SHIELD Field Director Oliver Queen looked up from his meal, annoyed, to see the face of his long-time friend Henry Pym. Around twenty minutes ago, Oliver had left Pym and SHIELD Science Director Ben Foster to their probing and analyzing, in hopes of a quick meal and a few minutes of sleep. Oliver thought to himself that he should consider himself lucky. He actually got three bites out of his turkey and Swiss sandwich before he had been disturbed.

"What is it, Hank?" asked Oliver as he searched his cluttered desk for his caffeine-laden Booster Cola. Sleep had been a luxury Oliver could little afford lately, and the stress of the past few days was starting to wear at him.

"Mark is well…awake…and ‘he' is asking for you," answered Henry, a very perplexed look upon his face.

"I'll be right down!" declared Oliver as he leapt from his seat, spilling the contents of his pop all over the floor.

*All this took place last issue

Oliver made his way to the entrance doors of Science Lab One, where an anxious Henry Pym was waiting outside for him.

"What is going on Hank?" asked Oliver.

Henry just shrugged his shoulders and gave a half-hearted smile, "That is a damn good question, Ollie. Under layers of skin and blood there is a completely robotic form there. This is nothing like I have ever seen before. ‘He' is high-advanced, far beyond anything I am capable of, or anybody on this planet that I am aware of."

"An alien robot?" pondered Oliver aloud, his head starting to ache.

"Possibly," responded Henry, "but not from any race I am aware of. This isn't Kree, Thanagarian, or any other race's technology that I have encountered before. This is far beyond their capabilities. This creature has the abilities to completely mask itself from any of our technology. It has a heartbeat, it has brain waves, and has a complete digestive system. Had its wounds not been so severe, we would have never known about it. Oh, and it seems to be regenerating, although due to the injuries, the pace is slow."

"Has Shaw anything?" Oliver asked, perplexed.

"'He' just ‘woke up' five minutes ago," said Henry, as the two men entered the lab, "and all Shaw said was that he wanted to speak with you."

Oliver, along with Pym, made their way into the lab. There, surrounded by several of SHIELD's finest technicians, Foster, and Forge, was the body of Mark Shaw. The ‘man' was lying on a table, surrounded by countless machines of various sizes and shapes, all humming and beeping. Oliver felt the headache in his head begin to pound worse.

As Oliver and Pym made their way to the table, everyone except Forge and Foster were asked to leave the room, as per Shaw's request. Once they left, the four men gathered around Shaw, who opens his eye's towards Oliver and smiled.

"Mark?" asked Oliver

"Of course, Ollie," smiled Shaw, then he turned his head, as if he was checking something internally, then returned his attention back to the four men.

"Care to explain this?" asked Oliver awkwardly, unsure how to proceed.

"Well," said Shaw, as the smile drained from his face, "it is a little early, but I guess this time will have to do. Over four billion years ago, the race known as the Oans decided, to atone for the crimes one of their own committed, to become the Guardians of the Universe. Their mission was to protect the other developing races from danger, sometimes even from themselves. To this affect, three billion years ago they created a universal policing force, a race of robotic entities known as the Manhunters, and sent them out amongst the stars.

"During their missions, some of the Manhunters discovered the crimes the Oans themselves had committed, and decided that they were not a race fit to be the guardians of any universe. Deciding that they would be better suited to the guardianship role, the Manhunters banded together and attack the Guardians on their homeworld Oa. Unfortunately, despite a brave and valiant struggle, the Oans used the dark magic of the Starheart to defeat the Manhunters, destroying most of them. Not long after, the Guardians decided to instead recruit sentient beings.

"What the Guardians were unaware of was that not all of the Manhunters were destroyed. The handful that survived regrouped on a planet far from the reach of the Guardians, and spent the next several millennia in hiding. Eventually, the race that lived on the planet developed technology, and the Manhunters were awakened from their meditations. The Manhunters, seeing the creatures were little more than petty warmongers and battling children used their intelligence and power to infiltrate both sides and broker a truce, taking the planet as their own.

"Now, using the race's technological advancement, the Manhunters built upon them, and within several more millennia were able to reproduce their own race. As their numbers grew, they learned of the Oan's new policing force, the living Green Lantern Corps. Unable to understand how sentient creatures, with all their imperfections and fallacies, could do a better job of policing then them, the Manhunters decided it was time for them to return to their original mission, and police the universe the proper way. Agents were sent out to each galaxy, with reproducing technology, so they could perform their role in a way the Green Lanterns never could.

