Recently in "Defenders": The enigmatic entity calling himself "Alice" attempted to engulf the vigilante known as Daredevil, an experience that the protector just narrowly escaped. Meanwhile, at Doctor Strange's sanctum santorum, the three core Defenders discussed the state of the team as the others joined Regina Garney and her young son, Mark. During this, Hellcat was forced into Hell, where she found her former husband Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan, who offered her all of Hell to join him. The same force that attacked Daredevil overpowered and captured the Hulk at Strange's sanctorum, where the guardian of Hell's Kitchen was last seen headed...

Wonderland - Hulk

It feels like nothing. Nothing at all. And the void is gradually replaced by...

"...Ughh...Wha--?" The Hulk lifts his head with neck muscles capable of moving mountains. His eyes take a short moment to adjust, and they find a plain room with wooden, windowless walls, all covered with varied papers, themselves covered with numbers and letters scrawled onto them without care.

The Hulk's gargantuan form is the centerpiece of the stagnant room, sitting in a chair far to weak for his girth that somehow still supports him. He sniff's stiff, scentless air, then surveys his surroundings. Silence nearly consumes the sound of him standing.

He takes lumbering steps around the room, observing the sloppily written notes plastering the almost hidden walls. At first they seem unidentifiable, but as he continues, the Hulk's empty feeling is filled with knowledge of the familiar.
"...'e=mc2'?" Whispers the Hulk to himself, reading on. "Time by Mass equals Velocity...Four times three equals twelve." Taking it in all at once, his breathing increases. "Energy cannot be destroyed."

"All equations...Facts! What the Hell is this place?" He says loudly to the room. And then, near his chair where he didn't notice it before, he sees another set of numbers written. He approaches slowly, breathing harder and perspiring. Standing over the number, he allows the stillness to eat away at his hardened shell.

1 + 1 = 1

"Equals one?" And suddenly, Bruce Banner, the Hulk, finds his entire monstrous body flowing with an enraged vitality, his heart racing and his mighty chest heaving. A primoridial growl swells up within him, and with its eruption, he brings his powerful fists together and brings them crashing down on the equation and beneath it, the wooden floor.

"One???"

The hole is made. Splintered remains of the ground spin down, down further, through a black night and finally spreading their dusty dominion over a decaying face below. Next it it is another, and next to that one, a rotten hand, possibly that of a child. The Hulk looks through his hole and is instantly sobered by the sight. He can only squat there, staring down, in utter silence, as the new clammy breeze blows up into his face, bringing with it the first scent...Death. Putrid, rotting death.

After some startled thought, the Hulk lowers himself from the newly-made floor window and drops down into a sea of corpses. The stench is almost unbearable, and the feel of their desentigrating flesh and bone beneath his heavy steps unsettles him as he begins to walk through the hills. Looking back for a brief spell, he sees no room from which he dropped....Only a pitch black sky, and against it, broken, crumbling buildings and their ruins. Eyes hollow of soul seem to stare on while he walks by, like they were judging him...Or perhaps warning him to go no further.

crunch crunch CRUNCH

"Ah--Jesus..." With each step, bones crack and give with his weight. He hesitates, considering an alternative, and in seeing none keeps on.

It seems like hours that he walks among the dead. The entire time, he feels his heartbeat increasing, his limbs shaking with adrenaline...If only the silence would go away. If only if would leave him alone. Something must be here, someone among this death that seems to be creeping up his spine...

And then...

"...Hello...? Is...*koff* Is anyone there? I can't...S-see..."

There is something.

"...Betty...?"

Outside Doctor Strange's Sanctorum:

I haven't woken up with many hang-overs in my life.

Through law school, I kept busy enough -- Ignored enough parties, really, and kept my head in the books -- That I never really got to experience the whole frat thing.

And considering things that have happened before, and the things I see, I could've easily become a drinking man. But I didn't. For the sake of Hell's Kitchen -- For my own sake -- I've managed to stay sober mostly. Mostly.

A blot of red stands out against the pavement in front of Stephen Strange's estate.

But once, and this isn't the only time I've been drunk...But once, a long time before Karen passed, we had a fight. It was a pretty bad one, over something stupid I'm sure I helped to provoke. So she left for the night, and there I was, angry and alone, and I was so mad I was afraid I'd take it out on the street...Usually that's good. I was mad enough to worry about it though -- I'm not Castle.

So I broke out with the old bottles of wine I saved, since it was the only thing I really had, and had my first bender within the confines of my own apartment, drinking until I...Well, I don't know what I ended up doing. I woke up in the morning, and it was like I was in a horrible dank hole, with my senses all scrambled...

