The Avengers battle warrior woman Magdalene and her lover the Swordsman, who claims to be the long-dead Avengers member of the same name and says he wants revenge for the team betraying him and leaving him to die. A fiercely protective Magdalene holds off most of the Avengers herself, even injuring Hercules, while Black Knight and Swordsman engage in a prolonged swordfight. Their duel ends when Swordsman is momentarily disabled by one of his increasingly agonizing headaches long enough for Black Knight to strike him down. Magdalene opens a space warp and takes the ailing Swordsman back to their leader, Proctor, who stabilizes Swordsman’s brain chemistry despite his obvious jealousy of the Magdalene-Swordsman romance, and Proctor promises they will have their revenge on the Avengers. Comparing notes after the battle, the Avengers note the new Swordsman seems physically identical to the original, displays an identical fighting style and has inside knowledge of the team, as if he really were the original Swordsman back from the dead. Meanwhile, Jarvis struggles to cope with the meddling Marilla, Sersi is sidelined by a mysterious emotional trauma, covert starship traffic near the sun triggers solar flares, the Starcore One crew realizes these flares may cause the sun to go nova, and the Watcher observes it all.