Earth #1720
Reed Richard’s Underground Sanctum
Psylocke, despite using her telekinesis to modify her molecular structure to become invisible, is spotted by Reed Richards. He notices the shocked look on her face and reminds her he was once married to the Invisible Woman. Reed questions Psylocke as to why she came. He wants to know whose side she’s on.
Their conversation won’t last long as Madame Hydra and Wolverine are slowly making their way toward them. Their intention is to kill Reed Richards.
Bryant Park
Meanwhile, the battle between Sabretooth and the Slaymaster has just begun. Slaymaster offers Sabes one last chance to join Hydra. When Sabretooth doesn’t accept he leaps at the Exile, sword in hand.
Sabretooth deals him a mighty blow, telling his adversary that talk is cheap. Slaymaster returns the favor with the butt of his sword and then kicks Sabes in the face. Sabretooth lands on his back and tries shaking away the cobwebs. He looks up to see Slaymaster leaping at him, sword poised to plunge into his body. Sabretooth rolls over and avoids begin skewered by mere inches. He thinks to himself that this guy is good.
Morph (in Iron Fist garb) has his “iron” hands full with the ninjas. He asks Sabes if he needs any help. Creed’s reply, “That’ll be the day.” He catches one of Slaymaster’s kicks and tosses him into a nearby building. Slaymaster deftly bounces off the wall and uses one of the Hand ninjas to soften his landing. He crouches into a fighting pose and tells Sabretooth he’s proving himself to be a worthy opponent. Slaymaster picks up another sword and assures Sabretooth this will be a battle to remember.
Sabretooth starts looking around for anything that can help him. He kneels down among a pile of defeated Hand. Slaymaster approaches, but before getting too close Sabretooth turns around. Assorted weapons are grasped tightly in each of his hands. Slaymaster is taken aback. His words of astonishment are cut short as Sabretooth throws everything he can at him.
Swords, daggers, throwing stars, maces, nunchuks and scythes fly rapidly through the air. Sabretooth jokes that he wanted to clean up the place; after all it is a public park. Slaymaster takes some hits and receives some scratches, scrapes and slices, but does pretty well blocking the incoming weapons. Sabes asks Slaymaster if he’s getting tired yet. Slaymaster smiles and says, “Not at all. In fact, quite the contrary.”
Sabretooth stares dumbly at the sword half-lodged into his chest. Slaymaster smiles a devilish smile and says he tossed one back. He tells Sabretooth it’s his turn now. Sabretooth collapses to his knees as Slaymaster walks slowly towards him. Morph watches in paralyzed horror as Slaymaster picks up a sword from the ground and heaves it over Sabretooth’s head. He tells Creed it’s time to end the battle.
Reed Richard’s Inner Sanctum
Apparently, during Sabretooth and Slaymaster’s battle Psylocke explained the Exiles’ mission to Reed. He questions the logic of killing him and how it would save his world. Psylocke tells him his wife and her crew will escape into the Omniverse using his technology. By killing him they stay trapped on the planet.
Reed asks if this means he’s the easier target. He doesn’t accept what Psylocke’s selling. Reed tells her the people of his dimension deserve something better than annihilation or enslavement. She tells him to come up with an answer then. He is Reed Richards after all. Reed stops and tells her to look at one of his video monitors. It shows Sabretooth who is about to be skewered by Slaymaster, the Hand’s premier assassin. Psylocke fixes a frightened stare at the image of Slaymaster and says she knows who he is.
Psylocke is suddenly lost in her own memories. She reels back to her encounter with 616’s Slaymaster. He had cut out her eyes to teach her a lesson. Her brother, Captain Britain, killed him and she eventually received new eyes. Next time, she thinks she might not be so lucky.
The next thing she knows she’s lying on a rail cart speaking to a hologram of Richards who explains she collapsed and so he moved her away for her own safety. He tells her he won’t let her or her friends die because of him. Reed asks her to trust him and do as he asks.
Crystal Palace
Heather sits at her desk staring at the profiles of each Exiles. In Betsy’s spot is a blank screen. Heather keeps trying and trying, but she can’t get in contact with the team. The system is registering them as still alive, that is except for Psylocke who doesn’t seem to exist according to the Palace’s computer system.
Heather tries once again to shut down the deletion protocol for Dimension 1720. Once again she’s denied. She takes out her frustrations on the machine, smashing it with her fist. A miniature figure appears from above the wreckage chastising her for breaking the equipment. Upon closer inspection the small figure bears a striking resemblance to Heather, possibly some sort of artificial intelligence created by her. Heather refers to the little “Mini-Me” as “Icon.”
Earth 1720
The White House
This Earth’s White House has been through some major renovations. Although the exterior of the original building is still there, a giant pyramid shaped structure was built above and behind it. A statue of Madame Hydra, as tall as the building itself, stands atop it.
