Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue, set well before Secret Invasion, Nick Fury discovered evidence of Skrull infiltration and set out to do something about it. Now this issue is 6 months before SI and he starts to build his forces.
A bald-headed African-American with an eye-patch meets Daisy Johnson on a park bench in Mount Tabor Park, Portland, Oregan. She immediately sees through Nick's disguise. (And yes, this issue was published soon after Samuel L Jackson was 1st seen in the role in the 1st Iron Man movie.) But their banter allows them to remind us of their past. Fury recruited her into SHIELD when her Quake power manifested and he told her that her real father was Mr Hyde. Later he dragged her into his Secret War against Latveria, which got him thrown out of SHIELD and on the run. And Daisy was 'retired' at age 18. (She calls herself now an Agent Of Nothing, which will be applied to Fury himself as the title of the 1st Secret Warriors arc.)
Fury also mentions information new to us but not to her - that she was 1 of his Caterpillar files, info on young super-powered kids that only *he* knows about. He wants her to gather some other Caterpillar kids and turn them into butterflies. He wants these unknown kids because he doesn't know who of the regular superheroes, or other forces, to trust. (And they will become the title chars in the Secret Warriors series.)
Daisy's 1st stop is in the Bronx where 10-year old Alex Aaron is getting grief from his father the Avenger Ares. Then he gets ragged by some local youths, but he stares at them and they run away. Daisy approaches him and tells him she knows his father is the Greek God Of War. He denies this but I think it's just what his dad told him to do. (He knows about the God thing because he got dragged into a war of gods in the Ares mini-series.) But then Daisy points out that makes him Phobos, God Of Fear, which explains what he just did. And Alex *didn't* know that.
Next up is San Juan in Puerto Rico where teen Yo-Yo Rodriguez has her shoulder bag stolen. She runs after the thief and suddenly finds herself going *very* fast, and winds up on the island of Caja De Muertos. Then equally suddenly she's rushing back to San Juan, followed by a sonic boom. And she doesn't understand what happened. That's when Daisy greets her and tells her she can now run very fast but will always get slingshotted back to her starting point. Yo-Yo admits she knows that her father is the minor supervillain Griffin. And Daisy says she knows a man who can help her with her power.
In Atlanta, Georgia Daisy find JT James working as a store clerk. She sees him blithely letting someone get away with a small theft. When Daisy calls him on it JT says he gets paid minimum wage so he expends minimum effort. Daisy says she knows he has a power, and asks for a demonstration. Out back of the store JT hefts a chain which he says he was attacked with. But he grabbed it and discovered this - as he charges it up with flame and then cracks it like a whip. Daisy tells him he inherited power from his grandfather Carter Slade, the original Ghost Rider/Phantom Rider(/Night Rider). She invites him to a better life than sitting behind a counter. He asks if there's money in it.
Next stop is X-Factor Investigations in Mutant Town, New York to recruit Layla Miller. But Layla knew Daisy was coming and turns down the offer before it's made. She says that if she joins the team they will fail, but without her they will succeed. And the mutants *do* need her here. She also gives Daisy a personal prophecy - she will live through 'this' and go on to be great, but at a cost.
The New York trip isn't a total bust because Daisy finds her next target outside Dr Strange's former Sanctum in Greenwich Village. Sebastian Druid is the son of Dr Druid (Anthony Ludgate/Druid) and is desperate to learn how to control his magic powers. But Daisy tells him his powers *aren't* magic, they are due to his monster DNA. (We never learn who his presumably monster mother was. And his power always *looks* like magic, and frequently involve spells from a book his father left him.) But Daisy *can* offer help, and Sebastian is demonstrably grateful.
In a jail cell in Minneapolis, Minnesota Jerry Sledge has been arrested for hitting a cop. He gets unexpectedly bailed and meets his benefactor Daisy.
Then they're all in a safehouse meeting Nick Fury who tells them that if they follow orders they might survive and make the world a better place. And he asks them if they know what a Skrull is.