Doctor Strange and Clea are on a Manhattan subway platform with several other people:
a drunk named Alvin Denton, two punks, Nick Cromer and Duff Coogan, a young
couple, Sheldon and Renee Goldenberg, plus a young girl playing a harmonica.
When she stops, the punks harass her and take the harmonica, accidentally
pushing her onto the track as a train comes in. She calls to Strange to rescue
the harmonica and he does, snatching it from the bully’s hand. And then the
train hits the girl and she explodes in a shower of colorful sparks. Strange
races home to investigate the mystery of the harmonica inscribed “Celestia”….
The
Thing is woken up a by a phone call in the middle of the night; it’s his
childhood caretaker, Mrs. Coogan, asking his help with something that happened
to her grandson (one of the punks from the subway platform). Ben races over to
hear the kid’s tale….
At
the Sanctum Sanctorum, Dr. Strange uses the Eye of Agamotto to call up the girl
who reveals herself to be a manifestation of Destiny. She also mentions that
the people on the platform that night will have their destinies changed and
only new actions can alter it. Strange flies over to the Goldenberg’s house to
discover that Sheldon’s face has disappeared; he casts a spell that convinces
the Goldenbergs it was just a dream and Sheldon interprets it as his fear of losing his identity in an office
job and he determines to follow his dream of writing a book….
Ben
hears Duff Coogan’s story and goes outside to ponder it. He discovers his
aero-car has been graffitied by the Yancy Street Gang and loses his temper. Dr.
Strange arrives and the two find they are on the same case. Nearby, a rat
suddenly grows to giant-size and snatches Duff Cooper out of his window. As
Thing fights the rat, Strange tells Duff the rat is a manifestation of his
despair at being trapped in the slums and only he can overcome that. Duff mans
up and curses the rat which enables Ben to clobber it for good. Strange takes
Ben home to see the harmonica but Clea tells him that she gave it to Valkyrie
who said Dr. Strange had sent her for it….