My Quest to Read All X-Men Related Comics in Order from Beginning to Present time

[SunflowaSeeds]

Mystique #7-13

Mystique infiltrates the palace of North Korea’s Beloved Leader, Kim Yong Il, to steal a file and escapes with the help of her field handler, Shortpack. Later, Xavier and Forge inform her that the Koreans have been trying to get their hands on a mutant version of Smallpox that could kill everybody who has ever been inoculated against the original Smallpox. Mystique is to travel to Johannesburg and deal with the Bioweapon’s creator, one Dr Harrison Taylor.

At the airport, Mystique is once again accosted by Shepard, who asks her to procure a sample of the bioweapon for his employer. In Johannesburg, a strange young woman, who calls herself the Host, kills a young man who tries to burgle her in an odd and decidedly unnatural manner.

After a brief altercation with a taxi driver at the Johannesburg airport, Mystique rendezvous with Shortpack, who gives her more info on Taylor. Mystique infiltrates the household, taking on the shape of Taylor’s lover. As she tries to face the scientist, she finds him dead at the hands of a strange woman. The women fight and the other woman, who has some kind of control over viruses, infects Mystique, momentarily weakening her, and flees with the mutant pox Mystique was to get. In the meantime, Shepard and his employer riddle about Mystique’s motives and wonder if she will help them.

Shortpack is in a panic, wondering what has happened to Mystique. She drags herself to the hotel room, shortly thereafter suffering from a rare form of encephalitis as a result of being infected by the Host. Shortpack tracks the woman, who is on her way to the airport with the deadly smallpox virus. This time taking her virus shield watch, Mystique steals a motorbike, follows and catches up with her. The two women get into a knockout, drag-down battle, which is decided in Mystique’s favor when a Toyota crashes into the Host. Mystique takes the virus and leaves. As a cop tries to help the Host, she revives and steals their car, inadvertently learning where Mystique lives. She is at the hotel before Mystique, takes Shortpack hostage and demands Mystique hand over the virus. She obliges and the Host releases the virus, with Mystique seemingly succumbing to it almost immediately. However, when the Host is trying to reabsorb the virus into herself, she realizes that Mystique was faking it and two women begin a bloody battle, which Mystique wins with the help of some gadgets. She then explains to Shortpack that she had synthesized the vial from her body and that the true virus is safe. A little later, she meets Shepard, who wants the virus as promised. Mystique is tempted but refuses to give it up when Shepard won’t give her a straight answer as to what he plans to do with it. Shepard is satisfied with this reaction, as her healthy doubt shows that she isn’t really working for Xavier. He promises that he and his boss will help her, once she’s completed a real mission for them. Back at his master’s side, Shepard announces that they will be able to use her and then gets in contact with their other resource – Shortpack. Back in New York, Mystique is in for a surprise, as Forge, impressed with the way she handled the mission, asks her out for a date.

Forge and Mystique are out on an awkward sort of date when they hear about a mutant boy who was allegedly kidnapped by his stepfather. They decide to investigate and, on their way, discuss matters of heritage, racism and other things they don’t see eye to eye on. Eventually, they find father and son, only to learn that the boy has power to control men’s minds and forced his stepfather to abduct him, as his mother doesn’t let him do anything he wants. He then takes control of Forge and forces him to attack Mystique.

Mindcontrolled by young Spencer Bronson, Forge tries his best to kill Mystique. She, on the other hand, tries all her tricks, among them turning into Xavier and Storm to snap him out of it. She finally succeeds when she first tells him she loves him and that she appreciates him for his belief she can be something better. Mystique then tries to kill the boy but Forge, instead, takes him out with a device he whipped up. Later on, Mystique denies everything she said before and states that she is proud of her decisions. Forge shows her that she cannot stand the sight of her reflection and asks her to ponder if she is happy with who she is and why can’t she stand the sight of her face

Mystique is at the carnival in Rio, where she’s supposed to find the stolen hand of a mutant who was able to turn lead to gold. Shortpack informs her that the hand was stolen by a tall woman with a headdress and sequins. Of course, during Carnival, this describes dozens of women. Pretending to be the queen of the carnival, Mystique enlists the help of some men, who find the woman in question. Mystique hits her with a tranq dart, but strangely enough the woman is still able to fight her and to flee. Mystique follows and runs into Shepard, who wants to chat with her about her final mission. Instead, Mystique gives the necklace back. Shortpack finally gives her the right idea: the woman fled into the sewers. Disguised as a worker, Mystique surprises her and finally learns that “she” is actually a pre-operative transsexual, who stole the hand so he’d get money for the operation he needs to finally escape the prison he considers his sex. Taking pity on him, Mystique uses the hand to transform a lead pipe into gold, which should give him enough money for the operation. Shepard returns, telling her he knows why she did this: she can’t harm people when she recognizes a part of herself in them. He returns the necklace and tells her mission is to kill Charles Xavier. Shepard also secretly contacted Shortpack, stringing him along with the promise of getting Prudence’s murderer. The next morning, Shortpack and Mystique have a talk and Mystique seems to be much happier with herself, even while she points out that she won’t be working for Xavier forever.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

Mystique #14-19

Xavier has another mission for an unwilling Mystique. She is to find out whether the Swedish company, Dermafree, which has developed a miracle cure for Psoriasis, is using mutants as guinea pigs. Disguised as a German mutant-hating investor, Mystique meets up with Dermafree’s CEO, Helena Carlson, and quickly learns that those suspicions are true. As she needs proof, she takes out Carlson and intends to find the proof in Carlson’s office. After taking out a guard, who strangely enough sees through her disguise, she gets to Carlson’s computer and makes a discovery there that scares her. Before she can share that news with Shortpack, she is discovered.

After Mystique beats the Dermatech guards, she and Shortpack meet at their rendezvous point and escape. However, she’s visibly shaken and demands to speak to Xavier. When the Professor appears in his astral form, she accuses him of not having told her everything. He doesn’t understand what she means and she is unwilling to talk about it. Shortpack tells the Professor that the proof they had downloaded was destroyed in their battle, but they do know that the mutant guinea pigs are held in the Austrian lab. Xavier decides that their priority is to free the mutants, then, if they can, they are to gain hard evidence. Helena Carlson, in the meantime, has recovered and orders her people to alert the Salzburg lab: Mystique is coming. On the train to Salzburg, Mystique reveals what shocked her so. She learned that Dermatech’s miracle cures are based on using stem cells. Stem cells, which are harvested from cloned embryos of Mystique. Somehow, they got hands on her genetic material. In Salzburg, looking at a bakery she remembers from her childhood, she is joined by Shepard, who claims he is worried about her and asks her not to go. She has to, she explains, as there are mutant lives in danger. Mystique tries to infiltrate Dermatech as a guard and, predictably, is caught. However, inside, Shortpack, who was hidden inside her abdomen, attacks and takes out the guards. They split up. Shortpack finds the imprisoned mutants and urges her to join him, but Mystique is insistent on finishing that cloning business first. While they are still arguing, Shortpack is caught by a guard, but is saved by one of the mutant guinea pigs, a telepath who was awakened through contact with him. They wake the other mutants and Mystique joins them, with Shortpack mad at her for not having come earlier. They flee and hide the mutants in a safehouse after they’ve told Mystique and Shortpack of Viktor, who was responsible for their getting captured. In Stockholm Helena Carlsson decides to get proactive in her fight against Mystique and on their way to Prague Mystique and Shortpack are once again faced by Carlsson’s mutant twins. Mystique dispatches of them and leaves for Prague. There a mutant named Luc meets Viktor. Viktor though has mental powers and uses them to burrow into his mind.

Four amnesiac mutants awake in a cell, prisoners of Viktor, wondering who they are and what they are doing here. Their captor makes a deal with a customer, who is looking for a slave. As Viktor intends to sell him one of the mutants, the customer turns into Mystique and stabs him in the back. Viktor fights Mystique but, with the help of the prisoners, she wins and drags him away. Shortpack, who believed Mystique to a prisoner of Viktor’s, intends to come rescue her. Instead, he finds that Mystique has killed Viktor against Xavier’s express orders. Elsewhere, Helen Carlson orders the escaped guinea pigs to be found and killed and, thanks to their carelessness, the youngsters are indeed caught by the police.

Mystique and Shortpack learn that the guinea pigs they freed have been recaptured and, in an attempt to save them, Mystique, along with Luc and Tanya as diversion, attack them. Mystique, however, has other plans, as she still wants to get her clones, and disobeys orders when she has a chance to face Carlson personally. Carlson tells her that the guinea pigs are dead and refuses to tell her from where she obtained Mystique’s genetic material. In response, Mystique horribly disfigures her, before saving Luc and Tanya. Back at the hotel, Mystique and Shortpack are left with no proof, until Sasha turns up and explains how they tricked their captors. The mutants alert the police and the media, and Interpol pays DermaFree a visit. Mystique slips into the cloning department, but decides against destroying the clones. Shortpack leaves for Genosha, asking Xavier to be reassigned. Helena Carlson contacts the real Helmut Stein, who promises to help her in the fight against mutants.

Shepard asks Mystique to help her on a mission and steal something from a local HYDRA director. They infiltrate the HYDRA building and fight their way through to Director Richter. Although, having claimed she wouldn’t risk her life for Shepard, Mystique does just that when she impersonates Shepard before Richter. Using the confusion of having two Shepards around, Mystique and Shepard manage to obtain the object and leave. Mystique isn’t aware that this was actually a deal between Shepard and Richter. At home, Shepard reveals that the object is a fountain pen used by Oscar Wilde and is meant as a gift to her. Mystique is angry at first, but then kisses Shepard and sleeps with him. Afterwards, she agrees to killing Xavier for him, if she can meet the Quiet Man. She is granted an audience with the Quiet Man and, upon seeing his face, she is surprised. In Genosha, Shortpack insists that Xavier either hand Mystique over to the authorities or assign her another field handler. He refuses to work with her any longer.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

Mystique #20-24

End of Series

Mystique agrees on killing Xavier for Shepard and the Quiet Man in exchange for a device that will allow her to not be found by Home Security. Shortpack makes a video intended for Xavier, in which he explains that he resigns and intends to kill Steinbeck. The tape never reaches Xavier and he eventually calls Mystique and Forge back from a mission asking them to look for the vanished Shortpack. Their trail leads them to a casino in Monte Carlo, where, after a short tussle with Shepard, Mystique finds Shortpack’s friend, Fantomex. Fantomex tells her and Forge that Shortpack left, intending to kill somebody named Steinbeck. Hearing that name, Mystique flees. Xavier orders Forge to cut Mystique loose and leave her to Homeland Security’s mercies. Shortpack, in the meantime, has been imprisoned and finds out that Shepard’s employer, the Quiet Man, is Steinbeck.

Aware of the fact that Forge is likely to have turned off the device that keeps the US government from finding her, Mystique contacts Shepard and demands they start up their scrambler. Surprisingly, she also asks him not to kill Shortpack, should the young mutant actually choose to attack him and the Quiet Man. Shepard promises to comply, although actually he and the Quiet Man are keeping Shortpack prisoner, are torturing him psychologically and have every intention of killing him. Mystique’s conversation with Shepard is witnessed by Fantomex, who blackmails her into stealing a certain object for him in return for his silence. Mystique is sent to the Virgin Islands with E.V.A. and steals one of Spider-Man’s original costumes by pretending to be a jealous husband who catches the unfaithful wife and her lover in the act. Returned to Fantomex, Mystique viciously stabs him and reveals that she ahs both sprinkled the Spidey suit and E.V.A with a techno-organic virus meant to kill Fantomex. She has barely kicked him into the ocean when Homeland Security catches up with her… In the meantime, Forge searches the mansion where Shortpack believed Steinbeck to reside. However, the building has been clearly abandoned for years. Also, Shortpack’s footsteps suddenly, impossibly stop.

