Carol Danvers makes her way through the repair work being done by Damage Control outside of Café Brioche, which was heavily damaged during her battle with her deranged, extra-dimensional counterpart Warbird. She feels a bit nervous about meeting the handsome restaurant owner that she had a brief flirtation with during the battle. She admits to herself that there was a definite spark and that she’s excited at the prospect of dating a man who doesn’t wear tights.
She enters the construction zone and interrupts a conversation between her new romantic interest and the contractor. He’s clearly pleased to see her and says that he wasn’t sure if she’d come back or not. She notes that he mentioned some insurance issues and he confesses that he made that up so that he could see her again. Carol replies that she figured as much but came anyway.
She asks his name and he introduces himself as William Wagner. She introduces herself and he admits to knowing who she is but quickly makes it clear that that’s not why he’s interested in her. He fumbles over his words and asks if he can start over. Carol suggests lunch and he tells her he has to stay to oversee the re-building. She suggests they just whip something up and he confesses he can’t cook…part of why he owns a restaurant. Carol gives him her cell phone number and suggests he calls when he’s free. She’s convinced he’s blowing her off until he suggests meeting up later that night. Carol leaves the restaurant content with how that went and eager for a bit of normalcy amidst the chaos and drama in her life.
Underfoot, deep underground something sinister lurks. In a hidden AIM base under the sewers of Manhattan an old foe of Ms. Marvel stews and plots. Two AIM agents visit the villain who is in stasis. As they walk the corridors, an unheard voice speaks of its desire to kill Ms. Marvel.
They view a monitor which indicates that he’s dreaming of revenge against Ms. Marvel, who was responsible for his latest defeat. The AIM agents are nervous around the Doomsday Man who is currently on nothing but life support. They’ve heard stories about him. One agent explains to the other how there’s a man that is merged with the robotic Doomsday Man. He decides to check on him and opens the suit to reveal the withering body of Kerwin Korman.
The agent explains that Korman is in a vegetative state these days. He continues to expound on the unique merging of Korman and the Doomsday Man robot and the special abilities this gives them. Together, they have all the advantages of a computer with a human’s ability to improvise, which would make them a deadly opponent. The newbie agent asks why they don’t use him then to which his partner replies that no one knows how they’d get him back in the box once they let him out.
At that moment, the AIM agent is showered by sparks from his console. He is surprised to see the Doomsday Man robot powering up and the readouts indicate that Kerwin Korman is waking up. As he says this, his partner begins to run. The Doomsday Man breaks free. The voice of Kerwin Korman demands to know why he is still alive when he begs and prays for death. The remaining AIM agent scurries away in fear as the powerful robotic form springs to life. Within the armor, the essence of Kerwin Korman “converses” with his mechanical counterpart. It demands a situation report and Kerwin tells it that he is in charge of their body for a change and he’s about to kill a large number of people. He is then going to find Ms. Marvel and slowly kill her for trapping him in this form and leaving him to rot for the last few years. A team of AIM agents try in vain to stop the Doomsday Man.
Meanwhile, Carol Danvers is enjoying a “normal” night out with her new love interest, William Wagner. They enjoy some small talk as they get to know each other. She tells him about her time in the Air Force and how she earned the call-sign “Cheeseburger”. She explains that they don’t get cool call-signs like you hear in movies like Maverick and Ice Man. Instead, they get embarrassing and humanizing call signs that remind them that they aren’t killing machine. She earned hers due to what she had for lunch before her first time in a G-force flight simulator. She ended up puking her guts out and earning her call sign “Cheeseburger”.
William is gracious, charming and interested. Carol thinks to herself how great things are going and is relieved that he hasn’t asked about her powers or the Avengers or anything related to her life as a heroine. Instead, it’s just the two of them getting to know each other like normal people would on a first date.
The date continues to go well and the two make their way to Carol’s apartment. They are making out pretty passionately as they fumble into the apartment. Their kissing is interrupted by a crash and burst of light.
