Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Mach-3 and Jolt check out a radiation surge in the destroyed city of Paris. Mach-3 finds out that the energy signature is the same as the one they found in Tokyo before. Mach-3 launches probes into the city and discovers movement where everyone should be dead so he flies down into the city to check.
He finds people alive screaming in pain as his communications are cut off with Jolt. The people rush Mach-3 telling him to save them. He becomes panicked saying he can't save everyone. He tries to escape as they rip the wings from his armor.
The flying city finally arrives later at Jolt's location as she informs the Thunderbolts that Mach-3 is missing below. The Thunderbolts debate the possible existence of life or what might be down there. Fixer finds Mach-3 with a motion detector and he's the only one down there. He then concludes that in the radiation haze of Paris is the minds of the people that were there and they are making Abe see things.
Abe runs through the streets as people chase after him. Then he hears a phone ring and talks to the Fixer through it and televisions in a shop window. The Thunderbolts tell Abe to not believe the people as he questions why he sees himself as a black man in a window as a reflection if this is all in his mind. Zemo tells him to forget about it as Abe plans to convince an entire city its dead.
Everything is then interrupted by beings called 'the Rip' that are manifestations of order and chaos. They are beings that are supposed to judge Counter Earth and if the Thunderbolts continue with their plans they will have to make a judgement sooner than planned. The Rip accidentally caused the destruction of Paris when they arrived and the area acts like a cork that keeps the spatial anomaly destroying the world at bay.
The Thunderbolts debate the survival of the planet and releasing the minds of the people below with The Rip. Mach-3 comes up with a plan that is followed through by the Thunderbolts. The Rip is distracted and the people's minds are released from Paris. The Thunderbolts are warned that their choice will mean the end of the planet, as another being appears talking about its mother and father like it has before. It calls itself the Anomaly and it's going to save the world.
Thunderbolts and all associated characters are the property of MARVEL COMICS TM&©2003.