In the Australian Outback, the senior Reavers call the Reavertron (the combined machine made of the junior Reavers) a success while downing some beer. Is it just her or does Cable make his brat do all the heavy lifting? Skullbuster asks. She is informed that this is the way muties do it. Train up a bunch of kids and use them as weapons.
Hope and Cable are fighting the junior Reavers turned into one big weapon. Cable finds the Reaver weapon he is using is trash and Hope complains the telekinesis she borrowed from him isn’t doing much better against the Reaver ball, which seems to be self-healing.
Time to punch harder! he announces and grabs a bigger weapon. Hope swears as the TK she borrowed runs out. Cable shoves her down and takes the blast meant for her.
Direct hit, Pretty Boy observes grinning.
Cable coughs, trying to get up. Skullbuster hits him and tells him to stay down. Bonebreaker gloats it will be quicker than she deserves. Hope is chased by the Reavertron and shouts Cable’s name.
Forge’s mindscape (while his body is currently possessed by the Adversary):
Forge and Dr. Nemesis are stranded there. So somebody hacked Forge’s brainbox, Nemesis summarizes. Fine, hack it back! Forge tries to explain there is no way to fix it. Exasperated, Nemesis points out Forge’s mind is a giant Wonka machine. In his experience, this is one of the few things Forge can do. Forge tries to explain the battle inside his head is over and the Adversary has won. Which means they have a chaos demon in a healthy host body out there remaking the world in his own damn image! Stop worrying about him and let’s fix that!
Melodramatics, Nemesis sighs. He’s been outside and all the Adversary has done is remake parts of their headquarters. He is right, Forge realizes. If the Adversary has what he needs what is he still doing in their bunker? Unless… he thinks the Adversary is trapped. His magic cannot penetrate cold steel. Which their headquarters is made of. If they act fast, they can beat him! Just gotta kill the host. He won’t have anywhere to go!
Forge’s the host, Nemesis points out. And he calls him slow, Forge mocks. The Forge ship has sailed. Now it’s about saving the whole world. He tells him to get back to his body and put a bullet into Forge’s brain before the Adversary figures out the elevator.
Nemesis refuses. When Forge pressures him he states he can’t. He really can’t. He’s synced this brain synch on the fly. It’s a hard switch. The only way back into his head is a pull of the lever and neither of them has use of their hands right now.
Forge berates him and asks what he was planning on. He was planning to save his miserable life! Nemesis snaps. Forge reluctantly admits that was nice.
Meanwhile outside in the HQ which is being remade by the Adversary:
Boom Boom finds that instead of doing anything really horrible, the Adversary is attacking her with pirates. Yohoho! he shouts. Boom Boom decides to leave the ship. But she finds she can flee no longer and gets ready to blast him, Forge’s body or not. She throws her timebomb even as Nemesis shouts a warning. The two men find she’s put a dent in the veiling but it holds.
With the Adversary momentarily trapped underneath a beam, Nemesis, whose brain is still in sync with the computer, explains they’ve found a way to talk through the PA system.
Forge explains the Adversary wants her to destroy things. When she doesn’t believe it he tells her he is playing possum. The steel walls are keeping him in check. His powers can heal Forge’s body. They can’t get through steel. He’s been goading her into blasting a hole.
The Adversary gives up the ruse.
Colorado:
Using as destroyed Sentinel head as a sled, Domino and Colossus are trying to stay ahead of an avalanche and racing toward a small town. Domino tells him that, with Forge MIA, she needs to jerry-rig a detonator out of hand grenades so that the people of down below won’t have their weekend ruined by 10,000 tons of snowy death and destruction.
Dom’s luck comes through; they save themselves and kiss passionately as the Sentinel head explodes taking the avalanche with it.
Next up: Date night.
X-Force’s HQ:
Boom Boom has fought her way back to the lab (where Dr. Nemesis’ body lies) and asks what she is to do now. Forge tells her to pull the lever on the mind synch which will return the Doc into his body. Boom Boom asks what happens after, seeing the Adversary hot on her heels. Forge informs her she is going to have to kill him, blow his head off!
Bad plan, Nemesis shouts and commands Tabitha to ignore Forge’s order. While the two men argue, Boom Boom considers what to do. Nemesis tells her that Forge thinks this nonsense is heroic, which it isn’t. It’s small, simple and lazy!
The Adversary hits Boom Boom. He grabs her but she manages to snag and press the lever with her foot.
The Outback:
The senior Reavers enjoy themselves kicking Cable, though Cable manages to tear off Prettyboy’s mechanical leg. The Reavertron is returning and they figure they are finished with Hope. As the Reavertron attacks the senior Reavers it turns out though that Hope is controlling them.
With the Reavers finished, the exhausted Hope explains she may have run out of TK but still had Cable’s telepathy to overwhelm the Reavers. Carrying her away, Cable tells her she did real good.
Elsewhere, an agitated Dr. Nemesis cries Forge’s name. Calling him a Nazi, Forge tells him Tabitha didn’t blast him, though he notes the changed scenery.
Nemesis explains that they both got dragged into his brain. As he begins a speech on how he saved Forge’s mind, Forge points out that the Adversary got dragged along with them. Not at all agitated, Nemesis gesticulates and the Adversary is trapped in a box. He adds smugly that all minds are not created equal.
Forge is at a lack for words and suggests they check out the others. He’s never gonna hear the end of this, is he? Nemesis tells him not to spoil it with words.
