Some time has passed since last issue when the Human Torch went mad and fled from his teammates. Now Namor, Winter Soldier, and Iron Cross are searching for him in an Atlantean craft while the search is being coordinated by the now-elderly Steve Rogers from Avengers HQ. Iron Cross is still getting used to her new Inhuman status as part-human/part-machine and is overawed by the Sub-Mariner. Namor and Steve are still uneasy around each other from the latter’s brainwashing by the Illuminati but they can agree that they must find Jim Hammond and restore his sanity. Namor relates how he found the Torch in Sydney, Australia and they fought in the skies, ending in Subby being seriously burned and Jim fleeing once more. Now Namor is suspicious of Iron Cross’ motives in joining them; she replies that it is because she loves him, as he was the one whose testimony at the Nuremburg war crimes trials got her grandfather, the original Iron Cross, acquitted. After her recent transformation she was captured by the villainous Kurt Dagmar and barely managed to send a signal which was picked up the Winter Soldier….
Suddenly the Human Torch appears in the sky and destroys their ship. Iron Cross rescues the pilot but Bucky plummets toward the ocean below. He is snatched out of the air by the Japanese heroine Radiance who had earlier been contacted about the mission. Jim demands that his partners kill him to prevent his harming anyone else. Radiance surrounds him with solidified light while Namor reminds him that he was always the heart of the Invaders and every bit as human as any of the others. Iron Cross, with her sensitivity to machines, explains what happened to him: Kurt Dagmar attempted to control his mind with nanites; they didn’t work on him as he is synthetic, not mechanical and his body’s attempt to purge them has driven him insane. Now he plans to fly as high as he can to burn out this infection. With Namor to accompany him for safety, he flies higher and higher….