Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Most of the world's capital cities (and their political leaders) have been swallowed by dark vortexes. The remnant of the United Nations has asked the Avengers to lead the world in this crisis.
Captain America comes to the UN with Henry Peter Gyrich as an advisor, but he rejects HPG's assumption that he's welcome back with the Avengers he once tried to disband (#190-191 of the original run). Cap's brought with him Black Panther, as the actual ruler of Wakanda, and She-Hulk, as a lawyer tasked with understanding the multi-volume UN Charter.
Back in Avengers Mansion Vision is monitoring Avengers activities worldwide:- Quicksilver and Photon delivering aid in Africa while Vizh tries to organise the supply of aid to keep up. Black Knight and Hercules are quelling civil unrest in Mexico. Warbird is with SHIELD on the outskirts of vanished Washington DC, but she's calling to enquire how Scarlet Witch, sick and wounded last issue, is doing. Vision says Jarvis is looking after Wanda Maximoff but Carol Danvers berates the synthezoid for not showing concern for his ex-wife.
Nick Fury is commanding this SHIELD operation personally. He says there were a lot of his Agents lost in there, but Warbird counters that Wasp and Yellowjacket were in DC too. Iron Man sent them here to take scientific readings for him, and believes that the cities may not have been destroyed, merely 'displaced'. Falcon is there too mind-synced with his falcon Redwing carrying a recording device over the affected area. A strange humanoid is watching them from some woods and he says "Nothing is between us".
Tony Stark is in Ghent, Belgium for a meeting with representatives of the European Union (Brussels is presumably gone). Pepper Potts has contacted him about loads of calls she's fielded from people with suggestions for investments in this turbulent stock market. He tells her to say no to them all, but forward the current market quotes to him. Ant-Man and Jack Of Hearts are here with him, arguing like they were last issue. JOH maintains Scott Lang isn't a proper Avenger. Scott is more worried about the custody battle for his daughter Cassie. Iron Man comes out and tells them to prep the quinjet for return to the Mansion because Pretoria, South Africa has just gone.
Meanwhile IM heads into the meeting. He tries to reassure the politicians that the Avengers are on the case and he's here to help stop the EU economy collapsing. But Britain wants to temporarily suspend the Maastricht Treaty and leave each country to fend for itself. IM unmasks to remind them that he's successful international businessman Tony Stark and he believes they can find a way to work together.
Then a vortex opens up in the ocean near New York, threatening the USS Sentry. Black Panther pilots a quinjet carrying Cap, Falcon, She-Hulk, Vision and Warbird who rescue the crew. Then hands grip the boat from below the waves and push it away from the vortex. The hands belong to Sub-Mariner who says the vortices threaten the seas so he's unilaterally declaring himself an Avenger again for the duration.
That night in Avengers Mansion Jennifer Walters is boning up on 'the civil rights code in southern Asia' when Carol Danvers interrupts her and they take a break. Warbird doesn't trust Namor. She-Hulk prefers him to Gyrich. Carol puts Panther bottom of the list but doesn't have time to explain because they hear a scratching noise from Wanda Maximoff's room. Inside they find her spasming in midair and repeating the mystery man's sentence "Nothing is between us".
Lastly we enter the space behind the voids where we find all the stolen cities jammed together. Wasp and Yellowjacket are in Washington on top of the monument and they can see people erecting barriers between them and other cities. And then there's an explosion on the border between Baghdad and Paris. As they fly insect-size to investigate YJ is shot down by something. Janet Van Dyne lands to find Henry Pym unconscious, and then they are menaced by albino scorpions (larger than their current size) and (what will be confirmed next issue) a new version of Scorpio with the Zodiac Key and the Brotherhood Of The Ankh behind him. (Probably it was the Key that shot Hank.)