In
a classroom at the University, Defenders Valkyrie, Hellcat, and Nighthawk plus
Dollar Bill and Ledge sit as a grand jury on three copies of the insane Lunatik
as Professor Harrison Turk, the self-proclaimed Lunatik, explains the bizarre
situation. He is Arisen Tyrk, sorcerer-king of an extradimensional kingdom.
This kingdom was invaded by a band of space pirates led by Star God (also known
as Man-Wolf) and Tyrk was defeated and left for dead but he tried to escape
through a damaged teleportation machine and so was trapped in a strange,
mirrored reality where he was split into multiple fragments. One landed in this
world where, by cunning and guile, he established an identity as college
professor Harrison Turk. On successive nights of the full moon, three more
fragments arrived, the first one becoming a vigilante through a warped sense of
justice, the later two choosing to imitate him. His story concluded, the big
question then is what to do with him….
Elsewhere,
two Justice Department officials decide that Kyle Richmond’s finances bear a
deeper scrutiny and the Defenders seem shady as well….
At
the Sanctum Sanctorum, Clea welcomes the Defenders plus Turk and the three
Lunatiks. After a lot of explanation, Clea decides they should enter the other
dimension where she believes assembling a majority of Tyrk’s fragments will
draw all of the remaining ones to them, restoring Arisen Tyrk to his original
existence. Clea opens a portal and they all step through into a pleasant
looking pastoral world shaped like a tunnel. Nighthawk flies reconnaissance and
spots an old man in red with some sort of ape-like beast as companion. NH flies
down only to find they have vanished from sight. A little further along, he
spies a village but the sight of him causes a panic, small people yelling
“Nilffim” and throwing rocks at him. He returns to the others to find they have
met a caravan of locals, called Sputs; Clea casts a spell that allows them to
understand each other. The people explain they are refugees from the evil king
and then the Nilffim arrives, soldiers mounted on giant birds, the King’s air
force. The birds dive, the Sputs open fire with bows and arrows, the heroes
join in the defense, and Hellcat, unable to do anything effective, dives for
cover. Clea takes a blow to the head so Turk frees the three Lunatiks who take
Hellcat prisoner and escape. Valkyrie sees the bad guys escape on horse(ish)back
and pursues on Aragorn….
From
a distance the battle is observed by the red-clad old man and beastly companion
Nighthawk saw earlier. They are Doctor Strange and Hulk in disguise; Hulk leaps
through the air, knocking out all of the Nilffim in a ricochet move. Strange
explains to Clea that a dark force in this world threatens all the dimensions
and Clea notes that Val, Hellcat, and the Lunatiks are gone….