Issue+79+-+'Black+Hole+Sun'


 * Issue 79 - 'Black Hole Sun' **




 * Plot**

The eXalts have tracked a powerful vampire named Kazimir to a gathering of the undead at the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. They hope this will lead them to the shadow vampire that infiltrated the Hellfire Club: Tokyo bank on Utopia. If they don’t find the vampire, Hellfire Club: Tokyo may delay payment of the promised funds that support Utopia. The eXalts decide to try talking to the vampires instead of going in guns blazing. eXalt member and vampire hunter Carom is upset. He doesn’t believe dialogue is a good option. He storms off and says he’ll watch the perimeter. The team, including Sam, David, Bastienne, Mac, Liam, Dagan, and Vince, heads towards the pyramid. The Transamerica Pyramid is busy even late at night as the various banking firms in the building employ traders dealing with financial markets around the globe. David quips they can’t simply drop the building on the vampires, though he’s not entirely joking. The group follows the last of the vampires they noticed with Carom’s thermal scope into the building. He’s a good distance ahead of them and heading towards the elevator banks at the end of the lobby. David approaches the reception desk and asks a twenty-something named Alyssa where he might find Kazimir. Alyssa doesn’t know the name and says she can only direct him to a specific company. At the end of the lobby, the vampire enters an elevator. David asks where it’s going. Alyssa says the security guards have that information. David leans over the desk and sees that the vampire is headed towards a basement level. He thanks her and the group heads to the elevator. The elevator doors open to reveal that this level of the basement holds heating, cooling, and electrical equipment. The eXalts notice one hallway leads to a doorway guarded by two muscled men in suits, however. David laments that they didn’t bring any gifts for the vampires. Bastienne mentions how he’s so full of hot, delicious blood, referencing David’s fumbled attempt to draw out vampires at a recent Santa Muerte church gathering. The team approaches the guards. Bastienne notices that one has a glyph just under his hairline above his neck. They are familiars, or vampiric servants. Once they reach the familiars, Dagan grabs her head and complains of a headache. One of the familiars is likewise afflicted. Sam mentally scans Dagan to see what’s going on, but can’t read much beyond her pain. Meanwhile, David asks the other guard to let them in. The familiar says they don’t have an invitation. They argue back and forth until David gets frustrated and asks Mac to drain them to unconsciousness. At that point, the door opens and a beautiful pale woman in a ball gown welcomes them inside. The room inside is starkly different from the grimy hallway outside. It is a well-appointed parlor with marble floors, plush overstuffed furniture upholstered in velvet, and antique wooden tables. Around two dozen pale guests clad in sumptuous dresses or immaculate suits silently watch the eXalts enter. They hold crystal goblets filled with a crimson liquid – clearly blood. The woman that opened the door leads them into the middle of a semicircle of vampires and the eXalts get the feeling they are fish swimming among sharks. The man in the middle of the undead asks why they have come. David says they’re looking for Kazimir. The man says that he is Prince Kazimir. David says they’re here to talk and the prince acknowledges their intent, as they did not bring their hunter (Carom). Sam says they are looking for a shadow vampire that snuck onto Utopia and infiltrated the bank on New Genosha. Kazimir says none of his vampires would be foolish enough to tangle with Utopia, but he is able to find out who did. What is it worth to them? Mac says that if the shadow vampire wasn’t a member of Kazimir’s group (the Invictus), it must have been a member of their rival group, the Ordo Dracul. If Kazimir turned over one of their members, he’d also be hurting his rivals. Kazimir isn’t persuaded by that argument. David offers to give him Carom. Kazimir seems amused, but rejects the offer as “he belongs to another.” But there is something he wants: in exchange for turning over the shadow vampire responsible for infiltrating Utopia, he wants his toy returned to him. The team realizes with alarm that he refers to their former classmate, Agape! Sam says they won’t give him Agape. Besides, the eXalts are aware of the vampires’ activities and have left them alone. That arrangement should be enough to turn over the shadow vampire. Kazimir retorts that they have likewise left the eXalts alone and they should continue that mutually beneficial relationship. David, frustrated, says his daughter could fill the room with sunlight and destroy them all. Kazimir turns his gaze to Dagan. She wordlessly begins walking to the prince! Sam tries to telepathically contact Dagan to stop Kazimir’s control, but she’s surprised to find that her teammate is resisting. She instead reaches out to the other mind inside Dagan: the collected mental shards of her daughter, Alex! Sam is able to contact Alex and realizes the psychic entity is stronger than the last time she contacted her. Dagan has somehow collected another shard of Alex’s mind. Sam