Synopsis / Summary / Plot
The previously page shows events from Infinity #1. It has become clear that a Builder fleet is cutting a swathe through the nearby galactic empires, heading for Earth. Captain America leads most of the Avengers into space to join the defence forces of the Galactic Council. Iron Man stays on Earth to organise a last-ditch defence.
The Council meets on neutral planet Nomad. A bunch of Skrull warlords led by Kl'rt come to offer their forces and ask for a seat on the Council. Gladiator of the Shi'ar points out that the former Skrull empire is now a group of squabbling factions. He asks how much of the Skrull race does Kl'rt represent.
A flashback to 2 days ago reveals Kl'rt getting the warlords of the vying factions to meet, in the face of the Builder attack. Kl'rt proposed they bury their differences and go to join forces with the Galactic Council. Most of the other proud Skrulls would prefer to go down fighting without asking for help. But Kl'rt persuaded them with news that the Builder fleet they see is but the advance guard of a much bigger one.
However 1 warlord, a general of the old empire named Dm'yr, offered to use his forces in a holding action while the others go to the council. Dm'yr led the Builders into a trap by luring them near a sun, which he then detonated into a nova whch destroyed Builders and Skrulls alike.
So now when asked if all the Skrull warlords are with him, Kl'rt replies "All but one".
J-son of Spartax accepts the Skrulls into the Council, which includes the Kree Supreme Intelligence (along with Ronan the Accuser), Annihilus and a Brood queen. However many other races have sent representatives, and Earth has the Avengers. (Avenger Smasher is currently sitting with her fellows in the Shi'ar Imperial Guard.) (Spider-Woman is uneasy about allying with Skrulls.)
Kl'rt describes Dm'yr's successful trap which destroyed the Builders' advance fleet. J-son wants to set another trap for the following fleet. The Kree Intelligence remembers the Konn-Dar Encounter from an earlier Kree/Shi'ar war, which Gladiator knows as 'The Corridor'. And the Builders are due to pass through it.
3 days later the Council forces are hidden in the debris belt circling a black hole. The plan is to trap the Builders between themselves and the singularity. The Avengers are in 2 space-quincruisers. Captain America leading Black Widow, Bruce Banner, Manifold, Shang-Chi and Spider-Woman in #1. Captain Marvel leading Abyss and Hawkeye in #2. Ex Nihilo, space-armoured Falcon, Hyperion, Smasher and Thor are in open space.
The battle rages until the Council decides which is the Builder command vessel. Most of our forces converge on that target and destroy it. Then they turn to mopping up the individual Builder craft.
But victory quickly turns to defeat. The 'command vessel' was a decoy, and this was only a small portion of the Builder fleet. The rest has been cloaked. These now reveal themselves and fall on the scattered Council forces. A 3rd of the Council fleet are destroyed, and the rest are ordered to retreat.
Quincruiser #1 is badly damaged, and Captain America is going to get Manifold to teleport the whole vessel to safety. Quincruiser #2 is near the black hole when a Shi'ar craft explodes next to them, leaving them unconscious and adrift.