with Laura and the kids.
• Beckett said she would prove the police could protect Hell’s Kitchen without Alvin’s support, and Duke, Ripcord, and the others took defensive positions around the Police Station.

Alvin heard Church’s account of the Nightshade Plan, which linked a secret weapon delivered to the Kremlin years ago to rising tensions between the United States and Russia. Katya confronted Church for the bomb, and Alvin began to suspect someone was orchestrating the crisis as part of a larger scheme.

• Alvin let Scott Lang spend time with the children while Flint Marko left for a cleanup job, and Annie cried over Flint’s circumstances until Lin Shaoqing was sent to comfort her.
• Church told Alvin that people were after him because he had unknowingly delivered a Red Mercury Bomb to the Kremlin during the Cold War, and his old partner had been nearly killed by a car bomb.
• Church said he feared for Sarah’s safety, while Alvin questioned who had freed Dr. Bailey and was behind the attacks.
• Katya arrived, slapped Church, and demanded to know where the bomb was, explaining that he had delivered a weapon of mass destruction to Russia’s capital.
• Alvin asked who was hunting Church and suspected the crisis was being orchestrated amid worsening U.S.-Russia relations, Hydra’s search for advanced technology, and events in Sokovia.

Alvin and “Church” pieced together Hydra’s plan to use Sokovia and a stolen trove of technology to secure a place in the space race, while a looming nuclear crisis threatened to ignite war between the United States and Russia. The chapter ended with Katya recognizing that Hydra might provoke conflict even if its Sokovia plan succeeded and rushing to raise Moscow’s security level.

• “Church” confirmed that Hydra had stolen advanced technology from more than a hundred research institutes across fourteen countries, supporting Alvin’s theory that it was preparing Sokovia for rapid development.
• Alvin suggested that Victor von Doom, Sokovia’s prime minister and his friend, might be secretly manipulating Hydra into investing its resources in Sokovia.
• “Church” warned Alvin not to contact Doom electronically or discuss him with others, and said he would retrieve the bomb himself while Katya cut off contact with the Russian Security Service.
• Alvin pointed out that Hydra could make more Red Mercury Bombs if it recovered Dr. Bailey, and urged “Church” and Katya to rescue the kidnapped scientist before he could produce more.
• Katya realized Hydra might trigger a civil war even if it gained control of Sokovia, and she prepared to contact the Security Department to raise Moscow’s security level.

Alvin refused Vice President William Hurt’s proposal to fake Church’s death and instead pointed to Hydra’s role in the crisis. Hurt saw the Red Room operation in Hell’s Kitchen as leverage for a deal, while Alvin kept the truth about Sokovia to himself.

• William Hurt asked Alvin how to defuse the crisis caused by the leaked Nightshade Plan and offered Church a new identity in exchange for finding the bomb.
• Alvin rejected the offer, arguing that Church should not take the blame for a plan Hydra had prepared and Church had stopped.
• Alvin told William Hurt that Hydra agents were fighting the Hell’s Kitchen Police Station and that the attackers seemed connected to Church.
• Katya objected when Alvin identified the attackers as the Russian Red Room, while William Hurt prepared to use the organization as leverage.
• William Hurt revealed that he had stationed Special Forces near Hell’s Kitchen to capture Marvin, Church’s former partner, and planned to use evidence of Hydra’s influence over the Red Room in negotiations.
• Alvin withheld what he knew about Sokovia as William Hurt embraced Hydra’s involvement as a possible way to resolve the standoff.

Alvin arranged for William Hurt to use Hydra as a scapegoat while the United States and Russia worked to prevent a wider conflict. He decided to accompany Church to Moscow to retrieve the Kremlin bomb and draw Hydra out, leaving the operation set to begin in two days.

• Alvin refused William Hurt’s request to send Special Forces into Hell’s Kitchen and told him to fabricate evidence implicating Hydra instead.
• Alvin assured William Hurt that Church would keep the bomb in the Kremlin from exploding, and William left satisfied with the plan.
• Church thanked Alvin for protecting him, while Katya warned that William needed to know about Dr. Bailey; Alvin said the intelligence agencies should pursue Dr. Bailey without learning how much he knew.
• Alvin told Katya to work with Church and secretly help retrieve the bomb, then volunteered to join them in Moscow with support from local allies and Agent 47.
• Church agreed to prepare for two days before using Katya’s channel to enter Russia and provoke Hydra into revealing itself.
• Alvin named the mission the “Sunset Red Operation” and suggested that Frank join Church in Moscow.

Beckett's attempt to arrest Natasha's family drew a Red Room assault on the Hell's Kitchen Police Station, where she and the suspects fought off infiltrating agents. The station's defenders responded, but mortar fire struck both the perimeter and the building, leaving Duke asking Beckett for heavy weapons as the enemy advanced.

• Beckett warned Melina, the Red Guardian, and Natasha that their charges could worsen if they caused trouble, while Natasha cautioned that there were many kinds of fights.
• Two Red Room agents burst through the station ceiling and opened fire; Natasha, Beckett, and the three suspects fought back, with Beckett and Natasha taking down the attackers.
• Michael and Scott rushed into the lobby, and Beckett ordered the agents and suspects bound while refusing Melina's offer of help.
• Duke reported that his officers were holding the perimeter and urged Beckett to withdraw her precinct officers, while Blade, Misty, Barbara Moore, Brian Mills, and Murphy joined the station's defense.
• Natasha persuaded her family to cooperate, but three mortar shells struck the station entrance, Duke's perimeter position, and a first-floor office.
• Duke confirmed that his men had survived, asked Beckett for heavy weapons to destroy the mortars, and reported that enemy forces were advancing under their cover.

