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Epitaph, part 1
A desk is covered in files from SHIELD and various other organizations. Diskettes and CD-Rs, 3-inch discs and books.
Six months later, in Buenos Aires, people are going about their daily lives, while two very special people are seated outside a café. He is well-dressed and reading a newspaper, while she sips a drink. Vans driving down the street suddenly explode, and civilians are knocked into the air. ‘Happy, honey?’ Sam “Cannonball” Guthrie, disguised by a new appearance of black hair and beard. ‘Just peachy. Thanks, babe!’ Tabitha “Meltdown” Smith, now with longer hair, smiles back. ‘We needed this vacation - sounds like the rest of the kids are having fun, too’ Meltdown adds, while up in the air, James Proudstar flies skyward, carrying Domino and Jesse Bedlam.
Later, at a stylish hotel, Tabitha swims in the pool, while Domino and James sunbathe next to it, and Cannonball and Bedlam sit at a table. Reading from a newspaper, Sam calls out to his friends: ‘Gentechnic - the friendly face of the genetics industry, pioneered revolutionary treatments for Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s Chorea and several nasty forms of cancer - treatments derived from the spinal and brain tissue of mutant infants, harvested for a handful of bucks in the Favellas of Columbia’. Sam adds that the Favellas subtly irradiated by Genetech to specifically produce such mutations. Bedlam points out that the friendly face of the genetics industry is now a big steaming hole in the ground. ‘The shareholders won’t be happy’ he remarks.
‘They won’t be anything. There was a shareholder meeting today. They all went down with the ship’ Sam reports. ‘Doesn’t that make us murderers, Sam?’ Bedlam asks. ‘No, Jesse. It makes us even’ Sam replies, frowning. Jesse ignores that comment and enquires ‘So, where to now?’, to which Sam points out that they have pretty much worked their way down the USA, taking care of business, and asks X-Force how they feel about a trip overseas. ‘Mmm…sounds good. What’ve you got in mind?’ Tabby asks as she emerges from the pool in her very revealing bikini. Holding up some files, Sam tells everyone that Pete Wisdom was thorough in compiling the files. ‘My personal faves are Japan, Singapore or Australia’ he adds. James looks over and remarks that he knows this won’t be popular, as he suggests they try and find out who killed them.
‘Why? We’re all sick of playing spook games. We got scammed and played for fools right down the line. I for one don’t want to get into that again’ Sam states. Tabitha points out that everyone thinks they are dead, so they should keep it that way. ‘We just blow up bad guys who’ve done sick stuff to mutants and move on. Simple is good’ she decides. James frowns, and remarks ‘Speaking of which, being dead doesn’t come cheap’ and asks Domino if they are down to their last few thousand. ‘Oh, come on. Don’t make me. Not again’ Domino replies. Jesse smiles at her and points out that she is their lady luck. ‘I never figured why you didn’t use that probability kink of ours before’ he adds.
Domino reveals that she did, years ago, but that she learned there is more to life than money, as it causes nothing but grief. ‘Remember New York?’ she remarks. ‘Do I! How hard was that, to walk away from forty million?’ Tabby exclaims as she sips a drink. Sam points out that it was way too conspicuous, and that Domino is right. ‘No more lotteries. We play it safe and cautious. We have to keep a low profile’ he tells his team. ‘This is low profile?’ James asks, motioning to their luxurious surroundings. Tabitha wraps her arms around Sam, who smiles and replies ‘Perks of the job, Jimmy. I didn’t hear you complaining!’ and suggests they all enjoy it while they can, as they are leaving in a couple of hours.
Meanwhile, in England, inside a facility with a lot of radar dishes attached to it, ‘Ma’am, I may have something’ a man called Michael calls out, pointing out at computer screen with a news report on it, he announces that the South American office of Gentechnic, a major genetic research conglomerate was destroyed just three hours ago. ‘They’re on our red data book list, which means -’ Michael begins, but a woman covered by the shadows of the dimly-lit control room interrupts, ‘They experiment on mutants. Good work, Michael’. Michael continues, informing the mysterious woman that the data trawl shows a group of five fitting the search profile, who just bought airline tickets from Buenos Aires to Australia, in cash. ‘It’s them’ the woman announces, before asking who they have in the area. ‘Agent Corben’ Michael replies. The mysterious woman tells Michael to notify Agent Corben and to advise that it is a scorched earth protocol, but to make it look like an accident. ‘Yes, Ma’am’ Michael replies as he taps away at his computer console.
Buenos Aires Airport, where X-Force are waiting for their flight. ‘More fashion magazines? You’ve probably deforested half a continent for that lot!’ Sam tells Tabitha, who points out that they are supposed to be in disguise. ‘Not that you’d know it from those three’ she mutters, motioning to their teammates, whose appearances have not changed like hers and Sam’s. ‘I need to know what’s hot in Australia so I can blend in. It’s research’ Tabitha adds, to which Sam points out that it is also an excuse for her to get some retail therapy. ‘Maybe. I don’t hear you complaining when I’m wearing it, especially the underwear!’ Tabitha exclaims. An announcer asks passengers boarding Quantas flight 401 to Brisbane to make their way to gate nine. ‘That’s us. Time to roll’ Sam tells everyone.
A stewardess reaches out to take X-Force’s boarding passes, when James notices Domino looking somewhat worried. ‘You okay?’ he asks her ‘No…yes…I don’t know’ Domino replies. ‘What’s up?’ Jesse enquires as everyone gathers around Domino, who tells her friends that they cannot go, that something is right, they can’t be on the plane. ‘Can you say why?’ Sam asks, frowning. ‘I’ve just got a feeling…a very bad feeling’ Domino declares.
An instant later, the plane takes of, and the captain greets the passengers over the inter-comm, ‘Welcome to flight 401 to Brisbane, Australia’ he announces, adding that weather reports a good tailwind and fairly clear skies ahead, so they should make good time to their destination. ‘My advice is relax, sit back…and enjoy the ride’ - but the pilot frowns when he sees a bald woman clad in black leather down on the tarmac below She frowns, unimpressed. Her face is covered in piercing - eyebrows, nose, lip and ears. ‘Hello boys’ she calls out, suddenly smiling. ‘Should we call it in?’ the co-pilot asks. ‘What as?’ the captain declares, when suddenly, beams of energy burst from the woman’s eyes and mouth, and strike the pilot and co-pilot, before engulfing the plane mid-air.
The woman, Agent Corben, flies upwards, as the plane, now on fire, plummets to the runway below. ‘Oh my God!’ James gasps as X-Force watch in horror from the terminal, and suddenly, the plane crashes against the tarmac in a fiery blaze. ‘Easy money’ Corben mutters as she lights a cigarette - but an instant later, ‘WHAT DID YOU DO?’ Proudstar booms as he flies straight at Corben, knocking her through the air. Corben looks annoyed, and grits her teeth as she exclaims ‘You! You’re supposed to be bleddin’ dead!’, but Proudstar replies ‘You wanted us! You know how many people just died here?’, causing Corben to fire energy from her eyes and reply ‘Not enough’, but Proudstar’s body is resistant, and he head-butts Corben, ‘You want to fight me? C’mon, let’s dance!’ he shouts angrily, drawing blood from Corben’s nose as they fly even higher, above the clouds.
‘Mmm, you like it rough, puppy! Me too!’ Corben exclaims, before reaching out, she kisses Proudstar, ‘Gimme some tongue action, stud’ she declares, as she seemingly electrocutes Proudstar. ‘Just like I thought. All talk. Loser’ Corben mutters, as she lets Proudstar plummet to certain doom. ‘Oww - broke my nose’ Corben mutters as she presses her fingers to her bleeding nose, when suddenly, Proudstar flies up from behind some clouds, and grabs Corben from behind. ‘And your neck’s about to follow!’ he warns her, as he forces the woman downwards, through the clouds, and plummeting to the ground - where they hit the tarmac, hard, James using the aggressive woman to cushion his fall, shattering some of the ground.
‘This was a new jacket! I am so gonna kick your whitebread arse!’ the aggressive woman snarls. ‘You can try’ Meltdown exclaims as she, Domino, Cannonball, Proudstar and Bedlam gather around. ‘That’s for the people on the plane, you witch!’ Meltdown shouts as she kicks Agent Corben hard in the face. Cannonball demands to know who sent her, but Corben grins and replies ‘Oh yeah, like that’s gonna happen. What’re you gonna do. Get the little girl to kick me in the face again?’ Bedlam frowns, and tells her ‘Not quite’ and points out that what she needs is an incentive - so he uses his powers on her, causing Corben to scream as she clutches her leg. Bedlam explains that he made her brain think that her femur was broken in sixteen places - a spiritual break. ‘You probably think yourself a tough nut to crack, so I want to convince you that you’re not. That the best thing you can do is talk’ Bedlam declares.
Corben screams as Bedlam uses his power to make her think her other femur is broken in, and she clutches it. ‘Shall I continue?’ Bedlam asks. ‘Up yours!’ Corben snaps back. Bedlam looks at Cannonball, who tells him to do it, and Corben screams even louder than before. X-Force watch her, frowning. Tears stream from her eyes, and she utters ‘No…no more…I’ll talk’. ‘I know you will. Who sent you?’ Cannonball replies. ‘Who wants us dead?’ he asks her.
Moments later, Bedlam places his hands on Coben’s head, ‘Pain’s gone. Sleep now. Coma’ he tells everyone, while Meltdown exclaims ‘That came from out of left field!’, and Domino turns to Cannonball, asking him if he believes her. Sam replies that he does, and that strangely enough, it all adds up. Domino asks him what they do now, and frowning, Sam replies ‘Finish it’.


