Issue+34+-+'Fire+on+the+Mountain'


 * Issue 34 - 'Fire on the Mountain' **




 * Plot**

After being stabbed through the ribs Dane dropped to the ground, unconscious or dead. Meanwhile, a seemingly comatose Amiko sprung from Logan’s arms and viciously attacked Bastienne. The eXalts sprung into action. Mustang ordered Blur to find Pixie, believing her soul dagger might free Wolverine and Midnight from their brainwashing. Mustang then bound Wolverine in light bands as strong as iron. Medic ran down the stairs and greatly fatigued the helpless Wolverine, but couldn’t knock him out. He broke free and stabbed Bast with both claws and dealt Medic a savage blow, dropping him. Phantasma finally pinned Wolverine in place. Mustang revived Medic. Medic’s energy-draining touch eventually caused Wolverine to drop. Meanwhile, Vortex took shots at Midnight. Blur returned and landed a staggering blow on the ninja. Vortex then finished her off. Upstairs, the unseen attackers burst into Dagan’s room and made themselves visible. They then challenged the young girl to combat. Panzer revealed he was merely injured when he shifted into his Vibranium form and charged in to defend his daughter. Glimmer managed to put up her light armor, but the samurai’s technological weapons penetrated the defense and knocked her out. Panzer dropped one, but the other escaped the room. Students were running from their rooms. Chi tried to help and badly injured one samurai, but another ran her through with a spear. Lobo led the fleeing students to a back window and Icegirl created an ice slide for students to escape. The students ran into the Danger Room with Lucius (and Sarah’s hand). Icegirl and Sorceress remained behind to make sure all students were safe. Following Glimmer’s collapse, one of the samurai stabbed Icegirl, the secondary target. Icegirl collapsed, dying Vortex returned from below and finished off Icegirl’s attacker. Blur then knocked out the last samurai.

Following the attack Mac quickly stabilized the dying students, saving the lives of Dagan, Agape, and Joni. Tierra, the prone girl Dane had been checking on when he was stabbed, was merely knocked out. Billy stabilized Amiko. Melissa used her soul dagger on Logan, hoping it would end the brainwashing. Samantha entered Amiko’s mind and saw she’d been brainwashed by the Crimson Guji of Hellfire Club: Tokyo (the elderly woman known only as Lady Lotus). Sam saw they’d recently been at the Four Seasons in San Francisco. Melissa then used her soul dagger on the unconscious Amiko in hopes of breaking Lady Lotus’ mental hold. Sam entered the mind of one of the samurai. She discovered that they are a mercenary group known as the Masters of Silence. There are three: Kaze (Wind), Inazuma (Lightning), and Kaminari (Thunder) - the Three Storms. They were not brainwashed, but were instead convinced to help Hellfire Club: Tokyo by Kenuichio Harada (the Silver Samurai and Crimson Daimyo of Hellfire Club: Tokyo). The Masters of Silence were convinced that the eXalts (and new trainees Dagan and Agape) were members of Hellfire Club: Los Angeles. Further, they believed that Hellfire Club: Los Angeles was responsible for Japan’s economic woes. They agreed to kill the new trainees while Wolverine and Midnight took on the eXalts. Samantha further uncovered that the trio had once crossed paths with Iron Man. Dane contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. and had them arrest the unconscious samurai and take them away. He kept their equipment. Logan was brought to the Danger Room where he finally awoke. David was worried he might still be brainwashed, but the rest of the eXalts let him go. Logan left with his unconscious foster daughter on Matt’s motorcycle.

That weekend Dane investigated the Four Seasons in San Francisco with Gunther’s help. He hacked into the Four Seasons registration network to discover that Akane Fusion, the company that owns Benetech, has a suite of conference rooms reserved in the hotel. Dane and Gunther searched the rooms. They were the same rooms where the X-Corporation members were brainwashed. Unfortunately, Dane failed to uncover any further information in the rooms. While leaving the city, he noticed a few instances of graffiti that spelled out MRF (Mutant Revolutionary Force, perhaps?) Dane did manage to finish his technological device that would allow him to affect insubstantial enemies.

Also over the weekend many eXalts spent time with their partners. Cameron and Agape went out for a cheap dinner and a movie. After the movie they went to an 18 and up club where they danced and kissed on the dance floor. Mac took Jubilee out to an independent film. Afterward David caught them kissing in the hallway before parting for the night. David was working hard on a secret project, but found time to watch a movie with Cordelia. Sam and Matt spent a quiet night in with the twins. Bastienne and Billy engaged in some secret training. Jess and Bastienne then spent the night with Academy X students. Bastienne took Ashley aside to see how she was doing following the possible rape. Ashley was worried Bastienne had told someone, but the headmistress assured her that she hadn’t. Ashley promised to talk to the school’s counselor on Sunday. The rest of the students had a quiet night. Tatiana’s cat was seen wandering around. Late that night, Cordelia snuck into David’s room and the two were intimate.