"Two hundred and twenty million years ago, a scout ship from the Manhunters was sent to explore this solar system. It was only a small ship, containing less than a hundred Manhunters. Unfortunately, an alien race known as the Nuwali had designs on this system for themselves, and a battle above this planet ensued. In the battle, the Manhunter ship was damaged beyond repair, and was forced to crash land. Most of the Manhunters survived, but the ship was damaged beyond their capacity, so the survivors were stuck upon Earth.

"Stuck on a place with no intelligent life to police and no technology to get off the planet, the Manhunters went into hibernation, in hopes that either an intelligent race would develop or their fellow Manhunters would come and find them.

"Tragedy then struck. Sixty-five million years ago, in a war between the Elder Gods Set and Gaea, Set siphoned much of the energy from the planet, causing what was known as the fifth extinction of nearly all life on this planet. This was what humans know as the ice age, which killed off all of the dinosaurs. The Manhunters were also siphoned of all but the smallest amount of energy, just barely enough to survive. It would take them 65 million years in regain the strength they needed to emerge from their slumber.

"Emerge they did. Buried deep within the earth, thanks to Earth's shifting plates, the Manhunters were freed in 1970 by Roxxon Corporation, drilling for oil in what is known as Alaska. Freed, the Manhunters spent the next several decades exploring Earth. They used their technology to mask themselves as ordinary humans, moving stealthfully amongst the populace, gathering the necessary information they needed to set themselves back up in power. Finally, they found the vehicle they needed in order to properly achieve their goals."

"SHIELD," whispered Oliver Queen, understanding where the conversation was leading.

"Yes, SHIELD. An international policing force that transcends all earthly boundaries and has no superiors save those they choose to let control them. The perfect cover for a policing force is the world's premiere policing force."

"We are part of this too?" asked Forge, beginning to see a pattern forming.

"Of course, we couldn't chance having the greatest technological minds of this planet working against us. The odds of you joining us were minimal, so we figured it best you simply be eliminated, with no connections ever made to us. Unfortunately, humans can't be trusted to do anything properly, and the operatives that were sent to destroy each of you failed."

"So, now what?" asked Oliver, completely dumbfounded.

"Well, Oliver, I regret to inform you, that SHIELD will be under Manhunter control…"

"How?" asked Oliver, now annoyed at the arrogant presumption of Shaw.

"Who do think has been manipulating everything that has happened to you lately, Oliver? Why do you think so many of your best operatives are down and out? We have been manipulating everything. We are the reason Agent Martens discovered Frank Castle's secret. We set up the missions to Vlatavia and Diabloverde. We hired Shinobi Shaw to capture your wife, then kill you.

"Oh, and we control the SHIELD computers thanks to our operative Deathlok. Through him, and your precious technology, we have gained access and control to every circuit in New York City. We have a plan we intend to execute. SHIELD is going to save this city from a terrible disaster. Then, we are going to ask for greater control in helping police here. As we do this, we will also begin to expand our operations in other selected strategic points across the map. Soon SHIELD will be even more powerful than anyone ever realized it could be. It will reach its maximum potential under our reign."

"Why do you care?" asked Henry, seeking some clarity.

"That is our job. Look around at this miserable planet, you can't do the job yourselves. Petty wars, gangs in the streets, crime is rampant. You have countless criminals in outlandish costumes overwhelming this planet with crime. You humans need someone to set order. That is our mission."

"You mentioned a disaster in New York," said Oliver, fearing for his daughter, an attendee of Gotham University, "what are you talking about?"

"Go check on television and see Ollie, it should have started by now…"

Ben started to make his way to a group of monitors towards the left end of the room, but they turned themselves on before he was even close. The monitors showed a variety of cable news networks, and all were covering the same story. With the exception of Paris Island, every single inch of the city was covered in total darkness. A total power outage. Almost ten million people shrouded in blackness. The chaos had already begun, the reporters claimed, as rioting and looting had begun in Gotham and other sections of the city.

"Oh my god," said Ben Foster, as he watched the chaos begin to unfurl in the city that surrounds them, thinking of his wife and children and praying they were home and safe.

"And now," said Manhunter Mark Shaw, a smile on his face, "you all had better go and try to save this city. It will probably be the last thing you will ever do…"