Issue+96+-+'Pestilence'


 * Issue 96 - 'Pestilence' **




 * Plot **

Clan Akkaba, the mortal descendants of X-Men villain Apocalypse, are hunting for “seeds”, or mutants that can host Egyptian gods. Meanwhile, Academy X student and clone of Apocalypse Evan Sabahnur moved closer and closer to embracing his dark side. Then, on Halloween, all hell broke loose. First Academy X Headmistress and eXalt Bastienne survived a bombing of her main church, a religion dedicated to worshipping her as Bastet. She soon discovered that all of her churches had been attacked – and that her former student and sometimes lover, Rafé Lopez, had been killed. Carved into his chest were Egyptian hieroglyphics stating, “He’s mine” and a lion symbol. It seems Sekhmet, Bastet’s sister, has arrived in the west with her cult. Meanwhile, a psychic scream by Academy X student Diana Fox woke the residents of Academy X to warn them of an imminent attack. The scream gave eXalt Billy “Blur” Pang just enough warning to slow time and evacuate nearly everyone in the building before a green gas could reach them, but left behind were a handful of students and eXalt Dane “Panzer” Lightfoot. While Billy tried to save Dane’s son (as well as the son of eXalt David “Mustang” Goldberg) Davan, the boy disappeared! But there was no time to worry about Dane or Davan – outside Academy X, an attack by the school’s supposed ally, Hellfire Club: Tokyo, had begun! Hundreds of mutants, lead by the mysterious Emperor, attempted to kill Evan. Then it was revealed that the Emperor, also called the Golden Claw, was none other than an older version of Billy – and by his side was Lady Lotus, or an older version of Billy’s wife, Ruth! Evan summoned the android servants of Plex, the alien artificial intelligence living in a former space station below Academy X. The battle was joined. Plex finally broke free of Evan’s mental control. Evan was nearly killed, but the powerful young man embraced his destiny and became Apocalypse. He disintegrated the Hellfire Club mutants, leaving only a few (older Billy and Ruth, Honoka and Sunfire) alive. Evan, face contorted in rage, flew off. The battle was over, but what now? Samantha, as eXalts team leader, orders Dagan to use the healing powers she’d borrowed, to revive the downed Mac. She then mentally reaches out to search for Dane, who’s still missing. Even though the green gas has begun to dissipate in the school, Sam finds it difficult to scan inside the building. She finally reaches Dane and is relieved to find him still alive, though unconscious. Students Jamie, Marco, Reggie, Wendy, and Linda are also still inside and unconscious. Former eXalt and Academy X Board of Trustee member Honoka had been thrown into the building through Sam’s telekinesis during the battle. Sam retrieves her, but she’s now unconscious as well. Sam then tries to mentally reach Bastienne in Oakland. She can tell Bastienne is feeling a chaotic mixture of pain, sadness, anger and worry. Sam also senses hundreds of people praying to the goddess. Bastienne pushes Sam’s mental presence away without answering. Sam sighs, but turns her attention back to Academy X. She turns to Mac and asks him, as President of Utopia, to commute or suspend David’s sentence. David had been imprisoned for colluding with the terrorist Mutant Revolutionary Force, resulting in dozens of deaths. But considering the possible threat now facing Utopia – or even the world – David will be needed. Mac isn’t happy about the idea, but agrees to at least suspend David’s sentence for now. Sam contacts David mentally and says he’s needed at the school. At the prison in New Genosha, David asks police lieutenant Barry (really David’s former classmate Paul) if he’ll free him. Barry doesn’t know what’s going on and says he can’t, so David breaks free and rushes to Academy X. On his way he hears screaming from Asiantown, but ignores it for now. Outside the school, Matt and Tsu-zana are keeping students calm. Several were injured, either from participating in the battle or from collateral damage, but none are seriously hurt. Matt realizes the school’s power is out – the gas must have acted like an EMP blast in addition to knocking out anyone inside. Bailey, due to his friendship with Plex, asks the A.I. to send his Plexroids into the school to retrieve the unconscious people within. Plex agrees, but as soon as the androids enter the building they lose power. Plex says the gas has reached the basement, but he’s blocked it from entering Asteroid M (the space station he controls). Sam recalls that Christine “Tattoo” Cord, former Academy X student and MRF member, is imprisoned in the basement. She is also one of the seeds Clan Akkaba is searching for. Was she affected by the gas – and, if so, was she able to escape? The gas may have powered off the security before it knocked her out and she could now be free, especially since the teleportation blocker was knocked offline. David arrives at the school and asks Sam for a quick update. She uploads memories of the past few minutes to his brain so he’s