The hull of the Alpha Flight Space Station, where Carol Danvers a.k.a. Captain Marvel has been slammed into a spacecraft, as the Chitauri aliens bear down on her, and the three Alpha Flight Cadets – Dante Cruz, Glory and A'Di, stare up at the danger that looms before them. Dante figures that they are dead. He never thought a Chitauri could drop the most powerful hero on Earth – not even a Chitauri mothership. 'Then again, if you told me a guy like Steve Rogers was gonna go all Hydra...and grunts like us were gonna be holding the line on the Chitauri front? Wouldn't have believed it in a million years' Dante thinks to himself, deciding that it is going to be a long night.
Suddenly, there is a rumbling, as large weapons suddenly rise from the AFSS. 'Captain...' Dante calls out. 'Is she...?' A'Di asks. 'She's down!' Glory exclaims, before the large machine guns open fire. The cadets drop to the ground to avoid getting hit by the weapons-fire. 'Alfie's firing on us?' Glory asks. 'Alfie doesn't know us!' A'Di points out. 'Alfie thinks we're bugs!' Dante declares, while Lieutenant Wendy Kawasaki's voice is heard over a transmitter: 'Alpha Flight, do tyou copy? Repeat – Alpha Flight, do you copy?' she calls out.
'I'm hit!' Glory shouts as weaponsfire strikes one of her cybernetic legs. A'Di goes over to her drone, Itz, and tells it to duck. 'Meep!' Its responds, while Dante falls to the edge of the hull. 'I can't hold on!' he calls out as one of his hands slips and he hangs off the edge of the Alpha Flight Spacce Station. 'Carol, if hear this – I need to know you're all okay – you hear me? Carol, talk to me -' Wendy's voice can be heard saying over the transmitter. 'W-Wendy? Is that you?' Carol utters as she opens her eyes, blood trickling from her nose.
Nearby, a Chitauri alien lands on the hull, just feet from where Dante clings for his life. The alien rushes forward and leaps at Dante, who screams as the alien hisses and then chomps down on Dante's spacesuit helmet. Even with one leg injured, Glory rushes over to her teammate, telling him to hold on – but suddenly, her cybernetic legs run out of energy. Fortunately for Dante, he is able to kick the alien off of him. A'Di reaches down to Dante and tells him to grab her hand, while Itz hovers nearby, 'Wah-o' Itz utters repeatedly, as another Chitauri alien moves towards them – and as the alien prepares to bring down a spiked staff on A'Di, Itz flies in between them and is struck, instead – and an instant later, explodes.
'No no no... not like this...!' Dante utters as he continues to slip. 'Move, kid... let the adult handle this!' Captain Marvel exclaims as she races forward and grabs Dante, before snatching up A'Di and Glory, then slamming through another part of the hull, Carol and the Cadets are safe as they crash to the corridor. 'Do you know how many protocols you just broke?' Carol asks. 'What were you doing out there?' she demands. Dante explains that they tried to use Itz's relay to get a signal to Earth. Everyone looks over to where A'Di is sobbing, and holding her destroyed drone. Glory tells A'Di that Itz was a good drone, to which A'di replies 'Itz was a terrible drone, but he was my best friend'. Carol stands over the Cadets and tells them that it is a miracle that drone was the only casualty. 'It was all for nothing. It didn't even work' A'Di sobs. Carol puts an arm around A'Di and tells her that she isn't so sure about that.
Later, on the bridge, the Cadets hang back, while Captain Marvel stands over a console, and Lieutenant Commander Abigail Brand is at her side. A buzzing noise can be heard over the communications system, but Brand tells Carol that it has been an hour, and they should take a break. 'NO!' Carol shouts. 'We can't stop now!' she exclaims, telling everyone that she heard Wendy's voice out there, she is sure of it. 'If the Cadets really did rig a fix for out busted comm -' Carol begins, 'We did' A'Di announces solemnly. Dante swears that it works – at least, before Itz got smithereened. Glory explains that Itz took a direct hit, that his circuits are fried, his relay is toast, and she doesn't think they are going to be able to reach Earth again. Captain Marvel tells the Cadets that, apart from a flagrant disregard for Alpha Flight protocols, not to mention common sense, they showed some real initiative putting together that relay.
'We did?' A'Di asks. 'Absolutely' Carol tells her. 'When the chips were down, you turned it up. Heck, you even survived a battle with the Chitauri' she adds. 'Heck, yeah, we did!' Dante exclaims, while Carol tells everyone that they know now the shield isn't impenetrable. 'Not electro-magnetically' Glory points out. 'Exactly' Carol agrees. She instructs Glory to loop Hopper in on the Itz sitch and see if the two of them can't science together a way to bring that shield down. 'Got it. I'll hit the lab' Glory replies. Carol instructs her to take Itz with her, perhaps she and Hopper can find a way to fix him up. Carol orders the others to report to hangar 7.
