Stranded
on a small island, the Defenders (Hulk, Hellcat, Nighthawk with Namor the Sub-Mariner)
face the newly transmogrified Presence and Red Guardian, floating, godlike, in
the air. Hulk recognizes Presence as the one behind the nuclear blast and jumps
at him; Presence merely gestures with a finger to send Hulk flying into the
distance. As the Presence boasts of his might and power, the other three attack
him and Tania, dodging tiny nuclear blasts from the pair’s hands. Nighthawk
pulls himself together on the beach where he landed as Namor’s crew arrives.
Kyle directs them to their master while he searches the beach to see if any
Atlantean weapons have washed ashore. Presence uses one small blast to scatter
the Atlantean crew and another to knock down Namor himself. Meanwhile,
Nighthawk has discovered a huge horn and he blows it, summoning the giant
Behemoth from Below which they had encountered briefly last issue. He flees
before it. Hulk, meanwhile, has landed in Moscow and immediately leaps back to
the island, arriving just in time to start pounding the Behemoth. Elsewhere,
Hellcat has been trying to persuade the hypnotized Red Guardian they were once
friends and to stop shooting energy at her. Slowly, a bit of Tania’s memory
seeps through, recalling her earlier life and history but she soon succumbs to
the power of the Presence. Then the Hulk and the Behemoth arrive and the giant
monster topples onto the two women. Hellcat marshals some of the mind power
Moondragon taught her (see issue #44) and is able to activate her broken Cat’s
Claw and swing herself and Tania out of the way. But the monster is about to
drop on Namor and Nighthawk but the Presence merely points and the Behemoth is
blown to bits. Exposure to the villain’s radiation forces Hulk to transform
back to Bruce Banner. Red Guardian fights her way through his mental hold to
rebuke him, saying that he doesn’t love her as a person but only as an
extension of his power whereas the Defenders are her real friends; she is only
a zombie treated as a possession. He is humbled by this and vanishes in a red
glow. Then the Defenders fall ill and Banner realizes that they are showing
signs of terminal radiation poisoning….
At
Empire State University, Valkyrie is walking along with Ledge when they
encounter Lunatik who clobbers Ledge and shows Val two drug dealers he has
punished. She changes into her Valkyrie armor in an instant to take on the mad
vigilante….