While a deteriorating Quiet Man is playing mindgames with the imprisoned Shortpack and finally shows him his secret, Mystique is fighting for her life against several Homeland Security helicopters. She is finally rescued by Shepard, who blackmails her into killing Xavier this night – or they will kill Shortpack. Later that night, Mystique appears in Xavier’s bedroom, disguised as Prudence and holding a knife.

On Genosha, Forge is building a device to track Shortpack, when he is surprised by somebody. A little later Mystique, disguised as Prudence, faces a confused Xavier and is just about to stab him, when Forge stops her. Mystique flees, followed by the mutants Xavier has gathered around him on Genosha. Suddenly and impossibly, she seems to cross the ocean at subsonic speed. Some time later, she returns to her safehouse in Brooklyn to gather some mementos. However, she is already expected by Wolverine and Rogue. Rogue disowns her foster mother for what she has done and Wolverine has no intention of letting Mystique leave alive. Finally, Rogue absorbs Wolverine’s powers and savagely attacks Mystique. In the kitchen, Mystique causes the gas stove to explode, after shouting a warning to Rogue and jumping out of the window. Mystique makes her way to a hospital. Elsewhere, the Quiet Man and Shepard decide that Mystique has outlived her use and has to die.

While the Quiet Man aka Prudence, trapped in Steinbeck’s body, begins to threaten Shortpack, Mystique and her silent partner, Fantomex, trap Shepard in a hospital. Fantomex informs Mystique that Shepard is Prudence’s brother. When Shepard opens the teleportation portal, Mystique uses the portal to cut off his hand and enters it in his form. She tries to talk Steinbeck/Prudence into letting Shortpack go and giving her the interference transmitter. As the device is a fake, Prudence now understands this is Mystique. They fight and, when the Quiet man is fatally injured, he/she begins to emit energy. Mystique grabs Shortpack and they run. Prudence explodes and Mystique and Shortpack land in the rapids of the Niagara Falls. Shortpack awakes ashore, believing Mystique to be dead. Some days later, Forge catches Mystique trying to steal the interference transmitter. After some angry words, he smashes it and tells her he never wants to see her again. Nevertheless, they share a good-bye kiss. Only belatedly does Forge realize that Mystique already switched the transmitter for a fake.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

New X-Men #151-154

End of Grant Morrison Run

150 years after the death of Jean Grey-Summers, Tom Skylark makes his way to a rendezvous at the former Xavier Institute with his pet Sentinel, named Rover, which carries the Phoenix egg they procured from the Proud People. After a brief altercation with the Beast’s genetic chimerae, called Crawlers, Tom and Rover meet E.V.A., who leads them to the new Institute, built in the ruins of the city of Manhattan.

Unfortunately, they learn that a Crawler hid inside the bulk of Rover and, as it has been spliced with the genes of Multiple Man, it begins to self-replicate. Unable to keep up, E.V.A. and Tom are unable to prevent the Crawlers from stealing the egg and teleporting it to their master, the Beast.

Elsewhere, the Three-In-One, who were known a century and a half previously as the Stepford Cuckoos, welcome an old ally, Logan. He is equally welcomed by the Institute’s headmistress, Cassandra Nova Xavier, who informs Logan that the universe is broken… and there’s no one left to put it right but them. 150 years previously Emma Frost finds Scott Summers at the grave of his wife and asks him to find new purpose in the re-opening of the school. Tired of the cycle of death, Scott refuses, stating that he has no interest in inheriting the Earth. He quits.

In the Institute, Tom Skylark recounts how he was given the Phoenix Egg by the Proud People, just before they fell to the might of the Beast’s Apollyon and Crawlers. He also laments that he subsequently lost the egg, which they had died for. A little later, after Cassandra Nova has gathered her forces, the group boards their X-plane to travel to the Beast’s fortress and retrieve the Phoenix Egg before he can use it. At his island fortress in Transatlantis, the Beast proceeds with the hatching of the egg, which produces a woman that both causes and is impervious to flames. As the woman tries to make sense of her surroundings, she recognizes the Beast, calling him “Hank.” The Beast, however, tells her that he has another name now and asks her to call him sublime.

In the area known as Panafrika, Phoenix completes her first assignment given to her by the Beast. She eradicates the insectoid species known as the Termids but makes a discovery in the process: the mutant known as Bumbleboy, learning that he was an ambassador to the Termid Multitude from something called the “X-Men.” When she approaches the Beast about this, he dismisses it, declaring that the X-Men are their enemies, who would become too strong, and immune, if left unchecked. Meanwhile, the latest Crawler designed by the Beast, this one filled with “Feeder” genes, capable to attack by telepathic infestation, arrives in the Institute, turning its citizens against each other. Elsewhere, in the Atlantic Ocean, the seven X-Men meet Transatlantis’ first line of defense, a whaling ship filled with Crawlers. Given their surprise attack, the X-Men are able to quickly commandeer the vessel but lose Rover in the process, as he is severely damaged and falls into the ocean. Their victory is short-lived, however, as they see dozens of more heavily armed ships, filled with airborne Crawlers approaching their position. The greatest threat, however, arrives in the form of Phoenix, whom Logan immediately challenges.

Three billion years after its birth on the primordial Earth, the intelligent bacteria called Sublime has finally obtained its ultimate genetic trait: the Phoenix gene, which it gleefully injects into its host body, that of Hank McCoy, the Beast. Meanwhile, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Logan manages to distract Phoenix long enough for Martha Johansson to use her mental powers to disconnect the Phoenix Force from its host body, Jean. Now all too human, Jean asks what has happened and is given the history of the last 150 years by Logan, who tells her that, after her death, Scott gave up.

Hank tried to continue the school but it fell apart, leading to his ultimate use of “Kick,” which was in truth the intelligent bacteria known as Sublime, allowing it to take over the his body. Though the threat of Jean’s rogue Phoenix is ended, the crisis escalates with the arrival of Sublime, now possessing both the Beast’s body and the power of Phoenix. Sublime makes short work of the X-Men but is quickly laid low when Jean recovers, using her Phoenix powers to remove the Sublime bacteria from Beast’s body. The now freed Beast is promptly killed by Apollyon, in revenge for never completing and “perfecting” him, as was promised. As most of the rest of the X-Men likewise succumb to their battle wounds, Jean shifts herself out of their reality into a new one, where she is joined by other Phoenixes. A voice in this nether-reality urges Jean to fix a badly wounded orphan universe. Jean complies, symbolically watering it with her heart’s blood by letting go of Scott and telling him to live. A century and a half in the past, Scott changes his mind and takes Emma up on her offer of both reopening the school and accepting her heart.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

New X-Men #155-156

At Jean’s gravesite, Scott and Emma’s relationship has been made official with a kiss. However, Scott’s trouble with emotional expression and his unsure feelings about reopening the school immediately cause the couple’s first fight and Emma leaves in anger. Left alone with Hank, the two begin to survey the damage Magneto wrought upon the Institute and suddenly come to a horrific realization: Magneto’s rampage may have damaged the cell holding one of their deadliest foes, Cassandra Nova. Meanwhile, Emma receives her own sight of horror upon arriving in Salem Center, seeing the X-Corp building, where the Institute’s students have been sheltered, in flames. Before she can act, Emma is attacked by one of the rioters who started the flames and is knocked out. She is rescued by her former students, the Stepford Cuckoos, who drag her into the building. There, she meets the assistant mayor of the town, who explains that the riot is the result of an attempt at good gone bad, when a town meeting designed to quell mutant fears turned into an anti-mutant rally. Finding no way out and her powers diminished, Emma telepathically calls out to Scott, asking for help. However, Emma’s calls go unheard, as both Scott and Hank have run into a Danger Room robot during their investigation, leading to a battle and a collapsing ceiling, which has buried them both.

Having survived the collapsed roof, brought down by Cyclops, the Beast chides his teammate for his impulsiveness, pointing out that it nearly got them killed. Their argument quickly turns more personal, however, as Beast admits to Cyclops that he is still angry about his previous betrayal of Jean and that he doesn’t like him very much right now. Meanwhile, at the X-Corp building in Salem Center, the police are unable to hold back the crowd, which storms the building and makes their way to the students’ room. Arriving on the scene after being telepathically summoned by one of the Cuckoos, Cyclops and Beast begin their rescue operation. While Cyclops holds back the mob at the street level, Beast uses his strength and agility to make trips to the upper floor via outside and return with children. The operation goes awry when one rioter shoots Cyclops and another group storms the children’s hideout. One of the students proceeds to use his pyrotechnic powers to hold back the mob but it only serves to set the room aflame. Still, the mob makes short work of the youth, killing him, but finds that they are unable to hurt Emma in her diamond form, so they throw her out the window. Caught by Cyclops, Emma returns to the burning building to find the rioters trapped by the flames. Her intentions of throwing them in turn out of the window is halted by the Beast, who convinces her to give them to him, so that he can take them to the ground safely. Returning to the ground herself with the youth’s remains, Emma tells Cyclops to do what he wants but she will reopen the school with or without him. Days later, after Jean’s official funeral service is held, Scott Summers speaks to his wife in the only way that he can. Admitting his mistakes, he apologizes for his actions before her death. His goodbye made, Scott returns to the Institute, telling himself that it’s time to start over.

Uncanny X-Men 442-443

Professor X and Wolverine have a disagreement over whether or not Magneto should even be getting this funeral, as they have returned his body to Genosha. Professor X starts the funeral service, only for Wolverine to interrupt, for Charles thinks Magneto should be given the same rights as any human being, but Wolverine gets enraged at how Charles can forgive him after everything he has done, especially killing Jean Grey. As Wolverine is about to cut up Magneto’s body, some of Magneto’s former followers try to stop him, until Wolverine proves how much he hates Magneto by single-handedly destroying the monument built in his memory. The White Queen and Juggernaut are helping rescue workers on the destroyed Liberty Island in New York, while Polaris has gone to invite Magneto’s other children, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to the funeral. The twins tells Lorna that she cannot possibly expect them to go, let alone understand what they are going through being the children of one of the world’s greatest mass-murderers when Lorna reveals to them that she is their sister.

The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver do accompany Polaris to Genosha and after Wolverine cuts out Toad’s tongue he is about to do more damage to Magneto’s former lackey when Polaris stops him, declaring that she is going to play “Devil’s advocate’.

In Genosha Polaris is declared the Queen of Genosha by Magneto’s followers, but she doesn’t care for that, and begins a debate with Charles about what is wrong and right when it comes to the dreams of he and Magneto. Polaris believes that Magneto was right in attacking New York, making the humans aware of what happened to the mutants on Genosha. But Charles does not believe the suffering of the mutants excuses them and enables them to cause pain to others. They continue to have a hefty debate, when Polaris casts Xavier into the sky, holding him in a metal prison she asks him if he is ready to die, or if he is prepared to fight back and kill her. Charles replies that he will die, which causes Lorna to cry, and she sets him free.

