Chapter Summaries

Wanda unleashed her Chaos Magic against the stitched-together monster while Lucian revived the wounded. After Wong evacuated the others, Lucian trapped the monster in the Mirror Dimension and began testing his strength and control over the space.

• Wanda struck the monster with Chaos Magic after seeing Pietro badly injured, but the creature absorbed her magic and began healing.
• Lucian restored May, Ward, Coulson, Skye, and Pietro, then warned Wanda to stop feeding the monster energy.
• Lucian folded the underground passage, warehouse, and part of New York into the Mirror Dimension and had Wong evacuate the wounded with Wanda.
• Lucian battered the monster with his enhanced strength and speed, discovering that its toughness and healing were formidable.
• The monster tried to escape by attacking the Mirror Dimension, so Lucian twisted the city into a maze and trapped it until its absorbed energy ran out.

Lucian used Cyttorak’s borrowed power to defeat the energy-absorbing monster, then turned it into a granite statue. After rescuing the others, he noticed the surviving Skrulls were acting strangely, and they all addressed him at once.

• Lucian bound the monster with the Crimson Bands and used borrowed energy to bombard it with swords, causing Cyttorak’s will to invade its body.
• Lucian used the Vishanti’s power to dispel Cyttorak’s influence, then drained the monster’s energy and transmuted it into stone.
• Wong saw the destruction in the Mirror Dimension and was shaken by the scale of Lucian’s power.
• Wanda and Pietro regrouped with Lucian, and Pietro kicked the statue while Lucian said he wanted to preserve its genetic samples.
• Coulson asked what to do with the silent Skrulls, but Lucian sensed something was wrong.
• The Skrulls turned toward Lucian in unison and spoke his name together.

Lucian traced the psychic link from the dead Skrull puppets to Gravik’s hidden base beneath an abandoned nuclear power plant. Gravik had just resolved to provoke a nuclear war when Lucian and Coulson’s team arrived through a portal, catching him by surprise.

• Lucian identified the dead Skrulls’ shared psychic network and used its lingering energy to track their controller.
• Gravik removed his neural helmet at the hidden base and cursed the failed Super-Skrull made with Lucian’s blood.
• Gravik decided to provoke a nuclear war and let humans weaken themselves while the Skrulls gathered more superhuman samples.
• Lucian opened a portal above the base’s control room, where May, Skye, and Coulson’s team confronted Gravik.

Pietro beat Gravik nearly unconscious, and Lucian let Ward take his revenge while Skye declined. Gravik then sprang up and pressed a pistol to his own chest, leaving the room reacting to his sudden move.

• Gravik fled toward an escape passage, but Pietro intercepted him and battered him with a flurry of slaps.
• Coulson worried Gravik would die before they could question him, while Lucian let Pietro continue until Gravik was barely breathing.
• Lucian invited the team to settle their grudges, and Ward kicked and punched Gravik while Skye refused to get her shoes dirty.
• Gravik suddenly sprang up behind Ward, drew his sidearm, and pressed its muzzle against his own chest.

Gravik shot himself after revealing that the Skrulls’ infiltration plan was underway, but Lucian revived him with cosmic energy and declared that only he would decide whether Gravik lived or died. Lucian then brought Gravik to Vought International’s laboratory, where Banner’s team had completed a nationwide Skrull screening device, and began probing Gravik’s mind.

• Gravik shot himself and claimed the Skrulls were already infiltrating at the highest levels to provoke nuclear war.
• Lucian healed Gravik with Ajak’s cosmic energy, and Gravik woke to find his wounds restored.
• Banner completed a wide-area Skrull screening device, and Fitz told Simona it was ready to connect to Vought International’s satellite network.
• Lucian arrived at the laboratory with Gravik, Wanda, Coulson’s team, Wong, and a Granite Golem Statue.
• Lucian pierced Gravik’s mind with his mental power, making him scream as Lucian began exposing what he knew.

Lucian exposed Gravik’s memories to the laboratory, revealing the Skrulls’ infiltration of human society and their plan to provoke nuclear war after Fury failed to find them a home. Lucian ordered a worldwide sweep for Skrulls and demanded that Coulson bring Fury to face a public trial, while a detection scan revealed hundreds of Skrull locations.

