As
Kyle Richmond’s brain is transplanted back into its rightful cranium, his mind
reviews the incidents of his extraordinary life. He awakens to find Dr. Tania
Belinsky over him, checking on his progress. At this point, three armed hoods
burst into the room, intending to kidnap millionaire Kyle for ransom. Tania,
secretly the Red Guardian, takes all three down in the blink of an eye. Nearby,
Doctor Strange is hypnotizing Tania’s Soviet handlers into allowing her to stay
in the USA longer when he is summoned to Kyle’s room and finds out what
happened; Tania’s actions have now made him curious….
Meanwhile,
Valkyrie, having been arrested for the ruckus at the restaurant last issue, is brought
into the police station, where her lack of identification and understanding is
taken as signs of uncooperation. Then the police are called about a maniac with
a winged horse on a rooftop…
…who
turns out to be Jack Norriss, protecting Aragorn from a landlord who would
shoot the horse because its weight is causing the roof to collapse. Hulk
arrives (from OMEGA THE UNKNOWN #2) and tosses the landlord onto the next roof,
then bounds away carrying Jack and Aragorn….
Dr.
Strange and Tania discuss the Celestial Mind Control movement promoted by the
disguised Nebulon. Meanwhile, a trio of baddies visits the CMC; they are
Alexander Gentry, Leopold Stryke, and Samuel Smithers. The Bozo cheerleaders
give them new names: all Bozos. Smithers a/k/a Plantman thinks this is
ridiculous and walks out to start planning his own crime….
Val
is shown to a prison cell where she is immediately targeted by a huge bully.
When the woman pulls Val’s hair she responds by lifting her by the throat and
squeezing. Using her powers against another woman sickens her and she collapses
in a bunk to sleep….
Strange
and Tania arrive at the Sanctum Sanctorum where Strange receives a call telling
him that Kyle Richmond has vanished from the hospital. He flies out to
investigate, psychically calling Hulk and Valkyrie to join him but they are
prevented by circumstances. Strange arrives at the hospital and is immediately
seized and choked into unconsciousness by a giant vine, the work of Plantman.
Red Guardian arrives and she is sprayed with thorns and knocked out. They
awaken in a huge, impenetrable pod, held aloft high over the city; Kyle is
there, they cannot escape, and Plantman is demanding fifty million dollars as a
ransom for Kyle….