Chapter Summaries

Su Ming and Wong captured S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz, who had secretly traveled to 1956 to pursue a mission involving Leviathan. Su Ming threatened to send them to the London Sanctum as experiment subjects, leaving them facing Wong’s opening portal.

• Su Ming lured two people out of the passageways by pretending to prepare a bomb, and Wong restrained them with magic.
• Su Ming identified the captives as Agent Simmons and Agent Fitz after they recognized his Deathstroke armor.
• Su Ming revealed that he knew Simmons and Fitz had traveled to Tunguska in 1956 and threatened to report their unauthorized actions to Nick Fury.
• Fitz said they had an important mission in that era, while Simmons cited S.H.I.E.L.D.'s rules against revealing future information.
• Su Ming ordered Wong to take the agents to the London Sanctum as experiment subjects, and Wong said the next subject numbers would be 10087 and 10088.

Su Ming confronted the time-traveling S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Fitz and Jemma, learned why they had come to the past, and persuaded them to join him. The group headed deeper into the tunnels, where Su Ming planned to find Coulson and warned the pair not to fall into Leviathan’s hands.

• Fitz surrendered and explained that he and Jemma had traveled back using Pym Particles to find Gravitonium for their spacecraft.
• Jemma explained that the three monoliths were bound to them and would reappear if destroyed, while Su Ming claimed he was Captain Marvel’s father to startle the agents.
• Su Ming asked Wong to treat Fitz’s injured calf and warned that Gravitonium might have been drawn into Dormammu’s dimension.
• Su Ming told Fitz and Jemma that they must not be captured alive by Leviathan and offered them a choice between joining him and staying in the monster-filled tunnels.
• Fitz and Jemma agreed to follow Su Ming, and he led them deeper into the tunnels while joking that he might experiment on them if they caused trouble.

Su Ming led Fitz, Simmons, and Little Wong through the cave while tracking Zero Matter and searching for the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. After finding a chamber occupied by hundreds of armed enemies, he sent the others to shelter and charged into the gunfire alone.

• Su Ming ordered Fitz and Simmons to follow his lead and learned their earpieces worked only within about thirty meters of each other.
• Su Ming explained that Zero Matter was disrupting their communications and warned Fitz and Simmons to avoid contact with it.
• Su Ming detected scraping beyond a rock wall, cut through it, and revealed a large chamber occupied by armed fighters.
• The fighters opened fire, and Su Ming told Fitz and Simmons to stay hidden while he prepared to fight.
• Su Ming summoned tentacles to wield weapons and charged the hundreds of enemies, leaving Fitz and Simmons listening from their shelter.

Deathstroke explained that the smiling Leviathan soldiers had been partly transformed by Dark Matter into Dormammu’s “unformed cells,” and warned Fitz and Simmons that their minds were already treating the corpses as objects. As the group headed toward a deeper tunnel, a tremor began bringing down the cave, and Deathstroke suspected Daisy was trying to bury them alive.

• Fitz and Simmons examined the peaceful-looking Leviathan corpses and realized they felt no normal discomfort at seeing dead humans.
• Deathstroke identified the soldiers as people partly converted by Element Zero and Dark Matter, and warned that the infection could distort the mind and resist ordinary weapons.
• Deathstroke explained that the Inhumans might also have been affected and asked Little Wong to note his plan to capture one for research.
• Jemma questioned Deathstroke about his Symbiote and his claims that he could defeat Daisy, while Fitz imagined becoming more like Thor.
• A violent tremor shook the cave and sent rocks and dust falling, prompting Deathstroke to say they needed to talk Daisy out of burying them alive.

Su Ming and Wong led Fitz and Jemma through the underground tunnels toward Daisy and the S.H.I.E.L.D. team, preparing for a dangerous confrontation. They reached an Underground City where multiple factions were fighting and found Coulson’s group defending a central tower.

• Su Ming used Strangle to locate Daisy and assigned Wong to protect and evacuate the S.H.I.E.L.D. team if the situation turned dangerous.
• Su Ming warned Fitz and Jemma to cover their ears before the Cloak carried them into a vast Underground City.
• Su Ming spotted the S.H.I.E.L.D. team surrounded by Inhumans, Leviathan forces, and other factions amid a chaotic battle.
• Su Ming directed the Cloak to land behind cover beside Coulson, who recognized him and smiled.

