Chapter Summaries

Daisy joined Rhodey’s rescue mission for Tony Stark and used the kidnapping details to identify a likely search area near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Rhodey expanded the team and set out from Bagram Air Base with additional troops, vehicles, helicopters, and weapons to search for the kidnappers.

• Daisy judged Rhodey’s small rescue team to be unprepared after learning that his soldiers came from the Weapons Development Department.
• During the flight to Afghanistan, Daisy studied Stark’s kidnapping and narrowed the likely hiding place to mountainous terrain near the Afghan-Pakistani border.
• Rhodey sought support from regional bases, expanding the rescue team from twenty people to fifty and requisitioning helicopters, vehicles, and heavy weapons.
• Rhodey promised the soldiers a cash reward if they rescued Stark, and the enlarged team departed Bagram Air Base to search the border region.

After weeks of fighting across Afghanistan without finding Stark, Daisy learned that the town Korami was less than fifteen kilometers away and suspected it was Ten Rings territory. She reorganized the team and set out toward it with forty-five people, leaving the wounded to guard the helicopter.

• Daisy led the squad through another battle, then assigned tasks while Colonel Rhodey contacted Global Hawk for terrain information.
• Daisy and the other women bathed together, and Mockingbird Bobbi asked about Daisy's skin and figure.
• Daisy sent Jimmy to question a tribal elder about a place marked on the map, and the elder identified it as Korami.
• Daisy confirmed Korami's location, reorganized the team, and drove southwest with forty-five people while the wounded stayed behind to guard the helicopter.

Daisy led the search for Tony Stark through Afghanistan, but her instincts warned her that the convoy had entered a deadly trap. She ordered a retreat after sensing a powerful being underground and suspected the real Mandarin was nearby.

• Daisy coordinated the convoy with Jimmy in the lead vehicle and Colonel Rhodey guarding the rear while the Global Hawk scouted ahead.
• Daisy and Rhodey agreed to return to base for Christmas if they found no leads in Korami, and the soldiers cheered at the decision.
• Daisy sensed something dangerously wrong in the lifeless landscape and halted the convoy.
• The Global Hawk's feed became distorted before its tracking signal disappeared, and Daisy suspected the tribal elder had lured them into a trap.
• Daisy sensed a person-like energy underground that seemed almost as powerful as an erupting nuclear reactor, then ordered everyone to flee.
• Daisy connected Afghanistan, the Ten Rings, and Stark to the Mandarin, and suspected the real Mandarin was in the mountains.

Daisy tried to lead Colonel Rhodey and his soldiers back toward safety while warning them that a powerful enemy was pursuing them. The Mandarin caught up with the convoy, and Daisy attempted to distract him with a fabricated story about a wedding.

• Daisy told Colonel Rhodey that an exceptionally powerful Mutant was pursuing them and ordered the convoy to keep moving toward Bagram Air Base.
• Daisy sensed that the Mandarin was tracking them and chose to stay with the soldiers rather than risk fleeing alone.
• After three hours, the Mandarin caught up with the convoy, flying through the air and stunning the soldiers and agents.
• Daisy confirmed the Mandarin was the enemy and signaled for everyone to prepare to attack.
• Daisy noticed the Mandarin's rings emitted their own fluctuations and reasoned that he might be mentally unstable from their influence.
• Daisy greeted the Mandarin in Chinese and claimed the convoy was traveling to Kandahar for Colonel Rhodey's cousin's wedding.

Daisy and Rhodey’s convoy fled the Mandarin while Daisy called S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Security Council for support. The Mandarin caught up again, and Daisy stalled him with the same conversation before the group escaped and prepared for his next pursuit.

• Daisy told the Mandarin it was December 2007, then led Bobbi and the others north toward Kandahar as he stopped to ponder how much time had passed.
• Rhodey called for military reinforcements, and Daisy reported the Mandarin to Nick Fury and Lady Lance while warning the convoy not to fight him or use helicopters.
• Daisy persuaded Rhodey and the others to prioritize rescuing Stark and flee by road instead of confronting the Mandarin.
• The Mandarin caught up half an hour later and again asked who they were, so Daisy repeated their earlier conversation and kept him occupied while the vehicles escaped.
• After Rhodey dismissed the Mandarin as unimpressive, Daisy warned that he was becoming more murderous and ordered everyone to ready their weapons for his next pursuit.

