X-Force #22

Saul and Gideon have Boomer, Warpath and Siryn dangling off a cliff! Tina meets a tragic fate while contemplating a jewel heist with Vanessa.

Both X-Force and SHIELD make it back to Earth, while Cannonball and Sunspot travel via a space pod. The team looks over the cache of weapons they recovered from Graymalkin. Domino and Grizzly meet resistance at Department K as they try to find Cable. X-Force finds out that Warpath, Siryn, and Boomer are captured by the Externals.

Synopsis

Graymalkin, Cable's old space station, seems to have blown up mere seconds ago. Fortunately for X-Force, and especially for Nick Fury's SHIELD team, Lila Cheney arrived in time to teleport the two teams out - first to a Skrull brothel and then to the SHIELD ship. G.W. Bridge makes a move and attempts to arrest X-Force. Lila helps him see his mistake by teleporting X-Force away, leaving Bridge to continue his seething over Cable's affairs. Fury is just glad no one ended up with any of Cable's stuff.

Outside and hurling through space, Cannonball and Sunspot huddle together in a Graymalkin escape pod. Professor is still on-line and informs the two that his ability to communicate with them will cease once they reach Earth. It was always the goal to prevent anyone from getting access to Professor and his resources and that is why Graymalkin was made to look as if it completely exploded. Professor had actually made it look that way, jettisoned the two mutants out, and recloaked. Professor would actually still be functioning on Graymalkin. This still doesn't bring much comfort to Cannonball and Sunspot. More discomfort comes from the realization that things are getting hotter as they approach Earth's atmosphere. Cannonball readies his blast field to protect the two from burnout but Professor had anticipated this and enacts a glider to smooth their pod into the atmosphere.

In Oregon, the External Saul looks at Boomer, Warpath, and Siryn. The three are shackled to the bottom of a cliff, a position that allows the ocean to crash on them. Saul apologizes for the horrible accommodation but assures them that he respects them enough to know that this is the best way to detain them. Gideon then shows up and threatens the three with immortal anguish.

At Camp Verde, Lila teleports the team in. They don't know the fate of Cannonball and Sunspot and also don't know if Siryn, Boomer, and Warpath are back from their trip yet. Feral goes to sniff around while Lila and Shatterstar turn on their communications equipment. Feral returns and claims that no one is around. Lila also has bad news: foreign objects are headed their direction. Feral corrects her: foreign objects have already arrived. X-Force rushes out to confront the aerial visitors. One pod lands and Shatterstar quickly shreds into it. He, Feral, and Rictor stand menacingly around the opening while Cannonball and Sunspot tenderly crawl out. Cannonball can't accept Professor leaving and tries to hook him up to a power source. It is fruitless; Cable's legacy, however, arrives just then. Weapons and vehicles in various caches land in Camp Verde.

Up north in Canada, Department K has two visitors. General Clarke and Val Cooper walk to the Operations Maintenance Room and break in. The image inducers fail upon entering the room. What looked to be Clarke and Cooper ends up being Grizzly and Domino. They complain about the close call but Hammer just tells them to suck it up and get to work. Domino begins hacking into the system to find any info on Cable and his X-Force team. With too much encryption and not enough time, Hammer tells her to dump everything into his system. She does so and then realizes that she and Grizzly are no longer the only occupants of the room. They turn to find a fresh Weapon: PRIME unit ready to give battle.

In Boston, Tina Valentino and Copycat (morphed as Tina) continue their night out on the town. They stop by a jewelry store and Copycat proposes a quick little heist. Before any decision can be made, Deadpool shows up and takes a swing at the ladies. Copycat acts quickly and knocks the merc down and she and Tina make a run for it. Tina is slower and that proves to be her demise. She is shot by a big guy named Sluggo. Copycat leans over the body of her dead friend while Deadpool shouts that Sluggo had better of hit the right girl.

Back at Camp Verde, X-Force unpacks all the freshly acquired hardware. Guns abound, as to assault vehicles. Sunspot goes looking for Cannonball. Lila finds him first and announces that she is leaving. As she does so, Sunspot announces that they've got trouble. A communication that has been running for a while pops up on one of their screens. Saul introduces himself and shows that he has Siryn, Boomer, and Warpath as his hostages. The exchange is simple: the three friends for the answer to the External problem that may lie within Cannonball's blood.