Synopsis / Summary / Plot
This issue begins with a voiceover on top of 4 panels containing:- Some AIM agents. A pair of bloody hands. A stone block with round protrusions. What looks like a mechanoid version of an AIM agent. The captions basically say that the Avengers promised to protect the world.
Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner attend the 1st Avengers liaison meeting (in the new working arrangement between the Avengers and SHIELD set up in Point One) with Maria Hill on the SHIELD Helicarrier. Steve has brought Bruce along because he's familiar with working with Hill (in the current Hulk series). They discuss threats on the incident board.
There's activity in the Origin Bomb site in Regina, Canada (see Av#10). (But this won't figure in the rest of this issue.)
There's a lot of extreme weather and seismic events on the US East Coast, which doesn't look natural. Captain Marvel, Hyperion and Thor are already there to assist. Captain America details Dr Banner to assemble a SHIELD scientific team to track the source of the problem.
Madripoor has descended into chaos and mob rule. Black Widow, Falcon and Wolverine are there. They decide the situation is beyond control and start thinking about who they can save. Shang-Chi is supposed to be with them, but he has slipped away on his own business.
Another group of Avengers have been sent to Velletri in Italy where the population has disappeared. Hawkeye, Nightmask, Spider-Woman and Starbrand discover the stone block from page 1. Starbrand touches it, triggering black tendrils and a burst of light which cuts off communication with SHIELD.
Meanwhile Banner's team have traced the origin of the East Coast disturbances to AIM Island, which is getting bigger and changing in other ways. Cap sends Cannonball, Smasher and Sunspot to investigate.
In Madripoor Shang-Chi infiltrates a Hand temple and witnesses Gorgon (with the bloody hands from page 1) performing a mystical rite to wake the Beast. There is a legend that the city was built on the back of a very large dragon. Which turns out to be true as the animal raises itself from within the ground.
SHIELD reestablish contact with the team in Velletri, who have been transported to an underground city of the dead, where Starbrand hears voices in his head.
The trio at AIM Island discover a large techno-city/fortress, and are confronted by the mechanoid being from page 1 who blasts them from the sky.
The issue ends with the same voiceover as page 1, over 4 new panels:- Cap, Banner and Hill. The Madripoor dragon. The Velletri city of the dead. The mechanoid figure. It is that figure who speaks the voiceover, adding that he will take the world from the Avengers.