Chapter Summaries

Fury persuaded Steve and Bucky to protect Doctor Pym, claiming S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new director was purging the agency and targeting scientists’ inventions and estates. After recovering Steve’s shield and giving Bucky new gear, the two found the Pym couple and watched over them, remaining wary as they waited for news about Red Skull.

• Fury told Steve and Bucky that S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new director was seizing scientists’ inventions, targeting Howard’s estate, and had tried to arrange Doctor Pym’s death.
• Steve agreed to protect Pym and asked Fury to help find Red Skull.
• Fury took Steve and Bucky to Safehouse 77, where Steve reclaimed his shield and Bucky received a new Howling Commandos-style outfit.
• Steve and Bucky followed the Pym couple through New York and then secretly watched their home overnight.
• Bucky worried about Red Skull and the Pyms’ suspiciously quiet situation, while Steve urged vigilance and asked Bucky to bring him hamburgers.

Fury used Coulson to secretly exchange files from the director’s office, then recruited Black Widow to help frame the new director. As Fury drove toward their rendezvous, two fiery objects fell from the sky, an unexpected sight he noted before continuing his plan.

• Fury sent Coulson to secretly place one top-secret file in the director’s safe and retrieve another, giving him Captain America cards as a reward.
• Fury destroyed the retrieved documents and reset the traps in his office.
• Fury called Natasha and offered her a year-long spa membership to help stage an attack that would implicate the new director.
• Fury evaded anyone following him by circling the city and switching cars on his way to meet Natasha.
• Two meteor-like objects streaked down in different directions, and Fury noted them before continuing toward the rendezvous.

While on vacation with Gin, Su Ming spotted two spacecraft crashing onto Earth and went to investigate the western crash site, where he found Jason, the king of Sparta Star. Jason explained that a collision during his attempt to rescue a Kree woman had brought them both down, and Su Ming agreed to discuss buying Sparta’s fighters.

• Su Ming and Gin saw two spacecraft collide and crash toward Earth, so he headed west while Gin stayed behind to help Magik heal her sisters.
• Su Ming found Jason injured in the wreckage of a fighter and learned that Jason had flown to Earth to visit him and present Sparta’s new spacecraft.
• Jason offered to trade the fighters for raw materials and technology, and Su Ming agreed to leave the details to their representatives.
• Jason revealed that he had diverted to rescue someone from a Kree escape pod after seeing a Skrull warship explode near the Solar System.
• Jason told Su Ming that a White Kree woman had fallen to Earth with him, and Su Ming asked whether she had a square face.

After Deathstroke left the injured Jason Spartacus on Earth, Meredith Quill rescued him and took him to her farm in Colorado. Jason revealed he was an alien and the King of Spartacus, while Meredith decided to care for him and help repair his fighter.

• Su Ming left Jason Spartacus beside his crashed fighter with cash and departed, leaving Jason to wait for help.
• Meredith Quill found Jason in her field, took the cash as compensation, and brought him home on her tractor.
• Jason woke with his limbs splinted as Meredith questioned him and mistook him for a secret-project pilot.
• Meredith grew suspicious, and Jason admitted that he was an alien from another world.
• Jason told Meredith he was the King of Spartacus, and she continued feeding him and promised to help repair his fighter.

After finding the crashed escape pod, Su Ming searched New York for the White Kree who had fallen from it. He located Ms. Marvel in a video store and learned she had gone into a nearby electronics store.

• Su Ming flew to New York to search for the White Kree and recovered the sunken escape pod from Yonkers Mountain Reservoir.
• Su Ming compressed the damaged pod into a metal sphere and continued searching for the Kree.
• Su Ming found a human-shaped hole in a Blockbuster Video and questioned the frightened guard, John.
• John told Su Ming that the woman in sparkling green clothes had entered the electronics store next door and had not come back out.
• Su Ming gave John money to clean his car and headed toward the electronics store.

Carol returned to Earth and met Deathstroke while struggling to use a brick phone. After he explained that Project Pegasus had been shut down, she decided to investigate it in person, and Deathstroke agreed to accompany her.

