A SHIELD Black Ops team led by Joaquin
Pennysworth is sent to West Virginia to find a hidden base for the Sons of the
Serpent but they are ambushed by the enemy and all killed but for the leader
who is taken prisoner….
At the Grand Coulee Dam in
Washington, Nighthawk and Gargoyle stop the Brothers Grimm from dynamiting the
place. Isaac wants to retire but Kyle tells him that Tony Stark is putting
together a new Defenders team. So Kyle meets with Stark, who explains that they
will be reforming the Defenders as part of the Fifty State Initiative and they
will be representing New Jersey. Stark surprises Kyle by turning down his
suggestions for recruiting former members and introducing him to his own
choices: Colossus and Blazing Skull. Tony tells Kyle that his job will be to
persuade the fourth choice to join the team. Kyle chats with Colossus and Skull
and finds the latter openly contemptuous of him as he is not wearing his
uniform. So Kyle goes to meet the fourth member…
…joining She-Hulk as she is
capturing the Scorcher. Kyle, now dressed as Nighthawk, asks her to join but
she is quite skeptical of the project. Kyle asks if it’s because of her past
with Tony Stark and only ends up offending her….
Flashback: Many years ago, Daimon
Hellstrom, Son of Satan, studied with the Ancient One and the sage told him
that the title of Sorcerer Supreme would be beneath him and he should seek his
own destiny….
So Nighthawk, unsure of his
abilities to lead, addresses the new team and finds that Blazing Skull’s
aggressive cynicism, Colossus’ blunt honesty, and She-Hulk’s smug skepticism
are very wearing. He explains that a cell of the Sons of the Serpent is
operating in New Jersey and that they have SHIELD Agents captive, led by Joaquin
Pennysworth; he is startled to see the son of his former crooked business
advisor and his sudden confusion confounds the team. There are reports of
suspicious activity in Atlantic City, of all places….
In a lab in Mount Wundagore,
Warlord Krang is undergoing a series of painful treatments to mutate his
physiology into an air-breather….
The Sons of the Serpent are
conducting a quasi-religious ceremony in the ballroom of the Trump Plaza hotel
in Atlantic City when the Defenders come crashing through the skylight. A
battle ensued, spilling over into the casino and endangering civilians. As the
heroes try to question the captive Serpents, the Aztec serpent-god Quetzalcoatl
erupts from the floor….
On the planet Yann in the Gevliscwarz
System, Yandroth has escaped captivity, destroyed his captors including Christopher
Ganyrog and Romantic Objective Pamela and now sets his sights farther away. He
divines that his destiny is bound to that of the Defenders, a higher destiny
they are not yet aware of….
Give that special marvelite a timely gift