Earth #127
Phoenix, Arizona
The battle of the Wolverines has subsided. Elsie-Dee leans over her half-broken partner, Albert. She pleads with him to wake up, to not leave her all alone. Albert regains consciousness and asks Elsie if she’s hurt. She says she’s not, but tells Albert he doesn’t look that good. He asks her what she expects after fighting an army of Wolverines. She tells Albert she thinks they were suckered. None of the other Wolverines were able to beat Brother Mutant and now they’re all his slaves she points out. Albert reminds her that Brother Mutant has Mesmero’s powers and can enslave anyone. Not them, Elsie reminds him.
Albert tells her to be quiet, that he hears something. They walk over to the corner of the building in front of them and take a peek. They find Zombie Wolverine with his pants unzipped, sporting a full belly. Zombie spots the two androids as he munches down on a femur. He apologizes to his two teammates for talking with his mouthful, but explains that if he doesn’t finish his meal they tend to walk off and cause trouble.
Elsie can’t believe he’s eating an alternate-reality Wolverine. Zombie tells her he actually ate six. Elsie puts her hands to her mouth in shock and declares this world to be a terrible place.
Albert takes off to search for any other surviving Wolverines from their team. Zombie tells him that Logan and James ran away from the fight. Albert spots Patch amongst the shadows leaning against a nearby light pole. They approach him and Patch tells them he met up with Brother Mutant and he’s not as bad as the Timebroker said. Patch puts his arm around Zombie and tells them that Brother Mutant let him go to bring them a message. Zombie, ever curious, asks what the message was. Patch pops his claws and Zombie loses his head, literally.
Zombie’s head flies right into Elsie’s arms. Albert tells her to run, and Elsie does, crying that she doesn’t want to leave him. The cables connecting the two robots reach their stretching point and Elsie is jerked back, losing Zombie’s head in the process. Albert turns and tells her to finish the job if he can’t. Patch slices through Albert’s midsection, ending the battle. He also severs the two androids’ cable connections, which allows Elsie to escape with Zombie’s head back in her arms.
The Crystal Palace
Heather confronts the Timebreakers as their last encounter resulted in the stranding of her teammates on her homeworld. Standing before the insect-like creatures, hands on her hips, she proclaims, “Never thought you’d see me here again, huh?”
The Timebreakers immediately break into a chorus of apologies. She cuts them off as she already knows their reasons (the Exiles had taken control of the missions from them). Heather would rather put it all in the past and tells the Breakers that they need to start trusting each other. The Breakers agree. With things settled, Heather and the Timebreakers pore over the computer screen. Heather wants all the information they have on Brother Mutant.
Earth #127
Phoenix Orpheum Theater
Brother Mutant and his legion of Wolverines stand outside the theater. Brother mutant addresses his army, standing above them with arms outstretched. He mentions his first two choices for a new code name “Wolverito” and “Magnerine”, but he realized they sounded foolish. Then one name finally came to mind that embodied all that he stood for. He pauses, during which one of the Wolverine’s questions “Bub?” Surprisingly, nobody laughs and Brother Mutant says that it is not Bub, but Brother Mutant.
Next, Brother Mutant proclaims his mission. With the new powers he had and the army of Wolverines that joined him he realized he should have a purpose. He pops his claws and declares the end to all humans. He asks for an “A-Men” from his audience and they all raise their arms with claws unsheathed.
The original Exiles, plus Logan and James arrive on Earth #127 and meet inside a local burger shop. Sabretooth relays the message from the Tallus that Brother Mutant is taking his army around the country. Spider-Man asks what that means. They’re loading up on buses and heading to Vegas, then Nashville and then Branson Missouri, he replies, and all humans they meet along the way get killed (Morph meanwhile is chugging soda from a soda dispenser much to Longshot’s chagrin).
Power Princess can’t believe what she’s hearing, this Brother Mutant guy going on a traveling murder spree. Blink reminds her of the dumpster they saw outside filled with human corpses, with limbs hanging out and blood pooling around the bottom.
Back by the theater the Wolverines begin loading onto the buses. A Wolverine in a samurai’s outfit spraypaints “Mutant Massacre” on the side of the bus. Brother Mutant gives him a thumbs-up and tells him it’s a catchy phrase. He goes so far as to suggest having t-shirts printed with the phrase.
Elsie-Dee and Zombie look on at Brother Mutant from behind a distant car, Zombie’s head perched on the hood. Zombie suggests they get as far away from the guy as they can. Elsie thinks this is their best chance of stopping him. Zombie tells her she has an overdeveloped sense of civic duty. Elsie-Dee picks up Zombie’s head and asks him how he can talk without lungs. Zombie writes it off as a zombie thing. Zombie then asks her how exactly was she supposed to kill Wolverine seeing as how that was her original programming. Elsie tells him that 90% of her body is plastic explosive and she was supposed to just get near him and blow up. Zombie appears to think on this.
Suddenly Patch leaps on to the scene. He tells Elsie she was easy to track carrying around that rotten zombie head. Zombie takes offense to his remark as he goes tumbling onto the ground. Elsie gasps and leaps to safety. Zombie tells her it might be a good time to use that plastic explosive. She grabs Zombie by the cowl and runs for it. This is exactly when the all new/original Exiles show up.
