Synopsis
Blade (Eric Brooks) arranged for Darkforce users to spontaneously emit clouds of Darkforce which covered the skies of the globe, hiding the Sun and allowing his vampire hordes to run unchecked. He sent his super-powered Bloodcoven to take the Avengers' orbiting Impossible City as his base and capture Black Panther, Scarlet Witch and Thor while he himself took down Dr Strange. The other Avengers teamed up with Blade's daughter Bloodline, Dracula, Hunter's Moon, Spider-Man (Miles Morales) and Tigra, and went to seek Stephen Strange's help. But they found him reduced to his astral form, and Spidey turned out to already be a vampire.
Blade also turned Panther into a vamp and sent him on a mission last issue, which we now learn was to find something buried beneath Wakanda which dates from the fall of the old surface Atlantis. He's found it and Blade tells the City's AI to spin up its mass-translocation drives and bring the prize to him. We see Thor with a spike through his head still strung up and dripping Asgardian blood into a bowl. Wanda Maximoff is trapped in a mystic forcefield but she notes that the Bloodcoven have returned 1 member short from a mission to capture his daughter. (Last issue Vision flew Megrim into space beyond the Darkforce where she dissolved into nothing in sunlight.)
In the Sanctum Sanctorum Miles tries to attack Brielle Brooks but Vision drags him off. Spidey zaps the synthezoid with his bioelectricity and tries again until DrS's wife Clea binds him with the Crimson Bands Of Cyttorak and Stephen uses the Eye Of Agamotto to free him from control (but he's still a vampire). Aghast at what he'd nearly done he apologises to his friend Brielle and says he couldn't fight his master's commands. Strange says he's in the same boat and we see his ravening vampire body kept in check by a spell from Clea.
It so happens that nobody's actually used Blade's name, and the girl now asks who's behind all this. Stephen is surprised Dracula didn't tell her but the Vampire Lord says he didn't think she'd accompany him if he did. But now he does explain that her father Blade is the new Lord of the vampires, and only she can kill him as a member of his bloodline. Brielle of course doesn't believe him, and neither does Tigra because he's Voivode of the Vampire Nation. But he claims that Blade's vampires are not his, and his nation will fall along with all others. Hunter's Moon suggests they stop arguing and concentrate on saving the world. Dr Strange agrees, and he and Captain Marvel list the 3 separate problems they must deal with:- the Darkforce, the vampires and Blade. At this point they notice that Bloodline has left, and Dracula and Spider-Man go after her.
The others decide to let them go and divvy up the targets. DrS thinks he knows where to get help with the Darkforce. Tigra says that the Midnight Mission that she and Hunter's Moon belong to already have an anti-vampire plan which they can use. HM cryptically adds that they will raise a vampire-proof army, but 1st they need 1 ally. The 4 free Avengers vow to take on Blade and his Bloodcoven, but 1st they must lure him out of their Impossible City. HM gets Clea to send him and Tigra and the '1 ally' somewhere far away. And then she and astral Strange go on their mission.
Carol Danvers has a plan to give the world hope and dare Blade to respond. She asks Iron Man to break into all broadcast systems worldwide and Sam Wilson to give an inspiring speech. She may lead the team but as Captain America he's the Icon, which is why Black Panther made sure he escaped from their base (in #1). Tony Stark says he's got autotranslation running so Sam can speak to the world. Sam-Cap reminds everyone how often this world has beaten off menaces such as:- The Cotati (in Empyre). Knull (in King In Black). Hydra (in Secret Empire). Galactus (back in Fantastic Four #48-50 and other places). And they'll beat the vampires.
We see people hearing the message all over the world including:- Angry Blade in the Impoosible City. Brielle fleeing through Manhattan. Hunter's Moon, Tigra and someone unrevealed running through the halls of Asgard. Clea and Strange arriving in Latveria before Dr Doom's castle. T'Challa temporarily breaking free of Blade's control in the bowels of Wakanda. Stark asks Danvers if she thinks it'll work. Carol replies that the old Blade wouldn't lose his cool, but whatever he is now isn't so self-controlled.
Indeed we see Blade ordering the City to retarget the mass-translocation drives. And a huge building which he calls The Temple Of The First Blasphemy appears over Central Park and crashes down onto it.