The
creature called the Interloper walks calmly across the surface of the stormy
Pacific Ocean, passing a freighter where a mystery woman asks the captain whether
they will be delayed in reaching port; the captain tells her he’s busy and she
depart, the silhouette of the Dragon of the Moon appears in the sky over her.
Interloper keeps walking….
The
Defenders are at the airport, saying goodbye to their new friend Seraph; she
especially thanks Bobby for their shared concern for Cloud. Bobby broods over
his feelings for Cloud…
They
return to Defenders Mansion to find that Candy Southern, coming from New York,
has arrived to greet them via viewer, with a surprise. It turns out to be a
giant cake and she jumps out of it in a sexy costume introducing herself as
superhero Southern Belle. And then Candy gives Angel a kiss that literally
knocks him flat. And Candy turns out to be a hologram, created by Manslaughter
who surprises them by announcing that he wants to join the team. Valkyrie tries
to kill him but he’s a hologram too. Beast sends Iceman to look for the real
Candy, while telling Gargoyle and Andromeda, whom Manslaughter has never met,
to look for the villain. Beast and Val place Angel on a couch and then head for
the computer room to stop the bad guy from pulling another hologram trick….
Iceman
finds Candy in her room, tied to the bed. He breaks her bonds but with the last
one, the bed snaps together like a bear trap, catching them both….
Andromeda
and Gargoyle search the building and she detects movement in a room; opening
the door reveals Beast’s dog Sassafras—and Manslaughter seizes A from behind,
slapping a piece of tape over her mouth and nailing Isaac’s hands to the door
with her trident….
Beast
and Val arrives in the computer room to find it a mess. But then eerie
spiderlike objects crawl up Hank’s leg and Manslaughter arrives to thump Val
over the head with his sword. This just makes her mad and she seizes the baddie
and forces him to look into the eyes of a Valkyrie which nearly kills him until
the rest of the team arrives to stop her. The villain is repentant until he
suddenly tells them he’s set fire to the Mansion and an Elf with a Gun appears
on his shoulder; Manslaughter activates their laser defense system to
temporarily blind them all, leaving them to smell the fire. Candy reminds them
that Warren is helpless upstairs so the team heads through the flames only to
encounter Manslaughter in a fireproof suit, telling them he’ll return Angel if
they make him a member of the team. An angry Candy sends Andromeda to lead a
search for Warren while she tells the villain he will never be a member of the
Defenders….
…and
then Manslaughter is seized from behind by the Interloper who, with a glance,
shatters all the windows and calls the wind to extinguish the fire. After
things have settled down, Interloper introduces himself and apologizes for
teaching Manslaughter a few tricks which he used for purposes of mischief. But
he does tell them they must allow the bad guy to join the Defenders. He
announces the coming of a new menace and points as a black sun materializes in
the sky…and then a second one, and they turn into eyes, the eyes of the Dragon
of the Moon as Moondragon enters, announcing the time has come for them to die….
Excelsioring your collection