Wasp's ship crashes and she finds Lizard in a swamp. They become friends. Inside Galactus's spaceship Doctor Doom accidentally brings a now-insane Klaw back to life. Doom wants to delay Galactus' work so that he has more time to examine Taa II. He sends Klaw down to give orders to the other villains, who are somewhat in disarray. Professor Xavier, who is conflicted about his new role as field commander of the X-Men, uses his mental powers to look at Doom's plan in the minds of the villains. The Enchantress senses his telepathic presence and blocks him. Xavier then sends Wolverine, Cyclops and Rogue to stop it. Storm gets angry at Xavier because he is leading the X-Men instead of her, but he tells her he is willing to tamper with her mind if that is what it takes to get her to submit to his leadership. Colossus, who is in the alien village, is having trouble remembering Kitty Pryde, and can now only dream on Zsaji, but becomes jealous of her relationship with Johnny Storm. The rest of the heroes try to heal and prepare for battle. Meanwhile, fulfilling Doom's command as relayed via Klaw, the Molecule Man, Titania, Dr. Octopus, and the Absorbing Man are out to destabilize some of Battleworld's volcanoes, in an attempt to divert Galactus. The sortie of three X-Men attack, and Wolverine slashes Molecule Man, almost killing him. Since the Molecule Man was necessary to their plans of destabilizing the volcanoes, the villains pick him up and retreat. The X-Men don't know what the villains were trying to do with the volcanoes, but guess it has something to do with Galactus. Cyclops decides to activate them on his own, using his optic blast, which causes them to erupt in a chain reaction. The Wrecking Crew, which is driving an enormous tank-like vehicle, happens upon Wasp and Lizard in the swamp. They shoot Wasp, seemingly killing her, and enraging the Lizard, who feels that she is one of the only people to care about him. They freeze both the Wasp and the Lizard in a stasis ray and carry them back in their vehicle. A dark figure lurks in the shadows in the heroes' camp.
