Hulk
has crashed into the lair of Scorpio, who unleashes his newly created Zodiac on
him. Scorpio introduces eight of them and realizes three are missing (remember,
he’s the twelfth) just as Hulk lays into them. Libra, who fancies himself above
such conflicts, advises Valkyrie, Hellcat, and Moon Knight to join Hulk in
battle. Max Fury comes running too, telling Jack Norriss to stay out of the
way. As night falls, Nighthawk increases in power and breaks free of his
restraints, joining the battle. Scorpio panics, as his beloved Virgo is one of
the missing three while Aquarius sits out the fight and drinks beer. Scorpio
discovers that Capricorn, Pisces, and Virgo did not survive their “births” and
he mourns the loss of his beloved Virgo, his last chance at being normal. The
Defenders regroup (in a nice two-page spread) and the fight continues. Gemini,
split in two, is divided over which side to favor. Reunited, he chooses to side
with the Defenders, trapping Leo in the same pit Moon Knight escaped from at
the end of issue #48. Jack Norriss leads Moon Knight to where he can find
Scorpio…
…who
is listening to his Judy Garland records while brooding over his failure. He
sees that it is all futile, even his scheme of revenge against his brother Nick
Fury and asks for Max Fury’s gun. He shoots himself but the arriving heroes
wrongly assume that the LMD, mourning his friend’s death, killed him….