Daisy led the soldiers in a desperate vehicle pursuit as Mandarin attacked them with ice and lightning. She kept the convoy moving and used smoke to escape his pursuit until Mandarin prepared a fire attack and the reinforcements Daisy had awaited arrived.

• Daisy ordered the soldiers to fire on Mandarin, but his Energy Shield held and his Ice Ring unleashed freezing mist that formed a huge ice wall.
• Daisy had the soldiers pour gasoline and fire incendiary grenades, exhausting the ice mist and allowing the vehicles to escape.
• Mandarin formed a Lightning Spear and hurled it toward the convoy, but Daisy took the wheel and drove in a wide circle to dodge it.
• Daisy ordered the soldiers to blanket the road with smoke grenades and asked Bobbi to try tear gas while she kept the convoy together.
• Mandarin dispersed the smoke with a violent wind, caught up with the vehicles, and began gathering flames as Daisy's awaited reinforcements arrived.

Daisy and her companions escaped to the Kandahar base while the Mandarin destroyed two F-22s sent to confront him. At the base, Daisy met with its generals as the Mandarin remained absent, apparently delayed by reading the surviving pilot’s memories.

• Daisy directed the three vehicles to flee when two F-22s arrived over the battlefield.
• The Mandarin seized Daniel’s F-22, destroyed it with a fire dragon, and killed Daniel.
• The Mandarin destroyed the wingman’s missiles with lightning and disintegrated the second F-22 with a ray.
• The generals contacted Daisy’s group, which reached the Kandahar base before the Mandarin caught up.
• Daisy followed a messenger to the underground command room, where she learned the pilots’ fate and met two senior generals.

Daisy advised two U.S. generals on Mandarin’s ring-based powers and helped plan a trap to capture him. Meanwhile, Mandarin entered Kandahar, disoriented by the unfamiliar world, and answered a vendor’s threat by setting a large part of the street ablaze.

• Daisy told Generals Green and Edward that Mandarin’s abilities appeared to come from the rings on his hands, and they reviewed satellite footage of him attacking her aircraft.
• General Green ordered Mandarin captured alive, while Daisy rejected the generals’ ideas and proposed using bait after they dismissed a nuclear strike.
• Mandarin entered Kandahar after reading the pilot’s memories and struggled to reconcile the city with his own past.
• A vendor threatened Mandarin with a submachine gun, and Mandarin burned the vendor, nearby stalls, and surrounding buildings.

Mandarin unleashed a devastating assault in Kandahar, but the U.S. military used coordinated tactics and sensory weapons to wound and disorient him. He recovered by summoning stone giants, then began using his stronger right-hand rings as the battle turned increasingly deadly.

• Mandarin burned civilians and killed fleeing Kandahar police officers with lightning as he pursued the retreating U.S. troops.
• The U.S. soldiers regrouped and surrounded Mandarin, while a concealed sniper wounded his face and tanks and helicopters battered him with heavy fire.
• Daisy’s plan used intense lights and high-decibel noise to disorient Mandarin, allowing the troops to hit him repeatedly.
• Mandarin summoned stone giants to shield himself, but U.S. tank shells destroyed many of them as he recovered.
• Mandarin began using his stronger right-hand rings, and two Shockwaves killed the crews inside the M1A2 tanks and wrecked them.

Mandarin devastated the American forces in Kandahar before entering their underground base, where Daisy confronted him as part of the military’s plan. With the base’s surveillance disabled, Daisy drew Mandarin into a fight whose outcome remained unknown.

• Mandarin used the Atomic Cutter to slice through soldiers, weapons, and buildings, prompting the American troops to flee.
• Daisy identified that Mandarin’s ring had weakened after its attack, and the generals ordered Plan B to cover the survivors’ retreat.
• Raptor jets harassed Mandarin with missiles while he slaughtered the retreating troops and then entered the American military base.
• Daisy confronted Mandarin and baited him into attacking her with a Lightning Storm.
• Daisy dodged the lightning and ran through the base as explosions sounded, leaving the command room unable to monitor her fight.

