Chapter Summaries

Fury left the ruined bridge after claiming Deathstroke belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D., while Dr. Trask questioned whether Deathstroke was a Mutant and General Rose prepared to use the battle for military propaganda. At Kamar-Taj, Su Ming hosted the Asgardians for another drinking session, and the drunken guests were sent back to Asgard by the Bifrost.

• Fury told Rose that Deathstroke was an ordinary human, then departed with the Howling Commandos by helicopter.
• Dr. Trask released Fury's coat and rushed to recover and upgrade his Sentinel Robots.
• General Rose arranged treatment for the wounded and prepared to take reporters onto the bridge to publicize the military's losses and victory.
• Su Ming hosted Thor, Loki, Sif, and the Warriors Three at Kamar-Taj, where he urged them to eat and drink again.
• Little Wong filled the Asgardians' bowls with liquor, and two hours later the Bifrost carried the drunken guests back to Asgard.
• A black Raven watched the departure, exchanged a look with Deathstroke, and flew away.

Su Ming met Odin privately at Kamar-Taj and learned that Ragnarök was tied to the World Tree’s cycle of withering and renewal. Odin revealed Yggdrasil’s origins and suggested he was willing to let Su Ming try to end the cycle, provided the universe survived.

• Su Ming summoned Odin to Kamar-Taj, and they isolated the sanctuary from outside observation before speaking privately.
• While fishing, Odin said his body could last at most fifty more years and explained that Hela would have to choose between triggering Ragnarök or letting Asgard and the universe slowly perish.
• Odin explained that Ragnarök reflected the World Tree’s cycle: when Yggdrasil withered or burned, the Nine Realms and their inhabitants faced the same fate.
• Odin revealed that Yggdrasil was an ancient plant Elder God whose growth had created the Nine Realms, while Earth was the exception to their cycle.
• Odin said he had learned Yggdrasil’s identity during the second Godswar, and Su Ming inferred that Odin might let him attempt to end Ragnarök if the universe could be preserved.

Su Ming told Odin where The Serpent was hiding and urged him to consider sacrificing a son, but Odin chose to confront his brother himself. After discussing the People in the Shadows with Gin, Su Ming went to the Great Library and arranged for the Nameless Ones to absorb Monark’s spellcasting costs despite Hamill’s objections.

• Su Ming told Odin that The Serpent was beneath the Indian Ocean and suggested sacrificing one of Odin’s sons to change Ragnarök, but Odin refused and went to speak with his brother.
• Odin thanked Su Ming for looking after his children and left to find The Serpent, while Su Ming stayed behind and discussed Odin’s condition and the People in the Shadows with Gin.
• Su Ming decided to visit Hamill at the Great Library instead of Fury and found Monark asleep in a modified massage chair.
• Hamill told Su Ming that Monark’s aging had accelerated and admitted he had given him a bottle of sleeping pills.
• Su Ming ordered Hamill to take Monark to the temple so the Nameless Ones could absorb his spellcasting costs, despite Hamill warning that it broke Kamar-Taj’s rules.

Monark woke from Deathstroke’s prank with his body strangely healed after the massage chair’s extreme setting. After lunch, Su Ming took Monark and Kaecilius to Antarctica to locate the entrance to the Savage Land, where Monark found a likely rift.

• Monark woke to find Deathstroke had set the massage chair to its Creator God-level setting.
• Monark realized his abdominal fluid had disappeared and decided to return to use the chair.
• Su Ming, Monark, and Kaecilius traveled through a golden portal to Antarctica.
• Su Ming explained that they needed Monark to find the Savage Land’s entrance because Druid Master could not be contacted.
• Monark used a rabbit and a spell to locate an unstable spatial rift and pointed the group toward it.

Su Ming explained the Savage Land’s origins and dangers to Monark and Kaecilius before leading them inside. Monark was immediately trapped by carnivorous plants, and Su Ming rescued him as their exploration began.

• Su Ming told Monark and Kaecilius that the Savage Land was an artificial preserve built by the Nuwali for the Beyonders, later transformed by the Fortisquians’ experiments.
• Su Ming recounted how Earth’s powers drove the Fortisquians away, while later Shi’ar and human expeditions failed to conquer the Savage Land.
• Monark insisted he was ready to enter and catch a dragon, so Su Ming let him cross the boundary first.
• Monark vanished into the Savage Land, and Su Ming and Kaecilius followed through the unstable dimensional entrance.
• Su Ming found Monark wrapped in vines beneath a toothy flower, then cut the plants apart and freed him.