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[Assistant]
Epitaph, part 2
Then:
London, security guards surround a black car, while the driver waits for an important person. The car then makes its way down a busy street, packed with other cars and buses - and suddenly, James Proudstar drops from the sky on top of the car, causing it to lose its wheels and drop down. ‘Take him out!’ one of the guards exclaims as they exit the vehicle and begin firing their guns at him, but Proudstar’s teammate - Jesse Bedlam - is on hand to assist. ‘Fall down!’ Bedlam exclaims as he fires electromagnetic bursts of energy at the guards, causing them to, indeed, fall down. Proudstar rips one of the doors off the car, ‘Alistaire Stuart?’ he asks. ‘Yes, what’s the problem?’ Alistaire replies. ‘No problem’ Bedlam tells him as he knocks Alistaire out with an energy blast. Proudstar grabs Bedlam and Alistaire, and takes flight, just as police officers arrive on scene, unable to do anything.
Now:
Domino sits at a table, a pack of cigarettes and an ashtray in front of her, her body bruised and battered, her arm in a sling. ‘Looking back, snatching Stuart - head out of the British intel outfit the Department - was the beginning of the end, though we didn’t know it at the time’ Domino remarks. She picks up the packet of cigarettes - Lucky Strike - and takes one, remarking that with all the twists and turns and blind alleys they had been down over the last year or so, they didn’t realize the enormity of what they were getting into, didn’t recognize how out of their depth they really were. She lights the cigarette and blows smoke out of her mouth, sitting in the dimly lit room, she adds ‘If we had, we would have run like crazy in the other direction…least that way the others might still be alive today’.
Then:
At a dock, ‘He’s clean. No implants, no tracers’ Bedlam reports as X-Force stand around Alistaire Stuart. ‘Who are you people?’ Alistaire exclaims, when suddenly, ‘Peter Wisdom!’ he gasps, looking at Sam “Cannonball” Guthrie, who introduces himself to Alistaire - who cannot be blamed for thinking Sam is Wisdom, considering his change in appearance. ‘Guthrie? Then you’re all X-Force?’ Alistaire asks, adding that he head they died somewhere in Russia six months ago. ‘That’s what everyone’s supposed to think’ Sam confirms. Meltdown a.k.a. Tabitha Smith explains that they just dropped out of sight for a while, and went underground.
Alistaire Stuart smiles and declares that it all adds up - ‘You’re the ones who’ve sent the spook world into a spin! You’ve got Wisdom’s bloody files, haven’t you? You’re finishing off his damned crusade for him!’ Alistaire tells X-Force that he has to hand it to them - they have handled it like pros, changing their MO with each mission, hitting soft and hard targets in random order. ‘We had a good teacher. Which is why you’re here’ Cannonball replies, informing Alistaire that they need his help, as they need inside information on British intelligence. ‘No. Forget it’ Alistaire replies instantly. ‘We could make you tell us’ Bedlam warns him. Sam tells Alistaire that Pete said he was a good man, that he helped protect some mutant kids - Warpies - a long time ago, and explains that they have discovered something big, seriously big and bad, but they can’t tackle it alone. Alistaire frowns, and replies ‘Okay. Convince me’.
Now:
Domino announces that Sam did - he told Alistaire everything, chapter and verse, and she begins to tell the story:
Flashback images take place in X-Force (1st series) #102-113, narrated by Domino in the present:
‘About how Pete Wisdom culled a new X-Force from the stagnant ruin of the old’ Domino begins, explaining that they alone prevented Dr Niles Roman and his mutagenic bio-engine from triggering an all-out gene war in San Francisco, and how the “good doctor” put a bullet in Wisdom’s brain for having the audacity to interfere with his scheme.
And later, at Wisdom’s funeral, how Domino turned up with a price on her head, and a piece of bizarre alien technology grafted onto her side, and about how a mutant assassin named Tsung was sent to collect on both - as he failed.
Domino explains that it was Pete’s sister, Romany, who put Tsung down, as it turned out, she worked for British intel, and had been tracking him and the device for a while. Shortly, after, X-Force hooked up with Major Rychenko, an old friend of Pete’s, as she and her father were having some trouble with Russian sleeper agents, and things called Warborgs, and that led them back to Dr Roman’s door, except it turned out they read him all wrong, for in a backhand way, he was trying to save humanity.
Now:
Domino stubs his cigarette out, and reveals that they didn’t believe Roman, until the Major turned out to be an LMD packing a vibranium bomb. She reveals that Roman was killed, but Jesse Bedlam managed to shield X-Force somehow, and after that, they decided it was safer to drop out of sight entirely. ‘Stuart didn’t say a word, but you could tell we’d hit a nerve. He knew something and we need to know what - it was then that Sam placed our ace’.
Then:
Alistaire looks at Sam, shocked, while Bedlam announces that two days ago, a British mutant named Corben killed a planeful of people to get to X-Force. ‘She failed. She talked’ Sam declares, revealing that Corben was sanctioned by British intelligence, given the kill order by a high-ranking spook-show officers - Romany Wisdom!
Now:
Domino reveals that Stuart then told them everything, it wasn’t much, but it was enough. He said that Romany was a director on a black ops initiative so far above conventional government that she was as good as sitting at the right hand of God. No one knew what she was doing, or where she was doing it, but that wasn’t a problem. ‘If she still had the alien device that she’d removed from me, Jesse could lock onto its bio-magnetic signature and get a trace’ Domino explains revealing that it wasn’t that simple, and they didn’t stop to consider the consequences.
Then:
Romany stands behind an agent called Michael, while others mill about behind them, doing their jobs. Michael and Romany watch a monitor, when an alarm suddenly sounds. ‘Incursion alarm! Perimeter sensors grade them as five above-the-line mutants’ Michael exclaims as he activates the defense net - but Romany smiles, and tells him to let them pass, and to deploy conventional deterrents only. ‘This will be interesting’ she muses.
There is an explosion, ‘Stand ready! Get into position!’ a soldier shouts. ‘Lock and load! Pick your targets, go for the good kill!’ the soldier adds, while another shouts ‘Here they come!’, as five shadowy-figures appear at the gaping hole in the wall - Cannonball! Meltdown! Proudstar! Bedlam! Domino! ‘FIRE!’ a soldier orders, and his comrades do as they are told. X-Force leap into action, with Meltdown releasing plasma surges as that take her opponents down. Cannonball blasts through a group of soldiers, knocking them over like bowling pins. Domino punches a soldier in the face, while Bedlam fries his with an energy charge, and Proudstar storms his way through a pack of soldiers, taking them down with ease.
‘Good work everyone’ Cannonball tells the team once all the soldiers have been taken down. He asks Jesse which way they need to go, to which Bedlam replies that it is hard to say, and explains that the trace from the device is all around them, that he can’t focus on any one single source point. ‘So what do we do now?’ Proudstar begins, when suddenly, Romany Wisdom appears before X-Force, hands on hips, she tells them that they surrender, or die, that it is their choice. ‘Then I choose kick your skinny British ass back into a previous life!’ Meltdown shouts, pointing a finger at Romany, whose appearance has changed once more, now appearing as a youngish grey-haired woman. ‘And then what? You’ll play this out like the end of a James Bond movie and bring the whole place crashing down?’ Romany enquires.
Romany explains that this installation stretches five miles in either direction, that it is fueled by a geothermal reactor tapping directly into the Earths core, and that six thousand men and women work here, and they all have children, families. ‘Are you prepared to kill them all and tear a hole in the world simply to satisfy your sense of comic book logic?’ she enquires. ‘There’s still you’ Bedlam points out. ‘Kill me, by all means, but the work will still go on, if not here, elsewhere. Very little will have changed except you’ll be dead too’ Romany replies. ‘Isn’t that what you wanted?’ Cannonball asks her. ‘Initially. But after your handling of Corben, I wondered if it was worth attempting to recruit you’ Romany explains. ‘Like that’ll happen’ Meltdown snaps.
‘Never say never, Miss Smith’ Romany responds, and offers to show X-Force something first, beckoning them to follow her into the complex. ‘This is so not a good idea’ Meltdown declares as she and the others follow Romany through the facility. Bedlam announces that he has just figured out why he couldn’t pinpoint the device’s bio-EMP signature - because they are standing in it, that this entire place is the device, or at least made of the same stuff. ‘Don’t you ever have any good news?’ Proudstar mutters, while Romany tells X-Force that she expects the late Dr Roman enlightened them as to what they are trying to do here. ‘Creating spontaneous mutations in humans so they can be harvested for spare parts for some alien ship…yeah, y’could say he told us everything’ Cannonball replies.
‘If that’s all you know, then you don’t know anything at all!’ Romany replies as she keys a code into a panel on the wall. ‘Are you saying he wasn’t telling the truth?’ Cannonball asks her. ‘Yes. But only as he saw it’ Romany explains, as doors slide open, ‘It’s really all just a matter of perspective’ she states, while X-Force gasp in shock, for al around the room, people are held together with technology and the strange alien life form. ‘Those…those are people!’ Cannonball declares. ‘Technically, yes. They’re psychopaths, serial murderers, rapists, death row fodder culled from around the world, finally doing something good for their fellow man’ Romany reveals. ‘Yeah, by helping some alien nightmare turn our world into its new vehicle!’ Meltdown exclaims.
‘A blinkered view from a narrow mind’ Romany replies, before asking X-Force if they have given a second thought to the families of the office workers in the Gentechnik building they destroyed in Buenos Aires. ‘It’s still wrong!’ Cannonball exclaims. ‘Is it? To fully rebuild the world engine will take half a million years. It’s like trying to construct a computer with a stone axe. We simply don’t have the technology’ Romany announces, adding that they are making the technology instead. Romany explains that they are growing the technology required to generate the tools needed to commence reconstruction, that it is a long process, but the rewards will be worth it.
