Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Thor wakes up in the Avengers spaceship to find that Protector has left them falling into the sun of the Kree homeworld Hala.
Protector himself arrives on Hala with the piece of the Phoenix Force Thor extracted last issue. He is greeted by a group of Kree Accusers led by Sinta, who takes him to the Supreme Intelligence. The Supremor thanks him, and says that this will enable the Kree to figure out how to capture the whole Phoenix Force. They can then use the Force for their own benefit.
Protector asks if Supremor will use the Phoenix fragment to save Earth from the Force. Supremor says not. Noh-Varr complains that Supremor had declared Earth under the protection of the Kree empire, and had appointed him specifically to protect Earth. Supremor counters that he was really there to keep Earth out of the hands of the Kree's enemies. But now that the Phoenix Force has targeted Earth, there's no helping them. The best that can be hoped for is that while the Force is busy with Earth it will give the Kree time to prepare their own defence.
And so it turns out that Protector wasn't quite the traitor he appeared in the last 2 issues. He was following Supremor's orders, but he believed Supremor had the Earth's best interests at heart.
Back on the spaceship the other Avengers (Beast, Captain Britain, Ms Marvel, Valkyrie, Vision and War Machine) have also woken up. Beast tries to get the ship to use solar power to break free of the sun's gravity, but it isn't enough. Thor goes outside the ship to add his power, and that of his hammer, to pushing the ship. (Cue Walt Simonson cosmic visuals.) But it still doesn't seem to be enough.
Protector continues to try to convince Supremor to help Earth. But Supremor claims (rightly) that Earthlings have proved to be a danger to the empire, and so he'll allow the Phoenix Force to put them out of their misery.
So Noh-Varr uses his Nega-Bands to attack the Supreme Intelligence. He blasts his way through Accusers and Kree Sentries to retrieve the Phoenix fragment.
It is at this point that the other Avengers arrive. (Thor's efforts obviously *were* enough.) They find him holding the piece of the Force, and attack him to get it back. They leave with it, but not before telling him never to come back to Earth.
Of course, now an even bigger army of Accusers and Sentries start chasing him. And the Supremor teleports away his gift of the Nega-Bands. Relatively unarmed, Protector steals a spaceship and flees Hala. (But not before turning round for a strafing run.)
On Earth Noh-Varr's girlfriend Annie sees the keepsake he left her float glowing in the air. She thinks it's a sign that he's come back to her. But he isn't there.