Synopsis / Summary / Plot
OK, so last issue Ironheart defeated Lucia Von Bardas and declared herself Queen of Latveria.
S.H.I.E.L.D. react by sending their main helicarrier. Sharon Carter and Nick Fury Jr descend with some troops, 2 of them in Hulkbuster Iron Man armour. Commander Carter meets Latverian General Karadick who ushers her into the presence of Her Majesty, who is getting Doombots to feed starving children. Riri Williams sends Karadick to check on a Red Cross delivery, but really so she and her Tony Stark AI can talk to Carter privately.
Riri admits that making herself Queen was an impulsive mistake. (We get a flashback to that, continuing to a bit more fighting with Bardas and her soldiers which Ironheart ends with a Hulk-like earthquake-producing fist-strike to the ground. And then AI Tony suggests she call in SHIELD.) She wants Sharon to get her out of the situation, but she can't just leave without sorting out the mess the country is in. She produces a list of conditions.
In Chicago Mrs. Williams is enjoying a leisurely bath when SHIELD Agent Daisy Johnson knocks on her door to inform her that her daughter has taken over Latveria as Queen. Quake asks if Mrs Williams now considers herself Latverian Royalty, and is her house now a Latverian Embassy? Mrs W isn't too stunned to ask for a lawyer.
Ironheart is on the way to show Sharon what she's done with Von Bardas when the area is invaded by a group of armed nationalists. Riri disarms them magnetically, and threatens to disarm Karadick's men too if they don't lower their guns. Then she tells the insurgents to leave peacefully while she deals with things.
Lucia Von Bardas is a prisoner. AI Stark hacked her forcefield generators and used them against her. The terrorist shouts slogans as she's taken away by SHIELD.
Agent Carter suggests that authorising aid to Latveria will be impossible while Karadick is involved because he led a military takeover (before Von Bardas). Riri counters that Latveria fell apart when Dr Doom vacated the throne, and Karadick stepped in to try to do what little he could. Karadick says the outside world wouldn't talk to him. Carter points out that he's just been working with terrorist Von Bardas. Karadick counterpoints that she became the country's ruler so he was obliged to obey her - just as he's now obeying Ironheart.
Sharon realises that this whole conversation is being recorded on mobile phones. So she turns conciliatory.
Next we see a Daily Bugle front page saying that Ironheart has brokered free elections for Latveria. Back home Riri tells her mom that the country is going to have schools again. But she thinks they may have to move to avoid publicity. And she's decided between working for Stark Industries, returning to MIT or becoming a full-time superhero.
Next issue's cover suggests it's Stark.