She continues, announcing that they are subtly improving the human race to make them more compatible symbiotes for the world engine. ‘We’ll rewrite the human genome over thousands of generations, eradicating disease, genetic disorders, genetic pre-disposition to crime and gender disorientation. The benefits will be enormous’. Cannonball frowns and clenches his fists as he asks ‘What happened to choice? Free will?’, to which Romany frowns and replies that those are luxuries they can no longer afford. She continues, stating that the way the human race is going, they won’t last another thousand years, let alone a million. ‘Except you’re not quite human anymore are you?’ Bedlam remarks. Proudstar asks him what he means, to which Bedlam reports that, this close, he detecting a whole bunch of alien junk crammed inside Romany, where her vital organs should be.
Romany reveals that it is true, that she elected to become the interface between humanity and the world engine. ‘Even I am prepared to make the necessary sacrifices. Are you?’ she declares, adding that they need to recruit visionaries like X-Force, mutant advocates for the survival of the species. ‘At any cost? I don’t think so’ Cannonball replies. ‘Is that your final decision?’ Romany asks, and Sam replies that it is. ‘Pity’ Romany remarks, before raising her arms.
Now:
And with that, all hell broke loose. They came pouring out of the woodwork…the symbiotes…the ones that weren’t grafted into the walls’ Domino explains, another cigarette in her mouth. She adds that they were the equivalent of white corpuscles, set to kill any invading organism. ‘We didn’t stand a chance. It was like the last reel of the wild bunch’ she adds, recalling how X-Force was overwhelmed by the creatures. ‘I saw five of those things pull Tabitha down…I didn’t see her get up again. Sam screamed like an animal…dove into save her. Then he was gone, too…our only hope was Jesse’. Domino explains that Jesse figured since the base was the device and the device was bio-organic, he could give it a kind of aneurysm, or brain storm - it was their only option, and it worked, resulting in a massive explosion.
Domino explains that Proudstar threw her clear somehow, and the next thing she knew, she was being evacuated in a medicopter. ‘None of the others made it…or so I’ve been told’ she adds, before looking straight ahead at the reflective screen ahead of her, ‘That’s it. I don’t know what else to tell you’ she adds. ‘That’s fine, Domino. Thank you for your cooperation. You can go now’ a voice calls out from the other side of the screen, where two men are in a darkened room. ‘Well?’ Alistaire Stuart asks his companion, who lights a cigarette. ‘Ties in with what we know. That there’s a crater in the Oxfordshire countryside you could lose St Paul’s in’. Alistaire turns to his companion, ‘And no survivors?’ he asks. ‘Maybe…but don’t write Romany off just yet. I’ve been dead too, remember. If anyone’s made a contingency plan it’s my nasty sister’ Pete Wisdom remarks.
Alistaire asks Pete, who has shaved his beard off, if it was worth it. ‘This great game of yours you got us all playing?’ Pete grins and replies that the saved the world, and asks Alistaire what more he wants - jam on it? Alistaire asks about X-Force, to which Pete tells him not to worry about them. ‘They’ll be back, you mark my words…back when you least expect them!’


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[Assistant]
Exit Wounds
Axel remembers the day that changed his life. About thirteen years ago, when he was a teenager of thirteen years he was on the beach with a beautiful girl. The full moon is shining and after chasing each other, they kiss. Suddenly his mutant power manifests and he vomits acid or plasma in her face. Hard as he tries, Axel can’t remember her name.
Waking up, Axel finds the video he was watching still running; it’s a tape of X-Force’s last mission, filmed by Doop. The team was in Northern Afrika, fighting some fanatical tribesmen. Zeitgeist watches without expression and thinks about how his team could improove. Plazm for example is too ineffective on the front, so he should be kept for defensive duties, U-Go Girl is falling asleep after her teleportations faster than usual, so this might need some investigating. Zeitgeist is totally unimpressed by watching the death of teammate Sluk, he found his power pretty useless anyway. Gin Genie should review her alcohol mix, as her tremors have nearly killed the team. Two models are in Axels bedroom, asking that he should come to bed with them, as they have to be on the catwalk tomorrow.
The next dayZeitgeist and X-Force’s mentor Coach are holding a press conference. From their talent pool, they have chosen a replacement member for Sluk; it’s Tike Allicar aka the Anarchist. He tells the press that his ability is to release acidous sweat. When asked about the latest addition to his team, Zeitgeist makes aformal speech how great an asset the new member will be, but actually he has his doubts.
Later Tike is in the penthouse suit of the Four Seasons Hotel. While being in a bath with two naked beauties, he gives another interview to a reporter. When she says that it’s too hot in the room, Tike simply blows off the roof with his powers. Also he doesn’t hide the fact that there is a certain enemity between him and Zeitgeist. Suddenly police helicopters arrive, announcing to arrest him, but Tike doesn’t care. He knows that as a member of X-Force he won’t have to face any legal consequences.
Elsewhere another camera team reports from the opening of the twenty-first X-Force café. There merchandise is being sold, for example little dolls of Doop. There also is a statue of the late Sluk, that when money is inserted, gives the customer a pleasently mild electronic pulse. Among the crowd are Cyclops and Wolverine of the X-Men.
Backstage are the X-Force members, ready to join the opening party, but Beckah has some kind of breakdown. She says that she hates the others and when they try to comfort her, she thinks that they are out to destroy her fan base. U-Go Girl makes a comment, that to belong to her fanbase would be the same like admitting to be an alcoholic, which angers Beckah even more. Plazm is able to calm the situation by using his powers in a new way on Gin Genie. He levitates her in the air and stimulates her body to release some endomorphs. She immediatly feels better. Battering Ram wants to spealk with Zeitgeist about his role on the team, but they are interrupted by the TV reporting about the incident at the hotel.
Later Edie and Axel are at a restaurant having dinner. Axel wants to talk about The Anarchist, but stops as he sees Edie breaking an ampule to inhale it’s content. She explains that it helps to stay awake even after teleporting. Zeitgeist wonders where she teleported too, as they had no mission, and it turns out that she was inScotland to buy some land with great potential. Axel thinks she should not teleport on personal buisiness, as she might be asleep when the team really needs her. Edie sees their life different, she is among X-Force only for the personal business, she uses her popularity to have sex, power, fame and money – the missions are only the neccesary sideshow in her eyes. Zeitgeist is not convinced, and she dares him for leadership of the team. Suddenly they receive a distress call.
The Coach has assembled the team to their headquarters. He says that the team needs some good press after the Anarchist having been arrested by the police, and a situation developed that would be the perfect chance. The music band Boys R Us are held hostage by a miltant group in New York. They tried to blackmail 10 million dollars from their record company, but actually the company has no intrest in paying. The band’s popularity was already waning, and if they are all killed now, their sales will be boosted again. X-Force are supposed to rescue sthem, which will make them look good in the public eye. U-Go Girl claims that she has enough energy to teleport the team there and back. Battering Ram wants to speak with Zeitgeist in privatem, but is dismisssed to after the mission.
The team arrives in the middle of the Sonic Television building, where the hostages are held. Edie immediatly falls asleeep, and the rest start to fight the militant group. At first they are doing well, the Anarchist even saves Zeitgeists life during the fight. In midst of it all, Axel wonders about his life, as he is approached by Battering Ram once more. They can’t complete their dialogue, as a helicopter appears in front of the window, and releases some lethal weapon. Upon dying Axel remembers the name of the girl that he accidentally burned on the beach – it was Felicity.
When U-Go Girl wakes up, she finds herself surrounded by various bodyparts of her teammates, besides her only Doop and the Anarchist survived.


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[Assistant]
Mister Sensitive
Mister Sensitive (Guy Smith) is taking a shower of fine mists, recollecting how much he is effected by the slightest disruptions around him. Exiting the shower, he puts on his special suit designed for him by Professor X. He loads a gun, which he calls his “friend”, with a single bullet and places it on the table next to his armchair, after spinning it’s drum.
U-Go Girl, the Anarchist and the Coach review the videotapes of their last mission, which resulted in the deaths of the rest of the X-Force team. Tike tries to convince the Coach that the fatal missile was aimed at him but he managed to dodge it in time. The Coach claims that it was an accident and nothing they shouldn’t expect. Edie wants to be the new team leader, but Tike challenges her that she was conspiring with Zeitgeist to get him out of the way and claims that she would be ineffective as team leader. Edie recounts her kill rate on the mission and accuses Tike of framing the team, so he could build a new X-Force in his image. Coach breaks their argument and announces that the new members have been chosen. Edie is surprised that she has not been asked about this, but the Coach explains that the teams’s new owner has changed the rule of senior members being able to veto new applicants. He continues that the team is now possessed by 34-year old computer software trillionaire Spike Freeman.
The new X-Forcers are introduced through one-page biographies, the “press-packs” Coach has sent to the press. Bloke (Mickey Tork) is a bulky mutant with body strength and the chameleon ability to change his skin color to mesh with his surroundings. He originally had Rainbow-colored skin and fought as a mercenary but now his regular skin-tone has stabilised as pink. Vivisector (Myles Alfred) is a brainy philosophy student from an academic family, who has the ability to turn into a werewolf-like creature. Phat (Billy Bob Reilly) comes from a decadent environment, he is a gang-member and he has the ability to bloat his body parts with extra skin and subcutaneous fat. Saint Anna is the bastard daughter of a Buenos Aires priest and a irish girl who worked in his missionary. When she developed her powers of healing and telekinesis, the locals worshipped her as a saint. Mister Sensitive showed his unusual mutant characteristics (purple skin, antenna) already at birth and was orphaned by a house fire while he was still a baby. He travelled across the world to gain more control over his acute senses, while he learned many martial arts techniques and meditations. Professor X located him and created a special suit for him to completely harness his senses.
