New Mutants Special (1985) #1

1st appearance of Brightwind (Valkyrie's Horse)


"Home Is Where the Heart Is" – In Asgard, Loki sits atop a rocky peak watching images of the X-Man Storm battling his forces during their last encounter and marvels over her warrior strength and spirit. He summons the Enchantress to his side and asks her to get revenge against the X-Men on his behalf for their defeating him in battle.

Meanwhile, on the island of Kirinos, Storm has brought the New Mutants to the island following their ordeal with the Shadow King. There is trouble, since Karma is in a depressive, near-suicidal state thanks to all the weight put on her body from the excessive indulgences of the Shadow King when he possessed her body. Storm attempts to comfort her, and tells her that she must continue to struggle no matter how bleak things might look for her now.

The other New Mutants are down by the beach, where Illyana attempts to explain to Warlock what water is, how to swim and what the proper swimming attire is for men, to a slight success. Getting a tan with Cypher, Illyana listens to Doug's worries about he growing anti-mutant sentiment around the world and wonders if he'll ever feel safe in the world with such bigotry. As Sunspot shows off his diving skills to everyone, Mirage decides to give her teammates an unexpected training session by using her illusion casting powers to make it appear as though they are being attacked by a sea serpent. The catches the Mutants off guard, but they react quickly. When Warlock encases Doug within himself, Doug remarks how he hates always being pushed aside in the face of danger. When Dani appears and explains everything to her friends, they are unimpressed, although she tells them it's important that they maintain their battle edge so that they are never caught unprepared for a fight.

Just then, a strange eclipse happens over the island, prompting the New Mutants to go seek Storm to see if she knows what is going on. They send Warlock off to scout the skies, but he is struck by a bolt of lightning, prompting Cannonball to go and save him. Promptly afterwards, a number of Asgardian warriors come out of the sky and easily subdue the New Mutants, knocking them out and taking then back to their home dimension. Storm finds herself teleported to Asgard before Loki, and before she can do anything, she is encased in mystical crystal by the Trickster God, who also transforms her outfit to one resembling that of Thor's. With Storm subdued, Loki begins his special plans that he has for the former wind-rider.

The New Mutants revive in the dungeon of the Enchantress, who confronts the young students. When Magik attempts to teleport them away, the Enchantress triggers a magical feedback that sends the New Mutants scattering across time and space all over Asgard, and leaving Illyana a helpless prisoner of the Enchantress. The Enchantress then sends her Troll minions out into Asgard to track down and capture the escaped New Mutants.

Xi'an wakes up to find herself in the middle of a vast desert. Finding herself with no food, water, shelter or friends, she simply collapses on the ground in tears, unable to carry on and wanting to die. Soon, however, she wakes up to the sound of a young girl being chased through the wastes by a giant sand worm creature. Not wishing to see the little girl die, Karma uses her powers to knock the primitive beast out. When the little girl asks Karma to bring her home safely, she agrees to try and help the little girl, deciding that she has no right to lay down and die when someone so innocent needs help. She uses her powers to secure food and water for themselves while trying to fins a way out of the desert, and as time passes, Xi'an gradually loses her bulk and returns to her former, slim self. As she finally makes it out of the desert, however, the girl suddenly and inexplicably disappears, leaving only a length of cord wrapped around Xi'an's finger.

Cypher finds himself teleported into the middle of a banquet of Harald Einarson. When Doug is pushed around by some of the Asgardians there, he tries to fight back. Finding the weakling human amusing, they challenge him to fight their serving maid, but he finds that he cannot even lift the sword that they had him. Doug is knocked clear across the room by a single slap, and to the laughter of the men gathered, a slave collar is slapped on him and he is put to work cleaning up after them and serving more food.

Wolfsbane ends up in a forest glade where she finds herself being attacked by three Giants, but she is saved by another wolf, who sends the Frost Giants tumbling. She is shocked to find that this white wolf, who goes by the name of Hrimhari and is a prince of his wolf people, can talk and agrees to follow him, feeling herself strongly attracted to him but unsure about how to respond, due to her strict upbringing. In the end, although she enjoys his romantic attentions, she begins to feel herself torn and breaks away in confusion.

Warlock finds himself in Hel, where he is low on energy and attacked by a dragon, and he is forced to infect it with the Transmode virus to absorb its energies. Subsequently, Warlock is confronted by Hela, who demands to know who Warlock is and reveals where he is currently situated. The cowardly Warlock decides to flee the scene rather than to remain in a realm of the dead, leaving Hela musing over his nature.