The blot of red, resembling a man, crawls along the cold concrete with exhausting, relentless effort.

Waking up that morning, it was like I had to crawl out of that hole, weak and confused...Hung over. I'd never felt so bad before, like a waste. My head was swimming.

His toned muscles lift a crimson arm, quivering from concentration.

This is a thousand -- No, a million times worse. I was just sort of shakey at first, but after that battle with the Rhino* things have just gone hill. All my strength...

(*See Amazing Spider-Man #13 - Will)

At the door, he attempts to knock.

All...my...

His head falls, as does his fist with a quiet knock on the bottom of the door, spent. It is silent outside, silent and still, until the doorknob turns and the door opens, allowing Daredevil's limp head and arm to fall into the doorway at the feet of a surprised oriental, baldy man.

He drops his cup of tea with a crash.

"Oh my..." Wong says, staring at the hero's unconscious form. "Oh...My."

Inside:

"Patsy!" Luke Cage cries, bursting into his host's room of trophies and tools, with Valkyrie, Black Knight, and Regina Garney close behind. "Patsy...?"

Each displays their worry through their expression, Regina's the most intense as she runs past the others towards the frail, shivering form under the shadow of the Orb of Agamotto. She ignores the others, and the scream of her vanished friend, to tend to the young boy -- Her son.

"Mark...Mark, honey, are you okay?" She asks intently, crouching beside him. He cradles his knees to himself like a shield from some invisible horror, burying his face in it without answering. Gina holds his arm, squeezing it slightly. "Mark! Please, God..."

Surveying the room, Brunnhillde the Valkyrie stands diligantly with a scowl. "She hast...Dissappeared..."
The Black Knight sniffs the air. "Doth anyone else...Smell brimstone?"
"The kid was in here -- Mark musta' saw somethin'. Gina, is he--?"

Luke halts himself. Regina still struggles for her child to respond, but his whimpers and shaking do not stop. His soft, slightly puffy cheeks are stained, with remnants of the salty tears still there. His mother shows her own beginning to form, trying to lift his bowed head to no avail. "...Damn," Says Cage. "I say get the others, 'cause we've got a problem."

"I'm afraid we may have others, as well," Says a familiar voice from the door, and the others find Wong standing there, in his arms a lifeless red form...

"Whu---Whut the Hell is Daredevil doin' here? What happened to him?" With those words, Mark hugs himself tighter, rocking and crying.
"....Mmmmmuuuuhhhh...N...Natas....Caasi...D-D-Devil! Devil!" He screams, with Regina holding him, sobbing as well.
"Jesus, do something, will you? You're all heroes, and something--"
"An ally has just vanished without trace, sister," The Valkyrie says, "And something...Strange, is afoot. And -- And...Od's blood, what is that awful odor?"

"Brimstone," The Black Knight tells them. "I already noticed its presence. Tell me, what carries such a smell?"
"...Daimon." Valkyrie's word resounds, causing Mark's fit to pitch more so. "Good Luke--" The Knight says, "Please, fetch Stephen and the others upstairs. Certainly they can be of aid. Wong, set the man down and see to his health. Brunnhilde...I believe Regina is in need of help as well...?" He trails off, nodding at the mother and child.
"Aye, Knight...Though 'tis not for the sake of thy order." She almost sounds bitter, not noticing as Luke leaves through the door, but looking up when she hears a weak voice.

".....w...w-Where...Am I...At the sanctum...?" Asks Daredevil, his eyes fluttering open to consciousness. Wong quickly sets him down on the ground.
"Please, rest...You came here searching for the Doctor, correct?" The Devil offers a meek nod. "Wait, then, while Master Cage goes for him..."
Daredevil reaches up desperately, grabbing Wong and cringing. "No! I saw...In the darkness, I saw him devoured..." Wong shakes his head.

"Jesus...Christ, what's happening around here? Tell me what happened, Mark...Baby, please..." Regina breaks down in her catatonic son's thin shoulder.

"Just wait," Wong says sypathetically.

"The Doctor and the others will be here shortly..."

Interlude - The Throne of Hell:

She stands in the burning realm, that of the bodiless men, in all its morbid wonder. Yet she can only stare through wide eyes at the devilishly handsome man of flame-colored features, his eyes and hair like untamed candlelight. Once Patsy Walker, sometimes Hellcat, had loved this man --- When he was a man, she did. He caused her pain, he cost her years of her life to mental illness, and he...

He had been the death of her. Something that was later rectified*, no thanks to him. Now, less a man than a dark demi-god, he sits before her in his twisted throne of evils, wanting her love once more...And offering his infernal kingdom in return.