The new recruits are gathered in the X-Force building’s lobby. Phat is arguing with Vivisector, who doesn’t seem to want to be a member of X-Force, or a mutant. Bloke tries to defend mutant rights, misquoting Malcolm X which causes an outbreak from Vivisector. Edie arrives to break off the fight and she and Tike argue once more about the leadership position. Coach gathers them in the screening room for the new mission debriefing. Video footage is shown of a recent incident at the border near San Diego. A family from the republic of Bastrona tried to illegally travel to the US, but were killed, only their child, little Paco Perez survived and was deported back to Bastrona. X-Force wonders what this has got to do with them, but apparently young Paco is a mutant. A large crater appeared near the building where the frightened boy is held, it seems that he manifested some devastating ability, and now X-Force are supposed to rescue Paco. Edie presses once more when the Coach will publicly name her as team leader, and he replies that the new leader will be presented to the media during today’s press conference.
Some timelater, right in the middle of the press conference, Guy decides to change his codename and announces that he wants to be called the Orphan, as he thinks that is what defines him best. Suddenly four members of the original X-Force burst into the scene (Cannonball, Domino, Meltdown and Proudstar). Cannonball argues with Tike and Edie, accusing them of degrading the X-Force name and not caring about the plight of mutants. Meltdown incites the conflict by shooting at Tike, and Edie teleports her and Meltdown in the sky over a highway where they can fight undisturbed. Tike jumps on Cannonball trying to reason with him by projecting the new team’s high mortality factor. Domino tries to stop the fight by pointing a gun at Doop’s head, but Guy with his heightened senses calls her bluff and disarms her. The end of the fight isn’t shown as the TV reporter announces that selected scenes are available only later on pay-per-view. The team battered from the fight has gathered again to continue the press conference and the Coach announces the Orphan as new team leader. Guy is surprised by this decision and asks the Coach to change his mind since he considers Edie a better candidate for then position, but the Coach says the choice is final. Edie is outraged by the news since she was aiming for that position and teleports away from the scene. Tike congratulates Guy, explaining to him that he feigned interest in the leadership position to spite Edie.
Guy returns to his home, greeted by the TV reporter. He answers her questions sharply, telling her of his mixed feelings about the new position and that he will soon be moving into the X-Force building with the rest of the team. After he enters his house, the reporter’s narration is interrupted by a gunshot from inside
Guy’s home ...


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And then there were six
Standing at the Orphan’s house, various reporters have just heard a gunshot. Inside U-Go Girl and the Orphan are fighting about the gun. Edie thinks that Guy just tried to shoot her, but he makes up various stories. At first he says that was polishing it, but as Edie doesn’t belive him, he says that he has a stalker and that he perceived her arrival as an attack. U-Go Girl buys the story, she even makes fun of Guy for being lamer than she thought. Anyway, Edie has dropped by to convince Guy to step down as X-Force’s leader, wanting that position for herself.She offers to pay him for it, even offers to get him a new life and a new I.D., but the Orphan doesn’t want to pretend to be somone who he isn not. U-Go Girl gets angry and teleports both of them high up in the sky. They start to fall, Edie tries to make a point with showing that joining X-Force is a final decision. It means to say goodbye to the old life and that it’s his last chance to step down. Suddenly she gets tired, since she used her power twice in a short while and she is about to fall asleep in free fall.
Meanwhile X-Force’s new members are saying goodbye to friends and family. In Cambridge Massachusetts, Vivsector is sad that his father did not show up to give him a farewell like his mother does. Phat is with his parents in Jacksonville, Florida. He apologizes that a fake story was released to the press (last issue), but his agent thinks he should have a dysfunctional family background. Saint Anna is in a church in New York, praying. Bloke and his boyfriend spend a last moment together, they kiss.
In the last instant before passing out, Edie teleports herself and the Orphan into her bedroom. Her last words are that he would not believe what she left behind (in her former life). As she is asleep, the Orphan admits that she actually saved his life. When she teleported into his house, he was about to commit suicide with the gun.
Somewhat later, the Coach gives the team some last orders for their mission. They are supposed to meet with contact person Diego Ardilles to learn the exact location of the boy Paco, whom they are supposed to rescue. Actually he warns that Diego might outsell them, but he is the only choice they have. Edie states that if the team keeps up with it’s mortality rate, she might become leader after this mission.
Not before long, Edie has transported the group to Bastrona and they arrive on a roof, while in the streets there is a parade with costumes. U-Go Giorl is tired and thinks about using one of her ampules, but Saint Anna is able to re-vitalise Edie with her healing abilities. The Orphan orders his team to stay put, while he makes it cross the street to enter Ardilles house. Quickly he recognizes with his hypersenses that Diego set them up, but it’s too late as the army already invades the house. Guy is surrounded and about to be shot, yet this teammates save him. The Anarchist uses his acid sweat, and Phat and Viivisector deal with some more soldiers. Guy wonders why the team disobied his direct orders to wait, but U-Go Girl says that she decided that they had waited long enough. In the distraction, Diego tries to escape, but Bloke follows. Two helicopters close in, Tike wants to blast them, but the Orphan vetoes him, saying that to many innocent lives might be endangered. The helicopters then fire, and Bloke shields Diego with his body, and so receives a direct hit in the back. Immediatly Edie teleports them all away, but it’s too late, Saint Anna is able to lessen Bloke’s pain a little bit, before he finally passes away.
Most of the team are shocked, only U-Go Girl immediatly blames Guy of bad leadership and belittles him when she becomes aware that he is actually crying. Phat gets very angry at Diego, thinking that none of this wouldn’t happened if he had not set up X-Force. Using his powers to grow extra mass, he attempts to strangle the informant, but the Orphan commands himn to stop, reminding the team of their mission. Yet the team wants to put it at a vote, wether to kill Diego or not, even Saint Anna wants him to pay with his life. However the Orphan says that they still need him to find Ppaco Perez and theat they can have their voting after the mission. Before Edie teleports the team to the coordinates that Diego gives her, there is one last thing to do. They can’t allow Bloke’s corpse falling into the enemies’ hands, so the Anarchist is forced to disintegrate it.
X-Force enters a well-guraded building, where little Paco is strapped in some machine. They fight many soldiers to get in, and suddenly the celing is about to give in, but Phat can cover it, only he is rendered unconscious by the strain.Amidst all the fighting, the Orphan realizes that he has finally found his purpose in life. He makes it to Paco, but as he tries to removed the tubes from his body, he is warned by a scientist, that they need to be removed in a certain order or the kid will die. Before the doctor can reveal that order he is hit by crossfire. While the others are still fighting, the Orphan wonders how to get Paco out.


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What's One Life ?
While his team is fighting the army of Bastrona, Orphan has to free little Paco Perez from a machine. The problem is that he has to remove the tubes in a specific order or else the boy dies. The Anarchist pushes Orphan to make a decision, while Edie is about to fall asleep. The Orphan reminds her to use her ampules that keep her awake, but U-Go Girl tells him that he should worry about saint Asnna, who just got shot multiple times in the back. Phat forms a giant cussion of his hand for his fallen teammate, who is still breathing. He also observes as Vivisector slips into some savage state , recklessly killing various soldiers. Edie bickers some more, before she finally passes out and Orphan is talking with Diego Ardilles, who is eager to abandon the kid and leave. Before Orphan can learn the reason, Diego is shot. Anarchist comments that they now no longer will have to decide wether to make him pay for having caused Bloke#s death or not.
Guy knows that there is only one way to save little Paco, he needs to broaden his sensory input and therefore takes off his costume that limits his power to a tolerable amount. He can’t allow himself being filmed naked, so he throws his costume over Doop’s camera. Although his hyperkeen senses put the Orphan in constant pain, he can now sense where the tubes connect inside of Paco’s body. He understands their purpose and is now able to deduce the right order in which they need to get removed. With the boy save, The Anarchist wakes up Edie and tells her to take them home.
X-Force arrive with little Pace in front of a dirty small house in very bad shape. Vivisector asks Phat to keep quiet about his outrage, but he laughs at him, wanting to use that info in his next interview with larry King. The Anarchist tells them both to stop, since they have a dying teammate in their midst. Anna asks the Orpghan to bring her mother’s ring to her father. He hesitates and she gets quite angry, cursing and threatening to haunt him forever if he does not fulfill her wish. He gives in and promises to search her father in Argentina, and Anna peacefully dies. She turns to dust, that the Orphan accidentally inhales – feeling her inside him. Two women step out of the house, they recognize the sleeping U-Go Girl as their Edie, and the team understands that she was very tired, and by accident she teleported them to her former home and not X-Force’s base. A little red haired girl steps out of the house, asking who Edie is, and one of the women tells her that she is her big sister. Orphan realizes how much Edie and Katie are alike, as Edie wakes up and freaks out, when seeing her family. She quivkly teleports the group away.
This time she makes it close to X-Fforce’s complex. Frightened Paco tries to run away, but the Orphan goes after him and convinces the boy that he is in good hands. He tells the others to go ahead, as he and Paco have to make a little detour.
Somewhat later, Orphan is in the Coach‘s office. They watch the TV news; they report that U-Go Girl has checked into the Pat Downey clinic to deal with some addiction to alcohol and pain killers. Guy wonders why they lied, but the Cioach states that he could not have told the truth, namely that her ampules are affecting her ability to accurately pinpoint her teleport, as it would give X-Force’s enemies an advantage.