realizes that when Dagan felt pain when encountering the familiar guard at the door, Alex was drawing a fragment out of the guard’s mind. He was one of the activated mutants in San Francisco! Alex asks what her mother wants. Sam asks for help to break Kazimir’s mental control over Dagan. Alex says she’ll help, but she wants Dagan to spend time in San Francisco (presumably to collect more of Alex’s shards). Before breaking the mental contact, she tells Sam to “fix her damaged eye.” At that point Dagan stops walking towards Kazimir. It seems the prince and Alex are fighting for control over the girl. Finally, Kazimir waves a hand and releases Dagan. He says he’s made his point. If they’re not willing to give him Agape, they can leave. Mac opens a portal to the parking lot outside and the eXalts leave. Sam is concerned about Alex’s comment about her damaged eye. Mac recalls that the unseen eye (or third eye) could reference mystical sight to see truths or the unseen. Liam agrees and says he’s heard that, as well. Bastienne wonders if Alex might have been referring to her telepathy. Meanwhile, David talks to Vince about staking out the building. He also asks about vampiric vulnerabilities. Vince says all vampires are vulnerable to silver, fire, and sunlight, though some powerful undead have abilities to protect themselves from even those weaknesses. Mac approaches David and says his antagonistic approach towards the vampires might not have been the best idea. Vince contacts Carom on his communicator and is concerned when he doesn’t reply. Sam tries contacting him as well, to no response. Sam then contacts Alice back in the Academy X security room (a post she’s taken since Matt has been on S.H.I.E.L.D. business in Los Angeles). Alice searches for Carom’s GPS signal and locates it nearby. The group heads to the location and finds Carom’s communicator on the ground. Where has he gone? David asks Alice if she can hack into the Transamerica Pyramid’s security system. She says she probably can, but it will take time. She wonders if hacking a building in San Francisco from Utopia is a national or international crime. David says he’ll keep an eye on the pyramid with Vince to keep an eye on the vampires that emerge. Vince is willing to help, though he mentions they likely have another exit underground. One entire sect (the Nosferatu) often live down there. David wants to try anyway. He also tells Vince that he’s willing to help hunt vampires in the future. The rest of the team returns to Utopia. Sam uses Cerebra to look for Carom. It’s soon clear he’s not in the San Francisco area, and over an hour later she’s convinced he’s nowhere on the west coast. Following this fruitless search she asks Dagan to run medical tests on her eyes, but Dagan doesn’t find anything unusual. Early Saturday morning David returns following a fruitless evening watching the pyramid. Bastienne and Gabriel have a conversation before breakfast and bond over their shared loss of Jessica. The students engage in a cleaning project before lunch and enjoy free time in the afternoon. The Exemplars have soccer practice to prepare for their championship match against the top Avengers Academy team next Saturday. Alice is able to hack into the Transamerica Pyramid and checks the security camera footage. She doesn’t find any sign of the vampires or their servants leaving the building. After dinner, Sam asks Dagan to mentally scan her to see if there’s something wrong with her telepathy. Dagan does notice something odd – it seems that while Sam is reading others, she’s turning her mental eye back on herself. While looking at memories, she’s seeing what she wants or expects to see. Sam is alarmed. Dagan isn’t powerful enough to help, and the only telepaths she knows (such as the Manh twins, Quentin Quire, Rachel Grey, etc.) are too busy to help, unwilling, or mentalists she doesn’t know well enough to ask. In the end she decides to contact Professor X and leaves a message. Meanwhile, Bastienne is contacted by her assistant, Mercy. The reserve eXalt and prefect is taking a shift in the security room and received an odd call. The facility in San Francisco where Academy X rents a PO box called and said they have a shipment from FedEx – but no deliveries were scheduled! Bastienne contacts Mac and they decide to check it out. Mac opens a portal to an isolated area near the business and they go inside. They get a key for a large locker that holds their box. Mac opens the locker and the box – and finds a staked vampire inside! They guess that she is the shadow vampire they’ve been looking for. They decide to bring her back to Utopia. Mac opens a portal… and fails! He feels drained, as if he doesn’t have enough energy for the task. He soon realizes his teleportation powers are gone! Bastienne decides to call Shiro. He can pick up the body and ascertain whether it’s the shadow vampire they’re looking for. The other Academy X staff members are thrilled by the news. They don’t know why the vampire was delivered to them, but they decide not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe they can finally be done with the vampires! The group’s good luck runs out on Sunday. Agape hasn’t contacted the school in over 24 hours, and no one can find her. They guess that Kazimir or his vampires must have