Chapter Summaries

Lynn, a Hydra plant in S.H.I.E.L.D., was ordered by Crossbones and Alexander Pierce to join a doomed mission in Sokovia. He activated his death-simulation system and chose Wanda Maximoff as his target just as the simulation began.

• Crossbones ordered Lynn to report to Alexander Pierce, who assigned him to recover Hydra assets in Sokovia.
• Lynn realized the mission was a cover for a purge and that he was being sent into danger during the Battle of Sokovia.
• Lynn examined the simulator, which rewarded him for dying dramatically for a tragic-fate character and transferred his simulated memories and emotions to that person.
• Lynn selected Wanda Maximoff as his simulation target and loaded the Battle of Sokovia scenario.
• Crossbones called Lynn to assemble, and the simulator engulfed him in white light.

S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Lynn reached the decisive moment in Sokovia and sacrificed himself to save Hawkeye, a child, and Quicksilver from the Quinjet’s gunfire. Wanda caught Lynn as he fell and unleashed her power against the Ultron robots.

• Lynn learned that his mission was to die for Wanda Maximoff in a way that would leave a deep mark on her heart.
• Lynn left cover and crossed the battlefield toward Wanda as Ultron’s forces attacked Sokovia.
• Lynn saw Quicksilver rush to protect Hawkeye and a child just as the Quinjet opened fire.
• Lynn knocked Quicksilver out of the line of fire and took the bullets and laser blast himself.
• Wanda caught the dying Lynn and destroyed every Ultron robot in the square.

Lynn completed the simulation by dying in Wanda’s arms, earning Chaos Magic and other SSS-rank rewards. In the real world, Wanda’s memories triggered a scarlet storm over S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, and Lynn realized she had come looking for him.

• Lynn died after saving Pietro, and Wanda erupted in a massive Chaos Magic storm that erased Ultron Robots and warped reality.
• Wanda tried to revive Lynn with Chaos Magic, but his soul had already dissipated.
• The system awarded Lynn beginner Chaos Magic, a growth-capable chaos energy affinity, and Wanda’s Protection before returning him to the real world.
• Lynn woke unharmed aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet bound for Sokovia and discovered Chaos Magic flowing through him.
• A scarlet storm formed over the Triskelion, and the system explained that the real Wanda had received the simulation’s memories and was near a breakdown.
• Lynn realized Wanda had come looking for him.

Wanda Maximoff’s memories of Lynn awakened, and her grief unleashed devastating Chaos Magic that tore open a portal to Washington, D.C. She reached the Triskelion and found Lynn, leaving S.H.I.E.L.D.’s forces helpless beneath her threat.

• Wanda relived memories of Lynn’s sacrifice, broke free of her restraints, and destroyed the Hydra base with Chaos Magic.
• Wanda sensed Lynn’s newly awakened chaos energy, ripped open a portal, and traveled from Sokovia to Washington, D.C.
• Lynn’s Quinjet was battered by Wanda’s scarlet storm and made an emergency landing on the Triskelion rooftop.
• Nick Fury ordered a level-ten alert and deployed S.H.I.E.L.D.’s weapons as Wanda emerged from the portal.
• Wanda stopped the incoming bullets, forced the agents to their knees, and warned that anyone who touched Lynn would die.

Wanda attacked S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters while searching for Lynn, overwhelming its defenses and prompting Nick Fury to declare an extinction-level crisis. She found Lynn among the subdued agents, exposing his attempt to stay unnoticed and work a low-level job.

• Wanda's power crushed Crossbones and the armed agents on the helipad, while Lynn absorbed the passing Chaos Energy and pretended to be pinned down.
• Wanda tore a massive breach through the Triskelion with a casual gesture.
• Nick Fury ordered a level ten alarm, evacuated noncombat personnel, and forbade armed forces from firing on Wanda.
• Crossbones tried to use his communicator, but Wanda ignored him and walked toward Lynn.
• Wanda's destructive aura quieted as she reached Lynn and reached toward his cheek, leaving him to realize his plan to stay unnoticed was ruined.

Wanda protected Lynn from a Hydra trooper’s attack, brutally killing the shooter and hurling the remaining agents away. She embraced Lynn, believing he had come back to life, but her magic tightened around him until he began suffocating.

