A
limousine carrying a lobbyist and his wife is lost in a bad section of
Washington, D.C. and is beset by a gang of robbers who drag the couple and
their chauffeur out into the street. Suddenly, Black Knight appears on his
flying horse Valinor and overpowers the crooks with the Ebony Blade and a lance
that fires bolos. When the police arrive, they take custody of the bad guys—and
also arrest Black Knight. At the station house, BK learns that he is a suspect
in the deaths of two petty crooks who robbed a church and ended up being killed
with a sword. A cop demands that BK unmask, despite Avengers protocol and only
relents when BK is ordered to a lineup with his mask on. He stands in the
lineup but the church’s minister cannot positively identify him so he is let
go. Victoria Bentley and Sean Dolan arrive in response to his phone call. The
cops apologize and give him back his sword and lance. Outside, Black Knight
mounts Valinor to fly off, leaving Victoria and Sean to return to the castle
without him….
When
Dane reaches home, he is in a bad mood and speaks rudely to his butler
Catherwood and lashing out at a suit of armor over the ordeal. Black Knight
then receives a visit from a Mrs. Eleanor Blackwood with her young daughter,
Jenny. She saw the story of Black Knight’s arrest on the news and came to tell
him that she thinks the culprit in the church murders is her husband Arthur.
She relates how Arthur Blackwood was a failed divinity student who had a vision
of his ancestors commanding him to go on a crusade against pagans, wielding a magic
sword and shield as the Crusader; he also fought Thor, an actual pagan god. Now
he has been speaking of killing the “Saracen” and his wife wants him to get
help. Dane thinks he knows what the Crusader is planning….
They
all hurry to Dulles International Airport where a Middle Eastern dignitary, the
Emil of Ghulistan, is arriving. As the plane lands, Crusader forces his way
past security, dashes up the ramp and into the plane, holding his sword to the Emir’s
throat, promising to kill him and all his family. But the Black Knight arrives
to stop him, speaking to him in Arthurian language, trying to persuade him to
halt but it doesn’t work; the man acts as though possessed but the Emir and
family are able to escape while BK has his foe occupied. Their duel spills out
onto the tarmac and a police sniper is able to get a bead on the Crusader but Eleanor
Blackwood pushes him so that he mises. As the Crusader is about to strike down
the Black Knight, Jenny runs out and stands between the two; Blackwood can’t
harm his beloved stepdaughter and draws back. BK tells him to give up the fight
for his daughter’s sake. Blackwood hurls his magic sword against his shield and
they shatter each other. As the police take Blackwood away, he tells BK that
seeing him willing to fight and even die for people he didn’t know shook him
out of his certainty. As they go, Dane tells Victoria that Arthur won a great
victory over himself and his fanaticism….