taken her. After breakfast, Mac returns to his room to find a package waiting for him on his bed. The wrapped package bears a tag written in beautiful calligraphy: “For my son.” Inside Mac finds an ornate golden orb with hinges. He opens the case to find a crystal globe the size of a softball. When his fingertips brush the orb, it begins to glow from within, and soon the orb shows an image of the earth. Mac realizes that his father, Doctor Strange, has sent him the Orb of Agamotto! It’s a powerful scrying artifact that will allow him to view places far away, even on other planes! Mac tells the group about the gift. Sam is excited. Maybe it can be used to find Billy! Mac says that faraway planes like Muspelheim could take many days, if not weeks, to search. David suggests he look for Phantom. Mac focuses on the orb, and after an hour of concentration he finds Phantom’s location in Los Angeles. The insane serial killer is praying to an altar to Santa Muerte and whipping himself. Sam rallies the eXalts to go after Phantom. She calls Matt in Los Angeles and tells him where Phantom is hiding. With Carom missing and Mac’s teleportation powers gone, the eXalts have to use the Blackbird. They arrive at Phantom’s safehouse to find that S.H.I.E.L.D. is already on the scene – and they’ve caught the mass murderer! They surprised him and hit him with Hope rounds before he could escape. He’s already in custody and will soon be en route to the Triskelion. Sam is happy to see Matt and also speaks to Maria Hill. Matt says he’ll have to stay in Los Angles for a few more days to wrap up the case. The eXalts return to Utopia. On Sunday afternoon Professor X returns Sam’s call. He says that he’s occasionally suffered side effects from using Cerebro in the past. He’s willing to help her on Monday. They can meet away from Wolverine’s school, as officially the schools aren’t cooperating. Sam makes plans to fly to Alberta on Monday morning. At team meetings that night there is news from each of the teams. The Ardents found the old Academy X Artichokes mascot costume and Dondre will be wearing it to the soccer game. The Corsairs are planning one last scrimmage with the Exemplars to help them prepare for the big game. The Excelsiors want to have a big homecoming dance and party after the game on Saturday night, regardless of the outcome. The Exemplars are busy preparing for the game. The Hellions aren’t as caught up in soccer fever. Jamie, the team leader, mentions to Sam that Evan has been on his own more often recently. He usually spars with P’Ythri in his spare time, but lately he hasn’t even done that. The Paragons are likewise less interested in soccer. They’re frustrated that their New Genosha field trip has been postponed. Bastienne agrees to take them on Sunday after the soccer game. Sam calls Matt to let him know about her trip to Canada. She then leaves the school on Monday morning after breakfast. Jamie takes over her classes. She meets Professor X at a Starbucks where they talk quietly in a corner. They catch up for a little while. Then Charles reaches into her mind and is able to repair the damage from Cerebra. She returns to Academy X late that night. Also on Monday night is the Utopia meeting. Mac shares that he’s received a response from X-Corporation: Los Angeles. Heather Cameron’s team vetted the 200 or so visa applications selected by the members of the Utopia government. They represented the mutants that seemed most in danger. Heather found that about fifty of the applicants were most in need of asylum. Bastienne has news – she was contacted by a government official from California that informed her that power would soon be cut to the school. Since the eXalts didn’t register as mutants and since the power company is not obligated to provide power to Utopia as it’s not part of the United States, they are turning off service. While the eXalts could fight the finding in court (as the United States’ official position is that Utopia is part of the US), in the meantime they wouldn’t have power. Fortunately, the solar power array has been completed on Utopia’s hill and will provide enough power to Academy X. New Genosha has its own power source, as well. Sam reports that the large apartment building that will house mutant immigrants is well underway. Ruth reports that the initial batch of Academy X and Utopia merchandise is complete and is on its way to a warehouse in San Francisco. Evangeline Whedon, Utopia’s Attorney General, is pleased at the training Liam is providing for Glob Herman and Wicked. They will soon be police officers. After the meeting on Monday Mac tries to find Carom using the Orb of Agamotto but fails. He either failed using the orb or Carom is hidden somehow. He likewise fails while trying to find Agape on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Sam decides to find Evan to see what he’s been up all alone. After fruitlessly searching the school (and talking to P’Ythri in the gym), she locates Evan leaving the shop classroom. Evan admits that he’s been building armor to amplify his abilities. He asks if he can complete it, as he’s close. Sam says it’s okay. Later on Wednesday, Shiro calls Mac with news. A Hellfire Club: Tokyo telepath has finished interrogating the vampire Mac and Bastienne found in a locker. The vampire has memories