Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Quasar recruited reserve Avengers Moondragon, Photon, Starfox (Eros of Titan), Thor and Tigra to help investigate a Rigellian planet whose population had been killed. They found a comatose survivor, Earth hero Jack Of Hearts, and marauding androids called Servitors, servants of the Infinites, who sacrificed themselves to turn the planet into a molten ball. And then another extra-dimensional being arrived, as big as the planet itself ...
... and now it starts to shape the molten mass.
Moondragon joins the other 5 with JOH who she's revived and provided with a copy of his original armour/costume (that keeps his rampant Zero Energy in check), but she says she's also made a few improvements. Jack reviews the data download he got when he touched a Servitor (before #1) and confirms what we've already learned. The Servitors are like enzymes that break down everything to its constituents. They serve the extra-dimensional Infinites, who he now says exist as energy but can take a physical form if they want to. But he still doesn't know what they want with this molten planet.
Photon volunteers to phase into the giant to learn more. JOH says he should do it because the data download means he's more likely to recognise what he's seeing. Moondragon suggests she could link their minds to get the best of both worlds. Thor is suspicious because he's been subjected to Heather Douglas' mind-control before (Avengers #219-220). Tigra similar (Av#221). Eros whispers to her that they can trust his fellow Titanian because none of them are currently her enemies.
So they put the plan into operation. Photon turns to neutrinos to get inside, where they find a silicon-based lifeform with an atmosphere *inside* (but not human-breathable). Then they locate a central 'brain', and Monica Rambeau gives in to a 'gravity' which pulls her inside it. And Jack loses contact with her.
Along the way various chars have compared the Infinites to other powerful beings they've met and declared the others to be outclassed. Tigra mentioned Molecule Man, JOH suggested the Stranger, Quasar dragged in the Living Tribunal, Eternity and Oblivion. Now Thor adds Surtur, Galactus, the Celestials and the Masters Of The Black Star.
Moondragon says they must go rescue their companion, but Tigra must stay behind on the spaceship to control it. Greer Grant bridles but Heather logically says she's the only 1 who can't fly and is the least powerful. Tigra objects that she doesn't know how to operate the starship, so Moony mind-dumps a manual into her head. However Greer gets some of Heather's arrogance along with it. She takes command, ticks 'baldy' off and organises the others into a detailed implementation of the plan.
Tigra flies the ship to the surface above where Jack thinks the brain is, and Quasar quantum-excavates a tunnel down to it. The 5 fly down it (with breathing masks). (Jack Of Hearts used to propel himself with energy blasted from his hands. But now he discovers that 1 of Moony's mods means that he effectively has boot jets.) They are attacked by Servitors. In the previous issues it was a problem that destroying an android just made it create more out of the planet's mass. But now Thor suggests that the result will be stealing mass from what they now think is an Infinite. So everybody pulls out all the stops.
However outside the 'Infinite' has turned the cooled planet into a giant curved cylinder. And now more 'Infinites' arrive carrying more converted planet cylinders, and they start to link them into an arc of an enormous circle, using their own bodies to form the junctions. Tigra advises her team to find Photon quick and get out.
Inside Thor's having fun but then all the Servitors retreat. Moondragon gets a mental call from Photon and Thor uses a hammer-generated vortex to pull them all to the brain. Monica contacts them holographically and says it was *she* who called off the Servitors, but she can't find a way out. Heather links Monica and Jack's minds again, and between them they guide Photon out to them.
But then JOH says he found out something else. The giant guys aren't the Infinites, just bigger minions called Walkers. Tigra tells them that the Walkers and planet-arcs have now formed a humungous ring as big as the original planet's orbit, and a really-really-big hand has materialised reaching for it. And Jack tells them that the ring is a handle, and the hand belongs to a real Infinite who's going to use it to tow the Galaxy away.