• Carol crushed her Kree communicator and tried to figure out how to use the phones at an electronics store.
• Deathstroke appeared, gave Carol a prepaid phone card, and told her that her mother had known him.
• Carol explained that she had returned from Hala to investigate her friend Mar-Vell’s death and needed to contact Project Pegasus.
• Deathstroke told Carol that Project Pegasus had been shut down, and every number she called was disconnected.
• Carol prepared to fly to Project Pegasus, but Deathstroke warned her not to travel in her Kree uniform and suggested they find a disguise.

Su Ming helped Carol create a masked Ms. Marvel costume from Cosmic Energy before they flew to the abandoned Project Pegasus base in Nevada. After Carol tore open the sealed gate, Su Ming found bones inside and warned her that the base’s occupants had been left to die.

• Su Ming guided Carol through designing a black mask, gloves, boots, swimsuit, yellow lightning bolt, and red belt, completing a temporary Ms. Marvel uniform.
• Su Ming paid for the damage and tapes Carol had taken before following her toward Nevada.
• Carol found Project Pegasus sealed and abandoned, then tore open its massive blast door after her old access code failed.
• Su Ming sensed living creatures inside and entered the base cautiously with Godslayer.
• Su Ming pointed out the bones and Pegasus uniforms near the entrance, questioning why the evacuated staff had left test subjects behind without oxygen.

Su Ming investigated a sealed base with Carol, who mourned the dead soldiers before collapsing from the lack of oxygen. As he waited for her to recover and hunted for the hidden creature, he learned that extraterrestrials and Kree forces were approaching Earth, while Natasha reported other developments involving Steve, Bucky, Pym, and Fury.

• Carol searched the base’s skeletal remains for dog tags while Su Ming sealed the heavy doors and reasoned that a biological leak had caused the base to be closed.
• Carol collapsed from oxygen deprivation, so Su Ming opened the door to let air in and used Strangle’s tentacles to sense movement in the base.
• Master White informed Su Ming that an extraterrestrial race had entered Earth’s defenses and was dispersing.
• Kaecilius reported that an elite Kree group had landed in Antarctica and was heading toward North America, and Su Ming said he would deal with them.
• Natasha told Su Ming that Steve and Bucky had returned to the United States, Pym had left S.H.I.E.L.D., and Fury had made his move.

Carol was trapped in the Supreme Intelligence’s virtual mental space, where it used Mar-Vell’s appearance to approach her. After remembering Mar-Vell’s death and the events that led to it, Carol rejected the imitation and attacked the Supreme Intelligence.

• The Supreme Intelligence drew Carol’s mind into a virtual world and appeared as Mar-Vell.
• Carol remembered how Mar-Vell had rebelled against the Supreme Intelligence, protected Earth, and died after saving her from the Psyche-Magnetron’s explosion.
• Carol realized that the Mar-Vell before her was an imitation and blasted it with Cosmic Energy.
• The Supreme Intelligence survived Carol’s first attack and questioned why she resented Mar-Vell’s appearance.
• Carol demanded that the Supreme Intelligence give Mar-Vell back, then unleashed a powerful attack that made its Mar-Vell form explode.

The Supreme Intelligence trapped Carol in a mental space and tormented her with the faces of her dead loved ones. Su Ming severed its psychic connection with Tenth Metal, freeing Carol, but she resisted his warning and tried to remove the metal.

• The Supreme Intelligence repeatedly appeared as Helen, Doctor Lawson, and Michael to wear down Carol and make her listen.
• Su Ming recognized that Carol was under psychic attack and pressed a Tenth Metal sheet to the back of her neck.
• The severed connection jolted Carol awake, and she flew around the base before crashing to the ground.
• Carol calmed down when Deathstroke warned her not to remove the metal, but she insisted she was fine and reached for it.
• Su Ming slapped Carol's hand away, and she was surprised that his strength could hurt her.

Su Ming questioned Carol after she recovered, and she identified the aliens targeting Project Pegasus as the Brood, who wanted the Kree Crystal beneath the facility. He recognized the threat and considered how to deal with the Brood's return to Earth.