Xavier declares that he would not have harmed or killed Lorna so that he could survive. Polaris then uses her powers to construct a new monument, replacing the one of Magneto that Wolverine tore down, this time it is of both Magneto and Xavier. She tells Charles that they love him, but not to let this be his memorial and she leaves. The Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Wolverine all follow, leaving Xavier alone on Genosha.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

Weapon X #14-18

Making use of the guise of Weapon X’s Dr. Windsor, Mr. Sinister has access to the concentration camp Neverland and a sheer unlimited supply of mutant test subjects for his studies. This reminds him of the only other time when he had an as perfect environment for his studies – during World War II, where he was using the cover of Dr. Nathan Essex, a well acclaimed German doctor. When he accompanied Baron von Strucker aboard a submarine, he first witnessed the magnificent Submariner, Prince Namor, in action and even managed to acquire a blood sample. He also found himself the ideal right-hand man in John Greycrow, aka Scalphunter, who was executed by his fellow US soldiers for killing and scalping several fellow officers, but survived due to his regenerative abilities. Blackmailing a soldier with his not-entirely Aryan heritage, Sinister retrieved several Jews from the trains to the concentration camps and used them for his experiments and for the creations of N2, a clone of Namor with boosted powers. When the lab was uncovered by the Invaders, N2 exceeded all expectations when he defeated both Namor and the Human Torch. To Sinister’s surprise, he was bested by Captain America, an ordinary human with no powers. That day, Sinister learned never to underestimate the unexpected. This lesson he remembers only too well, when finally, after 183 unsuccessful trials, one of his mutant test subjects taken from Weapon X’s concentration camp Neverland survives being injected with an additional genetic mutation.

Fed up with constantly having to watch his ex-lover, Husk, and her new boyfriend, Archangel, happily together, Chamber leaves Xavier’s mansion and ventures into a bar. He sits there for hours, annoying the barkeeper, as he has ordered only one beer and isn’t drinking it, for he no longer has a mouth. Eventually, the Barkeeper gets loud and the entire room of customers stares at Jono. One woman takes pity and offers him another drink and a shoulder to cry on, but Jono isn’t interested and, instead, scares her with his mutant powers. Another customer tries to calm down the situation, but Jono freaks out and destroys much of the bar with his energy blast. The X-Men arrive and try to talk some sense into Chamber but, seeing Husk in Archangel’s arms once more, he doesn’t listen to reason and attacks his rival. Wolverine knocks Chamber out and places him with the local authorities to await his punishment. In prison, Chamber is visited by Brent Jackson, who offers him to join Weapon X.

Jonothon Starsmore has a recurring nightmare about the day he manifested his mutant powers, during which he not only crippled his then girlfriend but also blew up the lower half of his face and his chest. It changed his life forever. However, as of today, life has once more drastic changes in store for him, for the new Weapon X project has managed to restore Jono’s face and good looks. For the first time in years, he is able to brush his teeth and he enjoys it. The Director, Brent Jackson, picks Jono up for a tour around the complex. He is shown around the main control room, the hangar and the labs and introduced to other agents and operatives, such as Dr. Windsor, Sauron and Wild Child, who has been promoted to head of security. Later that day, Jackson takes Jono to a fast food restaurant, where the former X-Man enjoys his first meal ever since his face was blasted away. After doing some casual small-talk and ensuring that under his leadership the Weapon X project is no longer the nefarious place he must have heard about, Jackson starts cleverly playing young Jono. He questions him about the X-Men, particularly Wolverine, who seems to have dumped him, and also teases him by insulting his ex-girlfriend, Paige Guthrie aka Husk. Jono gets quite angry, which proves Jackson’s point – he isn’t quite over her yet. Whatever the case, Jackson tells Jono that he is an investment for Weapon X. They didn’t restore his face and erase his police records for nothing. To prove his loyalty, Jono is given his first mission: to kill the mutant organs dealer, John Sublime. Jono asks for some time to think about it and leaves. Unbeknown to the two men, Wolverine was standing outside the restaurant and overheard the conversation.

Chamber has only joined up with Weapon X undercover for the X-Men. He secretly meets up with Wolverine in a cinema to inform him that Brent Jackson has ordered him to kill mutant organs dealer, John Sublime, as some sort of initiation. As Jono has never killed before, he is unsure what to do, but Logan doesn’t see a problem, as Sublime deserves death, and he pushes Jono rather hard, telling him that he knew what he signed up for and, now that he is within the Weapon X project, he has to maintain his cover and pull through the mission. Jono, however, is not convinced anymore and is unsure what to do. Hours later, he meets up with Director Brent Jackson and tells him that he’ll do it. That night, Jackson, Sauron, Wild Child and Chamber attack the U-Men’s main building, the others destroying the lab areas, providing enough of a distraction for Jono to secretly enter the building. He makes his way to Sublime’s office in no time and has the perfect opening to take him out. However, he hesitates a second too long and is discovered by the U-Men, eventually ending up captured by them. Their intentions are obvious; to them, he is just another mutant to dissect and make use of his organs.

Chamber finds himself strapped to an examination table to be dissected by the U-Men. Fortunately, he is saved by his new Weapon X teammate, Wild Child, and, together with Sauron and their leader, Brent Jackson, they destroy the U-Men’s labs before Jono is told to fulfill his part of the mission. He does as told, breaking into the office of John Sublime to kill him. However, the U-Men’s leader entangles Jono in a discussion about some connection between Weapon X and Sublime and how he can even chose a side when not knowing all details. He then throws an explosive at Jono but the youth emerges from the blast unharmed and, no longer willing to listen to the man, he performs the kill. Later, in a bar, Jono secretly meets up with Logan, who congratulates him on a job well done, Weapon X now fully trusting him. However, Jono admits that Sublime’s words are haunting him and he is no longer convinced of him doing the right thing.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

Wolverine v3 #7-12

Wolverine arrives at a gas station in the middle of nowhere and finds two men inside who have killed attendant. He takes out the larger of the two with his claws and ‘persuades’ the smaller man, Lake, to tell him why they killed him and who organized it. It turns out he is a Coyote, a people smuggler and their cargo, nineteen Mexicans are all dead in the back of a tractor trailer. They were after the guy’s truck to make their escape. Wolverine forces him inside with them as he leaves for El Paso with a name, Ritter. There, he meets up with an old acquaintance called Nestor and informs him that the man he’s after is called Ritter. Meanwhile, Cassie Lathrop tries to get information from Sycamore Blaine about Wolverine but he is too cautious to give anything away apart from his name, Logan. She leaves and is about to give up her search, but for a news report in which Lake is shown being led away by police, mentioning a man fitting Wolverine’s description.

Lake, one of the two men involved in smuggling people into the United States, is questioned by Special Agent Aguinaga about the deaths of those inside the tractor unit. He doesn’t hold out for long before revealing that a man named Ritter is behind the operation. Cassie Lathrop introduces herself to the officer and shows him the picture of Wolverine, who she believes may have been the one who killed Lake’s partner, Merrick. Wolverine, meanwhile, pays Ritter a visit at his garage and beats on him to get information. Just as he’s questioning him, a mechanic called Mendes kills Ritter and shoots Wolverine in the face before torching the garage. However, despite being on fire, Wolverine attacks Mendes and forces him to reveal who else is involved. Cassie and the border patrol arrive at the garage and Cassie leaps into the flames after spotting Wolverine’s bike. It’s a mistake, though, and she succumbs to the smoke and flames. Wolverine rescues her and tells her that Mendes revealed that a man named Rojas is in charge of things on the other side of the Rio. Wolverine talks to Nestor about Rojas and gives him the low-down. Wolverine decides to swim the Rio and see Rojas personally. Cassie watches him swim across and waits for his return.

Wolverine arrives on the opposite side of the Rio Grande and immediately picks up a scent. Three men see him head off towards a drug den and one of them, Sandro, warns him not to enter. Of course, he does and he beats up on the supplier before telling Sandro he’s his new best friend. He wants to find Rojas and Sandro can help him. Wolverine returns with Sandro to where his friends, Ruben and Hector, are playing cards and ends up beating up both of them, letting Sandro go and ordering Hector to take him to Rojas. Ruben manages to make a call, warning Rojas’s men that Wolverine’s on his way. When they arrive, the guards kill Hector and fill his truck full of lead, but Wolverine evades them and manages to fight his way past all of them, entering the grounds and coming face to face with Rojas. He is surprised to find she is a young, pregnant woman. Cassie Lathrop, meanwhile, comes across the name of Garcia Nestor in some files and visits Cerveza Fria to meet him. Nestor won’t offer any more information about Logan, but asks Cassie if she’s crazy, or does she think she’s in love?

Agent Cassie Lathrop is determined to see Wolverine again and remains seated as the Cerveza Fria is emptied of its customers. She chats with Nestor about Wolverine, who, meanwhile, confronts Rojas. He isn’t the man he was expecting but a heavily pregnant woman. Leaving the dead guards behind him, Wolverine follows her into her house, where she happily explains that she is a major drug lord and is quite happy to have people die if it makes her money. Because he can’t find it in himself to kill a pregnant woman, regardless of her crimes, she taunts him about his inability to carry out the task he came here to perform. She taunts him so much that he finally loses his temper and pops his claws. Still, he can’t bring himself to kill and it takes plenty of will power to bring himself back under control. He decides to leave and, as he does, Rojas goes into labor with no one around to help her. Back at the Cerveza Fria, Cassie stays the night with Logan, but only on the couch, and wakes to find him missing. She ask Nestor where he is and he replies that he has unfinished business with Rojas. As Cassie heads for the door, Wolverine enters the bar, carrying Rojas’s baby.

Wolverine has brought Rojas’s baby back to Cerveza Fria, where Nestor looks after her. He asks Angel to get some supplies, while Cassie chats with Logan on the balcony. He is drinking and contemplating recent events. Cassie asks him if he killed her, but he replies that he didn’t, but he might as well have. He explains that he found her in labor, which she must have spent the last twenty hours in. Although the baby was born in his arms, Rojas died. She explains that he can’t blame himself for what happened, but Wolverine is being self-critical, thinking her death was his fault. Cassie says he saved an innocent, whatever else happened back there. He’s not an animal and, once he realizes this, he knows where to find her. He chats later with Nestor, who explains that the child may end up a ward of state if a solution isn’t forthcoming. Logan returns to the Rojas estate, where he finds looters taking everything they can. He heads to the bedroom, kicks out a looter whose fingers he slices off in the process and finds a letter with Rojas’s sister’s address on it. He visits her in Illinois and explains what has happened. He suggests that she can make something good come from all this, by taking her niece and caring for her. She consults her family and heads with Logan to El Paso, where she takes custody of the baby, whom she names Angelica, after the baby’s mother. As they leave, Nestor says he did what a man would do, but Logan decides not to stay for a drink. Instead, he heads to Oregon and calls on Cassie Lathrop. She is surprised to see him but invites him inside.

Wolverine is asleep at Cassie Lathrop’s place. He begins to dream. Proceeding quickly from one scenario to another, Logan visits people and places that have a particular importance for him. All the while, he follows a small, red and gold bird, which moves him from one place to the next, like a guide. Among the people he meets is Nightcrawler, a good friend of his. He meets Yukio, who takes care of him, and Rogue, who he wishes to protect. His animalistic nature is shown to be countered by the tenderness he shows to a small black cat. He finally finds Mariko, his lost love, who a barbaric version of himself wishes to take away from him. He confronts the other Wolverine and finds he is unable to be harmed by him. He leaves and finds Jean Grey in the forest. She needs his warmth and between them, they generate enough heat to melt the snow around them. He is taken away by men who look like government agents and is locked in a cage like an animal. He knows this isn’t how he should be treated. In the morning, he wakes up and shares a coffee with Cassie, who asks him if he had any dreams. No, he replies.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

Wolverine v3 #13-19

North of Vancouver, Sabretooth and a group of accomplices hunt a creature known as “The Native.” Unbeknownst to any of them, the Native is a powerful feral mutant, who easily overpowers the group, kills both of the accomplices, and guts Sabretooth leaving him unconscious in the river. As Wolverine crashes his motorcycle in Oregon and heads on foot toward Montana, Sabretooth reveals to his employers that he knows someone better suited to take down the Native. Sabretooth tracks down Logan at a diner in Montana, and Logan attempts to goad him into a fight. Sabretooth grins and passes Logan a file of information regarding the Native, who is apparently an escaped portion of the Weapon X program. Sabretooth leaves Logan with the file, and tells him that “the hunt is on.”

