(the Danger Room entrance, December 8, 3:15 PM)
The alarm goes off. Cable, Cannonball, Domino and James Proudstar rush to check it out. Cable welcomes James to the New Mutants, and tells everyone to be ready. They enter the room, and notice a mysterious warrior fighting some Danger Room simulative robots. Cable doesn’t know who the man is, but the equipment he is destroying is rather expensive, so he appreciates it when James asks Cable if he can knock the guy out. James grabs the longhaired swordfighter, but the guy calls James a “Mojo-sniffer” and tries to release himself.
Cable notices it and tries to help out, but the man uses that to his advantage. He kicks Cable in the face, this surprising James and thereby is able to free himself. The man doesn’t know where he is or who the New Mutants are, but he won’t give up to “Spiral-sucking monkeys!” Domino has had enough. She uses her whip to bring the boy down, and asks him who he is and what he’s doing her. The man refuses the answer the questions, so Domino fights him and kicks him against the wall. The man recognizes her as a true warrior, and demands to not to mock him again. Domino asks the guy to surrender. This makes him angry, and punches Domino in her face.
Cannonball has seen enough, and decides to help out. The man isn’t impressed, but to be safe takes out his sword. He charges it with energy, then the sword releases it and shoots against Sam! He’s okay, but the beam actually got through his blast field! The man can’t believe that Sam’s still alive. Cable calls his friends the toughest ones on the world, and tells his adversary that they’ve all had enough. Cable and the man fight for a while, with eventually Cable getting a free spot, and he kicks their attacker down. Cable picks up the sword and demands answers.
The man finally introduces himself. He calls himself Shatterstar, a blood-warrior of the Cadre Alliance. Cable doesn’t know what to do with that explanation, so he knocks Shatterstar unconscious, and the team takes him away.
Meanwhile, Feral is watching the team from the shadows. She sees them as a family that fights together, and stays together. She continues to stalk them, and tries to find a way to get adopted by them, because if her old family finds her, Feral fears that she could use all the help she can get. When she crawls away, she doesn’t notice a teleporting beam materializing in the Danger Room. Three odd-looking figures step forward. They don’t care where they are. They’re only interested in Shatterstar, whom their homing beacon has picked up. They leave to track him down.
(sub-basement level 1, transport tunnel, 3:47 PM)
Masque, Brute and Hump break into the tunnel. They know that Feral is around there somewhere, and spread out to retrieve her. They move quietly and quickly, hoping to get this over with fast.
(sub-basement level 1, the recovery room, 3:51 PM)
Shatterstar wakes up, but promises not to fight the New Mutants again, since it’s no use. He has been defeated and failed in his mission. Cable wants to know what that holds. Shatterstar explains that he has been sent by the Cadre to seek the heroes of the legend: the freedom fighters known as the X-Men. He is in need of their aid in overthrowing the oppressive rule of Mojo V and his executioner, Spiral. Their alliance and rebellion is almost undone.
He further explains that time and time again, the rebel forces have been routed by the Imperial Protectorate. They stand on the brink of oblivion. Shatterstar reveals that Mojo and Spiral consume all that is, their hearts and hopes. So a decision was made, one born of desperation. Shatterstar and his people decided to seek help elsewhere, as another of his kind, the warrior called Longshot, had done one hundred years gone by. Shatterstar volunteered to make the hazardous journey through time and space, but in doing so, he only found defeat.
Shatterstar mentions that the Elsewhen Transport had taken more out of him than he expected it would. He was disoriented a little, and overwhelmed, when the New Mutants found him. But it is apparent that, in regards of his mission, Shatterstar believes that he has failed, as none of the New Mutants look like the X-Men he has seen videos of. Cable admits that, and reveals to Shatterstar that they are better than the X-Men. And if he believes Shatterstar’s story, Cable says that could more than fill their role.
Sam agrees that Shatterstar does look a little bit like Longshot, but just acts a whole lot differently. Shatterstar reveals that he has been bio-engineered to be the ultimate fighting machine. His entire existence has resolved around warfare. It hasn’t left much time open for him to learn how to socialize. Tabitha has heard enough talk, and decides to go fetch something for Shatterstar to eat. On her way, she wonders if he can even eat Earth food without choking or something.
When she enters the kitchen, she finds Feral sniffing through the kitchen closets! Feral strikes out at her, but Boom-Boom protects herself with some timebombs. The rest of the New Mutants rush in, having heard the battle noises, but don’t recognize Feral. Cable thinks that she might be a former Morlock. Feral reveals that she really was a Morlock, living in the tunnels under Manhattan with a group of other refugees, but now she’s trying to run away from them as Masque is trying to kill her. She begs the team to help her.
(the Recovery Room, 4:13 PM)
Shatterstar apologizes to James for attacking him so rashly. He accepts it. Suddenly, Shatterstar’s proximity alert on his sensory equipment goes off, right before they are attacked by the Imperial Protectorate. James and Domino ask if they’re tough. Shatterstar explains that one of them is like ten of him put together! However, the trio fights bravely and manages to kill them.