• Lynn secretly absorbed Wanda’s chaotic magic while pretending to be terrified and powerless.
• A Hydra Assault Trooper fired three shots at Wanda, but she stopped the bullets and crushed him into a ball of flesh and metal.
• Wanda swept Crossbones and the remaining agents off the landing pad, leaving herself alone with Lynn.
• Wanda cried and told Lynn she was glad he had come back to life, while Lynn pretended not to recognize her.
• Wanda hugged Lynn inside a magical barrier that compressed the air, and Lynn began to suffocate.

Lynn calmed Wanda after she nearly crushed him, then let Hydra agents handcuff him while secretly channeling Chaos Magic through the cuffs. As the energy surged toward Crossbones, the Hydra agent realized Lynn could control Wanda’s power.

• Wanda tightened her embrace around Lynn until he struggled to breathe, but he soothed her by calling her name and assuring her he was alive.
• Wanda’s Chaos Magic subsided when she saw Lynn’s blood, and she confessed that she feared losing him and wanted to keep him hidden.
• Fury ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to secure the scene and investigate Lynn, while Pierce ordered Crossbones to capture him alive for Hydra.
• Lynn asked Wanda to take him away, then pretended to fear S.H.I.E.L.D.’s orders and let Crossbones’s agents approach with handcuffs.
• After the agents cuffed him, Lynn released a surge of scarlet energy through the metal, striking the two agents and racing toward Crossbones.

After escaping S.H.I.E.L.D., Lynn comforted Wanda and waited for her to fall asleep, then used the simulation reward to acquire an incomplete Chaos Magic affinity physique. After enduring its painful integration, he discovered Wanda had awakened and sensed her magic inside him, leaving him trapped in her suspicious grasp.

• Wanda carried Lynn to an abandoned cabin in the Adirondack Mountains and raged about the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had tried to take him.
• Lynn calmed Wanda by reassuring her that she had saved him, and she fell asleep in his arms.
• Lynn checked the settlement panel and received an incomplete Chaos Magic affinity physique as his SSS-rated reward for sacrificing himself in the Sokovia simulation.
• Lynn ordered the physique integrated and endured five minutes of agonizing bodily reconstruction, gaining enhanced durability, senses, and the ability to absorb and reflect Chaos Energy.
• Wanda awakened, approached Lynn, and sensed her magic inside him; she sealed the space around him and demanded to know what he had done.

Lynn persuaded Wanda to trust him, then let Crossbones capture him so he could infiltrate Hydra and give Wanda a reason to attack. The chapter ended with Wanda waking to find Lynn gone and unleashing her Chaos Magic on the cabin.

• Lynn convinced Wanda that he had accepted her magic and belonged to her, and she fell asleep holding him.
• Lynn sensed Hydra agents approaching the cabin and pretended to be unconscious while his Chaos Physique neutralized their anesthetic gas.
• Crossbones and his team removed Lynn from Wanda, restrained him, and took him aboard a Quinjet bound for Secret Base No. 13.
• Lynn planted a trace of dark red energy in the cabin floorboards to alert him when he was more than ten kilometers away.
• Wanda woke when the energy link vanished and blasted the cabin roof away with a pillar of dark red flame.

Wanda tracked the Quinjet carrying Lynn and tore through its defenses, killing the Hydra agents and nearly crushing Crossbones. Lynn’s faint groan stopped her from killing Crossbones, and she rushed to free him.

• Wanda sensed the nerve-gas residue and flew after Lynn’s abductors in a rage.
• On the Quinjet, Crossbones planned to have Lynn fitted with a neural control chip while Hydra agents guarded him.
• Wanda caught up with the Quinjet, ripped open its rear door, and turned the agents’ gunfire back on them.
• Wanda killed the pilots, held the falling Quinjet aloft, and broke Crossbones’s right knee before choking him.
• Lynn groaned faintly, stopping Wanda from killing Crossbones, and she tore at Lynn’s straitjacket.

Lynn stopped Wanda from killing Crossbones, then left the wrecked Quinjet with her and met Coulson’s rescue team. At the Triskelion, Fury realized Lynn had remained calm throughout the apparent crisis and prepared for a confrontation that could decide S.H.I.E.L.D.’s fate.

