Crystal Palace:
Heather stares at the view monitor, hand over her mouth with a frightened look in her eyes. She wonders aloud what’s happening out there.
Desert Room:
Out there is where Sabretooth is getting his butt handed to him. Psylocke keeps slicing and dicing with her psychic blade, but Sabretooth won’t go down. He even manages to knock her off balance and they commence with the hand to hand. She’s able to dodge all of his swipes, strikes and grabs and then knees him in the gut. She grabs him by the throat and uses the momentum to slam him into the ground.
Crystal Palace:
Sabretooth tries to get some help from Heather, but Psylocke isn’t registering on any of the monitors. Heather keeps hitting buttons, but all she sees is Sabretooth getting the snot beat out of him. She tells Creed she can’t be of any help, that it’s all on him to end the fight.
Desert Room:
Sabretooth dodges a punch from Psylocke and grabs a hold of her arm. He wrenches it behind her and wraps his other hand around her throat. He congratulates her on a good fight and tells her that it’s over. He tells her to calm down and behave. With a smile on her face she tells him to look down first. He’s shocked to see he’s about 200 feet in the air.
She breaks free of his grip and nails him and Sabes plummets towards the ground. As Psylocke watches him fall she asks herself why Sabretooth didn’t try to kill her, but instead tried to make peace. She thinks something might be up.
Sabretooth crashes through a doorway into the Crystal Palace. Before major impact he admires Psylocke’s strength and questions whether he’s in love or going to kill her. He smashes upside-down into a wall.
Things go all hooey in the Palace from the impact. The video screens display only static and one of the bookshelves in Morph’s room topples over, crushing his B-mod device.
Psylocke enters the palace at Sabretooth’s point of entry. She manifests her katana once more and surveys the area. The crystal building material baffles her, as does the architecture. She continues to explore and finds a bathroom, Morph’s living area and some sort of power conduit. She questions where she really is and if there’s a way home.
She continues looking around until Sabretooth jumps out of the shadows at her. He tells her they just want to talk, but her instincts kick into gear and she sends him flying. Luckily he brought Morph for backup, who in a “Luv Chunk” t-shirt and an enlarged mass crushes Betsy where she stands.
Sabretooth tells Morph to keep her pinned, but Psylocke has other ideas. She uses her flight ability to slam Morph up into the ceiling. He lands on his feet, clad in a tuxedo, looking very James Bond-like. He motions her forward like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix and she can’t help but smile at him.
Psylocke is surprised, as a full-bodied projection of Heather Hudson appears where she’s standing. Heather tells Sabretooth to cut it out already. Morph goes back to his regular self and makes introductions. He apologizes for the fighting and welcomes her to the palace. Psylocke smiles and accepts, which infuriates Heather because she still can’t see Psylocke on any of the monitors.
Psylocke introduces herself and explains she’s part of a team known as the X-Men. Sabretooth picks her up in a bear hug and tells her that’s great news. She tells him he’s not the Sabretooth she knows. He asks what hers is like. He almost killed me twice, she explains. Creed tells her he never would’ve missed. Morph tells her not to mind Creed’s sense of humor.
They all meet up in the command center with Heather where dozens of alternate Psylockes are posted on display. Psylocke wants to go home, but Heather tells her it’s not that simple. Sabretooth explains she was chosen because it was determined she would be the best person to help. Psylocke says it’s not her problem, that she has other people who need her.
Sabretooth explains the situation, about Blink, Longshot and Spidey being captured and a world on the brink of disaster. Morph transforms into a bustier Psylocke and asks her how can she refuse if she’s really an X-Man.
Psylocke looks up at the different versions of herself and points out that she’s not listed up there. Sabretooth replies that maybe she doesn’t belong to just one world now, that maybe she’s moved on to bigger things.
As Morph prances around in Psylocke-mode the real Psylocke grabs him by the throat, making him look like an inflated balloon. She politely tells him to stop. Then she asks if they have any proof that they’re the good guys. Heather tells her she’s the first to ever ask. Sabretooth smiles and says she has to have some faith. Betsy doesn’t look pleased.
Earth #1720:
Blink’s in the middle of dishing it out to a bunch of Hand assassins. She’s trying her best to get to Spider-Man so she can free him from some sort of brainwashing machine, but the bad guys keep coming. Someone manages to grab her around the neck so she teleports free and goes to kick the guy in the head, but he catches her foot and cracks her across the face. She looks up at her assailant, blood spilling from her nose. It’s Longshot and he’s been turned.
Longshot tells Blink to give it up already. She kicks his feet out from under him and teleports for a better vantage point. She misses with her punch and he gets her with both feet under the chin. Blink looks up, groggy. She spots Spidey and manages to toss a teleportation shard his way. A shield is erected in front of the machine and the shard slams harmlessly into it. Blink passes out.
Susan Storm materializes from her invisible guise. She comments on the skills of the three Exiles and of how happy she is they’ll all be in her service soon. She’s even happier by the fact they’re all from different dimensions. She thinks of the possibilities of taking over other worlds and even comes up with a title for herself, “Susan Storm, Overlord of Creation.”
Manhattan, New York:
Morph, Psylocke and Sabretooth are teleported to a demolished Manhattan street corner. There are no signs of people anywhere. Morph creates some binoculars from his eyes and scouts the area. He spots two very large Sentinels and an extra-large S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier lying strewn throughout their part of the city.
Psylocke asks Sabretooth what they’re supposed to be doing. Sabes tells her they rescue the team first. Morph drops down to tell them they have company coming. Someone matching the common description of Captain America enters the scene, but he’s followed by a contingent of Hand warriors. Then Elektra appears over by some wreckage and tells them if they want to live to follow her.
The Exiles are teleported to some high tech base. There they run into Nick Fury, who’s not happy to see strangers in their headquarters, Callisto and Reed Richards. Reed was the one who wanted them brought in and asks them to come over. He welcomes them to Free Earth and asks for their help. As he’s talking things over Heather’s hologram pops up.
Heather explains to Sabretooth that she linked her image to the Tallus, which permits her to contact them this way. She also lets him know that she’s only broadcasting to him right now. She adds that she wants him to keep what she’s about to say quiet. Creed asks what she’s talking about. Heather explains she’s finished her analysis and if they don’t complete their mission within 100 hours the whole dimension will be wiped out. Creed asks what they have to do. She tells him Reed Richards must die.
