Starting off on an expected note, we find Spider-Man
swinging around New York, worrying about typical relationship woes. He then
spots Scott Summers and Colleen Wing walking about and swings down to say hi.
After a brief chat, Spidey swings off, passing a mysterious garbage truck. The
truck then extends a chute, capturing Scott and Colleen with a unique sound
effect! Spidey recognizes the sound from when he and Captain Britain were
captured by Arcade (in Marvel Team-Up #65-66) and rushes back to the duo but
finds only Colleen’s scarf and no sign of the truck. We then cut to Lincoln
Center, where Nightcrawler and Colossus are on a double date with Amanda Sefton
and her friend Betsy. They are led into a special box at the Bolshoi ballet and
become the next of Arcade’s victims, as the box fills with knockout gas,
overtaking all inside before they can react.
We then find Wolverine finishing up a visit with
Mariko Yashida at the Japanese Consulate. He makes his way out, unknowingly
being followed by a certain mysterious garbage truck! We then find Banshee at
the Xavier Institute, awoken by the sound of the ringing phone. He goes to
answer but is shot from behind by a tranquilizer dart. The phone naturally
continues to ring, annoying Storm who is in the middle of a shower. She flies
down to answer it and is shot by a tranquilizer dart as well, courtesy of Arcade
himself! Arcade answers the phone to find Spider-Man trying to warn the X-Men,
and tells Spidey that after he’s finished with the X-Men, he’s coming for him
next! Spidey doesn’t take it well, completely demolishing the phonebooth he
called from!
The X-Men awake to find themselves in costume, trapped
in translucent spheres. Arcade gets the fun started, introducing the X-Men to
Murderworld and revealing that they are in a giant pinball machine! They get
shot out and bounce around the machine, each impact delivering an electric
shock, each one too disoriented to break free. They are each then ejected from
the pinball machine and deposited in personalized death traps! Cyclops finds
himself in a room with three doors and a slowly advancing hydraulic press. He
only has one chance to pick the correct door before he is crushed by the press,
while Arcade muses to himself that none of the doors are correct, but Cyclops
doesn’t know that! Colossus is deposited in a dark room with a single chair,
before being accosted by blinding lights. An agent of the KGB enters and
questions and charges Colossus with being a traitor to his home country, which
Colossus has difficulty disputing. Elsewhere, Wolverine finds himself in a hall
of mirrors. As he makes his way through, robotic duplicates of himself spring
from the mirrors to attack him!
Arcade then checks in on Nightcrawler, who finds
himself in a bowl-shaped room. Suddenly, bumper cars with buzzsaws and teeth
shoot from the walls, surrounding him on all sides. Nightcrawler teleports to
the ceiling but is caught by one of the cars driving up the side of the room
when his attention is on the others. Banshee finds himself in a simulated war
field, unable to tell what’s real and what’s not without his powers. Finally,
Storm is dropped into a large cylindrical room, with water rushing beneath,
designed to prey on her claustrophobia. She tries blasting the trapdoor with
lightning, but has her bolts hurled back by a stronger electrical field. Back
with Cyclops, he decides not to play by Arcade’s rules, and blasts though the
wall instead of picking a door, blasting right into Wolverine’s section and
frying the circuitry that was making the robotic duplicates. They make to
leave, before being stopped by a freshly brainwashed Colossus, now calling
himself the Proletarian! Arcade revels in his victory, as Colossus will either
kill the X-Men before the brainwashing wears off or they’ll be forced to kill
him and either way, Arcade wins! To be continued!