On Sunday, Jess worked on a memorial service for Kevin. Lucius was manning the security room when Logan called. Lucius transferred the call to Bastienne. Logan said he’d ditched Matt’s motorcycle behind a former bus station in Pennsylvania. He said “Chuck” would take care of it. He also said that Amiko had spoken of her time as a brainwashed agent of Hellfire Club: Tokyo. She noticed that the leader of the Crimson branch of Hellfire Club: Tokyo, Tomi Shishido, had been acting strangely ever since he began using Cerebra. Especially lately, since Necrosha, he’d been acting like he was someone else. He was also using Cerebra more and more. Later on Sunday Samantha received a phone call from Michael “Discord” Schwartz. Michael said he’d obtained a mental-blocking device and felt safe from Hellfire Club: Tokyo. He said he’d visited the apartment of Renee, former Black Queen of Hellfire Club: Los Angeles. He’d found a hidden journal with information for Academy X. After Sam agreed to trade a favor for it, Michael said that Renee had foreseen a “coming firestorm” that would “rain fire and lightning down” before winter solstice. Renee had written that it would be caused by a student at Academy X. Next to that she’d written it was someone “from South America?” Sam shared the information with her fellow staff.

Late Sunday night several teachers smelled pizza after lights out. Bastienne was able to track the source to a sophomore’s room. Dane went to the security room and asked Melissa if anyone ordered pizza. Melissa said that Jubilee had done so. Dane called Jubilee, who was making out with Mac. She said she hadn’t ordered pizza. Dane joined Bastienne and they entered the sophomore’s room where a dozen students were eating and talking. Robin offered Dane pizza, then lied and said Jubilee had allowed it. When he was caught in his lie, he apologized and took the blame for having ordered it. The teachers had noticed that Robin could change shape, so they believed his story. Dane gave him detention. Once outside the room, however, Bastienne’s super hearing picked up a conversation. One of the sophomores wondered why Robin took the blame for Hiro. On Monday morning Dane punished both Robin (for lying) and Hiro (for ordering pizza). Classes went on as normal on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday news broke that S.H.I.E.L.D. had raided a hideout belonging to the Mutant Revolutionary Force. Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents died, but they managed to capture one MRF member – Brimstone. After classes, Cameron and Agape left in the school van to do some shopping for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. Dagan wanted to accompany them and Cameron brought her along. In the parking lot of the supermarket, Dagan suddenly had a horrible headache and collapsed. A moment later, Agape grabbed her head and collapsed. Cameron was about to contact the school for help, when he suddenly found he was unable to…

Cameron and the girls hadn’t returned by the end of dinner. There was no response when they were contacted, so Dane searched for Cameron’s communicator’s signal. He located it in a bad neighborhood in the Tenderloin. The eXalts, except for probationary member Joni, hurried to the scene in Jess and Mac’s cars. Upon arriving, Samantha noticed the presence of a strong psychic. The presence was vaguely familiar, and oddly enough it seemed… happy. David decided to surround the building and enter simultaneously to preserve the element of surprise. Billy and Dane went to the back door while David, Mac, and Bastienne prepared to go through the front. Samantha stayed in front to combat the psychic. Both teams burst inside.

Panzer and Blur found Cameron, Agape, and Dagan in the back room. Agape and Dagan were unconscious and the floor while Cameron was sitting up but unresponsive. Panzer immediately came under mental attack. The psychic’s power was so overwhelming that Phantasma was unable to block it. Blur grabbed Dagan and ran with her back to the cars. Mustang, Medic, and Bast then came in from the other side. Bast teleported over to Agape and grabbed her. She displayed the new ability to teleport with another when she teleported Agape to safety. Mustang helped Cameron to his feet. He was conscious, but dazed and strangely happy. Panzer continued to suffer under the mysterious psychic’s mental bombardment. Phantasma managed to block the psychic once, but Panzer was soon immobilized from pain. Medic tried to help him outside, but Panzer's metal form simply weighed too much. Finally, Panzer shifted into his human form and Medic helped him out. By then, Leong Coy Manh and Nga Coy Manh (the psychic twins) had contacted Phantasma. Together, the three telepaths drove off the psychic entity and the group escaped. Back at Academy X, Cameron allowed Sam to enter his mind. She saw that he’d been in a pleasant dreamwith someone he’d loved: Maya. The group realized all the clues pointed to her: she’s “from South America” (Mayan), Ruth’s haiku contained etymologies of her name, and the reason Dagan and Agape had been attacked is that they’d been rivals for Cameron’s attention. The group now knew their enemy was their former student. Meanwhile, Jess revealed to Billy that she’d faked the results of David’s DNA test. His true father could be Magneto. But before anyone could grapple with these revelations, news arrived of a battle on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier as explosions erupted from the gigantic vehicle above…

**Next:** Issue 35 - 'Play With Fire' **Previous:** Issue 33 - 'Crossfire'