Avengers, The (1963 series) #385

Late one night, Black Widow takes a dive from a high roof to land in an alley where she meets her old comrade and father figure Ivan Petrovich Bezhukov. After a warm reunion, he tells her about a significant energy pulse (a Kempler Event) in the Northwest Territories two days earlier. SHIELD is keeping silent on it so Natasha promises to reconnoiter the area with the Avengers. They go their separate ways but a gold-suited villain rises from a manhole and shoots out Ivan’s tires; the agent emerges from his car, guns drawn, but another blast hits him in the chest and before he passes out, he recognizes his assailant….

At Avengers Mansion, Crystal and Quicksilver are examining the Chronal Chamber in the basement while Deathcry complains about being bored when suddenly a sheet of flame emerges from the opening and sets Deathcry afire. Crystal uses her elemental powers to put out the fire while Pietro snuffs the fire on their Shi’ar comrade. But Deathcry is not burned and Pietro surmises some sort of temporal flux. Then they receive a summons from Black Widow and drop off Deathcry at the infirmary. Meanwhile, there is a tapping from the other side of the door….

Aboard the SHIELD Helicarrier, Nick Fury discovers that the Avengers are on their way to the site of the Kempler Event in the Northwest Territories, with Black Widow able to get through the security protocols, and he is not happy about their interference….

In the Quinjet, Black Widow expresses concern about the absence of Captain America and Giant-Man. Hercules broods over the loss of Taylor Madison and Crystal warns him that if he gives in to his sorrow, Hera will have succeeded in her scheme. Instead, Herc must treasure the good memories of Taylor. Then Deathcry calls in with a report: she wasn’t able to get through to Ivan Petrovich and Nick Fury ordered the Avengers to return….

Then the Quinjet reaches a massive crater in the ground where electro-magnetic distortion interferes with the Quinjet’s workings and they crash land. Natasha, Crystal, and Pietro descend into the pit while Hercules remains up top as back-up. It is a long climb and Herc grows bored with waiting. Then the ropes suddenly go slack and Herc, thinking his friends are in danger, leaps into the pit, forgetting that he has lost much of his power. He hits the floor near them where Natasha asks him if he didn’t think they might have just reached the bottom. Herc is upset and stalks off to explore the site. They walk a long time along catwalks until someone fires on them causing them to fall and hang on to the ruined walkway and look up to see their enemy: the Red Skull….