Synopsis
Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) quit the Champions last issue. Now Viv Vision flies her home (without the aid of a plane). As they land at MsM's house in Jersey City Viv comments that previously MsM had kept her civilian identity secret, but Kamala correctly guesses synthezoid Viv had already worked out who she was and where she lived. She says she's worn down by the effort of leading the team, and the Disir showing her last issue her death (in the alternate reality that Miles Morales and Amadeus Cho bargained with Mephisto to avoid in #2) has knocked her back. She doesn't know when she'll be back, and Viv offers to lead the team in her absence.
As Viv flies away she reflects that she's the only founding Champion left. (Teen Cyclops quit in #18 of the previous series. Nova (Sam Alexander) lost his powers in Infinity Countdown: Champions #2, and left to get them back in #4 of the current series. Spider-Man (MM) quit in that issue too, and Brawn (AC) left immediately after that to join the New Agents Of Atlas during War Of The Realms.) Her 2.0 personality pops up to suggest that Viv drove the others away by suppressing her human emotions. (Viv and Viv 2.0 merged in the above-mentioned #18, and Viv switched off her emotions (again) in #22.)
Now we switch to the focus of this issue - Sam's quest for the Black Nova helmet that gives him his powers. He's currently sharing a 1-person spacecraft with the alien female Kaldera who wants to kill him. In Nova (2019) #8-9 she was sent to assassinate him by Proxima Midnight. Her failure resulted in imprisonment and torture. She escaped in our #3 and intended to restore her honour by completing her task. But in #4 she discovered Sam was now powerless and killing him in that state would not suffice. So *she* wants to help him get his powers back so she can kill him properly. For that reason they are approaching the HQ of the Nova Corps who confiscated his helmet.
Kaldera matches orbit with the space station Spirit Of Xandar (aka the Rock) in her stealthed spaceship. She forces all the air out of Sam's lungs to avoid rupture in the vacuum and opens the cockpit. She leaps with him to the surface of the Rock and applies a cannister which blows a hole in the wall. Once inside she employs another cannister which seals the hole, and Sam is left gasping for breath. She disrupts the station comms and then hides to await an investigation.
4 minutes later Sam is still recovering when 2 alien Nova Corpsmen turn up. Kaldera drops on them and knocks them out. Sam stops her from killing them by swearing not to put on the Helmet if she does. They put on the non-power Nova helmets and take their guns. Sam scans the database and 'accidentally' comes across the file of his presumed-dead father, the Black Nova Jesse Alexander. Then he follows a map and deliberately(?) takes them to the barracks.
Human Nova Commander (and former SHIELD Agent) Scott Adsit gets a garbled alert and rushes to the barracks to investigate. There he finds that Kaldera has defeated (but not killed) all his men in there. Sam Alexander apologises for all this. Kaldera takes Adsit hostage to get them past any other Corpsmen and forces him to take them to the armoury to get the Black Helmet. Scott whispers to Sam that he knows Kaldera is making him do this.
They reach the armoury which holds, as well as weapons, several real powered Helmets. Adsit explains that they only use them when necessary because there are not many left. The Black Helmet is in special storage. Scott says it's still active but they can't get it to power up. But then they open the case to find that the Helmet has gone. Adsit studies security footage and they see a thief breaking in to steal the item.
Throughout the issue Kaldera has been her usual irascible superior self, but now she's getting annoyed. She demands that Adsit locates the Helmet. Luckily Scott's equipment can track its unique signature. When he's started the trace Kaldera thanks him and prepares to shoot him humanely. But Sam points *his* gun at *her*. However she was expecting that and kicks him away. He recovers and tries to shoot her but discovers that the gun she gave him was unloaded. And then she shoots Adsit.
Then the trace finishes and tells them the Helmet is back on Earth in Muscatine, Iowa.