Daisy fought Mandarin in the dark and used a prepared Shockwave strike to overwhelm his ring attacks, then targeted the rings on his right hand with an Adamantium Dagger. Mandarin counterattacked with brute force, and the chapter ended with Daisy’s dagger missing his wrist as his punch drove her back.

• Mandarin praised Daisy’s combat ability while continuing to attack her with the Ten Rings.
• Daisy drew the Adamantium Dagger and struck Mandarin from behind with a powerful Shockwave, breaking through his Flame Impact and Shockwave defenses before his hurricane stopped the blow.
• Daisy judged that her strength was comparable to Mandarin using two rings and focused on his right hand while he recovered from using three rings in succession.
• Mandarin attacked Daisy with a powerful unenhanced punch as she tried to cut off his ring-bearing hand.
• Daisy shifted aside and blocked Mandarin’s punch with her Vibranium Bracer, but the impact pushed her back and sent her dagger off course.

Daisy stole the Mandarin’s Atomic Cutting ring and led him through the Kandahar military base to a prepared trap. The Mandarin was sealed inside a reinforced chamber, where Daisy’s team began attacking him with acid, cement, and a potent paralytic gas.

• Daisy cut off one of the Mandarin’s fingers, took the Atomic Cutting ring, and fled with the severed finger.
• Daisy contained the ring in a signal-blocking S.H.I.E.L.D. box and smashed through the military base to slow the Mandarin’s pursuit.
• Daisy reached the ambush site, where the Black colonel and Bobbi Mockingbird shut two massive alloy gates around the Mandarin.
• The Trapster sprayed the Mandarin with acid and cement, then hidden probes released a powerful paralytic gas into the chamber.

Mandarin escaped the Kandahar battle on a black dragon construct but collapsed in the snow mountains, while Daisy recovered at a S.H.I.E.L.D. contact point. After Black Widow woke her, Daisy reported to Nick Fury, who asked whether Mandarin threatened world security.

• Mandarin realized the anesthetic was affecting him, created a black dragon from nearby materials, and fled the base under fire.
• Mandarin shot down two pursuing fighter jets, then passed out from the cold and fell into the snow mountains as the dragon reverted to mud and sand.
• Daisy left the Kandahar command room and checked that her Atomic Cutter ring was intact before resting at a S.H.I.E.L.D. contact point.
• Black Widow woke Daisy and told her Nick Fury was waiting online.
• Daisy reported the battle to Nick Fury, who asked whether Mandarin posed a threat to world security.

Daisy returned to the site where the Mandarin had vanished and discovered his hidden training ground inside an invisible mountain. She photographed its inscriptions, took some gemstones, and buried the entire structure underground before leaving.

• Daisy told Nick Fury that the Mandarin was likely still alive, but Fury classified the matter as Level Ten and ordered her to rest.
• Daisy asked Natasha to disguise her as badly injured, then slipped away and teleported back to the site where she had encountered the Mandarin.
• Daisy found the Global Hawk wreckage and used its crash path to identify an invisible mountain between two visible peaks.
• Daisy dug into the mountain and searched its pagoda-like interior, taking gemstones and photographing writings in Chinese, Mongolian, and Manchu.
• Daisy used a powerful Shockwave to trigger an earthquake that buried the invisible mountain and the Mandarin's training ground.

After recovering at home, Daisy investigated the Atomic Cutter and returned to Afghanistan, where she helped locate Tony Stark after his escape. Back at S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury suspended Daisy and Victoria Hand’s missions, while Daisy waited to see whether Stark would shut down his weapons division and drive down Stark Industries stock.

• Daisy had Beast Hank build a reader for the Atomic Cutter, then gave Danger the ring’s alien writing and the Mandarin’s notes to decrypt.
• A month later, Daisy’s team found Tony Stark in the desert and left his rescue to the military without revealing S.H.I.E.L.D.’s involvement.
• Daisy told the maid to short Stark Industries stock and had Danger conceal the trades across more than a hundred accounts.
• Nick Fury reprimanded Daisy and Victoria Hand over the casualties and destruction caused by their missions, then suspended both operations.
• Daisy returned to her quarters and waited for Stark Group’s press conference, worried that Tony might expand the weapons division instead of closing it.