aware of what’s going on. He creates a light construct of a giant fan and begins blowing the green gas out of the school room by room. Bailey goes with him to look for victims. In the library they find Jamie, Marco, Reggie, Wendy, and Lina. It seems the students were having some kind of private Halloween party when they were knocked out. The gas seems to have originated in Evan’s room, as he was Hellfire Club: Tokyo’s target. Dane’s body is found in his room and baby Davan is missing. Bailey brings the victims outside, but neither Sam’s mental abilities nor Mac’s healing will rouse them. Sam can’t sense Christine in the basement – is she gone? She can’t tell for now. Sam then turns to Academy X professor Michael “Discord” Schwartz and demands answers. Michael has been both an ally and foe of the eXalts in the past but most recently joined the school’s faculty. During the battle he fought on Hellfire Club: Tokyo’s side – until switching allegiance halfway through and turning the tide of the battle. Without him, the eXalts likely would have lost. But clearly Michael had been working for the enemy. What does he know? Michael doesn’t bother denying his former allegiance to Hellfire Club: Tokyo. He simply says, “I knew they wanted to stop him, but I didn’t know they were going to kill him.” Ruth said they had to bring Evan down, but Michael didn’t agree with killing the boy and switched sides. Sam accepts his answers (at least for now). During the conversation Mac notices that senior Diana Fox (the one who had alerted everyone to the attack) is watching them closely. But then Mac feels a tap on his ankle. It’s Sarah “Schism” Rabinowitz, the former Academy X student who could animate parts of her body to act independently. She’d been “killed” during an earlier attack on the school, but her hand survived and now lives in the basement. Mac kneels to see what Sarah wants and discovers she somehow retrieved a Hellfire Club communicator during the battle. Mac puts it in his ear and hears a number of voices shouting or screaming in an Asian language. When he asks (in English) what’s going on, an unknown man replies that Asiantown (next to New Genosha) is burning! Meanwhile, outside the church attack in Oakland, Bastienne talks to Bishop Graves. Graves oversees all the churches of her faith and has been talking to the priests at each location. The worst news comes out of Los Angeles: dozens died and many were injured in the fire before the parishioners managed to escape. It seems none of the other church attacks resulted in casualties, but Graves is shaken by the news that every Bastet church or shrine was targeted. Bastienne is still sensing the prayers of hundreds of her followers, though her thoughts are on Rafé. It’s clear he was killed earlier in the day and his death sent a message: Sekhmet has declared war on her and her followers. Bastienne grits her teeth, preparing to wage war against her own sister. From Academy X, the eXalts can see Hellfire Club: Tokyo’s bank burning. They prepare to fly to New Genosha to help, when all of a sudden Liam appears! The Academy X professor and eXalt had been on a leave of absence to consult with his Navajo elders. Liam is a spirit summoner and had accepted the help of several Egyptian gods to summon their spirits, but in a recent battle he was possessed by Sobek after summoning the crocodile god’s spirit. The elders said the only way he could get answers was by talking to Sobek himself, and the only place they knew to find him was in the realm of the Egyptian gods: Heliopolis. They suggested he undergo a spirit quest to the celestial plane. Liam had done so once before when traveling to the Under City (one of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven), but Heliopolis was not directly connected to the Earthly plane and would be more difficult and time-consuming to reach. Liam agreed to the plan and prepared for the journey. After several days, he succeeded in sending his spirit along the Path of the Gods – a golden road analogous to the Rainbow Bridge (or Bifrost) leading to the Norse realm of Asgard. His spirit neared the pyramid-shaped realm floating in the celestial dimension, then entered the golden city. The city was a mix of high technology and ancient-looking architecture. It’s populated by followers of the Egyptian gods as well as gods living in palaces. Liam easily found Sobek’s palace: it was built over a great river like the Nile. Inside Liam saw Sobek devouring a human. He was sickened, but managed to choke back his bile. The noise alerted Sobek. He paused his meal to converse with Liam. The god asked if Liam had come to reject Sobek’s blessing. Liam said no – he had need of Sobek’s power. Sobek was pleased. He said they had a connection, like brothers. He had only given his blessing to a few mortals over the millennia and Liam was worthy. After all, Liam had channeled the spirits of several Egyptian gods, but only Sobek had possessed him. Liam realized that Sobek was actually still “inside” him – the Sobek he was conversing with was a projection. Usually