Synopsis / Summary / Plot
The day after last issue Nick Fury is flying back to New York and having a video conference with Dum Dum Dugan, Eric Koenig, Gabe Jones and Jasper Sitwell of the Howling Commandos Private Military Company. He's going to send them to the Hell's Heaven Hydra base in China and he'll take Alexander Pierce's Black Caterpillar team off concentrating on Leviathan to back them up. He signs off saying he'll see Dugan in Italy and then the desert. Gabe is worried about causing an international incident and Jasper agrees. Eric wonders if that's exactly what Nick wants.
Daisy Johnson (Quake) has been on the trip with Fury. She takes the opportunity to protest once more about his decision (in #11) to drop Sebastian Druid from the team. Since he always tells her the Secret Warriors are *her* team then it should be up to her. He tells her to review the performance files and make her own mind up. But the lives of Druid and the others depend on her choice.
Madame Hydra is preparing to leave Hydra's main base Gehenna. Gorgon asks where she's going and she replies that she's going to rescue Viper from Leviathan (kidnapped in #11). Tomi Shishido thinks she should wait until Kraken's telepaths have established she isn't the suspected traitor. Madame H suggests Viper being tortured for Hydra secrets is worse than any traitor. And a mind scan can't reveal the truth in your heart. And as she leaves she adds the barb that Gorgon failed to prevent the kidnap.
Within the 'great temple' Baron Strucker works out with his Satan Claw glove against 4 attackers while Kraken looks on (from a throne?). Strucker is winning until 1 man plunges a blade in his back. Wolfgang loses it and kills that opponent. Kraken describes Gehenna as a holy place, and says he hasn't so far found the traitor who defiles it. But this afternoon Gorgon and Madame Hydra will be tested. Strucker says the traitor must be unearthed so that they can complete the task the 2 of them began some years ago.
5 years ago on a remote tropical paradise he's named Hydra Island Strucker is having a meal with his twin offspring Andrea and Andreas (the duo also known as Fenris). The pair are spoiling for some action, so when an armoured stranger appears they leap to their feet. But their father tells them to stand down and introduces them to the Kraken, an old friend he hasn't seen for a long time. Kraken and the Baron go for a walk and compare notes on their children. Kraken has a disappointing son (who we never know any more about) but he has found a protégé in Japan (Tomi Shishido in #11's flashback). They pass a sign which Strucker says points to Pieta. They had sworn that 1 day they would return there with Nick Fury and Viktor Uvarov dead. He thinks Kraken has come to say that day is at hand. But instead Kraken announces he is dying.
Now Fury and Quake return to the Secret Warriors' base in New York the Cocoon (NF's secret base #17) to be greeted by the rest of the Warriors. They call a meeting because things are getting serious.
Leviathan have Viper at *their* secret base Long Winter in Siberia. A Hydra jumpship openly approaches them and the Leviathan leader expects someone has come to negotiate for her release. Madame Hydra steps out holding the box that everyone is so interested in.
Back at the Cocoon Daisy explains about the 2 other Caterpillar teams that are concentrating on Hydra and Leviathan respectively. This team will pitch in where required. But she also tells them that Nick wants to give them all the chance to drop out before things get too hairy. Nobody takes up the offer, and daisy gives Fury an I-told-you-so look.
Nick tells them to pack their bags because they're all leaving this base. They won't be travelling together for security. They'll find instructions in their quarters, and they mustn't tell each other about them. Actually Eden Fesi is to teleport himself and Alex Aaron (Phobos), and Jerry Sledge (Stonewall) and Yo-Yo Rodriguez (Slingshot) will find themselves in separate seats on the same plane. But Daisy and JT James (Hellfire) do have individual routes. And Sebastian Druid finds a note telling him he's fired.