New Defenders, The (1983 series) #129

The Defenders invade Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters intent on killing the New Mutants. Cannonball easily takes down Beast, surprising Valkyrie who easily knocks Cannonball for a loop. Karma zaps Iceman, knocking him out like an amateur. Angel evades Wolfsbane and flies up the stairs, only to encounter Professor X, who uses a mental blast to defeat Warren. Val takes a sword to Sunspot and Wolfsbane as Gargoyle tries to stop her. Moondragon has been levitating in the air, standing apart from the others. Psyche attacks her and MD punches her out, shouting to the Defenders to stop, that none of this is real…

…and she is right. The Defenders are locked in glass cubes, hooked up to a machine and Moondragon has defeated the psi-null field once again. Number Sixteen reports to Professor Power on the progress in brainwashing the Defenders into serving the Secret Empire. Only Valkyrie can be whipped into bloodlust to make her override her morals to become an assassin but the former X-Men cannot be broken of their loyalty to Professor X, Gargoyle cannot be persuaded to harm anyone, and Moondragon eventually pierces the simulation. Power orders 16 to use the mind-ripper to force them into obedience, punctuating his command with a light zap to 16. 16 claims that the mind-ripper runs the risk of turning the subjects into mindless vegetables. So Professor Power entertains his Plan B of delivering the dead X-Men to Xavier’s door….

Beast ponders the recent history of the New Defenders and recoils at the realization that they have been manipulated by the Secret Empire every step of the way. Moondragon contacts them all telepathically to try to find a way to escape just as Number Sixteen increases the power to dampen her mental activity. MD suggests a way Gargoyle can rescue them….

Professor Power is having a meeting with his agents reporting on the progress of various projects including taking over some lost Roxxon resources and building battle suits based on Porcupine’s designs, compensating him fairly for use of his IP. They move on to Project: Sublimate, listening to Mad-Dog’s optimistic report on security. Power then goes into the next room and removes his helmet looking at the face of his son Matthew and vowing to create a new utopia in his honor. Here’s the plan: Launch a satellite cloaked from all instruments that will beam subliminal messages of hate and suspicion to people all over the world, pushing the USA and USSR into World War III which will devastate the Earth after which Secret Empire members will emerge from their underground refuges and build a new civilization based on Power’s ideas, leading to a utopia….

Meanwhile in the Smoky Mountains, Nick Fury and SHIELD personnel have located the remains of the Defenders’ wrecked Quinjet but no sign of the heroes. A helicopter lands and Fury’s Soviet counterpart Colonel Rodian Razumihin emerges. They decides to join forces against the Secret Empire….

In the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico, Candy Southern arrives at Angel’s Aerie with Beast’s dog Sassafras, surprising Dolly Donahue. Candy confesses to Dolly she feels cheated that Warren is devoting most of his time to the Defenders and the Aerie, which was their special place, now belongs to the team….

In a Northen California castle, Seraph enters, claiming she is there to interrogate the prisoner. With a combination of hypnosis and violence she incapacitates the guards and frees Cloud. Seraph, a Soviet agent infiltrating the Secret Empire, needs Cloud to free the Defenders. They encounter guards and without her restraints, Cloud is pretty formidable and they make it through….

Following Moondragon’s plan, Gargoyle uses his bio-mystical energies to tap into their collective life force and Moondragon psionically transmutes it and it blows the whole place up and they escape. Cloud and Seraph arrive, explanations are offered and they decide to deal with Professor Power only after they have stopped the rocket launch. They encounter a band of robots and begin tearing them to pieces. Professor Power watches on a viewscreen and Number Four blames Power as the one who brought the heroes there. An irritated Power breaks his minion’s neck. Realizing that combined SHIELD and Soviet forces are on the way as well as the Defenders, Power makes his getaway in an escape capsule….

At the missile base where Mad-Dog and the Mutant Force are supervising the satellite launch, the Defenders arrive and a chaotic battle breaks out. Moondragon and Valkyrie climb the rocket hoping to use MD’s psychic powers to damage the controls and cause it to crash. And then the rocket launches into the sky, two Defenders hanging on to the outside….