YEAH, WELL,
SAVE YOUR ENERGY.
YOU'RE
GOING TO NEED IT.
YEAH.
C'MON.
TURN IT OFF, SPARKY,
OR WE'LL KILL YOU NOW.
WE'RE JUST HERE TO TALK.
PEOPLE WHO JUST
WANT TO TALK DON'T MAKE
THAT KIND OF ENTRANCE.
SHE'S GOT A
DRAMATIC STREAK, OKAY?
YOU KNOW, WE'RE
ALL ON THE SAME SIDE HERE.
THEN WHY DID YOU INTERFERE
WITH US AT TRICORP?
BECAUSE WHEN NEW MUTANTS GO
ON A CRIME SPREE YOU PUT ALL
THE REST OF US IN DANGER.
WHAT THE HELL
IS A NEW MUTANT?
C'MON.
CHILDREN OF GENOMEX.
I'M AN ELEMENTAL,
SHE'S A FERAL LIKE YOU TWO.
WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT
ANY CHILDREN OF GENOMEX.
WHAT WE KNOW IS THAT TRICORP
MURDERED MY SQUAD AND
TURNED US INTO FREAKS.
FREAKS.
WELL, WE CERTAINLY
KNOW HOW YOU FEEL.
WELL, GENOMEX IS DEFINITELY
A SILENT PARTNER IN TRICORP
BOTANICALS,
BUT BEYOND THE BUSINESS
RELATIONSHIP, I COULDN'T
DIG UP ANYTHING
YOU MIGHT CALL DIRTY
IN THEIR DATABASE AT ALL.
YEAH, AND WE ALSO KNOW THAT
GENOMEX'S INVOLVEMENT DOESN'T
NECESSARILY MEAN ANYTHING.
YEAH.
THE ONLY THING
OF INTEREST WAS THIS.
SEEMS TO BE THEIR
PRIMARY RESEARCH PROJECT.
IT'S BEAUTIFUL.
ALL RIGHT.
THAT'S THE LINK
WE WERE LOOKING FOR.
IT'S A PLANT
CALLED REFLISHA PRISAY.
APPARENTLY
IT'S EXTREMELY RARE.
ONLY TWELVE OR SO PLANTS ARE
KNOWN TO EXIST IN THE WORLD.
AND THE HYDROPONIC GARDEN
AT TRICORP BOTANICAL HAS THREE
OF THEM HOUSED
IN THEIR GREENHOUSE.
WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED?
THE REFLISHA
PRISAY IS A GENETICALLY
ENGINEERED PARASITIC PLANT
WHICH SPENDS MOST OF ITS LIFE
AS A THREAD-LIKE INFECTION
STRAND WITHIN A HOST.
YEAH.
WHAT'S THE BIG
DEAL WITH THIS PLANT?
ALL RIGHT.
IN THE EARLY
DAYS OF DNA RESEARCH,
WE WERE HUMBLED TO LEARN
THAT THE GENETIC DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN A HUMAN BEING AND YEAST
WAS A SINGLE STRAND OF CODE.
SO WE ALL LOOKED FOR A LINK
BETWEEN THE ANIMAL WORLD AND THE
PLANT WORLD
AND THE REFLISHA PRISAY
PROJECT WAS A MISSTEP THAT
GENOMEX MADE IN THEIR
ATTEMPT TO MANIPULATE HUMAN DNA.
THE TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR
GROWTH CYCLE HAVE ANYTHING
TO DO WITH THE PROBLEMS?
EXACTLY.
I THOUGHT THE PROJECT
WAS DEAD A LONG TIME AGO.
I GUESS THEY JUST PUT ASIDE
'TIL THE NEXT TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR
CYCLE CAME ALONG.
AND WE HAVE
TO ASSUME THAT DARK STAR'S
ATTACK ON TRICORP HAS
SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT.
SO, LISTEN, WHY DON'T YOU
TWO COORDINATE YOUR EFFORTS,
SEE WHAT YOU CAN FIND OUT
ABOUT WHAT TRICORP MAY BE UP
TO WITH THIS PROJECT NOW?
OKAY?
DARK STAR IS
AN INCURSION DROP TEAM.
WAS.
THREE MONTHS AGO, WE WERE
ASSIGNED TO A SEARCH AND DESTROY
MISSION IN THE RAIN FOREST
OUTSIDE OF BOGOTA TO TAKE OUT A
LANDING FIELD
SERVING THE CARTELS.
AS ALWAYS,
WE HAD WHAT WE FIGURED WAS
THE USUAL RUN OF VACCINATIONS.
BUT SOMETHING
STARTED HAPPENING RIGHT
AWAY AND A FEW OF US BEGAN
GETTING STRONGER,
WHILE MOST OF OUR
SQUAD BECAME HORRIBLY ILL.
MY PEOPLE WERE
DROPPING LIKE FLIES.
AND THAT WAS BEFORE
THE CARTEL SOLDIERS HAD US
SURROUNDED AND UNDER FIRE.
OVER THERE.
I TRIED TO CALL IT
IN BUT WE GOT NO RESPONSE.
THE ONLY WAY WE SURVIVED WAS
TO HEAD DEEPER INTO THE BUSH.
A MATTER OF
DAYS, ONLY ANGEL, CORPORAL
RANDALL, AND I WERE ALIVE.
WE BURIED OUR FALLEN
COMRADES AND EXPECTED
THE SAME FATE FOR OURSELVES.
INSTEAD, WE DEVELOPED
INCREDIBLE NEW ABILITIES.
WE MANAGED TO TAKE A PRISONER,
A CARTEL DRUG SOLDIER.
HE TOLD US IT WAS TRICORP
BOTANICAL REPS WHO SET THE WHOLE
THING UP, TO TEST A NEW SERUM
AND TO GAUGE OUR ABILITIES
TO DEFEND OURSELVES.
WE WERE HUMAN LAB RATS.
AND THEIR
TESTS KILLED MY SQUAD.
EXCEPT BEAU AND ME.
MUST'VE BEEN ALL THOSE
SHOTS BEFORE YOU LEFT.
THEY HAD TO HAVE BEEN
TESTING SOME KIND OF PROCESS
ON YOU WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE.
YEAH, THEN THEY DROPPED YOU
INTO WHAT THEY FIGURED WAS A
CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT
TO OBSERVE YOU.
BUT THEY DIDN'T COUNT
ON YOU GUYS GETTING OUT.
WHAT THEY DIDN'T
COUNT ON WAS THAT DARK
STAR TAKES CARE OF ITS OWN.
YEAH, WELL,
SO DO FERALS.
AMONG NEW MUTANTS,
WE'RE A BREED APART.
AS YOU CAN SEE, THE SMALL
MAN IS CLEARLY