Prologue: the North Sea 1945, members of the Nazi occult Thule Society are destroying their secret documents as the Invaders are outside battling the giant Sleeper. Out of nowhere, Valkyrie arrives and destroys the massive robot and the Invaders enter the enemy stronghold—but Val is stopped by the Enchantress who demands that Val, her minion, return to Asgard. The heroine insists on continuing the fight against the Nazi scourge but Amora absorbs her into a vapor form and departs….
Today, the Thing has confronted Valkyrie in the Baxter Building, as she is there to claim the Hammer of Angrir, wielded by the Thing during the war of the Serpent. To her surprise, Ben is willing for her to take it as he is guilty and ashamed over the terrible things the hammer’s spell forced him to do. Their talk has awakened young Valeria, daughter of Reed and Sue, who easily cracks the combination to the mysterious vault, and Valkyrie takes the hammer. As she departs she leaves Thing with a world of counsel: do not concentrate on guilt over past misdeeds but focus on making them right….
At the Vault, high-security prison for super-villains, Titania has been driven mad by the loss of the Hammer of Skirn and is in lock-down. Sin, Crossbones, and the DOA arrive to claim the hammer and are met by the Thunderbolts: Luke Cage, Mach-V, and Songbird. Cage tries to use the hammer against the enemy but Crossbones takes him down with the magic Gauntlet of Shuma-Gorath. ‘Bones claims the hammer and, as warden John Walker and his troops appear, the portal is opened to permit the villains to escape….
…back to DOA headquarters in South Carolina. Crossbones, presents her with the hammer which is added to the arcane device which, we now learn, is creating a new, more powerful Sleeper….