A
bitter and dejected Gargoyle (Isaac Christians) walks the streets on a dark and
rainy October evening. He is accosted by a pair of hoods who intend to rob him;
one stabs him but the knife bends. They whip his scarf away, revealing his
terrifying face and Isaac tells them to leave him alone. They flee in panic but
run into Clea and Devil-Slayer who are looking for Isaac; she casts a spell on
them to confess to the police and transports them to the nearest station. Clea
tells Isaac she has been searching for him since he disappeared a week ago; he
was not visible to her sorcerous powers so she enlisted Devil-Slayer and his
telepathic powers joined to hers managed to locate him. Gargoyle doesn’t know
why so she tells him it’s because he is a friend. They hug….
Patsy
and Val return to Patsy’s burned-out house in Montclair, New Jersey, where she
discovers her Shadow Cloak in the rubble. A child emerges from it and runs away
screaming. Deciding the cloak is too dangerous to keep, Patsy folds it up into
itself and it vanishes. Then they are contacted by Clea calling for the
Defenders, so as Hellcat and Valkyrie, they answer the call….
In
a Washington, D.C., courtroom, Kyle Richmond is contacted by Clea but he
reminds her that he is no longer on the team, causing a lot of confusion among
those present as only Kyle can see Clea. He brushes it off with a joke, as the
judge rules that Kyle is guilty of no wrongdoing so he only needs to pay the
back taxes ($767,000) and everything will be square. Kyle thanks his lawyers,
Matt Murdock and Milton Rosenblum and Luann gives him a hug. But out in the
hall, Kyle encounters August Masters of the Central Information Bureau, who
informs him that he is the one who fixed everything for Kyle….
At
the Sanctum Sanctorum, the Defenders have gathered to find out what has been
making Gargoyle so despondent. He explains how he attempted to save the
decaying village of Christiansboro for the sake of his late father who founded
it; in desperation he turned to the occult and so became a thrall of the
Six-Fingered Hand and was trapped in the body of the Gargoyle. After the Defenders
had rescued him, he realized he had still failed his father and, not wanting to
be a burden to the Defenders, he left. And so Val promises to help him and
Devil-Slayer enfold them all in his cape and they teleport to Christiansboro….
Wong
answers a late-night knock at the door and sees Henry “Beast” McCoy who wants
to come in and wait for Doctor Strange to return….
Arriving
in Christiansboro, the Defenders find the town deserted. Gargoyle panics and
flees; Hellcat goes after him while the others look around. She loses Isaac but
sees someone lurking and watching her; she nabs the person with her Claw-Line
and meets frightened and dimwitted local Simple Joe. Joe tells her that the
town is haunted: ghosts have been destroying the town, which is why the
citizens have all fled, except for Joe who had nowhere else to go. Patsy offers
reassurance but a scary laughter mocks her….
Isaac
reaches his family home where he sees his long-dead brother Jeremiah, looking
like a child still. Jermiah lures Isaac up to the high ledge he fell to his
death from as a boy; Isaac had always blamed himself for his brother’s death.
Worse, their father had always blamed Isaac, too. Then Jeremiah jumps off…and
vanishes…
Valkyrie
and Clea are walking down a street when a cat leaps into Val’s arms…and then it
claws he face and runs away. Suddenly all of the windows on the street break
and giant crimson hand reach out for the women…and they lose consciousness….
Isaac
enters his home and apologizes to his mother’s portrait for never being able to
please his father. Mother steps out of the painting and comforts him as she has
always understood and loved him. He pours out his frustration only to find she
has vanished….
Meanwhile,
Devil-Slayer is in a cemetery, wondering why he joined the mission. He
encounters a little girl who seems lost. He takes her into his arms and her
eyes glow red; he disappears into darkness….
Hellcat,
Valkyrie, Clea, and Devil-Slayer awaken surrounded by the risen dead of the
town, plus Simple Joe, the cat, and the little girl. They are being used by the
monstrous Null the Living Darkness. The monster explains that in the remote
past, angelic beings called S’Raphh lived on the Moon but they grew bored and
flew off into space in search of truth about their purpose; disappointed, they
returned to the moon where they flew into the fires, committing racial suicide;
their collective unconsciousness gave birth to Null, whose doctrine is that
“only the dead belong in a cosmos without purpose” and so intends to spread its
doctrine of death. The Defenders fight the dead as Null gloats….
At
home, a despondent Gargoyle tries to hang himself but discovers his neck
muscles are too strong. The ghosts of his father, mother, and brother appear
and mock him, ordering him to leave, so he throws himself through a window. He
flies to the cemetery where the Defenders’ battle with Null pierces his misery.
He decides to put his past behind him and look to the future before jumping
into the battle, blasting the dead. He attacks Null directly, discovering his
bio-mystic bolts, which suck life from his victims, can be reversed so he
fights Null, injecting bits of life into the monster, who cannot bear it and
dies (maybe). The dead return to their graves but it appears Gargoyle is dying.
The ghosts of his family appear and tell him they are proud of him, which
revives the offbeat hero….