SHIELD Director Daisy Johnson and Nick Fury Jr. are at AS3, the
USA’s largest defense expo, hoping to make some deals for the Agency. Johnson
reminds him that she approved Maria Hill’s request for the Secret Avengers and
the need to manipulate memories afterward. Fury is still feeling guilty about
what they did to Hawkeye (issue #1). Johnson introduces Fury to Senator Robert Ralston,
“Reb” of the Howling Commandos, and head of the Executive Oversight
Committee. Ralston is a little drunk and keeps making jokes about Johnson’s
youth which annoys her (though she is 19, mind you). And then she spots the
Iron Patriot armor on display and wants to know what it is doing there….
On the Helicarrier, Hawkeye is trying to explain to a skeptical
Black Widow how, even though a divorced couple, he and Mockingbird can still
work together. Then the real Black Widow arrives and Clint discovers the
previous Widow was Bobbi having fun with him by using the new CamoTech. Maria Hill
rebukes them and then calls them inside for a briefing. A.I.M.’s Arctic
Circle facility, the Gate, has self-destructed and the new Scientist Supreme, Andrew
Forson, was seen leaving shortly before. A.I.M. has set up on the island of
Barbuda and gained recognition by the United Nations, giving them diplomatic status.
A.I.M. is also recruiting new leadership: Yelena Belova, Graviton, Superia, and
Mentallo. Hill wants the Secret Avengers to investigate the Gate, warning them
that A.I.M. has their own clean-up team at the site. Agent Phil Coulson will be
their field support….
At the expo, Dr. Mendel explains the Iron Patriot armor. It
was recovered after the fall of H.A.M.M.E.R. and Norman Osborn by the
Department of Defense and donated to SHIELD (which Daisy Johnson hadn’t heard);
they have been modified to run as drones by AI. Johnson is outraged that the
government would steal Tony Stark technology for its own purposes. Then the Scientist
Supreme and his minions, including Yelena Belova the new Super-Adaptoid,
teleport into the room. Though packing weaponry, Forson assures them they are
only there to do business….
At the Gate, the Secret Avengers defeat the A.I.M. personnel
and Mockingbird (Ph.D in biology) recognizes the place as a conduit station,
built to contain and channel some kind of energy source. Black Widow and
Coulson recognize the dead staff as suicide scientists, programmed to kill
themselves once their work was done; they also discover a seriously damaged Jocasta….
At the expo, Johnson interprets Forson’s advance as a threat
so she activates her gauntlets and sends a shock wave through the ground,
toppling A.I.M. minions. Forson fires an energy blast at Nick Fury while Belova
assumes a tiger woman form and attacks Johnson. Ralston shoots Belova who turns
on him and fatally claws him across the chest. Taking the Iron Patriot drone, Forson,
with a parting quip, teleports his team away and Senator Ralston dies in Daisy Johnson’s
arms, saying, “Tell the Old Man I tried….”
Back at Barbuda, Forson grants an interview online,
justifying the murder of Senator Ralston as self-defense and denying the theft
of technology. He signs off and brings in Mentallo. While subtly denigrating
his limited powers, Forson explains that they are giving him a job he would be
perfectly suited for: animating the Iron Patriot drones….