The Native continues to hide in the Canadian wilderness, sheltered by a cave. Sabretooth reports to Willoughby and Murray that Logan is now joining the hunt. Logan camps in the woods, looking for the Native. The Native finds him at his campfire, and keeps a safe distance. As the campfire slowly dies, the Native creeps closer to Logan. They fight, and the Native is revealed to be a mutant woman with the same claws as Wolverine. Wolverine finds the Native’s cavern, complete with cave paintings of the escape from Weapon X, and a few loose military souvenirs. Logan and the Native fight again, and this time, as Logan tries desperately to explain his sympathy for her, she relents. They sheathe their claws and kiss passionately.

Sabretooth continues his manhunt for Wolverine and the mysterious Native through the wilderness. Willoughby, his employer, insists that Sabretooth follow the rules, but Sabretooth refuses to obey. Meanwhile, Logan and the Native waken from their sexual encounter, and the Native, pleased that she has found someone just like her, playfully continues to flirt with Logan as he wakes up. Logan shows the Native the cave paintings of Weapon X, and tells her that they are coming back. He evacuates her from the area, but not before Sabretooth finds them. Sabretooth shoots both of them to slow Logan down, but as he comes to collect the Native, he finds that she heals much faster than either of them, and she rips Creed apart. Willoughby immediately fires Creed, as Wolverine and Native escape to a cabin on the mountain that Wolverine recognizes. The Native tells him that they are home.

The mysterious men that seem to be behind Weapon X locate the Native in the wilderness near Vancouver. Mr. Murray orders his paramilitary group to obtain her and kill Wolverine and Sabretooth. Creed continues looking for the Native, hoping to kill her before the organization gets her. The Native keeps trying to tell Logan that the cabin on the mountain was their home, but Logan can’t remember any of it. The Weapon X group attacks the cabin, with dozens of soldiers and helicopters raiding the area in a blitz maneuver.

Logan fights bravely, but is finally taken out by the soldiers, and nearly killed by an electrical discharge as they take the Native into custody. That evening, Sabretooth finds him, and kicks him awake. Sabretooth offers his help to find the girl.

In a hidden compound in Montana, a mysterious yet familiar woman named Vapor prepares the Native for surgical procedure. Meanwhile, in Canada, Sabretooth continues telling an angry Wolverine that they are partners for the time being, until they recover the girl from the hidden Workshop compound in Montana. The pair heads for Montana, where Creed uncovers the compound beneath a run-down cattle ranch. Logan runs him down and stabs him in the skull, telling Creed that they never were partners, and never will be. Underground, Vapor operates on Native to extract her eggs, and discovers something odd – Native is pregnant.

Two guards respond to the security alarm at the gate of the ranch guarding the mysterious Workshop where the Native is held captive. They find Sabretooth, parked under his own S.U.V. Logan kills one of the guards and takes his clothing to infiltrate the compound. Once inside, he draws his claws and begins hunting the Native once more. Wolverine encounters a group of armed guards, and kills them, leaving one alive to lead him to the Native. Sabretooth finds Willoughby, and guts him for his treachery. Creed leaves the office in search of Logan, who is in the compound beneath. Wolverine finds Vapor performing surgery on the Native. Vapor explains that Native is pregnant, most likely with Wolverine’s child. She also explains that they have harvested all of Native’s eggs. Wolverine feels Native’s rage behind him, and kills Vapor. The two rush to leave the now nearly empty-feeling compound. Upstairs, Creed leaves behind the gutted bodies of several guards, and heads after Wolverine and Native to finish what he started.

In Montana, Wolverine and the Native race through the wilderness, hoping to return to civilization. Native admits that she's pregnant, but says she cannot return to New York with Logan. Native abandons Logan as his back is turned, and Sabretooth attacks him. Sabretooth fights angrily this time, opting not to mock Logan. As a result, the Canadian is surprised, and has his throat ripped out. Logan wakes up the next day, fully healed, and finds the Native dismembered on a ledge, with a note from Sabretooth written in her blood. In New York, Nightcrawler enters a bar in New York, telling the girl in charge that his friend called ahead and asked for someone to give last rites. Wolverine enters the bar, carrying the dead girl. In tears, he asks for a priest.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

Astonishing X-Men #1-3

The beginning of Josh Whedon's Epic run (from what I've always heard). Starts off pretty awesome.

Returning to the Institute, Kitty Pryde finds old memories waiting for her. She also finds herself named as being a member of the senior staff of the Institute during the ceremony welcoming the new student body. The only member of the senior staff not present is Logan, who appears the next morning, picking a fight with Cyclops regarding his new relationship with Emma Frost.

This resumption of old animosities leads the Beast to call a meeting, during which Cyclops proposes a new direction for their group – returning to their roots as being super heroes, just like the publicly respected Avengers and Fantastic Four. They will gain acceptance from humans through actions they understand, not words they will not hear. Their first mission comes soon, as they leave to respond to a hostage situation caused by an apparent mutant and his gunmen. Meanwhile, world-renowned geneticist Dr. Kavita Rao makes a startling announcement at a press conference. She states that the mutant gene is not an evolutionary step but a disease; a disease for which she has found a cure.

At her press conference, Doctor Kavita Rao shows the footage taken by a cameraman following two police officers to the scene of a disturbance, where a young girl name Tildie Soames has manifested her mutant power and unknowingly killed her parents and one of the officers. She is the example of a life ruined by an unwanted mutation, which can be fixed by Rao’s “cure.” Meanwhile, the X-Men arrive at the hostage situation and make short work of the gunmen. However, their leader, a possible mutant claiming to be called Ord, of the Breakworld, easily defeats the X-Men in turn.

Ord is forced to retreat, however, when Lockheed arrives and uses his flame breath, against which Ord is unprepared. At the press conference afterward, the team learns of the claims of Doctor Rao of having discovered a cure for mutants. They continue the discussion back at the mansion but table the issue for the next day. After the meeting, Emma tries to bury the animosity between Kitty and herself, only to realize that it is much deeper than she ever thought.

Shortly thereafter, the Beast manages to sneak past security and break into the company sponsoring Doctor Rao’s research, Benetech, only to be discovered by Doctor Rao herself. Their conversation begins to turn into an argument, until the Beast admits that he’s not there to discuss the ethics of the situation but to know if the cure works.

The fallout of Benetech’s press release over their purported “mutant cure” continues, as hundreds of mutants apply for the treatment. Even at the Xavier Institute, students are leaving and even mocking their teachers, when they suggest that there will be a choice in its application. The conflict makes it to the X-Men themselves, after Emma telepathically learns that the Beast is researching the validity of the serum so that he can use it on himself. Learning this, Wolverine orders the Beast to trash their sample, given to McCoy by its inventor, Dr. Kavita Rao, and leading to a fight. The skirmish is ended by Emma’s telepathy, leading to a meeting in the Danger Room, where Cyclops decides that they will continue with the research, so that they know what they are up against. Cyclops also reports that his meeting with Nick Fury regarding the S.H.I.E.L.D. weapons obtained from Ord of Breakworld’s mercs did not go well. Either Fury has become a mutant-hater in the wake of the recent attack on Manhattan, or he is hiding something, which seems to be true. Later, after further research, the Beast comes to a horrible discovery, as he realizes that the body Benetech has been running their tests on is someone with whom they were once acquainted. Guessing at who this might be, Cyclops infers that it is Jean.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

Astonishing X-Men #4-6

Though Cyclops, Beast and Emma have a suspicion about what body Benetech has been using for its research, Cyclops does not inform Kitty or Wolverine, only that they are on a recon mission to the company’s lab. Arriving via the X-plane, the team quickly makes their way into the facility, thanks to Kitty’s phasing power. The search eventually leads to the corpse of a mutant, albeit an unknown one. Cyclops and Beast’s reaction, seeming to be expecting something more, arouses Wolverine’s suspicions. Before he can press them on it, however, the team is attacked by a group of gunmen, using heavy ordinance, who quickly gain the upper hand. Back at the Xavier Institute, Ord of the Breakworld steals into the mansion, only to find the X-Men gone. He does run into two students, Hisako and Wing. Though they put up a valiant struggle for their age and ability, Ord gains the upper hand and injects some of the mutant-cure serum into Wing, leaving him behind as a message for the X-Men.

Meanwhile, Kitty has used her phasing power to reach a deep sub-level, which leads her to a giant, locked door. Her opening of the entrance draws the attention of the guards, though they are no match for the mutant who was held within: Colossus. Kitty’s shock is deep but short, as she quickly tries to calm down the enraged Piotr, who breaks down into tears at the sight of her, asking if he is finally dead.

At the Xavier Institute, the on hand healer, Elixir, is able to repair the injuries Wing received at the hands of Ord of the Breakworld, though Wing quickly comes to a horrific realization: Ord has “cured” him of his mutant powers. Back at Benetech, Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine and Emma are at the mercy of the heavily armed Benetech guards, until the arrival of the startled Dr. Kavita Rao. Her attempts at helping the injured Cyclops give Wolverine time for his healing factor to repair his gunshot wounds. With Wolverine ready enough for action, Cyclops coordinates the X-Men’s counter-attack via Emma’s telepathy and the team quickly turns the tables on the Benetech guards. Their victory, however, seems short-lived, as Ord of the Breakworld returns, more than a match for the wounded and weary X-Men. Surprisingly, help arrives in the form of Colossus, much to the uncontrollable astonishment of the X-Men, as he is phased to the ground level of the Benetech facility from his underground prison by Kitty Pryde. At first, Ord is able to hold his own against Colossus, but the rage-filled blows of the former X-Man make short work of him. Before Colossus can finish the job, however, he and the rest of the X-Men find themselves surrounded by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, led by Nick Fury, who informs the team that they’re not going to win this day.

Surrounded by armed SHIELD troops, the X-Men choose to reason with Fury, explaining that they have discovered that Fury’s ally, Ord of the Breakworld, was experimenting on the resurrected Piotr Rasputin in order to create the “cure.” Questioned by Fury, Special Agent Brand, director of SHIELD’s extra-terrestrial directive-driven counterpart, SWORD, confirms. Ord is from a planet called the Breakworld, which possesses technology to see glimpses of the future. In one glimpse, they saw that an Earth mutant – possibly an X-Man - destroys their planet in their lifetime. SWORD entered into an agreement with Ord and the Breakworld to create a cure for mutation – in lieu of an alien invasion. SWORD and Ord had enlisted the aid of Dr. Kavita Rao, using DNA from the Breakworld resuscitated Colossus to create it.

