At the inaugural
event for the new superhero team, the Champions, the only team members present,
Hercules and Angel, are attacked by Titanium Man, Griffin, and Crimson Dynamo.
Security hustles Governor Jerry Brown to safety while Richard Fenster discovers
he is no good at fighting villains. Ghost Rider returns from taking Rampage to
the hospital to be attacked by Griffin and the scene is too crowded for him to
use his Hellfire attack. Herc bounces his mace off of Crimson Dynamo toward GR
who catches it and is pulled into the air so he can blast Griffin; he then
bounces the mace off Griffin toward Herc who catches it and batters CD. Angel
knocks Titanium Man out of the sky and he lands on Hercules, distracting the
other two heroes long enough for their enemies to strike the blows that knock
them out….
Elsewhere, Iceman
and Ivan Petrovich have tracked the black pearl to the captive Alexei Bruskin whom Black Widow is being held with.
Iceman creates an ice tunnel to cross the gap between the buildings but the three
villain arrive with the three captive Champions. Bobby is blasted by the Dynamo
and Ivan dashes through the tunnel to the hideout…
…where Natasha has
pulled off a ruse to distract and defeat Darkstar. But Darkstar recovers
quickly and there is a battle between the two women which is a stalemate until
Ivan crashes through the skylight firing tranquilizer bullets. They subdue
Darkstar but the other three villains enter with their prisoners and recapture
Natasha and company. Crimson Dynamo unmasks to reveal he is Yuri Petrovich
a/k/a the Outcast, the son Ivan thought was dead and who is now seeking revenge
against his father….