Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Captain America and Daredevil are standing with Defenders Beast, Dr Strange, Gargoyle, Hellcat, Son of Satan and Valkyrie outside the Mt Charteris base of August Masters that has just blown up. Stephen Strange has to explain that their friend Kyle Richmond/Nighthawk has just sacrificed his life to help Masters' assembled telepaths ensure that they can't be used as a weapon. Patsy Walker is overjoyed to see Daimon Hellstrom back from Hell, but is distraught about Kyle's death. Cap's speech about those who fall in battle doesn't help.
As they stagger away 1 of Masters' surviving legionnaires pops up out
of a tunnel and picks off Valkyrie with a missile gun. Beast knocks
the guy unconscious, but Val is dead. And Hellcat collapses at the
loss of 2 friends in quick succession.
Gargoyle and Hellcat return to the house they shared with Valkyrie
(that Kyle bought for them in #104). Beast and Hellstrom join them,
along with Hank McCoy's girlfriend Vera Cantor. As their housekeeper Dolly Donahue serves them a snack, Hank can't help feeling guilty about having just got Vera back from near-death (#105), now that the Defenders have lost 2 close friends.
Patsy is still unconsolable, and now it's Hank's turn to to say that
they must all help each other to keep from despairing. And Daimon
points out that they personally know that Satan exists, so this means
God must too and their dead friends are in good hands (despite the
fact that Valkyrie would be going somewhere Asgardian).
Dr Strange comes downstairs to add his words of wisdom too. And he
says he's invited Kyle and Val's many superhero friends to a funeral
ceremony. But Hellcat says she can't bear to go.
The other heroes and Vera go out to the country where they are joined
by Cap and DD. Then Hawkeye, Hulk, Luke Cage, Silver Surfer,
Spider-Man, Sub-Mariner and Thor join them. Strange conjures up a bowl containing a flame that will burn forever, Thor calls down the
lightning and Daimon's trident blazes with soulfire.
Back in the brownstone Patsy Walker is pouring out he grief into her
diary, when lightning strikes and the lights go out. And she hears
Val's voice calling her, then sees her ghostly figure (like a negative
image). The ghost seems to be trying to ask her for help, but then it
fades away.
Deep in an Asgardian forest dwells Karnilla, Queen of the Norns. And today she has a visitor, Amora the Enchantress seeking knowledge of the Rose of Purity. Karnilla laughs that Amora, renowned for her way with men, should want such a thing. But she relents and shows Enchantress the Rose growing on a desolate planet.
Amora magics herself away and reappears on a paradise where a robed
man communes with the animals. As she swears that soon she will win
his love, we see that his long hair frames a blank face that glows
from within.
Some of the funeral attendees (the current Defenders [and Vera] plus
Hulk, Spider-Man and Sub-Mariner) return to Hellcat (where the lights
have come back on). (Cap, DD, Hawkeye, Luke Cage, Silver Surfer and
Thor don't join them.) They don't believe Patsy when she tells them
about her vision. But then Valkyrie briefly appears again.
The Son of Satan organises a seance around Val's sword. She reappears,
and this time she can speak. She says she's not dead, but in Limbo.
Val reminds them that the body that died wasn't hers - it was the body
of Barbara Norris where Enchantress put her spirit in #4. Then in
#66-68 Valkyrie returned to Asgard, and Barbara Norris' mind was put in *her* body. Barbara with Val's body was then banished to
Niffleheim.
Then the magic sword Dragonfang rises up and swallows Val's ghost -
and she doesn't look happy about it. The seance is interrupted by some
pyrotechnics, revealing Enchantress holding the sword. She says if
they want to see their friend again then they'll have to do what she
wants.