Carol changes into her costume as she goes to the window to see what’s going on. She finds Araña on her balcony with an unconscious AIM agent. Araña tells her that she caught this guy snooping around on her balcony. She then spots William, whose shirt is unbuttoned and asks who he is.
Carol turns and tells William that she’ll call him later. He takes it in stride and she apologizes. He is appropriately understanding of the situation and asks that she call him later to let him know that she’s okay.
She turns to Anya to find out why she is there to begin with. Araña tells Ms. Marvel that they were supposed to go out on patrol. Carol apologizes to Anya for forgetting and explains that she had other things on her mind. Rather than head out on patrol, Carol turns her attention to the AIM agent that Anya subdued.
Ms. Marvel tells Araña that this is an agent of AIM, a terrorist group of scientists who develop technology for criminal purposes. She tells Anya to try his headgear on. When she does so, she sees a virtual interface with multiple screens. As she looks at Ms. Marvel, she gets a read-out of information on her that includes her real name and address. Anya is suitably impressed with the technology.
As Carol searches the AIM agent for weapons, she realizes he’s unarmed and naked under the bright yellow jumpsuit. The man wakes up and Anya asks if his name is Sean as the screen in his suit indicated. He mentions the Doomsday Man immediately and Carol explains that the Doomsday Man is a powerful robotic foe that she defeated a few years back.
Sean, the AIM agent, tells them that the Doomsday Man is awake. Ms. Marvel tells him that she last saw Doomsday Man when she and the Avengers defeated him. At the time, Kerwin Korman had been merged with the killer robot and was near death. She notes that the Avengers had him transported to a hospital. The AIM agent explains that AIM intercepted the robot… and Korman, from the hospital in order to study their uniquely merged body and consciousness in the hopes of replicating the results. AIM’s science teams failed to unlock the secret of the newly-formed Doomsday Man and placed him in storage.
Sean explains that he’s only been with AIM for a few months and has only heard stories. But when he went down to see the Doomsday Man himself he noticed that Korman was dreaming. The next thing he knew, the robot was loose.
Araña asks why he came here and Ms. Marvel adds that AIM must have protocols for dealing with this sort of thing. Sean explains that the Doomsday Man is loose in their storage facility and it dawns on Carol that other dangerous things might be stored there. The AIM agent confirms this and adds that some are worse than the Doomsday Man. Ms. Marvel demands the location and he tells her that it’s close, an old warehouse at the north end of town. As he says this, he disappears in a flash of teleportational energy. Araña notes that the whole thing sounds like a trap to her and Carol has to agree with her young protégé’s instincts.
As the pair of heroines makes their way to the AIM facility, the Doomsday Man is wreaking havoc. Korman demands broader access to the Doomsday Man’s systems and when it refuses is able to force his way into AIM’s networks. He explains that despite the power of their body, Ms. Marvel has defeated them twice. He needs something more to gain his revenge. In the databases, he finds something that he thinks will tip the scales in their favor.
From a rooftop, Ms. Marvel and Araña survey the area and see the mass exodus of AIM agents. Carol gives Anya her cell phone and tells her to call a special number if she isn’t out in five minutes. Araña wants to help but Carol impresses upon her how deadly the Doomsday Man is and that last time it took a whole team of Avengers to put it down. Anya asks who it is she’s calling and Carol tells her it’s Tony Stark. Araña is a tad uncomfortable with this but Carol doesn’t give her any choice.
She flies to the ground and grabs a fleeing AIM agent. She asks where the Doomsday Man is and the frightened terrorist tells her he’s on the third sublevel. The Doomsday Man stalks over the fallen bodies of the AIM agents on that level and makes his way to a containment unit marked TARGOTHS. As the Targoths begin to awake, Ms. Marvel crashes through the ceiling.
Doomsday Man thanks her for saving him the trouble of locating her. He identifies himself as Kerwin Korman and asks if she remembers him. As he confronts her, the facility’s alert system announces that the Targoths containment has been breached and initiates an evacuation protocol due to the high possibility of infection that the Targoths present. As the Targoths surround Carol, the Doomsday Man powers up to discuss all the pain that she’s caused him over the years.