After profiting from Stark Industries’ stock collapse, Daisy used the money to order a supercomputer from Stark Industries. Obadiah suggested powering it with an old Arc Reactor and asked Daisy to help improve the device, leaving her to consider his proposal.

• Daisy sold her Stark Industries shares after they plunged, earning nearly three hundred million.
• Daisy traveled to Stark Industries with Miss Maki and negotiated a supercomputer contract with Obadiah.
• Daisy handed the contract to Miss Maki for review while Obadiah showed her around the company’s research complex.
• Obadiah proposed using Stark Industries’ Arc Reactor to power the supercomputer, but Daisy questioned its size and safety.
• Obadiah asked Daisy, whose physics work had made her famous, to help improve the Arc Reactor.

Daisy reviewed Obadiah’s Arc Reactor research in exchange for the possibility of waiving the Supercomputer’s installation fee. After a day of calculations, she concluded that her powers could help her overcome the missing data and attempt to develop a smaller reactor.

• Obadiah offered to waive the Supercomputer’s initial installation fee if Daisy helped adapt the Arc Reactor for commercial use.
• Daisy asked to inspect Stark Industries’ research data before agreeing, and Obadiah introduced Dr. William.
• Daisy used Dr. Pym’s reputation to establish her scientific credentials and began examining the reactor with Dr. William.
• Daisy ordered Dr. William to take measurements while she calculated the reactor’s parameters with help from Danger.
• After a day of work, Daisy determined that she could not calculate all the necessary figures but believed she could use her powers to fine-tune the reactor design.

Daisy built Obadiah a compact fusion reactor for the Iron Monger and helped install his Supercomputer in exchange for a revised contract and waived fees. The reactor passed its initial tests, and Obadiah asked whether his team could reproduce it.

• Daisy asked Obadiah about the reactor’s size requirements and agreed to make one roughly the size of a washbasin.
• Daisy gave Obadiah a materials list, and he approved the resources while helping install a forty-rack Supercomputer for her.
• Daisy spent the next few days helping Obadiah build the reactor as his team installed and tested the Supercomputer.
• Fifteen days later, Daisy delivered the reactor, and Obadiah’s workers installed it on the Iron Monger.
• William reported that the reactor met the Iron Monger’s performance requirements, and Obadiah asked whether his team could replicate it.

Obadiah ordered William to keep studying Daisy's reactor and upgrade the Iron Monger armor into the Iron Tyrant. At a preview screening of Saving Private Ryan, Tony confronted Daisy about helping Obadiah build a reactor, and she accused Tony of being unable to understand its key parameters.

• Obadiah learned that William could not reproduce Daisy's reactor and ordered him to continue researching it while upgrading the armor into Iron Tyrant.
• Daisy attended the preview screening of Saving Private Ryan, where Happy's film featured John Garrett as Lieutenant Miller.
• Tony sat beside Daisy and asked whether she opposed war and why she had helped Obadiah make an Arc Reactor.
• Daisy explained that Stark Industries had waived fees in exchange for the reactor and suggested Obadiah had wanted Tony to reveal its secrets.
• Tony called Daisy's reactor crude, and Daisy replied that Tony did not understand several of its parameters either.

Daisy and Stark argued over the Arc Reactor before the film’s story prompted Stark to leave, troubled by the sacrifices made to rescue him. Although audiences criticized Saving Private Ryan, political and military support expanded its release, while Daisy continued widening the rift within Hydra’s S.H.I.E.L.D. branch.

• Daisy and Stark mocked each other over the Arc Reactor and its scientific principles.
• Stark questioned whether eight soldiers’ deaths were worth saving one man, then left the theater deeply affected by the film.
• The preview screening drew lukewarm reactions, and audiences criticized the film’s deaths and its ordinary protagonist’s unheroic end.
• The military and political leaders praised Saving Private Ryan, helping it secure a wider domestic and international release.
• Daisy continued driving a wedge within Hydra’s S.H.I.E.L.D. branch, while lead actor John Garrett gained unexpected attention.