the gods lived in the divine realm and projected their spirit to Earth, but Sobek was within him and was projecting his spirit back to Heliopolis. Liam thanked Sobek for the blessing, but asked if Sobek could exert more self control. Liam didn’t want to lose control once again. While possessed by Sobek, Liam had become a mighty warrior but could not distinguish friend from foe. Sobek said he would do his best. Liam accepted Sobek’s pledge, then left the god to finish his grisly feast. His spirit returned back to his body. He discovered that several days had transpired during his journey. A waiting elder informed him Academy X had come under attack. A mystic could teleport him back to the school. Liam agreed. Upon appearing in front of the Academy X staff, Liam is surprised to see David standing with them. The former inmate, still dressed in his prison jumpsuit, quickly says, “I have permission.” Mac says his sentence is commuted for now, but he needs to wear a disguise while on eXalts missions to not inflame tensions with those who would be angered to learn he was free. And there’s more pressing business at the moment – Hellfire Club: Tokyo’s bank in Asiantown is in flames! Sam uploads her memories of the past half hour so Liam is up to speed. The team hurries to New Genosha. They see that the bank is a towering inferno. Asiantown itself is a crater. Only ashes are left of the buildings that once made up Hellfire Club: Tokyo’s compound. The people within the buildings are untouched and gather near the burning skyscraper. Joining the crowd are New Genosha residents Barry, Catalina, Erica, Ethan, Mercy, Glob Herman, Wicked, and Freakshow, who have brought New Genosha’s fire engine and are trying to put out the flames. Billy, still shaken by fighting the older version of himself, offers to help Sam put out the flames. He slows time so she can quickly grab sea water with her telekinesis. Sam begins putting out the fire. Meanwhile, the others spot old Billy and Ruth among the fifty or so Hellfire Club: Tokyo members. David, Liam, Bailey and Mac fly down to the couple. Hellfire Club guards draw weapons or activate mutant abilities (flaming fists, electric auras, glowing eyes, etc.), but when the Golden Claw holds up a hand, they stand down. The Claw leads the eXalts to a building under construction just over the border from Asiantown in New Genosha. He slowly sinks onto an overturned paint bucket and looks every bit the tired 80- or 90-year-old man he is. Lady Lotus, perhaps in her late sixties or early seventies, stands at his side, her one eye warily watching the eXalts. David creates an “iron throne” (from Game of Thrones) out of light and sits. Mac begins. “As President of Utopia, would you care to explain what you thought you were doing?” The Golden Claw gives a wry smile. He said he was simply trying to prevent the deaths of thousands – or likely many more. But the eXalts fought him and ruined fifty years of planning. Apocalypse has risen. David says they should have told them what was going on instead of attacking. They could have prevented this or stopped Evan. Billy says Ruth’s visions indicated that plan wouldn’t have worked. Mac says their involvement turned Evan into Apocalypse – in trying to prevent his rise, they caused it! Liam disagrees. He says they all saw how Evan was becoming darker. He would have likely turned into Apocalypse no matter what. David says he doesn’t accept destiny. Hellfire Club: Tokyo attacked Academy X and must pay. Billy scoffs. He says everything they’ve done is to help them. Countless times they’ve saved all of the eXalts. What pains him the most were the times he couldn’t save one of them – Jessica, Joni, etc. – because interfering would have changed the timeline for the worse. They only didn’t see the outcome of the recent battle because someone interfered. It must have been someone who came through time, because time travel is something Ruth cannot foresee. David remembers it was Diana Fox who saved them with her warning, then in a flash realizes Diana Fox was a pseudonym once used by Tessa, or the X-Man “Sage.” The young versions of the original X-Men recently arrived from the past. Could Tessa have come with them? He has suspicions, but says nothing for now. David turns to Mac and asks what they should do with Billy and Ruth. Bailey asks if he should arrest them. David says he can – they can do whatever they want with them now. Mac says they don’t need to punish them if they agree to stay out of the way. He asks the Golden Claw what he will do. Billy says he will not bow out. He has been working for fifty years to prevent Apocalypse’s rise, but in the end it doesn’t matter that he’s failed. All he can do is try to save as many people from Evan as possible, but now many will die because of the eXalts. He doesn’t know what the future holds. Ruth can see no further into the future. He says he and Lady Lotus will do their best to safeguard that future. David says it’s the present that concerns him. And they must suffer the consequences of their actions in the present. Billy