As soon as she’s blown the door down, Panther calls them all fools and Havok says they need answers, as Wolverine moves in. But before he can do anything, T’Challa grabs him and throws him into the rest of the group. Rogue, however, managed to miss her flying teammate, and checks on the scientist. Panther tries to warn her, but Polaris blocks him with a piece of the door, and Rogue is shocked when the scientist grabs her and absorbs her powers. He shoots a flame blast at T’Challa, but says he has more pressing matters, and turns towards the X-Men, and immediately grabs Iceman and Wolverine and absorbs them, then ice blasts Storm and Gambit. Havok doesn’t stand around though, and blasts the guy through the ceiling.

After everyone has recovered, Panther explains that the guy was Dr. Eric Paine, a former Genoshan scientist, who specialized in mutating humans through painful means, and leaving them with no will of their own. Wolverine says he thought all those scientists died, but Paine slipped out before the island city was destroyed, and with a bribe to the Niganda government, was able to do his experiments no matter what the cost to humans or the environment. Because of Wakanda’s no-intervention policy, he had to wait until M’butu tried to annex his country before he could do anything (this took place in the first 6 issues of BP). When the war broke out, the power failed and some of Paine’s experiments escaped. Havok wonders just how the geek made himself a mutant. Panther says that the guy knew the X-Men would show up for him sooner or later, so he gave himself the ability to mimic powers through touch. T’Challa was there trying to find a suit to contain the madman when they burst in.

Panther then suggest some ways to split up, saying the members who were already absorbed should go after him to limit the powers he could get, and Storm should deal with the rioters outside. Wolverine stands up to this, saying they’ll decide what to do with their team. Panther says that he hasn’t been able to go through enough of the research to find an off switch for the creatures, or to be able to bring in his scientists. Do they have anyone with them that can help? He was hoping Shadowcat or Beast would at least have shown. Havok, a little miffed, tells Storm to stay with T’Challa, since that was what she was probably gonna do anyway, and the rest of them will go after Paine. When they’re gone, T’Challa slightly mocks them, but Storm quickly shushes him. He hints that Wolverine is attracted to her, but she immediately shoots back at wondering how many women are in his harem these days. He tries to say that he’s been acting like a monk waiting for her, but she won’t hear it. She’s been avoiding this entire continent because of him and he’s about to remind her why. He says they’ll both handle their own business, and lets her know the rioters don’t care if she’s an X-Man, they need to see a goddess. She heeds his advice, but she won’t let him break her heart a second time, and leaves.

In another part of the factory, the team is tracking Paine through the halls, when Wolverine says he smells gas. Iceman begins to ice up all the vents, when a laser gun strikes him. Polaris takes one out, and Gambit aims for another, but hits the gas pipe instead, causing it to come in harder. Rogue tries to seal it up, but it’s no use as the team begins to pass out. Wolverine is the only one left and tries to contact Storm, but winds up with some claws through his chest. When he collapses, we see Paine standing above him, wearing a gas mask and admiring his set of bone claws.

Outside, a bunch of male rioters are searching with a couple of hyenas for a woman and her daughter. The hyenas catch their scent, and they chase after the women as the sky begins to darken. They turn the animals loose when they get close, and just as they’re about to strike, their hit by a couple bolts of lightning. They all look up to see a nude Storm commanding the men to stand back as the woman and her child are under her protection. Two of the men do not heed her warning, one even threatening to cut her just the same as anyone else, and she wonders just what he’ll cut with, as she sends a lighting bolt straight to his machete. After he’s collapsed, she wonders if anyone wants to raise their weapon to her to test their manhood.

T’Challa is still in Paine’s office, going through the notes with one of his scientist through a communicator, but stops when he hears something. He goes out into the hall, but is grabbed from behind by a pair of hairy arms and tossed into a wall. He turns to see he was attacked by a four armed gorilla, and moves to avoid another attack, but he is grabbed by his ankle and tossed down the hall. He doesn’t get a break though as he finds a baboon waiting for him. He hates baboons, but the baboon says he hates him too. He’s shocked to find that the monkey can talk, but he can do more than that as he hits him with a hypnotic glare. The Gorilla joins them and tells the baboon to hold him still as he winds up all four of his powerful fists.

Paine is now going about some business, talking on an earphone with someone unidentified, saying that their order will be ready soon. By the way, maybe he’ll be interested in some new items that just became available, he says as he closes the X-Men in containers. They’ll be available in singles, a complete set, or parts, as he starts a power saw while standing over a prone Polaris.

Review: Wow, things have really picked up. As I said last issue, I’m glad things aren’t totally focusing on the animals, and Paine makes a very good villain. Smart enough to predict some of the moves of our heroes, powering himself up to mimic all their supernatural abilities, and just the right amount of crazy makes for a very intriguing villain.

Speaking of villains, while I said I wasn’t a fan of making the mutated animals the focus, at least they’re making the animals that do seem to be the bigger bad guys smart. They can talk, and can form more combat strategies rather than attacking mindlessly, and that will make things more interesting.

I, again, also liked what was happening with Storm. It was nice to see her go even more back to her roots when confronting the rioters by actually appearing before them in the nude (and I’m not saying this just because I’m a man). It goes all the way back to when the comic world was first introduced to the weather goddess as she was nude a good amount of the time when she acted like a goddess. One thing that I really hope they don’t do with this crossover is have her and Panther hooking up (again). Doing something like that always just smells of “Oh, we have two African characters. They should hook up!” and that’s no reason to have two characters together.

Again, really liking where this is going, and I hope we get a glimpse at who was on the other end of the phone with Paine. The next part takes place in X-Men 176, see ya there.