Issue+22+-+'Light+My+Fire'


 * Issue 22 - 'Light My Fire' **




 * Plot**

At the Lightfoot farm in Kansas, the eXalts minus Dane are tending to an unconscious Samantha on the Blackbird. Then a phone call arrives from Jessica. The Purifiers attacked her mother’s house to get her brother Gabriel. David considers sending students to help, but then tells her to contact Academy M. She does so. The Blackbird hurries to the Smith County Memorial Hospital to get help for Samantha. Back at the farm, Dane subdues the two remaining Purifiers and tells his mother to pack a bag for herself and his younger sister, Ginny. He calls S.H.I.E.L.D. for help, but they don’t have a local office. They deploy a team from Chicago that will be there in an hour. He finds a gene-reader in the wreckage; he realizes that the Purifiers were targeting mutants. The eXalts call their families but it appears that Gabriel was the only other target. Bastienne’s sister may have been a target but she's safe. David tells his parents to stay with his aunt for a time just to be careful.

Just before S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives, Dane receives a phone call from Jessica. She wants to know if Academy X will “loan” Amanda to Academy M. Gabriel has been saved from a local warehouse where the Purifiers were recording a video. The video would have been posted to the Internet, featuring a manifesto against mutants and culminating in Gabriel’s death. Before they completed the video, the Academy M staff burst inside and killed the Purifiers. During the raid, however, Michael was badly hurt. Dane reluctantly allows Amanda to teleport to the hospital to help Michael, but tells her to take Rafé as an escort and to then teleport out to Oklahoma (where she’s lived before) to help Sam.

Before Amanda arrives to help, Daniel tells the group that his duplicate at Academy M is aware of some chaos. A team is being hastily put together under the command of Professor Alomar (“Switch”). Daniel is tapped for the team and told that the goal is to teleport to Academy X and extract the Cerebra unit. Daniel teleports with seven other students and his teacher to an area just outside the Academy X grounds. David calls the school. Jess has left to be with Gabriel, so David tells Lucius to create an illusion of S.H.I.E.L.D. arriving to deter the Academy M team. Lucius does so, but by now a student with Jean Grey’s MGH has extracted the dirt burying the Cerebra unit and the Danger Room security robots have been dispatched. Devon Alomar tells the students to play along with the illusory S.H.I.E.L.D. team while two students go into the chamber. One of them has the mutant ability to repair the machinery, and soon the Academy M team is gone with Cerebra.

The Blackbird picks up Amanda and Rafé. Amanda heals Samantha at the hospital. They then pick up Dane and head back to the west coast with Rafé, Amanda, and Ginny. Dane’s mother is left with family. At the school, Dane gets a copy of Academy M’s incursion from the security cameras and sends it to the press, but with little reaction. Sam and Matt talk and Sam agrees to stay in the Blackbird for any future eXalt missions. Bastienne and Cameron retrieve Gabriel from S.H.I.E.L.D. and spend the night with Jessica and the rest of the Lisowski family. David goes to visit Cordelia Frost at Academy M and brings flowers and chocolate. His appreciation soon turns to accusations about their theft of Cerebra. Cordelia says that Xavier and his followers shouldn’t be the only ones with the technology. David then tosses her into the air and drops her before flying off. Later that night, Daniel and David argue about David’s actions.

The next day the media reacts to the sections of the Purifier video that were released by S.H.I.E.L.D. Once again, mutants receive generally favorable reactions. The surfing championships have been cancelled in Half Moon Bay due to the recent spate of violence, however. At the staff meeting on Tuesday night, the student staff members reveal that they caught Sarah and Chancy with MGH. Bastienne is officially made headmistress. They make plans to interview Jorge and Ember for the substitute position on Saturday. David learns from Maya that his communicator is broadcasting a signal even when off.

On Wednesday David asks Lucius to leave his communicator behind and talks to him about the signals the communication devices are sending. Lucius, who has learned of Dane’s plan to bug the communicators, has a breakdown. This confirms David’s suspicions that Dane has been spying on the team. David then talks to Maya, who has hacked into Lucius’ e-mails using her mutant ability. From the e-mails David can see that Lucius has received MGH from a woman who calls herself “Nightshade.” David then finds Samantha and talks to her without communicators around. He tells Sam of Dane’s spying and tells her to confront the headmaster. Sam does so. Dane confirms that he’s been spying on David. He calls in Bastienne who reveals that she was informed previously.

