Sharon Carter has tracked Nick Fury and his party to the Shadow Council citadel in Texas, and she detects Ant-Man’s signal. The tiny hero tries to explain the situation as best he can but the bottom line is that a legion of dangerous foes is on its way through the Vortex to suicide-bomb Mars….
On Mars, the Worldmind believes it can transfer the Nova Force into Steve Rogers enabling him to fight the rogue Nova, but he may not survive, and if he fails the universe ends. ("So, you know…no pressure" says War Machine.) Meanwhile, Nova is urging his workers to greater efforts. Unable to delay any longer, Steve dons the Nova helmet and is overwhelmed by the power. When the light dims, Steve has been transformed into a being of cosmic power. He launches himself at the rogue Nova and the two clash in mighty combat….
In Texas, Shadow Council Director Aloysius Thorndrake leaves with the second Serpent Crown and orders Nick Fury to see to the destruction of their base on Mars. Elsewhere Sharon Carter persuades Ant-Man to return to Mars through the vortex with the Council’s 9th Legion to prevent the deaths of the Secret Avengers….
While the newly powered Steve battles Nova, the other Avengers fight the possessed Shadow Council minions—and the deadly psychic tentacles of the emerging Dark Son. Steve pleads with Richard Rider to fight the Crowns’ control over his mind and the damaged Archon makes a last stand against the Dark Son. In the vortex, Ant-Man causes one of the Legion’s suicide bombers to explode, igniting a chain reaction that kills all of them. Ant-Man manages to emerge from the vanishing point ahead of the massive explosion from the vortex. The collapse of the vanishing point cuts off Nova’s Crown from its link to Earth and he falls to the ground, weakened enough for Steve to remove the Crown from his head. Steve passes the Crown to Archon, who promises to take it where the Dark Son’s followers cannot find it. An examination shows that Nova will recover from his experience—unlike his minions, who all died when he lost his power. As the atmosphere on Mars begins to dissipate, Ant-Man finally catches up with the team but they don’t believe him when he claims to have saved their lives. Nova awakens from his coma and asks for his helmet back….
On the way back to Earth, Nova takes his leave to answer a distress call from the Guardians. Sharon gives Steve some bad news: the satellite footage from the Shadow Council citadel shows that one of the sinister group’s leaders is Nick Fury….