Synopsis / Summary / Plot
The New Avengers, with the 'reborn' Hawkeye (Clint Barton) disguised as Ronin, went to Japan to rescue the previous Ronin (Maya Lopez/Echo) from the Hand led by Elektra. They broke Maya's Hand-brainwashing and at the end of last issue she killed Elektra. Who turned out to be a shapeshifting alien Skrull.
Now the team and Maya are flying back to the US in Danny Rand (Iron Fist)'s corporate jet which he's piloting with Luke Cage in the co-pilot seat. During the flight they experience continuous severe storms. They have the body of 'Elektra' with them but Peter Parker (Spider-Man) asks why no-one is talking about it. Wolverine says it's because no-one knows who to trust because *any* of them could be a Skrull too. Pete says *he*'s not a Skrull and Logan says sarcastically(?) OK, not him but anybody else. If Skrull-Elektra could infiltrate the Hand and even fool *his* acute mutant senses then they could be anywhere, even in this team - even including himself.
He considers everybody here suspicious. Clint Barton claims to have returned from death after the House Of M event but where's he been in the intervening months, why has he abandoned his bow and arrows to pose as a ninja, and why did he join this fugitive team rather than Iron Man's Mighty Avengers? Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) is known to have multiple allegiances. Her father worked for High Evolutionary and Hydra. She herself worked for Hydra as well as SHIELD, but what was she doing between Avengers Disassembled and New Avengers? And does she know what's happened to Nick Fury since his Secret War? Echo used to be an assassin for Kingpin but now she's supposedly been investigating the Japanese underworld for Captain America. But he's dead since Civil War and the only other hero who could vouch for her is Daredevil but he's missing. And what caused all the heroes to turn on each other in Civil War? And why did Spider-Man who for years has fiercely guarded his secret identity as Peter Parker suddenly give it up during CW? (He doesn't even mention that SM has gone back to his old black costume look.) And long-time loner hero-for-hire Luke Cage is now leader of a super-team and a husband and father, while his ex-partner Iron Fist is estranged from him and suddenly has a plane. Danny objects that he's had his company and its corporate jet for a long time, but Logan moves on to Dr Strange. He was suspiciously absent during CW. Dr S counters that so was Logan. He agrees and offers the additional suspicious evidence that he now has all the memories that he lost for years.
Cage comments that he'd been saying for a while that too many bad things had been happening to be coincidental. Now they know there *is* a conspiracy, and who's behind it. PP continues to protest that he's not a Skrull, which Logan points out is exactly what a Skrull would say. Spidey counters that he's a *bad* choice for a Skrull to pick. Spider-Woman is unsure whether 1 Skrull makes a war but Logan strongly disagrees. Stephen Strange asks what they should do with the body and Jessica stuns everyone by suggesting they take it to Tony Stark (leader of the opposing Avengers team). Luke says Stark's *bound* to be a Skrull because he's responsible for the Registration Act and the Civil War and the death of Cap. SW responds that's why to do it, to see how he responds. If he's a Skrull he'll have to try to kill them. Cage is now in, but Parker suggests they take it to press they can trust (I guess he means Ben Urich). Most of the others say it will just get suppressed like the Area 51 aliens. Clint can accept Iron Man as a Skrull but he still vetoes giving him the body.
Iron Fist wants to know what the Skrulls want. Clint tells him the Skrulls have lost their planet and they want ours. They've tried to take it before and lost it to mankind, the Inhumans and the Kree. Now it's a matter of pride to wipe us out. SW points out that if Luke's conspiracy theory is right then they were behind the Secret War, Civil War, Wanda Maximoff's destruction of the previous Avengers and her creation of the House Of M reality plus the mass breakout of prisoners from the Raft. So on that basis they may already have *won* the war.
They weather has suddenly cleared up but Danny reports that they can't land in New York because there's something still wrong over there. He decides to head for Chicago. But then the power goes out completely. The plane starts to fall and flips over and then upright again. Dr Strange's magic can't help. Wolvie suggests anyone who can fly should bail out. Stephen says his Cloak Of Levitation won't work. But SW can at least glide so Logan opens a door and throws her out of the plane. Danny sends super-heavy Luke to the back of the plane to balance the weight, followed by some of the others. Dr S uses a spell to do *something* (maybe stop people being sucked out of the open door). But Spidey ducks out of the door and clings to the underside of the plane so he can create a large web-cushion to soften the impact when they crash. Danny's found a golf course and guides them down to pancake on it. The plane snaps in half but everyone survives but in various states of damage/consciousness.
Then Spider-Woman walks up and locates the Skrull corpse. Wolverine struggles to his feet but she zaps him with a close range bio-electric 'venom' blast, and then pummels him and grips his head to deliver another blast point-blank. And she picks up the Skrull and walks off with it.