(*In the now-in-our-continuity Avengers Annual 2000 - Will)

Daimon Hellstrom, or what was once called that, grips his trident until his reddened knuckles turn pale. "All of it can be yours -- Yours and mine to rule. Together."
"Daimon, I...I don't understand. You attacked us...Tried to kill the Defenders, for God's sake! And your...'Father'...He..."
The demonic Hellstrom chops his hand through the air. "My father is detained at the moment, beloved...He has left his kingdom for an earthly edeavour that leaves Hell mine for the offering."
"When he gets back, though, what will happen? And what about the other ones...His 'brothers', or whatever it is? This isn't some house you can use for a party when daddy's away. This is --- It's Hell we're talking about here! I can't--"

"Patsy..." Daimon says more softly, the fire within burning less intensely. He rises from the horrid chair and steps her way slowly. "Patsy. I assure you, it is all planned out carefully...All is taken care of, being taken care of...That is not for you to worry about." He draws nearer, taking her gloved hands in his. She turns to the side to avoid his hypnotic eyes. "Hell is and will remain to be mine. It can be yours with me."
"Daimon...Please, it's too much, I don't--"
He pulls her closer. His clawed fingers grab her face with more than a little force, something she subconsciously ignores, peering into his soul. "Haven't you felt it, Patsy? Since we saw each other when we fought -- We even felt each other there. You can't deny that. It is love, Patsy, undying love. You must accept. It is the only way..."

And like a tree falling gradually with time, they ease into a passionate kiss with heat equal to the place surrounding it. They back away reluctantly with time, looking at each other intently. Patsy's look wanes.

"So? You accept?" The devilson asks with something like meticulous hope in his eyes. Patsy inhales, barely letting the air escape when she speaks.
"Can...Can I think about it?"

The caring drains from his eyes to be filled with fanned fire again. "Fine," He says, abandoning their caress and taking his seat once more, pouty like a child. "Think about it."
"Daimon, I just--"
"Go. Think." He points to her, and in a flash of hellfire she is no longer there, with no evidence to prove she ever had been. The brimstone scent already prominent near the throne peaks.

So the Son of Satan slumps in his place of power, his chin resting on a single, mischievous finger. Soon a tiny, rodent-like demon of faded yellow spikes and fur crawls from behind the throne to his master's shoulder. His scratchy voice tickles Daimon's ear.
"Isss the lady joining ussss, my lord?"
"Me. Not 'us'. It is no business of a lowly demon like you, anyhow. I hear each of your little whispers down there --- You would do well not to spread rumors concerning the ruler of Hell."
"M-My sssire, I--"

"And have them bring me Asmodeus."
"Already, lord?"

"Yes," Daimon says without movement or smile. "I suddenly crave to hear the screams of agony."

End Interlude

Doctor Strange's Sanctum - Downstairs:

Steam flows from the Orb of Agamotto. Its strange odor turns to a more familiar one as the others notice it, taking form in the room like it was alive. Shaping, solidifying, it...

A shapely figure in yellow and blue. Hellcat. "...Daimon...?" She reocgnizes her surroundings quickly, and they recognize her.

"Patsy! You hath returned...Are you hurt?" Valkyrie says close to her.
"I'm...Fine."
"What happened?" Gina asks by the artifact, no longer spewing steam. "What the Hell happened? Where did you go?" Looking her way, Patsy sees Mark's huddled body.

"What happened to Mark? He looks so pale..."
"This, we ask of thou, Patsy," The Black Knight says. "Since thy dissapearance, the boy has been as this, either deathly still or pitching at the word..." He lowers his voice to almost a whisper. "Devil."
Suddenly uncomfortable, Patsy stares at the child. "I...I don't know what happened, really. We were just looking in the orb and we saw something in there -- What, I don't know -- And...And then I was somewhere else."
"But where, Patsy? And by whose power?" The Knight asks.
"I'm...Not sure..."

"God damn it, you have to remember something!" Gina suddenly bursts out, standing up and tears streaming down her contorted face. "Mark is almost catatonic and speaking in God knows what because of something that happened in here, with you --- Maybe even something you did to him!"
"Thou speakest lies, Regina," Valkyrie says, almost shielding Patsy. "She is a good woman, as I believe thou to be, and she would never endanger an innocent tot!"
"She doth seem to remember so little though..." The Knight says offhand, and the Valkyrie turns to him with a blazing look.

