Japanese-American Ryoko Sabuki is a popular superhero in Japan under the name Supreme Radiant Friend. Now she is in Manhattan meeting with her American agent Howard Silver to plan her introduction in the United States under the name Radiance. Suddenly the Watcher’s eye explodes (see ORIGINAL SIN #3) and she learns of a long-suppressed sin….
Three days later, Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch and, as of last issue, a SHIELD agent, arrives on the Helicarrier where he is greeted by Nick Fury Jr. He is there to be debriefed concerning his first mission; he meets with SHIELD psychiatrist Dr. Derek Malloy and the session is observed by Agent Phil Coulson. After some verbal sparring with Malloy, Jim begins his account….
Radiance haD captured a SHIELD satellite base with her light powers and taken the crew hostage; she demanded to speak with Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and Spitfire of the wartime Invaders. The other two were not available so it was Jim alone who met with the superheroine. She revealed that she had learned a secret long kept by her grandmother, the wartime heroine Golden Girl: that the Invaders could have prevented the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and chose not to. And now she wants to know why. Jim explains to Malloy that during the war, Allied scientists were able to combine certain powers of him, Namor, and Spitfire to create a gigantic cyclone tsunami to destroy the Japanese fleet. But when he told the whole story to Radiance, the result was a fiery explosion that destroyed the SHIELD base….