The Orphan wonders what enemies the Coach is talking about, but the team mentor in turn wants to know where he put the rescued boy. Guy asks what makes the boy so special, granted he can blow out craters from a distance, but does this ability justify the loss of two X-Force members ? The Coach opens up, actually Paco is a lot more than he seeems. His entire body, his DNA, his blood, his spit, everything of him holds the key for a new geenration of medicine and antibiotics that could cure the world’s deadliest diseases. Guy realizes that the team oinly rescued little Paco, so that the US government can place him into another lab with similar machines. He is not willing to allow this, but the Coach expected this reaction, therefore he has hired two mutants, Smoke and Succubus, who now attack the Orphan. Yet the Anarchist, Vivisector and Phat arrive and they side with the Orphan. They start a fight with Smoke and Succubus, but Orphan asks all of them to stop, saying that killing eacjh other won’t save the problem. The Coach agrees, stating that the Orphan is samrt, that is why he was chosen as leader and that will also be the reason why he will understand that Paco needs to be sacrificed to save the lives of millions.
Sometime later, Guy has tracked down Anna’s father in Buenos Aires. He is no longer a priest, but runs a shelter for poor kids. Orphan apologizes that there is not mnuch he can tell about Anna as he only knew her a short time, but suddenly he sneezes. Anna‘s ashes rain down on her father, and after five minutes of experiencing her memories and her personality he smiles and thanks Guy. The Orphan asks a favour in return, he wants to leave little Paco in the shelter, so that the Coach or any other force won’t find him.
In the clinic, Edie dreams about the late Zeitgeist standing at her bed. She wonders why he is alive and he tells her that he has been burning to see hera again, right before using his acid vomit on Edie. She wakes up, only to really find a person standing at her bedside. Edie believes that it’s still a dream about Axel, and tells him to go away, in fact they only had sex once, so she doesn’t need to feel guilty about his death. The figure steps out of the shadows – it’s the Coach, who isn’t happy to learn that two X-Forcers had an unauthorized affair. Yet he is here to make an offer. At first he shows Edie a tape of the Orphan‘s parents. They are not dead, but spent the last seven years in prison for having tried to kill their mutant child. The Coach goes on, that they would be willing to testify, that it was the other way around, that the Orphan attempted to kill them. Coach no longer wants the Orphan to be part of X-Force, and therefore offers Edie the leader posistion, that is if she gets rid of him. Edie is not quite sure what the Coach implies, but he makes himself very clear : she has to kill the Orphan.


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X-Force : Snikt !
Wolverine agrees to appear in Doop’s video about the New X-Force’s first year. Apparently they are old friends, and Logan wonders why Doop is with the team, as he thinks that the Coach is not very truzstworthy. Doop keeps his reasons to himseld, and asks Wolverine a favour, while handing him a video tape. Reluctantly Logan agrees to what Doop has asked of him.
X-Force is holding another press conference, actually it’s only a part of X-Force. Phat, Vivisector and the Anarchist sit next to the Coach who answers the questions of the press. He states that despite any rumours X-Force is still a team and not disbanded, he explains Guy’s absence with the pressure of being leader, and claims that Paco Perez’s whereabouts are confidential (though he has no idea himself). Meanwhile Edie sits at the beach behind the X-Force building, thinking about Coach’s offer. She has killed before and possibly it won’t be any different if she kills the Orphan.
Later the Coach meets with Spike Freeman, the team’s financer and owner. Freeman is quite angry and smashed a statue of the Orphan. He thought he made himself pretty clear; he wants the team at war, one half pitted against the other, and his company already works on a similar video game to make some profit out of it. The Coach explains that the Orphan is currently the most popular member, and if the team battled each other and he would loos, the public clearly would resent the New X-Force. Yet the Coach found another way to get rid of the Orphan, he has video evidence of Guy’s daily ritual of playing russian roulette.  Spike is surprised to hear that he does that every day at sunset, and the Coach continues that he already planted the idea that the Orphgan is under stress, so it won’t be unexpected when he finally kills himself.
At home, the Orphan is shocked to see the interview with his parents on TV, they claim that he tried to kill them. U-Go Girl teleports in, asking how he is doing, and Guy tells her that he was brought up in an orphanage, and about three years ago had learned that his paremts were not dead, but had tried to kill him as a child. That day he started his daily game of russian roulette. He then asks what Edie wants and she starts to kiss him. The Orphan is quite surprised and his senses tell him that something is different with Edie. She tells him that this must be her new medication that allows her to teleport without trouble. She then asks him for a glass of water, and also has many extzrawishes (four ice cubes, three slices of lemon, brown sugar and aniseed, and while Guy is busy in the kitchen she fills guy’s revolver with five extra bullets. After he returns, she quickly departs, excusing herself with having forgotten an appointment at the clinic.
Later Edie and Tike are at a bar, and she has a few drinks too many. Of course they are observed by many reporters, and Edie lashes out at them, being annoyed by the questzion if she is addicted again. The reporter then yells at U-Go Girl, that without the press sticking their cameras in X-Force’s faces they would be nothing, besides a lousy bunch of freaks, and she remains quiet.
Near sunset she meets with the Coach, both expecting that Guy will soon do his daily ritual. The Coach gives her some advice for the time after Guy’s death. She will have to fake a nervous breakdown after loosing both Zeigeist and the Orphan in such a short time and after some time reemerge and make a speech of owing it to her former leaders to keep X-Force together. Then all will cheer for her and quickly forget about the Orphan. Edie says that she will remember and has a change of hearts, she wants to teleport to the Ortphan’s home and warn him, but her new inhaler is gone. She knows that the Coach has it and demands that he gives it back, since without it she can’t teleport. He hands it to her, but it’s only a similar one, filled with a gas that leaves Edie paralyzed. He laughs at her, to develop a conscience makes people makes her weak. He then starts to take off her clothes saying that though she will be aware of what he’s doing, she can’t prevent it. Suddenly the Orphan stands behind him, with the gun in his hand. He kicks the Coach into a wall, busting a few of his ribs, and then states that he had troubles with X-Force as there was no bad guy definition. How could he know that he was any better than the people they fought, but seeing the Coach, he now knows that he is. Coach calls his loyal guards Smoke and Succubus and quikly Guy is defeated. Smoke holds Guy into place, while the Coach tortures him a little with a knife, but then grabs the gun. He now is forced to kill both the Orphan and U-Go Girl, and he will make it look like suicide and a drug overdose.
Time for Wolverine to arrive on the scene. Another fight starts, wnd while the Orphan and Logan are busy with Smoke and Succubus, Edie and Coach struggle over the gun. Orphan wants to know why Logan helps them, and he tells them that he is here on personal request of a “guardian angel“ though refuses to give away who it is. Finally Wolverine kicks Smoke off the building, and the gun is fiured two times. One bullet kills Succubus. Orphan turns around and sees Edie and the Coach lying in a pool of blood. He assumes the worst, but it’s not Edie but the Coach who lies dead. Edie tires and does not see Logan handing Guy the video tape.
The Orphan later watches it and it shows Coach and Zeitgeist talking about X-Force. They had planned the whole team to die in the Boys R Us incident (#116), and despite them having slept a few times together, Axel showed no concern over Edie being slated to die too. Apparently something went wrong, as Axel was killed insted her. U-Go Girl comes into the room, asking what Guy was watching, but he plays it down as rubbish and throws the tape into a trash can. Edie asks why Guy is not dead, as he must have played the russian roulette like every day, but he felt that the gun was heavier, exactly five bullets heavier than usual, therefore he did not pull the trigger. Orphan says that he will never again play that game, as life with X-Force is enough for him. They enter a limousine to be transported away, wondering who their gurdian angel was. From above Doop watches and smiles.


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Lacuna - part 1 : Captain Coconut
Orphan, U-Go Girl and the Anarchist are viewing a tape of a mutant called Spike. He is one of many in the pool of possible recruits and has the ability to create spikes on his arms and eject them. Edie is impressed, though more by his looks than his power, Tike is more concerned with the taste of his popcorn, before he states that he doesn’t consider Spike X-Force material, as he is nothing more than a spear-chucker. Guy thinks he should not make racist comments, but Tike says that a black person can’t make racist comments about other black people. Since the Anarchist is against him, the Spike is not chosen. Edie then says that she has to hurry, as she has a meeting with a TV station. During the whole scene she kept changing hats without explanation, Guy recognizes it only after a few changes, but then it’s kind of forgotten again.
Aboard his yacht, team owner Spike Freeman talks to Vivisector and Phat. He asks how they can accept to be left out of the decision, granted they can veto on any new inclusion, but how can that be enough. Miles and Billy Bob had actually not thought much about it, but as Freeman goes on to tell them that the press considers X-Force as the Orphan, the Anarchist, U-Go Girl and the other two guys, they are somewhat annoyed. Freeman says that it’s all about marketing, the others are covered by the press, as they all play their respective roles : the sensitive boy next door, the ambitious sex kitten and the angry black man. He suggests that Vivsector and Phat provoke some conflict within the team, so that the media will notice them more.
Tike and Guy, wearing a special protective suit, are spending some time in the swimming pool with some girld being in there as well. Yet the two guys sit somewhat apart and talk. Guy is copncerned about the possible effect that a relationship with Edie might have on the team. After wondering if he is putting on weight, the Anarchist warns Guy of Edie. He thinks that she only is intrested in him to become team leader through the back door, comparable to Hillary and Bill Clinton. Guy in turn accuses Tike, that he is intrested in Edie himself, and therefore tries to spoil their relationship. Suddenly the girls start to scream, the entire pool is full of fish and other ocean life. Obviously someone is making fun of them. On a nearby wall somebody has painted the word “Lacuna“.
