Exiles: New World (Marvel NEW)/Issue 4

The fifth issue of the Marvel NEW ongoing series, Exiles: New World. Succeeded by Exiles: New World Issue 5 and preceded by Exiles: New World Issue 3. This issue was released on December 8, 2017.

Synopsis
''Newly arrived to Earth-50701, the Exiles found themselves having a rough start by encountering the reality's unique breed of villains. Now forced into a confrontation against four anonymous rogues and a mind-controlled Ben Grimm, how will the Exiles fare against the multiverse's one-and-only Imperfects?''

Continuity
This issue is part of the Imperfect story arc, set after its introduction in Exiles: New World Issue 3.

Plot
On Earth-50701, the Exiles are seen in a confrontation against the Imperfects after attempting to rescue a family. One of the Imperfects, the Wink, states her interest in the discovery. She wonders of who these "heroes" are. Hazmat suggests that they're fresh recruits for the resistance, but Brigade says that it's impossible because they've wiped them out long ago. The Imperfects' Thing steps in, telling them that no matter of who they are, Roekel would be pleased experimenting on them.

The Punisher aims his machine gun at the Thing, telling him that he'd be pleased if he rained down lead upon his rocky face. Noticing the Punisher's presence, the Wink is abruptly surprised and reveals of the death of the reality's Punisher. She however, doesn't regard much about his presence because all they care are power, their master, and combat.

Greenskyn laughs, telling them if it's combat they seek, they will have it. The Imperfects immediately take stance while Greenskyn does the same. Fortunately, Rojhaz tells him to not yet engage them and opts the way of reason. Rojhaz tells them that it's inevitable that they will fight, but let the family go and find themselves a shelter. Besides, all they care is about power and combat, not death and destruction. Rojhaz then switches his attention to the Thing, who he recognizes from his home reality (both Earth-460 and Earth-311).

He tells Grimm to fight off whatever's controlling him, but the Thing ignores him. The stone-skinned hero tells Rojhaz that while he does look familiar to him, he's still nothing but a stranger to him. And as a stranger, therefore, he's also an enemy. Bull tells Rojhaz that seems like reasoning isn't gonna work on them. Ghost Rider however, says that there's gotta be a way to free them from Roekel's influence. War Machine joins in and tells the group that he has scanned the Imperfects and says that it will be hard to free them.

War Machine informs the team that they're controlled by some sort of virus, but it's not exactly one. It's a type of biomechanical construct that is injected to their mind, acting like a psychotropic. After the injection, the virus goes on to affect the victim's mind by goading them into rage. Eventually they will give in to their darkest desire in, somehow, combat, and be controlled by Roekel.

Spider-Man tells Rojhaz that he could just outright extract the virus with his Uni-Power, but War Machine explains that the virus can't be outright extracted as it will kill the victim no matter what the method is. Bull, cracking her knuckles, then tells them all that for now, they should focus on keeping the family safe while driving the Imperfects back. Rojhaz responds, but gets interrupted mid-way through by Brigade who asks them if they're gonna fight or what.

After that, the panel zooms in to the Captain Britain's mouth, smiling while quoting, "No $*#&."

Bull immediately does a bull-rush to Brigade, plowing through debris and vehicles behind while prompting Greenskyn to unleash his battle excitement. The Exiles lock in combat with the Imperfects, with the numbers favoring the Exiles seven to five. Greenskyn gloriously takes on the Thing, Captain Universe facing off against the Wink, Ghost Rider and the Punisher hold the searing heat of Solara, and Rojhaz handling Hazmat.

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While the battle transpires, Uatu and Kang observe the Imperfects' performance in battle while reviewing War Machine's data. Kang admits that she's impressed by the Imperfects, even complementing the Wink for actually making Captain Universe struggle with her surprising agility. Uatu simply says he told her, pointing out that the Imperfects are one of the more finer aspects of the multiverse. Kang suddenly becomes disgusted by him, telling him to stop raising their position. Uatu apologizes, stating that it's been a while since he's ever seen anything so unique. Kang sighs in boredom, reminding him of the multiverse's size and how many more oddities and uniqueness lie out there.

