Synopsis
Last issue Captain America (Sam Wilson) went to recruit Storm to the Avengers as a mutant voice, and Hyperion announced to the world that he's going to commit suicide by destroying the Earth.
The other 6 Avengers in their Impossible City base orbiting Earth have detected him outside the orbit of Pluto racing towards them. Black Panther reminds them that the various Hyperions that the Avengers have encountered have all been virtually indestructible and can attain near light speed, and this 1 is probably no exception. Captain Marvel reckons his resulting kinetic energy could crack the world in half. Vision estimates he'll arrive in about 5.5 hours but it will be difficult to track his exact path.
Sam arrives with Ororo Monroe who hasn't accepted membership yet but is willing to help in *this* crisis. And team leader Carol Danvers knows just how she can. Storm goes to Merle, Alaska where a group of X-Men led by Cyclops have established a base in 1 of Orchis' abandoned Sentinel factories. Scott Summers invites her to join them but she says neither of them could now take orders from the other so she'll be better off in the Avengers which is more an assembly of equals. She's here for the services of an omega-level telepath, and since Charles Xavier is under arrest for conspiring with Orchis then Quentin Quire will have to do along with the last working Cerebro machine.
Tony Stark says that the Avengers Deep-Space Monitoring Station can't locate Hyperion, T'Challa adds that the Intergalactic Empire Of Wakanda can't find him either, and Vision confirms that he and the City's AI can't predict where he is. And Stark doesn't know how they'll stop him even when the find him. Then the City relays a call from Blade, who enslaved it (again) when he was possessed by Varnae the original vampire during Blood Hunt. But Eric Brooks is calling because he's the only 1 apart from Hyperion (and Nighthawk) who remembers the world Mephisto created where Hype's Squadron Supreme were the equivalent of the Avengers (in the 2021 Heroes Reborn event).
Scarlet Witch goes to visit Dr Strange and Clea at their Sanctum Sanctorum and brings them up-to-date on the situation. Clea's not inclined to believe anything Blade says since she had to fight him when he tried to kill her lover (Blood Hunt again). Stephen Strange reminds her that Blade was possessed at the time, and Wanda Maximoff adds that she too suffered at Varnae's hands - but Blade was an Avenger and she trusts him.
Next stop is Bifrost, the road to Asgard, now guarded by Heimdall's sister Sif with her new designation the All-Seeing. CapA and Thor have come to see her. They both sympathise with Hyperion but they have a world to protect. Cap leaves the Thunder God with his fellow Asgardian and takes a City teleport back to base. Sif asks Thor if he's "told them" and he answers "Not yet".
Back on the City base CapM finds Tony, T'Challa and Vision building vibranium hypersonic missiles. Blade told them Hype was vulnerable to the metal so they plan to detonate the missiles in his path. With the time-dilation due to near-c travel he won't have time to notice them let alone avoid them. At least he should die instantly.
The 3 remote sites check in:- Storm reports that the 'mind' is online. SW says the 'soul' is online. And Thor assures them the 'eyes' are online. CM gives the order. The 3 mystics become 1 astral being and connect with Quire who's jacked in to Cerebro, and then they link up with Sif. And the magic/mutant/god composite locates the target and relays the coordinates to the Avengers. Iron Man and the City AI plot Hyperion's trajectory and Black Panther tells the City to teleport the bombs. The AI sends 1 of its plastoid avatars with them to observe and report.
Carol and Vision both regret what they're doing, but Carol thinks Hyperion planned it that way. He wants to die but can't kill himself, so he set the situation up so the Avengers would find a way to do it for him. He never expected to reach Earth. Suddenly Vizh has an idea. The synthezoid asks the City if it can create a dimensional gateway in the path. The AI objects that they discarded that idea because the damage it sustained during Blood Hunt means he wouldn't be able to close the gate afterwards for hours, and Hyperion would just come back. Vizh asks "What if he didn't want to come back?", and then he explains his plan.
But we of course skip that and just see it put into action. A gateway sends surprised Hype to a parallel universe which is now designated Earth-901. The plastoid avatar follows and communicates with him via radio waves. The angry foe attacks but the AI continues to explain that this Earth was ravaged by the Ashen Combine and all its heroes killed, and that the Impossible City had been forced to bring the villains to it. Now that it is free of them the AI can make amends by bringing him here to be the world's saviour. And Hyperion gladly accepts the job.
Later in a green area within the City Storm and Thor converse. He asks her if she has decided to accept Avengers membership. She says she's still thinking about it. He urges her to accept because they will need her. She notes that he didn't say 'we' and he confesses that he'll have to leave the team. He's having certain difficulties (in the Immortal Thor series) including being accused murder (of Roxxon boss Dario Agger and an imposter Thor created by Enchantress in his #9-10). He doesn't want the Avengers' name tainted by his problem. So he wants her to be the replacement Thunder God.