Ah, the boreal wild... On many nights, it can be just as wild as its name suggests. On others, villains like to come out and bury their treasure.

This estate is a long way from Vancouver...and St. Petersburg...and Reykjavik...and Tokyo... Many valuables are kept here...as are a lot of dangerous inventions. Langkowski and Samson both know the people who own this place.

Via EVA, a sentient techno-organic being, five men teleport onto the front lawn. They're mutants...and they're all warriors. They're here on assignment. The owner of this lodge has abandoned it for a stint, and they need a detail to protect it. Domino knows the owner. (The real one; not the Copycat imposter.) Shucks, Domino was probably once Mr. Petersen's mistress... But of course, she'd never admit it if any of them ever asked her.

Via his cybernetics, Fantomex gets the team through the lodge's front door. Foolishly, Mr. Petersen left it locked, because he forgot X-Force was coming. It's expected. But then, from what these X-Force men have heard, Domino seems to prefer men she can control. She clearly wasn't sleeping with him at the time he left, though; if so, Mr. Petersen would've remembered to leave the door unlocked.

Fantomex sends EVA to do reconnaissance around the place. Cannonball goes with her. In the lodge's rooms, the X-Force quarters themselves, and turns the lodge into their barracks. EVA returns, and unpacks for Cannonball, as the latter flies recon.

Pete Wisdom does a security inspection. Warpath perches atop the roof, and keeps watch. Caliban circles the perimeter, and checks for traces of mutants.

Alas, Caliban detects a mutant's X-factor. He's not sure if he recognizes it...but it reminds him a lot of Wolverine. But to him, that doesn't make sense; Wolverine isn't hostile. Violent, but not hostile. Caliban's also pretty sure it's not Sabretooth. And it isn't X-23, or any of her sisters...

Soon, a terrifying thought crosses Caliban's mind: Daken. He's the half-Japanese spawn of Wolverine...and a mistake, as far as most of free mutantity is concerned. Caliban doesn't know what Daken's X-factor smells like...even so, he knows for a fact that Daken's inherited his father's powers. And Itsu, his Japanese mother, wasn't a mutant at all. Also, at least once, Daken's led the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. And they're always bad news for both the X-Men and their allies.

X-Force, generally speaking, takes NO pride in being the X-Men's ally. Even so, they also want to be better than the Brotherhood...and this is part of, at least, how they do it.

Later, EVA seems to share Caliban's suspicion...as her avionics have detected a rival AI in the area. Alas, she can't collect enough info to be sure whose it is. Great; the X-Force has just got here, and already, it's apparent that their clients are in peril.

Lucky for the X-Force, there's no one here to protect; just a heap of valuables and dangerous inventions. Most of these inventions would become even more dangerous, if they ever ended up in the wrong hands.

A lot of these devices were made by the Brand Corporation. Once, Brand was a piece of Roxxon. Now, thanks to the aid of Hank McCoy and Tony Stark, it stands alone...figuratively. Now it trades with companies such as Essex, Yashida, and Worthington...for better or worse.

Some of the more medical devices have the Langkowski and/or Samson name on them. The least they can do, some of them suppose, if Banner tech is truly contraband in this joint. Hard to tell how that is, though...

Wisdom and Warpath take a trip down into one of the cellars...and find out firsthand that someone who lives here has obsessions...with Guardian, Capt. Britain, or both. There are many, many battlesuit prototypes for both heroes in pods down here. Inside the pods, they dress faceless mannequins.

Proudstar scoffs at the Guardian suits. "Heather McNeil," he murmurs.

"Or Meggan Puceanu," Wisdom adds, acknowledging the Capt. Britain suits.

"Must've been," Proudstar adds. He takes one of his own vibranium Bowie knives out of its scabbards, and surveys the blade. Moments later, he spins, it, and holsters it back. "Don't the Captains Britain, at least, have a Sword of Might? Or an Amulet of Right, even?"

Guthrie joins them, and levitates past them. He opens a case near a wall. Sure enough, there's an Amulet of Right inside.

Wisdom scoffs. "So now," he says, with his usual British accent, "even the bloody Queen buries her treasures in Canada."

"Not the Queen," Sept reminds them. "The Captain Britain Corps."

"I don't blame them," Guthrie admits. "This is a damn good place to hide shit."

"We'd best raise our guard," Wisdom tells them, "and keep it raised. If Caliban and EVA are both correct about their respective bad feelings, we could be in for a sequel of Skyfall, if we don't step lightly."

Guthrie scoffs. "We might be in for just that, if we do."

Via technology, Fantomex and EVA both lock up the place in a flash. Wisdom makes his rounds, making sure everything's locked and loaded.


Outside, the first night of the job passes. In the woods surrounding the lodge, the cicadas sing. A chill rises from the ground...and lingers.

From the sky, an android levitates downward. When her feet touch the ground, she shapeshifts into a female.

On all fours, a mutant human, with very long blond hair, stalks into the open, and perches near her. Some have a hard time believing he's human.

A third mutant joins them, and stands between them. Together, they stand just outside the lodge's perimeter, where they're safe...for now. This is Omega Flight. They've tangled with Alpha Flight...and now they're pretty sure they're ready for a bigger challenge.

Flashback and Wild Child have both answered Ms. Courtney's call to arms. Sadly, her human lover back at Roxxon couldn't make it. She'll be commanding the Omega Flight on her own, during this offensive. That shouldn't be a problem; this time, she's only got two subordinates to speak of.

Alas, that won't last. Flashback has made temporal duplicates of himself...and they'll be joining this offensive soon.

For now, though, the three members of Omega Flight patrol the perimeter, doing reconnaissance. They seek out all of the lodge's weak points. This'll be the easy job, of course. The hard job will be getting know the personal weaknesses of those five X-Force men inside. Ms. Courtney and Flashback, at least, just might have the means of doing that...