The
Defenders (Doctor Strange, Valkyrie, Hellcat, Gargoyle, Over-Mind) assemble in
a glade in upstate New York where Strange reveals a hidden mystic flame,
designed as a memorial to their deceased compatriot Nighthawk/Kyle Richmond.
Strange speaks a brief eulogy. Over-Mind, the fusion of multiple telepathic
minds known as the Chorus, allows one of his selves, Mindy Williams, a former
friend of Kyle’s, to emerge and she apologizes to Kyle for the suffering she
caused him in her madness. She merges back into Over-Mind who announces that
his various selves have unfinished business to deal with so he starts to leave
but Gargoyle and Strange insist on going with him. They fly off, leaving
Hellcat and Valkyrie alone. Val wants to have a heart-to-heart talk with Patsy,
the kind they used to have. Patsy seems reluctant….
Over-Mind
chooses the boy Phillip LeGuin to start with. They go to Lakewood, New Jersey,
where Phillip approaches his friends who are playing basketball. But since they
have been told he was dead, they all panic and flee. Dr. Strange tries to
explain to the boy that as far as everyone is concerned he is dead but Phillip
runs off to his home. He climbs through a window to reveal himself to his
parents but his mother faints and his father rebukes him, taking him for a
sadistic prankster. Strange erases the memory of this incident from the
parents’ heads and Isaac assures the boy it is time to depart. And he agrees….
Interlude:
In South Carolina, the mysterious Elf drives Luann Bloom in his Model T Ford to
seek information he says will tie the Defenders to the death of her client Kyle
Richmond. They drive through an old barn and into another dimension….
As
Val and Patsy return to the city, they spot the police pursuing a car full of
crooks. Delighting in adventure, Val swoops down on Aragorn and brings the bad
guys to a halt, deflects their bullets, and subdues them for the cops. Hellcat
took no part in it and just wants to go home. Val tries to stop her and Patsy
yells, “Get your hands off of me!” and flees, stunning Val. Val pursues Patsy,
and they talk while soaring over the city, Hellcat on her cords and Val on
Aragorn. Patsy explains that she can now see into Val’s soul and Val is not the
same person she was friends with over the years, having restored her original
body and soul, and the new Val scares Patsy. Val grows angry and picks Patsy up
and carries her off on winged horseback….
Over-Mind
brings Strange and Gargoyle to the South Bronx where Ursula Richards grew up.
Left on her own at an early age by her parents’ deaths, Ursula had worked hard
to be able to move out of this area but her singlemindedness left her without
friends. The memory drives Over-Mind into a rage and he begins to demolish abandoned
buildings; the neighbors, long disgusted with the city’s slowness in tearing
the building down, cheer. But Dr. Strange calls to Ursula to stop, showing
Over-Mind that there were children playing in one building and only his quick
weaving of a protective spell around them saved them from harm. Gargoyle
sympathizes with her motives but notes it went in the wrong direction. They
depart….
Val
takes Patsy to the beach where the Defenders first encountered Omegatron and
the amnesiac Val began to forge a new life for herself. And she reveals that
through it all, Patsy was her best friend. They hug….
Back
at the Sanctum, the Chorus of psychics that make up Over-Mind realize that,
with their new status, they have much to learn and so ask Strange and Isaac to
be their friend. Val, Patsy and Wong walk in and the men introduce Over-Mind as
the newest Defender….