18

Just across the Brooklyn Bridge, a homeless war vet wanders the Big Apple. He's got a basket on his back full of clothes. He's got an MP3 player, and buds in his ears. He's listening to the long harmonica intro to Clint Black's "State of Mind."

As he wanders a long, he sips from a bottle of Diet Coke. Not that he needs it; civilian life has done little, if anything, to rob him of his military body.

The vet's name is Bobby Maverick. He may look homeless and helpless, but beneath that friendly and PTSD-ridden exterior, a raging beast slumbers within...

The main part of the song begins, on his MP3 player. Unbeknownst to him, and behind him, a Dodge Charger speeds out of a portal from behind him, gains on his six, and impends to run him over...

Wizardkiller slithers through another portal, and breathes fire at Reyes's bow. The Charger swerves to dodge the fire. Its starboard stern inadvertently broadsides Maverick. Maverick falls over...and the clothes in his basket are scattered all over the sidewalk.

Maverick scrambles to pick up all the clothes and stuff them back in the basket. Around him, the fight continues.

Reyes gets out of the Charger. Wizardkiller lands. So does Mordo. No more speed; it's time to settle this.

Reyes becomes the Ghost Rider, and swings his chain. Mordo leaps. Ghost Rider opens a portal, and sends Mordo falling through it. Now it's just him and the dragon.

He charges the dragon. It takes a defensive pose. Ghost Rider leaps atop his head. He lassos his neck with the chain.

Wizardkiller doesn't like that-or rather, Leader doesn't through Wizardkiller. He makes an angry reptilian noise, and spins in a circle.

Maverick has recollected all the clothes, and stuffed them back into the giant basket. But then Wizardkiller's tail broadsides him from behind, and the clothes scatter over the sidewalk again.

Ghost Rider, Wizardkiller, and Leader all vanish, as Ghost Rider attempts to return Wizardkiller to his own reality. With Mordo also in another dimension, all falls silent.

Maverick smiles, and recollects his clothes in peace.

But Mordo soon opens another mortal, and Wizardkiller slithers back through. Leader's missing.

A portal opens just above Maverick. He's finished recollecting the clothes again. Leader falls through the portal, and lands on top of him. The basket spills again.

Mordo comes back, and happily brushes his hands together. "All done," he grumbles, "at last. Let's get back to the rest of the team, Leader. With luck, the others have captured someone that we can interrogate regarding..."

Alas, there's a small problem. Without Leader to control him, Wizardkiller is wild again. He's staring right at Mordo, with his nose in Mordo's abs. His fangs are bared, he's drooling, and he's looking at Mordo like food.

"Leader," Mordo whispers. "Help here?"

Leader nods, and raises his arms towards the dragon. It closes its eyes, and slithers back, giving Mordo some room.

Mordo relaxes, and heaves a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Now let's..."

Maverick has finished recollecting the clothes again. Alas, Ghost Rider opens another portal, and falls atop him, causing him to spill the basket again.

Mordo spins, and glares. "Why can't you just stay gone?!"

Ghost Rider swings his chain. Mordo prolongs his staff. His boots are ready. Ghost Rider's flames are hot.

Over Newark, a red dragon from outer space flies. It's the same one Brunnhilde sighted over Tonsberg. It doesn't seem to regard much. The Statue of Liberty is looming over the bow horizon...

Mordo bares his teeth, and lunges at the Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider swings his chain, and lassos Mordo's feet. He tightens the loop, and swings Mordo around, like a ball and chain. Mordo loses his balance, and makes panicking noises.

Maverick's recollected everything in his basket again. Ghost Rider swings the chain-and Mordo inadvertently broadsides Maverick again, causing the clothes to spill again.

Maverick can't take it anymore. He closes his eyes as tightly as he can.

When he opens them, his irises are red. And they're glowing.

Leader sees Maverick transform. He telepathically tries to warn Mordo.

Too late. Mordo is still tied up in midair. Red Hulk grabs him, throws him on the sidewalk, jumps on him, and throws him into the bay nearby.

Ghost Rider has been robbed of his chain. He reverts back to Robbie Reyes.

Red Hulk, on the other hand, has just gotten warmed up. He stumbles through the scattered clothes all over the sidewalk, and takes an apparent interest in Reyes. Reyes trembles. Red Hulk pounds his fist into his hand. He's mad. Reyes can tell.

Reyes tries to reactivate the Ghost Rider. But for some mystery reason, the Ghost Rider is stubborn...

Red Hulk is broadsided, abruptly, by a waterfall of flame. Reyes leaps back, and falls over his own car.

The flame dies. Red Hulk still stands. He's furious. He spins towards the flame's source. Wizardkiller appears nervous. Atop his back, Leader does too.

