New Defenders, The (1983 series) #135

Sheriff Garvin Macken of Elijah, New Mexico, watches from his office door as medical helicopters fly up to the Worthington Aerie….

Candy Southern directs a medical team as they pick up the cryogenically frozen Angel and Valkyrie, taking them to a hospital for medical attention. Iceman fills her in on the situation as we cut to the kitchen where Dolly is preparing breakfast while Beast banters with the captive Manslaughter, who vows to escape first chance he gets. Beast tells him about the special prison for supervillains and pretends to drop a knife on the bad guy’s face, snatching it with his toes at the last second. Dolly scolds Sassafras for licking the baddie’s face.

Sheriff Macken enters Tex’s Tavern where two men are complaining about Mexican immigrants taking jobs from white people. One of them, Bill, starts attacking Warren Worthington and his army of muties so Macken comes to Warren’s defense, calling Warren’s muties superheroes. The other guy, Blowtorch Brand, demonstrates his superpower, setting his drink on fire and the swallowing it, burping up flames. The Sheriff isn’t impressed by this carny trick. Brand then flicks his lighter and places his hand in the flames…but the Sheriff is called away to trouble…

…because Beast, Moondragon, and Cloud have come to turn Manslaughter over to the law…except that they don’t recognize the Defenders’ right to arrest someone. So Beast frames it as a citizen’s complaint and asks to make a phone call when the Sheriff is called back to Tex’s Tavern to trouble…

…so Moondragon and Cloud burst in to find Blowtorch Brand has set himself and much of the building on fire and he is not harmed by the flames. But Moondragon is not impressed and turns away so Brand hurls a burning bottle at her, igniting her cloak. Cloud assumes her cloud-form and quenches the flames around her friend. Brand menaces her so she fills his lungs, knocking him out and the Sheriff’s men put out his flames with extinguishers, taking him back to the Sheriff’s office…

…where Beast hands over the phone to Sheriff Macken who hears General Argyle Fist ordering him to keep Manslaughter prisoner until his men can pick him up. And they also lock up Brand….

A few days later, Candy is ministering to the recovering Warren while Val is already up and around because illness is a human gift, a statement that puzzles Candy….

Elsewhere, Cloud is agonizing over her lack of knowledge of who she really is as well as shameful feelings that are driving her mad and she has no one she can confide in….

Angel calls Beast in for a discussion of the team’s main shortcomings, lack of a security system, medical facilities, or legal status and Warren thinks they need a real leader to hold them together like Professor X with the X-Men and Captain America with the Avengers. Candy interrupts with some papers for Warren to sign. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Dolly Donahue is feeling Gargoyle’s absence…

…but Isaac is a prisoner in a castle half a world away where evil wizard Shafik Wazzan has all sorts of sinister plans….

Blowtorch Brand is sprung from prison by a shadowy figure who has a business proposition for him. This man owns a sweatshop where workers, mostly illegal aliens, make bootleg designer jeans but now he has learned the authorities are going to be looking into it so he pays Brand to burn the place down….

So the Defenders get a call from the Sheriff that a clothing factory is on fire and there are twenty people trapped inside. At the scene, they learn from the Sheriff that someone inside is shooting at the firefighters when they get too close. So Val slices through the wall with Dragonfang and the Defenders confront Blowtorch Brand who is playing in the fire and shooting the female workers when they try to escape. And Brand wields an actual blowtorch which he fires at the heroes. Iceman creates a shield to protect them while Beast and Cloud are injured by the flames. Angel flies Cloud out of there while Val disarms the bad guy. Later word comes that two women are still trapped inside. The Sheriff dashes in and comes out with the women but he has inhaled too much smoke and Val knows he is dying. So as the Sheriff passes, Valkyrie escorts him to Valhalla which, she reminds her friends, is what the Valkyries do….