Synopsis
Philip Nelson Vogt brings us up to date in the intro page again. He and his Troubleshooters have been secretly keeping tabs on the Ultimates. The team has mirrored the rift in the super-community over the use of the precognitions of the Inhuman Ulysses which led to War Machine being killed by Thanos (in Free Comic Book Day 2016: Civil War II). The Ultimates themselves made positive use of Ulysses to stop the Infinaut accidentally destroying the Earth last issue. Meanwhile Thanos is imprisoned under the their Triskelion HQ alongside the Anti-Man who believes there's a cage around reality. Their cells are allegedly unbreakable.
This issue opens with a continuation of an epilogue to last issue where Thanos has psychically contacted Conner Sims and is stirring up his paranoia. He wants to believe that his friend Adam Brashear and his team are doing what's best for him, but he's not been able to convince them about the cage and the cosmic jailer. (In #7 we got a hint that the jailer is preventing others from hearing when Conner mentions him.) Thanos says that they are all good people but just now they're too busy with the predictions and the civil war.
Vogt is aware of a prediction concerning a woman named Alison Green who works at a financial firm and seems an exemplary citizen.
But now the Ultimates plus the Inhumans Crystal, Karnak, Medusa and Ulysses descend on her as she leaves her offices. Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) asks her to come in for questioning. Blue Marvel (Adam) is worried about this. Spectrum (Monica Rambeau) reminds him that U predicted that Alison's briefcase contains a very powerful weapon, something akin to a portable black hole generator, which is going to collapse the NY Stock Exchange to a pinpoint. She also reminds him how another prediction allowed them to evacuate the staff of Project PEGASUS, including his own daughter Adrienne, before Thanos' attack (FCBD16:CWII again). Plus he was right about the Celestial Destructor (CWII#1) and the Infinaut. But Adam is still uneasy as he see a SWAT team trying to take Ms Green away. However he can't deny that stopping a black hole bomb is a good idea.
Black Panther joins the pair to add that they *should* be here to witness the result of the prediction. Adam doesn't trust T'Challa's views because he knows that to preserve the safety of his country Wakanda the King would be prepared to kill the extremely dangerous Anti-Man. But BP undercuts BM's expectations by suggesting that Ms Green is not the problem they should be worried about. They see that she is understandably resisting and the SWAT team are starting to apply force and have taken her briefcase away. Carol tries to calm the situation but Adam storms in to order the police to stop.
America Chavez and T'Challa agree that they don't like the way things are going but for now they'll just watch and 'formulate a response'. (When Chavez was recruited for the team in Avengers (2016) #0 we saw that even then she had an ulterior motive to watch for signs of them abusing their power.) The cops don't take kindly to Brashear interfering with their arrest of a suspected terrorist. He points out that they have no evidence that she's done anything wrong, and he exerts the power of his personality (and the public knowledge of what he can do) to insist that she be treated with respect. Carol intervenes but the cops are cowed.
We have another interlude with Vogt where 1 of his Troubleshooters, Kathy Ling whose speciality is ranged combat, gets a report from Agent Jessup (who we met last issue) who is monitoring the situation locally. They discuss how the supposed cooperative is effectively now being led by Colonel Danvers. Vogt thinks that Brashear will protest but not rebel. But he's less sure about T'Challa and the intel on Chavez is very vague.
The cop with the briefcase hands it over to Captain Marvel. Ulysses confirms that it is the case he saw in his vision. Karnak has trained him to remember details and he recognises every dent and scuff mark on the old object. But Carol is beginning to get worried because it feels very light ...
... and the story continues in a Triskelion meeting room where we see the briefcase open and empty. Danvers reports that it's been checked for everything including psychic, magical and temporal but it's completely clean. She can only conclude that this isn't the case Ulysses saw. But he did see her carrying a case like it and it caused the devastation. They go round and round the argument that the only evidence they have is U's vision, but he was right many times before. T'Challa points out that if he's wrong this time then they can't trust him. Monica insists that they had to be sure, but Adam fears that sending armed troops on the streets to arrest innocent citizens is a very slippery slope. Carol says that they could improve the handling but they have to keep going, and present a united front because Tony Stark wants to close the whole thing down.
America Chavez has kept quiet but now she makes a statement. She picks up a chair and hits Captain Marvel with it. She says she told herself when she joined that if the team ever crossed the line she'd stop them. She throws more stuff at CM and when Blue Marvel tries to stop her she decks him with 1 punch. The dimension-hopping girl tells them that she's seen realities where predictive justice was used and it never ended well. Carol tells Monica to take her out. Spectrum prepares to use a tactic she wished she'd used on Thanos before he killed James Rhodes. She turns to light and aims for America's eyes to get to her brain. But 1 of Chavez' powers is to form portals to other realities. And she opens small portals in her eyes which send MR to another Earth, 2000 years after the Platonic Wars eliminated humanity. And America closes the portal behind her. She dodges antimatter blasts from BM's hands. Carol asks T'Challa why he's just standing watching. He replies that he's still formulating his response. Then Chavez throws BM at her.
Thanos is mentally showing Conner what's going on. He claims that the Ultimates are *never* going to listen to him. If he's going to do something about the cosmic jailer he's going to have to do it himself. Conner says he doesn't want to hurt anyone. But Thanos points out that inaction will leave the tyrannical jailer with power over everyone. So Sims exerts his full Anti-Man power and blasts open his cell (killing his 2 guards outside). All the lights go out as power fails. Danvers blames Chavez but T'Challa discovers that the cause is Sims breaking out of his cell. Backup power will start up in a few seconds but he fears that won't be quick enough. And in his cell Thanos says "Checkmate" as he bursts his bonds.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Alison Green, Anti-Man (
Conner Sims), Blue Marvel (
Adam Brashear), Kathy Ling, Philip Nelson Vogt, Spectrum (
Monica Rambeau), Ultimates, Ulysses (
Ulysses Cain).