At the Champions’
temporary headquarters in an office building, Hercules, Iceman, and their
publicity agent Richard Fenster are surprised when a small rocket bursts
through the window; the two heroes try to stop it but nothing works until
Iceman creates an ice tunnel that funnels it into Herc’s hands. Black Widow
arrives and suggests giving it to Ivan Petrovich for analysis. The villain
watches from a rooftop across the way….
At the hospital,
Angel’s lawyer Emerson Bale offers to represent Stuart “Rampage” Clarke but the
bad guy declines. Angel fills in Johnny Blaze on recent events; suspicious, Johnny
enters the room as Ghost Rider to scare a confession out of Clarke but he finds
Griffin and Darkstar abducting Clarke. Griffin beats up GR and the baddies fly
out of the window but Angel fires gas at them and rescues Clarke. On a rooftop,
Clarke punches Angel with the exo-glove smuggled in to him. Darkstar traps
Angel in her energy bands and she and Griffin take Clarke as planned. Ghost
Rider pursues them on his motorcycle but Darkstar creates a series of dark
light obstacles that cause GR to crash, Angel swooping down to save him….
At the HQ, Herc,
Iceman, and Fenster search the building ahead of the big dedication the next
day. Fenster spots Yuri Petrovich hiding and they give chase—but catch a little
boy instead. He asks Herc for help and hugs him. Meanwhile, the real bad guy
gets away, plotting revenge….
Ivan shows Black
Widow what he discovered from the rocket: it contains a black pearl, which is
what Natasha’s former trainer, Alexei Bruskin, always called her. Bruskin
speaks via the rocket, asking for a meeting. Nat jumps to the rooftop across
the way where Bruskin is waiting. They catch up briefly but he has come to warn
her…and then the Titanium Man blasts him and sets his sights on Natasha….