This comic includes three short stories: "The Last Place You Look", "All the World's a Stage", and "Sanctuary".
The Last Place You Look
Misty Knight beats up a HYDRA soldier in a rural Indiana Amish village. She notes that the Amish were willing to shelter an Inhuman named Annie, but HYDRA guessed her plan and found her, so now she needs another place to hide her.The farmers apologize and say they want to keep helping like Sam Wilson asked them too, but can't risk HYDRA killing them all. Knight says she understands and notes that Annie won't be safe there anymore even if she stays. She drives off with Annie, who is sad, as well as the unconscious HYDRA agent in her trunk.
Knight drives through an arid desert west of Indiana and calls Wilson, who apologizes and says he's sure Knight will find another place to keep Annie. Knight smashes her phone in anger and then drives over a rock, destroying her driveshaft and forcing her to stop. Another car arrives and a man dressed in Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic rags gets out. He identifies himself as 'Mech', then picks up a wrench and offers to see if he can help Knight, but quickly finds that Knight's car is totaled. He also says he sees Annie, but he doesn't turn her in. Instead he drives off with Knight and Annie. Knight jokes about forgetting the HYDRA agent, who breaks out of her trunk only to find himself stranded in the desert.
Mech then takes Knight and Annie to his base and gives them similar post-apocalyptic clothing. Knight notes that this is more Ororo "Storm" Munroe's style than hers, but puts on the clothing, and Mech then drives them somewhere else. A police car begins to pursue them but Mech accelerates and runs the car off the road, resulting in it exploding. They then reach their destination near Mojave City California: a large group of people dressed like Mech. Annie wonders if they're looking at mutants, but Knight says she thinks they're cosplayers, which Mech confirms. He takes them through a city of tents and RVs to a beached ship, where a hair salon owner named Betsy Jamison has adopted the identity of "Queen Bea" and now rules the community. Bea says that they're a bunch of cosplayers who like to dress up in the desert and pretend to live in a post-apocalyptic timeline. She offers to shelter Inhumans, and when Knight notes that this is dangerous, Mech points out that they at least have some experience navigating post-apocalyptic dystopias since they've been pretending to live in one for several years. He also notes that the cosplayers don't trust the government and so won't turn Annie in, and other people avoid them because they're really weird and loud. Annie, meanwhile, is having fun playing dress-up with some other kids in the community.
Mech then introduces Knight to several other isolated communities, including a seasteader community of "hoboaters", a farming commune, and a bunch of senior citizens who roam the nations in a pack of R Vs to avoid paying taxes. Later, Knight meets up with Mech again and says she doesn't have any new Inhumans for him but just wanted to say hello and relax in the peaceful post-apocalyptic community. As a falcon lands on her car, Mech notes Knight's car and then muses that 'she' is a beautiful 'girl' who will take everything that can be thrown at her, but shouldn't have to. Knight picks up that Mech is talking about her, not her car, and as she looks at the falcon and reflects on her relationship with Wilson, she agrees. She says that she'll always do what is necessary but she's trying to stop from getting wrecked like her last car. Mech says that they should go say hello to her people, meaning the cosplayers, and Knight agrees.
All the World's a Stage
Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw, dressed formally, walk down a red carpet as people photograph them. Shaw says he hates award ceremonies like the one they are attending but Frost says they are important to give people an exciting escape from their lives. Frost, reading the minds of the people at the ceremony, senses someone planning rebellion, but before she can track the mind down another celebrity named Tatyana walks down the red carpet. People scream how much they love Tatyana as Frost concentrates and finds the rebellious human, a humans in a red hat who pulls a gun on her and says she sold everyone out to HYDRA. Frost has security take him away, but then lava spreads over Tatyana's body and she reveals herself to be a mutant. Frost finds that she cannot read Tatyana's mind, and is intrigued by the idea of a resistance including both humans and mutants. She quickly beats Tatyana down and reflects that in her youth she may well have joined with their rebellion, but now she knows better. She directs some minions to take Tatyana away, and as Shaw thanks her for defeating the rebels before they killed anyone, she vows that she'll never let rebels get that close to them again. She then erases everyone's minds and they come in again, noting that the show must go on for the sake of their survival.
Sanctuary (Part 4)
Namor McKenzie notes that the rebellion against his rule included the captain of his border guard, his old teammates Jim "Inhuman Torch" Hammond and Thomas "Toro" Raymond, and even his cousin Aquaria "Namora" Neptunia. A guard tells him the rebellion was indeed larger than expected, but Namor insists that the people still support him, their rightful king. He muses that it might have been better if HYDRA had just attacked them and allowed them to all die in honorable battle, rather than forcing him to become a monster just to keep his people from provoking HYDRA's wrath. He acknowledges that his actions, including arresting people for having subversive reading material and rounding up dissidents, are indeed fascist. As he talks, one of his soldiers announces that Neptunia has been found guilty of treason and will be publicly executed as per her request.
Namor sighs that he had no choice, but the guard corrects him and says that Namor did in fact have a choice and decided to keep his people safe by treating them like the caged beast they just defeated. Namor smiles and notes that the beast is not really caged; she's trapped below the city but still has a large realm to thrive in. Atlantis, he says, will thrive similarly from its position beneath the waves. He then apologizes for bothering the guard with his musings and attributes his loquaciousness to stress from knowing he'll have to execute his cousin shortly.
Namor goes to the execution site and raises his sword above Neptunia's head. Neptunia says Namor can still be saved, but Namor says she's wrong. He swings but is suddenly hit by a trident thrown by a member of a large mob. He manages to fend off the first attack and frees his cousin to defend herself, but she points out the mob is on her side and he was wrong to assume the populace supported him. The mob grabs him and he barely manages to break free.
Hammond and Raymond hear the commotion and then are surprised by the guard Namor spoke with earlier, who says he can free them if they trust him. Meanwhile, Namor is overwhelmed by the mob.
Tropes:
- Covers Always Lie: The cover of this comic shows Knight fighting Mech, but she and Mech never fight and in fact form an alliance within minutes of meeting.
- Off with Her Head!: Namor tries to inflict this on his cousin but is stopped by a rebellious mob.