sighs and says, “Must it come to this? Threats?” In the flash of an eye, Billy and Ruth are gone. Sam has finished putting out the bank fire. She hugs young Billy and thanks him for his help. When she hears from the other eXalts that they spoke to the Golden Claw and Lady Lotus and they disappeared, she’s angry that they didn’t wait for her to talk to old Billy and Ruth. Bailey invites the former residents of Asiantown to live in the empty New Genosha apartment building until they can rebuild. David asks Mac if he should go back to prison. Mac says his jail sentence is over for the time being, but he’s confined to house arrest when not out on eXalts business and he should continue wearing a disguise. David makes a domino mask out of his prison uniform, perhaps jokingly. Mac then contacts Alex Summers (the Uncanny Avengers team leader) to inform him about Evan becoming Apocalypse, but can’t reach him. Mac then informs Steve Rogers. Steve thanks Mac for the news, but says they’re busy – Cyclops has escaped custody and is on the run. Plus they’re still searching for Arcade. Steve is confident the eXalts can handle Evan, however. Mac isn’t so sure. The group returns to Academy X where Matt, Dagan and Susanna are waiting. Matt says the gas is gone from the basement – and so is Christine. The school’s electronics went out before the gas reached her Danger Room cell. She managed to remove her power dampening bracelet and escape. Sam scans for her but can’t find her, but she’s hard to sense while insubstantial. Matt has more to share. He retrieved a laptop from the outbuilding where Liam has his apartment and went online. There’s been an attack on Bastet’s churches and it’s all over the news. Sam mentally reaches out to Bastienne again, but she once again pushes Sam away. Sam decides to have the eXalts investigate the attacks. They fly to California and begin investigating, but Bastienne has already left the scene. She’s on route from Oakland to Los Angeles to join the survivors of the attack where dozens of worshippers died. The eXalts look for clues at the Oakland church, but there’s no trail at all – no tracks, no scent, nothing. Liam senses an unnatural presence, however. It’s similar to a feeling he gets from Bastienne. He realizes Sekhmet was there, or at least someone channeling her. As Sekhmet is the goddess of the hunt, it’s likely her power masked the presence of her servants. The group wonders if Sekhmet’s presence has something to do with Clan Akkaba. After all, they’re hunting for seeds that can host Egyptian gods, and Sekhmet is a member of that pantheon. There must be some connection. At this point it’s late, so the eXalts head back to Utopia to clean up the mess at Academy X and hopefully get some sleep. At dawn on Thursday Bastienne returns to Academy X. She has torn clothing and is covered with blood, ash, and ruined makeup. She ignores everyone and heads straight to her room. Mac holds an assembly after breakfast. He can tell the students have been shaken by Hellfire Club: Tokyo’s attack on the school. Mac says classes are cancelled the rest of the week. Counselors will be available. Students should take some time to talk it out, process what they’ve been through, and just be together. Many of the students are worried about their peers and Dane who are still unconscious from the gas. They’re in the medical lab under Dagan’s supervision. Bastienne is in the headmasters’ office. She calls Rafé’s mother to ask if she can help with funeral arrangements. Rafé’s mother politely thanks her but says his family will be handling all arrangements. Bastienne then calls Rafé’s boss: Heather “Lifeguard” Cameron, CEO of X-Corporation: Los Angeles. Heather is upset by the news of Rafé’s death and agrees there should be a west coast memorial for the man. The phone call is interrupted when Mac, David and Sam enter with Diana. Bastienne only half listens as she puts in another call for a new stone for the school’s memorial garden. Meanwhile, the other Academy X staff question Diana. When David reveals his suspicions that she’s Sage, Diana comes clean. She admits she really is Tessa. She recently came to the future with the original X-Men, but unlike them, she was trained to be a spy, not a hero. She was sent by Beast to spy on Academy X and use her telepathy to keep tabs on the original X-Men. On the night of the battle she sensed a foreign presence at the school. The invader didn’t set off the perimeter alarms (because the sensors recognized old Billy as young Billy; the Golden Claw must have been the one to send young Billy back from Musepelheim as part of his plan to infiltrate Academy X) but she could tell he wasn’t supposed to be there. Mac says her action saved them all from the gas. Tessa says her actions saved Evan – and maybe it would have been better to let him die. They ask her what she knows about Apocalypse. She admits she knows little. The X-Men first encountered him after her time. Bastienne interrupts the conversation to say Apocalypse was mentioned in the Monitor files. The eXalts fought