Illyana Rasputin and another young mutant named Ace are hiding in the depths of the Seattle power core they are forced to work in as slaves. They must remain quiet to make sure that the Sugar Man, the evil mutant that runs the place, doesn't find them. He passes them by, and they remain safe for now.
Outside, two humans are leaving their jobs where they torture and kill other humans for Apocalypse. They catch a ride home, not realizing that Skin and Chamber are in control of the cab. Chamber blasts them so the two of them can steal their uniforms.
On the other side of the compound, Colossus and Katya are sneaking in the back way to try to rescue Illyana. They are temporarily delayed by a mutant they refer to as an undercloak, but the two of them kill him easily.
Meanwhile, Husk is pretending to be a human servant for Quietus, the manager of the plant. He quickly figures out she's a spy, partially by using some gas that makes her cough a lot, but mostly just because she's the worst undercover agent that ever existed. He does not shoot her in the way that is shown on the cover of the book at all. Instead he threatens her but decides he wants to take a drink from the bottle that was hanging around her neck. Unfortunately for him, the contents of the bottle are actually Vincente in liquid form, who tears him apart from the inside.
Once dispatched the two of them join together to take on Quietus' appearance so they can get inside. They meet up with Chamber and Skin not long after.
The issue ends pretty abruptly, assuring us that this was the "upbeat, positive chapter" and from what I remember, this is about as close to cheery as this series gets. The fact that there's no M and no Jubilee in this version of the young mutant series really makes this version uninteresting, and the dour tone doesn't help much. Quietus is a thoroughly uninteresting villain, in that his mutant power seems to be that he's a (literal) giant sleazeball, and he is killed so quickly that you can't really care. I think this is definitely my least favorite series of the Age of Apocalypse.
I still absolutely love Bachalo's artwork, but as for Lobdell's story... at least stuff is actually happening in this chapter, as opposed to the drawn-out training session of issue #1. That said, yeah, it's hard to get invested in anything when everyone is a cynical asshole, and even our heroes are straight up murdering people. It seems to think it's a lot brighter and quippier than it actually is, and as for the reveal of what was in the flask...
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