of infiltrating the group’s bank – it was the shadow vampire they were looking for. However, there was something else. The vampire’s last memory before being staked was a conversation with Kazimir. Kazimir told the vampire that one of Academy X’s staff members accepted his deal, and now they must keep their end of the bargain. Mac calls an emergency staff meeting with the news. Who was the staff member that made a deal with Kazimir? No one speaks for a while. Then Ruth says she didn’t make the deal, but that Agape is happy with her vampiric master – and, in truth, never left him. The group realizes that Agape was lying. Plex’s mind control didn’t break Agape’s bond with Kazimir. They decide not to get involved. After lunch on Thursday several Academy X staff members feel a familiar vibration that had been absent for weeks: Plex is up to something in Asteroid M again. They discuss the matter at their weekly staff meeting that night. They hope the alien artificial intelligence is keeping its end of the peace deal. David wonders why they moved to Utopia in the first place. Matt has news from a friend working on the Triskelion. S.H.I.E.L.D. recently had something stolen from storage – the body of David’s dead clone. The group is stunned. Mac wonders if Sekhmet stole the body and is planning to use it as a host for Runak. Coupled with the powerful artifacts she’s acquired (the Orb of Ra and the Ruby Scarab) it would be a powerful opponent. Matt doesn’t have any further information on the theft. He mentions that Mac’s cousin and Phantom are still safely in custody. Dagan says that she had another strange headache while visiting Julian at Stanford and believes Alex reclaimed another shard. There is no other business to discuss. On Friday Mac completes a ritual he’d been working on. Then he uses the Orb of Agamotto to spy on Aleph. After a short period of concentration he’s able to remotely view the plane. He sees thousands of cultists, including those from Asian and South American cults, training in the courtyard before the pyramid. They are working with spears and shields. Sekhmet moves between them, holding the Orb of Ra. When she finds a particularly skilled or physically impressive cultist, she holds the Orb aloft. The cultist is bathed in a yellow glow and becomes stronger, tougher, and faster. Mac realizes she’s building an army. He then views the pyramid. At the temple atop the pyramid he sees several Egyptian gods: Osiris, Isis, Horus, Anubis, Khonsu, Sobek, and even Seth. But the last god is the most shocking. By its attire it’s Ra, but it looks like David! Ra has light powers – it must be David’s clone! Meanwhile, Bastienne attends services at the Santa Muerte church in Oakland. There are over one hundred faithful in attendance. They are planning the pilgrimage to the great gathering of Santa Muerte worshippers in Los Angeles tomorrow. After the services, Bast spends time with a friend in San Francisco and doesn’t return to Utopia until early on Saturday morning. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The big event on Saturday is the championship soccer game between Academy X and Avengers Academy students. Hank Pym opens a portal allowing nearly everyone at Academy X (Matt, Alice, and a few others remain behind) to travel to the Avengers Academy in Palos Verdes (30 miles south of Los Angeles). Before the game the students and staff mingle. Several Academy X staff members are surprised and pleased to see that Laura Kinney, AKA X-23, is there! Many of them were former classmates of the girl at Xavier’s. Laura explains that she’s a sort of graduate assistant at the school. The staff members also recognize many of the students on Avengers Academy’s star team: Striker, Reptil, Mettle, Finesse and Hazmat. Those students helped evacuate Washington D.C. in the middle of the Blitzkrieg USA attack during Fear Itself. Soon enough it is time for the game. After the first half, the game is tied 1-1. During halftime Mac approaches Laura alone. He heard that she was with Jubilee over the summer. He asks how Jubilee was doing. Laura says she was searching for her sire and discovered it was Dracula’s son, Xarus. When they parted, Jubilee was headed to the east to find a group of vampires called the Forgiven that have learned to master their vampiric natures. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The Academy X Exemplars pull out a 3-2 victory over the Avengers Academy team. There is a lot of celebrating, but the kids also enjoy mingling afterward. Then Hank and Mac both receive notices from the Avengers on their phones: another cult has disappeared. Over ten thousand Santa Muerte worshippers gathered in Los Angeles are gone! Mac turns to the eXalts and says Sekhmet must be stopped before her army grows any larger. They will travel to Aleph tomorrow to stop her. At that, Bastienne pulls a gem from a pocket. It glows purple, and suddenly she is wearing the garb of the goddess, Bastet! Evan steps to her side. She says, “His general has spoken. Our Lord must arise!” and in a flash of light the two powerful mutants are gone. Bastienne has been working with Sekhmet this entire time! And now she has brought one of the most powerful mutants alive to Sekhmet! What will the eXalts do?...
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