Duke and the Emergency Squad fought off mercenaries besieging the police station with help from Shack’s improvised war machines, while Barbara Moore and Brian Mills tried to stop the elusive mortar gunner. Steve and Bucky arrived to protect the roof and attack the gunner, but the battle took an unexpected turn.

• Duke and his men were pinned down by mercenaries and mortar fire as Barbara Moore and Brian Mills searched the roof for the gunner.
• Shack freed the prisoners, recruited two Latino gangsters, and brought out two armed robots that tore through the attackers and helped drive them back.
• Four RPGs struck the robots, while Barbara Moore and Brian Mills shot at the gunner; the gunner retaliated with mortar shells aimed at the roof.
• Steve and Bucky arrived on a motorcycle, and Steve’s shield destroyed the incoming shells before Brian Mills reported that he had wounded the gunner.
• Steve raced toward the gunner while Bucky fired at the mercenaries, but an unexpected development followed.

A coordinated assassination attack in the Hell's Kitchen Police Station left Yelena gravely wounded, and Natasha was shaken by the killers’ claim that they could not escape. Bucky told Natasha that the school’s Cradle of Life might save Yelena, and Alvin transported her there while Natasha prepared to follow.

• Beckett’s staff released the prisoners after a mortar attack, and a punk girl stole a police officer’s pistol and fired at Melina and Yelena.
• Natasha shielded Melina and Yelena from the gunfire, but a disguised blonde assassin shot Yelena before Blade pinned the attacker’s hand to the floor.
• The blonde assassin died by cyanide, and Michael warned Beckett to separate the prisoners, especially the women.
• Natasha knelt over Yelena as Bucky arrived and told her to take Yelena to the school’s Basement, where the Cradle of Life was kept.
• Natasha called Alvin, who arrived through a Space Gate and carried Yelena to the school, while Natasha asked Bucky to protect Melina and the Red Guardian.

After the battle at the Police Station, Beckett struggled with guilt over Yelena’s injury and the damage to her station. Old Kent rallied Hell’s Kitchen’s support, and Beckett arranged to move the prisoners while preserving her credibility by keeping Melina and the Red Guardian in custody.

• Michael took charge of the aftermath, moving the captured men into the garage while officers cleared the damaged yard.
• Bucky freed Melina and the Red Guardian from their handcuffs and asked Beckett to let them visit Yelena.
• Old Kent arrived with workers and construction trucks, drove away the watching gangs, and promised to rebuild the Police Station’s wall.
• Beckett broke down and thanked Old Kent, who assured her that Hell’s Kitchen supported her and discussed improvements to the station’s defenses.
• Old Kent relayed Alvin’s request to move Melina, the Red Guardian, and the Red Room prisoners to Hell’s Kitchen, and Beckett agreed.
• Beckett handed Bucky the keys and sent the surviving Red Room agents away with him, while keeping Melina’s family in custody to uphold her credibility.

As Hell’s Kitchen began adapting to Alvin’s new order, Dr. Yinsen operated on Yelena while Alvin assisted. Yelena was placed in the Cradle of Life, which Dr. Yinsen expected to restore her by the next day.

• Bruto accepted that the wall marked the end of Hell’s Kitchen’s lawless days and decided to seek compensation through the police as a legitimate businessman.
• In the school basement, Dr. Yinsen began emergency surgery on Yelena and ordered Alvin to help.
• Alvin widened Yelena’s chest opening, drained blood, and performed cardiac massage while Dr. Yinsen removed the bullet and damaged lung tissue.
• Dr. Yinsen told Natasha that Yelena likely would not survive under normal circumstances, but Alvin’s presence gave her a chance.
• Alvin gave Dr. Yinsen a bottle of Red Potion to study, and Dr. Yinsen placed Yelena in the Cradle of Life, saying she would recover by the next day.

After Yelena survived surgery, Natasha told Alvin how her past in the Red Room had left her ashamed and afraid to face who she had been. Steve and Bucky arrived with Melina and the Red Guardian, revealing that the attack had involved a seventh Red Room agent who nearly escaped.

• Alvin watched the Cradle of Life repair Yelena and tried to comfort the shaken Natasha.
• Natasha told Alvin about her Red Room history, her defection after the Budapest mission, and her guilt over the people she had harmed.
• Alvin realized Natasha was struggling because she still felt connected to the Red Room and feared being judged for her past.
• Natasha explained that Red Room agents were drugged and stripped of their thoughts, and said she, Yelena, and Melina had escaped before she was reconditioned.
• Steve and Bucky arrived with Melina and the Red Guardian, and Steve reported that a female sharpshooter had nearly escaped before Ghost Wolf Sparta helped catch her.

Alvin prepared to accompany Church to Moscow to stop a bomb plot while Steve stayed at the school. Natasha, Melina, Yelena, Bucky, and the Red Guardian resolved to confront the Red Room and try to save its agents.

• Alvin told Steve he would go with Church to Moscow, while Steve stayed behind to guard the school and check on the imprisoned agents.
• Melina admitted she had trained the Red Room girls and regretted helping turn them into weapons, then urged Natasha to live freely.
• Bucky encouraged Natasha to help the Red Room agents recover, drawing on his own experience and the support he had found.
• Alvin warned that a bomb was hidden in the Kremlin and said he would kill any agents who interfered with Church's mission.
• Melina and the injured Yelena volunteered to go to Moscow, and Natasha agreed to fight the Red Room and bring their sisters back to their senses.
• The Red Guardian declared that they were family and said the Winter Soldier and Black Widow were a perfect match.