Clea sat looking at it. It wasn't much, just a piece of kyanite in a orb made out of quartz. It had been specially created for one purpose though, to house the power of evil within its bonds. Forged from minerals taken from places of power and mystery, and then enhanced, it had done its job well.

Perhaps too well.

It now contained the essences of some of the greatest evils known to the universe, including the Dark God Chthon, and Satan himself.

The former Defender, and reigning Lord of Hell, Daimon Hellstorm's power was in there too.

He had allowed it to be stripped away from him, in order to stop his mad father from destroying them all.

He had walked away... been half-carried away, she corrected, from the might of the Black Halo that marked the Lord of Hell.*

(*Shame on you if you missed issue #200 - GD)

Now - it rested in front of her. On the coffee table. Holding down a couple copies of fashion magazines - the most powerful paper weight in the history of mankind.

She reached forward, to touch it... just for a moment. She stopped her hand before she got there.

"Just touch it." the voice echoed in her head, "The power is there, the power to find Stephen... the power to make everything right! Take it!"

She closed her eyes tightly, forcing back her Faltinian nature. As the daughter of the one of the greatest dark forces of all time, as well as being the former ruler of the Dark Dimension, the impulse to simply take the power that was set before her - take it, and find a way to use it, was great.

She forced her hand away from it. She tore her eyes away from its allure.

"Janet!" she called out to their host, and fellow Defender, Janet Van Dyne, the wonderful Wasp.

"Something I can do for you Clea?' she asked innocently.

Clea pointed to the orb,"We need to find someplace for this. We can't keep it here, with us. We need to find someplace where it can never be misused."

Janet nodded, "I've already been doing some thinking along those lines. I've set up a meeting with Cee Cee and Isaac for later today to discuss this, among other things. You might want to be there."

"Cee Cee and Isaac?" she asked, wondering why Janet had wanted to consult with Dr. Cecilia Reyes aka Lifeforce, and the former Gargoyle Isaac Christians.

Janet nodded, "Yeah, we have to figure out what we're going to do with this many people hanging around the mansion. Not to brag, but I do have the resources to keep them here, at least for a while - but..."

"Having this many members is something that needs to be worked out."

"And then some," The Wasp agreed, "Especially with what's going on..."

Clea looked at her curiously, "What new developments have their been?"

"Well," Janet said hesitantly,"Mr. Immortal still hasn't come out of his 'death', so we called in an old friend of his to see what advice he could give us."

"And?"

"Doorman is as puzzled as the rest of us are. I was hoping you might be able to take a look, with Mist."

Clea nodded, "I've been wanting to. I need to leave soon though, to find Stephen and the others."

"I understand," Wasp stated, "That's actually one of the items we're going to be talking about. Trying to make the best use of our current over-population."

"You look like you want to tell me something else."

"Well, yeah... I don't even know how well you knew him, but it's kind of hard for me and Timeslip...as well as those coming back from space..."

"What happened?"

Janet gave her a thin smile and shrugged her shoulders, "I suppose we should just be glad to have him as long as we did."

"Who?" Clea demanded, "What's happened?"

"It's Jean-Paul," Janet said, with a lump in her throat, "Northstar.... he's quit

	January- Year 5
	#201

"Did he say why?"

Janet shook her head, "He just packed his bags and left last night. Hannibal says he saw him leaving, but didn't think much of it."

"Jean-Paul never did keep much here."

"I know," Janet confirmed, "I have to wonder how long he's been planning on walking out. If, maybe it was something we could have prevented."

"People leave the Defenders all the time, its part of our nature. People just come and go as they please."

Janet Van Dyne stared at her with a hardened look,"That's not how I do things." she responded, "Maybe we need to tighten things up here a bit."

"This isn't the Avengers."

"Of course its not." Janet answered, remembering the day she had told her ex-husband that she was joining the Defenders, to check out the "hunk Colossus". Colossus was long gone from their ranks now... so was Polaris... mutants didn't seem to be able to last very long within the Defenders ranks. Northstar had just been one more on the pyre. She thought of the look that Bruce Banner had given her when she suggested that the Hulk might want to stick around. She thought of Craig Hollis, Mr. Immortal, who's charred body was being examined in her private medical facility. No one, it seemed, lasted with the Defenders very long.

