Synopsis
The Avengers (without Black Panther (despite being on the cover) who's still on his solo mission (last issue) inside Meridian Diadem) have come to the new HQ (since the end of the Fall Of The Mutants event) of the X-Men (or at least some of them) in Merle, Alaska called the Factory. Captain America (Sam Wilson), Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Storm and Vision are faced by Beast, Juggernaut, Kid Omega, Magik, Psylocke and Temper. Carol Danvers calls Cyclops to come out of hiding and Scott 'Slim' Summers emerges to say he's not hiding anymore. They appear to face off ...
... and then reveal that they're all here for a baseball match. After which Scott promises them a meal made by their cook Glob, whose cooking is much better than his name suggests.
We skip to the close of the match where the X-Men lead by 1 run. Psylocke is pitching to CA, and Beast taunts him with how embarrassing it will be for Captain America to strike out at the US national pastime. But Cap hits it clean and starts running. Kid Omega tries with nonchalance to grab the ball telekinetically but Scarlet Witch magics it away and Sam slides home to even the score. Magik tells Kwannon that pitch wasn't worthy of a ninja assassin, but she replies that's because she wasn't allowed to aim to kill.
Iron Man's up next and Juggernaut insists on taking over the pitching. Illyana Rasputin warns him that it's physically the only ball they've got left. Cain Marko lets rip and Tony Stark uses hs armour's system to track the ball. Which thunders past him and through some rocks to cause an explosion. Cyclops declares the game over because they've run out of balls, so it's dinner time. Magik blames Juggie for the tie but Marko says he doesn't like baseball and he's hungry so as far as he's concerned *he* won.
A sumptuous feast is ready for them, and they're joined by Magneto. Scott tells Ororo Munroe that Glob grows all the food as well as cooking it. Robert Herman accepts Storm's compliments as he comes round collecting plates but says that it's the only way he has to help the team because his transparent blobby body isn't much use in a fight. Tony Stark points out that the Avengers never would have lasted without Edwin Jarvis as their support. Glob excuses himself to go get dessert, but back in the kitchen he dances with joy.
Wanda Maximoff share a moment with her 'father' Magneto. They cover his recent resurrection which left him with a clearer idea of what his power should be used for, only to find that he no longer *has* the power. Vision butts in to ask what his convictions now are, and Max Eisenhardt replies that the struggle he addresses is no longer that of mutants vs humans but of oppressed vs oppressors. Quentin Quire interrupts to say that experience has shown robots/AI will always be the enemy of mutants. Vision says he is theoretically capable of prejudice but he is part of no AI agenda against mutants. Q replies that he would say that wouldn't he, unless he's saying he was programmed to love all beings. Vizh admits that he was programmed by Ultron who hated all life and only distinguished between those he had killed and those he hadn't yet got round to. But since then he has *learned* to cherish all life.
Later Stark helps Beast with his hobby, restoring the last known example of a Mk1 Avengers quinjet which he and Illyana 'freecycled' from a former SHIELD warehouse. Tony welcomes his old friend and ex-Avenger back but Hank asks why they didn't stop him when he went bad. Tony says that Henry McCoy gradually stopped being the friend they knew, and no-one knew what he was doing. But they've all had moral lapses. None of them can change their past but they can choose a better future.
Storm has been listening to this but now she's approached by Temper. Idie Okonkwo says she didn't fit in on the mutant island nation of Krakoa and she doesn't feel any more at home here. She asks Ororo how she can be an X-Man and an Avenger with ease. Ororo answers that she scrabbled her way up from the streets of Cairo and any fitting in she only learned with the X-Men. Then Idie asks if she still believes in Charles Xavier's dream of human/mutant coexistence. Ororo says she believes in what the dream can, should and needs to be.
Team leaders Carol and Scott are having their own chat as behind them Illyana and Sam challenge each other to 1-arm pressups, egged on by Juggernaut, Kid Omega and Scarlet Witch. Cyclops apologises for Quentin. CapM accuses him of hiding things from the Avengers such as:- What's wrong with Magneto? What's the Mutant Contagion? He avoids answering which fuels her suspicions. But she reveals her team's current big secret - that they have info from Kang about future Tribulation Events and they've already had the 1st 2:- The Ashen Combine (#3-6) and the recent Blood Hunt crossover event. And now they face Dr Doom with the power of the Sorcerer Supreme.
Scott reminds Carol she used to be an honorary X-Man (in the era which included her being Binary). Carol points out how alike her Avengers and his X-Men are - independent powers with their own secluded fortresses. They agree to back each other in upcoming struggles.
Characters:
Plus: Glob Herman (
Robert Herman), Kid Omega (
Quentin Quire), Temper (
Idie Okonkwo).