During the HYDRA takeover, a fleet of SHIELD helicarriers lands in New Attilan, the nation of Inhumans. Dinesh "Grid" Daol, Naja, and Dante "Inferno" Pertuz watch as HYDRA agents disembark at the Inhuman's headquarters. The HYDRA agents are led by Daisy Johnson's father Calvin Zabo, also called Mister Hyde. As Grid, Naja, and Inferno watch, an Inhuman named Iso approaches Zabo but is then arrested. Pertuz wants to attack but is stopped by the others, and they all flee as the HYDRA agents and Hyde storm the compound.
Shortly after the takeover, Grid, Naja, and Inferno skulk through Philadelphia and complain that everyone's just accepting HYDRA because people are willing to sacrifice liberty for the safety HYDRA promises. Soon, however, the trio is stopped by HYDRA agents doing a papers check. They don't have papers, and when one of the agents notice Naja's scaly skin and realizes they're Inhumans, Naja and Pertuz fight off the agents and flee into a warehouse. Shortly thereafter, however, they are attacked, and both Grid and Naja are captured while Pertuz flees. Naja screams for Inferno to come back, but he just keeps running.
In the present, Johnson and her team (consisting of Pertuz, Lunella Lafayette and Devil Dinosaur, Kamala Khan, and Karnak) steal a car and flee the HYDRA base they just destroyed. Lafayette asks to drive but is shot down by the others and Pertuz winds up driving. Lunella calls shotgun, and Karnak insists on sitting in the middle back row because it's statistically the safest position in a car. After they all get in, they debate whether they should help the fleeing Inhumans but conclude they can't do anything for them. Pertuz also notes that one of the rescued Inhumans is Frank "Nur" McGee, who used to be a police officer and can presumably help the other freed prisoners escape from HYDRA.
The car is very cramped with all five Inhumans inside. Kamala complains about Karnak 'manspreading', though he notes that Khan can simply make herself smaller if she doesn't like being crammed against him. Johnson says that at least they're inconspicuous, but Pertuz notes that Devil Dinosaur is running behind them and is extremely obvious to anyone who looks in their direction. Trying to figure out what to do next, Pertuz asks Karnak for directions, but he just tells them to go 'west' and the X-Men will find them. Lafayette then reveals she found a computer which tracks all of HYDRA's movements, and it turns out they're absolutely everywhere. Pertuz wants to fight them but Johnson says there's too few of them to win. Pertuz insists that they have an obligation to stop HYDRA from taking over the country, but Johnson is adamant that they're too weak to fight HYDRA and they should instead stay as inconspicuous as possible.
A short while later, Khan and Johnson have fallen asleep while Karnak continues to stare at the back of Pertuz's head. Pertuz jokes that Lafayette should be entertaining him since she's in the shotgun seat, but then he looks at Lafayette's computer and notes a bunch of HYDRA agents just appeared near them. Lafayette confirms they weren't there a few moments ago and that they need to hide.
The group stops near a farm which is being raided by HYDRA agents. Johnson wakes up, sees the HYDRA forces, and wants to leave, but Pertuz notes that if they make any sudden moves someone will likely see Devil Dinosaur. Johnson still wants to flee but Pertuz insists they at least watch the HYDRA agents to see what's going on. Soon enough, a quartet of agents drags a screaming woman out of the house. Pertuz wants to help, but Johnson again says their mission is to rescue the specific person that Karnak is directing them to find, and they can't risk getting bogged down by helping random people along the way. Pertuz says he doesn't care what Johnson thinks, and when Johnson insists that Pertuz owes her for rescuing him, Pertuz repeats that he doesn't care. He runs off to fight as Karnak tells Johnson that she's a terrible leader because her team doesn't listen to or respect her. Giving up, Johnson tells Karnak to wake up Khan so they can go fight HYDRA. However, after Pertuz and Lafayette quickly fight off the HYDRA agents, the woman they 'saved'—who turns out to have pointed ears and prominent tusks—attacks them.
Johnson's team regroups and Johnson recognizes the woman as Nina Price, also called Vampire By Night. She's part of the SHIELD Paranormal Containment Unit, a group of supernatural soldiers whose powers have a classic horror-movie theme and who are also called the new Howling Commandos. The rest of the Paranormal Containment Unit appears led by Dum Dum Dugan, who confirms Johnson's suspicions that this was a setup and says that Steve Rogers just wants Johnson to peacefully surrender along with her team. Johnson refuses and her team fights Dugan's. Most of Johnson's team does well, although Lafayette reveals that she's afraid of monkeys and runs away screaming from an enemy who looks like an armored monkey. Karnak rescues her, but then both are grabbed by Theodore "Man-Thing" Sallis, a gigantic monster whose touch burns anyone that feels fear. Lafayette and Karnak fall unconscious, and when Khan tries to pull them away, Sallis grabs her and begins to burn her as well. Sallis then throws Khan into Johnson when Johnson tries to fight him.
Pertuz, the last man standing, notes that he's out of ideas. Karnak tells him to get in the car, but Pertuz says he's tired of running and resolves to incinerate Sallis even if it destroys him too. He ignites and begins to burn Sallis, badly injuring them both. At that point Karnak rams Sallis with the car and clarifies that he meant for Pertuz to attack Sallis by driving into him, not flee. This takes down Sallis and enables Johnson's team to flee.
Pertuz wakes up in the car several days later. Lafayette is driving, which Pertuz is not happy with, but he accepts once Johnson tells him the other option was Karnak. Pertuz asks if he missed anything and Johnson says that Thor beat up Rogers and got HYDRA to surrender, but quickly clarifies that she was just joking and nothing really changed. The group did steal a horse trailer so Devil Dinosaur (who ran away during the fight against SHIELD because he got scared) could ride instead of chasing the car the whole time, but otherwise they've just been driving west and listening to endless Beyonce at Karnak's insistence. They pass a sign noting that they're leaving the United States of America and approach the fence which separates New Tian, the nation of mutants, from HYDRA-controlled America; this is where Karnak claims they can find the person they're looking for. At that point, several X-Men appear in front of them and one smashes their car's engine.
Tropes:
- Car Fu: Karnak uses this against Man-Thing.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Johnson calls out Dugan on betraying the country to serve HYDRA.
- Killed Off for Real: The introductory text explicitly states that Johnson was the only survivor of the SHIELD team she led in the previous issue, meaning Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez and her other teammates were really killed and not just wounded.
