Avengers, The (1963 series) #378

Vision arrives on the Isle of Crail off the coast of Scotland with Deathcry, Magdalene, and Swordsman for company. They are there to investigate why a tracking station suddenly stopped working. Then they discover that their high-tech radios aren’t working. Then Deathcry is shot in the shoulder by a man hiding in the hills. Vision apprehends him and recognizes him as James Campbell, the engineer hired to oversee the tracking station. He claims he couldn’t help shooting Deathcry as she is Shi’ar, a race most Earthmen would know nothing about; Campbell pleads for help and then he dies without apparent cause. Then they discover an empty stasis craft on the shore of the island. Deathcry recognizes it, just seconds before a Shi’ar warrior named T'kyll Alabar announces himself and Deathcry is surprised because the legendary warrior Alabar lived 1200 years ago….

A guard named Ian rushes into town to report to “the chief” that he saw the Avengers and a female Shi’ar with them. The chief is the armored Mephitisoid warrior known as the Butcher. Ian makes his report of Alabar and the heroes; the Butcher thanks him for the information and then executes the man for leaving his post….

Deathcry relates to the others the legend of T'kyll Alabar: in the early days of the Shi’ar Empire their fleets explored the universe until they came into contact with the Mephitisoids and brutal war ensued. The Shi’ar suffered great losses until a junior officer, T'kyll Alabar, rose to power in the absence of any more experienced leaders. Alabar rallied the troops and they defeated the Mephitisoids in a decisive victory. The Mephitisoid leader, known as the Butcher, was spared execution as the Shi’ar did not want to create a martyr so he was placed in stasis and launched into space; to ensure he did not return, T'kyll Alabar was placed in stasis alongside him as protection. Alabar adds what Deathcry did not know: Alabar’s lower-class origins were an embarrassment to the Shi’ar leadership so they got rid of him with their enemy and called him a hero. Alabar also reveals the real danger of the Mephitisoids is their pheromones which can mind-control even the strongest intellects into serving them….

Back at Avengers Mansion, The heroes are concerned that they can’t contact Vision and the others. Meanwhile, Black Widow confides in Captain America that she thinks the loss of Black Knight and Sersi has hurt the team’s morale. Crystal and Quicksilver meet unexpectedly and they converse guardedly with Crystal excusing herself and asking for a little more time before they consider reconciliation. After she leaves, Hercules offers Pietro moral support but the latter asks how one can fight a ghost (Crystal’s lost love Dane Whitman, the Black Knight)?

In Scotland, Vision thinks Deathcry was upset by what she learned from T'kyll Alabar earlier but she denies it. Then the Butcher appears atop a ridge, accompanied by the entire population of the island, fallen under his spell. He then unleashes his pheromones on the group, turning Magdalene and Swordsman into his servants. Magdalene blasts Vision with her power lance. T'kyll Alabar seizes Deathcry and flies her to safety. She accuses him of cowardice in fleeing the enemy but he informs her that the crash was not an accident, someone brought them there and they need to discover who or they are all doomed….