Chapter Summaries

Su Ming searched for clues to Namor’s disappearance and the German agents who might have captured him, then focused on a murdered masked hero whose case could lead him to a German safehouse. The chapter ended with Dr. Holloway, now the Avenging Angel, watching the investigation from above and resolving to uncover the truth.

• U-Man told The Mustache about Atlanteans living under Namor in Bermuda and let him arrange a covert attack, which ended with Hydra officers capturing Namor using Cosmic Cube energy guns.
• Su Ming considered which faction might have taken Namor and concluded that the Germans were the likeliest suspects, but he lacked intelligence about Hydra’s other leaders.
• Su Ming recalled that a German spy he had killed in an antique shop had seemed about to say “Germany,” and decided to search for the spy’s safehouse and communications records.
• Police found Phantom Bullet shot dead in an alley near the docks, and reporters and officers crowded around the scene.
• Dr. Holloway, now the Avenging Angel, watched from above and resolved to investigate Phantom Bullet’s murder.

Su Ming revealed his identity as Deathstroke to Dr. Holloway and asked him to help investigate Phantom Bullet’s death. Holloway agreed to seek justice as the Avenging Angel.

• Holloway left the homicide scene and returned to the sanatorium, planning to use his medical connections to examine Phantom Bullet’s body.
• A nurse told Holloway that an important-looking visitor had arrived in a stretch limousine.
• Su Ming revealed that he knew Holloway’s true identity and said the Two-Gun Kid had already met him.
• Holloway recognized Su Ming as Deathstroke, the legendary mercenary the Two-Gun Kid had described.
• Su Ming asked Holloway to help investigate Phantom Bullet’s death, and Holloway declared that he was the Avenging Angel.

Su Ming recruited Dr. Holloway to help investigate Phantom Bullet’s death, while Holloway mistook Su Ming’s vague explanations and equipment for a government operation. They headed to the New York City Forensic Center, with Holloway accepting a new uniform and the mission.

• Su Ming asked Dr. Holloway to investigate whether foreign spies were involved in Phantom Bullet’s death, and Holloway agreed.
• Holloway misread Su Ming’s gesture as evidence of secret government orders, while Su Ming let the misunderstanding stand.
• Su Ming took Holloway to his car and changed into his black-and-yellow uniform as Gin drove them to the New York City Forensic Center.
• Holloway saw Su Ming’s liquor and equipment and became more convinced that the mission came from powerful government backers.
• Su Ming gave Holloway steel chainmail, and Holloway accepted it and agreed to cooperate while asking that his identity remain secret.

Su Ming and the Avenging Angel broke into the Forensic Center to examine Phantom Bullet’s body, and Holloway recognized the dead man as reporter Hul Peasas. After Su Ming eased Holloway’s guilt over the reporter’s death, Holloway began the autopsy to uncover how he died and help avenge him.

• Gin drove Su Ming and the Avenging Angel to an abandoned garage near the morgue, and Su Ming led Holloway across rooftops to the Forensic Center.
• Su Ming knocked out the officers on duty, cut the telephone lines, and took control of the building while Holloway stayed out of sight.
• Su Ming restrained the elderly coroners and found Phantom Bullet’s body, which had arrived that morning without an autopsy.
• Holloway removed Phantom Bullet’s mask and recognized him as Hul Peasas, a Daily Bugle reporter who had covered the Avenging Angel’s first battle.
• Su Ming told Holloway that Hul had chosen to fight for his own ideals, and Holloway resolved to perform the autopsy and avenge him.

Dr. Holloway examined Phantom Bullet’s corpse and found clues pointing to a professional killer, though the physical evidence offered no clear lead. Su Ming decided to investigate the reporter’s identity and notebook by checking whether he had been one of Su Ming’s clients.

• Dr. Holloway performed an autopsy and found that Phantom Bullet had been shot five times in the chest with a modified firearm, likely from the front at close range.
• Dr. Holloway found rust containing halogens and algae cells on Phantom Bullet’s cape, as well as urea on his shoes.
• Su Ming dismissed the algae and fertilizer clues as too difficult to pursue and chose to investigate Phantom Bullet’s real identity and reporter’s notebook.
• Su Ming and Dr. Holloway reasoned that the notebook was more likely at the reporter’s home than at the Daily Bugle, then headed to Su Ming’s territory to check his client records.

