As
the Defenders race to save Valkyrie from execution by the Sons of the Serpent,
Son of Satan and Luke Cage are diverted by Clea to emerge from the Eye of Agamotto
worn by Doctor Strange. They find themselves in the secret undersea prison
where Strange and co. have been held by the bad guys. Hellstrom and Cage free
Strange and Nighthawk and link up with Yellowjacket who had managed to free
himself. Hellstrom is able to use his powers to locate the secret exit and they
depart….
Meanwhile,
Valkyrie is hung upon an inverted cross in a public square while Hulk and
Daredevil battle the Sons of the Serpent. Hulk has been blinded and DD captured.
The baddies are about to set fire to Val’s cross when Jack Norriss comes to her
rescue, struggling with a Serpent. This spurs several onlookers to action,
deciding that the Serpents are the kind of extremists they don’t need. DD joins
in the battle, Hulk’s sight returns, the Serpents flee, the team heads back to
the Sanctum Sanctorum….
The
group escaping the undersea prison comes out of the tunnel into a plush office.
Nighthawk recognizes it: it is the office of his business adviser, J.C.
Pennysworth, who has been funding the Sons of the Serpent with Kyle Richmond’s
money. An angry Nighthawk heads out followed by the others….
Interlude:
A young couple in a California mobile home park hear a knock at their door one
evening. The husband answers the knock to see an Elf with a Gun—who then shoots
the man….
The
Defenders find that Val has been rescued so the enraged Nighthawk heads to the
home of J.C. Pennysworth, smashing through a window, unmasking and demanding
Pennysworth explain himself—he is African America like the targets of the Sons
of the Serpent. Pennysworth explains that he feels no kinship with his people,
having fought to rise above their level. He also assumed that Kyle, who trusted
JCP to invest his money with no questions asked, would not object to any
investments so long as they made money. Nighthawk takes JCP to meet with the
other Defenders. When Luke Cage sees that JCP is a Black man he goes berserk
and has to be restrained from hitting the man a second time. JCP reveals the
location of the Serpents’ secret base—it is under the building burned down
earlier. The Defenders and their guests invade the place, beat them all up, and
Nighthawk, blaming himself for not paying attention, flies off alone to battle
his conscience….