• Lucian shared Gravik’s memories, showing Skrulls assassinating and impersonating prominent humans and exposing Fury’s decades-long use of them as covert agents.
• Gravik’s memories revealed that he planned to provoke nuclear war so the Skrulls could take over Earth after the human population was devastated.
• Lucian ordered Simona to recover the people listed in the memories and directed Banner, Fitz, and Simmons to locate every Skrull faction and base.
• Lucian told Coulson to bring Fury to him for a public trial; May agreed to go, and Coulson left with May, Skye, and Ward.
• Banner activated the Skrull detection device, which marked hundreds of locations across the map, including New York and Washington.

Lucian investigated a cluster of vanished energy markers in northern New York and found a frightened woman whose psychic attack revealed her as an unusual opponent. He left her bloodied after easily resisting her assault, still uncertain whether she was an Inhuman or connected to the Skrulls.

• Fitz, Simmons, and Banner found that only a small group of energy markers near the Adirondacks had disappeared, despite the detection equipment functioning normally.
• Lucian used a portal to reach the area and scanned the surrounding countryside with his mind-reading ability.
• Lucian detected a distant thought warning that powerful mental forces were approaching and hurried toward its source.
• Lucian intercepted a fleeing woman, found that she was human rather than a Skrull, and suspected she was an Inhuman.
• The woman denied being an Inhuman and attacked Lucian with psychic force, but his defenses overwhelmed her and caused her nose to bleed.

Lucian found Jean Grey and her sister Sara Grey instead of Skrulls and brought them through a portal to his laboratory. He recognized Jean’s psychic abilities but remained uncertain whether she possessed the Phoenix Force.

• Lucian’s mental barrier rebounded Sara’s psychic attack, and he offered her a gold bar to persuade her to come with him.
• Lucian spotted Jean hiding behind a tree, restrained her with telekinesis, and discovered her telepathy and telekinesis through his system.
• Lucian realized the sisters were Sara and Jean Grey, while Jean and Sara struggled against his restraints.
• Lucian opened a portal to his laboratory and sent both sisters through before following them.

Lucian discovered that Banner’s Skrull detector flagged anyone with unusual genes because Fitz and Simmons had used standard human genetics as its filter. The faulty scan triggered a chaotic sweep of Vought Tower, but it also led Lucian to identify Sara and Jean as Mutants.

• Banner showed Lucian that the detector had marked Sara and Jean, and Lucian questioned how its identification criteria had been set.
• Fitz and Simmons admitted that their crude filter labeled anyone with abnormal genes as an alien life-form.
• Banner revealed that the same faulty scan had caused Simona, Wanda, and Pietro to search Vought Tower and detain dozens of employees.
• Simona reported that Wanda had found no Skrulls among the employees, and Lucian explained the scan’s technical error.
• Lucian told the others that Sara and Jean were Mutants.

Lucian’s team discovered that their Skrull screening system had also flagged the Grey sisters and other people with powers as anomalies. He sent Sara and Jean to recover while Fitz and Simmons began revising the scan, leaving the hunt for Skrulls uncertain.

• Pietro asked Lucian whether Mutants were aliens, and Lucian explained that their powers came from inherited genes.
• Pietro wondered whether he and Wanda were Mutants, but Lucian challenged him to consider how he had gained his powers.
• Lucian ordered Simona to take Sara and Jean to guest rooms for medical care, baths, clean clothes, and food.
• Sara accepted Lucian’s offer and followed Simona out with Jean, who could not read Lucian’s emotions.
• Lucian saw that the screening system had marked many people across North America as anomalies, without distinguishing Mutants from Skrulls.
• Fitz and Simmons began rebuilding the scan to compare Mutant genes with Skrull cells as Lucian asked how long the work would take.

Lucian ordered Vought to withdraw its search teams and continue arresting confirmed Skrull replacements while preparing a worldwide broadcast exposing the aliens and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dealings. Vought agents carried out swift raids across North America, capturing Skrulls in government and military positions.

• Lucian told Jade Balance to recall Vought security forces searching for anomalous red dots while continuing arrests of confirmed Skrull replacements.
• Lucian said the broadcast would expose the Skrulls’ identities and disguises, along with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s dirty dealings, to audiences around the world.
• Two Vought agents broke into the deputy secretary of the Navy’s office in Washington and abducted him through a window.
• In a Virginia command post, an armor-piercing round wounded an Army logistics chief and exposed his Skrull form.
• Former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents subdued the Skrull with electric rounds, sealed him in a body bag, and escaped under smoke cover.
• Similar targeted purges and arrests unfolded simultaneously at dozens of locations across North America.