As Brand continues her explanation, rioting mutants, incensed by a possibility of a cure, break into Benetech, scattering the SHIELD agents. In the confusion, Ord sneaks away to his spacecraft. As he rockets away, with the cure formula, Colossus manages to launch Wolverine to the ship via a Fastball Special, and Wolverine manages to makes Ord land. The situation diffused, Fury suggests they walk away and act like the incident never happened. Having no way to object, the X-Men comply. Back at the Institute, the X-Men take stock of their situation. The Beast is still torn by the cure, of which he possesses the last sample, though he will not take it – for now. Taking a little private time, Kitty and Piotr ponder the meaning of finding each other again. Meanwhile, Emma and an unseen cohort ponder how, if at all, Colossus’ return changes their plan.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

New X-Men: Academy X #1-6

As a new semester begins at the newly rebuilt Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, there are quite a few changes in store. Scott Summers and Emma Frost are now co-headmasters of the school, and they have a different idea of how the school will be run. Students will all be trained to use their powers and be taught self-defense, on top of their regular school classes. The new students, including Noriko Ashida and Josh Guthrie, are given a tour by the headmasters, and Nori begins to butt heads with Miss Frost. Nori also damages her gauntlets unknowingly, and while in the cafeteria with David Alleyne, Sofia Mantega, Laurie Collins, and Josh Foley, her electricity powers begin to act up, causing a blackout. The five of them set out to find the missing piece of Nori’s gauntlet, steal Scott’s keycard to get into the Danger Room where the missing piece was lost during the tour. As they enter, Nori has to release her charge and accidentally causes the Danger Room to activate a program, unleashing a pair of sentinels and a crowd of armed soldiers on the five mutant students. Through luck and teamwork, they manage to beat the program and find Nori’s missing regulator knob. Unfortunately, everything isn’t right, and David tells the others what he saw on the computer screen in Mr. Summers’ office. All the students are being separated into different squads, and the five of them might not want to get too comfortable hanging out. They may be getting broken up.

Nori meets her new roommate, Sooraya Qadir aka Dust, and they immediately get into a disagreement over their beliefs on women’s rights and religion. Nori leaves, and is soon found by Cyclops, who demands his keycard back, and warns her that the rules are in place for her safety. He admits that he was impressed by the way they handled the Danger Room and decides not to punish her or the others, but tells her to get her gauntlets looked over. Meanwhile, David isn’t pleased about the possible changes, and decides that he will tell Dani the next day that he is leaving. The following day, Julian meets up with Jay Guthrie and tells him that they both have Emma Frost as an advisor. Julian explains about codenames, and Jay says that Icarus would be his choice. Later, Dani shows the kids the templates of training uniforms, which they will be allowed to customize as they like. Monday’s Assembly arrives, and Cyclops explains that all students will be put into training squads of six people. He introduces his squad, the Corsairs, and Emma introduces her squad, the Hellions. Finally, Dani tells everyone about when she was a student and she was part of a team called the New Mutants. They were a family, and her kids are like one too. She introduces Prodigy, Wind Dancer, Surge, Wallflower, and Elixir, as her squad, the New Mutants.

Dani ridicules Emma for the codenames and squad name choices she made, which would just feed Julian’s ego. Rahne gets aggressive when she believes Emma is pressuring Dani into leaving, and Scott intervenes, telling Dani and Rahne to learn to trust Emma. Scott breaks up a fight between the New Mutants and Hellios and tells them they will participate in a competition later that day. Dani admits that she needs Emma’s help to find the final member of her squad: Kevin Ford. In the garage, Josh and Rahne kiss, but Rahne has second thoughts and decides that they should break up. Emma and Dani use Cerebra to track Kevin down, and eventually find him working in a junkyard in Staten Island. Dani tries to get him to come back to the school, but Kevin really doesn’t want to hear it from her. Emma decides to give it a try, and manages to convince him to come back to Xavier’s, though Dani has some concerns that Kevin may have been using his powers on animals. When they arrive back at the school, Kevin agrees to join Dani’s squad, mainly because of Laurie. Dani asks Kevin for a suggestion for what his codename should be, and he decides on Wither. The leadership of the squad is the next issue to be discussed, and though Dani chose David, he declines, and Sofia takes the job. The first Field Day exercise arrives, and they are told that they must find an object somewhere in the grounds. Sofia sends Nori to search the grounds with her super-speed, while Cessily spies on the teachers and learns that it is located in the hedge maze. She is found out by the teachers, though, and eliminated from the exercise. She has Jay back her up, though, and he returns to the rest of the Hellions with the information. Right about then, Nori also arrives with the information, and they head off to the hedge maze. Unfortunately, they find Santo blocking the way, and he tells them that the rest of the Hellions have already gotten into the maze, and the New Mutants lose.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

New X-Men: Academy X #1-6

Continued...

As the Field Day exercise continues, Sofia tries to fly over Santo, who is blocking the way into the hedge maze. Julian blocks the way above with his telekinesis by putting up an invisible wall, and he and Sofia end up in a battle of wills, distracting Sofia from the task at hand. After a bit of urging, David comes up with a plan, but Brian uses his powers on him, making the others all run away from him. Josh, Laurie, and Kevin make it to the other side of the hedge maze and proceed with the plan to use Kevin’s power to wither a path through the hedge wall. David goes after Nori and helps her out as she used her entire charge to escape. As Jay arrives to where the object is hidden, Kevin, Laurie, and Josh make it through the wall and see that there is a live dragon at the center. Kevin decides to use his power on the dragon, but Josh stops him. Laurie tries to use her pheromones, but before she has a chance, Jay uses his special singing voice to calm the dragon. After a quick conference over Brian’s use of his powers, the Hellions are announced as the winners, and Josh goes off on Sofia for her lack of strategy in leading them. Josh and Nori both suggest that David take over leadership, but David tells them that he stands by Sofia. Later, Laurie finds Sofia crying in their room and decides to go have a talk with Josh about it. Cessily finds Kevin working on his industrial art and they talk for a while, and Cessily shows him that, because she is made of mercury, he can touch her without hurting her. Unfortunately, that isn’t the touch he was looking for. Outside, Josh plays basketball with Victor until he spots Rahne and tries to get her to go out with him again, but when she says no, he spots Laurie. She asks if they can talk about the Sofia thing, and he agrees and invites her to go out for dinner with him on a date, which makes both Rahne and Kevin jealous. Kevin joins Cessily to dinner in the cafeteria, and after a quick talk, Julian agrees to let him sit with them. Nearby, Sofia expresses her fears to David that the squad is angry with her, and he does his best to make her feel better, though to little success. Dani is upset that Kevin doesn’t seem to be taking to the rest of her kids, and Emma takes the opportunity to tell Dani that it is her fault. And just to make things perfect, Agent Justin Pierce arrives to arrest Kevin Ford for the murder of his father.

FBI agent Justin Pierce asks Kevin Ford to turn himself in. Though the agent is sympathetic, Emma Frost and Dani don’t believe Kevin can get a fair deal and refuse. Later, Pierce meets Dani in the coffee shop and explains that they have to show that mutants aren’t above the law. Dani considers his words and Noriko eavesdrops on their conversation. Later, she and her teammates decide to smuggle Kevin off-campus. They are stopped by Pierce and Dani makes up an excuse for them. The next day is hard for Kevin, as all students gossip about his accidentally killing his father and he further isolates himself. Fed up with everybody’s behavior, Hellion holds a speech in the cafeteria, telling them they should be ashamed of their behavior. Later, Dani calls Kevin, and explains she has decided he can best be helped if he turns himself in for now, thus killing any trust the boy still had in her. After Kevin is taken into custody, the Hellions decide to spring him. Only the newest member, Icarus, protests and leaves. Hellion asks Wind Dancer to come instead and she agrees.

Icarus informs the New Mutants about the Hellions’ plan to break out Kevin Ford and adds that Wind Dancer went with them. The team decides to fight the Hellions and Elixir asks Wolfsbane to join them. When she refuses, he asks her to keep quiet about this. The team confronts the Hellions outside the station in Salem Center, moments before the Hellions can free Kevin. The two teams fight and Prodigy confronts Wind Dancer about the leadership issue. They come to terms with it and Sofia rejoins her team. With the added muscle and David’s talent for strategy, they win. In the meantime, Cyclops, Emma and Rahne have arrived, as Rahne did tell the others, while inside the station Dani is distracting the agents.

Cyclops takes them back to school commending the New Mutants for trying to stop the other team but chiding them for taking things into their own hands instead of telling the X-Men.

Two weeks later, charges are dismissed against Kevin and he is allowed to return to school. However, after witnessing the battle, he feels the Hellions are his true friends and wishes to be reassigned to their team. As a result, Icarus takes the empty spot on the New Mutants team.

Surge makes some tentative peace with her roommate, Dust, Prodigy and Wind Dancer decide to be co-leaders and, after Elixir confronts Wolfsbane over betraying the New Mutants, they kiss.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

Uncanny X-Men #444-447

A long-overdue game of baseball is nearing its end. The two teams are led by Storm and Cyclops, with Storm’s team fielding. Rachel pitches at Emma Frost and, despite Emma trying to cheat, she is struck out, falling flat on her behind. Rachel taunts her and makes it clear that she is has issues with her. Nightcrawler and Bishop have to step in to ensure the situation doesn’t get ugly. Sage showers and checks out the computers. She takes a look at which organization is looking at what. Later, Rachel fixes one of the X-planes, Gambit has a medical check and Bishop places flowers in the memorial Garden, thinking of Jean. Emma and Scott continue their relationship behind closed doors. After a session in the Danger Room, Sage gives the team missions. Marvel Girl, Storm, Cannonball and Bishop are sent to the Central Saharan Republic to deal with a group of raiders called Weaponeers, as members of the X.S.E. They work well as a team and quickly dispatch most of their opponents, though their craft teleports away to safety. Rachel reports back to Sage, who then calls Brian Braddock in England, asking if they’re welcome over there. Wolverine and Nightcrawler are sent to Washington, also in their role as X.S.E agents, where local police have surrounded an alpha-level mutant inside a building. Wolverine senses something and asks Kurt to teleport them inside. As he does so, the whole building explodes.

The police officers on duty feel they are inside, killing their kids, and they rush into the school as fire fighters hose down the flames. They attack Wolverine and also slap handcuffs on Nightcrawler, despite him having saved all the children with a single teleport. Wolverine is blamed for killing a teenager, Tommy Reichert, but he insists the boy was a mutant and killing was his only option. Storm and Warbird appear on the scene and Carol uses her authority to have the two X-Men freed. In Great Britain, Bishop, Marvel Girl and Cannonball drive to Braddock Manor. There, they discover a hole in the entrance floor and investigate. Suddenly, they are attacked by a strange creature, the Fury.

Cannonball takes point but is easily brushed aside by the creature. Marvel Girl manages to impale it with a stalactite but is sent crashing skywards for her efforts. The strange being is incredibly powerful - it takes all of Bishop’s energy output and simply uses it to help restore itself. Cannonball once again attempts to fight the creature but, this time, he is caught in its strange taffy-like shell. He is pummelled to the floor and taken out of the equation. The Fury picks up his cyber shades and intends to trace the communications signal to its source. If the cybernetic network proves useful to its prime directive, it will assimilate it.

Sage is aware that something is wrong. As soon as she makes Storm aware of this, she is attacked, remotely, by the Fury. It uses Cannonball’s cyber shades to interact with Sage’s. Nanites are created in Sage’s shades and they dig their way into her mind, soon gaining partial control of her. The Fury then tries the same trick with Storm, but she manages to get free of them before they sink in too deep. Wolverine experiences another such attack, but survives. They head to Sage’s carriage house, to discover what’s going on, but Sage attacks Nightcrawler and fends off Wolverine. Storm sounds a full security alert, but the Fury, acting through Sage, activates the mansion’s defenses, gassing all but the trio of X-Men with Sage. As laser beams then strafe the area, Wolverine has Nightcrawler teleport them into the tunnels below the estate. In England, Cannonball has survived the Fury’s attack and, in saving Bishop, he thrusts the Fury into a propane tank. To his astonishment, the Fury emerges unscathed through the flames. The three X-Men at the mansion prepare to use unusual tactics to bring Sage down. They play against type when she appears, keeping her off balance. Helping them is Sage herself, using her indomitable will power to defend herself against the Fury’s insidious invasion. She battles Nightcrawler, who manages to keep her at arms length long enough for Storm to attack with an electromagnetic pulse. Sage lashes out at them, but the pulse does the job, crippling the nanites long enough for her to rip the shades from her face in a desperate last ditch attempt to assert her own free will. Nightcrawler, Wolverine and Storm ensure she is all right but, even though Sage is herself again, she is already making plans for the Fury.