Later, Vivisector, Phat and the Anarchist are in a library, filmed by Doop. Again there is a painted “Lacuna“ on a board. Myles has found the word in a dictionary. Derived of the latin word for lake, it refers to a hiatus, a missing portion, or in psychological sense a missing past of someone’s life. As Tike sums it up with “a blank spot“, Phat suddenly starts a fight, accusing the Anarchist of having called Vivisector a blank spot. The fight ends when Tike uses some of his acid on Phat’s arm. Elsewhere Freeman watches Doop’s live transmission and is happy to see that his manipulations already bear fruit.
Guy and Edie are watching a video tape of Edie describing super-hero life, though actually it’s nothing more than a big commercial full of product placement. Guy says that it’s trash, but she replies that it’s a pilot show and might become an ongoing TV series, of course she is doing it for the money. To celebrate, Edie wants to teleport to a beach in Mexico, but the Orphan wants to discuss their relationship, or actually stop it before it further deepens. Edie laughs at him, she only wanted to have some fun and was not taking it serious anyway. Neither one recognizes the blonde female who paints “Lacuna“ on the wall.
The same girl, named Woodstock, is later seen at her parent‘s home. Obviously they are very rich, and the parents are somewhat overprotective. As Woodstock refuses to eat, instead wanting to carry her food to the poor people, the parents think something is wrong with her. They wonder is she does do drugs, is pregnant or even gay. Whatever the problem, they still love her.
X-Force is having another of their press conferences. The Orphan excuses that they haven’t chosen any replacement members yet, and several reporters make suggestion : Venus Dee Milo, Dead Girl. The rejected Spike is among the crowd too, demanding to ask Captain Coconut a question. He prefers to call the Anarchist by this old codename, as it describes him best : black on the outside, white on the inside. Spike then claims that Tike is the token african-american on the team and that he was rejected of racist reasons. Guy tries to calm the situation by telling that it was a democratic decision by all senior members, but the Anarchist gets angry and shouts that he voted Spike out, thinking that he would not cut it. Spike then challenges Tike, saying he is younger, badder and blacker than him.
The situation is broadcasted live, several journalists are already analyzing the combatants motivations, while Woodstock watches the TV at home. She is sure that nobody understands what X-Force really is about.
Back at the conference, the Anarchist suddenly turns around and walks away, with Edie following him. Phat and Vivisector realize that this is the perfect chance to get some media coverage and attack Spike themselves for dissing their teammate. Inside the complex, Edie observes as the Anarchist washes his hands, time and again, exactly fifteen times before he becomes aware of her. He gets angered, and when she pushes him about having a psychological disorder, he lashes out and his acid burns a hole in the outer wall of the building. He then calms down, saying that he should have released that energy on Spike, but Edie denies – vaporizing people is not a good thing while the cameras are watching.
After the conference, Freeman discusses with team leader Orphan in private. He favours the new character for the team and wants him included, despite him allowing X-Force to choose new members themselves. He argues that if Spike is not allowed on the team, it will really look like a racist decision, though Guy states that in their profession they have to trust each other with their lives, regardless color, sex, creed or mutation.
Later the whole team is at the pool. Guy suggests to include Spike for a trial periaod, but the Anarchist is totally against it. Myles and Billy Bob bicker that Tike’s problems with the possible recruit are irrational, and Tike tells Phat to stop being a white boy, talking as if he were black. Phat in turn says that Anarchist wishes to be white and both he and Vivisector laugh at him. Angered Tike uses his acid power on the pool, burning the skins of the two others, and they jump out before they are fully fried. Amidst all this confusion, Lacuna arrives. She introduces herself, apologizing that she did all the crazy stuff to get their attention, as she wants to join the team. Guy and Edie say that it‘s not possible, every recruit has to build a track record and also needs an agent, before even daring to hope to join. Lacuna says that she believes the team is really committed to justice and not their image as the media makes the public believe. They simply have to take her, because if they say no to her, she will throw herself in the still boiling water, and X-Force would be responsible for her death. Edie can’t resist and says : “No.“


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Lacuna - part 2 : Larry King has the Flu
(flashback to Anarchist’s childhood)
As a kid, Tike was adopted by white people who lived way up north, where they have very cold winters. Apparently a black child was unusual in the area, and the other kids made fun of him. As he left muddy footprints in the snow, they said that Tike’s color was coming off. At home Tike started to wash his hands, hoping that if he kept washing them real hard he could wash the color away. To his parents it made no difference, they loved the kid, but when his acid sweat power manifested while iceskating, vaporizing almost the entire lake, the parents were afraid of the kid they had adopted.
(present)
While the Anarchist remembers the circumstances that led him to X-Force, the team is discussing with Lacuna, who wants to join. However they tells her  that a proven track record is needed, she can’t simply ask to join. Tike thinks that they should consider her anyway, and Lacuna claims that she would be willing to die for the team. The team wonders why, as they aren’t really heroes like the Fantastic Four, but only in it for fame and money, yet Lacuna is convinced that they are only pretending. In fact they are a new kind of hero, adapted to the new world order, and from her mouth it sounds like an X-Force PR release. The Orphan still turns Lacuna down, and she angrily replies that she will prove her use. Lacuna then uses her power to shifts between the moments in time, and wanders around the team that is frozen in motion. Only Doop is unaffected, but he can‘t stop Lacuna from stealing Edie’s script and leaving as quickly as she arrived.
After she has departed everything is back to normal, Edie misses her script, stating that it was for tonight’s Larry King show, which she is going to host, since Larry King has the flu. The others are surprised and U-Go Girl continues that it’s a trial run for her own show, and that her special guest will be the Spike; she invites Orphan and Anarchist as guests and teleports away. Vivisector whispers to Phat that this might be the perfect chance to raise their media profile.
Elsewhere Lacuna talks with her parents. She reveals that she is a mutant, and that she is going to out herself on tonight‘s Larry King show. Lacuna thinks that her parents might be worried or angered, but they are very understanding and proud of their daughter, totally supporting her decision, much to Lacuna’s annoyance.
Right before the talk show, Edie speaks with Guy and Tike. She wants to ask Spike the usual questions, why he should be in X-Force, why he thinks he was rejected, etc. Orphan says that he still thinks they should consider to have the Spike in the team, and Anarchist vetoes it again. Orphan asks what the problem is, and Tike finally admits that it’s because  the Spike is black. Edie wants him to repeat that live on TV, but Guy wants to know the full story, and Tike explains that he fears about getting killed. It’s always been that way when a new black character joins the team, the former black member dies sooner or later. Orphan thinks that the Anarchist is just paranoid, but Tike says that this isn’t basketball, and there haven’t been two black characters on the team for long. Since the talk show is about to start, Edie has to leave. In her absence Tike makes a deal with the Orphan, he allows the Spike to join, but only if they have Lacuna aboard too, as he thinks she might like him.
Meanwhile Woodstock and her parents are in the crowd waiting to get into the studio. The parents are really proud of their daughter, thinking she is following in their footsteps. Both were protesters in the 60ies / 70ies and they still are against global capitalism, despite the fact that they themselves are millionaires living in Malibu. Suddenly the get aware of Phat and Vivisector who are entering the studio too. The seem to be drunk or on drugs, though they might only be pretending.
The talk show starts with Edie babbling and then welcoming the Spike, while Guy and Tike watch backstage. In the interview Spike says that he thinks Tike is not to blame, in fact he was brought up by white people, so he acts white, even though he looks and talks like a black person. Angrily Tike storms on the stage, but before a fight starts, Vivisector and Phat burst through the wall. Falling debris is endangering the studio audience and Orphan, Anarchist and Spike work together to take care of the situation. In the meantime Edie lectures Phat and Vivisector for their behaviour. Amidst all this confusion, Lacuna makes her entrance, and steals everyone’s clothes besides their underwear. While Phat covers Edie and Vivisector, and Orphan’s skin is in pain from the exposure to the studio lights, Lacuna appears in front of the cameras and announces her candidacy for X-Force membership, with her parents cheering in the crowd. Then she quickly departs after returning everybody‘s costume.
Later at home, Edie and Guy are having dinner. He opens up to her about his fears that she is only intrested in him because she wants to control the team through him. Edie however says that there is another reason and asks how Guy is able to have sex without hurting from his skin being exposed. He says that Professor X designed a special ointment that numbs the pain for a few hours, and Edie offers to help rubbing it in. Suddenly she has her glass of champagne upside down on her head – Lacuna’s doing.
Edie gets very angry, but Lacuna says that she’ll only stop doing her jokes when she is allowed into the team. Edie gets quite mad, but Orphan says that when they want Tike to be flexible when it comes to the Spike, maybe they should be the same with Lacuna, and so he votes her in. Lacuna thanks happily and leaves, though not before learning that it was the Anarchist who really wanted her in the group. Guy wants to continue the romantic evening, but the atmosphere changes when he asks U-Go Girl if she is jealous. Lacuna is younger than her, can similarly zoom in and out of places and does not tire from using her powers. Edie gets angry and leaves, telling Guy to rub his ointment on himself.
The Anarchist spends some time with Phat and Vivisector in a casino. He wants them to pull him on his side, as he thinks the balance of power is shifting with Spike joining and Guy and Edie becoming a couple. After winning lots of money, he heads to the bathroom to wash his hands again. He excuses it to himself with the money having been in filthy hands. Lacuna zooms in and while Tike is frozen in time, kisses him. After she is gone Tike wonders what just happened, as his lips are still tingling.
