Story: Tony Bedard & Jim Calafiore
Pencils: Mark McKenna

Synopsis & Review by Sean Mills. Thanks!:
Synopsis: In a showdown between the Exiles and Holocaust, the large orange son of Apocalypse restates his purpose: he wants to team up with the Exiles to combine the powers of the Tallus and the M’Kraan Crystal in order to get back at the Timebroker. Blink is very skeptical but Sabretooth isn’t too sure. Why not just attack? Why even bother with this speech? Because Holocaust is legitimate and because he needs their cooperation. They’re all in the same boat and he’s only been working for the Timebroker for less than a day and he can’t stand it, surely they feel the same way? Namora definitely does.

Meanwhile, an agent in the background is calling in reinforcements. Holocaust tries to reason with them that they should all get to work before those reinforcements arrive and Mimic tells him that they should continue this conversation behind bars considering how vile a person Holocaust is. That’s when the heavy artillery arrives and orders Holocaust to stand down. He’s not about to do that, and blames Creed for what he’s about to do as he points his blaster-arm at the tanks.

Mimic, however, ricochets a shot with his optic blast in order to deflect Holocaust’s attack and then he moves in for the attack. Only Holocaust smashes him a great distance away much to Blink’s dismay. Sabretooth tells the Exiles to cut it out, but Namora and Blink quickly launch an attack on Holocaust. Morph gets splattered onto the pavement as Holocaust tells Victor to put a leash on his pets. Namora doesn’t take too kindly to that and threatens to rip his domed head off. Holocaust tells them to settle down; he’s not there to kill them and doesn’t want them to force him to

As the Exiles check on Morph, Holocaust explains what the M’Kraan crystal is and what it can do. He explains that Apocalypse and the Dark Beast could barely understand it, but when it transported the Dark Beast and Holocaust to the 616 dimension, McCoy explained to Holocaust that it was a dimensional gateway connecting all multiple universes together. McCoy planned the jump by teleporting them all into the crystal. Holocaust plans to trace the energy frequency of the Tallus and use that to teleport them into the crystal and therefore transport them to the right place and surprise the Timebroker.

Namora is a little discouraged because the Timebroker is apparently a being who can watch all of time and space so what if he’s listening in at that very moment. Even if he is, that won’t stop Holocaust from trying. Even if this doesn’t work, they can all still fight, but why not at least try to solve the problem another way. Morph asks what if the Timebroker is right and that this world is toast if they don’t do their mission? Blink counters with the idea that perhaps Heather and Beak are at the mercy of the Timebroker and this is the only way to save them?

Sabretooth claps his hands and says that Holly has a deal, and then he tells Blink to get them out of there before the military decides to act. Though it seems odd that they stopped acting…Meanwhile, Mimic is a little concerned and quietly who put Sabretooth in charge.

So they teleport away, but before they can reach the crystal they first have to visit one of Dark Beast’s old labs in the Yucatan. McCoy never told Apocalypse about this lab because some of his most grotesque and secret experiments are down there under the water…including a big glass tube featuring some ugly blood-red mash of screaming faces and arms labeled “Power Pack”. Namora goes down and fights off at least one of the monsters before finding McCoy’s safe, which should have all of his notes about the crystal.

As she opens it, the Timebroker appears to try and convince her to work for him. He tries to convince her to do her mission and save this world, telling her that Magneto and the X-Men are on their way. She grabs the notebook and just gives him a dirty look before heading to the surface. Holocaust asks if she found anything interesting down there, but she just says that what she found bored her to tears but she knows that they’re about to have guests.

That’s when Magneto and Sunfire show up, he’s very surprised that three of his best X-Men, Sabretooth, Blink, and Morph, are now working with Holocaust! Morph, as an aside, explains to him that he’s actually a different Morph. (This begs the question of where AoA Morph is…maybe he’s dead, I don’t know. Can anyone tell me what happened to AoA Morph?) Magneto asks if they have any last words before he crushes them using the lab. Sabretooth tries to reason with Magneto and Mimic wonders why he’s such a threat.

That’s when Quicksilver rushes in and smacks Blink in the back while Gambit jumps down throwing his knife-bombs. Mimic, all Colossus steel and Northstar speed, catches up to Quicksilver and smashes him into a rock wall as he laments that the guy takes cheap shots and is a backstabbing jerk in any reality. Holocausts blasts away at Magneto, glad to have the chance to kill him and Magneto before he has to leave this world, protected by a shield, wonders just where the big orange dude has been for the past year.

