After being led away from the others last issue, we
find Carol Danvers being experimented on and tortured by the Brood. They change
her shape at will, noting that her mind continues to fight and that her
physiology is not quite human or mutant. Shortly after, Wolverine busts in and
ferociously kills the Brood and finds Carol barely recognizable. Wolverine
trashes the controls, unsure how that will affect Carol, but it turns her back
to normal and frees her. Wolverine notes though, that her scent is no longer
human, a notion which unnerves them both. Carol takes up a weapon and follows
Wolverine to go rescue the others. Back on Earth, Havok and Corsair join
Polaris at the mansion, currently in the process of being rebuilt. Havok
strikes out in anger, having learned of the X-Men’s capture, while Corsair
promises to head out and rescue them, or avenge them! Moira MacTaggert wishes
Corsair luck and mentions that Professor Xavier is taking the news quite hard.
Back in space, Cyclops has a dream that he’s being
chased by Brood warriors. He then encounters the X-Men, who turn into Brood as
well and start to overwhelm him. Just then, an image of Professor Xavier
arrives and helps Scott use the mental defenses Xavier taught them to wake from
this nightmare. Cyclops soon finds Storm in quite the same predicament and
wakes her, both of them feeling a strange sense of dread and foreboding that
they can’t explain. They meet up with Wolverine and Carol and gather the
others, splitting into two groups. The group of Wolverine, Cyclops, Carol, and
Colossus head to try and rescue Lilandra. As they make their way through,
Wolverine smells the Brood Queen and plans to kill her and end things once and
for all. Cyclops pushes back, saying that they should just free Lilandra and
leave, as Wolverine has not been able to bring himself to reveal the direness
of the situation, that the rest of them are infected with Brood embryos.
They don’t have long to dwell on it, as they are
swarmed by Brood warriors. Carol frees Lilandra while Wolverine heads for the
Queen, ignoring Cyclops’ orders. Meanwhile, Storm flies up near Lilandra’s ship
carrying Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde. She gets as high as possible and
Nightcrawler teleports himself and Kitty to the edge of the ship and Kitty
phases through. Kitty encounters a Brood inside and avoids it until they both
end up in the airlock. Kitty can’t bring herself to open the airlock and kill
the Brood however and phases through it. In the Brood’s shock, it accidentally
hits the airlock button itself, opening the lock and shooting the Brood out
into space to its death! Kitty drags in Nightcrawler, praying that he’s alright
after being forced to stay out in the frigid cold of near space for so long.
The others continue their assault and just as Wolverine is about to kill the
Queen, they are all beamed up to Lilandra’s ship. They take off, with Cyclops
demanding answers, but just as Wolverine is about to reveal the truth, they are
once again found and fired upon by the Brood! To be continued!