(the Galley, sub-basement level 2, 4:15 PM)
Sam doesn’t know if Feral is telling the truth but, if she is, he suggests to Cable that they help her. Feral claims that her story is true, and that Masque is building an army of radical Morlocks, who are people he kidnapped and mutated. They refuse to hide in the dark any longer, and wants to bring a war to the surface world. And, though Feral hates to tell them, Masque plans to start with the New Mutants. Cable isn’t surprised about that, and also not if Masque would have send Feral as a plant. They hear a noise from the Recovery Room, and rush to it.
As they go, none of them notice Masque and his thugs sneaking by, and eavesdropping. Masque is pleased to see that the New Mutants have their hands full already. Brute suggests to come back some other time, but Masque finds that an idiotic thought, as they should strike at them from behind. Brute and Hump follow Masque, who follows the New Mutants. Feral smells something funny. They are attacked by a newly arrived Imperial Protectorate warrior. Feral strikes him down, and kills the warrior. She reminds Sam of Wolverine and Sabretooth. Feral smells on the warrior’s blood, and recognizes it as something from out of Earth. Cable realizes that they must be after Shatterstar, so they rush to him.
They enter the Recovery Room, and find Domino, James and Shatterstar under attack by a horde of Protectorates! They fight, and Shatterstar is grabbed from behind by one of the warriors. The warrior wants to kill him, and they both grapple over Shatterstar’s sword. Not wishing to give up, Shatterstar concentrates his powers and impales himself with the sword through his stomach, fatally impaling the warrior’s behind him! The warrior dies, but Shatterstar survives. He explains to Cable that he’ll do anything to win.
Masque and his goons enter, and demand from Cable that he hand Feral over to them. He refuses, and tells them that Feral wants to stay with them. Masque sends Brute out to fetch the girl. Brute does, but ends up being shot by Cable. Cable points his gun to Masque’s head, and makes him understand to get out. Now!
(the Mission Debriefing Room, sub-basement level 2, 6:33 PM)
After a shower and some rest, Cable gathers his team. He wants to set some things right. He says that the soldiers who were after Shatterstar disappeared after they were beaten. He can only assume that they had a fail-safe system, which sent them back to their own dimension. They are just another addition to the ever-increasing list of opponents who want to attack the New Mutants. To Cable, that means now, more than ever, that they have to band together to fight against the people trying to tear them down.
James Proudstar agrees to join the team. In return for fighting their war, the New Mutants will help him fight his. Shatterstar is now stranded in this dimension. In return for helping him fight his war, he will help the New Mutants. Feral has asked for asylum and, in return for protecting her from Morlock oppressors, she has agreed to join the team. Cable now has the fighting unit he felt they needed all along. But he believes that there’s only one problem: they can’t stay in the bunker any longer!
Tabitha doesn’t want to move again, but Cable believes that they’ve got no choice. Tolliver knows that he’s there. The Morlocks know that Feral is here. The warriors from Shatterstar’s world have the location as their last transport point. And quite frankly, Cable doesn’t feel their method of operating will coincide with those of their landlords, the X-Men and X-Factor. Tabitha wants to know where they’re going, and how they will learn to use their powers. Cable tells her that she was brought there by a man with a dream, which is dead now. He feels that it’s time to face reality.
Cable knows that the team has learned how to control their powers, and that it’s now the time to use them. It’s time that they became a force for change in this world. A force, legal or not, for what’s right. James asks Cable if he means to take Professor X’s dream and fight for it. An “X-Force,” Sam jokes. He finds it a little crude, but that it has possibilities.
(topside, 7:37 PM)
Sam and Tabitha discuss the departure. They’ve both decided to stay with Cable. Sam honestly thinks that they can make a difference, and so does Tabitha. Tabitha jokes that Sam never has to tell to anyone she admitted it. He promises he won’t. Tabitha knows Sam won’t, and calls him a good guy, which she can trust with her life and heart. They share a hug.
(8:13 PM)
Cable gathers the team, and asks if they are ready. They are, as ready as they’ll ever be. Everyone steps inside Cable’s airship, and leave. One last time, they look at the school sign of Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters.
(Prologue. The hidden headquarters of the Mutant Liberation Front, somewhere in the Southwestern United States, 8:23 PM)
Stryfe walks up to his castle, where he’s welcomed by Wildside and Forearm. They ask Stryfe what type of mutant he is. He answers: “a survivor.” That’s good enough for both mutants to hear, and they let their master inside. Wildside gathers the rest of the team, who also welcome him back. Stryfe dispatches a team of Rusty, Forearm, Reaper, Zero and Skids, and sends them out to do some damage.
They can choose what type of building. Either administrative or military, it doesn’t matter to Stryfe, as long as the civilian casualties are at minimum. He wants them back at 9:00. Zero opens a portal, and the team leaves. Stryfe sends the rest of the MLF away, and wants them back at 11:00 for a briefing. They do as they are told and depart.
With everyone gone, Stryfe talks to himself. He finds the war is going slower than he would like, but realizes that there’s no turning back now. He believes that the war will have to be fought until the bitter end. He agrees that the future indeed looks bleak. Stryfe takes out his helmet, and is revealed to be none other than… Cable?!
