Dr. Segismund Joshua, a research scientist at the Damocles Foundation, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, retrieves from the installation’s armory a molecular disruptor. He then informs a colleague he is taking personal time off, and is going to Las Vegas.
In the heart of the gambling Mecca, within an unfinished abandoned hotel/casino, Reignfire gloats over his captives, the young mutants of X-Force: Theresa Rourke (Siryn), Danielle Moonstar, Tabitha Smith (Meltdown) and Roberto ‘Bobby’ DaCosta (Sunspot), along with their former teammate, Sally Blevins (once called ‘Skids’). The four girls are bound and suspended by their ankles, while Bobby is chained to a dais. Reignfire’s ally, Locus, tells the five they’ll soon die. Unaccounted for by the villains is the remaining member of X-Force, James Proudstar (Warpath), who managed to leap unseen through Locus’ portal in Boulder, Colorado.
As James tries to concoct a rescue plan, Tabitha manages to break a weak link in her chains, but she finds she’s unable to use her mutant ability to generate ‘time bombs’. Likewise, all the mutants’ powers are dampened by the presence of Henry Wallinger, a simple-minded mutant with power-cancelling abilities. Locus calls him Short Circuit.
Bobby demands to know who Reignfire is and why he intends to kill them. Reignfire commences to explain their relationship: Reignfire and Bobby shared a telepathic bond, allowing the villain to control Bobby’s thoughts and actions, forcing him to masquerade as Reignfire, leading the Mutant Liberation Front, and to later unmask in front of X-Force. Locus and Reignfire fed the mutant heroes a set of believeable lies, and when Cable thought he had telepathically excised Reignfire’s persona from Bobby’s mind, he had merely severed their link, leaving Reignfire dazed for months.
Meanwhile, Dr. Joshua speeds down a Nevada highway. He recalls events of two years prior, when he was assigned by Gideon to use the captive Roberto DaCosta as an experimental subject. Joshua attempted to transfer genetic material gathered from Bobby to another mutant Joshua had designated Project Nineteen. Nineteen’s physical form had been deteriorating until blood taken from Bobby reversed the illness.
At the casino, Reignfire is draining the rest of Bobby’s powers, drawing them into himself. James makes his move, toppling a statue onto Locus and Short Circuit. Locus recovers and attacks James, intenting to decapitate his with her portal, but with Short Circuit unconscious, Sally’s power of frictionlessness returns and she slips her bonds. She tackles Locus, who tries to retaliate, but their respective powers disrupt each other, and the pair end up unconscious in a distant mountain range.
The rest of the team free themselves and take on Reignfire, but he sets the building on fire. Tab, Dani and James (carrying Short Circuit) escape through a hole Tabitha blasts in the floor, while Theresa hauls Bobby up and out through the roof. Reignfire follows and continues the fight on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas. Dr. Joshua, who has reached the scene, fires his molecular disruptor at the villain, severely hurting him. Reignfire retaliates by burning Joshua. Bobby finds the geneticist, briefly confronting him before picking up the weapon, and firing it at Reignfire.
The disruptor destroys Reignfire’s physical form, leaving him an ectoplasmic mass. Bobby eases up on the trigger, and Reignfire takes the opportunity to enter Bobby’s body, gaining full control.
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