Deathstroke bargained with Coulson for access to pieces of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s giant stones and Zephyr blueprints in exchange for helping the team survive the battle and pursue the Gravitonium. Coulson accepted the deal, and Deathstroke began planning their next moves with Daisy as the team remained trapped on the battlefield.

• Deathstroke joined Coulson behind cover while Mike and May held off enemies attacking the suspension bridge.
• Coulson asked Deathstroke to move his team somewhere safer, and Deathstroke demanded payment for his advice and help.
• Coulson agreed to provide a small scrap from each giant stone and access to the Zephyr's booster-engine blueprints.
• Deathstroke explained that the team needed to locate the Gravitonium, secure it, and plan their withdrawal.
• Daisy joined the discussion wearing armguards, took the soda Deathstroke offered, and drank it after a shockwave popped the cap.

Su Ming met up with Mockingbird and Yo-Yo after sending Fitz and Jemma to relieve the Cavalry, then traded jokes and future gossip with the agents. The conversation ended without the women uncovering his identity, while Coulson realized they had again ignored the dangers of the Trans-Temporal Displacement Protocol.

• Su Ming sent Fitz and Jemma to relieve the Cavalry and summon the decision-makers, then asked Coulson where Mockingbird and Yo-Yo were.
• Mockingbird and Yo-Yo returned, and Su Ming asked Mockingbird about Hawkeye and learned that he and Wade had caused a scandal in Las Vegas.
• Daisy, Mockingbird, and Yo-Yo questioned Su Ming about his family and romantic preferences, then joked that they would not date him because he might be old and scarred.
• Su Ming pretended to remove his mask but instead produced a watermelon, refusing to reveal his face and teasing the agents.
• Coulson noted that Mockingbird and Daisy had failed to uncover Su Ming's identity and had forgotten that he came from 1956 while discussing future events.

Su Ming’s butler Little Wong brought back a Vampire, revealing that Coulson’s team had been drawn into the global Underground War. As the squad waited for more intelligence, Su Ming explained the hidden layers and inhabitants of Earth’s underground world.

• Su Ming revealed that Little Wong had slipped away through a Teleportation Portal to investigate the unknown faction.
• Little Wong dropped a Vampire into the group, and Su Ming decapitated it and searched its corpse.
• Coulson identified the creature as a Vampire and told the squad that the Underground War pitted Vampires against subterranean races.
• Su Ming and Coulson explained that the war had lasted fifty years and that the underground world contained many connected layers beneath Earth’s surface.
• Su Ming burned the Vampire’s corpse, then told Daisy that stories of underground worlds and mythical beings could be real.
• Su Ming offered Coulson watermelon while the squad waited for Little Wong to return with more intelligence.

Su Ming and Coulson discussed the Vampire-led Underground War while S.H.I.E.L.D.'s team fought underground. Little Wong returned with a dead member of the last faction, and Daisy identified the group as Hydra.

• Coulson explained that Dracula had started the Underground War to control the dark world, while Su Ming privately recalled Dracula’s plan to distract the Vampire nobles by sending them against underground races.
• Su Ming considered the danger of biochemical weapons and the factions operating underground as the group ate watermelon during the firefight.
• Su Ming hoped the final faction would be Werewolves, but Little Wong returned carrying a corpse because he had failed to capture anyone alive.
• Coulson and Melinda recognized the emblem on the corpse, and Daisy identified the dead soldiers as Hydra.
• Bobbi noted that the Hydra members wore unfamiliar green uniforms, and Su Ming said he had never seen the outfit either.

Su Ming and Coulson investigated the fighting over Gravitonium and watched the factions clash from a safe spire. After the Hunters used a Psionic Power to freeze everyone’s perception, Su Ming sent Daisy to attack their stronghold, which began to collapse into the Abyss.

• Su Ming identified the likely factions holding Gravitonium as the Inhumans, Hydra, and the underground natives, while Coulson explained that S.H.I.E.L.D. needed it for spaceflight.
• Su Ming led the group through a portal to a remote spire, where the team rested and watched Hydra, vampires, and the Hunters fight.
• Su Ming chose to observe the battlefield until he could locate the Gravitonium and strike by surprise.
• The Hunters unleashed a Psionic Power that cut off everyone’s perception of the outside world.
• Su Ming told Daisy to block her ears and attack the Hunters’ stronghold with a shockwave, and Daisy’s strike shook the spire loose toward the Abyss.