Su Ming, Monark, and Kaecilius searched the Savage Land rainforest for water and a Savage settlement, hoping to find a guide. Elsewhere, Druid and his Monster Hunters squad remained trapped after years in the dimension, recovering from a battle with the Savages.

• Su Ming rescued Monark from a fire-resistant plant creature and warned him that familiar assumptions could be deadly in the former Alien testing ground.
• Su Ming marked their location and decided to follow a water source to find Savages who could guide them to treasure.
• Su Ming used Strangle and Little Sprout to lead the group through the rainforest while reminding Monark to try contacting Druid Master.
• Druid prepared a lizard for the injured Monster Hunters squad in their cave, where Makkari, Namora, Zavadi, and Ulysses Bloodstone sheltered.
• Druid recalled that Ulysses had recruited him to explore the Lost World years earlier, and that their expedition had become trapped after discovering the dimension blocked spatial magic.

Zavadi, Druid, Ulysses, and the dehydrated Namora struggled to survive in the Savage Land while Makkari remained unconscious from his injuries. As Druid sensed a magical communication reaching them, a flamboyantly dressed man appeared through his Projection Magic.

• Zavadi prepared the lizard Druid had caught and helped the injured survivors keep watch and eat.
• Ulysses reassured Druid that the meager meal was enough, while Namora suffered from dehydration and refused more food.
• The chapter recounted how Namora had joined Ulysses's expedition after Jimmy Woo and Nick Fury arranged for her to act as an insider.
• Makkari remained unconscious after a dinosaur's Cosmic Energy pierced his chest, and the Savage Land continued to suppress his unstable speed.
• Druid detected Magic Communication, cast Projection Magic, and saw a flamboyantly dressed middle-aged man with a mustache.

Deathstroke and Monark reached the Monster Hunters and offered to take them home, but Deathstroke chose to stay in the Savage Land to search for its treasures. The team’s members each had reasons to continue their mission, leaving the group poised to explore further.

• Druid contacted Monark, and Deathstroke reassured the stranded Monster Hunters that he could get them out of the Savage Land.
• Deathstroke, Monark, and Little Ka used the river and cave as landmarks to find and reunite with the Monster Hunters.
• Deathstroke offered to send the Monster Hunters home but said he would remain in the Savage Land to search for treasures.
• Ulysses wanted to continue exploring rather than abandon his contract, while Zavadi sought Vibranium for Wakanda, Namora was assigned to monitor Ulysses, and Makkari searched for Fortisquian technology to cure his degeneration.
• Deathstroke considered obtaining Antarctic Vibranium and Anti-Vibranium for research and possible trade with Wakanda.

Su Ming reorganized the Monster Hunters and arranged treatment for their injured members while laying out plans to exploit the Savage Land’s resources. The remaining team members agreed to stay, and Su Ming opened negotiations by promising access to the treasures they wanted most.

• Ulysses and Zavadi refused to leave the Savage Land, while Su Ming assigned Druid to work as a S.H.I.E.L.D. consultant and investigate the Darkhold.
• Kaecilius took over Druid’s place on the team, and Cloak whisked Druid away to begin his new assignment.
• Su Ming arranged for Cloak to take the badly wounded Makkari to the London Sanctum Sanctorum for treatment after Zavadi and Ulysses agreed.
• Namora woke and bathed in a cave pool that Su Ming and Monark prepared, while the others ate around the fire.
• Su Ming explained that the team could transport discoveries out through a fixed portal and revealed that he could help Ulysses find gold and lost technology and Zavadi find Vibranium.
• Su Ming began negotiating terms with the interested Ulysses and Zavadi.

Deathstroke negotiated terms with Ulysses and Zavadi, secured Namora’s help with a promise of a house and car, and prepared to hunt Savage. Meanwhile, Fury was badly wounded and trapped in a New York safehouse as his wife Valentina confronted him outside the door.

