In Bagala, John Steele recovers the Serpent Crown and tries
to escape the criminal nation but he runs into Max Fury, backed by the new
Masters of Evil. Vengeance detects that Steele is secretly on the side of the
good guys and things look bad….
In Moscow, Venom and Valkyrie defeat Rasputin, save the city,
and share a kiss before Ant-Man tells them to shrink Rasputin’s skychurch so it
doesn’t fall into Russian hands. And we get a reminder that this is really the Black Ant,
an Eric O’Grady LMD infiltrating the Secret Avengers on behalf of the
Descendants (issues #22-25)….
Hawkeye calls a meeting of the Secret Avengers, telling them
their next mission is in Bagalia where Max Fury has the Serpent Crown and the Crown
of Thorns and is seeking the Crown of Wolves for the Shadow Council. Their
undercover man, John Steele, was to swipe the Serpent Crown but he hasn’t been heard
from. Black Widow will be mission control….
In Bagalia, Princess Python and the Circus of Crime are
torturing John Steele with circus-themed torture; John gets loose and runs into
the arms of the Avengers. He tells them not to let Max Fury get the third crown
and dies. They capture the Clown but the others get away and warn Max Fury who
cuts off all communications. Venom scares the Clown into revealing that the
third crown is in the hands of Taskmaster who is currently in the Hole, the
scariest place in the country. Hawkeye and Ant-Man have to talk Venom out of
killing Clown….
At the Hole’s barroom and villain hangout, Venom, who
everyone still thinks is a villain, goes into the Hole to try to con Taskmaster
into handing over the Crown of Wolves. It fails and they fight…to the death….