• Deathstroke threatened to visit Carol's mother unless Carol answered his questions, and Carol tried to attack him before dizziness forced her to stop.
• Deathstroke explained that he had learned about Carol through human intelligence methods and repeated his threat when she doubted his intentions.
• Carol reflected on her emotional weakness, drank some water, and agreed to answer Deathstroke's questions.
• Carol told Deathstroke that the Brood were interested in seizing the Kree Crystal underground at Project Pegasus.
• Su Ming recalled the Brood's past invasions and Project Pegasus's history, then concluded that handling their return would be easy.

Su Ming explained the dangers and tactics of the Marvel Universe’s three major Zerg species while Strangle protested his comparison of it to creatures that never defecated. He questioned Carol about the Kree pursuers and the location of Kree Crystal supplies, leaving her claim that she did not know clearly exposed as a lie.

• Su Ming described the Annihilation Swarm, Extermination Swarm, and Brood, comparing their numbers, abilities, and methods of attack.
• Strangle objected when Su Ming thought of it as something that only ate, and Su Ming placated it.
• Su Ming asked Carol who had come to Earth after her, and Carol named the Judgment Squad under Korath or the Executioner team.
• Su Ming gave Carol a hamburger and asked where the Kree Crystal stockpiles and manufacturing methods were kept.
• Carol claimed she did not know, then wondered aloud whether she should visit Mary.
• Deathstroke reasoned that Carol had served as Project Pegasus’s security chief and knew the crystals’ location, and that the abandoned facility’s stockpiles had probably not been moved.

Deathstroke forced Carol to reveal where the Kree Crystal was stored, then led her into the base to retrieve it. He took the crystal despite its dangerous radiation, leaving Carol stunned as he emptied the storage room.

• Carol revealed that the Kree Crystal and related materials were on Basement Level Seventeen, Section B after Deathstroke demonstrated his knowledge of her family.
• Carol speculated that Deathstroke was her real father, but he denied it and told her that her family history was something she should ask Mary about.
• Deathstroke dropped down the disabled elevator shaft with Carol and explained that three siblings with activated X-Genes were extremely unlikely to have two ordinary parents.
• Carol warned Deathstroke that the Kree Crystal emitted deadly radiation and brought him protective gear, but he ignored it and cut through the storage protections.
• Deathstroke broke open the container and used his waist pouch to take the Kree Crystal stock, emptying the room in seconds.

Su Ming searched the abandoned Project Pegasus base for crystal manufacturing records while arguing that Carol had no claim to protect military property. He convinced her that joining the Kree meant she no longer counted as an Earthling, then left her questioning what it would take to regain her status as human.

• Su Ming asked Carol to find the crystal manufacturing records, and she worried that a monster remained loose in the base.
• Su Ming argued that the military had left the base abandoned by choice and took its crystals and computer files.
• Su Ming told Carol that she was still a Kree soldier and no longer an Earthling, and Carol accepted that she had defected to Earth's enemy.
• Cloak consumed a crystal while Su Ming continued searching the computers.
• Carol asked whether killing the escaped creature would help restore her standing, and Su Ming said it would only matter if people saw her do it.
• Su Ming told Carol that he was not a hero and that everyone performed for different audiences.

At Pegasus Base, Deathstroke and Carol found the escaped creature: an orange Flerken, which Carol adopted and took home. They flew to Echo Island to check on Carol’s family, while the chapter ended with townspeople in Mrs. Li’s Diner staring in shock at someone entering.

• Deathstroke convinced Carol that Hala was like a prison and warned her that the Kree might threaten her family after the Supreme Intelligence read her memories.
• Carol found an orange cat outside Pegasus Base, adopted it, and flew home with Deathstroke, unaware that it was the escaped Flerken.
• Deathstroke recognized the Flerken and warned it not to breed, while Carol promised to have it neutered.
• At Mrs. Li’s Diner on Echo Island, Old Charlie and the other patrons stared at someone entering, and Charlie struggled to describe the shocking sight.

