Joshua
Plague of the Rat Pack stands revealed as Super-Skrull! He uses his Fantastic
Four powers to battle Tigra who uses her cat powers to dodge and feint.
Red Wolf fights the robotic Number 5 and the Rat Pack members, remembering that
Plague was planning to kill them, seize the opportunity to escape. Super-Skrull
grows tired of chasing after Tigra so he resorts to the full power of the Human
Torch, shooting fiery blasts at her. Tigra dodges but she didn’t notice that SS
was cutting down the wall behind her, which collapses on her, knocking her
cold. Red Wolf’s wolf Lobo snatches up the Soul-Catcher and runs from the room;
an angry Skrull pursues. The woozy Tigra wrecks the robot Number 5, saving Red
Wolf who had been overwhelmed. Tigra and RW then pursue Lobo and Super-Skrull
while the badly damaged robot hits the button for the base to self-destruct. Jules Bannion is on the scene to witness all of this; he is
glad no one suspects his identity as Number 6, Plague’s spy but he is left
wondering what has been going on….
As Tigra and Red Wolf are leaving the building they are knocked
down by the blast but see the flaming Super-Skrull has cornered Lobo in an
alley. The alien unleashes a stream of fire and Tigra is shocked…but the real
Lobo with the Soul-Catcher is standing behind them. Tigra is puzzled but Red
Wolf doesn’t explain. The police arrive with guns drawn. Red Wolf directs them
to Super-Skrull but the shapeshifting alien has transformed into a
harmless-looking old man. RW orders Lobo to run away as he and Tigra are
arrested and taken to the station….
At the station, Captain Denny Marek takes them into his office for
questioning, against the advice of the other cops, who warn him the heroes may
be dangerous. Marek outlines the charges against them while Red Wolf explains
that the Avengers will vouch for them. Marek asks to see the Soul-Catcher and
Red Wolf reluctantly hands it over. Marek then transforms into Super-Skrull,
showing them the corpse of the real Marek under the desk. SS brags that he is
now invincible and will use the device to take revenge against those who had
defeated him: Thor, the Fantastic Four, Captain Marvel. The two heroes fight SS
for the Soul-Catcher and the officers, hearing the commotion try to break into
the Captain’s office. The Skrull tries to unleash the full power of the device
on Tigra but instead he is absorbed into it, trapping him. Red Wolf picks it up
and the two of them jump out of the window as the cops enter the office and,
seeing the dead Captain Marek, assume the heroes murdered him….
Later, having caught up with Lobo in the desert, Tigra tells Red
Wolf that she felt rejected by the Soul-Catcher for her animal nature, the
device preferring the Skrull to her. RW suggests instead that the device knew
the Skrull was evil while she was not. He suggests they return to the city to
clear their names; she declines, wanting first to find out who she is, though
he has given her hope. And she runs off into the sunrise….