Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Maximum Security is over and the Avengers are helping deport alien prisoners back to space (even after some of them helped defeat the Supreme Intelligence and the Ruul?). Most have gone but Iron Man, Vision and Warbird are facing a large metal straggler in Manhattan called Ten-Thirtifor. He claims to have to have been banished to Earth for the sin of independent thought, but now he prepares to send a message to his people declaring Earth ripe for invasion which should get him back in their good books. Vision recognises him from a report by Machine Man as an Autocron who are vulnerable to sonic attack, so the Golden Avenger supplies a very strong sonic blast which floors the foe. The Autocron tries to respond with a vertigo inducer but Warbird punches his lights out.
Iron Man contacts Wasp at Avengers Mansion to request SHIELD take the alien away. Janet Van Dyne reports more aliens who've taken hostages near Times Square. As the trio head there Carol Danvers tells Vision they'll have to postpone their dinner date again (the synthezoid asked her out in #32). She's not sure whether his calm acceptance is good or bad.
But we see how other Avengers are doing in the Mansion. Last issue they were joined by the reserve Avengers who had been in space (after the Avengers: Infinity mini-series) when Maximum Security began. Jack Of Hearts and Photon have elected to hang around for a while. We learn that Moondragon, Tigra and Starfox have gone back to Los Angeles, Titan and Chicago respectively. Quasar exiled himself to space to be the new host-body for Ego the Living Planet (see MaxSec#3). (No-one mentions that Thor isn't willing to be a regular Avenger currently after what happened in #27.) Jack is delighted to taste Earth food again after *his* long sojourn in space, especially as prepared by butler Edwin Jarvis. Wasp watches them chatting with Triathlon but can't shake the feeling that much worse lies ahead.
Elsewhere in the building Henry Pym (Goliath) finishes checking Wonder Man (Simon Williams) for lingering aftereffects of the ionic blast he and Atlas of the Thunderbolts suffered in #34. (Apparently Atlas isn't recovering as quickly.) Simon wants to know if there's any way to stop Count Nefaria taking him over again. When Hank calmly says he'll be vulnerable as long as Nefaria can control ionic beings like him, Scarlet Witch rounds on him for not trying to help her lover. Jan enters and suggests Simon and Wanda leave her to talk to *her* lover Henry. She wants to know why he's so emotionless these days ever since the Costa Verde mission (#28-30). He tells her not to worry, he'll go for a walk and work out how to be more demonstrative. *That* doesn't reassure her at all.
The exiting duo come across Jarvis dealing with an angry woman at the front door demanding to talk to Triathlon, who just happens to stroll past. She pushes in and announces that she's Peggy Chandler (we met her last issue) and she wants to know what Triathlon has done with her husband. Delroy Garrett doesn't know what she's talking about. The heroes still in the building gather with Mrs Chandler in a lounge to hear her story.
Her husband Hal Chandler was superhero the 3-D Man in the late 50's, who had 3 times the strength, speed and stamina of an ordinary man. Delroy admits that sounds like him too. Someone has some film to show of the hero in action, and the costumes look similar too. Peggy says her husband disappeared 8 months before the Triune Understanding showed up, and they've given Triathlon his costume and powers. Garrett is still perplexed.
So we go over to the Triune HQ in Calleyville, Texas where leader Jonathan Tremont has called a meeting of the Council to discuss the Avengers. They comment that recruitment was booming while the Understanding covertly made the team seem like religious bigots opposing them. But since their guy Triathlon joined the Avengers and things seemed OK between the groups public sympathy has waned. Tremont agrees that they need to keep increasing their numbers so they'll be ready to face the threat they know is coming. And he knows how to make it seem that the hero team is only successful nowadays *because* Triathlon's with them.
Back at the Mansion Delroy Garrett is promising Mrs Chandler that he'll look into her problem, for his own sake as well as hers. But then 2 recent foes Pagan and Lord Templar burst through a wall. Jarvis hustles Peggy to safety while the heroes attack. Templar easily rebuffs them and Wasp triggers an alarm on her wrist to call in the other Avengers.
Templar then explains that after he captured Pagan (#15) he 're-educated' him to be his servant. Now he's come to do the same to the Avengers, because their example of individual heroism stops people from embracing his promise of peace and universal law. Then Pagan slams his fists down and cracks open the floor, and all the heroes fall in.
Now we back track a few minutes to when Goliath got the alarm call. Before he can respond he's ambushed by someone who we recognise as the other Henry Pym who was split off from him in Costa Verde as Yellowjacket. This Henry now says he's going to take over our Henry's life.
Down in a sub-basement the heroes are still fighting the 2 villains. Photon finds that her energy form can't pass through Lord Templar and he absorbs JOH's blasts. Pagan is unharmed by any physical attacks, even Wonder Man's, and the Witch's hex-spheres aren't having any effect either. Iron Man and Warbird turn up and between them at least stagger him. And then Wasp gets a priority alert from Captain America ...
... who's in Slorenia with SHIELD. He says they're fighting Bloodwraith and he needs Avengers' help, at least Scarlet Witch and the science-skills of Goliath or Iron Man plus anyone else who's available. Then he rings off to go save some soldiers.
Wasp has to decide priorities. Photon goes anyway because she can get there at the speed of light. Iron Man tells Jan he wants them to defend the Mansion because it's where he grew up (Wasp is 1 of those who know he's Tony Stark). As Vision gets here Jan makes the decision that lives are worth more than any building and she orders Iron Man, the Witch and Wonder Man to Slorenia. They take a quinjet leaving Jack, Triathlon, Vision, Warbird and Wasp to hold the line here.
Monica Rambeau has reached the Eastern European country. She's not sure why the problem is serious because Bloodwraith is just a "psycho with a sword". Then she sees that he's now an extremely large PWAS, dwarfing the (admittedly ruined) buildings.