• Lynn told Wanda to release Crossbones, and she freed him before turning her attention to Lynn and removing his restraints.
• Lynn comforted Wanda and gave Crossbones a cold look that convinced him Lynn had orchestrated the attack to use Wanda against Hydra and send a warning to Pierce.
• Wanda carried Lynn from the Quinjet and used Chaos Magic to lower the aircraft safely onto a deserted interstate.
• Coulson arrived with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and Lynn told them to lower their weapons before they escorted him and Wanda toward headquarters.
• Fury watched the rescue, ordered Coulson to treat Lynn and Wanda with the highest courtesy, then discovered Lynn’s heart rate had stayed at sixty-five beats per minute throughout the ordeal.

Lynn convinced Nick Fury that his unnaturally calm behavior came from memories of dying for Wanda in parallel-dimension dreams, and Fury arranged a secure safe house for them. In the corridor, Hydra leader Alexander Pierce tried to recruit Lynn, who leaned close and whispered four words to him.

• Fury interrogated Lynn about his steady vital signs during the attack, and Lynn claimed he had repeatedly died for Wanda in realistic dreams across parallel dimensions.
• The lie detector confirmed Lynn’s account as truthful, and Fury accepted that Lynn was the only reliable safeguard against Wanda losing control.
• Fury arranged a secure safe house for Lynn and Wanda and threatened to use a nuclear bomb if Wanda endangered the Triskelion again.
• Pierce intercepted Lynn and offered him Level 7 clearance and a way to keep Wanda, while sending Coulson away.
• Lynn leaned close to Pierce and whispered four words that the chapter did not reveal.

Lynn bargained with Alexander Pierce for S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance and resources, then discovered Hydra’s Project Insight carriers and the Winter Soldier beneath the Triskelion. As Lynn headed back to Wanda, Natasha infiltrated their safe house and was seized by Wanda’s Chaos Magic.

• Lynn told Pierce he knew about Project Insight and claimed Wanda’s Chaos Magic had revealed S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secrets.
• Lynn negotiated Level 7 clearance, access to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s armory, and Vibranium equipment in exchange for cooperation, triggering a System mission to bind Wanda and take control of Hydra’s assets.
• Pierce sent Lynn to a hidden hangar containing three Helicarriers and the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, but Lynn threatened that Wanda could destroy them and secured his requested resources.
• Lynn ordered the System to open S.H.I.E.L.D.’s intranet interface as he left for Wanda, while Wanda grew increasingly distressed at the safe house.
• Natasha Romanoff infiltrated the safe house to investigate Wanda and Lynn, but Wanda caught her with Chaos Magic and demanded to know who had permitted her to approach Lynn’s territory.

Lynn used Hydra’s authority to requisition vibranium and advanced equipment, while Pierce approved the request believing Lynn wanted to restrain Wanda. When Lynn reached his safe house, he found Wanda choking Natasha and tried to stop her, but Wanda’s jealousy flared when she saw him looking at Natasha.

• Lynn requisitioned three hundred kilograms of vibranium, a particle forge, energy-conduction schematics, and restraint technology using Hydra’s core access.
• Pierce approved the requisition, interpreting the restraint devices as evidence that Lynn wanted to control Wanda.
• Lynn sensed dangerous magical energy coming from his safe house and leaped from the helicopter before it reached its destination.
• Lynn found Wanda holding Natasha against the ceiling with scarlet energy tentacles as Natasha struggled to breathe.
• Lynn ordered Wanda to release Natasha, but Wanda grew more hostile when she saw Lynn looking at her captive.

Wanda attacked Natasha in a jealous rage, but Lynn calmed her by reassuring her and turning her attention away from the agent. Natasha escaped the immediate threat and discovered Lynn was secretly signaling S.H.I.E.L.D. that Wanda was under control, leaving her stunned by his true role.

• Wanda strangled Natasha with Chaos Magic and melted the agent's dagger when she tried to reach it.
• Lynn approached Wanda through the storm and soothed her, telling her Natasha was not worth her attention.
• Wanda released Natasha and clung to Lynn, while Lynn ordered Natasha to leave.
• Natasha staggered toward the shattered window and spotted Lynn making a classified S.H.I.E.L.D. signal to notify Fury and hold position.
• Natasha realized Lynn was no helpless captive and wondered who he really was.

