Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue, in the middle of dealing with Mad Thinker's attack on their Impossible City orbiting base, Carol Danvers complained that they were frustrated waiting for Tony Stark's go ahead to attack Orchis who had driven most mutants off Earth and maybe killed many of them.
Now Stark appears in his new armour (donned in his #15) and recaps the above and their (in particular Feilong's) stealing his tech to build their Iron Sentinels while persuading humans that they were saving them from the evil mutants. Now he tells them that he and the mutants have everything ready so the Avengers can take the fight to Orchis. (He doesn't specifically mention here that his Model 72 armour is made from the mutants' mystery metal called mysterium.)
Iron Man leads the big-hitters Captain Marvel, Thor and Vision to totally destroy an automated Sentinel factory in Alaska. Observing them from the Avengers Desk in Orchis base Juno is the 3-D Man (Delroy Garrett). He gets a holographic call from MODOK to remind him that they hired him keep tabs on his old team. But Delroy responds that he'd warned them that the Avengers were a serious threat but they didn't listen. MODOK reminds him that Orchis has taken down the mutant nation Krakoa while the Avengers hid in their orbiting base. Garrett reminds *him* that they hired him for his record of spotting hidden dangers. He saw the Skrull menace before Secret Invasion. He recognised the mutant problem before Orchis even existed. Meanwhile a flight of Box Sentinels are heading to intercept the 4 Avengers as they cut across Canadian airspace, but the Impossible City teleports them home. And Carol Danvers sends a message from the Mighty Avengers to the Secret Avengers.
At an Orchis mutant re-education centre in Oklahoma computer systems go down and all screens are filled with the Black Panther's symbol. As BP himself appears out of the shadows to slash open the protective suits of the techs he begs Carol not to call them the SAv. He unlocks all the cells and tells the mutants they are being rescued. They're not too sure about that when faced with Orchis goons with guns. But Captain America (Sam Wilson)'s thrown shield knocks some of the gunmen off their feet as he asks nicely for them to let the people go. Other gunnies claim the they're not scared of him. But he suggests they *should* be scared of his companion Scarlet Witch and of Panther behind them. The freed mutants are teleported to the City to be greeted by CM and the other 3. 1 mutant asks Vision to go help the 3 Avengers who are now facing Sentinels as well as more troops, but the synthezoid is certain of his comrades' ability to win, which we see they are doing.
3-D Man reports to MODOK about the liberation of the re-education centre. MODOK objects to the word 'liberation' but Garrett says he's just thinking like the Avengers in order to understand them - but that doesn't mean he can work out where they'll hit next. He again tells his boss that the foe weren't 'hiding' in their orbital City but planning their attack, knowing that they would only get 1 shot. The City is a Sword Of Damocles hanging over Orchis' head, but he says a sword can be blunted.
Either the writer can't count or we skip a stage and move on to the Avengers' target 4, an Orchis datacore farm in Minnesota. It's the big 4 again and Thor laments to Captain Marvel that the building is proof against his lightning because they expected Storm. But Iron Man and Vision physically break in which disrupts the EMP shielding allowing the Thunder God to fry the electronics within. MODOK petulantly asks Garrett how the enemy knows where their sites are and how to bypass their systems. Delroy reckons it's all down to Black Panther. MODOK questions 3-D Man's loyalty, suggesting he rates the foe suspiciously highly. Garrett says that last time he was an Avenger on an Initiative team he fought in the Skrull Invasion but was thrown out for killing a Skrull (a somewhat biased account of Initiative #19).
In the Impossible City Captain Marvel hands over command to T'Challa because the time limit on her Nega-Bands is going to send her to the Negative Zone releasing powerless Yuna Yang to take her place (see the current CM series to learn what this is all about). She is greeted by the City's AI speaking out of 1 of the Mad Thinker's plastoid robots from last issue. It has successfully reprogrammed them and we see others handing out food to the liberated mutants.
In target 6 (another skip), another re-education centre in Louisiana, Orchis troops fire on Scarlet Witch but Wanda Maximoff freezes their bullets in midair. She gives the enemy 1 minute to surrender before she sends the bullets back to them. However BP and Cap take some of them down anyway so she borrows Sam's shield to magically guide it to KO the rest. The trio send more mutants to the City, who is delighted to have so many guests to look after. 3-D Man realises it's not all down to BP, it's the skills of all the Avengers, and Orchis can't do anything about the City's alien teleportation tech. MODOK panics and agrees to give Garrett whatever he needs to stop the Avengers.
Target 8 is the long-range comms hub in the Azores. The big 3 (minus Danvers) smash through guardian Sentinels. But Yuna calls them back to the City. Orchis have reacted faster and cleverer than they hoped, and they're attacking the City with a horde of Sentinels. The plan is obviously to take out the teleportation system that allows the Avengers to strike at all the Orchis bases so quickly.