Namora dives under water and Sunfire just laughs, explaining that he’ll just boil her out. Mimic turns around and slams himself full speed into the fiery X-Man. Morph is being attacked by Gambit, and he’s a little shocked that Gambit is throwing knife-bombs instead of using cards, and he makes a dumb joke about it. Gambit doesn’t know if Morph is being brainwashed or he simply forgot what side he was on, but either way he never liked his jokes. When the rubble clears, he moves in for the kill only to hesitate as he sees Quicksilver in the way.

The hesitation costs him, however, as the knives blow up in his hand and Quicksilver turns into Morph, making a joke about knowing when to hold’em or fold’em. He also makes a crack about how this universe probably doesn’t even have a Dukes of Hazzard. Sabretooth checks on an unconscious Blink as Holocaust tells Magneto that he prayed for a chance to finish the Master of Magnetism. Magneto tells him that he shutters to think who Holocaust prays to. Before anything can happen, Namora blasts out of the water and smashes Magneto’s helmet sending him crashing to the ground.

She stands between Holocaust’s gun and Magneto and the orange monster tells her to move, she’s blocking his shot. Namora explains that it was the Timebroker who told her the X-Men were coming, that he practically begged her to let Magneto die. Then she reminds Holocaust why they came here, to try and depose the Timebroker instead of carry out his wishes. He put Holocaust on this team because he expected him to have no self-control…is Holocaust going to prove the Timebroker right?

This causes Holocaust to pause, but then the Timebroker shows up and chants for Holocaust to go ahead and kill Magneto, the man who killed Apocalypse, he’s right there in his crosshairs! He’ll never have a better chance! Holocaust withdraws his gun and says he won’t give the Timebroker the satisfaction, and asks if Blink remembers the coordinates. Timebroker yells at him again, but the Exiles quickly leave. Magneto asks the Timebroker why he wants him dead. The grumpy Timebroker tells him he couldn’t care less about him. Magneto asks if he’s in league with Sinister, but the little butler is already disappearing as he tells Magneto to go save the world, he has bigger fish to fry.

The Exiles head to the laboratory Holocaust had found with the crystal and Holocaust calls out to the scientist he let survive. Holocaust explains to the man about the Tallus and what he expects the guy to do in calibrating the two items and then he hands over McCoy’s notebook to help the guy. Holocaust gives him a time limit and threatens his life in order to get him to hurry. Morph asks if they’re really going to let Holocaust kill the guy, but Mimic tells him of course not. Besides, Mimic is now more worried about how Blink has been acting since they hooked up with Sabretooth…it’s like she’s never led the Exiles.

An hour later, the scientist is astounded at how easy it was with McCoy’s note, so obvious. He’s figured it out and all they have to do is teleport into the crystal. Blink is worried; it’s never safe to teleport into solid objects. Holocaust tells her that this is not the time for cold feet and Blink shots back with the fact that she’s not afraid of a challenge, that she faced him one-on-one before. But if the scientist got something wrong, it’s going to be one very stupid death. Mimic takes her hand and tells her it’ll be okay, that he’ll be there to take the jump with her. She’s still unsure, but then Sabretooth takes her hand and assures her as well and then she’s definitely ready to do it, much to Mimic’s dismay.

The Exiles Blink in and come out in some pink crystal looking place, but the Timebroker isn’t in sight. Sabretooth doesn’t smell anyone, at least no one human…

Review: Again, a very great book! With great art, a fun new cast member in Holocaust, and a neat twist about how to confront the Timebroker, the Exiles are rocketing into a great future storyline. Everything worked nicely in this issue, especially the fight with the X-Men. Although I’m displeased to see that Magneto doesn’t seem willing to let Blink and Sabretooth explain what’s going on. The two of them, as well as Holocaust, have all been missing for a year and suddenly they show up together? Surely there must be a story to tell.

Oh well, the fight was still good and it was nice to see Morph actually morph into someone instead of just a version of himself in a funny costume. If I was more of a fan of the AoA I’d probably delight in the cameos, but oh well. Again this is basically set-up, but it’s nice set-up. I’d love it if McKenna stuck around to do the rest, but it’s back to the other artist so oh well.

Something to keep track of might be that cut from Namora giving the Timebroker a dirty look to her popping above water. The Exiles is known for looking back at little scenes like that and revealing something bigger as to have happened. That idea is backed by the fact that she didn’t mention the Timebroker as soon as she came out. Very curious. Also, I’m getting excited about this rivalry between Mimic and Sabretooth, but only as Blink is concerned. The fact that she’s reverting to a childlike behavior around Creed seems like a natural response, so I can’t wait to see where that goes.

So everyone keep reading! It’s bound to only get better!