Phnom Penh, Cambodia:
The members of X-Force lie knocked out after their failed attempt to stop the giant Nuklo. Only Tank is still standing and witnesses Nuklo again shouting his name as he stands atop the newly risen temple. Tank attacks him but Nuklo projects a forefield, slamming Tank away.
In the meantime, the others have awakened and Sage figures they were subject to a psi-attack. Rachel and Betsy correct her that this was neither psi nor physical nor magical.
Surge joins them, asking at superspeed what that was. Is this the end of the world? Sage orders her to slow down and assures her everyone is fine.
Is that right? Betsy sharply asks Forge, who stands some distance away. He doesn’t know. He stares at the Analog and replies they failed, but the fracture is incomplete. Ongoing. Betsy wryly remarks those are words set in a sensible order, but other than that… Sage asks what it means. He thinks they still have a chance.
He thinks? Betsy asks sharply. He is meant to be leading this team! They are following his dictates, because he says they are preventing Armageddon! What have they prevented here? she asks pointing at the temple. Phnom Penh is a disaster zone! Nuklo is gone. And she should very much like to know where the temple came from.
Sage identifies it as the Temple of the Dragon’s Breath. Focus of local legends for at least five hundred years. “Discovered” in the late 20th century by American soldiers. Vanished for a number of several years.
Betsy asks about intel from the Analog and Forge replies something seems to be interfering with it. Bluntly, she orders him to open his mind then. Show her what he sees when he looks at it. He refuses equally bluntly. When Nori joins them again, she insists, shouting they need to see what is inside.
She leads them inside the empty temple and points out there are traces of fighting, including power blasts. She leads them to a hole from which energy tendrils emerge. She figures it is total magic, right?
Betsy senses some magic but Rachel also senses temporal energies, possibly dimensional shifts. She turns to Forge and Sage. Forge mutters that it is incomplete. Like it is part of a larger fracture.
Sage analyzes that the sacred geometry carved into the walls is definitely not Cambodian. An alt-science, she explains, assigning mystical meanings to certain geometrical shapes. So magic, Nori doubles down. Sage considers it more a form of alchemy: magic x science.
Tank points at a certain pattern and explains a similar pattern appeared when Nuklo disappeared. Perhaps it teleported him from here. Rachel reveals they saw a weird symbol in Nuklo’s mind, but it wasn’t that one. Sage explains the symbol means “life” and asks Forge if he has any insights.
He shows them a holographic globe displaying what the Analog tells him: the bright spot is where they are. It should show a fracture, but it seems… If he says “incomplete” again, she is going to burst! Betsy mutters. Nori points to a moving line connecting the temple to the Everglades, Florida. Forge decides they need to go there. Sage points out that, at Mach Two, that will take six hours. Tank informs her that the jet can fly at double that speed. Sage figures three hours will still be too long, if what happened at Phnom Penh is any indication. Nori asks why they don’t have a teleporter. Not enough space, Forge replies. He could build one now, but it would take too long.
Betsy announces that she can get them there. She changes into her Captain Britain outfit and her sword appears as she explains she can still manipulate Otherworld’s magic. It touches all nexus points. Normally, she can only travel between a nexus and Otherworld but, since the Everglades are also a nexus point, she should be able to… Forge orders her to do it.
She uses her psychic sword to carve a portal. They jump in and emerge in Otherworld. Betsy orders the others to race ahead.
She and Rachel communicate telepathically and Rachel worries about them being here after the way Betsy left things with Saturnyne. Betsy figures that, with a bit of luck, she won’t know they are here. Rachel grins and tells her that she is hot when she is being reckless.
Betsy orders them to run toward a forest and not to touch or eat anything. They gather in a grove. Betsy senses the right spot. She manifests her psychic sword again and cuts a gateway to the Everglades, Florida.
They find Hart Home overrun and its citizens terrorized by several monster giant insects, mythical creatures, the works. Sage tracks at least forty dimensional rifts in the immediate vicinity. Forge reminds them that they need to stop Nuklo, then all this stops.
While they battle the monsters, he asks the telepaths to track Nuklo’s psi-signature. Betsy snaps, this would go easier if he took off the bloody headband!
Rachel senses Nuklo close by but can’t get a fix. There is something scrambled. Sage warns them of six more rifts opening in a two-kilometer radius - the effect is expanding!
Some distance away, Nori shouts she has him. Forge and Rachel attack him but Nuklo ignores them and walks toward the swamp. The whole team attacks – to no avail.
Surge shouts in surprise when she sees something new, namely the Man-Thing. Betsy explains, they are a nexus guardian, protecting dimensional crossroads. They are powered by strong emotions. They must consider Nuklo a threat.
Suddenly, there are two Nuklos. While X-Force battle one, the other Nuklo pummels the Man-Thing, then continues on his way. The Man-Thing regrows to a large form in front of him and beats hm down. The second Nuklo helps him up and the two of them merge into a version that is now larger than the Man-Thing and attacks brutally, then shouts his name in triumph.
Rachel and Betsy already formulate their goodbyes, just in case Forge will give the order to attack, when suddenly Nuklo is felled by a lightning attack.
“Your monster is down, invaders!” a new voice booms. “Your incursion into our land now ends!” an alternate version of Storm shouts, as she stands, flanked by the Avengers of Assyria who order X-Force to stop this incursion or they will die.
Ororo? Forge asks dumbfounded.