While waiting for information about the missing reporter, Su Ming considered strengthening his team and decided to seek help from Mordo at the New York Sanctum. As Su Ming and Dr. Holloway arrived on Bleecker Street, they sensed a terrifying presence and prepared to face whatever was happening there.

• Su Ming sent Gin to investigate street rumors and asked Master John to seek information through the Distillery's influential clients.
• Su Ming assessed Dr. Holloway's skills and considered recruiting Torchbearer or Mordo to add powerful energy attacks to his team.
• Su Ming decided to visit the New York Sanctum and persuade Mordo to help him.
• Su Ming left the Peace Hotel with Dr. Holloway and drove toward Bleecker Street.
• Su Ming and Dr. Holloway sensed a hostile presence near the Sanctum, armed themselves, and prepared to intervene.

Su Ming and Dr. Holloway crossed a fog-shrouded, reality-warping New York to reach the New York Sanctum, where they found signs of a massacre. They entered the ruined building to search for the unknown threat while Ancient One struggled elsewhere.

• Su Ming and Dr. Holloway advanced through a fog that sealed off the street as a strange substance began eroding the world.
• Su Ming guided Holloway through the Sanctum’s magical concealment and reached Bleecker Street 117.
• Su Ming changed his weapon into a warhammer and smashed open the Sanctum’s doors.
• Su Ming and Holloway found the foyer covered in blood, with dozens of people dead and nearly all their remains missing.
• Holloway raised his guns as Su Ming warned him that the threat might be worse than a beast.

Su Ming and Dr. Holloway searched the bloodied New York Sanctum for survivors and clues, finding the Cloak of Levitation drained of its power. After his attempts to restore it with Godslayer and Tenth Metal failed, Su Ming tried one of Doctor Manhattan’s energy spheres, leaving the result unknown.

• Su Ming examined scraps of clothing and concluded that the missing bodies had likely belonged to mage apprentices killed recently.
• Su Ming and Holloway stayed together and went to the second-floor reception room to look for survivors and clues.
• Su Ming found that the Sanctum’s magical displays remained untouched, but the Cloak of Levitation lay limp beside a smashed display case.
• Su Ming tried to revive the cloak with Godslayer and Tenth Metal, but neither restored its power.
• Su Ming found one of Doctor Manhattan’s energy spheres and pressed it between his hands with the cloak.

Su Ming used the Cloak of Levitation to follow the trail of survivors through a rainforest portal, with Holloway in tow. They found an Annihilation Swarm attacking a cave protected by a golden magical shield, and paused to plan a rescue.

• The Cloak of Levitation revived by absorbing a gem and led Su Ming and Holloway to a rainforest portal.
• Su Ming had the cloak wrap Holloway to protect him before the pair entered the rainforest.
• Su Ming followed human footprints and fresh blood while the cloak carried the struggling Holloway after him.
• Su Ming recognized an Annihilation Swarm pursuing survivors and besieging a cave behind a golden magical shield.
• Su Ming pulled Holloway behind a tree to plan how to rescue the people inside the cave.

Su Ming and Dr. Holloway planned an aerial assault on the swarm surrounding a cave, hoping to give the trapped people a chance to escape. The Cloak of Levitation agreed to carry them, while Holloway prepared to persuade the survivors to lower their shield.

• Su Ming assessed the hundreds of enhanced ants and concluded that their numbers could overwhelm him before the cave's flickering shield failed.
• Su Ming asked the Cloak of Levitation to carry him and Holloway to the cave entrance, and the Cloak indicated that it could.
• Su Ming planned to attack the swarm head-on while Holloway gained the survivors' trust and convinced them to lower the magical shield.
• Holloway worried that withdrawing after the survivors saw them fight would crush their hope, but Su Ming reminded him that persuading them to open the way was his mission.
• Holloway agreed to try communicating with the survivors, while Su Ming warned that he could break the shield if necessary but that doing so would harm those inside.

