Investigating why one of their tracking stations has stopped transmitting, the Avengers find it damaged, and are shot at by its caretaker. Disarming him, they learn he is terrified of Deathcry, as she is Shi’ar, but then he abruptly dies, with no obvious medical cause. They soon discover their comm units no longer work, an alien vessel crashed into the island, and one of its occupants was the legendary Shi’ar warrior Admiral Alabar. Local Ian MacAndrew meanwhile reports their arrival to his “chief,” a huge Mephitisoid controlling the townspeople via pheromones; the Mephitisoid thanks him, then kills him for abandoning his post. Back at the coast, Deathcry shares Alabar and the Butcher’s legend with the team. In Manhattan, the other Avengers worry at having lost contact with the away team; Giant-Man blames it on the new, extradimensional mansion’s equipment. Pietro continues trying to win back Crystal, but finds fighting the ghost of Black Knight’s memory harder than competing with the man himself. On Crail, the locals attack; Swordsman and Magdalene fall prey to the Mephitisoid’s pheromones and overpower Vision. T’Kyll flees with Deathcry, telling her that they need to find out who brought the ship to Earth and wanted the Mephitisoid free.
The expanding Shi’ar Empire wars with rival conquerors the Mephitisoids. T’kyll, a minor noble who has risen through the ranks, takes command of the armies when his superiors fall in battle against the Mephitisoid leader dubbed “the Butcher.” T’kyll leads the Shi’ar to victory and brings the Butcher to Chandilar. The Council decides to cast the Butcher into deep stasis with T’kyll standing guard, also in stasis.
Cover says “Fallout.” Features letter page art of Vision subduing James Campbell by Fagan. Mephitisoids is incorrectly spelled Mephisitoids here.