"My Lord doesn't like you very much."

Jennifer March turned with a start, "Excuse me?" she said to the strange woman in front of her,"Do I know you?"

"My name is Jaine Cutter." the woman replied, "Servant and concubine to the Lord of Hell."

"Oh - so, you're Daimon's new woman."

"You might say that."

"Well, you might want to tell him that I don't give a damn what he thinks of me."

"You stole the body that was given the Patsy Walker. That's what he says anyway."

"Well then, I guess its true what they say about him."

"And what would that be?"

"That the Devil lies."

"He does. But not in this case. You are a thief, and he believes you should be treated as a thief."

"First of all, this is MY body," Jennifer raged, "I don't know how many of you people I'm going to have to bang over the head with this, but Patsy Walker stole MY body."

"That is not what my Lord says."

"Then your Lord better get his butt down here and say it to my face!"

"He has no need for such things. I am his Hand. When he wishes it, I shall simply remove you as a problem."

"His Hand huh?" Jennifer raised her eyebrow at that notion.

Jaine Cutter nodded, "I serve my master."

"Then why don't you just go sniveling back to him... I'm sure he needs someone to wipe his arse for him. Isn't that what a Hand is for?"

Jaine snarled, "I look forward to killing you for your insolence."

Jennifer snarled back, with a fire she hadn't known was in her, "Ditto."

"Ladies... Ladies... why can't we all be friends here?"

Jennifer turned to the doorway to see Daimon Hellstorm, accompanied by his sister Satanna.

"Tell that to your Hand here." Jennifer snapped back.

Daimon smiled coyly,"I assume that this is about Patsy."

"You might say that."

Daimon bowed his head, "I fear that I may have spoken too soon on this issue." he explained, "My sister was just filling in some of the details that had previously escaped my attention."

"And?"

"And," Daimon cast a stern look at Jaine Cutter, "She is completely innocent of any crime toward Patsy Walker, and has done nothing to deserve the ire of Hell, nor its Hand."

Jaine nodded in submission, "As you wish my Lord." she turned back to Jennifer seamlessly," I sincerely apologize for my words and demeanor toward you."

Daimon Hellstorm smiled at her, a practiced smile, she assumed. One worth watching.

Lemar Hoskins, known to some as Battlestar, walked the corridors. In most places, he would have called them hallways, but when you were dealing with people with sprawling mansions (at least far more sprawling that he'd seen outside of the Gold Coast) corridors seemed to make a better fit.

So much had happened since he joined the Defenders.

Sure, he'd been in strange fights before, especially during his days working for Silver Sable. But in the short time since he'd opted out of a career back at the beck and call of the government as part of the Vault, he'd found himself facing dimensional threats like the Dragons... Dark Gods of all shapes and sizes... time traveling despots... and Satan himself.

He stopped in mid-step to repeat that bit to himself. He'd fought Satan. Or at least, and this bit confused the boy his mother had raised and taken to Sunday School, the old Satan. The new one seemed to be a guy named Daimon Hellstorm, who was apparently once a Defender, and the SON of the old one.

He'd met Satanna earlier, and although he knew of her claim to be the sister of the Ruler of Hell, the fact was that he really hadn't taken it all too seriously. After all, in the old days John* had spent a bit of time saying he was Captain America. Just because that was the suit you were asked to put on, didn't make it entirely true.

(* Walker aka Super Patriot. Now known as USAgent - GD)

But... apparently this time it was. He was now on a team with Satan and his sister... Lemar knew who he wasn't inviting back home to check out a Cubs game...

Not that the rest of the team was much better. Granted, he was a guy who had shuffled from one job to the next, doing just about anything, it sometimes seemed, for the all-mighty paycheck. Putting that against a hermaphrodite who accessed the powers of some great big flaming bird, made the latter seem pretty much normal. But still... Satan.

Other than the lip service he'd given over the years... he'd never been all too certain, never really thought all that hard about the life hereafter. But if one existed...

"We may have to kill her."

Lemar turned on his heel toward the woman's voice. It was a room a couple doors down the corridor, he had just passed it a few moments before, lost in thought. But now... now his natural curiosity had been roused. The fact that it also let him put the deeper thought on the back burner never entered his mind.