Next Dane reveals that he’s also asked Lucius to secretly make MGH from student samples. Maya is listening in on the teachers through the communicators and tells Cameron that his DNA was used to make MGH. He storms in and destroys the MGH. Soon everyone is there: Dane, Bastienne, Samantha, David, Jessica, Lucius, Cameron, and Daniel. It’s revealed that Dane was spying on David and made it possible to spy on everyone else through their communicators, plus he was having Lucius secretly make MGH. It’s revealed that David formed a secret student team and took them on a mission to recover Purifier weapons. He also asked Maya to read Lucius’ e-mail. It’s then revealed that Lucius has been communicating with a former mutant and received an MGH sample from her that he’s since based all his MGH on.

Jessica becomes so disgusted by the arguments between Dane and David that she demands they both step down from their leadership positions. David agrees to do so if Dane follows suit, but Dane says he has to think about it. When he won’t commit to stepping down, Jess says she’ll resign and storms off. David follows, and the two have a heated argument before Jess slams the door. Daniel tells Dane he’s considering departing the school, then leaves the room. Everyone else eventually parts ways. Back in their room, Jess tells Bastienne that she’s most upset because she thought Dane and David were more trustworthy than she is – she’s been using MGH made from her own DNA that she acquired from Academy M in trade for the staff’s DNA samples. In the middle of all this chaos, Billy returns! He apologizes for leaving when the school needed him. Considering all the other issues, he is quickly forgiven. He says Ruth’s remains were not at the garage, but he cannot figure out how to go back in time to save her. Everyone says they’re happy he’s back, and everyone finally goes to bed.

The next morning Daniel calls the east coast school and recommends to Warren that Dane become an X-Man right away. Warren listens, but ultimately doesn’t agree. Shortly after that call David and Dane are contacted by Maria Hill. She says that the data recovery is complete from the Purifiers’ lab. In one file their leaders were listed. The commander’s name is Jacob Robitaille and he is referred to as “father.” There are also several other Purifiers recruits named, including Chase Monroe, Michaela Quinn, Vincent Michaels, Nikkya Lewis, On-Chi Li, Cesar Ramirez, and Natasha Cordova. The most important is “honored sister” Nikkya Lewis. Maria also says that S.H.I.E.L.D. is losing jurisdiction over mutant affairs. Norman Osborne, head of Homeland Security, will be taking over that very day!

An emergency staff meeting is held to deal with the internal revelations from last night and to discuss the S.H.I.E.L.D. intelligence. Billy says that everyone’s made mistakes and that they should have a do-over, and there is agreement. When discussing Maria’s information, Cameron says he knows Nikkya from his Weapon X days – she was a fellow test subject. David recognizes the name from Lucius’ e-mails; she could be his MGH source! It’s revealed that Jacob Robitaille was Daniel’s son from the 1940’s. He was the CEO of Benetech, the company that made the mutant “cure” Hope! Before they can do further research, a Sentinel lands on the roof of the building. A human pilot contacts the school. Commander Black says he is there to protect the school, and there will be no transportation in or out. The Daniel at Academy M sees a Sentinel land at their school as well. David contacts his aunt about civil rights, but for the moment it appears they’re stuck at the school.

A little over two weeks passes in lockdown. Amanda senses something magical approaching. Lucius hacks into the Sentinel using his knowledge from a previous model and fools the sensors. The approaching figure is Vidarr – Norse god and former occupant of Gunther’s body. He’s badly burned and asks for Amanda’s help. He needs to be healed and teleported to Oklahoma where he’s learned that Asgard will soon fall. He asks the eXalts to go to Los Angeles, where he’s weakened Jubilee (possessed by Cassandra Nova). Now’s their chance to finish her…


 * Next:** Issue 23 - 'Losin' Your Mind'
 * Previous:** Issue 21 - 'Needle in the Hay'