• Deathstroke arranged for Ulysses’s daughter Elsa Bloodstone to train at Kamar-Taj and made a deal with Zavadi for access to Wakanda and Antarctic Vibranium.
• Deathstroke planned to claim the Savage Land’s resources and told Namora she could choose a house and car in exchange for helping with the treasure hunt.
• Namora accepted the offer, and Deathstroke promised to take her to get revenge on Savage after she ate.
• Fury, severely injured in a New York safehouse, injected himself with morphine and tried to stall until Black Widow arrived.
• Valentina urged Fury to open the door, then revealed her resentment of him and handled a test tube filled with green liquid.

Nick Fury discovered that his wife Valentina was a Hydra agent, and their confrontation left him wounded and fleeing to a safehouse. Natasha rescued him, and he asked her to take him to Howard because he no longer trusted anyone else.

• Fury saw Valentina exchange a Hydra greeting with a courier and confronted her, prompting the courier to shoot him.
• Valentina pursued Fury after he escaped, and he crashed his car, killed the courier, and reached a safehouse.
• Fury sealed himself inside the safehouse and contacted Natasha while Valentina searched for a way to get in.
• Natasha arrived after Valentina fled, treated Fury’s wounds, and helped him leave by helicopter.
• Fury told Natasha to take him to Howard because she was the only person he trusted.

Natasha brought an injured Fury to Howard’s home, where Fury unexpectedly asked to be tonsured before fainting. In the Savage Land, Su Ming led the Monster Hunters to a Savage tribe and launched an attack with smoke bombs.

• Natasha flew Fury to Howard’s home, and Fury asked Howard to find him a trustworthy barber so he could take the tonsure.
• Natasha left after dumping Fury on Howard, and Jarvis carried the unconscious Fury inside dressed as a medic.
• Su Ming explained his plan to capture Savage slaves, obtain a map, and expand his control while leading the Monster Hunters through the rainforest.
• Ulysses followed tracks along the river to a Savage settlement, and Su Ming judged the tribe’s defenses weak and its numbers insufficient for his plan.
• Su Ming sent colored smoke bombs into the settlement and charged into the smoke with Godslayer.

Deathstroke wiped out an entire Savage Horde in under a minute, then joined Monark and Kaecilius to inspect the weapons the Savages had collected. The group split up to search the settlement, and Su Ming examined a strange blue sphere taken from an advanced firearm.

• Monark told Namora that Deathstroke was powerful enough to defeat the Savages, and she said she wanted to become strong so she could help her cousin Namor.
• Deathstroke emerged from the smoke after killing every member of the Horde, leaving no survivors and no blood on his armor.
• Su Ming told Ulysses, Zavadi, and Namora to search the huts while he, Monark, and Kaecilius examined the Savages' weapons.
• Kaecilius removed a cold, glowing blue sphere from a high-tech firearm and handed it to Su Ming, who tested whether Cloak would eat it.

Su Ming and the others faced a coordinated pack of dinosaur-like predators in the Savage Land, and Monark froze the attackers approaching from the riverbank. Su Ming identified their hidden leader and shot it, leaving the group poised to escape the pack.

• Su Ming recognized Cosmic Energy in the weapons found at the settlement and packed the rifles for Adjutant to study.
• Golden eyes appeared in the rainforest, and the group prepared for an attack while Kaecilius summoned a serpent into the woods.
• Su Ming spotted dinosaur-like hunters sneaking up from the riverbank, and Monark killed them with an Ice Storm.
• The Monster Hunters joined the Mages, and Su Ming explained that the pack would keep pursuing them until its leader was dead.
• Su Ming found the leader hiding by the river and shot it with his God Metal Gauss rifle.

Deathstroke used the Black Lantern Ring to raise the fallen Savages as undead servants and led the Monster Hunters toward another Horde in the Savage Land. The group entered the rainforest at dusk, guarded by the zombie army.

• Ulysses found a small fossil, and Deathstroke offered to connect him with the Metropolitan Museum in New York; Zavadi and Namora found nothing especially valuable.
• Deathstroke announced that they would seek a larger Horde and used the Black Lantern Ring to restore the dead Savages as obedient zombies.
• Namora questioned whether enslaving the dead was cruel, and Deathstroke defended the practice as useful magic.
• Deathstroke asked the zombies where to find another Horde, and they pointed toward the jungle in the direction of the sunrise.
• Monark argued that they could travel at night with enough light, and Deathstroke led the group and zombie army into the rainforest while joking about Fortisquian experiments.

