Kyle Richmond, Gargoyle, Valkyrie and Hellcat of the Defenders have been captured by August Masters and his minions who have been manipulating psychics for his own goals. Can Cap save the day? Or will August Master conquer all?
August Masters has knocked out the Defenders in his Rocky Mountain base. He wakes up Kyle Richmond, whom he had previously confronted when Masters was experimenting on Richmond’s old girlfriend, Mindy. Nighthawk and Mindy had destroyed Masters base then, but Masters came back later and gassed Richmond and the other Defenders. Masters explains that his previous explanation for the experiments on Mindy (and others) was just a cover story, and that he does not actually work for the government.
Steve Rogers, meanwhile, is enjoying a movie date with Bernie. She says she loves him, and he is startled; he’s not sure he’s ready for a major relationship, and leaves awkwardly. At home, he experiences an agonizing psychic message from Ursula Richards, one of the other psychics Masters has been experimenting with, and whom Steve met a little while ago in a scheme by Morgan MacNeil Hardy. Cap goes to Ursula’s apartment and finds she has been kidnapped, so he goes to SHIELD and has them run a trace on his memories of Ursula’s psychic communication to find a clue as to her whereabouts.
They see an image of a mountain, and Steve leaves to go help.
Meanwhile Masters tells Nighthawk more of his plan: he and other ex-secret agents are trying to start World War III, using the psychics like Mindy and Ursula to start a psychic war with the Soviets. However, Mindy is unstable, so Masters wants Nighthawk to calm her down, and threatens him with the lives of the other Defenders if he doesn’t help.
Steve is in disguise, and gets a local to help him find Masters’ mountain base. However the local is a plant, and some of Masters’ agents attack. Cap defeats them and breaks into the base, but Masters shows up and asks Cap to follow him.
Ursula and a boy psychic, Philip, realize Cap is there, and use their powers to wake up the Defenders. They break out and look for Cap. Masters tries to get Cap to join his misguidedly patriotic scheme, but of course Cap refuses and runs off, joining up with the Defenders. They release the captive psychics, but Masters tells Cap to get the others to give up, since he has a self-destruct sequence in the base that can kill them all. Cap agrees to submit, and the heroes and psychics are all made captive once again.
Nighthawk is angry over his perceived lack of ability to help, but Mindy uses her psychic powers to call for help from Dr. Strange.
The story continues in Defenders 106.
Log in to comment