* 1st Appearance "August Masters"

Clea and the Gargoyle attempt to use their magical powers to heal Kyle Richmond's day-time paralysis, however they fail to do so. Downstairs, Wong and Luann discuss the methods that the Defenders are using to try and cure Kyle and suggests that they rely on legitimate medical science to heal him. Returning downstairs, Clea explains the paranormal link to Kyle's paralysis and that she will use mystical means to find the source that has severed his life force before Kyle and Luann depart Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. Watching them leave, Clea points out to the Gargoyle that there is a strength in Kyle that she hopes he will develop over time and then notices that her companion had walked away while she was talking. In a lone room, Isaac Christians looks in the mirror at his grotesque form in utter despair.

Meanwhile, Kyle and Luann travel out to a Massachusetts sanitarium where Kyle has had his ex-girlfriend placed in for psychiatric help since her attack on him and Spider-Man. After explaining the story to Luann, they meet the sanitarium's administrator August Masters. Masters shows him around and explains that Mindy has been in a state where she can do nothing more but paint romantic scenes and she often has outbursts that seem to be revolved around him. Finding a face-to-face encounter with Kyle would do her well, Kyle agrees to visit with her. When Molly sees him in a wheelchair she laughs in his face and then uses previously unknown mental powers to push him back.

Returning to his motel for the night, Kyle decides that something fishy is going on and decides to investigate when the moon restores his mobility. He is contacted by Clea who warns Kyle that the source that severed his life force and put him in his crippled position originated from the sanitarium. Investigating as Nighthawk, he finds that the sanitarium has a lot of security to keep people out and breaks in. He sets off an internal security alarm and finds himself face to face with an army of armed men. Easily fighting them off he is confronted by August Masters. Masters explains that this is in reality a secret setup by the Central Information Bureau, a clandestine government agency.

He takes Kyle to a control room where he shows him that Mindy and many others are being tested for their psychic abilities. He reveals that in their initial tests on Mindy, it caused a massive psychic backlash and he regretfully informs Nighthawk that it is likely the cause of his day-time immobility. Angered by the fact that Mindy is being used as a government pawn, Nighthawk lashes out, prompting August to order his men to unleash Mindy's psychic powers on Kyle. She initially does, by manifesting psychic constructs of rats to attack Kyle, until she realizes what she is doing. Repenting her anger against him she instead turns her psi-rats against the CIB agents instead, killing many and destroying their devices, lowering her power levels again. Kyle free Mindy and confronts August who tells him that this minor set back does nothing to their operations. Kyle vows to use his money and influence to get back at the CIB and expose the situation, however August warns him against it.

Returning to New York and Dr. Strange's Sanctum, Clea reveals to Kyle that she used her powers to influence Mindy to stop her attack on him. Kyle is furious that he wasn't fighting some super-villain, but a government agency. They are interrupted by Wong who brings them the night time edition of the Daily Globe hand delivered by a man with a message to Kyle to "read it and weep". Looking at the paper, Kyle is furious to find that his story was quashed and the only mention of the sanitarium is in a brief story in section two about how the sanitarium burned down due to faulty wiring. Furious about this, Kyle lashes out and vows to make August and his cronies pay for their deception.

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