Synopsis / Summary / Plot
The West Coast Avengers have just returned from the funeral of Carlos their groundsman killed by Ultron in #89. They are still dealing with the damage to their Compound done then. They also have no unwrecked quinjets and with Tony Stark (supposedly) dead (since Iron Man #284) it's difficult to get Stark International to supply more. Ex-leader U.S. Agent (Jack Daniels) and current leader Goliath (Clint Barton) are still feuding. But Clint and his wife Bobbi (Mockingbird) are still enjoying making up after they cancelled their divorce last issue. Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter) and her daughter Rachel are moving to their new apartment in Newport Beach and Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) is going to help them settle in. Living Lightning, here for the funeral, is heading back to college but he wonders if he's needed here with Iron Man dead and Wonder Man quitting (in his own #18), but Wanda encourages him to stick with his education so he leaves. Feeling as usual not an accepted member of the team, USA also stalks off to be alone.
There are still lots of newshounds camped outside the gate but 1, TV reporter Megan McCambridge, is taking a different tack. She's gone to prison to interview Erik Josten about an Avenger taking his super-id (she doesn't know whether it's Hawkeye or Dr Pym). She's persuaded the guards to give him his Goliath costume but he's not talking because of the sedation they've had him on since Giant-Man (Bill Foster) brought him in (in a tale in Marvel Comics Presents #114-118). She mentions that she also knows that Josten had a beef with Wonder Man in his #1, and that stirs him out of his torpor. His anger against Simon Williams then makes him grow extremely big, breaking through the roof of the building and stepping over nearby houses.
Back at WCA Compound naked Clint is giving equally-naked Bobbi a back massage, which she now says is the *real* reason she wants to stay married to him. They are the only people left in the place so they're worried when they hear a noise. They hurriedly don their costumes and investigate. They encounter the semi-visible form of Kuroko of the Pacific Overlords (from #69-74). She turns completely invisible but Goliath grabs her arm and punches her where her face was. She becomes fully visible with a beaten and bloodied face but assures him he didn't cause that, it was her boss Dr Demonicus.
WCA staff Roberto and Consuela are driving our trio to Newport Beach. Julia is consoling Rachel Carpenter over the recent deaths of her father Larry (#86) and her friend Carlos. Wanda wipes away a tear too, but possibly also over finally coming to terms with the fact that that her marriage to the now-robotic Vision is over.
Clint and Bobbi have given Kuroko a bed to rest and recover. But there's no rest for them because a giant hand smashes through another Compound wall to drag Clint outside and demand to know where Williams is. Clint-Goliath grows to his fighting height which makes Erik-Goliath drop him. But when he hears that Hawkeye is now using the G-name he transfers his anger to him. He lost the Power Man id to Luke Cage (in PM#21) and he's not going to give up *this* 1. Clint has been warned by Henry Pym against using the Pym Particles to grow any taller so he uses his relatively small size to tackle the bigger guy's knee and trip him up (knocking down more of the building), and then hit him when he's down.
Now Clint turns the check Bobbi's OK. But Josten, who has an ionic-powered body as well as his growth power, gets up again so Clint risks it and grows to his foe's size. However the strain causes him to collapse onto the place Bobbi had been. Josten hits him in the head with some masonry and the stunned C-G staggers out of the Compound to lead the fight away from his wife. He scatters the press on the way and smashes some of their cars.
Out in the woods Jack Daniels is as usual wallowing in his misery. He remembers his brother Mike dying in Vietnam but the US withdrew from the conflict before *he* could enlist. But he spins this as Mike getting to be the honoured war hero while he didn't. Then he got powers and became the Government stand-in Captain America when Cap (temporarily of course) retired (CA#333), but he believes the Avengers have never forgiven him for that. And the WCA women look down their noses at him.
In town dizzy C-G is still staggering around causing property damage but E-G is still following him. Clint lashes out and knocks Josten into a parking structure (looks more like a roadway to me), causing more damage. He tries to head out of the populated area but Erik keeps hitting him. Then help arrives in the form of Mockingbird on Hawkeye's sky-cycle and wielding Hawkeye's bow. She fires an electro-arrow into Josten's forehead which makes *him* dizzy, and she compounds the effect by 'landing' the cycle on his head. And as he falls she explains (to him and the readers) that he got his original powers (like Wonder Man's) from Baron Zemo's ionic ray (original Avengers #21). She reasoned that the ionic power came from adding electrons to his atoms so she rigged the special arrow to absorb electrons from him, temporarily removing those powers. This gives Clint a chance to KO him, but in his concussed state she has to verbally guide her husband's punches.
Mocky helps a doctor sedate Josten until he can be dealt with. Clint has shrunk down to man-size and he and Bobbi give an interview to a news reporter. Then they return by sky-cycle (Bobbi driving) to the Compound where ScW, SpW and USA are giving another interview. The duo tell the trio that they hurried back because of their visitor. Leaving USA to fend off the press the others rush to see Kuroko who tells them that Dr Demonicus intends to destroy the world.