The Fury is still attacking Cannonball in England, as his fellow X-Men take off from Xavier’s in the Blackbird. En route, they pick up Rachel, who emerges from the Irish Sea, a little light headed. She discovers Jean Grey had created a holempathic crystal, which reassures her about her purpose in life. Wolverine backs Jean up, telling Rachel she deserves this fresh start. Back in England, Bishop rejoins the battle and blasts the Fury, but it grabs Sam before he can escape. Bishop explodes a liquid nitrogen canister above them, though Sam’s blast field protects him. With the Fury frozen, the others arrive and Storm uses her powers to ionize the air around it, effectively rendering its scanners useless. Sage grabs the Fury’s core processor and Storm uses the Blackbird to fire three cluster bombs at the Fury, which tear it to pieces. Sage knows it is vulnerable, but will soon adapt. Her plan is to have Kurt place a module inside the Fury, which Rachel can telekinetically lock onto. Wolverine and Nightcrawler manage to place the module within the Fury and Rachel goes to work. She locks onto the module and, despite the enormous effort it takes, creates a controlled breach of the dimensional interface, with the help of her teammates, into which the Fury is banished.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

New X-Men: Academy X #7-9

David’s younger sister, Kim, arrives at Xavier’s to visit her brother. David first introduces Kim to the rest of his New Mutants squad, and next gives her a tour around the school and its many classes. Kim is very impressed and a little jealous as well, because she thinks that her school is boring compared to Xavier’s. Meanwhile, weird things are happening around the Institute. It begins with Icarus. While preparing for gym, his picture of his lost love Julia starts to crack, and he didn’t even touch it! He freaks out and sulks about it. Surge notices that and talks to him, but they only end up in an argument that Jay once tried to kill himself because he thought he had lost everything. Noriko, upset hearing that, knows that isn’t true, because Jay still has a family that loves him, and runs away to her room. There, she tries to contact her parents again and phones them, but her father doesn’t believe that it’s really Noriko calling them and hangs up on her. Noriko gets even more upset and stays in the room. After a while, Jay enters to apologize, and they both find Noriko’s room trashed! But Nori didn’t trash it, and neither did her roommate. At the lab, Wither and Wall Flower find a beaker smashed, and later a threatening message gets written on the blackboard, to “leave now.” Some time later, the New Mutants begin their Danger Room session and Kim gets to watch. Some of the squad members panic, but David suspects that it’s all just a prank of Julians. After a successful training session, Noriko doesn’t feel well after an overload of her powers. Dani goes to check on her and Kim has to stay behind in the observation deck. A ghost appears next to her and, after feeling that Kim is different, it warns Kim to get out of the place while she can and then disappears. Overjoyed, Kim rushes to Dani and the New Mutants, telling them that she has just found out that she is a mutant.

Kim tries to convince everyone that she really is a mutant able to talk to the dead. Nobody believes her and the New Mutants and Dani try to sort things out. Before they are able, the ghost switches off the Danger Room’s safety protocols and activates a simulation of Magneto. The group has the most difficulties in defeating him, but luckily Shan arrives just in time and switches the Danger Room off again. The New Mutants get a check-up to make sure they are fine and go to dinner. Cyclops and Emma Frost promise the team they’ll try to solve things. At dinner, Laurie is scared of the ghost, so Josh offers to take her to dinner off campus. Laurie finds that to be a terrific idea and offers Josh to join her on her weekly dinner with her mom. Kevin approaches Laurie to make sure she’s fine. Josh is offended by that and a fight almost breaks out between him and Kevin. But then, the kids’ dinner table disappears and, all of a sudden, drops out of the air! Julian, who was also at the cafeteria, is labeled primary suspect, though the young troublemaker claims to have nothing to do with it. Later, the New Mutants realize that the ghost must be a former student who has died when Magneto destroyed the school. That would also explain the choice of his simulation in the Danger Room. David uses the school computer to find data about all the students who didn’t return to the school after it was rebuilt and a list of all current students. So Noriko suggests to go to the cemetery behind the school and check headstones against names. Meanwhile, Kevin gets called to Emma Frost’s office and she wants him to talk to a specialized therapist. Dani, Rahne and Shan gather and Dani realizes who the ghost is. Josh and Laurie leave on their date. Later, the rest of the New Mutants go to the cemetery and find the ghost, who only tells them to “leave now while you can” and then teleports all of them away.

After being teleported by the ghost, the New Mutants materialize over the lake and fall down. Thanks to the help of combined teamwork and the unsuspected aid of Julian, nobody gets hurt. Dani and Shan show up and explain to the kids that they have found out that they are dealing with the spirit of Jeffrey Garret, a kid who died when Magneto attacked and destroyed the school. Josh and Laurie come back from their date and kiss. Rahne sees that and she doesn’t want to ruin Laurie’s happiness, so she brakes up their relationship for good this time. However, none of them notice being overheard by Kevin from up in his room. The next day, Kevin pays a visit to the psychiatrist his advisor, Emma Frost, picked out for him, namely Dr. Sean Garrison. Later that night, Sofia asks Dani to close down the school cafeteria to hold a séance. Jay refuses to help, because he’s mad at the ghost because he messed with the photo of his lost love, Julia. But the group gets the help from both Dani, who offers her old Valkyrie powers, and Julian, who wants to clear his name. Together, they contact Jeffrey and convince him to stop haunting everyone. Kim realizes that she’s not a mutant and feels sorry, but David cheers her up and is happy to know that Kim most likely will never be the victim of hatred and prosecution. Noriko promises Jeffrey to help him when he needs it, and brings him to Shan’s class of Institute’s lower school.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

Cable/Deadpool #1-6

Deadpool gets a phone call from Paris, where he’s hired by the One World Church, a cult that tries to unite humanity by making everybody lose their identity. The Church’s leader wants Wade to retrieve a virus that can help them in their mission. Deadpool leaves for the facility in Germany, where the virus is processed. Meanwhile, Cable has been spying on that same facility, while staying in a hotel. He helps a mutant in the hotel by sending him to Charles Xavier and then calls Irene Merryweather for information on the Sunic Pharmacopoeia, which has created that virus. Deadpool infiltrates the facility with his usual lack of subtlety, while Cable simply walks into the building, shielded from all harm by his telekinetics. They both run into each other in the middle of the facility and neither is happy to see the other. Deadpool is about to fight Cable for the Façade-virus he was hired to retrieve but Cable simply blows up Deadpool’s head and leaves with the virus.

On his way outside, he notices Hans Beimer, the head of the facility, who is now infected with the virus. Cable finds out that three anarchists have stolen the virus and infected themselves with it. The virus gives them shapeshifting powers but one of them is dying because of it. Cable tries to find them to destroy the virus. During his search, he finds the three, posing as celebrities, and asks Irene for info on them before he stops them. He then runs into Deadpool again and the encounter ends exactly the same as the first one. Cable flies off and finds one of the three anarchists, dying. The anarchist explains their plans of chaos and destruction. Cable can’t save him but he eases his pain. He then stops the second anarchist from killing other people. The third anarchist is also causing mass-destruction but Cable is capable of extracting the virus from her cells, saving her life. This process leaves Cable exhausted, though, and this time Deadpool shows up and shoots Cable. He returns to the One World Church and hands over the Façade-virus to their leader.

Cable calls Irene to tell her that he’s fine and then has a discussion with Xavier, mentioning how the techno-organic virus is returning and that his own body can’t handle the full force of his powers. Meanwhile, Deadpool joins the One World Church to restore his lost skin. The process is long and painful though. Cable enters the One World Church, hidden by his telepathic powers. He tries to find out whether he should be with or against them and is surprised when the Church’s Prime Minister introduces their newest member: Brother Wade Wilson, who can see him. For days, Cable and the former Deadpool talk and Cable becomes convinced that the Church truly does believe in their cause. The Prime Minister shows Cable the way they want to transmit the Façade Virus to the world and he infects Cable with the virus. Cable then tries to take control of the machine that is supposed to infect humanity with the virus, saying that he wants to be the one to administer it to the public, but then his mutant powers disappear. The Prime Minister explains that he used the Façade Virus to block Cable’s powers and Deadpool attacks Cable.

Weakened by his techno-organic virus and without his telepathy or telekinesis, Cable has to fight Deadpool. During the fight Cable manages to get Kruch to tell him about any cure, but Kruch replies that there isn’t one. Meanwhile, Deadpool notices that his healing factor is less effective due to the Façade Virus. Cable’s techno-organic infection becomes worse and Deadpool keeps coming back with heavier weapons, so in the end Cable has to resort to heavy weaponry as well. Kruch tries to escape, but his accounts have been raided by Hammer, Cable’s hacker ally. Finally, Cable falls down, taken over by the virus and at Deadpool’s mercy. He tries to convince Deadpool that what Kruch wants to do is wrong, but Deadpool turns around. The Façade Virus turns out to be flawed, though, and Deadpool starts to melt. Both men incapable of moving, Cable tells Deadpool that their only chance is each other’s blood.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/foresthouse/Deadpool/Scans/CableDeadpool%20Merge/DP_puddle1.jpg[img]

Meanwhile, Anton Kruch travels to Singapore to get the perfected strain of Façade Virus. In New York, Irene Merryweather tries to motivate Hammer to help her stop Kruch. Back in France, Cable manages to activate his telekinetic powers again and he swallows Deadpool, who has been reduced to a pile of goo. The process saves them both and even has the added bonus for Deadpool of restoring his face. Cable leaves for Singapore to stop Kruch. Deadpool gets on a plane to follow him. In Singapore, Cable tries to recover the Façade Virus from the Sunic Plant before Kruch gets there, but he has to fight Lightmaster, their new security measure. Cable manages to remove Lightmaster from the battlefield, long enough to modify the virus himself. Kruch appears and tries to convince Cable to let him go through with the plan. Cable rejects and uses Lightmaster, who turns out to be on Kruch’s side and his backup plan to transmit the modified virus instead all over the world. Deadpool’s flight is just about to land when it is hit by the virus, turning all the passengers pink.

Everybody on the world has turned bright pink, due to Cable’s use of the Façade Virus. Only Deadpool and Cable are not affected. Over the next few days, Cable reassembles the parts of his old spacestation, Greymalkin, while Irene Merryweather and Hammer try to find a way to stop Cable. Irene tricks Cable into using his new teleporter. When he teleports next to her, he is merged with Deadpool: by mixing their blood before to save their lives, they have become genetically linked. Cable and Deadpool tear apart and heal. Irene uses the opportunity to point a gun at Cable, but Cable asks if she is planning to shoot him. He’s wrong; Deadpool takes to gun and fights Cable. During the fight, Cable finds a way around the teleporter problem and shoots Deadpool several times. He then restores everybody on the whole world to normal. Irene wonders why he did it, but is answered by Cable, opening one of her articles on her computer: an article that proclaims Cable savior of the human race.