"IF she manifests." he heard a male say, "I will not be part of the slaughtering of an innocent."

Lemar ran a quick inventory through his brain, "Fandral" he mouthed. He didn't know much of the Asgardian. Only that he was some sort of adventurer from the same place as Thor - and that he and the Valkyrie Mist seemed to be keeping tabs on the woman calling herself Hellcat, and clamming up whenever anyone attempted to question them about someone called Brunnhilde. His Norse mythology was more than a bit rusty, but he didn't recall ever hearing of anyone named 'Fandral' nor a 'Warriors Three' - but the Wasp had vouched for him. And he had vouched for Mist... so...

"By then it may be too late." The woman who's voice Lemar figured to be Mist countered, "If she was truly innocent, then why would the taint of Le Fey be so heavy on her?"

Fandral was silent for a moment, "I don't know. All I do know is that we have to find another way."

"Fine," Mist voice bit even through the door, "But we need to start looking for that way soon. Otherwise, we're just playing with fire." "I couldn't agree more lass." Lemar wasn't sure how, but he thought he heard a smile in the swashbuckler's voice. But then again, even from the little he had seen of the man since he had joined up with the Defenders, a smile was never far from his face.

"Sort of like Craig," he muttered to himself, hoping at the last moment, that no one had heard him.

He started back walking down the hall. Whatever further information he could learn about what the two of them were up to, he knew enough to know he couldn't learn it if they came out to find him eavesdropping.

"So, how was space?" Hannibal King asked with more than a bit of envy in his voice.

Moondragon walked passed him with a hmmpft.

"What's with her?" the vampire turned and asked Chloe Boudreaux, the former Fist of Khonshu, who had followed her in the door from their most recent excursion on the moon.*

(*See Kree Civil War #6 and #7 for details! - GD)

"Don't ask." Chloe said sarcasticly, "I think it had something to do with what Genis said."

"Genis?"

"Captain Mar-Vell."

"Isn't he dead?"

"Its his son."

"Ah... didn't Moondragon know his father?"

"You might put it that way." Chloe replied with a smile.

"So - what is it like anyway?" Hannibal continued, unabated.

"What?”

"The moon?"

"You've never been?" Chloe asked, curious.

Hannibal King shook his head, "Vampires are not allowed into space. We are tied to the soil of our homeworld."

"Interesting," Chloe replied, "I really hadn't given that much thought... what about the cases where..."

He held up his hand, "You never answered my question." he interrupted, "What was the moon like?"

Chloe looked at him for a moment, the wheels spinning behind her eyes, struggling to put into words what it had been like to touch the symbol of Khonshu.

Her eyes went cold and the edges of her smile reversed themselves. "I have things I need to do." she replied, pushing passed him before he could offer resistance.

Hannibal found himself staring after her retreating form... wondering what had truly happened to her on the moon... and wondering if he would ever have the courage to tell anyone the true reason he could never go into space ever again.

"Glad to you made it back in time," The Wasp said as Clea took her seat around the dining room table, "How was the moon?"

Clea stared back at her in contempt, "Don't ask." she said through gritted teeth, "But I have to say that its the last time I take place in a straw pull. We have much more important things to deal with than worrying about what is or isn't happening with the Kree."

"You're only saying that because you got the short straw," Isaac quipped, "But I do agree...we have enough issues right now to go borrowing trouble."

"Sometimes you have to though," Cecilia Reyes interjected, "Especially if what we've been hearing is true..."

"Granted," Janet replied, "But...as I see it, we have four major issues in front of us right now. There are probably more, but these are the four that came to mind when I made up this list," she smiled and pointed to the sheet of paper in front of her. "1- Patsy Walker/Jennifer March. We owe both of them to find a resolution to this situation. Patsy trapped in Jennifer's silver cord and Jennifer wanting to figure out what happened to her, and to be reunited with her children."

Isaac nodded, "I was talking to Daimon earlier on that one. We think we might have found a way to handle this, since the trip to Asgard apparently came up to be in vain."

"Which is?" Cee Cee asked, raising her eyebrow slightly. In the time that they had been together, Isaac had told her just about everything. That he had neglected to mention something in this case... she watched for his reaction.