Su Ming and Carol waited for the Kree pursuers at a diner on Echo Island, where Deathstroke’s presence terrified the customers. Carol revealed her identity to reassure the townspeople, while the Orange Cat considered whether following Su Ming might be better than staying with her.

• Carol refused to go to her childhood home and suggested that she and Su Ming wait for the pursuers at Mrs. Li's Diner.
• Su Ming ordered breakfast and frightened the diner’s customers while complaining about the news and changing the television channel.
• Carol revealed that she was Carol Danvers and promised to protect the townspeople from Deathstroke.
• Carol reassured the locals as they questioned her, while the Orange Cat weighed whether to follow Su Ming instead of Carol.
• Strangle emerged and argued with the Flerken, then persuaded it to stay with Carol by offering to teach it how to trick her.

Carol returned to her hometown and learned that her younger brother had been in a vegetative state since a car accident after she was reported missing. She asked Su Ming to save him, and he said he could but demanded something in exchange.

• Carol chose to reveal her identity to people in her hometown, though she planned to wear a mask when fighting criminals.
• Carol and Su Ming ate at the bar while the Orange Cat guarded its share of the pie.
• Mrs. Li recognized Carol and told her that her mother, Mary, had refused to believe she was dead.
• Mrs. Li explained that Carol's younger brother, Little Joe, had crashed his car into the sea after hearing Carol was missing and had remained unconscious ever since.
• Carol asked Su Ming to wake Little Joe, and he agreed to help if she offered something in exchange.

Deathstroke bargained with Carol to help her brother, Little Joe, in exchange for three favors, then revealed a handsome face to draw Nick Fury into the restaurant. Fury confronted him and realized Deathstroke knew about Valentina’s defection.

• Carol struggled to think of what she could offer Deathstroke, so Mrs. Li wrongly assumed he wanted Carol’s body.
• Deathstroke said Carol would owe him three favors for waking Little Joe, treating his aftereffects, and giving him superpowers.
• Deathstroke claimed he could make Little Joe handsome, then revealed a face resembling Bruce Wayne and stunned Carol and Mrs. Li.
• Nick Fury and Wilson arrived, and Fury ordered the restaurant cleared so he could speak with Deathstroke.
• Fury joked with Deathstroke over coffee, then recognized that his knowledge of Valentina’s defection confirmed his formidable intelligence.

Deathstroke negotiated with Nick Fury over information about Valentina, whom Fury wanted to bring back, and sold him her location and a plan for one million dollars. After Deathstroke warned Fury about Madripoor and hinted that Coulson was behaving suspiciously, he left with Carol, while Fury prepared to investigate.

• Fury asked Deathstroke to find Valentina, and Deathstroke offered her location and a plan to restrain her in exchange for payment.
• Fury offered S.H.I.E.L.D. protection for Carol, but Deathstroke’s age and relationship with Mrs. Li convinced Fury that Carol was not a useful bargaining chip.
• Fury agreed to pay one million dollars and wrote a three-million-dollar receipt, while Deathstroke gave him Valentina’s location in Madripoor and warned him that it was Hydra territory.
• Deathstroke left with Carol after telling Fury to consider how unusually quiet Coulson had been.
• Fury asked Coulson whether he had lost his card, then retrieved the oversized pager and pressed a hidden button before they headed to the Quinjet.

Nick Fury exposed the fake Coulson as a Skrull and killed it aboard the Quinjet, using intelligence Howard had attributed to Deathstroke. As Fury and Melinda prepared to dispose of the body, someone knocked on the cabin door.

• Fury revealed the Quinjet and flew with Melinda and the supposed Coulson, then trapped Coulson inside an isolation pod.
• Fury tested the captive and identified it as an inhuman impostor after it broke a reinforced seatbelt.
• Fury used smoke and Hydra poison gas to force the impostor to reveal its Skrull form, then shot it dead.
• Fury told Melinda that the real Coulson was likely alive in a container and explained that Howard had passed him Deathstroke's intelligence.
• Fury and Melinda prepared to bag the Skrull corpse, but someone knocked on the cabin door.