Synopsis / Summary / Plot
This issue includes a running gag of Kurt Busiek interrupting George Perez' pencilling to change the scene.
We start with an opening page of police unable to stop a new super-strong baddie Pagan. Then Kurt says the readers are more interested what happens in the next bit and they skip there without including the credits and indicia (but that's OK because they fit them in on the next pages anyway, and page 1 has most of the creators' names hidden in the artwork anyway).
That next bit is a double-page spread of Beast's face saying "Hi, honey, I'm hooooome!" He bounces into Avengers Mansion carrying a bouquet of flowers past butler Edwin Jarvis, and then past Captain America (back from his adventure with Deadpool in DP#23-25) congratulating Scarlet Witch on her deputy leadership. He ends up knocking Wonder Man and a chair over backwards and plonking a kiss on him.
The conversation establishes that Henry McCoy has been busy on Muir Island trying to find a cure for the Legacy Virus that is devastating mutantkind (released by Stryfe in X-Force #18). But he's left computers running a day-long analysis and come running to see his old friend Simon Williams back from the dead. He hands Simon the red flowers saying they match his ionic eyes and suggests they go out on the town.
By now Cap, Wanda Maximoff and Vision have joined them. Hank asks Wanda and Vision to go out with them. Vision says he's got other plans and leaves. ScW says they all need to check out the latest appearance in the nation's capital of Lord Templar (who they fought last issue), but Cap says he, Firestar, Justice and Thor can handle that so the other 3 can go enjoy themselves. Hank says he always thought Wanda and Vizh's romance would last forever, making Wanda and Simon feel awkward because he doesn't know that *they* are now an item.
Simon leads them to a jazz club which Hank approves of greatly. (Beast is now wearing a red jacket which seems very much like the safari jacket Wonder Man used to sport.) Simon tells them he used to sneak in as a maths-nerd kid and saw all the jazz greats, much to Henry's envy. Wanda muses that a mathy jazz fan sounds more like Vision, and then she seems to see the synthezoid across the room. She approaches the figure and discovers that it *is* Vizh in holographic disguise as Victor Shade (a guise he adopted in Avengers Spotlight #40). It seems he never uses this disguise among the Avengers and Wanda never knew about it. (I don't recall him using the hologram outside of ASpot#40 and his own 1st mini-series.) She leads him to their table and he and Simon discover their shared jazz enthusiasm, putting it down to Vizh's brain being based on Simon's. Beast welcomes the next round of drinks saying they're going to get plastered. The waitress reminds him they're non-alcoholic but Hank says he and his pals have good imaginations. Vizh says he drinks (and eats) to be sociable, but his system *does* use the material for extra energy.
Wonder Man gets serious about some of the things he did (in his own series) before he died (in Force Works #1). He remembers meeting his dead mother in Hell (WM#22) but she's still alive (I think this gets put down to general Mephisto trickery). He was suffering the after effects of the Nega-Bomb (in Operation Galactic Storm) which made him more violent - he even attacked his fellow West Coast Avengers including Wanda (WM#18). Wanda reminds him that she herself became 'dark' (WCA#55), and Vision tried to take over the world (controlled by the Titanian supercomputer ISAAC) (Avengers #255). Simon ups the ante by saying that he killed a villain Angkor (WM#12) and some gang members (WM#16), but Wanda reminds him an inquest absolved him of blame. He now takes them back to the beginning when he embezzled money from his company and everyone assumed his brother Eric (later Grim Reaper) had done it. But Simon didn't feel right until he confessed (AWC v2#4). But he's never accepted the blame for the later things, and he thinks this makes him unfit to be an Avenger.
Kurt tells George he needs to fit in another subplot before they can get back to Pagan.
Henry Pym is working at Nugent Technologies researching insect-communication, specifically by pheromones. He believes they're funding him for pure research but someone tells him that the whole place is gearing up to implement his results when he's finished. A metal hand orders that the woman be reassigned elsewhere and everyone to keep away from Dr Pym.
Kurt tells George there's just 1 more bit to fit in before the action starts.
Captain America and the 3 others in Washington are learning that Lord Templar appeared and then just held some Congress(wo)men prisoner for half an hour. He talked about a new balance of power. Cap connects this to last issue when Templar hinted that the world's governments were colluding with him. There is no evidence of any link to the US government but the public won't believe that. Cap recalls the recent manipulation of the public by a Skrull leader of Hydra in his recent #4-7. Young Justice tells his girlfriend Firestar that he's getting more unsure about his suitability to be an Avenger. She reminds him this was his dream and tells him to buck his ideas up.
Then Cap gets an emergency call from Scarlet Witch and we're back to Pagan at last.
Pagan has held off the National Guard in Times Square and now he faces the 4 heroes from the jazz club. Wanda tells Wonder Man to hold back while the others probe the villain's abilities. He shrugs off a chaos spell saying he *is* a chaos being. Beast leaps on his head giving Vision a chance to do 1 of his schticks - putting his immaterial arm in the foe's chest and solidifying it. But he is repelled by an energy backlash and Pagan is unfazed. So *now* the Witch sends in her big gun WM, but Pagan just punches him away. Wondy and Vision double-team him, but Pagan just seems to grow bigger and stronger.
Pagan hasn't done anything but smash bits of Times Square and boast how unstoppable he is. He refuses to answer when Wanda asks him what he wants. And when he sees Templar on a news report he says that even Lord Templar can't stop him. Which makes the Witch think that he knows the other guy. As the Avengers continue to attack Wanda wonders where Pagan is drawing his power from. She seems to only vaguely consider the possibility that it's from *their* attacks, and she certainly doesn't complain when ...
... Thor's hammer blow announce the arrival of the other Avengers. Cap immediately assumes command and invokes standard procedure. He orders Firestar to search for injured and Justice to telekinetically cap off broken gas and water mains. He sends Thor and Wonder Man as the strongest to attack Pagan together, ignoring Wanda's warning that raw power may not be a good idea. He says Scarlet Witch should use her hexes to contain any explosions or deprive the villain of oxygen. But then Thor's reflung hammer hits WM who gets in the way, and Pagan claims victory before burrowing an escape route through the earth.
Cap sends Vision to ghost through the ground to follow him, but he soon returns saying he can't see through rock. Cap tells Simon off and then says this definitely wasn't a win. Now both Lord Templar (last issue) and Pagan have held off the whole team and just left when they felt like it.
Back at the Mansion Wanda Maximoff thinks she knows why the Avengers have been losing their fights. They are more like a bunch of individuals than a team. Vision is withdrawn, Thor often absent, Firestar and Justice feel isolated. She doesn't include Iron Man being off injured but she does think Cap has been too busy with his own stuff (he wasn't here last issue). She thinks it's because they've not had a leader who would drill procedures into them, and ensure they functioned well together. She tells Cap they should talk.
Outside the Mansion Hank tells Simon he has to get back to the Legacy Virus. He tells his friend that he too felt at sea when he 1st left the X-Men and mutated into his furry form (back in Amazing Adventures), but eventually he came to an accommodation with his life. He believes if Simon gives it time his heart will tell him what his decision(s) should be.
Kurt and George get the last word as Perez expresses an interest in drawing more of the 'funny little monkey-man'.