Avengers, The (1963 series) #379

On the Isle of Crail, Deathcry watches from safety as a spaceship arrives and three individuals beam down to meet with the Butcher and his mind-controlled band. Kree Admiral Galen Kor introduces himself to the villain as his savior and ally. The Butcher says he has no need of either and employs his pheromones in an attempt to capture the Kree but Kor is not affected, having sensibly protected himself against the Mephitisoid’s powers. He offers the Butcher a chance for vengeance against the Shi’ar. Deathcry explains the situation to T'kyll Alabar and wishes the Avengers were there….

And the Avengers are on their way via Quinjet, Black Widow, Thunderstrike, Hercules, and Crystal, concerned about the lack of contact with Vision and the others. On the way they pick up the energy reading of the Kree, which sends a vengeful Hercules into a rage. He is advised to calm down before their arrival….

Deathcry finishes explaining to T'kyll Alabar who the Kree are and he cynically mentions how the Shi’ar encounter so many barbaric peoples they are forced to conquer. Deathcry bristles but they are confronted by Dylon Cir of the Kree. Deathcry leaps at him….

In a makeshift prison in town, Vision is held in a stasis field and guarded by the mind-controlled Magdalene and Swordsman. Galen Kor enters with the Butcher and asks for a demonstration of the depth of his mind-control so Butcher orders Swordsman to kill Magdalene…and he draws his sword to approach her…and then Vision tells him to stop as such actions are beneath the Kree. Kor confirms that he caused the stasis ship to crash so they could gain control of the Butcher’s pheromones to create a rebel army led by human superheroes, noting the Avengers are coming. He leaves, Vision tries to warn Butcher that the Kree are worse than the Shi’ar which prompts the Mephitisoid to seize Vision by the throat to shut him up as no one is worse than the Shi’ar….

Deathcry delivers a brutal beating to Dylon Cir but T'kyll Alabar stops her since they can use him. He employs a gas to control the Kree’s mind to pretend that T'kyll Alabar has captured the two Shi’ar refugees and is delivering them to the town. Cir orders the guards to inform the two leaders that the Shi’ar have been captured. Left alone, they enter the prison and T'kyll Alabar shoots down Magdalene and Swordsman with stun charges and they free Vision. Alabar reveals that the chemical he uses on Cir was Mephitisoid pheromone, which Deathcry disapproves of, using the enemies’ weapons. But Butcher, Galen Kor, and Kona Lor arrive, crashing through the wall. Vision passes his hands through Butcher’s chest, stunning him and making him incapable of employing his pheromone power. Vision then seizes Kona Lor’s power lance and tosses it to Alabar so he can kill the Butcher…but Alabar refuses and hands the lance to the Butcher who has recovered. Alabar then gives Deathcry the truth of their history. Alabar was left in charge of a decimated army and they found refuge with a temple of Mephitisoid females who fed them and healed them and spoke of peace between the two races. But the Shi’ar killed all the women and distilled the pheromone and used it to turn the Shi’ar army into merciless followers to destroy the Mephitisoids. A heroic story was concocted by the Shi’ar for public consumption and Alabar was placed into stasis with the Butcher to remove a potential source of embarrassment. Alabar apologizes to the Butcher, who uses Lor’s staff to kill him. Word comes that the Avengers are nearing the island; the dying Alabar begs Deathcry to stop the baddies from capturing the Avengers—so she seizes Magdalene’s power lance and electrocutes the Butcher. The Kree teleport away and the island inhabitants are freed from their mind-control. And Deathcry goes out to mourn her lost innocence which Vision summarizes as “She is growing up.”