As Vought’s arrests threw governments and heroes into panic, Lucian completed a radar system that could identify Skrulls and confronted Nick Fury over his role in their infiltration. Lucian ordered Jade Balance to broadcast the Skrulls’ memories, the list of replaced officials, and Fury’s promises worldwide.

• News of Vought’s mass arrests spread, prompting Tony Stark, Matt Murdock, Kingpin, Peter Parker, and Shuri to react with alarm and confusion.
• Fitz, Simmons, and Dr. Banner completed a radar that identified Skrulls with one hundred percent accuracy while filtering out humans, mutants, and Inhumans.
• Coulson, Melinda, Skye, and Ward brought the captured Nick Fury into the laboratory.
• Lucian accused Fury of letting Skrulls infiltrate positions of power and condemned his use of them to build Earth’s extraterrestrial defenses.
• Lucian ordered Jade Balance to seize global communications networks and broadcast Gravik’s memories, the replaced officials’ names, the arrests, and Fury’s promises.

Jade Balance exposed the Skrulls’ infiltration and planned invasion to the world, triggering panic and despair among humans and peaceful Skrulls alike. Lucian then declared that anyone who considered themselves human belonged on Earth and gave all Skrulls three days to register with Vought International or be treated as enemies.

• Jade Balance broadcast evidence that Nick Fury had secretly allied with the Skrulls and revealed that Skrull infiltrators had murdered and replaced officials while plotting a global war.
• Daredevil and Tony Stark reacted to the revelation, and Tony abandoned his pursuit of the Mandarin to head to Vought International with Rhodey.
• Peaceful Skrulls feared humanity would blame them for the radicals’ invasion, while Jean Grey worried that mutants would also be treated as outsiders.
• Lucian addressed the world, defined humanity by belonging to Earth rather than by genes, and described the Skrulls’ infiltration as an invasion.
• Lucian gave every Skrull three days to reveal themselves and register with Vought International, threatening to destroy those who remained hidden after the deadline.

After the Skrull revelation sparked panic across New York, Steve Rogers, Natasha, and Barton went to Vought Tower to meet Lucian, while Tony Stark and Rhodes arrived there as well. At the Triskelion, Alexander Pierce saw Lucian’s hard-line speech as an opportunity for Hydra’s plans.

• New Yorkers recoiled from one another after learning that Skrulls had infiltrated society, and many rushed toward Vought Tower for help and Compound V.
• Steve Rogers, Natasha, and Barton reached Vought Tower, where security let them in to see Lucian.
• Tony Stark and Rhodes landed at Vought Tower, and Simona directed them to a conference room where Lucian was waiting.
• Alexander Pierce ignored a flood of calls at the Triskelion and reflected on Hydra’s goal of imposing order through absolute power.
• Pierce watched Lucian declare that no part of their homeland would harbor alien life and felt that the speech could serve Hydra’s ambitions.

Pierce reversed course and ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to support Vought International, while Talos ordered the Skrulls to hide and decided to surrender himself to Lucian. At Vought Tower, the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel gathered with the captive Nick Fury, awaiting what would happen next.

• Pierce ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to support Vought International’s arrests and traveled to New York to meet Lucian.
• Talos rejected a Skrull warrior’s call to fight, warning that Vought could identify them if they left their shelter.
• Talos ordered Skrulls on Earth to destroy their cover identities, return to their bases, and avoid all contact with humans.
• Talos decided to go to Vought Tower and ask Lucian to punish him in place of his people.
• Tony Stark, Rhodes, Steve Rogers, Natasha, Barton, Coulson, Melinda, and Ward waited at Vought Tower with the wounded, cuffed Nick Fury.

Lucian gathered Tony, Steve, Rhodey, Fury, Pierce, and others to decide what should happen to the Skrulls after their infiltration of Earth was exposed. The Avengers argued over whether to study, punish, imprison, or send the Skrulls away, and the dispute remained unresolved.

