Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue, amongst other things, Val de Fontaine surrendered to the German Intelligence Agency in Berlin. Nick Fury comes to see her and is sneaked in by Albert, who might be Eric Koenig's son. The Contessa wants to know how Fury caused all the Leviathan troops to turn to green goo last issue.
Nick explains that it was due to the Zodiac Protocols that Magadan used to put Orion and the Leviathan troops in suspended animation decades ago. As explained in #26 the Professor, Thomas Davidson, created the system. But he was working for SHIELD and could remotely control it. So when Magadan revived Orion and the troops in #14 the Prof overloaded the system and they started to burn out, with a carefully calculated lifespan. Val points out that it didn't work on Orion, but Fury says it will just take longer with him because of all the lifeforce he absorbed while in hibernation.
But now Nick wants to know why his old lover (and SHIELD/Hydra/Leviathan triple-agent) turned herself in when she could have gone into hiding. Val responds that her belief in Leviathan was like a toy she was obsessed with having but then realised she didn't really want. When Nick destroyed it all she discovered she didn't care. It turned out what she really cared about was something else, so she let herself be arrested so that he could find her.
2 days later Senator Reb Ralston oversees the release of Dum Dum Dugan and Jasper Sitwell from a UN holding facility. Their testimony to the Security Council (#17-19) was instrumental in persuading the UN to start the new anti-terrorist-group organisation, and it's being built as they speak. They get in a tinted-window limo to be greeted by Nick Fury and John Garrett. And Nick wants Dum Dum to be a 'parent'(?).
We get to hear what was in Fury's letter to Daisy Johnson last issue as we see the reunion of the surviving members of the White team of Secret Warriors. He regrets what his plan did to her team and he doesn't expect her to forgive him. But his actions were necessary to cause the creation of the new organisation. However those same actions mean he won't be allowed to lead it. But he wants *her* to step up to take his place. Meanwhile we see Daisy and Sebastian Druid joining Jerry Sledge and Yo-Yo Rodriguez at a barbecue. And then the pair returning to Australia to rescue Eden Fesi from the tutelage of Gateway again.
Sebastian then flies all of them in a plane to the construction site for the new HQ. There they are met by Dugan, Garrett and Sitwell along with the surviving Black team of Secret Warriors. Behind them are ranks of Agents (probably the ex-SHIELD Agents who joined the HCPMC army). A surprise addition is Leonardo da Vinci. But then he played a big part behind the scenes in this story:- When he came forward in time to the 1950's (in Hickman's SHIELD series) he left the LMD prototype behind in his place which was later buried in his tomb and was instrumental in kickstarting this saga. And he formed the Great Wheel of the Zodiac which set the scene for everything that followed.
Our next scene is Arlington National Cemetery where Steve Rogers meets Dum Dum Dugan who confirms that Daisy will lead the new team. Steve heads down to meet Nick Fury in front of the statue of Captain America set up when Steve was believed dead. He thinks they should take it down now but Nick's of the opinion they should build it higher. Steve says that Dum Dum has told him everything that Nick did in this series. He doesn't approve of it but the President wants it kept quiet so there'll be no comeback. But now that Steve's in charge of things he won't let Fury do something like that again.
But he also expresses his condolences for the death of Nick's son Mikel (#24). And he repeats a sentiment he expressed on WWII's D-Day that 1 man with conviction can win a war. Nick says he was there and remembers it (see his tale in Dark Reign: New Nation). But now Steve reminds him that *he* wasn't around after the War (because he was frozen in suspended animation). And in that period *Nick* was that 1 man. They part on good terms, and Nick melts back into the shadows.
Steve returns to Dum Dum. They're worried about Fury. But Dugan thinks he's got a new purpose in living, and he thinks he knows where he's going now. Our last scene is back in Berlin where the Contessa is being escorted to a new prison. Fury is in the crowd, and Dum Dum's voiceover continues by saying Nick's going to break his girlfriend out of jail.