Inside the Oval Office, there are several dead Hand ninjas as well as the body of Tony Stark, three swords plunged through his Iron Man armor. The butcher behind all this bloodshed is none other than Elektra.
Elektra searches around until she finds a young girl trapped inside a crystal shell. That little girl is Valeria, Reed Richard’s only daughter, and the objective of the mission given to her by Reed. She smashes the crystal to pieces with her katana blade. Valeria rubs her head as if waking from a daze. Then she suddenly lashes out, grabbing Elektra by the throat.
Manhattan
Meanwhile, Sabretooth, hunched over on the ground, pulls the sword from out of his chest and slices Slaymaster with it. Slaymaster drops his own sword in the attack in the surprise attack. Creed grits his teeth and tells Slaymaster he doesn’t go down easy.
Sabretooth takes another swipe at him, but Slaymaster nimbly leaps over the blade’s path. He pops two blades from his boots while in midair and cuts across Sabretooth’s throat. Morph can’t believe what he’s seeing and turns into a Sasquatch/Thing hybrid.
Full of rage he charges Slaymaster and receives a punch to the gut. Slaymaster strikes again, but Morph’s mouth appears where his stomach once was and he bites down on Slaymaster’s wrist. He asks Slaymaster how well he’ll fight with only one arm. Slaymaster answers him not with words, but a powerful flip that sends him smashing into a steel girder. Slaymaster tells him he should have swallowed his arm when he had the chance. Then he flips him back around and on top of Sabretooth.
With both Exiles out of it at the moment, Slaymaster retrieves two more swords from the ground. He approaches Sabretooth, who slowly gets to his feet, and cuts him across the stomach and chest. Slaymaster remarks on his wondrous healing ability and proceeds to slice open his triceps and his Achilles tendons. He stands over Creed once again and asks if he would be able to heal after being thrown in a pit of army ants. He questions how good his unbreakable bones would be without the flesh to hold them or a brain to tell them what to do. He brings the point of his sword up to Sabretooth’s eye.
Suddenly, the limp body of Blink comes flying in, knocking Slaymaster to the ground. Longshot emerges from the shadows and tells Slaymaster they like Sabretooth the way he is. Slaymaster says he is impressed Longshot was able to break free of Madame Hydra’s control. He adds that he never heard of anyone doing that before. Longshot supposes it was luck.
Slaymaster asks him if he really thinks he is equal to him in battle. Morph regains consciousness and says that together, he and Longshot are equal to him. Slaymaster recognizes he can barely stand and calls him on it. Morph concentrates real hard and regains his natural form. He motions for Slaymaster to bring it on.
Slaymaster tosses a sword at Morph who nimbly dodges it. It comes hurtling at Longshot who kicks it midair. The sword bounces off a concrete overhang, a mailbox and a tree branch before returning to its sender and lodging in his bicep. Slaymaster yells in surprised pain and then receives a smashing response from Morph who changes into a giant gavel and squashes him into the ground.
Morph grabs him by the collar and tells Slaymaster he loses. Slaymaster just smiles and slams his hands into the sides of Morph’s face. He then kick tosses Morph into Longshot. He tells him it only ends after he wins.
A garbled hologram of Heather appears next to Sabretooth and she tells them she can’t see or hear them. She further explains that all attempts to prevent the destruction of this dimension on her part have failed and that she is giving them a half hour to get together before she brings them home.
Slaymaster watches all this with increased hostility. He charges Sabretooth and kicks him in the gut. He accuses the Exiles of playing with them like toys. He tells them he doesn’t have time now to kill them, but prays they will meet again so he can finish the job. Slaymaster turns and charges off into the fog.
Longshot jokes that he sounded pretty angry. Sabretooth tells him to forget about it, that they have to get going. Morph reminds him they need to get Psylocke. Creed argues they don’t have enough time. Morph says they still have 30 minutes. Sabretooth asks him how he intends to do it. Morph gives him the thumbs up and points out he doesn’t have the Tallus to bring him home, so he’ll just have to stick around.
Reed Richard’s Inner Sanctum
Madame Hydra and Reed Richards are in the midst of a major brawl. Reed’s head and heart are encased in force fields and Susan is also using her force field powers to keep Richard’s limbs from doing her any harm. She mocks his pathetic attempts at beating her. Reed asks her if it was that easy, wouldn’t he be dead already. He tells Susan he has developed defenses for anything she can bring at him.
Reed propositions Susan, which includes Wolverine, with a chance to walk away from the whole thing without any further harm. Susan asks why she should strike a bargain when she’s about to win. Reed asks what kind of a prize is a world without people. Susan tells Reed he better talk fast. Richards asks why she would rule a world when he can give her something greater than all the stars. He presses a button with his extended limb, which displays a vast array of dimensions on his computer screen. Reed tells Madame Hydra he can give her the Omniverse.
Reed says all he wants in return is for her to leave their world. Susan wants to hear more. She removes the force field from around his head and strokes the bottom of his chin. Susan suggests they might both leave this thing winners.
