An army of Iron Patriot drones takes off from China and
spreads a swath of death and destruction through the Middle East….
At the SHIELD Helicarrier, Dr. Mendel reports to
Phil Coulson that there is no progress on reactivating the damaged Jocasta that was
recovered from the Gate….
A helicopter lands atop the craft, discharging several divisions
of SHIELD troops, guarding a single prisoner, Dr. Bruce Banner. He is greeted
by Maria Hill. Director Daisy Johnson is surprised at how well it went,
considering the history of both Bruce Banner and Hulk. At a briefing of
scientific personnel, Johnson reveals that six hours after A.I.M. stole the
Iron Patriot prototype, an army of Iron Patriot drones took of from a factory
in China and raided the Middle East, targeting terrorist training camps,
leaders’ homes, weapons depots, all good targets but many were not verified and
the drones had no concern for civilian casualties. The US will not launch an
attack on Barbuda because it’s better to claim the drone strikes were planned than
admit that a US weapons system was hacked and deployed by an enemy. So she asks
the assembled brains how to stop them. Bruce Banner replies that they don’t: the
drones aren’t drones, they’re sentient. So they have a sense of identity and survival
instinct so they should talk to them, reason with them, as they think what they
are doing is in the best interests of mankind. But it has to be someone who can
understand how machines think….
And so, Phil Coulson meets with Tony Stark remotely, a small
monitor mounted inside a remote-controlled Iron Man armor. Tony has many
reasons why he can’t accommodate them but Coulson has a confession: he’s
actually there to talk to James “Rhodey” Rhodes….
And so, having learned that the Iron Patriots are headed for
Tehran, SHIELD cannot allow an act of war to take place that the USA would be
blamed for, so to buy time, Bruce Banner is dropped from a helicopter. And the
Hulk lands among the drones and smashes all of them into tiny pieces. Hulk
turns back into Banner and he is captured by SHIELD troops. Daisy Johnson makes
a statement for the press that Hulk, controlled by Mentallo, was dispatched
toward Tehran so the US Government allowed SHIELD the use of the drones to stop
him, which they did. The incident is still under investigation so there is no
word on retaliation against A.I.M., known to be Mentallo’s employer….
Meanwhile, Nick Fury Jr. leads an underwater mission of the
Secret Avengers (Black Widow, Hawkeye, Mockingbird) to infiltrate Barbuda.
Mockingbird will work with the on-site asset (Taskmaster) to learn how the
drones are being controlled while the other three are approved to assassinate
the Scientist Supreme….