His face stayed red-free, "He reminded me of an artifact that we had come across during a case several years back, one that was rumored to have the power revive old enchantments, among other things, known as the Lesser Grey God* Our hope is that it might be able to counteract the current balance of power within the body. Perhaps even to the point that we can free Patsy's soul from its captivity, while allowing Jennifer the ability to maintain her own freedom of action within her own form."

(*Defenders #148 - GD)

The Wasp nodded, "That sounds good. I want you to head up a group to take care of that situation."

Isaac nodded, "Already planned to do it. I don't think I have to ask this... probably shouldn't in fact... but you want me to make sure that Mist and Fandral are in that group as well don't you?"

The Wasp's mouth fell open for a second, then turned into a crisp smile, "Mr. Christians, I have no idea what you're talking about." she replied.

"Didn't think you would." Isaac responded with a smile of his own.

"Well, I for one DON'T have any idea what you're talking about," Cee Cee interrupted, "Could someone fill me in?"

Clea glanced over to the Wasp, then to Isaac, her eyes finally came to rest on Cecilia, "I don't know the details of what is being discussed either. But I have my suspicions. I concur with Isaac - the less we know - the better."

"Fine," Cee Cee barked back, shooting daggers with her eyes at her lover. Isaac tried his best to remain unfazed, but ended up sending her a sympathetic look anyway.

"The second item," The Wasp continued, doing her best to overlook the obvious rift between Cecilia and Isaac over the issue, " is trying to find someplace for the kyanite orb. We can't simply have that lying around the mansion. There is simply too much danger of something happening to it. Similarly the old stand-bys of just shooting it out into space or burying it are out as well. We need to find where it not only will be kept out of the hands of those who might want to use its power or worse, free the powers within, but also where it won't end up being destroyed..."

"Which would end up freeing them as well." Clea observed.

The Wasp nodded in the affirmative.

"Not good," Cee Cee commented, "Do you want me to head up that group?"

The Wasp shook her head, "I'm doing that one myself. I'd like you to ride shot-gun with Isaac. There are going to be a lot of high powered individuals in that group, some of whom we don't really know all that much about. I'd like you to keep an eye on the situation."

"So," Cee Cee smirked, "I'm suddenly back-up?" She rose from her seat, shoving her chair backwards.

"I'm sure she didn't mean..." Isaac started, but Cee Cee had already stormed out of the room. He turned back to the Wasp, "You might have told her the real reason... or what your group is really doing..."

The Wasp shook her head, "She'll get over it. Besides, dealing with the kyanite is a priority... just not our main one."

"What about me?" Clea asked, "I assume I'm heading up the third group."

The Wasp nodded, "The one tracking down Stephen Strange and associates. The Magician's Circle was in the Sanctum when it blew up... so was a great deal of this dimensions most powerful magical artifacts. They didn't just blow up... otherwise we would have found some evidence shifting through the rumble afterwards. There were no pieces of anything but building... something happened to the people and things inside. You're the only one of us really capable of leading a team to figure that out."

Clea nodded, "I want Cloud," she said coldly, indicating the returned bearer of the power of the Phoenix.

Wasp didn't blink an eye at the demand, "I figured on that. I was thinking of taking her/him for myself - but that sort of firepower tends to attract too much attention."

"My first priority is Stephen though," Clea responded, the hurt in her voice no longer being concealed.

No one spoke. Isaac rose from his seat and put his hands around her shoulders. She bowed her head for a moment, before looking back up again. "If we know what we need to do, we shouldn't be wasting time sitting around here." she declared.

"We still need to assemble the teams," Isaac pointed out, "And we should see what we can do for Mr. Immortal..."

“I’ll take care of that," Clea declared,"The rest of you should just get going."

"Are you sure..." The Wasp asked.

Clea merely nodded in the affirmative.

"Ok then... I need to talk to my people..."

"And I should really see to Cee Cee..." Isaac pointed out, "And let her know the little I that I can..."

The Wasp looked at him sternly, "We really can't have leaks on this... if they know we're coming..."

"I know," Isaac said, "But she should at least know that we're keeping secrets to help a friend..."

Janet Van Dyne shook her head, "We're keeping secrets in order to go after Brunnhilde... even if it means invading Asgard itself!"

NEXT: Triple Quest begins as we celebrate MV1's 50th issue of the Defenders!!!!!!

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