"You like our king, Black Bolt, don't you, ZZZaxx?" Grodd asked the huge Inhuman.

"Yezzzz," ZZZaxx replied, "ZZZaxx luvzzz Black Bolt."

"And you don't want humans to hurt him, do you?"

"No! Humanzzz muzzzt never hurt Black Bolt! ZZZax killzzz zzzem firzzzt!"

"But humans have come to the Great Refuge," Grodd told him, "They came to hurt the King."

ZZZaxx roared, and glowed brighter. He jumped to his feet. "NOOO! ZZZaxx will dezzztroy humanzzz!"

"Wait!" Grodd yelled, stepping in the huge beast's path, "The humans who came here have been caught. But there are more humans. Outside the Great Refuge there are thousands, millions more humans. They will come here to hurt the king. And Queen Medusa. Unless you stop them! You have to leave Attilan and go to the world of humans. You must kill all the humans!"

ZZZaxx roared and raised his mighty electric fists. "ZZZaxx killzzz all the humanzzz! ZZZaxx destroyzzz zzzem!"

"Yes!" Grodd yelled, "Go and kill!"

The monsterous electric Inhuman stormed away, roaring and waving his fists. He headed for the city gates. Grodd laughed.

"All that electrical power," Grodd said, "And none of it goes to his brain."

Grodd continued laughing. Phase one of his plan had worked perfectly. If the rest of it went this well, the city of Attilan would be his by morning, and the accursed Black Bolt would be dead!

"You know that the Red Ghost has the ability to alter his molecular structure," Blue Diamond said. "He can walk right through that cell wall. And I'm not sure if it'll hold the super apes either."

"Do not concern yourself about that," Medusa said. "They won't be going anywhere."

Black Bolt nodded to the jailer, an Inhuman who looked like a bear, and in response the jailer pulled a lever. A hissing sound was accompanied by the white cloud of gas that filled the dungeon.

"Sleeping gas," Medusa said. "They cannot escape while they're asleep."

The Blue Diamond nodded, grinning. "Not bad."

"And now," Medusa said, "we must withdraw to the royal throne room and decide what is to be done with these beings."

"Do you mind if I don't come?" Crystal asked. "One of us should continue to show the Blue Diamond around. To teach him about us."

The Blue Diamond tried to hide his smile. Could Crystal feel the same attraction for him that he did for her?

Medusa looked at Black Bolt. He nodded. "Very well, Crystal," Medusa said. "You may remain."

The royal family walked off. The Blue Diamond looked at Crystal. "I couldn't ask for a lovelier guide," he said.

"Thank you," she said. "But why don't you take off that mask? You have nothing to hide here. And you have a very nice face."

The Blue Diamond smiled widely and took off his mask. Crystal smiled back at him. "Better. Shall we go?"

He nodded happily. She took his arm and lead him away. Not far away, in the shadows, Grodd had arrived and was watching. He was always watching, gathering information. Always planning. Soon, his plans would come to fruition.

"He must be destroyed!" argued Gorgon.

"That's what you said about the Blue Diamond," Triton pointed out.

"I still reserve judgement on him," Gorgon said. "But as to this Red Ghost! Him, we know to be an enemy! He attacked our city. We can never release him or he will surely return with an army to try and conquer us. Either we keep him here as a prisoner forever and hope he never escapes, or we kill him to preserve our people!"

Suddenly, one of the imperial guard - a bird man - stepped into the throne room. "Permission to address you, highness."

Black Bolt signaled for him to come forward.

"It's ZZZaxx, my king," the guard said. "He has left the city. We tried to stop him but he is too powerful. He forced his way past us. He said he was going to kill humans. He headed north."

Black Bolt quickly rose. He gestured toward Medusa.

"I'll oversee things while you're gone," she said.

Black Bolt went to the window, swung it opened, and leaped out. He took flight and glided to the north.

He used a small device to signal his ape army in the old refuge. Then Grodd went back to the lower levels of the south wing of the royal palace, where the dungeons were. He had a truncheon, which he concealed behind his back. He walked over to the jailer, who snapped to attention at the sight of the prince.

"Be at your ease, good jailer," Grodd said. "I wish to speak to the prisoners. Wake them."

"I cannot, Milord," the jailer answered.

"Are you refusing to obey my commands?" Grodd asked in an angry voice.

"The king has commanded that the prisoners not be allowed to awaken except on his authority," the jailer said.

"I see. I understand perfectly," Grodd said, but then pointed to the dungeon door. "But one of them is waking up already."

The jailer turned to look into the dungeon. Quickly, Grodd bashed him over the head with the truncheon. The jailer had the power of a bear and did not go down easily, but Grodd continued pounding with all the strength of a gorilla, until blood flowed from the unmoving jailer. Grodd pulled a lever that released a pinkish gas into the dungeon. The Red Ghost and his super apes woke up. Grodd open the door.