a robot from the future during their first semester at Academy X and they retrieved future files about themselves from its database. She didn’t think the reference to Apocalypse was still valid, however, as that future was now only an alternate timeline. David asks Tessa what her mission is now. She says it’s just to report to Beast news from Academy X. David says there may be another way for her to help. Evan is collecting seeds. Evan visited him in prison and spoke of Vancouver as a place where Robyn (the seed the eXalts saved and told to go into hiding) might go. Perhaps Tessa could help them find Robyn. Tessa agrees to help. While the eXalts make plans, Sam asks Bastienne how she’s doing. Bastienne says it was Sekhmet who was behind the attacks. It’s not the first time Sekhmet has tried to kill her, but this time there were other casualties. Rafé is dead. The group is stunned into silence by the news. They’ve known Rafé since they first took over Xavier’s school as seniors nearly five years ago. Bastienne says she will kill Sekhmet. After a pause, she says she needs to talk to Director Owens of S.H.I.E.L.D. as he has a possible connection to Clan Akkaba. S.H.I.E.L.D. has put up wanted posters of their false identities that infiltrated Credit Dauphine and freed Christine, but they suspect the MRF, so it should be safe to talk to Owens. Outside the office, Liam is talking to students who are upset. He is surprised when a Hellfire Club delegation from Asiantown arrives and requests to take Honoka into their care. Sam reaches into Honoka’s mind before they turn her over. Sam apologizes for throwing her into the gas, but says she was only defending the school. Honoka says she understands. Sam was only doing what she had to, just like her. Honoka had to fight for Billy and Ruth – her father and mother. Ruth foresaw Evan’s rise as Apocalypse and Billy knew he must be killed. But all of that is over now.  That night is the Academy X staff meeting. Bailey leaves New Genosha where he was overseeing the former Asiantown residents to attend the meeting. He has news from one of them: Evan took files and other supplies from the bank before he burned it. They need to know what he’s up to. Maybe Jamie-Lynn, the town councilwoman who secretly runs the town’s Apocalypse cult, knows more? The group despairs – how can they stop Evan if he can turn hundreds of mutants into ash with the wave of his hand? Billy says maybe he should die. If he dies now he won’t become Old Billy and then Hellfire Club: Tokyo won’t turn Evan into Apocalypse. Bastienne says killing himself won’t work. He’s a different Billy. She and Old Billy never had a child together. The group is surprised by this news but lets it pass. Several conversations break out at once. Sam and Bastienne discuss Bastienne’s twin sister Georgie. She’s a seed and Sekhmet has her. They should find her to prevent Clan Akkaba from getting another seed. Tsu-Zana brings up the eXalts “Red Team” as others who might be able to help find seeds, but this only makes Bastienne cry (as Rafé has been a member). Billy squeezes her hand. Alice is upset that they’d look for seeds, but not Carom. Sam goes into Jamie-Lynn’s mind while Matt holds her hand. She sees the woman’s memory of Evan’s visit, but Evan only watched the services so she doesn’t know anything useful. Bailey leaves to ask Plex for help. Plex is a powerful telepath, but admits his power only extends to Utopia. Bailey asks Plex to watch over his dog (Max) and Tsu-Zana if anything happens to him and Plex agrees. Plex also sends two broken Plexroids to watch over the school, but they mostly freak out the students.  After the meeting Sam uses Cerebra to search for the missing seeds. Matt and Bastienne accompany her. She looks for Georgie, Robyn, Christian, and DJ Niji, but she can’t locate any of them. They must have a way to hide from Cerebra’s scans – or perhaps Clan Akkaba is hiding them. She searches for old Billy, but only finds a young mutant who was implanted with his X-gene. Could the Golden Claw have arranged that as a way to hide from Cerebra? Bastienne is frustrated. She reaches out to Sekhmet in her dreams and begs her to reveal what it is she wants as she’s sick of the fighting. Sekhmet just taunts her and laughs. Meanwhile, Mac tries to create a device to scry on Aleph. He believes Clan Akkaba could be using the alternate dimension as a hiding place. But he’s unable to create a device. He asks his father, Doctor Strange, to once again borrow the Orb of Agamotto that can remotely view Aleph. On Friday there is news that there have been arsons all over the world. Alice discovers the fires were all from homes where someone liked the Avengers Arena videos on YouTube. Could Evan be starting the fires to punish those who supported Arcade’s actions? Many have died due to the arsons. That night, Bastienne tries to reach out to T’Challa in her dreams but can’t reach him. David slips into her room and simply holds her to comfort her. On Saturday, the group enacts their plan to search for Robyn. The eXalts go to Vancouver to be nearby while Bastienne and Tessa investigate cabins outside the city. Evan told David that Robyn’s mother once rented a cabin there and it was a place Robyn was thinking about going. The search reveals Robyn was indeed in one of the cabins, but she’s gone and there was a struggle at the scene. There’s also a strange, almost antiseptic smell: the same smell Bastienne noticed on Clan Akkaba’s shapeshifting soldiers. It’s clear Clan Akkaba now has Robyn. Tessa apologizes to Bastienne and wishes she could do more. There is one thing she could do: she can manipulate X-genes. She could boost Bastienne’s power. Bastienne declines. She prefers not being furry.  