Ready, A.I.M., Fire, Part 1

In Anderson, Indiana, a pair of nervous scientists from Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) have just recovered a DNA bomb for their leader, MODOK. When their ride teleports onto the scene it is accompanied by fellow AIM agent Sean Madigan who has an agenda of his own. He intends to take the bomb for himself and kills his two colleagues.

Meanwhile, in New York, Carol Danvers (aka Ms. Marvel) is on a second date with William Wagner. She finds his normalcy alluring and is grateful that he still wants to go out after getting entangled into her life as a superhero on two different occasions.[1] The date goes off without a hitch and the two spend the night together. However, when Carol wakes up she finds herself in bed with her teammate Wonder Man (Simon Williams). This turns out to be a dream and she wakes up in her room aboard the Operation: Lightning Storm mini-carrier. She has been woken up by someone ringing at her door.

This turns to be SHIELD Deputy Director Maria Hill who is furious that Carol went to Tony Stark to form Lightning Storm and help Julia Carpenter take her daughter before a custody hearing.[2] Hill warns Carol that going to Tony for everything will not protect her if she crosses a line or breaks the law. To the point, while she was off helping Carpenter, two SHIELD agents stationed at Carol’s AIM bust were killed by two of the terrorists who were then killed by a third party. Maria then reminds Carol that the country is trying to recover from a very dark time and the last thing it needs is questions about the SHIELD Director’s favorite superhero and leaves. The encounter angers Carol so much that she hits a punching bag hard enough to rupture it.

Soon, Ms. Marvel and her team are at the scene of the crime looking for clues to what happened. Agent Locke and Agent Banes scan the room with their talents, both psychic and technological. It’s Banes who discovers that whatever the killer came for was hidden in an extra-dimensional space. Suddenly, the team is teleported to a secret AIM facility run by Monica Rappaccini. She is the self-claimed Scientist Supreme of a splinter faction trying to bring Advance Idea Mechanics back to its former glory. They use a neural inhibitor to incapacitate Banes, Locke, Sum, Wonder Man and Ms. Marvel. After Rappaccini and her technicians determine that the DNA bomb was removed from its hiding place, Monica has Carol and her team teleported back to their original location. There, Banes figures out a way of tracking the bomb thanks to the Calib-Yau emissions it is giving off.

Meanwhile, at another AIM facility, MODOK is being shown the latest developments in the Gnasher Project. After hearing that the genetically engineered monsters only eat live flesh, he tosses one of his own men into the pit to be eaten alive. MODOK is furious that they are still working on this project when it hasn’t met expectations. When the massive cyborg goes into a stupor, one of the operatives orders the others to return to their quarters and be thankful they aren’t put to death. As it turns out, MODOK is suffering from an illness that it affecting his mind and he needs the DNA bomb to correct it. His second-in-command tells him that they are still seeking to track it down and teleports away. This turns out to be Sean Madigan who is part of a conspiracy of AIM operatives who want MODOK dead so they can carve up Advance Idea Mechanics for themselves.[3] Sean tells them that things are more complicated now that Monica Rappaccini is trying to take control of the entire organization herself. On top of that, Ms. Marvel and Operation: Lightning Storm are tracking them down.

Sean has ideas of his own and hopes to break up AIM into smaller autonomous factions that can more efficiently commit acts of terrorism across the globe. The others protest this, but Sean tells them that they have no choice as he has lured his opposition to their location. That’s when Rappaccini’s retrieval team teleports into the room followed by Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man smashing in through the window with a team of SHIELD agents in tow. As the mutineers teleport away, one of them tosses a weapon called a Dark Door to cover their exit. Fearing that this is a dangerous weapon, Carol grabs it and tries to fly it high into the air before it can detonate and open a miniature black hole. However, it turns out that the casing is empty and was no threat.

By the time she flies back down to the battle below, MODOK and his team have arrived. The mad cyborg uses his mental powers to take control of Wonder Man and orders him to kill Ms. Marvel!

Recurring Characters

Ms. Marvel, Wonder Man, Operation: Lightning Storm (Agents Baines, Locke, and Dave Sum), AIM (MODOK, Monica Rappaccini, Sean Madigan), William Wagner, SHIELD (Maria Hill), Chewie

Continuity Notes

1. Carol met William when she and her variant from another reality crash landed in his fancy cafe in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #9. Later, their first date came to an abrupt end when she had to go off and take down the Doomsday Man in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #11.

2. The incident with Julia Carpenter (aka Arachne, aka Spider-Woman) is a sticky situation. She was arrested for violating the Super Human Registration Act (SHRA) as seen in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #6-8. This happened in front of her daughter. This also happened during the super hero civil war that took place in Civil War #1-7 and Julia was broken out of prison. She was on the run looking for her daughter who disappeared after her arrest. Carol, feeling bad for what she had done, helped Julia find and recover her daughter from her parents as seen in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #13-14. The SHRA will remain in force until Siege #4.

3. Sean Madigan has been working with these rogue AIM agents since Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #11-12.

Topical References

• Agent Banes spits out a few topical references out of her mouth to tell all you youngsters that she is hip and cool. She mistakenly refers to Monica Rappacinni as the “Burrito Supreme” which is a menu item available at Taco Bell, a Mexican fast food restaurant. She also says tracking the DNA bomb is as easy as killing noobs in Halo. Halo is a franchise of first-person shooter video games released by Microsoft since 2001. “Noobs” is a disparaging slang term referring to new players in a game, referencing their lack of skill. All of these should be topical references as you can replace them with more contemporary examples. Even Noob, since someone will come up with some new slang sooner or later.

The Initiative Reading Order

Civil War: The Initiative #1, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #13, 14, 15, 16, 17, Thunderbolts #112, 113, 114, 115, Omega Flight #1-5, Moon Knight (vol. 3) #13, Captain America (vol. 5) #26, 27, 28, 29, 30, New Avengers #27, 28, 29, 30, 31, New Warriors (vol. 4) #1-8, Black Panther (vol. 4) #27, 28, 29, 30, Iron Man: Agent of SHIELD #15, 16, 17, 18, Avengers: The Initiative #1, 2, 3, Fantastic Four #547, 548, 549, 550, Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #6-11, Mighty Avengers #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Sub-Mariner (vol. 2) #1-6, The Order (vol. 2) 1-4, Penance: Relentless #1, 2, 3, 4, 5