Su Ming and Holloway reached the cave, where Su Ming held off the attacking bugs while Holloway treated an injured young mage. The mage recognized the Cloak of Levitation and Holloway, and the fight continued outside the cave entrance.

• Su Ming ordered the Cloak of Levitation to carry him and Holloway above the swarm and drop him near the cave entrance.
• The bugs attacked as Su Ming descended, but Godslayer and the Nightfall Greatsword let him cut down the creatures and clear a landing area.
• Holloway called to the person behind the magical shield, and the shield opened so he could enter the cave while Su Ming guarded the entrance.
• Holloway found an injured young blond mage in the cave and began stitching a deep wound on his arm.
• The mage told Holloway he recognized the Cloak of Levitation and knew him from the newspapers, then looked toward Deathstroke's back.

Dr. Holloway treated the young Mage’s wound while learning about the modified insects and the Mage’s ruthless pursuit of power. After Kaecilius introduced himself as the Sorcerer Supreme’s personal disciple, Su Ming finished killing the bugs and called them out of the cave, leaving Kaecilius ready to hear what his rescuers wanted.

• Dr. Holloway treated the young Mage as he explained that the insects were magically modified test subjects with high Magic Resistance.
• The young Mage said he had survived by thinking calmly and accepting that the weak were destined to die.
• The young Mage introduced himself as Kaecilius, personal disciple of the Sorcerer Supreme, after his attempt to cast a spell flickered out.
• Su Ming recognized Kaecilius as a future figure connected to Dormammu and considered how he might later help Su Ming extend his companions’ lives.
• Su Ming killed the remaining bugs, and the cloak and Kaecilius emerged from the cave.
• Kaecilius saluted Su Ming and waited, sensing that the powerful stranger had questions for him.

Su Ming and Dr. Holloway met Kaecilius, the sole surviving mage apprentice in the New York Sanctum, and learned that a dimensional collision had brought monsters to Earth. Kaecilius opened a portal to Kamar-Taj, where Su Ming hoped to find Ancient One, while Kaecilius stayed behind to guard the Sanctum.

• Su Ming questioned Kaecilius about the destruction, and Kaecilius said an invasion had affected the New York Sanctum while Ancient One was likely still at Kamar-Taj.
• Kaecilius searched a monster's corpse and found a Sling Ring, explaining that he needed it to open a portal despite usually disliking such external tools.
• Kaecilius said he would remain at the New York Sanctum as its only surviving apprentice and began casting a Teleportation Portal.
• Su Ming grabbed Dr. Holloway and went through the portal to the snowy mountains near Kamar-Taj, followed by the Cloak of Levitation.

Su Ming and Dr. Holloway reached Kamar-Taj and found it ruined, its grounds blackened and a gray pillar of light rising from within. A giant symbiote attacked them, and Su Ming prepared to fight it while Holloway sought safety.

• Su Ming and Dr. Holloway used the Cloak of Levitation to find Kamar-Taj in the snowy Himalayas.
• They crossed an invisible barrier and saw the ruined temple grounds, blackened corpses, and a towering gray pillar of light.
• Su Ming checked that Holloway was well enough to continue, then drew the Nightfall Greatsword and headed deeper into the ruins.
• A four-armed black monster ambushed them, and Su Ming pulled Holloway out of its crushing attack.
• Su Ming recognized the monster as a symbiote and sent Holloway to find cover while he prepared to keep it occupied.

Su Ming fought a rapidly regenerating symbiote that adapted its attacks to his weapons and overwhelmed him with tentacles. After it turned its ranged assault on Holloway, Su Ming returned from its blind spot and cleaved it in two with the Nightfall Greatsword.

• Su Ming cut off the symbiote’s limbs with Godslayer and the Nightfall Greatsword, but it rapidly regenerated and reattached them.
• Su Ming sent the Cloak of Levitation to find what Mage had used to restrain the symbiote.
• The symbiote adapted by growing tentacles and struck Su Ming, hurling him through a building.
• Holloway fired at the symbiote and drew its attention, but it crashed through a rooftop and pursued him with tentacles and black slime.
• Su Ming recovered, approached the distracted symbiote from behind, and cleaved it in two with the Nightfall Greatsword.

