Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In the last 2 issues Nick Fury and the Secret Warriors invaded Hydra's main base Gehenna to set off a mountain-buster bomb. Unfortunately Hydra was waiting for them because Hellfire (JT James) had betrayed them (although they don't know that). Eden Fesi teleported them in but was knocked out before he could get them out again. Fury set the bomb on a timer and Phobos (Alex Aaron), son of Ares, used his godly prescience to lead them to an escape route, knowing that this would also lead him to a duel to the death with Gorgon. Alex broke Gorgon's sword Godkiller in 2 but the villain stabbed him through the heart with the hilt-half.
Now Gorgon takes Phobos' sword Grasscutter as a replacement. (It too was broken last issue but now it is whole again. These magic swords!)
Fury and the White Caterpillar Team are on the other side of a chasm with a broken stone 'bridge'. Team leader Quake (Daisy Johnson) channels her grief into her quake power (which doesn't do much except increase the amount of debris lying around). Gorgon, Madame Hydra and the rest of the enemy troops retreat, leaving Baron Strucker shouting threats at his old foe Fury. Our lot leave too.
They run up a winding stone staircase to a cavern with 4 exits. Speedster Slingshot (Yo Yo Rodriguez) runs off to investigates them all. Eden Fesi, carried by Stonewall (Jerry Sledge) isn't just unconscious but seriously injured. And they only have about 2 minutes before the big bomb goes off. Yo Yo returns with the way out but there are 100's of Hydra Agents about. Nick says he has transport waiting for them if they get out, and contacts someone with the codename Last Chance.
Yo Yo leads them to some stairs to the surface where a VTOL craft could land. Fury gives Daisy a GPS beacon to guide the rescue in. He'll stay to hold off Hydra. JT goes back to help him, but tells his girlfriend Daisy that *her* job is to get the others away. JT and Fury are holding their own when the mountain-breaker explodes. All the Hydra Agents fall into a new chasm, and JT starts to follow but Nick grabs his hand. But then he tells Hellfire he knows he was the traitor.
We next see a flashback to JT's last meeting (#20) with a Hydra contact informing them of the upcoming attack on Gehenna. But now we see Fury overhearing it all. Now Nick says he detected JT leaving their base when it was on lockdown, followed him and witnessed the meet. JT tells him how Hydra blackmailed him over some money he stole from Fury. He didn't trust Nick, especially after he fired Sebastian Druid. And Hydra promised to keep Daisy safe. Nick asks JT if he truly loves Daisy. JT says yes and Nick says he believes him. Daisy would want him to save JT. But Nick's not Daisy, and he drops him into the chasm. He tells himself he did it for the girl's sake.
Fury then runs topside where the others are in an aircraft. He tells Daisy the JT didn't make it, and they take off.
Later Strucker is sitting alone in the amazingly unharmed meeting room in Gehenna. An aid informs him that the planes following our heroes were all destroyed by unknown means. And Gorgon and Madame Hydra have left taking most of the Agents with them. Kraken arrives saying he's just destroyed Leviathan's Siberian base, leaving them with only 1. But he's very unhappy with how the Baron has let things fall apart. He reminds him of the pact they made 6 years ago, but Wolfgang hasn't kept up his side of the bargain. And so Kraken attacks him saying it's time for him to go.
We finish with an epilogue in the Grecian Fields Of Elysium. Dead Phobos is reunited with his equally dead father Ares. Alex says he fought and lost, but he tried his hardest. Ares says that's why he was found worthy to be here, and it's good enough for him.