Su Ming’s group reached a larger cannibal horde and used Mustard Gas to kill its inhabitants before searching the camp. Deathstroke expanded his undead army, and Su Ming found a crude statue of the Old Ones, suggesting that what he sought was nearby.

• Su Ming’s group reached a walled horde where savages were roasting humanoid creatures around a bonfire.
• Su Ming sent the Cloak of Levitation to Dotty for Mustard Gas grenades, then strapped the grenades to living corpses and sent them into the camp.
• After the gas dispersed, Su Ming’s group entered the camp wearing gas masks and searched its houses.
• Deathstroke revived the corpses to expand his undead army, while the group found a few golden Laser Guns.
• Monark identified a crude octopus-like statue as a possible sign of the Old Ones, and Su Ming destroyed it, concluding that his quarry was close.

Howard kept Fury’s injuries and S.H.I.E.L.D. troubles hidden from young Tony, while Fury planned to enlist Deathstroke’s help in finding Valentina. Tony discovered Fury disguised as a mummy and demanded Howard’s nuclear reactor, but Howard refused and sent him away.

• Howard rejected Fury’s offer to handle the Valentina case alone and warned him that Deathstroke might demand a steep price for help.
• Fury insisted he could stay calm and asked Howard for the contact information on Deathstroke’s business card.
• When Tony called for Howard, Howard wrapped Fury in sheets and stood him in a corner to hide him.
• Tony showed Howard his camera-equipped mechanical mouse, which he planned to send through the sewers to investigate what had happened there.
• Tony mistook Fury for a mummy and tried to bargain for Howard’s nuclear reactor so he could miniaturize it for his mouse.
• Howard refused to give Tony the reactor, and Tony stormed out, threatening to build one himself.

Howard refused to send Tony to Loyalty Academy or involve him in S.H.I.E.L.D., while Fury arranged for Dugan and the Howling Commandos to rescue him. After waiting until dark, the team escorted the wounded Fury to his former home to retrieve supplies.

• Fury warned Howard that Tony might have dissected living people, then asked him for Deathstroke's business card.
• Howard rejected Fury's suggestions of Loyalty Academy and S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, saying he planned to send Tony to school in Los Angeles instead.
• Fury revealed that a device in his heart had alerted Dugan and the Howling Commandos when his heartbeat fell below a set rate.
• Fury met Dugan and the Howling Commandos, and Dugan said he did not blame Fury for Valentina choosing him before Hydra's trap was revealed.
• The team waited in a boathouse until dark, where Zombie bandaged Fury, then escorted him to his former home.

Fury withdrew to the Dam Safehouse after Valentina’s betrayal, leaving Dugan in charge of field operations while LMD development continued. In the Savage Land, Su Ming studied an Ancient God Bat Totem and explained that he sought a Spider Totem as a possible route into the multiverse.

• Fury spent the night grieving over his wedding photo with Valentina, then ordered Dugan to take him to the Dam Safehouse and temporarily run field operations.
• Dugan accepted Fury’s orders and woke the Howling Commandos so they could return to work.
• In the Savage Land, Su Ming examined a Bat Totem with Monark and explained that the undead army had grown to tens of thousands after tribes were wiped out.
• Su Ming described the Beast-Gods and their totems, saying that the Bat-God’s chosen person was in Attilan and that he wanted to find the Spider Totem.
• Su Ming explained that Spider Totems formed a multiversal network that might let them travel between worlds, leaving Monark stunned by the possibility.

Su Ming explained the Spider Totem network and considered how it might help him travel between Parallel Universes with companions. He then resumed the Savage Land expedition, setting his living dead to carry the group as they continued their search and planned to clear the region for Kamar-Taj.

• Su Ming described how Spider Totems and their roles connected Spider-Men through the Web of Life and Destiny, while Deathstroke hoped to use it as a route between Parallel Universes.
• Monark worried about multiversal matters, and Su Ming speculated about the Bat-God, Chthon, and whether concepts were bound to a fixed level.
• Su Ming and Monark discussed the Vishanti, Hoggoth, and the challenge of coordinating Kamar-Taj across countless Parallel Worlds.
• Su Ming called the group back to the expedition, listing the Savage Land's remaining threats, technology, magical items, Vibranium, and Fortisquian ruins as targets.
• Deathstroke's living dead built six crude sedan chairs, and he seated the group in them before ordering the bearers to lift and carry them onward.