In Antarctica, a Soviet research station is completely
obliterated when a giant, shining tower sprouts out of the ground, rising high
into the sky! Zaladane and her forces arrive at the tower and take the few
remaining researchers hostage, while the undercover Havok tries to figure out
what to do. He decides to wait and watch as Zaladane leads her men towards the
Transmutator, a machine gifted by the High Evolutionary. She commands her men
to place Polaris on the dais of the machine and the Mutate Brainchild admits
he’s not sure he even knows how to work it. Havok decides he can’t wait any
longer and charges up to blast Zaladane. She then reveals that she knew he was
in disguise the whole time, as her Mutates take him by surprise and strike him
down! They use the black lotus plant to keep him sedated as Zaladane prepares
her big moment! She enters the Transmutator with Polaris and boots it up, the
energy coursing through Polaris until it becomes more than she can bear! Havok
looks on in horror as Polaris’s powers get transferred to Zaladane, until one
last blinding flash finishes the procedure and leaves Zaladane laughing in
triumph!
Zaladane and her forces then travel inward to the
Savage Land, and she takes her prisoners to her Mutate called Worm. Worm covers
the researchers with a slimy film-like substance, which gives him total control
over their bodies. As the X-Men arrive in the Savage Land, tracking Havok,
Psylocke psychically hears all the gruesome details of Worm’s procedure. To the
surprise of her teammates, Psylocke suddenly strips away her armor and dives
into the water as a way to try and wash away what she saw. Colossus reaches in
to pull her out but suddenly finds himself unable to control his body as he
begins to hold Psylocke underwater! Psylocke can’t do anything telepathically,
since Colossus’s mind isn’t the one being controlled, forcing Dazzler to try
and blast him off! Colossus begs Dazzler to use her highest intensity laser to
blast his arm off, as the only way to save Psylocke, when Worm sneaks up behind
her and covers Dazzler in his slime, putting her under his control as well!
With both of her teammates under enemy control, Psylocke begins to black out
and begs for her friends’ forgiveness as she slowly loses consciousness.
Psylocke then suddenly finds herself in Australia once
again, and wonders if perhaps these are her last fleeting thoughts before she
dies. She wanders their base and comes upon the sight of herself nailed to a
wall, dead! She then finds the others dead as well and concludes that this is
just a hallucination. She then finds Gateway bound and gagged, and realizes he
pulled her into this dream-like vision as a warning of what will happen.
Psylocke concludes that returning to Australia means certain death for them and
Gateway presents the Siege Perilous to her, leading her to wonder if their only
hope is to escape through it! Some time later, the Mutates have Havok and
Polaris chained to a wall as they try to decide what to do with them. Though
Zaladane’s device took away her powers, Polaris also notes the silver lining
that it seems to have finally separated her from Malice as well! Meanwhile, up
in the throne room, Zaladane has the X-Men and her Mutates bring the captured
Ka-Zar and Shanna the She-Devil, and Nereel, chief of the tribes, to her as
well. She threatens to demonstrate her control over by Colossus by having him
kill Ka-Zar’s baby, and Nereel’s son!
Down in the dungeon, the Mutates move to hurt Polaris,
and she demonstrates newfound super-strength by ripping her chains right out of
the wall and beating the Mutates with them! She also notes that she’s somehow
grown taller as she frees Havok. As Colossus slowly advances to the children
against his will, Psylocke takes control of Havok and has him blast a hole
straight up to the throne room as Polaris also arrives to even the score!
Zaladane forces Colossus to attack Polaris and she’s surprised that she’s now
able to go toe to toe with him! Ka-Zar frees himself as well and Psylocke aids
Nereel’s son Peter in taking out Worm, thereby ending his effect on everyone!
With Zaladane distracted controlling Colossus, Havok takes the opportunity to
blast her with everything he’s got! She’s able to deflect the blast enough to
not die, but it still knocks her back and topples a wall onto her! Now free,
Colossus and Polaris take out the rest of the Mutates, and everyone decides to
get out of there as quickly as possible! They all hop in one of the aircrafts
and Havok tries blasting the whole tower down! It ends up getting deflected,
proving that Zaladane is still active and meaning their job is not yet done!
While they decide how they’re going to proceed, Psylocke decides to warn her
teammates about returning to Australia, lest they die! However, before she can
say anything, Gateway’s portal materializes around them, returning them
instantly to Australia, and apparently, certain death! To be continued!
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