Carol and Brand walk to an elevator, which opens as Brand asks 'Hangar 7? Now? You're gonna trust a bunch of cadets with billions of dollars in experimental tech and the fate of the world?' Carol ignores the question and via communicator instructs Puck and Sasquatch to get their squadrons ready to fly and meet Brand at Hangar 7. 'Hangar 7? Really? Yes, Sir! Be there in a jiff, Cap!' Puck responds. 'Two squadrons?' Brand queries Carol, reminding her that those ships aren't even battle-tested yet. 'Brand' Carol replies. But Brand continues: 'Say they do work – what then? We can't take the shield down when the Chitauri are still attacking -' 'Brand!' Carol snaps. Brand ignores Carol though, 'And we can't just ram our w-' Brand starts, before the elevator door opens and Carol tells Brand that she needs her to get those ships flight-ready and meet her on the dark side of the moon. 'Trust me' Carol asks her. 'But -' Brand begins to protest. 'Are we having trust issues, Brand?' Carol enquires. 'I... no...' Brand responds as Carol marches down the corridor, as Carol tells her 'Good. I'll transmit details. Get those big birds flying!'
Carol arrives in the med-bay, where she finds Marcus Milton a.k.a. Hyperion standing over the motionless body of Avril Kincaid a.k.a. Quasar. Carol calls out to Hyperion, who responds 'Captain'. 'Nothing?' Carol asks. 'Not since we last spoke' Hyperion tells her. Carol reminds herself that Quasar was hit hard during the initial attack – Hyperion would have taken the blow if not for her. Carol knows that Quasar is new to this, but is sure Quasar didn't hesitate. She is sure Hyperion feels responsible. 'I know I do...I helped build that shield, I kept the Chitauri invasion a secret. I played right into Steve's plan' Carol thinks to herself. Carol informs Hyperion that her cadets were able to make contact with Earth – it was brief, but it was something. 'A shot. Maybe. A chance to get through the shield and back in the fight. But we can't do it without -' Carol begins. Hyperion tells her that he is in, and asks how he can help. 'Have you ever been... fishing?' Carol enquires.
Shortly, two spacecraft hover over the dark side of the moon. Brand is in the one with Walter Langkowski a.k.a. Sasquatch, A'Di and other Alpha Flight Space Station crew members, and tells them that she gets it, they are amped to finally have these babies out of the mysterious Hangar 7, but that they are not out here for a joyride. 'The Mark 1 Astro Carrier is untested. I expect you to respect that' Brand tells them, before reporting that they are about 40 clicks from the Chitauri fleets' last known position, while squadron Beta will continue on its current heading.
In the other vessel, Dante and Eugene Judd a.k.a. Puck watch a holographic transmission of Brand, who tells Puck that he and the Delta squadron will do the same in their quadrant. 'Roger that' Puck complies. Brand adds that when this thing starts, tit is going to happen fast. 'You know the drill. Everyone holds the line. Zero room for error'. Brand tells both groups that they are here because they are the best of the best, so they need to trust their instincts and make a real difference today. 'Copy that? Battle stations' Brand declares. 'Sir! Yes, Sir!' Puck and Dante respond. Dante then turns to Puck and asks him what a routine flanking manoeuver is going to do against the Chitauri fleet – and with only two ships. 'All that sneaking around Alfie and you never peeked at the schematics for the Mark 1?' Judd asks. He tells Dante to take a seat, and he will give him a crash course. 'Whoa' the wide-eyed Dante utters as he looks at a screen. 'Are those drones?' Dante enquires. 'Oh yeah. This ain't your mother's starship' Judd jokes, as floating around the two Mark 1 vessels are hundreds of AFSS drone jets.
Back on AFSS, in Hopper's lab, Glory sits on a bench as she uses a tool to make repairs to her cybernetic leg. 'How goes it, Glory?' Hopper asks as he looks over the remains of Itz. 'This? This is nothing, Hopper...a scratch' Glory claims, before asking how Itz is. 'Well, I saved his CPU and one arm...thing...' Hopper explains, adding that he hates to see A'Di's drone headed to the scrap creep. 'Wakandan drones are so freaking...' Hopper begins. 'Wakandan?' Glory asks, leaping off the bench. 'I was gonna say...cool' Hopper tells her. 'Speaking of cool tech, do you have a schematic for the interplanetary shield?' Glory asks. 'Over there' Hopper motions to some panels which Glory looks at and remarks 'That's ...interesting'. 'What?' Hopper asks her. 'The pattern of these frequencies' Glory tells him. Hopper goes wide-eyed and tells Glory that she is a genius. 'Maybe don't sound so surprised' Glory replies casually.