Sunspot fares better than most of the other New Mutants. Finding himself in a bar fight after a patron forces an advance on one of the serving maids, he finds that his powers are greatly enhanced in Asgard, thus matching him with any regular Asgardian male. After clearing out the bar of its unruly visitors, Sunspot is made the tavern's bouncer and wins the fancies of the women around, much to his delight. Later on, the Warriors Three enter the tavern to challenge the boy they have heard so much of. The boastful Voltstagg offers Sunspot the challenge of lifting his heavy mass off of a chair. Sunspot take up the challenge and manages to do it, but pulls something in his back. Despite this, he has earned the respect of the Warriors Three, who take him off to party.

Magma finds herself before the generosity of some fairies, who give her food and drunk. As she indulges, she begins to feel light-headed and passes out, only noticing at the last moment that these apparently hospitable creatures are really Dark Elves, who proceed to warp her mind and body to make her one of them.

Cannonball finds himself in the caverns beneath Asgard in the realm of the Dwarves. There he is spotted by a war party led by Eitri. Sam begins to ask for their help, but their conversation is cut short when Eitri's wife screams out for her husband as the Dwarves' home is under siege by Rock Trolls. Cannonball manages to fight off the invaders, but he is stabbed in the back by one of them while rescuing Eitri's wife and collapses right after the battle is won. For his deed, Sam is welcomed as a true friend by Eitiri and his daughter, who has taken a fancy on Sam, but then they are attacked by a group of Dark Elves and the warped Magma. During the insuring battle, the Fairies are fought back and Magma is taken prisoner. Sam is worried about the transformation that has come of his friend, but Etiri swears to him that his people will try to find some way to restore her to her human form.

Mirage finds herself in an open field where she finds a beautiful winged horse caught up in a trap. Feeling horrible for the majestic creature, she begins freeing it and feels some sort of connection being established. Right after freeing the creature, she finds herself surrounded by a hunting party, who tells her to let them slay the horse. Dani refuses, and they attempt to attack her, but are eventually scared off by the arrival of a Valkyrie. Their leader, Mist, is surprised to see that one of their horses would bond to a human from Midgard and asks Dani to join them, to which Dani happily agrees. But while Dani stays with the Valkyrie, she once inadvertently overhears that the Valkyrie are shocked and puzzled that her horse, Brightwind, would bond with a human of Midgard and that the bond must be paid "in blood"; a statement which prompts Dani to depart at once.
Back at the fortress of the Enchantress, the mystic becomes tired of waiting for the New Mutants to come and begins torturing Illyana. She decides instead to send her out to capture her teammates, and sucking out the dark half of her soul and manifesting it into a physical form, the Enchantress explains that she is going to send her evil half out to hunt down the New Mutants, and that any damage inflicted on it would transfer over to Illyana.

In the meantime, Loki decides to continue his manipulations of Storm, transforming her into an eagle so that she can always be at his side. He goes to visit the Dwarves where Sam has just managed to get Magma to shake off the conditioning on her mind influenced by the Fairies. Loki orders Etiri to create for him a hammer just as powerful as that of his brother Thor. When he spots Cannonball among the Dwarves, Etiri covers by telling Loki that he is an "idiot nephew". Loki is satisfied with this and teleports away, telling Etiri that he expects the hammer soon. Recognizing the transformed Storm and smelling trouble for his friends, Sam decides to take off with Amara.

Back at the bar where Sunspot hangs out, Roberto is taken off guard by Magik's Demon form, who easily captures him and makes him her minion. The same happens with Rahne right before Hrimhari's horrified eyes. At the court of Einarson, Cypher lands into some trouble when one of the men maliciously trips him, causing him to spill food all over Harald. Before he can be whipped for it, Illyana arrives with an army of Demon Riders, who slay Harald and attempt to capture Doug. Doug jumps out a nearby window and is reunited with Warlock, who has succeeded in tracking him down. After Warlock is forced to blast Magik, the two flee the scene together and later join up with Xi'an, who has just managed to find her way out of the desert. The three are then forced to confront Illyana, their corrupted friends and their entourage, with the added participation of Sam, Amara and Dani, who chance upon the scene and swiftly join the fight. Cannonball and Magma are instantly captured, but Cypher and Warlock (with Warlock encasing Cypher as a living battlesuit) prevent Karma from being possessed.

With the battle fought to a standstill, Karma uses her powers to take control of the Illyana simulacrum, breaking the Enchantress's connection to it and forces it to bring them back to her castle. They make it appear as though Illyana had won, but when the Enchantress comes out to gloat, the reassembled New Mutants reveal their ruse and easily overpower her. Meanwhile, Karma has the demon form of Illyana lead her to the dungeon where she finds Illyana broken and beaten, but when Karma allows the simulacrum to remerge with Illyana, the damage is reversed and she is freed. When the Enchantress teleports down and attacks, the New Mutants overpower her once again and Magik summons S'ym to take her away to Limbo. Realizing that Loki is behind this whole plot and that Storm is still missing, the New Mutants vow to make him pay for what he's done.