Red Hulk roars, leaps, and lands atop Leader. Leader tries to improvise a shield to protect himself, but Red Hulk smashes through it. He knocks Leader off his mount, and the grappling match is on. Red Hulk pins Leader to the top of the rail, and starts punching him in the face multiple times.

Once again, Wizardkiller is out of control. Reyes hides behind his car, praying Wizardkiller won't pick up his scent. He whispers, begging Ghost Rider to come back out. He won't.

Wizardkiller smells something. His eyes turn towards the Charger. He creeps towards it. Reyes assumes an embryotic position, and whisper-prays for deliverance...

The bridge shakes. Reyes listens. That happened way too far away for it to have been Wizardkiller. Reyes opens his eyes. Wizardkiller has stopped. Reyes hears him lumber away.

The commotion, alas, has distracted Red Hulk too. Leader seizes the opportunity, manipulates the metal of the bridge guard, and tries to tie Red Hulk up in it. Red Hulk loses his temper, and rips himself free. He falls back to the street, and chases Leader.

The other dragon-the Vorm from outer space-has arrived. Wizardkiller has caught her scent. And she's caught his. She rolls over on her back, making himself available to him.

From behind his car, Reyes watches, as Wizardkiller massages the Vorm's abs with his nose. He's confused. He can tell they're not the same species. But even so, where did...

He gets hit in the back of the head with something metal. Neither he nor Ghost Rider see it coming, and both fall over next to the Charger's left front tire, unconscious.

Knight stands behind him. Her eyes shine violet light. She massages her prosthetic arm; she knocked Reyes out cold with it. She subtly, and deviously, throws Reyes into the back of his own car, and drives it away.

Nearby, Red Hulk and Leader are still fighting. Wizardkiller and the Vorm are still flirting. First opportunity, Wizardkiller swings his tail, and sends the fight somewhere where they won't rudely interrupt his courtship of the Vorm. In total seclusion at last, Vorm and K'un-Lun dragon can finally get intimate...

In the sky, Red Hulk and Leader fight. Neither can fly, but Leader can levitate via telekinesis. With this, he directs their fall-while fighting Rulk-into Chinatown. That's as good as he can do until he figures out a way to subdue Red Hulk.

He can't afford to make Rulk angrier. So with Rulk grappling with him, he levitates them both to the bay. But again, Rulk's trying to kill him. He telekinetically summons many materials, and holds his own against the overwhelmingly more powerful Red Hulk.

Red Hulk's got him pinned. He's punching Leader in the head repeatedly. It's not like Leader can't take it; his head is egg-shaped, and infected with (green) Hulk's blood. But again, Leader is super-SMART, not super-strong, which means if he doesn't get relief soon...

A halo of white flight flashes from behind Red Hulk. Red Hulk stops. Leader takes a moment to breathe. Red Hulk falls over, rolls over on his back, and lands next to Leader. Leader has been saved. He stands, and prepares to thank Mordo...

But it wasn't Mordo who saved him. It was Wing. Her fists are still glowing with white light. But as Red Hulk reverts back to Bobby Maverick, the white light in Wing's fists dim to nothing. Rulk has been overpowered. For the time being, everyone around Maverick is safe.

Wing's eyes are glowing with violet light, just like Knight's. Nearby, Leader reverts back to Samuel Sterns. Sterns screams when he sees her, because she looks scary. But Wing looks at him-with violet-lit eyes-and holds up her hand, signalling she means no harm.

"Wait," Sterns holds up his finger. "Didn't we..."

"Thompson commands me now," Wing explains. "I'm not here to hurt you, Dr. Sterns."

"Well thanks," Sterns says, smiling overjoyfully. He looks around. "What happened? Did we win?"

Mordo limps towards them. His boots and staff are still intact...but his body's sore in several places. He extends his hand towards Maverick, and puts a spell on him. Maverick won't become the Red Hulk when he wakes up.

"Your Sister's got Ghost Rider," Mordo tells Wing. "Thank you...for helping us deal with an unexpected," he looks down at Maverick's unconscious body, "hurdle."

Scary reptilian noises sear the sky. Mordo, Wing, and Sterns all look up. A lot of other people do too. Wizardkiller and the Vorm are flying away together; he's wrapped all around her like a snake/shawl.

"I'm not sure," Mordo mutters, "but we might have a problem."

Wing looks on, with her violet-lit eyes, confused.

"What kind," Sterns asks, "of problem?"

The Defenders have fallen, as has the Red Hulk. But with Wizardkiller and the Vorm roaming wild and free about the planet and Earth-199999, killing Wong and Clea might not be as easy for Mordo's Illuminati as they'd hope.