"Dost thou care to doubt her as well, Knight? I thought thou a warrior true, but Odin help me, I shan't have anyone accuse her in such a way."
"I accused no one! Thou twisted it in thy ill mind to think so."
"I shalt show thou an ill-minded Valkyrie's fury by my blade Dragonfang--"

"Stop this. All of you." A suddenly firm voice halts them all. They turn to see Daredevil sitting up under his own power with a disgusted expression to match his tone. "What kind of team is this, the X-Men? Come on...It's a disgrace, all of you 'heroes' together and hardly even able to keep it that way." He says, standing carefully.
"Master Daredevil--"
"MmmmmmmaaaaGGGHHH!" Mark resumes his fit, with Regina taking his side to calm him.
"-- Er, sir, you should--"
"No, Wong, this is important. More than the last time I came to see you and Stephen*," He says. "If you can all just stop fighting for a minute, I can tell you about something that might help with all this madness."

(*During Kevin Smith's classic run on Daredevil - Will)

Finally, the tension subsides. Slightly. "So, tell us, stranger," Says the Black Knight.
Daredevil continues. "I was attacked in my own home by something, maybe someone, who knows who I really am. Sometimes that hasn't been so hard to find out, but the way he spoke, and the powers he used...Well, they were more than a street-type in red tights can really handle. I just barely escaped, and by the time I got here to talk to Stephen, I was drained.

"Whatever it -- He...I don't know -- Was, it's name was Alice, and it was dark. Something I thought the Doctor would be good with...Where is he?"

"He is upstairs with the others," Wong explains, "Discussing things with Prince Namor and Master Hulk. Master Luke went to fetch him...But...He should be back by now..."
"I shalt find them, if I must," Valkyrie says, exiting quickly without hearing Dardevil's pleas.
"Wait a minute --- Don't you see...?" It's too late. She has gone.

Daredevil's face turns whiter. "Oh, God...Not already..." He says, looking out the open door.

"What's the problem, Da -- I mean -- What's the problem?" Hellcat asks, flustered. Dardevil turns back around, appearing to look at her with blind eyes.
"We keep together, we keep safe. We leave right away, get into a public place...

"And I hope you've got some friends to call, because now it's just the six of us."

Unseen by the adults of the room, hidden by his knees, Mark stops shivering temporarily...And he smiles.

Wonderland - Doctor Strange

The buzz of irradescant light. The cold, hard feeling of a chair. The fake wood of the desk under his arms, and the papers covering it...

He's been here before, long ago.

"What..." Doctor Stephen Strange asks, rubbing and shaking his head, slumped in a chair and dressed in a white labcoat. His eyes can barely stay open, he's so exhausted. Sight comes with short time, and he observes the plain office, decorated with diplomas and certificates.

"What am I...Doing in my old office?" He wonders aloud, finally noticing his clothing and grabbing at it. "I--" He stops. A gradual smile crosses his face. "My old office..." He lets the phrase linger.

Looking around his desk, he sees a phone, and presses a red button on it. Soon, a buzzing voice answers through the speaker. "Yes, Doctor Strange?" Stephen's smile brightens.
"Ahm...Yes, Derra, I was just wondering...If I was needed. I think I dozed off..."
"Actually, Doctor, a number of patients need your expertise."
"I'll be right out, then," He says with a joy he lost decades ago. Rising from the chair he strolls out the door labled "Dr. Stephen Strange, MD." and into a tiled room, centered by a young secretary.

"Ah, Derra," He says, stretching. "Who needs my help today?" She turns to face him in her chair, looking attractive but slightly...Off.
"Well, Doctor Strange, there's --- Oh my," She says, staring at him.
"What? What is it?" Strange asks, laughing, looking at his chest. "Did I spill my coffee again...?"
"No," She answers plainly. "It's...Your arms, doctor."
He pauses. "What about my arms, Derra?"

She leans forward, squinting a little. "Well...They look broken, Doctor."
Looking to the limbs at his sides, he finally sees their mangled shape. The swells of pain cause him to cringe, but the anguish brings his groaning.
"Unghh..." Allowing his tightly shut eyes temporary vision, he looks to his secretary for some sort of help only to find her continual staring. "W-What...Is it?" She pauses before answering.

"Your arms -- They seem to have fallen off."

And Doctor Stephen Strange, MD, suddenly notices the lightness of his torso...And the pools of blood forming on the white floor...

"I'm afraid we're going to have to admit you."

Doctor Strange's Sanctum - Upstairs:

His breathing is heavy, having run up and down stairs for the past ten minutes. Luke Cage's strong body can handle the exercise --- But the hallways seem without end.

"Doc?" He yells, slowing a bit and looking on either side of him. He could swear he's been down this hall at least twice already. "Hulk? Anyone?" His concentration shifts from the hall to his shouting. An unwise thing, when running in the house of the strange.

