Pediments of Clay

After learning that his grandmother has been taken hostage by the demonic Ngh, Rage and the Avengers —the Black Widow, Vision, She-Hulk, and Quasar — go to her home to let her free. The Avengers are also present in order to capture Ngh and his legion of monsters and turn them over to the Tetrarchs of Entropy, entities that had banished them to the Dimension of Exiles until recently. Ngh is unphased by the Avengers sudden arrival as his power has grown since they last met. He reintroduces Rage to the local drug dealer, L.D. 50 and his gang, who have embraced absolute evil and been transformed into demons, and thus boosted Ngh’s own power. When the Tetrarchs of Entropy make an appearance themselves, Ngh refuses to surrender and soon a battle breaks out.

Meanwhile, back at Avengers Headquarters, Captain America consults with Doctor Strange, Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, to see what he knows about the Tetrarchs of Entropy and to verify their claims that they are a powerful cosmic force. Strange admits that he, nor any of his associates, have ever heard of these entities before putting their level of authority into question.

While at the scene of the battle, things are not going so well for the Avengers as Ngh and his demonic minions are starting to draw the attention Brooklyn locals that have evil in their heart, increasing Ngh’s power.

At that same moment, Thor and Sersi are exploring the Dimension of Exile, the domain where Ngh and his followers were imprisoned until recently in the hopes of finding some way to defeat the creatures. Sersi’s enhanced senses detect some great source of power hidden in a strange mountain peak. Thor then uses Mjolnir to strike the peak, splitting it in half. This frees an elderly woman named Ahh and a small angel winged figure that claim to have been trapped in the rock for 10 thousand years.

Back on Earth, Ngh continues to grow strong than ever before and vows to Rage that he will corrupt his grandmother. Granny Staples, a devoutly religious woman, denounces Ngh for the devil he is. This doesn’t phase the demon much as he now has power to tempt other residents by making money appear out thing air. This causes them to give in to the force of evil and transform into evil themselves.

That’s when Thor and Sersi return from the Dimension of Exile with Ahh. The old lady says that she is a force for good just as Ngh is a force for evil and uses her power to restore those transformed into demons back to normal. She then reveals that she and Ngh were once a unified being but split into their two baser forms as part of a test. That’s when Ngh betrayed Ahh and sealed her in the rock. Now free from her prison, Ahh is able to assume her true form, growing in size as her physical age decreases. Unable to resist Ahh, Ngh lets Granny Staples go and the two beings merge together. They transform into a wizardly looking old man who blames the Tetrarchs of Entropy’s interference for Ngh running out of control. With his immense power the fusion of Ngh and Ahh strips the Tetrarch’s ability to traverse the dimensions. After refusing to help the Ngh’s minions now stranded on Earth, the entity then flies off to find his destiny in the stars.

The Avengers then decide to deal with the Tetrarchs of Entropy by having Quasar contain them in a sphere of quantum energy long enough for Thor to open a portal into the Dimension of Exile where they are banished for all time. While the Avengers are pre-occupied, L.D. 50 invites the alien refugees to come back home with him, seeing them as useful assets for his criminal empire.[1]

As the Avengers start their clean-up operation, Rage checks on his Granny, who begins scolding him for his outlandish get up. Although Elvin is worried about his identity being blown, the media is more interested in interviewing Thor. The thunder god boasts that banishing the Tetrarch’s is actually a long used stratagem employed by the Avengers since early on in their career.[2] Watching this news broadcast is Doctor Doom, who finds Thor’s boasting about the Avengers abilities to traverse dimensions very interesting indeed.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Black Widow, Captain America, Quasar, Sersi, She-Hulk, Vision), Rage, Granny Staples, L.D. 50, Michael O’brien, Peggy Carter, John Jameson, Fabian Stankowicz, Tetrarchs of Entropy (Vug, Heml, Yod, Hafga), Doctor Strange, Xa, Ngh, Orm, Ffurg

Continuity Notes

1. xdr