forced to destroy their base of operations, tomax and xamot convince doctor mindbender to take them with him to escape retaliation. however, the two soon find themselves being subjected to mindbender's experiments in improving bio-vipers such as creation of the prototype shadow-vipers, mentally commanded by storm shadow. later, during the events of the "union of the snake", cobra attempts to use their abilities to control various telecommunication company heads. after their plan is foiled by the joes, tomax and xamot manage to break free of their bonds and mesmerize baroness and mindbender to fight each other for their amusement, before realizing the need to escape when the authorities arrive. soon after, the brothers ponder about spreading their cause through telecommunications.