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Quote1 I like to think of X-Force as a dark orchestra. Some of us prefer the spotlight of the melody... like a shrill, brilliant violin... or a fun, emotive sax. While others harmonize in the background. Some serve a necessary function by mindlessly beating drums and crashing cymbals... pleasuring in their violent rhythm. And there are those who are as versatile as a cello... able to play melody or harmony, to swing between the brightest and darkest notes. And I... I am their conductor. Quote2
Beast

Appearing in "Intelligence"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Muerte Verde (First appearance) (Unnamed) (Main story and flashback)
    • Hadwin Cocom (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
    • Numerous unnamed others (First appearance) (Main story and flashback) (Death of several)

Other Characters:

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Synopsis for "Intelligence"

Charles Xavier attends a press conference at the estate of the president of Terra Verde, Manuel Cocom. The event is being held to celebrate President Cocom’s decision to sign the treaty with Krakoa. Black Tom Cassidy is there as Xavier’s security, an extra measure put in place to guard against another assassination attempt. Xavier, meanwhile, is secretly grateful for his assassination and resurrection. He believes it showed the mutants on Krakoa how fragile their new status quo is and galvanized them to come together towards a shared future.

The president takes the podium, but as he begins his speech, a vine wraps itself around his leg. Three members of the audience start to transform into monstrous plant-like creatures, vines and woody spikes protruding from their bodies. They warn the president not to sign the treaty because they are Terra Verde’s future. As two of them close in on Xavier, Black Tom triggers his own vegetative transformation and shouts at the creatures to leave.

Later at The Pointe, Black Tom recounts the confrontation to Beast and Sage, and tells them the attackers did in fact leave after his threat. From her computer terminal, Sage shares that President Cocom has just reneged on his pledge to sign the treaty. The three of them review all available video from the press conference, which shows the creatures abducting the real target, the president’s son.

That night, President Cocom is receiving medical attention in his suite when Beast and Marvel Girl pay him a visit. Cocom pleads that his son will be killed if he talks to them. Jean says talking won’t be necessary and probes his mind. She learns that the creatures that kidnapped Cocom’s son are Terra Verdean scientists who have been infected and corrupted by telefloronic technology. According to Krakoan intelligence, Terra Verde’s telefloronics program is akin to organic nanotechnology. It allows for symbiosis between plant matter and a host body that can be used for medical and (potentially) military applications. Beast ponders this information and decides that the X-Force field team is needed. He asks Marvel Girl to wipe the memory of their visit from everyone in the building except for the president. Hank says he wants Cocom to remember that he owes Krakoa.

The X-Force strike team - Wolverine, Domino, Marvel Girl, and Kid Omega - deploys to the Terra Verdean jungle and is quickly attacked by numerous telefloronic organisms. As X-Force fights the creatures, Beast watches and reflects on his role as the secret team’s “conductor”. To Hank, his job is to anticipate threats to mutantkind and take steps - sometimes controversial ones - to prevent them. Hank sees the telefloronic hosts as a threat potentially as dire as the Omega Sentinels; thus, extreme proactive measures are necessary to stop them.

As X-Force advances through the jungle, Beast telepathically contacts Marvel Girl and shares his theory. He then tells her to completely destroy the first wave of attackers. Jean does so reluctantly, despite the Krakoan law to “kill no man”. X-Force reaches an ancient ruin, on top of which stands the president’s son, Hadwin. Jean descends onto the pyramid, but before she can move to rescue Hadwin, he transforms, revealing that he has been infected by the telefloronics as well.

Later, Hadwin is strapped to an exam table in The Pointe. Beast sits at a computer terminal, having learned that Hadwin faked his own kidnapping to prevent the treaty being signed and ensure that Terra Verde’s telefloronics remain relevant to the world. Hank knows that access to an alternative to Krakoa’s technology and medicine, humanity would cease to recognize the mutants’ sovereignty. Hank uses the terminal to reprogram the telefloronics in Hadwin’s body to target his neural functions. The now-vegetative Hadwin is returned to Terra Verde.

As Beast predicted, President Cocom blames the infected scientists for his son’s condition and feels indebted to Krakoa for rescuing Hadwin. Cocom subsequently signs the treaty, granting the citizens of Terra Verde access to Krakoa’s medicines.

Unbeknownst to Beast, however, the telefloronics in Hadwin’s body have evolved. After the president leaves Hadwin’s bedside in the presidential estate, the young man’s body dissolves into a fluid organic form. It slips out the bedroom window and down to the ground below, where it reforms into a faceless, red-eyed humanoid shape and walks away from the compound into the jungle.

Solicit Synopsis

DEADLY CHOICES CARRY DARK CONSEQUENCES!

First, Domino and Forge have to pick up the pieces as the team faces a major setback! Then, Beast takes matters into his own hands when a piece of new technology threatens the safety of the nation.

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