The BEAST joins the Defenders! And he's not on the team long before they're thrust into the strange dimension of the Resurrection Stone! Plus, Daimon fights his inner AND outer demons as his satanic father tempts him to rule all of Hell! Guest-starring Mister Fantastic!
The Beast asks Dr. Strange for help: his girlfriend Vera was poisoned by a Skrull and is in a coma. He also recently destroyed the Resurrection Stone, an object of great power, due to its evil influence. But now he wants to use the Stone to help Vera. Strange asks Mr. Fantastic for aid, and they study the Stone and Vera. They can't help Vera directly, so they decide to mystically enter the shards of the Stone.
Meanwhile, Daimon Hellstrom continues to be tested by his father, Satan. He asks Daimon to kill a baby, but Daimon--no matter how much he wants to please his father and embrace his demonic heritage--can't do it. They plan to hang him on a demonic cross, following a blasphemous version of Christ's walk up Golgotha. Daimon finally breaks and attacks his father, only to be transported to his realm.
Strange, Richards, and Beast enter the stone and battle some crystal creatures. Then the spirit of the stone takes on a humanoid crystalline form, and attacks, turning the heroes into crystal statues.
Daimon's father tells him, shockingly, that he is pleased to hear that Daimon is refusing the darkness. He says that while evil has multiple names--and he here turns into images of other major demons like Thog and Mephisto--it must also embrace the light in order to exist. Both good and evil help man to evolve. They will be enemies, but Satan loves him. He sends Daimon home, and Daimon finally feels like he knows who he is.
He sees the Resurrection Stone, and sensing its evil, like the evil he just rejected, he destroys it, releasing Beast, Strange, and Mr. Fantastic. Then he uses his powers to heal Vera. Beast is elated. Outside it is Christmas morning.
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