Sabretooth leaps on Patch, smashing his face into the ground, scattering chunks of pavement everywhere. Patch flips around as Sabretooth rips off his eye patch. Patch takes a swing at him causing Sabretooth to dodge. Patch scrambles out of Sabretooth’s hold leaving Sabretooth hanging on to a few pieces of his costume.
Patch runs smack dab into Power Princess’s energy shield, which knocks him back onto the ground. Sabretooth seizes the moment and grabs Patch’s throat. He utters, “Try regrowin’ this before ya bleed ta death!” before tearing it away.
Power Princess grabs Sabe’s arm and scolds him for killing Patch. He tells her it was the only way they could have been sure he wouldn’t kill them. Power Princess counters that he could’ve been important to his universe. Sabretooth tells her that Heather said he wouldn’t be missed. Back at the Crystal Palace Heather yells at the screen that she said no such thing.
With the battle over Elsie asks Sabretooth and Power Princess who they are. Sabes informs her they’re the real Exiles and are there to stop Brother Mutant. Sabretooth crouches down in front of her and tells her she can help. She asks how and he asks her if she’s ever heard of a “fastball special”.
A Hulk-like Wolverine with a Puck-like Wolverine perched on his shoulder are the last two Wolvies to board the buses. Brother Mutant tells everyone to make themselves comfortable as they’ll be traveling under his power. “Next stop, Vegas”, he cries.
The buses magnetically lift up from the ground. With Brother Mutant in the middle they float onward. Blink appears on top of one of the buses and tells Brother Mutant his tour’s been canceled. Brother Mutant, looking unconcerned, had hoped they’d trash at least one city before meeting some resistance. He manipulates two of the buses sending them crashing onto the spot where Blink was standing a second earlier. Various Wolverines come crashing out through the windows and go smashing down onto the ground.
Blink reappears with the rest of the Exiles on the city streets below. She can’t believe what he just did to his army. Logan tells her it’s because he knows they’ll heal. Albert suddenly comes to life in front of them, although nobody seems to notice. He calls out Elsie’s name and looks up to find a bus flying towards him. The Exiles disperse and Albert is crushed underneath several tons of steel and glass.
As the dust settles Blink calls out for Longshot and Spidey. Brother Mutant uses his superspeed to get to her first. He stares into her eyes and tells her that Longshot and Spider-Man won’t get to her in time. He goes all Mesmero on her and her face goes lax.
Spidey, from atop a lamppost, fires some webbing into Brother Mutant’s eyes. Brother Mutant cries out and Longshot throws some of his blades at him, which Brother Mutant is able to deflect with his claws.
Brother Mutant is angry. His body turns more translucent to the point that his skeleton is visible. He tells them that he commands forces that even God won’t mess with. Spidey and Longshot barely avoid a blast aimed at them. Brother Mutant tells them they will all look into his eyes and he will make them do some of the most awful things.
Nearby, Power Princess wants to join the fight. She feels her teammates need her strength. Sabretooth tells her to stick to the script and then makes sure that Elsie is still up for it. She says she’s doing it for Albert. Sabretooth grabs her by the cables and begins swinging her around above his head like a lasso. He lets her go just as Brother Mutant confronts Logan and James. She cries out in joy, clutching onto Zombie’s head. Brother Mutant turns around to see where the yelling is coming from and is walloped into some nearby debris. Elsie, straddled on top of his chest, brings Zombie’s head down toward Brother Mutant’s face. Zombie takes a bite into Brother Mutant’s nose and Brother Mutant lets out a yell of pain. Elsie initiates her prime directive and explodes.
James wonders aloud if Brother Mutant is dead. Blink surmises it probably only hurt him. Sure enough Brother Mutant is alive and very upset. He tells them he’s going to shred them all, hex them back to life and then shred them again. Logan pops claws and tells James to be good. James looks questioningly at Logan as he leaps at Brother Mutant. He plunges his claws deep into Brother Mutant’s chest.
Albert, amazingly still functioning, reaches up from his spot on the ground and grabs a hold of Brother Mutant’s cape.
Brother Mutant emits a stream of high power energy that fries the skin off of Logan’s bones. James cries out in despair and pops his claws. He goes over to the severely weakened Brother Mutant who is clutching at his chest wounds. Brother Mutant stares up at James and for the first time is scared. James begins slicing away at Brother Mutant and doesn’t stop until the beast inside him is satiated. Nearby witnesses, Clown Wolverine, Thing-like Wolverine and Puck-like Wolverine, who are no longer under the control of Brother Mutant, comment on James’ choice of clothing (his nightshirt, which everyone except James thinks looks like a dress).
The Crystal Palace
Back at the Palace the Timebreakers point out that the probability scanners were correct, that a Wolverine would rectify the problem. Heather makes sure to mention that Logan and James would have been dead without their help (nearby Morph transforms into a giant can of insect killer and stomps menacingly at some of the drones. Longshot once again witnesses it, this time looking slightly amused).
Heather tells Blink that they got all of the surviving Wolverines back to their original realities. They lost seventeen altogether, and she hopes that doesn’t mess up any more realities, she continues. Power Princess asks if that means they’re going back to full-time duty saving damaged universes. Heather tells her yes and that the Timebreakers promised not to backstab them again. She brings up their next mission, which won’t be easy. The Earth they’re going to visit has already been destroyed and that’s just the start of their problems, she reveals.
