Ceremony, Part 1

On the Keewazi reservation, Rain Falling West returns home with groceries to see her grandmother, Roberta Elk Step, starting to vanish right before her eyes. Roberta tells Rain Falling West that she will be occupied for a time and not to let dinner burn. Suddenly, the elderly Native American woman finds herself in a smoky limbo realm before corporate CEO Carlton Beatrice. Beatrice believes that a prophecy is rapidly approaching and that he will be the father of it, pointing out that the new chief of the Keewazi has not been taught what magic he needs to know for the coming battle. Carlton then demands that Roberta hand over the last totem he needs to complete his goals. Roberta grins and tell him that she does not have the totem anymore as she has freely given it to someone else.

Meanwhile, in Manhattan, the She-Hulk watches television but eventually the inactivity gets to her and she decides to go out. As She-Hulk walks the streets of Chelsea, she is approached by a panicked woman who tells her that an anti-abortion protestor planted a bomb in the Chelsea Family Planning Clinic, where he friend Mavis works. She-Hulk rushes to the scene where she discovers that the bomb was planted in a safe. Jennifer pulls the door off and notices the bomb is about to go off. She orders everyone out of the building and then tries to shield the blast with her own body. Although the blast is mostly contained it causes structural damage to the building. She-Hulk then shores up the building, allowing everyone to escape before the building collapses. The man responsible is later pointed out to She-Hulk and she confronts the man who asks her how she can stand for abortion. She-Hulk admits that the subject raises some moral questions for her, but she knows exactly where she stands on bombers. With the crisis over, She-Hulk and Mavis go back to her apartment to catch up on old times. It's later in the evening when She-Hulk admits that she might want to start a family. Mavis points out options like adoption or artificial insemination, but when it all boils down to it, she asks She-Hulk who she would want to be the father of her children. This causes her to pause and think it over.

The following day at Columbia University, Wyatt Wingfoot is walking out of the library with a pile of books to study for his first week of law school. He is met by his old friend and former roommate Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. Johnny is happy to see that Wyatt is out of his funk after She-Hulk broke up with him. However, Wyatt tells him that she called him and wants to see him and he thinks that she wants to get back together. Back at She-Hulk's apartment, she goes through her mail and finds a package with no address on it. Curious she opens it up and discovers a Native American weaved basket. Suddenly, there is a knock at the door and it turns out to be Carleton Beatrice. He offers to put a donation into her favorite charity in exchange for the basket. However, She-Hulk really likes the basket and refuses to sell it, even if they money is going to charity. Soon, both She-Hulk and Wyatt are getting ready to meet, fussing over all the smallest details to look their best. While trying to figure out what to wear, She-Hulk contemplates different ways of asking him to be the father of her child. Through it all she realizes that she can't have Wyatt's child without Wyatt being in her life and decides that she will ask him to get back together.

Meanwhile, at the head office of Carlton Industries, Beatrice tells his employees that even though he failed to obtain the basket from the She-Hulk he wants them proceeding on schedule. When his subordinate Michel Souris asks to collect the basket for him, Carleton dismisses the idea. However, Michel believes this is merely a test to see if he is innovative enough to succeed at the task. At that moment, She-Hulk arrives at Four Freedoms Plaza and meets with Wyatt. She tells him that she wants him to be surrogate father to her child. Wyatt tells her that he needs to think about it and will give her his answer the next day. After she leaves, he tells his friends the Thing and the Human Torch what Jennifer asked of her. While Johnny can only laugh at the idea, the Thing realizes that this is a serious decision and talks to Wyatt one-on-one. Ben points out to Wyatt that the fact that Jennifer asked him to father a child with her is because she loves him and that was her way of proposing marriage to him.

At that moment, Michel Souris has gathered a number of Native American artifacts and uses them to summon the spirit Anung-Ite to forcibly collect the basket from She-Hulk. Meanwhile, Jennifer is visited by Wyatt. He instantly recognizes the basket as the gift that his father gave his mother. This makes him come to the conclusion that he does want to marry Jennnifer and when he poses the question she accepts it. The next day, She-Hulk goes to Harlem's Museum of the American Indian to have an expert examine the basket and tell her more about it. Although the professor cannot identify the origin of the basket, he is impressed by its design. Suddenly, the She-Hulk is attacked by Anug-Ite who smashes through the wall and pulls She-Hulk outside. As the creature overpowers her, Mavis and a number of Jennifer's friends prepare a brial shower in her honor. She-Hulk regains her composure and attacks the creature, but its ability to become immaterial gives the creature the fighting edge.

As Michel watches the battle, he is approached by Carleton Beatrice. He tells Souris that this battle is pointless because the basket cannot be stolen or bought, it must be given freely by the person who has possession of the object. As She-Hulk continues to battle the monster, Souris realizes that his boss is right and banishes Anug-Ite from the physical world. As the creature dissipates into nothingness, She-Hulk is confused as to what brought on the battle. When She-Hulk finally returns home it's as the guests for her surprise shower are leaving. However, Jennifer can't stick around because she is she is due to fly out to Oklahoma with Wyatt in a few hours. Soon the couple or flying out to Oklahoma, and She-Hulk finds the prospect of meeting Wyatt's family to be scary. When they arrive they witness people protesting the presence of Carleton Beatrice and his corporation in the region. Soon, She-Hulk meets Wyatt's grandmother and sister. Inside, Roberta stresses that Wyatt has to prepare for a coming battle, but Wyatt isn't interested in listening. She reminds him how twenty years ago Carleton came to their reservation seeking to buy mineral rights. Wyatt's father refused to sell those rights, however, Beatrice became fascinated with the mystical powers of Wyatt's aunt Meriam. Beatrice taught Carlton what she knew. However, his quest for power taught him how to steal the souls of individuals for his magics. When Meriam learned this she tried to stop him and was killed, Beatrice then fled back to New York to avoid incurring the wrath of Roberta Elk Step. He has since been using his wealth and power to gather up totems that will allow him to absorb all the "female medicine" (the source of Native American magic) from the world.

Although Wyatt finds this to be nothing more than nonsense, She-Hulk suggests they destroy the basket anyway. Roberta advises against this as the destruction of the basket would unleash untold terrors upon the world. When Jennifer suggests that they keep the basket and defeat Beatrice, Roberta says that the only person who can do this is Wyatt as the next successor of the tribe and he is not prepared to carry out this duty. That evening Wyatt has a vision of Carlton Beatrice challenging him to do battle, gloating how he has not trained and will be ill prepared to fight him. Wyatt wakes up screaming, bringing She-Hulk to his side to see if he is all right. Wyatt tells her it was nothing but a nightmare and not to worry about it. However, Carlton Beatrice has just taken the soul of Michel Souris. He is convinced that Wyatt is not ready to battle him and that if he should try, Beatrice will swallow his soul.

Recurring Characters

She-Hulk, Wyatt Wingfoot, Roberta Elk Step, Rain Falls West, Carlton Beatrice, Anung-Ite, Michel Souris, Wasp, Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, Tigra, Fantastic Four (Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing)

Continuity Notes

• Although not specified here, the Thing is actually wearing an exoskeleton of his rock-form because, at the time of this story, Ben Grimm had recently been turned back to human form as seen in Fantastic Four #326. This status quo remains until Fantastic Four #350.

• The Thing mentions that Johnny is married. He got married to who he believed to be Alicia Masters in Fantastic Four #300. In reality, it was really a Skrull spy named Lyja as revealed in Fantastic Four #356-357.