Thor
returns to Avengers Mansion to discover Balder in the grip of madness, unable
to say what became of Sif or Karnilla, able only to utter the word, “Asgard.”
Thor suspects Odin who had exiled them to Midgard as having a hand in it. He
tells Hildegarde to stay with Balder—but she refuses, wanting to join the
action. Volstagg volunteers to sit with their comrade while Thor gathers Hogun,
Fandral, Hildegarde, Silas Grant, and Tana Nile and transports them all to the
Rainbow Bridge. But the Bridge is deserted, the portals of the city open. They
enter cautiously; a lizard man leaps onto Hildegarde so she grabs it by the
neck and slams it into a wall where it dissolves into ash. Then a huge lizard
man with several back-up lizards introduces himself as Sssthgar and demands
restitution for the death of one of his legion. Thor and his group sit down to
a meal with Sssthgar and his legion while the latter tells his tale. The lizard
leader explains that he comes from an advanced race of reptile people that was
recently invaded by the insectoid Vrellnexians who defeated them in battle and
took them as slaves. The Vrellnexians moved from world to world until they
reached Asgard; there was a battle, the Vrellnexians won and carried off the
Asgardians, including Odin, but Sssthgar and his legion escaped….
Thor’s
party and Sssthgar’s legion set sail through space aboard Thor’s sky ship until
they reach the land of the Golden Star. They sail into a port and enter the
city where they find a slave auction in progress. Thor’s group attacks the
Vrellnexians; Thor reaches Odin who seems to have lost his spirit and is upset
at what they have done. Thor and his group are victorious—and then Sssthgar and
his legion surround and capture them, the Asgardians having been duped into
defeating their former partners who had stranded them in Asgard….