Avengers, The (1963 series) #374

Having fallen into the river when Sersi destroyed the Brooklyn Bridge, the Avengers are rescued by Thena of the Eternals, creating giant bubbles around them to draw them from the water, to be cared for by Sprite. Giant-Man is recovering from what they thought was a fatal injury and Black Knight is back to normal, the Gann Josin mind-meld with Sersi having been broken. Thena blames the Avengers for Sersi’s descent into madness but Sprite defends them, saying that the Mah’d Wyr’y usually develops over centuries so something must have pushed Sersi over the edge. Thunderstrike arrives, carrying Quicksilver and Jarvis. The butler repeats Sersi’s account of her nightmares and Dane recognizes the villain from her dreams as Proctor….

The story then switches to Proctor’s account of his history with Sersi: In his reality, he led the Avengers and Sersi offered to join their team, impressed by what she had heard about them. Proctor fell in love with her and eventually she returned his love. They mind-melded in the Gann Josin but being an Eternal, Sersi grew bored and left him to pursue other adventures. And he felt betrayed. We now see he is relating this to the captive Sersi who calls him a madman, pointing out that he is describing a different Sersi. But he argues that as this world is the Prime Reality, the present Sersi is the template for the sins of all the others. Then she realizes that he has been manipulating her the entire time she has been going mad….

Back at the Mansion, Detective Marta Dubois warns the heroes not to take matters into their own hands but Dane and Herc insist they are the ones qualified to deal with Proctor. The Avengers are shown the petrified bodies of MacNamara and Delgado. Sprite performs a bio-spectrum magnetic scan on them and determines Sersi was not responsible for their condition. DuBois scoffs…and then Sprite also points out they are not dead….

Dane begins an intense analysis of all their data on Proctor, hoping to identify the villain’s surrogate in this world and if that will help defeat him. The others head off to various chores, Herc and T-Strike shoring up the damaged building. Crystal stays behind with Dane who, though freed from the Gann Josin, still feels the need to help Sersi. Dane is in love with Crys but she needs to sort out her love for both Dane and Pietro before she can respond to Dane’s confession. The med-lab turns out to be in bad condition. Thena questions whether they are up to the challenge of dealing with a mad Eternal. Natasha assures her that Cap and Hank can handle anything (she hopes)….

The captive Sersi realizes it has been Proctor killing every man she flirted with. He scans her mind and is surprised by what he sees. She breaks out of the glass bubble and crashes through the wall where she halts in shock at seeing the imprisoned Watcher with hundreds of dead Sersis. This gives Rik the opportunity to stun her with his gun. Proctor explains his shock at seeing in her mind the name of the man she loves more than she ever loved Proctor. After he leaves the room, the others wonder if Proctor’s crusade is as noble as he had claimed….

At the Mansion, the “dead” officers are revived and reveal how Proctor had confronted them at the docks. Ute the captive Watcher appears to them warning them they must stop Proctor or all will cease, “the solution lies with you.”

Pietro stops by the lab where Dane is at work and pleads with him to let Crystal go so that she and Pietro can work to heal their marriage. And then Dane’s program finishes and reveals that in this world, Proctor’s double is…Dane Whitman….