Cable and X-Force #7

Issue Date: 
June 2013
Story Title: 
untitled
Staff: 

Dennis Hopeless (writer), Salvador Larocca (artist), Frank d’Armata (colorist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (letterer), Larocca / D’Armata (cover artists), Jennifer D. Smith (assistant editor), Jordan D. White (associate editor), Nick Lowe & Daniel Ketchum (editors), Axel Alonso (editor-in-chief), Joe Quesada (chief creative officer), Dan Buckley (publisher), Alan Fine (Exec. Publisher)

Brief Description: 

In the prison, Colossus asks Domino not to free him. She tells him it’s a diversion, though she would free him if he wanted to. Their actual object, the alien criminal, is giving Boom Boom trouble. He takes her (and later Domino) prisoner. When he learns that they are using his own ship to free him, he takes control of the ship, also taking out Forge and Dr. Nemesis. Colossus helplessly sees the alien flee with his teammates and realizes he made the wrong decision. Meanwhile, Cable is talking with his father Cyclops (and fighting some SWORD guards) who just wanted to see how he was doing and assures him he has his back, whatever he’s doing.

Full Summary: 

Cable confronts Cyclops, unsure what he wants. How are things? his father asks him. Cable curtly informs him he has no time for a lecture. Who’s lecturing? Scott asks. Things are fine. What else? Cable asks. Looks like they are borrowing a spaceship from the SWORD impound, Scott remarks. Abigail Brand and her space police won’t like that much. They’ll get over it, Cable replies. No, in his experience they probably won’t, Scott chuckles. Nate tells him that, if he came to stop him, they should get that over with. Before Scott can explain, he is interrupted by a ship firing at them. Did he mention Abigail Brand and her space police weren’t going to like this much? Scott remarks.

Their bounty, the stolen ship, is up in the clouds crewed by Forge and Dr. Nemesis. Where is his pioneer spirit? Dr. Nemesis tries to convince Forge, who grimly demands if he really just asked a member of the Cheyenne Nation about his “pioneer spirit.” No he asked him about his. They are not taking this boat into orbit so he can get his zero-G jollies, Forge replies strictly.

He realizes calling an engineer “a man of science” is akin to naming a housebroken Bichon Frise “ripper,” Nemesis retorts, but good God, man! Is he truly so devoid of both imagination and sense of adventure?

Forge reminds him they are in the middle of a damn job. He is scared of what happens if they make Cable cross, Nemesis mocks. Forge sputters, calling him a Nazi son of a… He finally complies. He was never a Nazi, Nemesis points out.

Soon, they look down on Earth from orbit. Happy now? Forge asks. Quite, is the reply.

In the meantime at the Raft, Domino is taking down the guards outside Colossus’ cell over his protests. She points out they are rocking body armor. It’s a victim-less beat down.

Another guard holds a weapon to the kneeling Piotr’s head. Colossus announces he is not trying to escape. He knows this woman but she has come here against his wishes. Domino mocks he hasn’t even convinced himself, as she knocks the guard out.

That’s not funny! he protests. It’s a little bit funny, Domino decides. He protests that he is in here trying to earn his life back and she treats that like it’s nothing! She tells him to come off it. If he wants to come with when this is over, that suits her great. But now this is just a believable diversion. The more guards they throw in here trying to stop her springing him, the easier a time Boom Boom will have downstairs. As the next guards arrive, she suggests he quit his grousing, kick back and appreciate how good she looks when kicking a guy in the throat.

Downstairs in the secret SWORD containment unit, things are not going so well for Boom Boom. The alien has broken out and is no trying to throttle her. In response, she blows him off with a time bomb and is disgusted by the slime he left on her. Finally beginning to speak English, the alien creates a strange energy field which makes Boom nervous as he takes out the outer hall and Boom Boom is swamped by the incoming flood.

Domino has just finished off the guards and hears a booming noise. So does Colossus, but he turns back to his canvas. Dom realizes something has gone wrong and orders him to come along with her. Colossus takes out a guard that sneaks up on Domino but refuses to leave. What does she have to say to get him to pick her over jail? she asks. He can’t! He’s killing her, she sighs.

Elsewhere, while fighting off SWORD troops, Cyclops asks what this is all about. Cable summarizes that Brand has an alien in custody in that SWORD lockup under the Raft, an intergalactic war criminal. Supposed to be a big secret he’s on Earth but someone’s spilled it. X-Force is trying to get him up and out of here before bad news comes looking. How bad is bad? Scott asks. Six million dead by Thursday afternoon. That’s pretty bad, Scott agrees.

Domino dives downwards toward the SWORD lock-up to find the alien holding an unconscious Boom Boom in a forcefield. The purple sphere reaches out and traps her inside as well. Another one, the alien remarks.

Domino draws her gun and orders him to let her go. He laughs and remarks that alien females trip his trigger but Earth women are a conundrum. Their meaty soft bodies. He’s has this one for several minutes and can’t decide if he’d rather play or eat.

She gets that a lot! Boom Boom snarks and tells Dom to shoot his head. The alien points out that his head is keeping all of that water at bay. Earth girls can swim, Boom Boom insists but Domino tells her they need him alive. They came here to crack him out of jail. And they already made things more difficult than they need to be. Boom Boom remarks the flood is on her but he was being horror movie creepy and got his goo all over her.

Domino announces they have a rendezvous in five minutes and have to get the show on the road. When the alien asks why they would let him loose on their planet, Dom replies they are taking him off-world. How do they plan to do that? When she doesn’t reply he remarks they must have quite a ship. They have his ship, Domino reveals. Suddenly, he makes strange noises and explains he is laughing.

Aboard the ship reentering the atmosphere, Dr. Nemesis narrates their adventures, announcing the adventurer of superscience plummets back toward the Earth, shrugging off the torturous clime of reentry with a hearty laugh. Forge orders him to shut up. Undeterred, Nemesis continues that meanwhile Captain Grumpus, their disturbingly mediocre pilot, pretends irritation in a vain attempt to hide the space flight afterglow shining so clearly across his face. Enough, Forge orders and ask how they are on time. More than on time, he is told. They are closing in on the prison now. Then he notices an odd power flux and asks if Forge has engaged their weapon systems. “Hello, gentlemen,” an image of the alien suddenly greets them before taking control of the ship and electrocuting them. The ship then attacks the prison before disappearing under the water.

Elsewhere, after the fight, Cyclops reminds Nate he is his kid. He’d be on his side, even if he were the kind of idiot who stole spaceships just for the hell of it. But he isn’t. He has earned his trust a hundred times over. He didn’t come here to stop him. He came to make sure he’s okay and maybe help him break some intergalactic laws. Thanks, dad, is Cable’s reply.

Meanwhile, the pilotless SWORD ship next to them gets a message that there is an extraterrestrial egress incident with a hostage situation at the Raft and Cable realizes things went wrong. He jumps into the ship. “Go get your team,” Scott tells him. They’ll talk for real soon.

At the Raft, Colossus wonders what happened. Oh, God! he exclaims when the spaceship rises in front of him, the members of X-Force clearly prisoners of the alien. And the ship takes off into space…

Characters Involved: 

Boom-Boom, Cable, Colossus, Domino, Dr. Nemesis, Forge (all X-Force)

Cyclops (X-Man based at the New Xavier School)

Kliktok (unnamed alien)

SWORD guards

Story Notes: 

Despite his assurances, Dr. Nemesis indeed used to work for the Nazis as Dr. Death.

Bichon Frise is a breed of very small, fluffy dog.

Issue Information: 
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