In the other universe itself, a cloaked space-ship is seen hovering over the Earth's orbit. In the ship's control room, a man is seen observing the Imperfects' fight with the Exiles. Seeing the ordeal, he mutters that whoever these people the Imperfects are fighting, they will be remarkable subjects. A scientist approaches him and asks him if they should prepare the new containment chambers then. The man turns, revealing himself to be Niles Van Roekel himself, ordering the scientist to do so.

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The battle between the two groups continue, as the family decides to make a run for it to a nearby subway station. While fighting the Thing, Greenskyn gets knocked back and falls near the entrance of the subway station. The family, stunned, is immediately greeted in a friendly manner by the troll before being ordered to run. They comply and Greenskyn continues the fight by rushing to the Thing and delivering him a beat down.

Ghost Rider is seen crashing upon the flying Solara with his motorcycle, yelling at her to eat his wheels. On the ground, Ghost Rider thinks that she's taken enough beating and tells her to stand down. Solara "thanks" him for telling that, but says that she's still thirsty for some more heat. Rider, confused, gets distracted and ends up having his head blasted by Solara.

Seeing the youngster crashing down a large pile of debris, Punisher reacts and opens fire on the newly recovered Solara. Solara simply melts the bullets going to her, telling him that the Punisher (of this reality) died because of his foolishness in thinking that simple guns can decimate humanity's next step in evolution.

The Punisher stays tough and asks her why the hell does she suddenly become a professor. Solara reveals that she was already a profesor before Roekel "blessed" her. However, the Punisher casually tells her that that's not the point. He continues by blasting the Japanese lady with an energy blaster that he got from the Panopthicron, thanking the Timebrokers for granting him access to that.

In an abandoned building complex, Captain Universe goes on to play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with Wink. The Wink constantly hides in the shadows, trying to ambush him but doing no serious damage. Parker states that he can still see her clearly in the shadows, until Wink lunges at his face. She slashes his face, but Peter responds by grabbing her by the hand while opening his mask. He reveals his newly-scarred face, which immediately heals a moment after.

He asks her if she thinks that she has a chance against him. Wink responds by saying that there's always a way to kill an immortal. Wink then goes on to put her claw-like nails deep within Parker's face, but the Wielder of the Enigma Force simply slaps her at Mach 1, knocking her out. He tells himself to better bring her to the others.

A showdown happening in a nearby junkyard area, Rojhaz avoids many of the Hazmat's wild attacks. When Hazmat tries to swipe him with his claw, Rojhaz kicks his face hard and sends him flying to a dumpster. Hazmat immediately recovers and jumps up to him, throwing a corrosive ball at him. Rojhaz reacts by using a garbage lid near him as a shield. He managed to survive the ordeal, with the lid taking the damage and slowly disintegrating.

Standing off against one another, Hazmat tells him to give up as he's no match for him. Rojhaz chuckles, responding by saying if he knows who he really is. Hazmat quickly rushes to Rojhaz to deliver a high-speed barrage of attacks, but Rojhaz skillfully parries them all. After wearing down his strength, Rojhaz delivers an uppercut that commissions Hazmat out of the time, leaving him groaning in pain on the ground.

Bull, still tangling with Brigade, takes several punches from the cyborg and asks him if those are the best blows he got. Brigade responds by arming his arm cannons, disappointing Bull who thinks that he's about to give even more iron-clad punches. As Brigade fires his cannons, Bull dodges them all and managed to knock out the cyborg with a single punch that deforms his face. Seeing the result, Bull is upset and says that he hasn't got any good fights for the past few hours. Bull then picks him up and regroups with the team.

