Two issues of Iron Fist!
#9
! The flashback this time focus on Wendell and Davos. They're friends, scoring victories over each other and swearing they'd never loose on purpose.
! Meanwhile, Danny is meditating and is then attacked by the "blue eyed servant girl." She offers to give him the secrets of Orson if he throws his first fight. Tournament rules say there's a loser's bracket, and the top loser would fight the winner at the end. He refuses, thinking he could never lose on purpose.
! The fight begins, and Danny is still sort of distracted. The fat guy kicks his ass. He's not really sure if he threw the fight or not, but meets that servant, who reveals herself to be the daughter of Orson. She also reveals a portal her grandpa made, and tells Danny that during the fight downtime there's a friend of her father's that will tell him all about Orson. He takes it.
! Outside the portal are Cage, Misty, and Colleen searching for Jeryn, but he avoids them.
Damn good issue, and while the results aren't TOO surprising, it's really cool how things work out.
Annual
! Danny meets Orson's old friend. It turns out that Orson's former crew were all being kept alive by him somehow, and now that he's dead they're starting to go as well. Erskine tells Danny about a few of their adventures, featuring a goofy hypnotist, a fat guy with a dog, some blonde, and Wendell. They tackle those lightning guys mentioned in issue 7, Chinese hookers, and early Hydra. Orson found his father's portal and said he'd been left in K'un L'un.
! Meanwhile, the present Hydra attacks the old folks' home. After Danny kicks their asses, he's brought to a library of all things Orson Randall, and sits down to start reading.
Pretty cool. I actually liked Chaykin art! But of course he made Danny look like Captain America's uncle. The painting was a little distracting, and the story had a weird pace, but still enjoyable all around.
EDIT: X-Men summary, just because I did it somewhere else.
! New X-Men, Kitty, and Colossus are working to save Blindfold when Kitty's interrupted by Emma. They discuss the destiny diaries, mainly, how Emma stored the location in Kitty's mind and locked it with a password. Emma confirms the full code and it's revealed that the books are in some run-down office building in some obscure city. Iceman and Cannonball are sent in by Emma to find it. Meanwhile, she is recovering from the neurotoxin with her Astonishing teammates, refusing to use her mouth to talk because she can't be seen slobbering (awesome).
! Once there, Bobby and Sam discover that they're being tailed closely by the Marauders. They dig through the dump and find the spot where the files were supposed to be demolished, with the Marauders now right outside. While they plan an ambush, the Marauders find Sunfire and he tells them what he'd heard from the two X-Men. Scalphunter and Mystique each lead teams in, and the first team is met by Cannonball, who snatches up Riptide and throws him into the second team with his powers on. When Iceman swoops in and blasts them, Cannoball melts the ice, making water and causing the hidden package to float out of its hiding place.
! At the mansion, Blindfold pops up and warns that "he" is coming. It's Sinister, who tags the two X-Men. Mystique shoots Bobby and Scalphunter wants Sam, but Gambit is in the way. He uses Gambit to his advantage, jumping at the package and causing Gambit to send an exploding card on both him and the file. Sinister prepares to erase Sam's mind and Scrambler gets on Iceman, but it turns out to be a decoy and the real Bobby pops out of the water to knock Scrambler into Sinister. Sam blasts off, but only Bobby's upper half gets away. And not really, because Mystique catches up with him, saying she'd take care of him personally. She warns Bobby to leave it alone and fires some fake shots as she leaves. As the two leave, Blindfold says some cryptic stuff.