Su Ming discovered that attacks on the symbiote's host could make it scream, then used lamp oil and fire to force the symbiote to detach. The symbiote fled the flames, revealing its host as a badly burned Himalayan Yeti.

• Su Ming pinned down the symbiote and repeatedly attacked it with Nightfall Greatsword and Godslayer while Dr. Holloway watched from nearby.
• Su Ming struck the symbiote's vulnerable lower body, causing it to scream as the injury also hurt its host.
• The Cloak of Levitation returned and dropped a barrel of lamp oil, and Su Ming had Dr. Holloway roll it over.
• Su Ming splashed lamp oil on the symbiote and set it alight, forcing it to peel away from its host and retreat beyond the flames.
• The fire revealed the symbiote's former host as a badly burned Himalayan Yeti.

Su Ming subdued a symbiote that had possessed a Himalayan Yeti, then killed the wounded creature and claimed the symbiote for himself. He and Holloway continued toward the distant pillar of light, with Su Ming keeping the symbiote as a possible asset.

• Su Ming trapped the symbiote beneath Godslayer while he and Holloway discussed the Yeti.
• The Yeti regained control, discovered its bleeding injury, and charged at Su Ming in a rage.
• Su Ming killed the Yeti with a thrust through its jaw and skull, then joked that its pelt would make Holloway a rug.
• Su Ming collected the symbiote and stored it in his pouch, deciding to consider using it despite the risk it could affect his thoughts.
• Su Ming and Holloway set off again toward the pillar of light, hoping not to encounter more monsters.

Su Ming and Holloway advanced through the demon-infested battlefield while Su Ming pushed toward the struggle between Mage Ancient One and an unfamiliar Dark Magic wielder. The Cloak of Levitation carried him to a concealed position near the evenly matched duel, where he began searching the two camps for clues about Namor’s disappearance.

• Su Ming and Holloway dealt with escaped demons, and Holloway fired at an imp until it killed itself.
• Su Ming let the Cloak of Levitation carry him to the main battlefield after it sensed the need to hurry.
• Su Ming saw Mage Ancient One fighting an unfamiliar woman whose Dark Magic matched Ancient One’s White Magic.
• The Cloak of Levitation landed Su Ming behind a broken palace wall, and he searched both camps for familiar people.

Su Ming assessed the battle between Ancient One’s mages and a force of Dark Magic users, recognizing that Kamar-Taj would lose if the fight dragged on. He chose to ambush Archmage Gibbor and free Doctor Druid, then moved to put his plan into action.

• Su Ming surveyed the battlefield and spotted Mordo fighting an evenly matched opponent.
• Su Ming identified Archmage Gibbor as Ancient One’s former disciple and recognized that Doctor Druid was battling him with White Magic and psionic abilities.
• Su Ming reasoned that the enemy could shift the cost of Dark Magic onto sacrifices or an evil god, while Kamar-Taj’s mages had to bear their own magical prices.
• Su Ming decided to target Gibbor so Doctor Druid could coordinate the defenders, while Holloway stayed back and attacked from range.
• Su Ming hid behind a broken wall and secretly signaled Holloway as he approached.

Su Ming bonded with the symbiote to disguise himself and gain new abilities, while learning that it could distort his confidence and amplify his darker impulses. After reassuring Holloway, he surveyed the battlefield and saw Kamar-Taj’s Mages tiring as the Dark Mage Group gained the advantage.

• Su Ming tried to use the Cloak of Levitation to conceal himself, but it could not change color, so he sent it to Holloway and chose the symbiote instead.
• Su Ming removed his Icon Armor and let the symbiote parasitize him, enduring the painful process as it linked with his nerves.
• Su Ming realized the symbiote inflated his sense of strength and warned it to control its influence, then noted its shapeshifting and regenerative benefits.
• Holloway watched the transformation in alarm, and Su Ming reassured him that the symbiote was safest with him.
• Su Ming extended his head above cover to check the battle and saw Kamar-Taj’s Mages tiring while the Dark Mage Group gained ground.