Synopsis
Avengers Mansion is somewhat empty. Apart from Jarvis, who's presumably around somewhere butling, the only occupants are Iron Man (who was hypnotised by) Dr Druid (who is in a trance maintaining a path through time and dimensions to Avalon) and Bres the Fomor (who came up that path). Bres intends to kill Druid, thus trapping the Avengers in the past and leaving current Earth ripe for conquest.
But suddenly She-Hulk and Thor appear. From their bemused comments Bres deduces that another Fomor Balor the 1-eyed giant has trained his gaze on them, thus disrupting the spell that kept them in the past. Bres magically rips Mjolnir from Thor's grasp, and then initiates hand-to-hand combat with the Thunder God, all the while firing mystic blasts in Shulk's direction.
Jennifer Walters dodges behind immobile Iron Man, and notices that Bres' magic bounces off him. She also remembers that Dr Druid's spells didn't work on him either (not counting the non-magical hypnotism). So she takes a chance and throws the Golden Avenger against their golden foe. That hurts Bres giving Thor the chance to deck him with 1 blow (and retrieve his hammer before he is changed back to Donald Blake).
Back in the 12th Century Captain America, Hawkeye and Wasp think that Balor has killed their comrades. So they keep dodging his eye-blasts, until a smoke arrow from Clint Barton temporarily blinds that gaze.
Meanwhile Black Knight is saddling his bat-winged horse and preparing to ride to the Avengers' aid. Despite Amergin, High Druid of Avalon, ordering him not to.
Balor is blasting again, but Cap has his comrades dug into a protective trench. BK attacks from the air and hurts the giant with his mystic Ebony Blade. Balor lashes out and knocks the Knight from his steed. But Hawkeye saves him with a parachute arrow while Wasp buzzes round the Fomorian to distract him. Then Knight and Avengers escape on the flying horse.
The other Fomor (Dulb, Elathan, Indech and Tethra) try to get Balor on their side, despite the fact that they had imprisoned him (out of fear) until last issue. But his wife Cethlann tries to get her husband to side only with her. However Balor agrees to Elathan's plan because he would enjoy wrecking Avalon. (Elathan plans to dispose of him once he's served his purpose.)
The Avengers think they've failed, but Amergin tells them that they did what they were supposed to do - get the Fomor to release Balor. The giant will be the power source for the weapon that will save Avalon. He is about to tell them that She-Hulk and Thor aren't dead when he senses the Fomor breaking through his mystical defences of Avalon. And he teleports with the weapon to face them.
Amergin meets them at the gates of the city. Balor blasts him, and the Fomor prepare to enter the city and find the gateway to Earth. But the High Druid still stands, and the weapon has absorbed Balor's blast. Now Amergin uses that energy against the giant to suck out more of his energy. And child-like Balor is in pain.
Elathan leaps towards Amergin, only to be stopped by Cap's shield. The angry Fomor leader causes the ground to rise up and entomb Captain America. But before he is engulfed Cap throws away his shield. Hawkeye gets a rematch with Dulb, but Wasp helps out and they destroy Dulb's weapon the Tathlum Balls. Then the shield comes ricocheting back and cracks open Cap's tomb.
Elathan has returned to attacking Amergin, who is too busy concentrating on syphoning Balor's energy to defend himself. The Avengers are too busy to notice. Wasp gets Dulb to fire some more Tathlum Balls at her. They magically follow their target, so she flies into Tethra's mouth allowing him to take the deadly strike. Cap is caught between Indech and Cethlann, but he flips Cethlann into the other's sticky blob body.
Amergin is dying when Black Knight steps in to intercept Elathan's blasts with his magic sword. But the druid is more worried about the fact that he's lost the weapon, which he calls the Eye. Balor has it, and touches it to his own eye in an attempt to get the stolen energy back. There's an almighty explosion.
When the dust settles the Fomor head towards the portal to Earth. The Avengers go after them. Black Knight stays with the dying druid. Amergin tells him that Balor has now been transmuted completely to energy stored in the Eye. But whoever uses the weapon will be destroyed by it. Dane Whitman promises to do it. But Amergin casts 1 last spell which will give BK his horse and sword in the 'next life'.
The Avengers try to stop the Fomor from reaching the gateway to 12th Century Earth. But as Elathan reaches it the Black Knight hurls him back, holding the Eye bursting with energy. The Avengers urge him to seal the portal, even if it means they die too. BK takes them up on it, and theirs an even more almighty explosion.
Avalon is now cut off from Earth, and all that remains is the skeleton of the Black Knight.
But the 3 Avengers reappear in Avengers Mansion, overjoyed to see She-Hulk and Thor there as well. Dr Druid awakes now his mental link with Avalon is no longer needed. But with the last of the power Amergin lent him he shows them BK's body. But he also shows them the shattered bits of BK's turned-to-stone original body in the present. Amergin's last spell recreates the statue and then transforms it back into flesh, with Dane Whitman's spirit back inside. And true to his word the Ebony Blade and the flying horse are with him.
Hawkeye jumps for joy, and Dr Druid teleports away.