WARNING: The following contains spoilers for X-Force #20 by Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara, Guru-eFX and VC’s Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
While many of the mutants of Krakoa are just enjoying the celebration of mutant culture at the Hellfire Gala, X-Force has instead been assigned to protecting the event and providing security. For the most part, the team is committed to that end — with Wolverine, Domino and Quinten Quire doing their best to balance the guests and any potential gatecrashers (such as Deadpool). Beast gladhands his way through the event, while Sage provides monitoring and assistance from the group’s headquarters.
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However, Sage discovers Beast has an ulterior motive at the event, which could pose a serious threat to the future of Krakoa in X-Force #20.
Among the guests is the deligation from Terra Verde, the nation that had been experimenting with terra-flonics around the same time as Krakoa. They attempted to force a conflict with the mutant nation, and Beast tried to end things by introducing an infection to the plant life. This caused it growing far more sentient and malicious, resulting in the deaths of countless across the island. The Terra Verde diplomats seem to be friendly with Krakoa now, and Beast is eager to introduce them to other leaders from across the world — arousing the suspicion of Xavier and Emma Frost. While Beast is able to convince Xavier to leave him to his work, Emma investigates further and learns the true extent of Beast’s meddling.
It turns out that in defeating the teleflornics, Beast was able to establish a small level of control over the nation — effectively turning it into a “banana republic” under the control of X-Force, and by extension, Krakoa. Beast is even using the diplomats as spies, making them spread their advanced plant-life as minuscule transmitters onto the other diplomats. While Sage was aware of the plan as it extended to the nations that borders Terra Verde, Beast is revealed to have amplified the program — spreading his reach and allowing him to effectively bug every embassy on the planet. He’s even decided to do so with Avengers Mountain, giving X-Force eyes and ears across the globe. Emma confronts Sage, providing her a drink and revealing that she knows the truth about Terra Verde.
Emma expresses genuine concern about the threat this plan poses not just to the Hellfire Gala, but to Krakoa as a whole. If the rest of the world were to discover what X-Force had done, it could undo all the good work the nation has made towards being trusted or recognized in a single night. It would portray mutants as aggressors, attacking a sovereign nation and turning it into theirs in secret. Sage relents and arranges for the Terra Verde ambassadors to leave the event and to disable their fungal spyware network — with Emma hinting that Beast will have to face the Quiet Council for his actions. But to Sage’s horror, the telefloronic coding has been “hacked” — allowing someone else to transform them into a monstrous and threatening new form, which could reveal the truth in the worst way possible.
Again, Beast has put his own views and beliefs above and ahead of the rest of his allies, putting not just his team at risk but the entire future of a mutant nation. It’s another in a recent string of poor decisions from the veteran X-Man, further suggesting how ruthless the former Avenger has become. This might set up a serious reckoning for X-Force, and if discovered could change how the world sees Krakoa going forward. It might be time for the Quiet Council to reevaluate who leads X-Force — and what exact freedoms the group is allowed to get away with, otherwise, they risk waiting for Beast to make another decision that could bring down the world’s faith in Krakoa.