The Red Ghost was surprised to see another ape. He was even more surprised when the ape started talking.

"I have freed you and my simian brethren," Grodd said. "But how long you remain free depends on me. You cannot escape the city. They will capture you again unless you do as I say."

The Red Ghost was studying the gorilla curiously, and thought about his words. "Very well," the Red Ghost said. "What would you have me do?"

"The king and protector of the city is temporarily away," Grodd said. "We must strike now! But we must do so methodically. First we take the imperial guard by surprise and then the royal family. The other Inhumans will fall in line once their lords and guardians are in our power. And then you can kill the one called ‘Blue Diamond', and I - I will finally kill Black Bolt! And Attilan will be mine!"

"And you need myself and my simian servants to be your army," Red Ghost reasoned.

"I have an army," Grodd said. "They are on their way. But your apes will lead quite a bit of extra force to the argument. You and my . . . special servant."

"Special servant?"

"He's another ape," Grodd said. "A big one. He's my masterpiece. I wish I had a hundred like him, but for some reason, such extreme genetic manipulation as I've done to him has been fatal to most of the subject. But one survived. My crowning achievement . . . Titano!"

The most frightening sight of all came following along behind the rest. The giant beast which was Grodd's secret weapon. Usually, it stayed alone in the far end of the city, either restrained by sedatives or distracted by food. But now the behemoth was going off to war with the other innocents of Gorilla City.

And this giant creature - the mighty Titano - was Grodd's ultimate weapon!

Not far away, a group of twelve monks, on a long pilgrimage from Tibet, had set up camp. Most of them were in their tents meditating. One had finished earlier than the rest and was taking a walk. It was he who first saw the electric monster. The monster spotted him at the same moment. He ran to warn his fellow monks. ZZZaxx pointed and let loose with an electrical burst. The energy blast barely missed the monk, who was knocked off his feet. The other monks heard the explosion. Although it was against their usual way, they interrupted their meditations and went outside.

And once ZZZaxx saw them, he was determined to destroy them! He scattered them with energy bolts. Some of the bolts missed and started a forest fire. One bolt grazed the leg of a monk. The monk fell to the ground, unable to stand. ZZZaxx lifted up a bolder and was about to squash the monk, when an energy blast suddenly destroyed the bolder. ZZZaxx turned furiously to see who was attacking . . .

He calmed down when he saw that it was Black Bolt flying toward him. Black Bolt landed.

"King Black Bolt cumzzz to zzzee ZZZaxx dezzzztroy the humanzzzz," ZZZaxx said.

Black Bolt shook his head.

"Black Bolt not want ZZZaxx to kill humanzzzz?"

Black Bolt shook his head.

"But Prinzzzz Grodd zzzzay kill humanzzzz."

Black Bolt's eyes narrowed. Grodd! He should have known! He pointed the way back toward Attilan. ZZZaxx hung his head and returned home, ashamed.

Black Bolt remained. He had to put out the fire and take care of the wounded man's leg. And if possible, try to convince these men not to tell what they've seen. Then he must get back to the Great Refuge. If Grodd was up to something, the whole Great Refuge was in danger. He wondered what was going on in his absence.

"Do you have a name?" she asked. "Aside from Blue Diamond."

Although he'd never revealed his identity to anyone outside the government before, he felt that he could tell Crystal anything. "David. David Blaine."

"David," she said. "That's nice."

The romantic moment was broken up by the sounds of battle. "Come on!" Crystal said, as she raced to see what the commotion was. The Blue Diamond instinctively put his mask back on and followed her.

Crystal raised her arms. Suddenly, a great wind kicked up. It blew away the swords that the orangutang was causing to twirl in the air. She also blew the baboon into the wall. The baboon was stunned and reverted to his natural form. Then she pointed, and fire flew from her fingertips, burning the gorilla. The Blue Diamond could see now what Crystal's Inhuman power was. She controlled the elements.

The Red Ghost sneered at Crystal, but he had a problem of his own. The One man who could hurt him, the Blue Diamond, was lunging at him. The Red Ghost avoided the first punch, but sooner or later a blow would connect.

He was saved when everyone's attention was diverted to the city wall, which came crashing down. In came the forty foot figure of Titano the ape! He came into the city, followed by the gorilla army. Grodd appeared on the roof of a nearby structure. "Attack!" he yelled. "Crush the Inhuman scum! Secure our new home! Make me a king!"

The imperial guards were intimidated by the gigantic Titano. They had also been unarmed by the orangutang. The gorilla army, who had guns built by Grodd, quickly took the battle right to them. The guards had powers, like all Inhumans, which they used to defend themselves, but the odds were against them. Most of the civilian Inhumans froze in panic or retreated from the sight of Titano. They expected the royal family to save them.