A few weeks later, Cable visits Deadpool to apologize: Deadpool’s restored skin was turned back to its old, disfigured state, when Cable cured the Façade Virus. Deadpool is angry with Cable, but shows him that he still has control over Cable’s teleporter and that he will use it to annoy Cable and stop him from going power-mad. Arriving back home, Nick Fury invites Deadpool to join S.H.I.E.L.D.’s alliance against Cable. Deadpool refuses, but the X-Men do join.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

X-Men v2 #157-160

Havok and Annie Ghazikhanian get into an argument about whether or not she did anything with Iceman the night of Polaris’ bachelorette party. But the discussion goes unanswered, as Havok, now a team leader, has X-Men responsibilities to attend to, such as tending to Jay Guthrie, who at his mothers’ request is going to be attending the Academy. Jay is going to be roommates with Squidboy, and they show Jay around, eventually running into Iceman, angry that the Juggernaut is allowed to know certain X-Men secrets and is using the Danger Room. Havok thinks Bobby’s attitude has something to do with the fact he has permanently become ice, and on the way to see Cyclops, who is now headmaster, they run into Rogue and Gambit, who also want to be taken off Havok’s team, but won't say why. Upon entering Cyclops’ office, they discover that everybody else has some problem with their team, or in Northstar’s case no team, however Cyclops will not let anyone change teams. Soon, Havok and all his team – Polaris, Iceman, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit and Juggernaut – meet with Emma Frost who has an assignment for them, hoping it may help them to work as a team, and the seven journey to China, where sometime ago a disaster happened. It was prophesied by the local monks as an “apocalypse”, but it went as far as to affect the Earth’s magnetic field, causing Lorna some pain. However as they search the rubble of the village, they discover someone who looks remarkably like…Xorn.

Juggernaut informs everyone that the original Xorn had a star for a brain, and suggests that a leak in his helmet had something to do with the destruction of the surrounding area. The X-Men are about to take Xorn back to the mansion when they are stopped by Eight Chinese Immortals. The Immortals attack, one of them seriously injures Polaris, while Gambit gets trapped in another Immortal’s controlled vines as his playing card blows up while he was holding onto it, and he is blinded.

Havok manages to knock out any remaining Immortals and they board the plane when something leaks from Xorn’s cracked head and begins to tear apart the X-jet. Havok manages to keep Xorn from opening another black hole by channeling his power through himself. The Eight Immortals return and remind the X-Men of the helmet Xorn was kept in which prevents his powers from acting out of control. They reveal that it is being held at a nearby military base, and so while the Eight Immortals lead Wolverine, Polaris, Rogue and the blinded Gambit some of the way, the squabbling Iceman and Juggernaut remain to keep an eye on Havok and Xorn – until the Collective Man shows up with some military aid, informing the heroes that they will die for setting Xorn free. Wolverine, Polaris, Rogue and Gambit are also confronted by the Collective Man when they arrive at the military base. At the Xavier Institute, Jay Guthrie has a run-in with Mindee of the Stepford Cuckoo’s while Squidboy tries to warn the White Queen that Black Tom Cassidy is on campus, but she doesn’t believe him.

The X-Men fight off the Collective Man and the Chinese army, Iceman and Juggernaut having to set aside their squabbling as they protect Havok from danger. When the Collective Man becomes a giant, Iceman matches him in height, and manages to fell him. Elsewhere Wolverine fights his way through more Collective Men, as Polaris clears the base of all the other Collective Men and soldiers, before using magnetic resonance imaging to locate Xorn’s helmet and displaying her incredible powers further by bringing it to them, before flying them all back to Havok and the others.

Later, back at the Institute, Havok and Annie make up after their fight, Havok telling her that he doesn’t want to know if she and Bobby slept together, while Bobby himself spends the night looking at photos of him and Lorna and him and Annie. Squidboy tries to convince Juggernaut that Black Tom Cassidy is amongst the trees, but Cain pretends to not believe him, however after sending Sammy inside, he calls out to his long time friend.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

Weapon X #19-22

During the months after defecting from Weapon X, Marrow has reorganized her old group, Gene Nation, and incorporated the leftover rebel cells of Cable’s Underground. Following her orders, the mutants have performed various terrorist attacks at some Weapon X training facilities for foot soldiers, but not all of the rebels like this change of course, as, under Cable, no innocents were harmed. Another of Marrow's problems is her control over her bone growth fading, again some structures growing on her temples. That is when Maverick sneaks into the base and points his gun at her, only to be subdued by Vessel and Hemingway. However, Maverick gets free, but Marrow manages to get him to listen – as they have the same cause, bringing down Weapon X, and with the rest of Cable’s Underground disassembled, why not join Gene Nation instead? Reluctantly, he agrees, neither of them aware of a second invader in the base – Agent Zero. Meanwhile, at the Weapon X compound, Jono romances a staff member and pressures her for information on how the compound is impervious to telepathic inquiries. He learns of some secret project called The Paths but, when checking out the chamber it’s supposed to be in, he finds that Paths is short for telepaths, about two dozen of them being held in stasis tubes.

Marrow joyfully watches TV reports on Gene Nation’s latest activities, when, suddenly, Agent Zero breaks in and flips a wire around her neck. He threatens to choke her to death, unless she reveals him where her terrorists will strike next. Having no other choice, Marrow says that the next target is Grand central Station, but at least she catches him off-guard with the revelation that Maverick has joined her cause and will be performing the bombing. Zero distracted, Marrow breaks free and summons her most loyal members of Gene Nation. Knowing that fighting all of them would take too long, Agent Zero escapes, to try and stop Maverick before its too late. Before long, he spots him among the crowd at Grand Central Station. Although he could easily kill him, Zero approaches Maverick and asks him to reveal who he really is under that mask. Maverick has no intention of telling and, when he reaches inside his coat for a gun, Zero shoots him in the chest. However, Maverick wanted to shoot the real bomber, a female mutant who blows up, taking along most of Grand Central Station. Both Zero and Maverick survive, the latter just barely, and Zero curiously unmasks Maverick only to be shocked by the sight of a familiar face. Meanwhile, Chamber intends to free the many telepaths exploited by Weapon X to shield the compound from outside probing, but they tell him they are beyond saving; instead they tip him off to what’s happening at Neverland. Shocked by the dark events going on at the concentration camp, Jono gets overeager and uses his mobile phone to cancel the scheduled meeting with Logan, for he plans to stow away on a prison transport to Neverland. Despite Logan’s warnings, Jono goes through with his plan.

Agent Zero demasks the badly injured Maverick and is startled to find that he is Chris Bradley, aka Bolt, Maverick’s old sidekick. Evidently, after having been informed of Maverick’s apparent death, Chris had decided to make the name live on and to make his mentor proud by hunting down and killing the Weapon X Program. However, he failed and he dies in Zero’s arms, before he has a chance to tell him that he is the real Maverick and that he indeed is proud of Chris’ actions. After grieving for his friend’s death, Zero wants revenge and hunts down every single member of Gene Nation and kills them. He even gets to Marrow and is ready to shoot her, but realizes that this would make her a martyr and would further inspire her terrorist cause. Therefore, he spares her and promises to kill every single mutant that supports her, until she realizes that she is all alone and useless. Meanwhile, Logan receives a phone call from Chamber, who has discovered Neverland and transmits him the coordinates of the place, when suddenly the connection breaks down. Logan travels to the coordinates, somewhere in the Canadian woods, and finds the concentration camp abandoned. Returning to the Weapon X compound, Agent Zero finds the place empty as well and he wonders what has happened and where everybody went.

Following the Underground’s attack on the Weapon X compound, Aurora has flown herself, Malcolm Colcord and Jeffries to safety. Instead of taking them to their intended destination, Aurora drops both men in some desert and attacks Malcolm with her super-speed, in a new, third, never-before-seen persona, she has developed to cope with her emotional and physical trauma. Malcolm begs Aurora to finish him off, but she instead decides to abandon them and flies away. Jeffries takes the Director to the original, now abandoned Weapon X complex. Weeks pass, and Malcolm tries to drink himself death, much to Jeffries’ concern. Eventually, Malcolm becomes delusional and sees Wolverine, the man who was responsible for disfiguring his face. Surprisingly, “Wolverine” offers Malcolm his aid stating he needs to go back into the game. Malcolm refuses Wolverine's help and contacts his former superiors of the Weapon X Program. They thought he was dead by now and laugh at the thought of working together with him again. This time, Colcord lets himself be inspired by the hallucination of Wolverine, and he orders Jeffries to get the old Weapon X complex running again with his robots and to create a new army of Sentinels at their disposal. Jeffries does as told, and while he is happy to see Colcord smiling again, he is somewhat concerned about his mental state, for he keeps talking to himself - or actually to the hallucinatory Wolverine.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

Weapon X #23-28

End of Series

At the end of World War II in a recently liberated concentration camp, a man the army troops call the Professor finds the journal from Nathan Essex, which quickly peaks his interest. Years pass and the Professor and his co-workers, Cornelius and Hines, observe the rather savage mutant known as James Howlett. Howlett is but one of several mutants the Professor is considering for the latest Weapon Plus program, for which he has been given charge of. As the programs are named by their number, this one will be "X." He gets a phone call from John Sublime, who is with the more advanced Weapon Plus Programs. When Sublime informs him that the government is shutting him down, the Professor responds by breaking off from the Plus Program. Years pass, and the Professor is dead. Sublime stands over his grave and meets Malcolm Colcord, who had an accident at the closing days of the Weapon X Program. Sublime suggests they work together so that he can get his revenge on Wolverine, the mutant responsible for his disfigurement. Colcord accepts. Years pass, and Colcord is happy with his restarted Weapon X program and its new side project, something called Neverland. He also finds his second-in-command, Brent Jackson. In the present day, Agent Zero walks through the deserted Weapon X Program and can only find the word "Roanoke" on the computer screens. Wolverine walks through the deserted Neverland, and finds the same. Fantomex digs up John Sublime's grave and finds out that it's empty. In the coffin, he finds a card that reads "Roanoke."

In the town called Roanoke, a grandfather tells his grandchildren the story of a mysterious town that once also shared the same name. When a sea captain called John White, after three years, finally returned to his home colony, he found out that all 116 men, women and children who once lived there, had all went up and vanished into the air. White tried to find out what happened to the town and spent 20 years searching for survivors, but no one was ever found. When the story’s over, Wolverine shows up in Roanoke and unsheathes his claws and kills everyone living here. Later, sitting in a train, Wolverine wakes up from his nightmare and tries to calm himself down. Meanwhile, Fantomex arrives at the deserted Weapon X compound. There, Fantomex is caught by Agent Zero and the two have a little fight with each other.

E.V.A. rushes into the building and calms the two gentlemen down and takes them aboard. E.V.A. lands in a grassy area, where nothing is left but grass and some trees. E.V.A. finds out that there was a civilization here once, but is now destroyed. There is also a man-made complex hidden underground here. Fantomex and Zero try to figure out what happened to the civilization. Their talking is cut short by Wolverine, who snikts his claws open and reveals that he happened to it.

Wolverine reveals to Agent Zero and Fantomex that he killed the people in Roanoke, back when he was mind-controlled and working for Weapon X. He has also found a tree trunk with the word “Croatoan” on it. On the second “O,” there’s a button. When they push the button, a video-screen appears. As the screen opens, John Sublime reveals himself to be alive! Sublime explains that the Weapon X faculties have moved underground, because they are at war with the Weapon Plus Programs now and believe that they are harder to find underground. Sublime also reveals to Wolverine that he let him read the files at the World, and that one of the three men is the heart and body to Weapon X; but none of the three mutants realize which one of them it is. Sublime sends his various U-Men out to kill them. The mutants fight their way through and E.V.A. rescues them. Sublime lets them escape, knowing that Weapon X has made a move against them now, but as of today, so has he made a move against them. Later, a damaged E.V.A. lies in a grassfield, crippled and burning up in flames. Beneath her lies Fantomex, badly injured and not moving. Wolverine and Agent Zero are nowhere to be seen.