Su Ming discovered that Gravitonium was embedded in the rock pillars supporting the underground buildings and began collecting it before it could fall into enemy hands. After breaking apart one floating complex and storing its Gravitonium, he told the team to bring down the next pillar.

• Fitz explained that Gravitonium could be activated with simple equipment and electricity as the fallen tower rose from the Abyss.
• Su Ming realized the Gravitonium was inside the rock pillars, and Coulson ordered Fitz to contact Zephyr One and prepare a plastic containment chamber.
• Su Ming offered to store the Gravitonium in his Silk Pouch, and Coulson agreed on the condition that he not use it before 2018.
• Su Ming ordered Daisy to strike the neighboring pillar, then flew into its floating buildings to collect the Gravitonium.
• Su Ming returned as the building complex collapsed, and his cloak tucked the silver mass of Gravitonium into his pouch.
• Su Ming told the team to bring down the next pillar.

Su Ming gathered most of the Gravitonium and stayed behind to draw the Inhumans and Hydra into a trap while the others evacuated. Hydra’s leaders, Hive and Viper, advanced toward the final pillar as Hive sensed a powerful energy sealed beneath the Abyss.

• Su Ming sent Daisy, Coulson, and the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Squad through Wong’s portal, then stayed behind to fight the underground creatures and lure their rivals toward the last pillar.
• Su Ming wondered where Element Zero was and waited in a house while Strangle held off the monsters with heavy machine guns.
• Hive and Viper led Hydra’s forces along the cavern paths toward the final spire, with mechanically enhanced soldiers clearing the way.
• Hive told Viper that he sensed powerful energy beneath the Abyss and believed the Gravitonium pillars were sealing it in.
• Viper reminded Hive that he had promised her thirty thousand test subjects and said she planned to test her drug on the Vampires in the caves.

Duke Tatus and his vampire nobles regrouped at the bottom of the sinkhole after their fall, while the Inhumans continued toward the final spire to collect Gravitonium. The Inhumans intended to use it to travel into the past and prevent Thanos from destroying their homeworld.

• The surviving vampires gathered around Duke Tatus, who learned that the sinkhole’s smooth walls offered no easy route back to the battlefield above.
• Duke Tatus waited for the two missing scouts while his nobles worried that most of their troops could not climb or fly out of the pit.
• The Inhumans advanced toward the final spire, planning to recover enough Gravitonium to build a Star Destroyer Bomb.
• The Inhumans recalled how Thanos had destroyed their homeworld and resolved to rewrite history by erasing Titan before his birth.

Su Ming ambushed Hive and Viper’s Hydra force on a narrow cavern path after discovering them heading toward the spire. Hive tried to recruit him to help find a way beyond the universe, but Su Ming refused, and the chapter ended with him killing Viper and challenging Hive to fight.

• Su Ming collected samples from the cavern while Strangle slaughtered the creatures at the doorway, then noticed Dark Matter gathering below.
• Su Ming spotted Hive and Viper leading Hydra soldiers across the opposite rock wall and attacked Hive, whose insect body re-formed after being decapitated.
• Hive revealed that he sought The Monolith as a way to reach higher-level universes and invited Su Ming to join him.
• Su Ming refused Hive’s offer and demanded that Hydra hand over the Gravitonium and retreat.
• Hive prepared to attack, but Su Ming used a flashbang and struck backward, killing Viper and her guards before turning to face Hive.

Deathstroke killed Viper and fought Hive, whose insect swarm tried to invade his body but was destroyed by the Symbiotes. Hive used his controlled Hydra soldiers and cyborgs to shield himself and absorb Gravitonium, leaving the battlefield glowing with silver light.

• Deathstroke used a flashbang to blind the minions and killed Viper and the guards around her with the Godslayer twin blades.
• Hive attacked Deathstroke with bands of insects and revealed that his swarm had already entered Deathstroke’s body.
• Strangle killed Hive’s insects inside Deathstroke, surprising Hive and foiling his attempt to reach Deathstroke’s brain.
• Deathstroke threw Incendiary Bombs at Hive, who used a strange cry to make Hydra soldiers shield him from the flames.
• Hive’s cyborg warriors exposed their metal bodies and retrieved Gravitonium, which Hive absorbed into his insect swarm.