Grodd knew that. And he couldn't wait to see the disappointed look on their faces when Black Bolt and the royals failed them. Grodd picked up an odd looking lantern that he'd brought with him. He crawled down the building to get a closer view of the conflict.

Crystal shot a spear of fire at Titano, but all it did was to anger him. He lifted his foot and was about to squish her. But the Blue Diamond shoved her out of the way. Titano's monsterous foot came crashing down on him.

"David!" Crystal screamed.

Titano lifted his foot. The Blue Diamond moaned. He was still alive. Titano picked up the semi-conscious body of the masked man and threw him to the ground so hard the he pierced right through it. Down he went, out of sight. The Red Ghost looked down the hole and saw nothing but darkness. He laughed.

"Not even he could have survived that!" the Ghost announced gleefully. "At last, he's dead!"

Crystal was stunned, unable to believe that the Blue Diamond had been taken from her so soon. Grodd took advantage and leapt behind her, striking her down. Meanwhile, the Red Ghost commanded Titano to help the gorilla army defeat the Imperial Guard.

"Grodd!" Gorgon growled. "I warned Black Bolt that allowing you to remain free was a mistake. I knew you would betray us!"

"So you're not as mindlessly stupid as you appear, eh, cousin?" Grodd said with a chuckle.

Gorgon stamped on the ground with his mighty hoof. A crack in the ground stretched forward and opened like a fissure, almost swallowing Grodd, but he leapt out of it's path. The other villains were thrown off balance, all but Titano. In obedience to the Red Ghost's hand signals, Grodd kicked Gorgon, sending him sailing a hundred yards and crashing into a wall. Dubbilex tried to contact Black Bolt telepathically. But something was blocking him. He looked at Grodd, who was grinning contentedly.

Grodd was blocking him?! How? He knew that Grodd had some limited telepathic power but he was never in Dubbilex's league. How had his power increased so much?

Dubbilex didn't have time to find the answer. The orangutang sent one of the sword's belonging to an Imperial guardsman straight at Dubbilex's head. Only Dubbilex's horns kept it from piercing his head. The impact knocked him off his feet. The hilt end of the sword swung around and smashed into Dubbilex's forehead.

Halo turned herself into a burst of light, blinding everyone present for a few moments. Everyone except Grodd who had been prepared for this. His special contact lenses protected his eyes. Halo focused herself into a laser and shot toward Grodd. Grodd picked up the strange lantern that he had brought with him. Halo hit the lantern glass instead of Grodd. She went through the glass and inside the lantern. She didn't come out.

The rest of them recovered their eyesight. "Where's Halo?" Medusa said.

Grodd held up the lantern. "She's in here."

"How can you be keeping her in there?" Medusa asked.

Grodd was proud to answer a question about his genius. "The inside is made of a special super-refractive glass. Her light will rebound inside it forever."

Triton ran toward a nearby fountain and doused himself in water. With his strength replenished, he locked up with the super gorilla. But even at full strength, he wasn't a match for the powerful ape. He was battered into unconsciousness.

Medusa suddenly found herself alone against the invading army.

ZZZaxx rushed to the rescue.

Medusa thought about it. It's true that she couldn't win. Would it perhaps be better to surrender now and wait until Black Bolt returns. She reluctantly released the gorillas."Very well, fiend. I surrender."

Grodd walked over to her and stroked her face gently. "Excellent. I have better plans for you."

Grodd addressed the civilian Inhumans who were scattered in hiding places, unable to believe that the royal family had failed. "The throne is now mine! If there is any resistance to my rule, your precious royal family will suffer for it. And don't expect any help from Black Bolt. Soon, he will be dead too! Prepare yourselves for a new era! The era of Grodd!"

The momentary peace was broken by a roar. ZZZaxx had arrived.

"Leave Meduzzzza alone or ZZZaxx killzzz!"

The Red Ghost signaled for his super apes to attack ZZZaxx but Grodd wouldn't allow it.

"No, no no," Grodd said. "Leave him to Titano."

At Grodd's command, Titano lumbered into ZZZaxx's path. ZZZaxx had never faced an enemy bigger than himself before. But the forty foot ape dwarfed the electric Inhuman.

"This should be entertaining," Grodd said.

"You're a monster!" Medusa said to Grodd.

"Let me correct you, my dear," Grodd said. "I am the new king of the Great Refuge."

"You are forgetting about Black Bolt," Medusa said.

"Oh no," Grodd said, "I never forget about Black Bolt. He is in my mind constantly. I dream about killing him every night. And soon, that dream will come true. Once Titano has defeated ZZZaxx, Black Bolt will be all alone. He will be defeated by the invincible army I have created. At long last, Black Bolt will be dead, and the throne will be mine. And so will you . . . my future queen."

Medusa was speechless. Meanwhile, ZZZaxx began his battle against the leviathan named Titano.