Flashback three days: Sub-Mariner is battling Tanalth the Pursuer in the sky above the ocean; his arrogance betrays him: Kree warriors surround him to keep him out of the water and Tanalth blasts him with a ray that dries him out. Namor awakens a prisoner on the Kree homeworld Hala as the Supreme Intelligence extracts his lost memories….
Now: Captain America and the Human Torch stop by Avengers Mansion for coffee while they discuss the plan. Cap has an idea of the whereabouts of the original Vision, Aarkus, and Winter Soldier is on his way to find him. Cap contracts Thor to tell him that the Gods’ Whisper has fallen into the hands of the enemy; the Thunder God responds that when the device was first created, the All-Mother placed an enchantment on all the gods of Asgard making them immune to its power. The arrogant Hela refused the protection and so was captured by Baron Strucker as seen in the first issue’s flashback. So now this is just a rescue mission….
Bucky finds Aarkus in Detroit, in the form of a homeless man’s dog and explains the mission to him. Aarkus steps into another dimension with Bucky and walks a road made of cloud past innumerable doors to come out in the New Mexico desert where Cap and Torch are waiting by their Quinjet. They go over the plan (kept from the reader) and to travel to Hala the Torch sets the Quinjet afire so that Aarkus can carry them through the smoke to their destination...
…where they are immediately captured by Tanalth and her troops. They tell her that the Gods’ Whisper is useless since it will not work on the Norse gods. Tanalth points out that there are more gods left in the heavens—and their servant Ikaris of the Eternals reveals himself….