A couple of days later, X-Force is about to present the new members to the press. Edie tries to reach the network on the phone, as they haven’t called her back about her show. The team wonders why Lacuna is not there, but they think she just wants to make a dramatic entrance. Vivisector and Phat tell Orphan to publically reprimand them for their outrageous behavior. During the conference Spike is announced as a new member and the press take many pictures of him. Orphan then announces Lacuna, but she doesn’t appear. Right then Edie receives a call from her agent, the TV show has been canceled.
Somewhat later, Lacuna appears in her own show on TV. Turns out that the network offered the TV show to her instead of U-Go Girl. On TV she explains that she was surprised, but then it sounded like so much fun. In her show she will use her mutant talent to sneak on celebrities in their bathrooms, in their wedding nights, in every embarrasing moment. Woodstock goes on that she really thought that she wanted to join X-Force, but then she realized that she wanted something else more – to disappoint her parents. The parents watch the show at home and are seen crying.
X-Force is again reviewing tapes of possible recruits. This time the whole team is allowed to vote. The two names that are mentioned are again Dead Girl and Venus Dee Milo.


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[Assistant]
Tick Tock
X-Force are hanging out in their headquarter doing nothing. Vivisector is reading, Spike is looking at the pictures in a nudes magazine, Phat is playing with some electronic toy, Edi and Guy are toying around with each other and the Anarchist is watching neighbours with binoculars. Doop is floating in front of a mirror looking at an awful pimple on his forehead. He is trying to squeeze it out, and as the big clock in the reaches a second before noon with a TICK, the pimple opens. A mini vortex spins through the room tossing the members of X-Force around. As it stops Doop takes a look around; he is alone, all the others are gone, but their books, toys, etc are still there. Doop checks the mirror and find a hole on his forehead. Doop puts his finger in it, apparently there is a larger room behind it and he then reaches fully in it, even gazes inside himself, before under a lot of strain he turns himself inside out. Time has apparently stopped, as the clock still shows a second to noon.
Doop takes a look around, there are many Doop-like creatures floating around in a surreal landscape too composed of Doop’s bodyparts. It seems that he is in the darker parts of his own imagination. Doops looks scared, but then gazes up through the hole he entered and sees the clock at the wall in X-Force’s base. Time hasn’t moved.
Elsewhere within this scenario there are buildings. In the streets between them are many dark, threatening figures with glowing eyes. They are chasing Phat, who tries to hide from them, but they always keeps up. Meanwhile Doop is fighting his own evil incarnations. Behind them is a huge glass window, with Phat’s scared face on it. Doop defeats his opponent and rushes through the window. He arrives in the city in giant size, grabs Phat and swallows him.
Vivisector finds himself a a library with thousands of books on the shelfves. He opends some, but all the pages are blank. A big red figure walks towards him, it’s a demonic image of his father, his body filled with letters and markings. Myles tries to seek cover, as he stumbles over a book entitled “Pop-Up“, with Doop’s face on. Vivisector opens the book and Doop emerges from it. Doop yells at the demonic image and it dissipates, and then he sucks Vivisector into himself.
Looking around Doop finds another book called “Spikey Cross-Dressing  Ooh Lala “. Spike is on the cover wearing a dress and net stockings. Doop doesn’t know what to make of it, but when he finds the evil Doop, now wearing dresses and bustiers attacking again, he eats the book. The clock still displays a second to noon, though the second arm strats to move ....
The Anarchist is lying in a desert, bones and skelletons all around him. Thre are various suns in the sky and the hotter it gets the more sacidous sweat he produces. Finally Tyke is drowing inan ocean of his own sweat, but Doop finds him and dives after him.
U-Go Girl is in a dark place surrounded by tubes. She is bleeding from her mouth and trying to speak she finds her tongue missing. It’s in one of the tubes, but she doesn’t know which one as they all contain somebody’s tongue. Doop arrives and shows her the right glass cylinder, but Edie is unable to open it, so Doop smashes it with a pipe. U-Go Girl takes her tongue and puts it into her mouth again. She wants to speak, but Doop gestures her to stay silent.
Elsewhere the Orphan is in pain, a swarm of insects is all over his body, but at a closer look they aresn’t insects, but tiny, eveil Doops. They are all over himcrawling in his mouth his nose, his ears. Doop arrives and grabs Guy by his antennae, trying to pull him free. Suddenly the head rips of the body, but Guy makes a friendly face, everything is ok. Doop looks above and sees the hole through which he entered and the clock’s arm about to move to noon. He rushes for the exit.
Doop emerges in the X-Force building folding out of himself. He flies to the clock and stops it before moving. He squeezes his pimplie once more and this time when it splits open the rest of the team emerge, ending up in exactly the same positions as before. The clock switches to noon with a TOCK. Doop looks relieved.


[User]
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[Assistant]
Edie And Guy Finally Do It
X-Force are returning from a mission. U-Go Girl teleports the team and they all get dumped into the ocean. Vivisector shouts that he can’t swin and Edie apologizes, she doesn’t know why her teleport misfired. She tries again and this time they emerge in a jungle, again not at their headquarters. U-Go Girl tries to play the incident down, stating that she might be more tired than she thought. She wants to use her medicine to help her concentrate, but the Orphan denies it. Maybe she has overused the drug. As a plane is flying above the jungle, the Orphan tells the Anarchist to signal them. The Spike offers to do it, but the Orphan says that he asked Tike. A little bit later X-Force get picked up and fly back to L.A.
Soon the team is discussing what happened. U-Go Girl says that they all have their off days, but the Orphan says that this explanation is not good enough. While reading “Faith in Fakes“ by Umberto Eco, Vivisector comments that not only has she missed her targets, but the rides have been getting bumpier, leaving him nauseous after some ‘ports. The Spike’s opinion is that Edie is only still with the team because of her reputation, but there are dozens of other teleporters they could choose from. Naturally the Anarchist has some arguement against the Spike, but the Orphan ends the discussion by setting a deadline. U-Go Girl has one week to get her teleporting right, otherwise she gets kicked out of the team.
Later Guy is in his room and senses that Edie is standing outside, unsure wether to enter or not. He tells her to come in, and offers her to help find out what the problem is. Edie says that it’s obviously the emotional ambiguity between them, the insecurities regarding their relationship. Maybe they should finally do IT and get it out of the way. They drive to a motel down at route 66, and while having dinner they start talking. Guy asks about the little girl they saw when Edie accidentally teleported the team to the farm. (X-Force #119) Edie admits that Katie is her daughter, but she wants to start the story at the beginning :
(flashback)
In her early teens, Edie Constance Sawyer often found herself waking up in the fields, on the roof, etc and people thought she was sleepwalking. Her mother was worried, but the doctor thought she would grow out of it. It was a very quiet house, the father not liking music or TV, and Edie often found him standing behind her, strangly observing little Edie as if she was a stranger.
(present)
Edie and Guy are now outside the motel, enjoying the night sky. Edie says that she bought herself a little TV and practised talking like the pweople she saw. Like any other teenager she wanted to be living a different life, and felt like she did not belong. Edie laughs at millions of self-pitying little punks, all thinking they are uniwque, but Guy touches her hand and says they are, each of them.
(flashback)
At the age of fifteen, Edie had sex with a seventeen year old boy from San Francisco, who was passing through. She got pregnant and when she couldn’t hide it any longer, she feared her parents would kick her out. The parents argued and from the discussion Edie learned that history had actually repeated. Her mother too had sex with a stranger passing through town, and that way Edie was conceived. The man she knew as her father actually could not have kids. For the next months Edie was pulled out of school and kept hidden, while her mother pretended to be pregnant, with a pillow stuffed under her dress. Finally Edie was giving birth. At first it felt like it was happening to somebody else, but when she looked at her baby daughter and heard her scream, Edie had to get away. She teleported and found herself in Hollywood; this time it could not be played down as sleepwalking. Edie never returned to the Sawyer farm until recently by accident.
(present)
Guy and Edie are in their motel rooms, that happen to be next to each other. The walls are really thin and they can talk.  Guy even senses her heart rate and can hear her breathing. Edie doesn’t want to go back to the farm the next day, but Guy thinks it’s very important.
The next day they drive to the farm, and Guy ssenses that Edie’s mother is at home, alone. They knock and Mrs. Sawyer is quite suprised to see Edie. While mother and daughter are chatting and getting to know each other again, Guy takes a look around at the hous, and he finds photos of Edie as a child and he takes in the many sensation like the many sensation, like the smell of the dust and sweat of the people living at the house, the meals, etc.
Finally little Katie is about to return from the town with the man whom she believes to be her father, but is in fact her step-grandfather. Edie tells her mom that she wants Katie to know who her real mother is. There have been too many lies in the family, and she doesn’t want to deny the truth any longer, Mrs. Sawyer says that the choice is Edie’s, but reminds her of the consequences it would have for Katie to see the image of her famous mother’s death broacsted on TV, and in X-Force’s business that could happen any time.
Katie comes running in, asking whose car in in front of the house. Edie welcomes her and hesitates before introducing herself as her big sister. All are happy, but later that day, Katie asks Edie to take her teleporting and she is unsure if she is up to it. Guy cheers her up. Of course she can do it, after all she is Edie Sawyer, U-Go Girl ! Edie and Guy take Katie on a wild trip around the world : Egypt, London, Paris, New York, Easter Island and asia. At night it’s time for good bye. Katie asks Edie to visit again, but she never knows what’s on her schedule. Katie is concerned that Edie might die like the other team members, but U-Go Girl plays it down. Guy stands a little bit apart when Edie and her mother share a final hug. He is touched by the events.
