Worried that his lover Mantis is increasingly attracted to Vision, Swordsman tries in vain to impress her by smashing combat robots, while Vision’s girlfriend Scarlet Witch broods over her suspicion that Vision is attracted to Mantis. Iron Man and Thor try to convince a troubled Captain America not to retire after his recent politically disillusioning clash with the Secret Empire, but he rebuffs his friends’ attempt to help. Black Panther is torn between his loyalty to the Avengers and his recently neglected duties as Wakanda’s ruler, but his thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of Ronald Pershing, ambassador of Rudyarda, a White Supremacist nation that once imprisoned the Panther. Despite his disdain for Pershing and Rudyarda, Panther summons the other Avengers, who agree to investigate Pershing’s accounts of death threats against his embassy staff and the ensuing murder of the embassy’s gardener. Leaving Thor and Iron Man watching over Cap, the other Avengers depart with Pershing, only to be trapped in an apparently inescapable sonic bubble by Klaw and his new partner Solarr. Through a projected image, the absent Klaw explains he wants the Panther to hand over Wakanda’s throne to him, so he will have diplomatic immunity for his planned anti-Rudyarda vendetta, and Solarr threatens to kill the hostages one by one until Panther acquiesces, blasting Pershing to prove his resolve. While the Panther repeatedly refuses, the Scarlet Witch revives Pershing, but after failing to shatter Klaw’s bubble she vents her anger by jealously chastising Vision about Mantis. Iron Man, Thor and Cap search for Klaw until the Panther realizes that Pershing himself is a disguised Klaw. After single-handedly defeating Klaw and Solarr, the Panther announces he is leaving the Avengers to return to Wakanda, while Cap silently decides to leave the group as well.