Pressing on, faster, Luke feels a coldness invade the humidity around him. Before he can truly acknowledge the change...

"....aaaaAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Luke Cage is falling into the infinite darkness with nothing to catch him. He looks up at what looks to be where he fell from, and for a moment he thinks he sees a long, pale face staring down at him.

But it's gone. There's nothing but black.

And back above, a cackle subsides. "I am denied 'Sweet Christmas'? A shame."

The hall is empty once more.

Wonderland - Hulk

The jade monster goes through the bodies quickly, as though they were nothing. He has forgotten where he is, the corpses he is standing on and rummaging through...All because of her voice.

"It's so dark...Please help, if there's anyone alive out there...!"

With silent power the Hulk digs deeper, until finally dim light strikes the pale, bruised face of the one single thing that once was constant in Bruce Banner's tumultuous life.

"...Oh my God, is that...Is someone there?"

"Betty...It's me."

"Wh...Who?" She asks weakly, half-buried in the hill of the dead, looking beaten and broken of spirit. "I...Don't think I can see anymore..."

"Me!" He cries, "Me, Bruce!"

She stumbles on her words. "B-B-But that's not...True...That's not possible!" Betty Banner almost seems to sink down further into the macabre depths. Bruce reaches underneath to find her hand.
"Betty, I swear, it's me! I'm here, now...Whatever happened, I'm here now."

Suddenly, her body begins thrashing violently, desperately. A look of sheer terror has come over her face, which is already assaulted by a flood of tears. "What is it honey? Please...I don't know what's happening..."
"M-my...J-Just make it quick...Please, Bruce, because you loved me when you were a man...I'm begging, end it now!"
"Betty, what the Hell are you talking about?" He asks forcefully, shaking her. Steadying herself slightly, but not completely, she directs her face to his.

"You know what it is Bruce...God, you have to know, to remember...

"You did it, Bruce. You killed them...You lost control, and you...You killed them all. And now, it's just me left. So please...Let me die."

Hulk's emerald eyes look up from Betty's deteriorating body and mind. A pain is in his gut, looking to the cloudy, looming sky, which he watches for a long, long time as the rain begins to fall with the first clap of mighty thunder. He can feel her pass along slowly below him. He closes his eyes a tightly as he can.

In doing so, he fails to notice the one thing left untouched by whatever brutal rampage came through this place: A simple wooden sign nailed to a post, black letters sloppily painted on it.

-WELCOME to WONDERLAND -
Pop. - 1

Next Issue: "Inside A Shattered Mirror" continues with Alice's Wonderland being entered purposefully, more being caught in his web, even stranger events in Hell under the new rule of Hellstorm, and a gathering of Defenders new and old in DEFENDERS #7!

DEFENDING LINES
Send letters or comments to WeekapaugB@aol.com

"Dear "Defending Lines" Guy,

I've been keeping up with the Defenders, but it wasn't until I read issue #5 that I was repared to send you a letter. I've really been enjoying the current direction the book is going. The Defenders have always been a great concept because of the varying personalities and powerhouses that make up the team. Your use of the founding members, especially Namor, Hulk, and Doctor Strange keeps me coming back whenever a new issue comes out. The new additions and familiar faces are great too, however, I'd like to be the first one to cast his vote in favor of Beta Ray Bill returning and joining the ranks. I've always enjoyed this character and haven't eally ever seen a book that gave real depth to his character. I think he's got a lot of potential and the Defenders could really use him. His appearance was one of the reasons I kept coming back to the book. Other than that, I couldn't be happier with this book, I'm intrigued by the "Wonderland" plot and also the mysterious force that nabbed the Hulk. The situation rising between Hellcat and Daimon Hellstrom has the makings of a great struggle for Patsy as well (another character I've always liked). Keep up the great work and I promise not to send any more horribly written letters. Until Namor changes his catch phrase to "Go Yankees", make mine M2K!!!

Mike "Webs" Exner III"

Thanks much for my first "real" letter, Mike. I'm glad you enjoy the classic members, and I hope you like the additions I have planned. As for Beta Ray Bill...Well, he and a certain chrome-covered hero may be playing a part in a big, epic, upcoming plot...But then again, in "Defenders", what isn't an epic plot? I think this issue gave you some more of Patsy and Daimon...But that's not the last we'll see of them interacting, I assure you. I'll keep writing, Mike, if you agree to too!

Mike writers "Amazing Spider-Man" here at M2K, and so far has been one of the most prolific and enthusiastic writers we've had (plus one of the best guys to handle Spidey in fanfiction). Go check him out...It's the least you can do.

-Will Short March 21, 2001