X-Force #88 [VF]

Grade: VF

Note: Stock Image

Issue Number: 88
Release Date: 1999-03-01
Writer:
Artist:

In the house located on his Santa Lucia, California, vineyard, Christopher Aaronson (King Bedlam), Jesse's older brother, welcomes the members of X-Force as his guests, and introduces his New Hellions (Magma, Tarot and Paradigm). Unseen by those present, a fifth member, Switch, awakens, disoriented, in the cellar. Christopher tries to assure X-Force that, other than the presence of Tarot, his group has no connection to the original Hellions, young mutants who were the pawns of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club. Cannonball questions Magma, his former teammate from their days as New Mutants, about her decision to be part of the New Hellions. She responds coldly and with disdain that her goals are less idealistic and more materialistic now.Then, another Hellion, former X-Force member Feral, makes her presence known, openly hostile toward her former teammates, until king Bedlam reins her in. Tensions still rise, and Domino insists that her team listen to King Bedlam's proposal. He offers an alliance, stating that conflict among various mutant factions is self-defeating. Instead, they should be cooperating to change the world to one in which mutants can live out in the open without fear. If all mutantkind would unite is this goal, he insists, they could not be stopped. With that, the Hellions leave X-Force to retire for the night.Instead, X-Force gather in the library to discuss the matter. Despite Domino's uncharacteristic suggestion that maybe they should stop policing other mutants, they opt to snoop around. James Proudstar, having been slipped a note from Tarot, meets with her, and again she warns him his team is in grave danger and that King Bedlam has something serious planned. James advises her to turn her back on Bedlam, but she refuses, saying she owes her rebirth and life to him. She departs and James faces Feral, who has been hidden in a tree, spying on them.Jesse finds his brother in a warehouse on the grounds, where he is preparing a huge radiation chamber for transport. Jesse confronts Christopher, asking why he was asked to bring X-Force along, and what is it he has planned. Christopher replies he wants to keep his potential enemies close and shows Jesse that there is something of immense power within the unit. Finally, he tells his brother he must choose between friends and family.X-Force regroup in the library to compare notes. Domino tells them she found explosives in the cellar which they should tend to. They are about to follow her lead, when Switch stumbles in, claiming to be Domino in the Hellion's body. Domino lunges at him, and Siryn lets loose a sonic scream which breaks Switch's hold, and reverts the pair to their true bodies.X-Force go to confront the New Hellions, but between King Bedlam's brain-scrambling power and Paradigm's techno-organic tendrils, they're easily subdued. King Bedlam then prepares for the next part of his plan: transport of the contaiVFent unit to a nuclear power plant where he intends to revive the inhabitant of the container, an immensely powerful mutant he calls the Armageddon Man.