Synopsis
Wasp (Nadia van Dyne) came to visit Ironheart last issue, and they and Riri Williams' friend Xavier King wound up fighting a plague of zombies. It turned out that the invasion was caused by a new mystical villainess named Eclipse. And she turned out to be a member of the Ten Rings who was practising for something worse. Now our heroine is concerned about stopping whatever *that* is.
She explains about being attacked by Midnight's Fire of the Ten Rings (#3-5), and how he asked her to join him as his 'heir' (#4). He was acting like a father, and she wonders if he saw evil in her. Nadia assures her that we all have the capability for evil as well as good, but it is *our* choice. And we see her remembering being brought up in the Russian Red Room facility to be an assassin.
Nadia leaves. Xavier tries again to get Riri to talk to him about her step-father and her best friend Natalie being killed a few years ago. But once again Riri suppresses her emotions by concentrating on the problem at hand. So he leaves too.
Ironheart flies from Chicago to New York to consult Doctor Strange about magic. Riri wonders how to gain entrance to the Sanctum Sanctorum but the door tells her to just knock. But then it opens anyway to the sight of Stephen Strange battling an other-dimensional monster he calls Zetok The Merciless. The Crimson Crystals Of Cyttorak don't work, even backed by IH's repulsor rays. The Icy Tendrils Of Ikthalon fare better and freeze the foe allowing our heroine to shatter it. And Dr Strange sends the pieces through a mystic interdimensional portal.
Stephen tells Riri to make herself at home and she asks for some orange pop. But the Doc tells her it's bad for her teeth and gives her tea instead. Riri tells him about her magical foes Midnight's Fire and Eclipse and about the Ten Rings. But it is when she mentions the Wellspring Of Power (which she heard about in #2&4) that he sits up and take notice.
That is a cosmic portal, and he says someone broke into his Sanctum recently and stole a different portal, the Stone Of Hala. Ironheart reminds him that the Ten Rings collect weapons so it might have been Midnight's Fire. DrS pooh-poohs the idea that a minor ninja could breach his defences. (It seems to have slipped Riri's mind that (in #4) MF said that some years ago he *did* get into the Sanctum.)
Anyway the good Doctor now shows her a map/diagram of the Wellspring system spread across the world. He repeats what MF said that all the Wellsprings were believed destroyed. But he also adds as MF did that he believes 1 extra 1 may still exist. (We see images of the 2 story arcs the Wellsprings have been involved in, in New Warriors/Night Thrasher where we met Midnight's Fire and in Thunderbolts where they were destroyed.)
Stephen looks into Riri's mind and sees why she's getting involved. There's not only the Ten Rings attacks on her but also her friend Daija got dragged into their schemes. And her mind also links her dead stepfather into the pot. He warns her about making a fight personal. He also throws in a bit about avoiding arrogance like her mentor Tony Stark's (and in fact his own), and not taking on things that are beyond her current capabilities.
So saying he tosses the map aside. But Riri has glimpsed a change, and she realises that Strange somehow got the hidden location of the last Wellspring out of *her* mind (?!). She persuades him to show her that it is in Wakanda.