Sabretooth’s employer, Megacorp, gives him his next mission: he has to kill his former boss, Mr. Sinister. After getting a quick history brief on Sinister’s past and current guise of Dr. Windsor, Sabretooth decides to go for it. Meanwhile, Dr. Windsor is still at it and is now the head of the Center for Homo Superior Medical Care. He convinces a mutant’s parents that there boy, Louis, is soon to die. The parents decide to let their boy be and leave. Sinister’s happy with his new test object and tells Scalphunter to move it to their faculty. Sabretooth makes it in but Sinister orders his new employee, Hans, to take care of him. Sabretooth and Hans fight, and Hans is the apparent winner of the fight by burning up Sabretooth’s body.

In the year 1968, Sabretooth was on vacation in Vietnam when he was approached by Scalphunter. He and Sabretooth came to an understanding, if Sabretooth promised not to stick his nose into Scalphunter and his boss’ business. In the present day, Sabretooth is defeated by the Marauders known as Hans. Believing his enemy to be defeated, Hans walks out but Sabretooth lives and defeats Hans, making him fall off from a rooftop. Sabretooth wants to continue his search for Mr. Sinister, but is attacked by another new Marauder, a little guy that looks just like Hans! The little guy kicks Sabretooth down, but Sabretooth eventually defeats the little guy. Just as Sabretooth wants to kill the little Marauder, he is hit by another optic beam and drops off the roof. Exhausted, Sabretooth finds himself challenged by nine other new Marauders, all looking like Hans. Sabretooth gets up and wants to fight, but is too exhausted and faints. Luckily, Creed is found by his employers of Megacorp. They are a bit disappointed that Sabretooth failed them and want to give the assignment over to Wolverine. Sabretooth promises that he will find Mr. Sinister and walks out of the office building. Once outside, he is approached by Scalphunter, who finds it the right time that they come to an understanding.

Scalphunter explains to Sabretooth how Hans and the other Children were created by Mr. Sinister. Scalphunter is afraid that he might die for good, now that Sinister has the Children, and reveals to Sabretooth how to get to Sinister’s secret location. Meanwhile, Sinister himself wants to eliminate Hans because he failed to stop Sabretooth. Suddenly, Sabretooth drops into Sinister’s castle and activates a device installed on his head, which defeats the Children. Sabretooth wants to fight Sinister and bring him to his bosses at MegaCorp. Grand and Tomes show up by themselves and pay Sabretooth with a big amount of money for his services. Sabretooth walks out, while Grand talks to Sinister in private. Grand reveals his true identity: that of John Sublime! Sublime makes a deal with Sinister. Sinister agrees and hands over Hans and the Children to Sublime and, in exchange, gets to take a peek at the mutant files that Sabretooth stole from Weapon X. Afterwards, Sabretooth returns to Satan’s Circus, where Peepers hands him over a note. Sabretooth leaves and drops the note, that reads “Brotherhood.”

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

Uncanny X-Men #448-449

The X-Men return to Braddock Manor, following their battle with the Fury, and find the building mysteriously intact. Brian Braddock and his wife, Meggan, wait for them at the door. Inside, Brian explains that the manor is magic, and somehow takes care of itself. Despite being happy to see her old friends, Rachel senses something is wrong with the whole scenario. Once outside, she accesses a portion of her power and, in place of the pristine manor, she sees Jamie Braddock again. This time, he is standing amidst the ruins of the building. As quickly as the image hits her, it is gone. She seems to shrug it off and the team head to London, chauffeured by a woman with green lipstick. They change into evening dress for dinner with the queen but, once inside their car, they are gassed by their chauffeur, Viper. They wake up inside see-through spheres and with a large hologram of Viper standing beside them. She informs them that they are inside Murderworld and the object of her game is to kill them; especially Sage. They must also find and rescue the queen of England, because, if they don’t, she will die. Rachel is the first to emerge from her sphere, but she is severely beaten up by Viper. Without their powers, courtesy of some well-placed nanites, Viper has an advantage over the X-Men in that she knows the terrain. In their new environment, Kurt saves Storm from being swept underwater, but knows that, in escaping this trap, there’s bound to be another one waiting for them. Bishop and Sage emerge next to an illusion of the Tower of London. Sage somehow breaks her sphere using her fist, which surprises Bishop. Viper then appears and beats up Bishop before shooting Sage.

Only her uniform protects her from certain death. She then holds a gun to Sage’s head and, despite Bishop’s warning that she will be hunted to the ends of the Earth, she pulls the trigger.

Having shot Sage in the forehead, Viper proceeds to best Marvel Girl in physical combat, leaving Rachel and Bishop to face a squad of soldiers. Inexplicably, Sage stands up and shows her X.S.E badge to the captain, ordering him to stand down. She then wills the bullet from her forehead and switches off her image inducer, revealing that it is, after all, Wolverine. Bishop can’t believe he didn’t figure it out earlier. The queen, however, is still in danger, but Wolverine knows where she is. Meanwhile, Storm and Nightcrawler intrude on a Purity conference and Ororo has strong words with the organizer, Alice Tremaine, before taking her leave. Arriving at the London Eye, Alistaire Stuart informs the team, who now have their powers back, that the hostage is in the topmost car and two bombs are keeping her there. Viper’s voice tells the X-Men that there are two bombs. One conventional bomb will explode if they do nothing, or a baby nuke will explode if they try to rescue her. Also, it’s not really the Queen of England. It is Ella, one of her housemaids. The X-Men, despite Stuart’s objections, attempt a rescue and Storm creates a Jovian pressure field to crush the car, once Nightcrawler has teleported Ella to safety. Bishop blasts the car high into the sky, where the nuke explodes, harmlessly. Logan tells Alistaire that it was a risk, but Ororo made the right call. Meanwhile, Viper is on a mission to eliminate Courtney Ross. Before she kills her, however, Ross makes her an offer she can’t refuse. Later, Sebastian Shaw meets with them both and, together, they agree to rule the Hellfire Club, leaving the world theirs for the taking.

 

[SunflowaSeeds]

X-Men v2 #161-164

A new Brotherhood consisting of Sabretooth, Exodus, Black Tom Cassidy, Avalanche, Nocturne and Mammomax attack a presentation in Philadelphia, but the X-Men are there and prepared for them - only during the course of the battle, the Brotherhood escape, and the X-Men do not learn what it is they want. At the Institute, Squidboy is looking for Juggernaut, which causes Iceman to argue with his teammates, reminding them that Juggernaut is on parole and needs to be accounted for at all times, especially as he was not with them during the mission. Squidboy’s mother also asks Sammy how he would feel if she started dating Juggernaut, which the boy doesn’t like. Rogue apologizes to the still-blinded Gambit for her part in his injuries, but when he goes off at her, she leaves. When Havok lets slip that the Brotherhood got away to Annie, she panics, and fearing the Brotherhood will come to the Institute she realizes she cannot be there anymore. Havok suggests she go somewhere safe, but what he doesn’t know is that she packs up and leaves forever, telling only Polaris. The Brotherhood argue about how the X-Men could have known they were going to attack, when Black Tom brings in his back up plan, which he has had in plotting for quite some time - Juggernaut!

The new Brotherhood of Mutants learns Black Tom and Juggernaut’s plan, including the part about Cain being a mole within the X-Men all this time. However Nocturne isn’t so sure about things, and when she tries to make her exit, she is beaten by Cain, the extent of her injuries unknown. Squidboy sees his “hero“ beat on Nocturne and gets seriously upset, but before Sammy can alert the X-Men, Black Tom attacks kills him.

This causes Cain to go on a rampage, tearing Black Tom’s head off, and attacking the other members of the Brotherhood. Shen Xorn reveals to Havok and the Emma that firstly it was not Magneto who did the things to them, but someone acting as an impostor, and that secondly, the person behind it all is still within their midst and has been for sometime. The telepathic Xorn feels that the mysterious assailant will strike again. Meanwhile, Havok is informed by Iceman that Juggernaut is still missing, and Jay Guthrie reveals that Sammy has gone looking for him. Alex realizes finally what is happening and assembles as many X-Men as he can, to go looking for the Brotherhood. Wolverine, Polaris and Rogue set out in one direction, while Havok, Iceman and Xorn go in another - and run into the Brotherhood. Havok manages to blast Juggernaut away with a plasma blast, but at the same time Sabretooth guts Xorn and Avalanche shatters Iceman, before opening up a gully and causing Havok and Xorn to fall in it. Black Tom puts himself back together, and Exodus is glad that his plan has not turned into a complete failure, before telling the others that they need to go kill the rest of the X-Men.

As they drive out of the Institute, Carter complains to Annie that they cannot leave without saying goodbye, when Annie’s close friend Northstar appears before them and converses with Annie about her departure. Suddenly the telepathic Carter reveals to them that Sammy has been killed and now the Institute is under attack. The blinded Gambit has a vision of the Brotherhood attacking and seeks help, but can only find the snobbish Mindee of the Stepford Cuckoos, who is reluctant to help him, until Sabretooth attacks them and she uses her telepathy to guide Gambit’s kinetically charged cards.

Avalanche joins in the battle, only to be taken out by Mindee as Sabretooth is rushed away by Northstar. Northstar uses his super speed to push Sabretooth through the forest as the ferocious mutant tells Jean-Paul he is more of a girl than his sister was. The mention of his missing sister Aurora gets Northstar so worked up that he beats Sabretooth until he is unconscious, ready to get an explanation as to his sister’s whereabouts when he wakes. Wolverine and Polaris discover the body of Sammy when they are approached by Nocturne, who is worried she may have helped the Brotherhood kill everyone at Xavier’s. Juggernaut and Iceman bicker as they dig for the buried Havok and Xorn, eventually uncovering them as Gambit and Mindee are cornered by Exodus and Rogue begins to get crushed alive by Black Tom. Wolverine, Havok, Polaris, Iceman, Northstar, Juggernaut, Xorn and Nocturne all regroup and prepare for battle against the Brotherhood.

Icarus rescues Mindee and Gambit from Exodus, as the school chef Marilyn takes on Black Tom, who has trapped Rogue. Black Tom is repulsed by Marilyn and jibes Rogue as she tries to convince him not to hurt the four-armed chef. Wolverine, Havok, Polaris and the others regroup and run into Sabretooth. Logan is left to deal with Sabretooth on his own as Exodus, Avalanche and Mammomax argue and try to move onwards with the plan - until Havok, Polaris and the others arrive and begin to battle them. Northstar comes to the aid of Marilyn and after telling Black Tom the chef’s life story, Jean-Paul breaks the plant-mutant into nothing but twigs and leaves. However, Black Tom is not defeated, and vines spring forth from all over the Institute grounds, trapping the X-Men and their allies. Mindee is unable to use her telepathy to take control of Black Tom’s mind because it is so scattered, but Nocturne is able to phase into Tom, but finds herself unable to centralize his consciousness. Shen Xorn believes he has the only answer, which involves taking off his helmet and opening the black hole within his head. Mindee mind wipes the Brotherhood in case they are able to return from wherever it is that they are going to be sucked away too, and Juggernaut agrees to be sucked away with them so that he can protect Nocturne wherever they may wind up. With that, Juggernaut, Avalanche, Mammomax, Exodus and Black Tom with Nocturne inside him vanish into Xorn’s black hole. Xorn then requests to leave his place at the Institute, to which Havok agrees. The X-Men find Wolverine, who claims to have finished off Sabretooth, and Northstar is about to inform Havok that Annie has left, when Havok reveals that he already knows. However, Annie may find it no safer away from the Institute, as Carter reveals he has a new friend, who is not imaginary, and two eyes glow next to him inside the car as Annie is driving from the Institute.