Thor
carries the unconscious Hercules to Avengers Mansion where he is met by
Iron Man; they put Herc into the memory inducer, hoping to search his mind to discover
what has happened to him. Herc becomes so distraught that he smashes the
machine to bits, raving about monsters. Sif and Krista arrive, shown to the
room by Jarvis, in time to see Hercules’ mad rampage. Thor and Iron Man try and
fail to restrain him. Krista bravely approaches him and the mere sight of her
calms him down. After a time, he is able to relate the tale of his battle with
the shadow man and the demons which dragged him into the sewers—and after that,
his mind is blank….
In
Asgard, Hildegarde discovers that all entrances to Odin’s throne room are shut
and guards posted before them. Hilde grows frustrated and punches out a couple
of guards and discovers that Odin is gone. She goes down to confront the Grand
Vizier who doesn’t know where the All-Father is either….
Hercules
leads Thor back to the manhole where he was captured; Thor sees demons that run
out to be merely illusions. They make their way through underground tunnels,
seeing sinister shadows everywhere—and then they are attacked by a swarm of
demons. As Thor is overwhelmed, Herc realizes that the real weapon employed
against them is despair by He Who Dwells in Darkness. Herc steels himself and
pushes a massive granite plug up through the earth and away, letting in
sunlight which drives the demons away. Thor and Herc then see the shadow of the
Dweller-in-Darkness but when Thor attacks, there is nothing there….