This issue put me in a really good mood.
We open with the preview pages, a crisp autumn day at the Treehouse. "Home of the best superhero team in the world, the X-Men." Synch is monitoring the monitors when Jean telepathically calls him saying he's needed at the Vault. There's a tear running down her cheek. He rushes to a gate saying he'll be right there.
A short time ago in the Vault, Forge closes the container holding Laura and says Darwin is the mission and they must leave her for now. Caliban is not having it and yells that he wants to help her. Forge reveals that the Caliban embedded in his suit is simply his mind and DNA woven into it. He doesn't exist. Forge presses a button putting him to sleep, but second guesses himself and wakes him back up. Caliban is tired of everyone using his "curse". Forge, feeling bad, asks him if he senses Darwin at all.
Before Caliban can answer, Serafina gets the jump on them and knocks Forge out. She pulls out a blade when Caliban, looking up at her as Forge is on the floor, says her name. She's surprised and he tells her that he has access to all the pertinent files needed for the mission. She asks him why they're there and he's honest in telling her it's a rescue mission. Forge starts waking up and "snikts" three red, glowing claws. He lunges at Serafina but she dodges gracefully like an Olympic gymnast. She throws the blade which punctures him just below the shoulder.
He stumbles back into the room with the body containers, orders his suit to increase power to its life support capabilities, and to prepare a mission failure beacon. Serafina follows him and Caliban suggests that he do the talking since Serafina mentioned that she already likes him more than Forge. Honesty goes a long way, friends. She sits on another container across from them to chat. She recalls being held prisoner by Orchis (See Hickman's X-Men #1) and the mutants freeing her. She asks why. Caliban smiles and says, "that's what the X-Men do. They do what is right. Leaving you a prisoner of Orchis would have been wrong." Serafina presses the blade to Forge's throat, saying she's going to ask some questions. If he tells the truth, he'll live. If he lies, he dies.
"Did you construct the trap outside the entrance to the Vault?""Yes.""Very good. Why?""The alternative was... war.""Correct again. What was your ulterior motive?""Because I wanted to see what will happen."
She believes him, that's why she's going to let them live and let them leave with their mutant. Her debt has been repaid. Plus she too wants to see how this will end (the war between the two species.) She leaves and Forge regrets not getting her number. As he's about to get up though, what looks like live wires come up from behind him and plug themselves into his body. Confused, he passes out.
He wakes up (looking incredible) on Krakoa, peaceful and quiet in bed in a really cool treehouse apartment. He wonders if he's dead when a voice calls out to him. He springs out of bed and to the balcony where he sees his vision of a glorious city of Krakoa come to life. Remember the model he was working on with buildings and streets, etc.? He's living in it now, and we see Banshee, Rogue, and a fire-flyer. It's beautiful! Darwin, with angel wings, floats down to him. This is all in Forge's mind as Darwin wanted to chat with him in private. Darwin explains that as he was being experimented on and hooked up to so many wires, he said to himself, "I don't know how I'm going to get out of this one", and the answer came to him.
Forge: "You're code."
When the Children scanned Darwin's memories, he gave them a curated version of his life and snuck his consciousness into their architecture. Forge is amazed and says he's done enough for mutantkind and wants to get him home and upload him into a new body. But Darwin prefers to stay. Without a body, he can be in many places at once and he's learning so much about the Vault and wants to learn more. He's free and without pain. He's a rockstar. Forge says he hopes they meet again and Darwin says he's sure of it, disappearing.
Forge wakes up and Caliban says he was out for several minutes. He orders the suit to transform into medevac frame. Caliban: "So we're doing the right thing?" Forge: "Yes. I think I heard somewhere along the way... that is what the X-Men do," as he opens Laura's container again.
I'll let the next 3 pages speak for themselves because they are some of the greatest pages I've ever seen and read.
Scott, smiling, "Or not." Forge uses a blowtorch to destroy the suit and announces that the Vault pacification systems are fully operational, and that as long as Krakoa is functioning, the Vault is on ice. They all walk through a gate, Everett and Laura holding hands. Forge has one thing to do before he briefs them on Darwin and what he learned.
We're at the Green Lagoon, Forge at the bar with Caliban. He asked Caliban to join him because there is trouble. Or there was trouble. Forge: “Hypothetically, if I asked you to trust me and to trust me with everything that you are - your powers and your mind - would you do that… if it could help mutants in trouble?”
Caliban, with his forever sweet face: “Yes.”
Forge is relieved and says he has quite a story to tell him and an apology to give him. But first he wants to tell him about the time Synch, Darwin, Wolverine went into the Vault...
Dr. Reyes data page which essentially says that "Alpha Wolverine"'s Cerebro backup was similar in size to Synch's when he emerged from the Vault. So it was very odd that Forge's backup was huge, measured in Zettabytes. Odd because he used Tempo's powers in his suit to keep himself in "a bubble" and safe from the temporal storm in the Vault. His mind should be the same size as when he went in but now his backups are larger than some of the most powerful telepaths.
Update: His next backup was inside the expected strike zone so his massive backup was either an error or an anomaly. Hmm.