Prologue: in the aftermath of the Fear, the captured Sin was being transported by copter to a maximum security prison. One of the guards, however, proved to be a traitor, actually working for the Department of Occult Armaments. He slaughtered his teammates and called down a shadow beast to destroy the escorts. Freeing Sin, he delivered her to his masters….
Now, Valkyrie returns to the cabin in the woods where Tolor the dwarf is guarding the three hammers in her possession. Tolor advises her to rest from her labors but she cannot while the enemy has four of the mystic weapons….
At DOA headquarters, the traitorous Son of Satan marvels at the collection of arcane tomes and magical devices in the group’s possession. As Hellstrom pulls rank and claims his superiority, he is shown the gathered membership of the DOA, a huge assortment of occultic and monstrous villains….
Valkyrie arrives on the island of Utopia, the home and headquarters of the X-Men. She is met by a single guard, Dani Moonstar, a former Valkyrie herself. Dani allows Val to take the Hammer of Kuurth (wielded by Juggernaut), as they have a brief moment of empathy for one another’s position. Emma Frost arrives and intends to capture Val for Captain America. Attempting to enter her mind and discover the location of the hammers already in her possession, Emma finds Val very resistant to mind control (from her years as the Enchantress’ unwilling servant) and Val bashes Frost with the hammer and takes off on her winged steed Aragorn. But Emma Frost has a back-up plane: the skies erupt in thunder and lightning and Storm confronts Valkyrie—who is not at all intimidated by another "goddess"….