Hive absorbed Gravitonium and gained limited control over gravity, but Su Ming used Strangle and the Cloak of Levitation to trap and devour his insect swarm. As Hive unleashed the last of his power, Coulson's team reached the surface, where Little Wong refused to tell Coulson about magic.

• Hive's insects absorbed Gravitonium, transforming him into a half-silver, half-yellow creature with anti-gravity powers.
• Su Ming destroyed the cyborg soldiers, then baited Hive into attacking with his new gravity beam and dodged it by opening a hole through his torso.
• Su Ming and the Cloak of Levitation sealed Hive inside a sphere, where Strangle devoured his insects and weakened his Gravitonium control.
• Hive unleashed his remaining Gravitonium in every direction as Strangle continued to consume his swarm.
• Little Wong escorted Coulson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. team to the surface and waited for Zephyr One to arrive.
• Coulson asked Little Wong about magic, but Little Wong turned his back and kept Kamar-Taj's secrets.

Coulson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. team escaped as the land above the Underground City blasted into the sky, while Wong sensed Dormammu’s power stirring. Su Ming survived Hive’s last gamble and prepared to stop Dormammu from exploiting a gap in Earth’s defenses.

• Coulson rejected Yo-Yo’s offer to uncover Deathstroke’s face, and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s extraction aircraft arrived.
• The ground erupted, sending the vast rock cover and Leviathan structure skyward and exposing the Underground City beneath.
• Wong sensed the Dark Matter gathering in the Abyss, teleported to Su Ming, and nearly fell off a cliff before Su Ming caught him.
• Su Ming explained that Strangle had devoured Hive and was expelling the Gravitonium it had swallowed.
• Su Ming told Wong to alert the Great Mages that Dormammu had breached the Defense Magic Circle, then set out to deal with the opening himself.

Su Ming tested the black clouds leading toward Dormammu’s Dark Dimension and jumped in after sending Wong to deliver Gravitonium to S.H.I.E.L.D. Meanwhile, Hive revived Viper and began planning his recovery with her.

• Su Ming told Wong to give the packaged Gravitonium to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Squad and bring pieces of the three Monoliths back to Kamar-Taj.
• Wong left through a Teleportation Portal, and Su Ming used Black Lantern Zombies to test how the black clouds absorbed bodies before jumping in himself.
• A hidden insect revived one of the Black Lantern Zombies, revealing Hive had survived by leaving insects throughout the area.
• Hive pieced Viper’s corpse together and revived her with insects.
• Hive and Viper discussed Deathstroke and their need for nutrition, and Viper asked whether he had brought any salt.

Madame Hydra abandoned her old identity and withdrew underground while Hive returned to the surface to pursue the Iron Bird. Meanwhile, Little Wong cut pieces from the Monoliths for the team before secretly teleporting away with the stones and Gravitonium.

• Madame Hydra told Hive she would retreat to India, assume a new identity, and preserve her place on the High Council.
• Hive revealed that he had learned what lay beneath the Abyss and planned to return to the surface after his insects spotted the Iron Bird.
• Fitz stayed behind a table while Little Wong used magic to cut palm-sized discs from the three Monoliths, and the team recalled how Fitz had saved them from the Monolith’s effects before.
• Daisy and Bobbi joked and played while Coulson and Melinda awkwardly avoided addressing their feelings and Coulson’s confession to a Melinda LMD.
• Little Wong collected the stone discs and the bag of Gravitonium, opened a Teleportation Portal, and vanished without anyone noticing.

Hive boarded the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft and used his mind control and mind-reading abilities to investigate the agents and learn about the Inhumans. After discovering that one of three Monoliths could lead beyond the universe, he approached the display cases to identify it.

• Coulson ordered the aircraft into emergency combat status after an intruder breached the corridor and damaged an engine conduit.
• Hive forced open the laboratory door, immobilized the agents, and questioned Coulson about the organization’s ties to the SSR.
• Hive searched the agents’ thoughts, found Hydra’s Leopold personality untrustworthy, and became interested in Daisy’s Inhuman abilities.
• Daisy stalled Hive by telling him she was an Inhuman while trying to break free of his mind control.
• Mike rushed in and fired slug rounds at Hive, but Hive absorbed the bullets and froze Mike and the agents outside the door.
• Hive read Mike’s mind and learned that one of the three Monoliths in the display cases was the ladder beyond the universe.