Lynn drove Natasha away from his home and calmed Wanda by promising his life belonged to her. After Natasha reported that Lynn controlled Wanda and used a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. signal, Fury discovered the code was reserved for a former director and had been destroyed ten years earlier.

• Lynn silently signaled Natasha to leave, then let her escape despite Wanda's attempt to attack her.
• Lynn carried Wanda away from the broken glass and soothed her jealousy by declaring himself hers.
• Natasha contacted Fury and reported that Lynn could stop Wanda's magic and had secretly signaled her during the confrontation.
• Fury verified Natasha's description of the gesture and ordered her to return to headquarters and avoid Lynn.
• Fury recognized the gesture as a destroyed one-way code reserved for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s former director and realized Lynn had used it to command him.

Lynn secretly infiltrated Hydra’s database and discovered that Pierce had marked him for immediate elimination, so he sabotaged Project Insight and used his clearance card’s tracker to feed Hydra false intelligence. He then staged injuries to provoke Wanda, whose explosive reaction reached Pierce through the card’s listening device as Project Insight neared launch.

• Lynn used Pierce’s Level Seven Clearance Card to access Hydra’s files, found Project Insight’s target list, and discovered Pierce had ordered him eliminated as an Omega-level threat.
• Lynn planted a backdoor in the Zola Algorithm to sabotage the Helicarriers’ fire-control commands and detected the tracker and listening device in his clearance card.
• Pierce told Rumlow that Project Insight would launch in thirty-six hours and ordered Barnes to prepare to strike Lynn and Wanda.
• Lynn inflicted visible injuries on himself and pretended they had resulted from protecting Wanda, provoking her fury.
• Wanda unleashed a surge of Chaos Magic that caused a three-second blackout across New York, and Pierce heard her threat through the card’s listening device.

Hydra raised Lynn’s elimination priority after Wanda’s energy outburst and positioned the Winter Soldier to kill him. Lynn discovered Hydra’s plans through a backdoor in the Zola Algorithm and sent Steve Rogers an excerpt of the elimination list as the sniper prepared to fire.

• Pierce ordered Lynn’s immediate elimination and demanded Project Insight be accelerated, while directing the Winter Soldier to watch the safe house.
• Wanda raged over Hydra using Lynn to control her, and Lynn calmed her while concealing that he had deliberately provoked her.
• Lynn used his Zola Algorithm backdoor to learn Hydra had marked him for elimination and detected the Winter Soldier aiming at the safe house.
• Lynn urged Wanda to wait while they prepared to uproot Hydra, then sent Steve Rogers a portion of Pierce’s signed elimination list.
• The Winter Soldier put his finger on the trigger as Lynn turned toward the water tower and made an unexpected move.

Lynn redirected Wanda’s rage toward Hydra by telling her they were trying to separate them and erase him, prompting her to unleash her chaos magic across New York. The chapter ended with Steve Rogers reading Lynn’s encrypted message about the Project Insight purge list.

• Lynn spotted the Winter Soldier aiming at him from an abandoned water tower, then closed the bulletproof curtains.
• Lynn made himself cough up blood and told Wanda that Hydra wanted to control her and kill him for refusing to hand her over.
• Wanda redirected her fury toward Hydra and vowed to kill anyone who tried to erase Lynn.
• Wanda secretly spread scarlet magical marks beneath New York, creating a surveillance zone around Lynn.
• Lynn saw that Steve Rogers had read his encrypted message about the Project Insight purge list.

Lynn sent Steve Rogers evidence of Hydra’s Project Insight purge list, then stopped Wanda from destroying the Triskelion and urged her to let Hydra expose itself. Steve discovered the list and a photograph identifying the Winter Soldier as Bucky, just as someone knocked at his door.

• Lynn sent Steve Rogers an encrypted file containing Project Insight’s purge list and Hydra’s algorithms.
• Wanda sensed Hydra agents throughout the Triskelion and offered to kill them, but Lynn persuaded her to wait and let Hydra reveal itself.
• Wanda kept hidden marks on Pierce and the other Hydra agents, warning that Pierce’s heart would burst if he ordered an attack on Lynn.
• Steve opened the encrypted email and found a Project Insight list bearing Alexander Pierce’s signature and naming targets including himself.
• Steve opened a top-secret Winter Soldier mission log, recognized Bucky in a photograph, and heard someone knock on his apartment door.