Forge and Val Cooper awaken a Sentinel and have it attack the team as a test. Kind of like an unannounced active shooter drill. Dark Beast observes the battle and uses information from it when he pushes Random to kidnap Havok.
While they fight, Random tries to convince Havok that he is not a mercenary anymore but rather is being forced to fight. We the readers know this to be true, but you can’t blame Havok for not believing him.
Random wins the fight, and now Dark Beast has his own Havok. Fatale leaves Lorna a forged “Dear Jane” letter from Havok, telling his lover Polaris not to go looking for him. The Havok storyline is not resolved in these issues.
Also over these issues, Sabretooth is fitted with the same kind of restraining device being used on Mystique, and is being put on this team.
When did X-Factor become The Thunderbolts?
Meanwhile Naze is back, and so are Roma and The Adversary. Naze faces off with Adversary in the desert…
Adversary is looking for Forge. Naze gets in his way.
Naze dies. Roma gets a warning out to Forge, who makes special anti-Adversary guns for the team.
The artists on these issues are all big names, but the art is…Not great.
The team goes to battle against Adversary, who literally breaks Forge into pieces.
Naze returns (of course he’s not dead), and gives Forge the magical power he needs to win the day.
The big conclusion comes a little too fast and isn’t wholly satisfying, but overall this is a pretty good arc.