Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In a dream Emma Frost hears Kitty Pryde berating her for not saving her. She wakes beside Scott Summers in their bed in San Francisco. She answers a knock at the door and a Thunderbolts Agent hands her a message from Norman Osborn.
She flies a plane to Avengers Tower in New York which Osborn has appropriated as his HQ. The security system welcomes her and takes her to sub-basement 9. In a room with a meeting table and chairs she finds Dr Doom, who orders her to stop trying to read his mind.
Namor enters and greets old ''ally'' Victor. They agree that they are here out of curiosity. Doom pretends he had a choice. Doom introduces Frost. Sub-Mariner says he''s heard of her and tries to ingratiate himself. Emma claims they''ve met before, but Namor is puzzled. Emma insults his smell.
Doom senses someone else present, and Hood makes himself visible. Frost reads his mind and tells the others his name is Parker Robbins, but she senses someone else in his head as well. He threatens her with a gun and tells her to stop. She makes him turn the gun on himself.
Victor Von Doom now senses the arrival of a god. The female Loki materialises. Stunned Namor comments that she looks better this way than as a man. She responds by flirting with him and he hurriedly backs off.
Victor and Emma both sense Norman Osborn approaching. He takes control of the meeting and reminds them that he''s taken over from Tony Stark as head of the Avengers and the Initiative and a replacement for SHIELD (still not named HAMMER). He has a deal for them.
His organisations won''t oppose them unless they do something he can''t brush under the carpet. They can pursue their individual agendas as long as they don''t conflict with each other. Ie cooperation like Hood has got a lot of supervillains to work as a team. Norman doesn''t demur when Doom suggests that what he gets in return is public approval for apparently keeping order.
That''s the carrot. The stick is revealed as a figure in the shadows who Osborn will unleash on anyone who doesn''t toe the line.
Norman then discusses each case individually.
Namor has no kingdom because Atlantis was destroyed (in the Sub-Mariner: Revolution limited series) and he has no plan what to do with his sleeper agents hidden amongst humanity. Osborn will allow him to rebuild his civilisation and rule under the waves. As long as he stays there.
Dr Doom also currently has no kingdom since he was arrested by the Avengers (Mighty Av #11). Norman will have that arrested declared illegal and will return Victor to Latveria where he can rule to his heart''s content. Again as long as he stays there.
Loki wants Asgard, and she also wants it off Earth and back in its own dimension. Osborn heartily agrees with that.
Emma Frost will be allowed to do what''s necessary to save the declining mutant race, and he''ll protect them from things like the concentration camps that some people are suggesting. And besides it''s good to have a telepath on his team to keep the others honest.
Hood''s gang must all Register and join the Initiative. But then they can continue being criminals without fear of reprisal.
He tells them that they''ll find out in a week what he''s doing about the Avengers. (Ie his Dark Avengers team to be revealed in their #1.) He says that Tony Stark signed the team and this Tower over to SHIELD so they would pay for them. But this means they now belong to Norman. And he''s got further moves to make against Stark himself.
Norman leaves them to think about it. Hood, Loki and then Emma Frost leave immediately. We learn that Doom and Namor had made a secret agreement beforehand. They expect Osborn''s Green Goblin persona will bring him crashing down eventually, and then they 2 will divide the world between them. And if NO doesn''t fall then they''ll just have to take everything from him by force.
Osborn returns to Thunderbolts Mountain to oversee the transfer of everything to Avengers Tower. He''s confronted by Swordsman. Half the Thunderbolts team have left, and Andreas von Strucker knows that Norman has made a deal with the other half. Which just leaves him alone, and he doesn''t trust the boss. He says he''s not going back to prison, and he has dirt on Osborn if he tries that. But NO just grabs his sword and stabs him through the stomach with it, and throws the body out of a window and down the mountain.
But then we see Norman trying (and failing?) to fight off the resurgence of the Green Goblin.
And Emma wakes screaming from the Kitty dream again.