Captain America and Goliath get inside one-man shuttles for a fight, while Thor, Iron Man and Vision have no trouble engaging the Skrulls in space, with Thor destroying a missile the Skrulls launch at them. Thor and Vision then tear their way through the Skrull ship's hull; Cap and Iron Man follow them aboard while Goliath remains outside in his shuttle; now that he's completely out of growth serum, Goliath's power is somewhat restricted. The four Avengers storm to the ship's bridge, where the officer, Kalxor confronts them. Emperor Dorrek appears on Kalxor's viewscreen to taunt the Avengers, showing them Captain Mar-Vell is in the midst of building an Omni-Wave Projector for them (last time he built it in about a half hour; hmm...). As the Avengers don't know Mar-Vell very well, Iron Man suggests he never was their ally to begin with. However, the Mar-Vell labouring over the device turns out to be a hologram which Mar-Vell created using the Omni-Wave Projector; the device is complete, but Mar-Vell's not sharing it with the Skrulls and he moves to release the Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver from their cells.
So, Emperor Dorrek's attempt at taunting the Avengers has not gone as he foresaw. Kalxor tries to execute orders which Dorrek sends him, but Vision restrains Kalxor and begins threatening him. "Tell me of this contingency plan--and the location of Throneworld, as well." When Kalxor refuses to comply, Vision starts beating him. Iron Man tries to restrain his comrade: "Vision--stop! Your android strength--! You'll kill him! You don't know what you're doing!" Vision disagrees: "Another correction, Iron Man: My brain is a miniaturized, high-speed computer. I always know precisely what I am doing. I--am--killing--him!" Ultimately, Thor and Iron Man have to drag him away, but the bruised Kalxor gives up the information. The contingency plan is to fire a nuclear warhead at Earth so powerful it can destroy all life on the planet. The Avengers inform Goliath and he sends his shuttle to intercept the ship carrying the warhead; Goliath boards the ship, but without any powers, he's in a tough position.
Meanwhile in the Kree Galaxy (the planet Hala), we're finally checking in with Ronan the Accuser (who has strangely reverted to pink skin). Ronan is disappointed at his men for bringing Rick Jones to him as a prisoner, but then he recalls Rick was one of the people who destroyed his citadel on Earth. Rick heroically grabs a weapon from one of the guards and strikes Ronan in the face, but it does absolutely nothing; Ronan swats him aside. Rick mocks him: "Hey, that was pretty brave, Ronan-baby. Whatcha doin'--workin' your way up to beltin' women an' kids?" Ronan admits, "You possess--a certain rudimentary courage, whelp." Ronan decides to let Rick live and be his personal "body-slave" (that sounds gross). He takes Rick out to a balcony and shows him how highly advanced the Kree civilization is compared to Earth. Rick wonders if the Kree and Skrulls are both so advanced, why does Earth matter to either of them?
Ronan explains Earth simply lies midway between the Kree and Skrull empires; it's nothing personal - Earth is just a convenient port for their forces. Rick tries to escape Ronan's clutches, but Ronan strikes him with a bolt of energy from his Universal Weapon. Rick vows, "Some day--some way--I'm definitely gonna kill you, creep!" Ronan throws him into a room which turns out to be the immense theatre where the Supreme Intelligence rests; you'll recall he was deposed at the beginning of this storyline. This rates a "faaan-tastic!" from Rick. The Supreme Intelligence reveals he's been secretly manipulating a lot of the war through his mental powers, such as inflaming tensions against aliens on Earth and compelling the Kree in Attilan to take Rick prisoner. He was even responsible for guiding Rick out of the courtroom during the Avengers' hearing and concealing the Super-Skrull's true identity from Mar-Vell. The Supreme Intelligence then opens a portal to the Negative Zone and deposits Rick inside, placing him within striking distance of Annihilus! To be concluded!
Thoughts: We get one of the most memorable moments of the storyline when Vision loses his cool against Kalxor. It's also of note that the Avengers engage in some fierce combat against the Skrull ship - it's not clear if they took any casualties; I know some fans assume they did kill a few Skrulls, but surely there'd be some mention of that on panel, considering how shocked they are by Vision's behaviour.
Sending Rick back to the Negative Zone seems to bring him back to where he was at the start of this storyline and is, I suppose, the first sign that Rick and Mar-Vell will be returning to their previous status quo when this story is done.
Next: I wrap-up looking at the Kree-Skrull War with Avengers #97!
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