Champions, The (1975 series) #7

At the Champions’ temporary headquarters in an office building, Hercules, Iceman, and their publicity agent Richard Fenster are surprised when a small rocket bursts through the window; the two heroes try to stop it but nothing works until Iceman creates an ice tunnel that funnels it into Herc’s hands. Black Widow arrives and suggests giving it to Ivan Petrovich for analysis. The villain watches from a rooftop across the way….

At the hospital, Angel’s lawyer Emerson Bale offers to represent Stuart “Rampage” Clarke but the bad guy declines. Angel fills in Johnny Blaze on recent events; suspicious, Johnny enters the room as Ghost Rider to scare a confession out of Clarke but he finds Griffin and Darkstar abducting Clarke. Griffin beats up GR and the baddies fly out of the window but Angel fires gas at them and rescues Clarke. On a rooftop, Clarke punches Angel with the exo-glove smuggled in to him. Darkstar traps Angel in her energy bands and she and Griffin take Clarke as planned. Ghost Rider pursues them on his motorcycle but Darkstar creates a series of dark light obstacles that cause GR to crash, Angel swooping down to save him….

At the HQ, Herc, Iceman, and Fenster search the building ahead of the big dedication the next day. Fenster spots Yuri Petrovich hiding and they give chase—but catch a little boy instead. He asks Herc for help and hugs him. Meanwhile, the real bad guy gets away, plotting revenge….

Ivan shows Black Widow what he discovered from the rocket: it contains a black pearl, which is what Natasha’s former trainer, Alexei Bruskin, always called her. Bruskin speaks via the rocket, asking for a meeting. Nat jumps to the rooftop across the way where Bruskin is waiting. They catch up briefly but he has come to warn her…and then the Titanium Man blasts him and sets his sights on Natasha….