X-Force #1

Rob Leifeld - story and art
Fabian Nicieza - script

The newly formed team is preparing for an operation against The Mutant Liberation Front (MLF) in Antarctica. They begin with some hired soldiers, but soon find that Forearm, Kamikaze, Wildside, and Reaper are there to defend the base also. Shatterstar slices off Reaper's hand, Cable grapples with Forearm and is helped out by Warpath, Feral rips out Wildside's tongue, breaks his jaw and is stopped short of killing him, while Kamikaze is lost somewhere in the battle. Meanwhile, further in the base, Stryfe becomes aware of the security compromise and orders Thumbelina to contact Zero for teleportation and to leave the other 4 MLF members behind. Knowing he has lost this battle, Stryfe activates self destruct code "Nathan 0-0-0" . He appears before X-Force to teleport Wildside away and addresses Cable as "Nathan" before teleporting away. They sense the place is coming apart and Cable bodyslides the team back to their IPAC scoutcraft where Domino takes the controls and makes the escape. In Gideon's penthouse, he and Roberto are working out in a training center. Gideon reveals it has been six months since Roberto left the team and he is now ready to enter the business world with Gideon. They prepare for the "Jankos stock buyout". Back in Antarctica, Commander G. W. Bridge of S.H.I.E.L.D. investigates the remains of the MLF base. From some abandoned weapons, he knows Cable has been there and he sends a report to Nick Fury. Later that afternoon, the team settles into the former Sentinel manufacturing base of Larry Trask in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate NY. Cannonball talks with Cable about the previous operation and the subject of Cable's son surfaces. Sam believes Cable's son was killed by Stryfe, but Cable tells a different story this time. His name was Tyler and he was not really his blood son, but a fellow freedom fighter who fell in with the MLF and died in battle. Domino then walks in and Sam leaves. She tells Cable that the team wants to know more about what the grudge match between him and Stryfe is all about, when she is startled to see Cable levitating tools. She scolds him for not revealing the truth about himself, but Cable will remain a mysterious man, until he feels they are ready to learn. In Manhattan Gideon and Roberto enter their meeting where they soon find out they have become hostages of Arianna Jankos and her hired extortioner, Black Tom. Gideon holds back Roberto from acting, telling him to wait for the right moment. In the final scene, G.W. talks to Nick Fury from his helicopter, who gives him the authority to do whatever it takes to bring in Cable. G.W. briefly contemplates his past with Cable then contacts Department K of Canadian Intelligence requesting the help of Weapon X.

Written By David Downie