Inside one of the Mark 1 vessels Sasquatch informs Lieutenant Brand that they have got incoming. 'Look alive, folks! This is it!' Brand calls out, before asking Puck if his crew is set. 'Good to go, Lieutenant' Puck replies from the other vessel. 'It's showtime, kids!' Puck tells Dante and the rest of his squadron. Brand looks out her view screen and sees Captain Marvel and Hyperion carrying one of the huge Chitauri monster vessels. 'Holy crap, Danvers! I thought you said you had a plan to save the Earth, not drag the enemy to our doorstep!' she exclaims. Captain Marvel and Hyperion drop the monster onto the dark side of the moon, and Carol remarks that she figured it was their turn to take the offense and go after these bugs. 'And Brand, if my pops taught me anything, it's that if you're striving for a big catch, you need the right bait. Now put up that net!' Carol declares. 'Aye, aye, Captain!' A'Di and Dante respond as they tap away at their consoles.
An instant later, all of the AFSS jets hovering about in space are suddenly all connected by a grid that extends from the moon. 'Here they come, people!' Captain Marvel reports. Four large Chitauri monsters fly towards Captain Marvel and Hyperion. 'I got him!' Dante shrieks over the communications system as he blasts one of the monsters. 'I got him! I got him!' Dante grins. 'Great, kid. Don't get cocky' Carol tells him, while Hyperion fires a blast at one of the other monsters, 'For Quasar!' he shouts. Sasquatch looks concerned as he warns Captain Marvel that she has a nasty coming her way at top speed. 'Got 'em, 'Squatch' Carol smiles as she fires a powerful energy blast at the monster's face. Blue energy beams start to strike the Chitauri aliens, and A'Di reports that it looks like they are starting to retreat. 'Carol! If they escape, this was all for nothing!' Brand exclaims. Smacking one Chitauri in the face while firing a blast at another, Carol tells Brand that she is a little tied up.
Suddenly, the source of the blue energy beams is revealed, as the Guardians of the Galaxy return. 'Somebody call for the cavalry?' Peter Quill a.k.a. Star-Lord asks. 'I am Groot!' baby Groot smiles, while Rocket Racoon asks 'Yeah! Why'd you start without us?' America Chavez smirks and tells Star-Lord that it only counts as cavalry when you're not expected – not when you are part of the plan. 'Either way, I'm glad to see you' Carol tells Star-Lord, before suggesting they gut these fish and get back home for supper. 'Blam! Murdered ya!' Rocket exclaims as he fires his ship's arsenal at one of the Chitauri monsters.
Shortly, Captain Marvel, Sasquatch, Puck, Brand, Hyperion, Dante, A'Di, Star-Lord, Groot and Rocket are back inside AFSS. 'Oh, man! That was incredible!' 'Like, full-on hero stuff!' A'Di agrees. Hopper and Glory join the others, and Hopper announces 'Carol, we think we figured it out...well...Glory figured it out'. Glory smiles as she reports that it was a team effort, actually, and that Itz was the key. Shocked, A'Di asks Glory if she was able to fix him, and where he is. Glory apologizes and tells A'Di that Itz was just too damaged, but that his oscillator was still functional. Hopper explains that they figured out a way to retrofit it with AFSS' main laser cannon, so if they can use it to alter the frequency of the blast, they should be able to punch a hole in the shield. 'Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's phone home' Carol exclaims.
Shortly, the AFSS projects a laser beam towards the shield that separates it from Earth. 'It's working!' someone exclaims. 'Cap, I think we might want to back off. This is really taxing the...generators' someone reports, as the AFSS is suddenly plunged into darkness. Carol asks Puck for a status report, and the diminutive Alphan informs her that it looks like they are down to life support only, with the generator's on its last leg. '...foot... more of a toe, actually' Puck adds. Carol calls out to Hopper, who hangs his head and tells Carol that it didn't work, that the shield is still up, and it was their last hope. 'You did your best, Hop. I -' Carol starts to reply, when suddenly, 'I am Groot!' Groot exclaims as he stands on Rocket's shoulders and points at a monitor. 'Sorry to butt in on the bad-news party...but Groot wants to know what this big cluster of blippy things headed toward this star-shaped blippy thing means' Rocket announces.
Puck looks at the radar and asks Carol how this is possible, as they obliterated them. 'I dunno, Puck' Carol replies, before informing everyone that the Chitauri fleet must have been much bigger than they thought. 'We're in for a long night...and this time there's no backup' Carol points out as her team gathers around her, while in the infirmary, Quasar continues to lie motionless, hooked up to life support.