After all the fight, the team regroups at the same spot and gathers the Imperfects. Greenskyn however, has just finished his fight when he knocks out the Thing by throwing him from three blocks away to the team's spot. Greenskyn reassembles and tells them that the stoneman is quite ferocious, but he's no match for troll strength. Rojhaz asks everyone if they've already knocked out their opponents, and they all say yes. Rojhaz states that it'd be good if one of them managed to keep an Imperfect conscious for interrogation. Ghost Rider tells him that neither torture nor persuasion would work on them due to their nature.

War Machine, flying in to the scene, agrees with Ghost Rider but tells him that torture's not gonna be an option (except for the Punisher). The Punisher asks War Machine where the hell has he been (he didn't show up in the fight sequences), with the armored hero apologizing to them for his absence because he needed to do some recon. Rojhaz asks him that he should've notified them first. Nevertheless, the leader asks him of what he got. And apparently, War Machine accidentally led a horde of drones from Roekel's forces before he can tell them of what he got.

With Roekel's robots coming in fast, Rojhaz orders them to retreat to the subway tunnels. Greenskyn voices his disappointment by telling him that he wants to destroy those things they call "drones". War Machine tells him that as much as how he loves to see the results, there are too many of them for him to smash. Eventually, the team follows the same path as the family they rescued to the subway tunnels, with Rhodey locking down the entrance by destroying it.

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After the entrance collapsed, the Imperfects are seen recovering from their fight with the Exiles. Wink tells the team that she has never tasted any power like that before. Solara, enraged by her defeat by a dead man, says that they only got lucky. Hazmat agrees, but tells them that now they know of a new threat to them and their master. Brigade says that they need more vials from Roekel, but the Wink rejects his opinion. She tells him that the virus makes them stronger every day, with her reminding them of why they managed to defeat the heroes after a long time.

After conversing, a drone approaches them with Roekel's face on it. Roekel greets them and asks them of how they're doing. The Wink asks for an apology to her master, as they failed to defeat and contain the new heroes. Roekel tells her to not apologize, as their appearances weren't predicted as well. Solara informs them that they're gone and assumes that they're underneath the city, cowering from them.

Roekel sees her point, but tells the Imperfects to always keep an eye out for those heroes. They can be anywhere and they're much more dangerous than them. Hazmat says that they were outnumbered, anyway. And the former scientist assures Roekel that when the rest of the Imperfects are here, the heroes won't stand a chance. Roekel admires his "child's" spirit, but orders them to get back to base immediately. They need further enhancements to step up their game against those new heroes. Hearing this, Brigade turns to Wink and raises an eyebrow, signalling his correctness when he first said his opinion. Wink complied in disappointment before being teleported back to their HQ. After they teleported however, the Thing, still unconscious and apparently forgotten, is seen groaning and trying to wake up while asking of what happened.

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Back to the Exiles' perspective, the heroes are wandering through the dark subway system to find the resistance's location. War Machine illuminates the path with his hammer (Ghost Rider's flames aren't enough) while saying that the Imperfects aren't as tough as what Kang said. Rojhaz advises him to not be cocky, but admits that he's partially correct. If the Imperfects had defeated or killed and converted many of the heroes, such as Iron Man, the Thing, the Hulk, and Spider-Man, how did they manage to defeat them so easily the first time. Ghost Rider remembers what Kang showed them, informing them that they've only faced four out of ten members. They're just lucky they didn't fight them all when they first arrived.

After walking for a while, Peter's Spider-Sense suddenly triggers and tells the group that someone is close by. Rhodey immediately turns off his hammer's light and activates his night vision. The others outright use their senses to perceive their surroundings. Peter begins to follow his senses and walks slowly towards some kind of gate. There, Peter stops for a while and uses his Uni-Power to reveal what's near him and the team.

After doing so, Peter stays silent for a few moments before telling someone that he can put away his claws. The Exiles hear this and turn to Peter, who turns his head right and perceive who's there. Looking at the person, Peter tells him that while this may seem impossible for him, he needs to trust them. The man asks him of why should he trust strangers that fall from the skies with intentions unknown. Peter tells him that everything will be clear later, and asks him to lead him to the resistance while mentioning his name and identity: Logan.