Synopsis / Summary / Plot
A lethal red cloud of flesh-eating bugs is spreading from Mount Rushmore. Last issue we learned the bugs had been weaponised, and 6 Avengers, protected in hazmat suits except for Jack Of Hearts and the synthezoid Vision who don't need them, discovered the source in a US Bio-Weapon Lab under the monument.
The soldiers guarding the facility were all killed in the outbreak. Captain America gathers up their dogtags to take back to their families. He suspects that they never knew what exactly they were guarding. Scarlet Witch discovers bullet holes in the walls and the bodies. She-Hulk says the Avengers comm-cards can't get a signal down here. Ant-Man finds a control centre full of dead scientists and a title Project Bloodwash. Vision senses that the files are encrypted but Scott Lang offers to try and hack the system. Cap tells Jack Hart to stay with him in case the shooters are still around, while the other 4 continue exploring.
Avengers UN liaison Henry Peter Gyrich is with Defence Secretary Dell Rusk in an army helicopter landing at the pentagon. Rusk is displeased with a news report showing Warbird ordering a TV reporter out of the temporary medical camp in Custer State Park. He doesn't like how the Avengers, now reporting directly to the UN, have taken control of this problem on US soil. Gyrich protests that his team are only helping save lives, and he notes a bird flying overhead.
At Stark Enterprises the scientists investigating the Red Zone bug get a load of info from Wakanda where they have been studying necrotising fasciitis for a long time. At the same time Tony Stark gets a call from Scott Lang telling him what the Avengers have discovered, uploading data that he's found. Tony is also worried about JOH who's been out of his Zero Room for 7 hours. 3 more and he might explode. Scott has also discovered that they were trying to modify the bug further to only kill non-whites, but were finding it impossible because everyone's the same. Also unfortunately they don't have a cure.
The connection is lost and Stark straightens up to find Black Panther has appeared behind him. They plan to have Wakandan and SE scientists collaborating on the problem. But then gas cannisters are fired into the room, which also then open up and shoot tasers which electrocute the 2 heroes to unconsciousness. Troops then enter and arrest the bodies for treason by order of Dell Rusk.
Ant-Man doesn't know why he lost contact with Tony Stark and can't get the line back. Jack Hart comments that stuff like this bio-weapon development make him question why he stays on Earth. He's an alien hybrid and he can survive in space. Scott says he keeps fighting for the sake of his daughter. But Jack can't think of a reason like that.
The other 4 are progressing through the underground lab. Steve Rogers tells Jennifer Walters that he still believes in the American system but the wrong people in positions of power can mess it up. Vision is recording everything they see for later judicial investigation. As they track the density of the gas Wanda Maximoff runs into a large thick closed double door. She-Hulk forces it open ...
... and behind it they find AIM troops in protective gear. The troopers open fire and She-Hulk barrels into them, trusting her invulnerability. But the bullets punch holes in her hazmat suit. Vision's eye-beams melt the weapons but an AIM soldier throws a grenade. Vision is unharmed and the other 2 Avengers have got She-Hulk out of the area, but the blast shreds the bad guys' suits and they start to die of the infection.
Cap and the Witch have dragged She-Hulk to where Ant-Man and JOH are. Steve tells Jack to take Shulk and fly her to Warbird at the medical centre. But Greenie wakes up and panics and fights him off. And as he grabs her she reverts to her Jennifer Walters human form, totally susceptible to infection.