After another very cool adventure seeking to reclaim a lost dupe, Jamie Madrox returns home to find Mutant Town surrounded by razor wire. Valerie Cooper tells him that Rahne and Rictor have been arrested for attacking FBI agents (it was a mistake) who were tracking a new terrorist organization called X-Cell (made up of mutants who were “cured” on M-Day).
Madrox agrees to help Val Cooper stop X-Cell in exchange for his friends’ freedom. As always, the fun is in the telling. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it: Peter David is one of the best writers of this medium EVER.
But bottom line: Turns out, Quicksilver has used his stolen Terrigen Crystals to re-power the X-Cell members, but the empowerment system is unstable and causes them to explode. And his partners in X-Cell include the de-powered–now re-powered–Blob, Callisto, Abyss, Fatale, Marrow, and Reaper.
In their first battle with X-Factor, Siryn is stabbed and nearly killed by Marrow. X-Cell captures Rictor, who Pietro is the key to stabilizing the Terrigen process.
An army of Madroxes finally track them down and attack, along with Rahne. But the “using Rictor as a conduit” didn’t stabilize the process. Abyss, Fatale and Reaper begin to explode, and Absyss teleport away into another dimension.
The partially re-powered Rictor is also able to push the crystals out of Quicksilver’s body, leaving him de-powered once again. He escapes, but the team has fulfilled their mission for Val Cooper and the charges are dropped against Rictor and Rahne.
English (US) · 