On the way back, Guy says that Edie manifested her powers as an unconscious attempt to flee from her old life and old self. But when she reached a stage in her life when she did not need to run  from the past anymore, she inderactly started teleporting back home. U-Go Girl prooves him wrong. Right before they departed, she picked up a new concontion from team owner Spike Freeman, and it’s doing wonders for her concentration. With her power working properly Guy asks her to teleport them to the motel once more. This time they share a room and have some champagne. Guy is concerened with the thin walls, other guests might hear then when they do IT, but Edie doesn’t care if the whole wide world witnesses and teleports them outside in the star filled night.


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[Assistant]
One Of Us
As the members of X-Force return to their headquarters they are accosted by reporters asking about their recently completed mission. When a reporter asks the Orphan about the number of reported civilian deaths, U-Go Girl takes the microphone. Bruised and battered, she explains that it was a nasty, messy business where the bad guys didn't wear badges identifying themselves as bad guys. When asked by a reporter about the personal conflict between him and the Spike, the Anarchist merely replies "No Comment". The Orphan begins to reflect on the recent events. The last thing he hears is a reporter asking Myles if he has ever had a girlfriend before he is drawn back to hours before.
(flashback)
X-Force is tearing through soldiers, surrounded by burning buildings and tanks. The mission was supposed to have been nice and simple: a surgical strike into a Central American state to find and arrest a general wanted for crimes against humanity. The operation was just the kind of mission to counter the team's reputation as champagne mutants. What the Orphan was not prepared for was the real-life situation of beaten and battered locals. During the battle the Anarchist and the Spike escalated their rivalry while Phat and Vivisector performed like a team within a team. Guy found his feelings for Edie influencing his decision, as he tried to keep her out of harm’s way by ordering her to teleport away, yet she realiozed his intention and angrily told him to never do that again. After the battle X-Force was shocked when the locals, rather than supporting their actions, protested their involvement and held signs telling them to go home. Depending on your politics there were between six and eighteen civilian casualties.
(present)
Guy and Edie are in Spike Freeman's office talking about their situation. He recommends restoring the team's image through a name change. Freeman admits that a name change would benefit him very well as he reveals that he doesn't own the X-Force name. Changing the subject from the royalty checks he has to pay every month, Spike asks Guy if he has decided on the new recruit yet. Marketing, he points out, could always use fresh blood.
Later, through Edie's teleportation portal, Guy, Edie and Tike arrive at a graveyard. As they search the grounds, they discuss possible new names for the team: X-Division and X-Heroes, both of which they agree does not sound good. Guy finds the correct mausoleum and, talking through the open door, announces himself. Calling to the unseen Dead Girl, he congratulates her and tells her that she has been chosen as a new recruit. Silence is Guy's only response until the ground nearby begins to move. From the ground a creature arises, forming before them. The creature many times their height is composed of mud, stone, worms, maggots, bones and skulls. As the amalgamated creature silently stands before them, Tike tells the others that he knows what the creature is: it's Death. The creature, still silent, gravely points in the direction of the trio. Tike, now nearly wracked with panic, exclaims that the creature is pointing to him. Edie and Guy disagree, both believing that they are the ones being pointed to. Without warning the Death-creature explodes, covering them with its parts.
Shortly afterwards, Guy, Edie and Tike wash themselves in a communal shower. Tike tells the others that it was a sign. He reminds them of what he said when the Spike joined X-Force that he would become the older brother who would get wasted. Guy, in his special shower for his sensitive skin, tells Tike that his theory is full of crap, as well as is his obsession with the Spike. Further he points out that as the "Anarchist" he must believe in free will and a future that doesn't exist yet. Anyway, he points out, the creature was pointing toward him. Edie puts an end to the debate by coldly pointing out that the creature could have been pointing to all of them.
In the viewing room Spike Freeman addresses the team. He informs them that in their next mission, they will be going up against aliens, who are not really aliens... and they'll lose. Spike then introduces Agent Wright of the CIA to continue the briefing. Agent Wright starts off by telling the team that he hates them and everything they stand for. He considers them the underbelly of American society and nothing would please him more than to see them eradicated from God's green Earth. Finishing his open statement he tells the team that he hopes they can work together.
Rising to his feet, the Spike objects to playing house servant to the CIA. When the Anarchist agrees, Agent Wright tells them both to sit down and listen. He tells them that their whole operation would have been shut down if not for him and they should all kiss his one-sixteenth Native American ass. Pointing to the Orphan, he tells them that he is the individual that he had to save the group from. To everyone's surprise the Orphan backhands Agent Wright, knocking his sunglasses off. Edie asks Guy if he is all right. The Orphan replies that he is, but something had just snapped. As Edie and the agent argue about the situation that just occurred, Phat and Vivesector continue the debate about a new team name. Vivisector suggests the X-Foliates. Phat asks if that name isn't "too gay", to which Vivisector asks in turn if anything can be "too gay". The two high-five each other at their joke. Two rows back the Spike seethes in anger.
Deciding that her argument with Agent Wright has reached an intolerable point, Edie teleports both herself and the agent away. High above a desert canyon, possibly the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Edie and Agent Wright begin their long fall. As they fall, Edie tells Wright that X-Force is not a bunch of tinsel-town lightweights that can be pushed around. She also tells him that if he does anything to harm Guy Smith then he will have to contend with her. To Edie's surprise Agent Wright turns the conversation around by telling her that if she is worried about Guy, then she should be thanking him.
Later in X-Force's lounge, Edie relays to the group what Agent Wright had told her. She tells them that several powerful multinational pharmaceutical companies were upset that Guy didn't hand over Paco Perez to them. Defending himself, Guy reminds the group that they had no choice as the boy was to have been murdered and sold as a commodity. Edie continues her tale, explaining that the multinationals want revenge on Guy, and by extension, X-Force. Their plan is to discredit Guy by airing commercials starring kids with terminal illnesses who would explain to the viewer that they'd have had a chance if not for Guy's decision.
(flashback)
Guy is back in the team's last mission. There, he remembers, he faced an opportunity. He entered a room full of dead adults and a live kneeling little girl. The room stank of urine and feces and... onions. Guy looked at the young girl whose praying he had interrupted with his entrance. At that moment he could have picked her up and carried her away. He had the power. The decision of Life and Death. And he walked away. Leaving the shattered building, he walked back into the street and rejoined the battle. Now he wonders to himself, is this why Death pointed at him?
(present)
Agent Wright snaps Guy back to the present, reminding him that what he has been telling him is important. They are all back in the viewing room and the briefing that had ended with Edie's teleportation earlier has resumed. Agent Wright explains to Guy that he had made a deal with the multinational companies, as they had owed the CIA in turn. In the previous year there had been a fire at the Texas State Penitentiary's death row cells, killing eighteen condemned inmates. The CIA, Wright explains, faked the fire and the inmates did not die. All of the inmates had signed up for a secret experimental procedure. The point of the procedure was to manufacture mutants that the CIA could control. The CIA's top scientists set about altering the structure of the inmate's bodies. A few died during the procedure but, by the end, thirteen of the subjects were successful. The CIA named the thirteen subjects the Bush Rangers and began to train them to be a rapid deployment crack division.
Unfortunately, Wright tells them, the work on the Rangers brains to turn them into compliant, obedient soldiers was not as successful as the one on their bodies. The Rangers revolted and took over the Mars 2010 space station where they were being trained. Since the revolt, the CIA has been able to keep a news blackout of the situation, but now plans to go public with the story that aliens have taken the station. The plan is for X-Force to try to free the hostages but intentionally fail and get captured. After that, the CIA will save the day and restore its tarnished reputation.
With the briefing finished the team begins to debate their option. Anarchist, Vivisector and Phat all believe that they shouldn't risk themselves rectifying a decision that Guy made on his own. Each votes against the mission. Edie votes for, wanting to help square things for Guy. Guy also votes in favor. The Spike votes in favor as well, boasting that he's not afraid of anything. With three votes in favor and three votes against, Guy laments at the stalemate. His observation is corrected by a spectral voice. The team turns to the voice and sees a zombie-like female standing in the door. She says that she is voting for Guy. As an afterthought she introduces herself as Dead Girl and apologizes for being late.
Agent Wright is overjoyed at democracy winning again. His last directive for the mission is the Agency's desire to have Edie replace Guy as the team leader. When he asks if there is a problem, Edie angrily retorts that they do. She points a finger at Wright and tells him that Guy is their leader and will stay their leader. The CIA gets X-Force with Guy as their leader or not at all. With this resolved, Edie gives Guy a smile.
Later, at a mountain shuttle launch pad a television news reporter updates his viewers. He informs them that they are still awaiting the appearance of X-Force who is about to do battle against aliens who threaten the very existence of humanity. He then points out that the mission is proudly sponsored by American-European Pharmaceutical Incorporated in association with the New -Chem Group.
Inside the facility the team suits up in space suits, only Dead Girl is still in costume, apparently not needing a spacesuit. Guy takes a moment to thank Edie for turning down the chance to be team leader. What she did made him feel special. Edie laughs, saying that while she loves him, that doesn't mean she doesn't want to be team leader one day. Also, she's not stupid enough to take over on the very mission that they are going to deliberately screw up. Finished suiting up and walking away, she tells guy that their space ship is waiting.
As the team, all suited up, walk to their ship, Guy ponders to himself the purpose of X-Force. The team is going to save the world from aliens who aren't aliens and is going to intentionally lose. He wonders which one of them have been pointed to by Death. Tike Alicar? Edie Sawyer? Or himself, Guy Smith? He guesses that he will find out soon enough.