Meanwhile, back in the factory, the X-Men are looking for the Red Ghost, while Iceman and Havok are still arguing over Lorna’s situation. The others are getting tired of their squabble when they finally come upon Red. However, this startles him and phases out. Iceman gets the bright idea to freeze the area to look for his breath, because they weren’t sure if he phased or just went invisible, but this angers Wolverine because he easily could have sniffed him out, but can’t now that everything is frozen. This angers Logan enough that he decides to just go looking on his own.

He doesn’t go far when he comes across the Panther fighting the creature seen on the cover, and offers his assistance. After some tussling with the creature and playful banter between the two guys, Panther finally gives the monster a stiff whap on the nose and that finally tames the beast. Wolverine can’t believe it actually worked, but T’Challa reminds him you don’t have to overthink things.

Meanwhile, the apes have found their human killing virus. They then hear a call from their master Red Ghost, but decide to ignore it because he’ll be dealt with soon enough.

Red phases out of a wall, cursing his followers for not heeding his calls, when he gets a tap on the shoulder, and then a big knockout punch from Rogue. He wakes up to find Havok standing over him with his hand on his chest, saying that if he so much as starts to fade, he’ll blast him and scatter his atoms so he’ll never reassemble. He then fervently when they propose that he help them take care of Paine.

In his main room, Paine finally sees the X-Men bringing in Red, but isn’t too pleased. As soon as they enter, he demands them to just end it right now as Havok has his had right on Red’s head. However, they soon surround Paine and demand that he release Polaris. He threatens to kill her, but Storm says they’ll just kill him, but he thinks they don’t have the guts, and finally lets off his own plasma blast at Red, who easily phases to let it pass. Rogue tries to fly into him, but he freezes her into a block of ice. Gambit is on it as Storm and Havok take on Paine and Iceman and Red try to free Polaris. Red is having trouble with the newer controls, so Bobby just gets fed up and tries to blast the cage, but Paine manages to attack him again. Just then, in bursts Panther and the lizard creature that he has now tamed, which immediately bites down on one of Paine’s arms. He doesn’t want to hurt his products, but if it won’t get off, he’ll slice it off. Wolverine doesn’t take too kindly to someone else using his claws like that, and easily slices off Paine’s bone claws.

Panther makes it up to the platform where Red still can’t figure out the controls. He quickly releases Lorna, much to Red’s surprise, and jumps back down to join the fight. Meanwhile, Logan has gotten too close to Paine, who uses Rogues powers to cover him in flames and send him flying where he lands with a sickening splat, much to the horror of the other teammates. Paine begins to hover over the others, spouting his ideals, until Red pops up behind him and rips his heart out! He says the others would be too soft to do it, and phases out to look for his apes. The others are a bit shocked at his actions, except for Panther who says it saved him the trouble. Havok starts to argue with him, but Gambit reminds him they still have another bad guy on the loose, so they take off to find him, with Rogue and Storm flying in front and having a ladies discussion on the Panther.

Up on the roof, the apes are looking down on the people who have gathered below, and arguing about how just to release the virus. Just then, Red phases up through the floor demanding to know what they’re doing. He demands to know what it is the baboon is holding, and they let him know that the “ape age” is about to begin, but he just bursts into laughter at this. He then demands they give him the virus, but they just toss it over the edge, straight towards a little girl below. However, Storm arrives in time and sweeps it up with a gust of wind, and the people begin a cheer for the goddess. When she gets back to the roof, Iceman has already frozen the apes in blocks of ice, but Red is not seen. He then does the same to the virus, and hands it over to the Panther so his scientists can kill it. The X-Men then decide that it is time for them to leave, however, Storm has other plans. She’s going to stay behind in Africa. This perks T’Challa right up, but she immediately shoots him right back down, saying she will not be staying in Wakanda. She says her goodbyes to her teammates, then turns her attention to Panther: only to plant a big kiss on him. The then flies off, saying their paths will cross again. But then Cuddleface crawls into view, screeching “Not over yet, not over yet!”

Review: Hudlin has kicked some major behind in this crossover, and has made me a fan of his work. I still may not continue to pick up the Black Panther series(mainly due to the excess of other titles I currently read), but if he ever does anything X-related, I’m definitely gonna be there. I may even be so bold to say that he did a better job with some of the characters than Milligan did. Overall, Hudlin came out on top during all this. Milligan’s stuff just seemed to have very little flow, and just seemed too cluttered with very little explanation, and his Red Ghost sucked. At least Hudlin made him seem like at least a partial threat.

One thing I can say that I didn’t really enjoy was the thing between Storm and Panther. The whole relationship just screams of throwing the minorities together because that’s what they are. It’s like someone woke up one day and said, “Hey, they both have roots in Africa, and they’re our only major characters from there. Let’s make them lovers!” They’ve done it in the past and it hasn’t worked, what’s to say this won’t turn out the same? Very few comic relationships last for long periods of time, and it’s usually only the ones that seem to have something special between them that last. T’Challa and Storm don’t have that. Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Forge, and heck, even Quicksilver have had better chemistry with her than him.

The art was also a good fit for this title. Hudlin’s writing is a bit darker, and Yardin’s pencils, with their hard lines, fit with the writing perfectly. His designs even look a bit better in this book as well, especially with the apes who actually look a bit threatening.