In Los Angeles,
Black Goliath watches helplessly, along with the entire city, as the Null-Life
Bomb expands through the Champions’ headquarters to engulf the world. BG climbs
the building to investigate but when he touches the bomb, he is pulled in….
Meanwhile, the
Champions (Hercules, Black Widow, Iceman, Angel, Ghost Rider) and Darkstar have
been teleported by the Stranger to the ancient city homeworld of the blind
wizard Kamo-Tharn who recognizes Hercules’ voice. Herc realizes that the device
the Stranger sent them for is likely Kamo-Tharn’s Runestaff—which Herc had
brought back to Earth on his previous visit. The wizard orders his beast-men to
attack the heroes. The Champs fight back against the hordes of enemies and
Darkstar spots a sliver of the Stranger’s portal still open; she widens it and
leaps through. Iceman, mistakenly believing she has been captured (and
attracted to her) leaps through after her…and finds himself in deep space….
Black Goliath is
trapped inside the Null-Life Bomb with the Stranger and Reggie Clayborne who
explains the dire situation while the Stranger exerts his power to slow the
bomb’s expansion. BG tries just smashing the bomb but it is programmed to
protect itself and generates a band of metal androids to beat BG senseless….
Bobby sees that
Laynia has enclosed herself in a sphere of Darkforce; suffering, he quickly
creates a sphere of ice around himself and follows her….
Kamo-Tharn transports
the remaining Champs to a desolate hellscape where they are attacked by winged
demons and a titan made of molten lava. Herc and Ghost Rider take on the
flaming giant while Black Widow tries to aid Angel, being attacked by the
demon. She ropes it with her cord but is slammed into a rock and knocked out.
Enraged, GR leaps on the demon pulling it into the flames as the titan engulfs
Herc, leaving only Angel….
Darkstar emerges
through the portal into the bomb, dragging Bobby after her, saddened that she
pays him no attention, despite his attempted sacrifice for her. The bomb,
sensing it no longer has a need for self-defense, recalls the androids. The
Stranger realizes the Runestaff was on Earth all the time, which he would have
known had he not been concerned with the bomb. Darkstar reaches through a
portal and snatches the staff from its resting place in a closet in a Manhattan
hospital. She and Stranger pool their powers….
Angel concentrates
and, along with the others, realizes that everything they have experienced in
this world was an illusion created by a gloating Kamo-Tharn. So, Angel leaps on
him and punches his lights out….
With the power of
the Runestaff, Laynia forces the bomb to keep expanding, breaking its
programming so that it will never stop growing through the galaxies and thus
never reach the point where it must contract. Everybody wakes up in the Champions’
office, Stranger praises human courage, everybody hugs, and Hercules feels left
out….