Dr. Strange turns the Tarot card
to select a new team of Secret Defenders. His own card turns up, causing him to
reflect that the Fates possess a sense of humor. As he is tied up with the War
of the Seven Spheres, another must lead the Secret Defenders. In his astral
form, Strange invades the sanctum of Dr. Anthony Druid, controlling his mind
and filling it with visions of the future to assume the mantle of leader of the
Secret Defenders. Jillian Woods looks in on him and he snaps at her but she
asks him to tell her what just happened. He has her change to her Shadowoman
identity and he tells her about the Moebius Stone, broken into pieces eons ago
by Agamotto himself. Dark forces have regathered all but two of the fragments
and they must get those before the bad guys do. The first is in Chicago….
At a rough bar in Chicago, the
sorceress Malachi enters and takes the burly denizens under her control and
takes them to the Chicago Museum of Art to search for the Stone fragment. Hired
to protect the museum, Luke Cage crashes through the wall to take on the bad
guys. He is surprised that the thugs are stronger than they look, indicating
some mysterious source of power behind them. As Cage grows concerned, suddenly
Deadpool enters, chattering wildly and slaying the bad guys with his sword.
Then Dr. Druid and Shadowoman arrive and Druid explains that he is the one who
hired them. Druid locates the penultimate fragment of the Moebius Stone in the
gem-encrusted hilt of a sword. But Malachi also turns up to claim the fragment.
Druid’s attempt to hypnotize her fails; she casts a spell that makes the
monsters in the various artworks come to life to fight the heroes. Malachi
departs with the fragment and the heroes fight for their lives. And then they
realize that Dr. Druid has deserted them….
At the Sanctum Sanctorum, Dr.
Strange watches, noting that the Tarot Card portraying Druid is the Fool….