Avengers, The (1963 series) #399

The mysterious Masque witnesses the dark android Benedict standing over his victims Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver and recognizes it. But the creature has detected her as well and it tries to seize her with its metal tentacles while she shoots back in her attempt to escape. It nabs her by the wrist and starts to drag her away when Hawkeye severs the tentacle with a careful arrow. Benedict vanishes into the darkness the other Avengers arrive. Masque insults Black Widow who grabs her by the throat and demands she explain what she’s up to. But Masque refuses to reveal anything and walks out. Hawkeye believes Masque is sincere and resents the others’ suspicions and he walks out. Natasha turns to the others and asks if Hawkeye is totally blind. So they talk it over: Pietro says that Vision attacked them; Vision denies this but also discovers that his memory has been purged of certain files. Nat says that Masque would know how to execute a data dump but so would Hank Pym, perhaps he’s still under Kang’s control. Wanda accuses the others of suspecting her. Then they begin debating whether they are experiencing caution or paranoia. Natasha orders the others to locate Masque….

On the moon, Hercules regains consciousness to find Deathcry has been severely beaten. Herc is then fired upon by a sniper who comes to Deathcry’s aid with a Shi’ar healing ritual. She recovers fully and he introduces himself as Za’ken, a friend. And he presents her with K’rin’s scroll which he took from the soldiers after he killed them….

Hank Pym is in his lab when Wasp blasts her way through the wall, angry about the transceiver she discovered planted on her body. She screams at him for a few minutes, destroys the device and flies away. Hank regrets having betrayed her trust by doing that to her. And then Thor and Crystal come crashing up through the floor; they explain that they had been made intangible and left in the caves below….

On the moon, Za’ken explains that he is an exile from Shi’ar, with a bounty on his head; he offers to take Deathcry home again to Chandilar. She is happy and Hercules, understanding loss of home, offers to go with her….

Black Widow discovers Hank’s lab destroyed and finds Masque there. Masque suddenly leaps forward and pushes Natasha out of the way of metal tentacles. She is dragged into the dark and the android rolls a gold coin to Natasha. She examines it discovers it covered with cybernetic circuitry; the android, Benedict, calls it a trade, the woman for information….

Dawn comes and Jarvis greets the day and is surprised when Captain America enters, claiming he is back from his exile because America needs him….