Sunday morning brings some good news. The mutants knocked out by Hellfire Club: Tokyo’s attack begin regain consciousness. Dane is the first to awaken. He realizes he has no mutant powers, but he has a more pressing concern: he wants to know where Davan is. The group doesn’t know. The prevailing theory is that Billy accidentally sent him back in time when he tried to save him. Perhaps that’s why Michael seems to be a future version of Davan? On Monday there’s news from New Genosha. Nearly two dozen residents are missing. Investigation reveals they were all Evan worshippers. One member of the cult admits that he was approached to become one of Evan’s “chosen” but he lost his nerve. The group realizes they have likely been turned into soldiers. Classes resume. In the evening, Sam and Mac study the gas used by Hellfire Club: Tokyo. Mac realizes the gas was made up of spores that attach on contact. They have some kind of mental effect that prevents those afflicted from using superpowers. One of the plants Mac took a sample of from the jungle on Utopia is the same plant that was used to make the gas. He believes he can create an antidote, inoculate against the plant’s effects, or even weaponize it himself.  At the Utopia meeting that night, Bastienne once again brings up San Francisco Mayor Sadie Sinclair’s offer to provide money for Utopia if they take the city’s Morlocks, but it’s tabled as they still haven’t had a chance to confer with Utopia’s Morlock population. Michael reports the money from X-Corporation: Los Angeles’ has arrived. Mac officially announces his candidacy for president. Sam gives an update on construction in New Genosha. Hellfire Club: Tokyo has stopped building a new apartment building in New Genosha to focus on rebuilding Asiantown first. Liam reports that the training of new federal agents continues. Following the discussion, Bastienne leaves for a meeting with Director Owens. On Tuesday night the student staff has news. The Ardents and Corsairs would like to form teams to patrol the school grounds at night. The adult staff is against the idea, but they table it for now. The prefects report that many students are worried about their classmates who have lost their powers (Jamie, Marco, Reggie, Wendy and Lina). The Paragons are disappointed that their internships in New Genosha are on hold for now due to the destruction of Asiantown. On Wednesday Mac receives the Orb of Agamotto from his father. He scries on Aleph and sees Cynthia (Carom’s mother), but not Runak. It doesn’t seem Clan Akkaba is there. After using the Orb of Agamotto, Mac recalls that several Egyptian artifacts have been reported missing over the past few months. On Thursday, Mac suggests they could make replicas and have an exhibition as bait. Bastienne suggests the “Claw of Bast” which was supposedly destroyed. On Friday, Sam sends an e-mail to B. Byron Biggs (one of Mystique’s cover identities) in hopes that her father will get the message. On Saturday, there is a memorial for Rafé in Los Angeles for friends and co-workers. Several eXalts attend. Throughout the week, either David visits Bastienne for “fun” or Bastienne visits Billy to talk or play video games. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;"> Then, on Saturday night, Bailey is working late at his office in New Genosha when he hears screams. He rushes out to see a red gas blanketing the town. Several people have collapsed, perhaps dead. Others have lost control of their mutant powers, like a young girl running around while shooting lightning like a sparkler. The majority of people are unaffected at all, however. Bailey soon realizes only the human residents of the town are affected – the spouses and children of the mutant residents. Roughly half of the humans were killed by the gas, while the other half had X-genes spontaneously activated. Crystal, Mac’s ex-girlfriend and mother of his son, was nearly killed by the gas… until Aiden, their son, used his own energy to heal her. His X-gene activated, and it’s the same as Mac’s! He can drain energy and use it to heal others! Upon hearing news of the gas attack on New Genosha, Matt grimly notes that the attack sounds like a test of the weapon. It sounds like something Evan would do: only the strong survived. The test seemed to be a success. Now he can use it globally… **Next:** __Issue 97 - 'War'__
 * Previous: ** Issue 95 - 'Beast and the Harlot'