• Lucian opened a Portal from the rooftop helipad and dropped Alexander Pierce into the reception room.
• Tony demanded a plan for handling the Skrulls and warned against giving them to military researchers.
• Rhodey argued that the military should study the Skrulls and develop defenses from their mimicry abilities.
• Steve urged Lucian to punish the radicals but give uninvolved Skrulls a ship and supplies to leave Earth.
• Tony opposed Steve's proposal, arguing that the Skrulls should be imprisoned and interrogated before being expelled from the Solar System.
• Pierce cleared his throat as the Avengers' argument continued.

Pierce demanded the extermination of every Skrull and denounced Fury for secretly sheltering them, while Fury defended their value to Earth. Talos surrendered to Lucian and offered advanced Skrull technology and intelligence in exchange for his people’s survival, then accused Fury of withholding a call to Carol Danvers during the Battle of New York.

• Pierce pledged S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cooperation with Vought International's plan to kill all Skrulls and blamed Fury for the crisis.
• Fury argued that Skrull intelligence and technology had helped protect Earth, but Pierce accused him of causing danger through his secret actions.
• Talos arrived at Vought International, revealed his Skrull identity, and surrendered to Lucian on behalf of the refugees.
• Talos offered a hidden Skrull warship, a hyperspace communications array, and intelligence about major civilizations and Kree patrol routes in exchange for his people's survival.
• Fury angrily confronted Talos for hiding the technology from him, and Talos accused Fury of refusing to call Carol Danvers during the Chitauri invasion.

Lucian judged Nick Fury and the surviving Skrulls after Talos exposed Fury’s secret knowledge of Captain Marvel. Lucian imposed harsh punishments and conscription on the Skrulls, silenced Steve Rogers’s protest, and left Alexander Pierce inspired by his rule.

• Talos revealed that Fury had a communicator for Carol Danvers and had withheld her existence during the Battle of New York, prompting Steve and Tony to confront Fury.
• Fury defended his decision by saying Carol was humanity’s last defense against threats in deep space, but Steve condemned him for treating the casualties as expendable.
• Lucian stripped Fury of his authority, ordered his files released, and scheduled his public trial in Times Square.
• Lucian ordered the execution of Skrull radicals and demanded that survivors hand over their ship and technology, accept a Thought Imprint, and serve humanity as deep-space scouts.
• Steve objected to enslaving the Skrulls, but Lucian pinned him down with telekinesis and rejected his authority to challenge the judgment.
• After Lucian left, Tony considered the necessity of his ruthless approach, while Alexander Pierce saw Lucian as the leader Hydra had been seeking.

After Lucian decided the fate of the Skrulls, Steve Rogers and the others left the reception room while Alexander Pierce sought a private audience with Lucian. Pierce offered to make Lucian Hydra’s supreme leader and help him build a global empire, leaving Lucian’s response unknown.

• Steve Rogers accepted that he could not change Lucian’s decision and left to report to the remaining upright S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
• Tony Stark told Colonel Rhodes to report to the Pentagon and went home, frustrated that his search for Killian had turned up only disabled veterans used as bombs.
• Coulson, Melinda, and Ward escorted Nick Fury away under guard as Alexander Pierce watched Fury leave with contempt.
• Pierce called Simona and asked for an urgent private meeting with Lucian, then hurried to the top-floor office.
• Pierce praised Lucian as humanity’s destined leader and offered to resign as Hydra’s supreme leader in Lucian’s favor.

Lucian rejected Pierce’s offer to help him rule the world, but agreed to support Pierce’s plan to unify Hydra and bring it under Vought International. Pierce secretly interpreted Lucian’s refusal as false modesty and planned to force him into global rule once Hydra had consolidated its power.

• Pierce explained that Hydra had split between the ancient Theocratic Faction and the Military Faction, then offered Lucian control of his organization.
• Lucian said he had no interest in ruling the world and offered to grant Pierce one request in return for his obedience.
• Pierce asked Lucian to have Vought help him destroy Hydra’s splinter factions and incorporate the unified organization into Vought as a security and intelligence department.
• Lucian assigned Simona to arrange for Pietro and a team of Compound V-enhanced operatives to assist Pierce, while Wanda accepted that she would remain in reserve.
• As Simona escorted Pierce away, he secretly planned to use Hydra’s power to make Lucian rule the world.