Issue+65+-+'Acceptance'


 * Issue 65 - 'Acceptance' **




 * Plot**

In a flashback to before the attack on the ferry, Bastienne gets a phone call at Academy X. Her sister Georgie has settled in at her treatment center in southern California. Hopefully she will receive the help she needs to get better. There’s a news story on television about the new adult mutants in San Francisco. After a few months of quiet, it seems some of them have returned to law-breaking behavior. There have been increased reports of assaults, thefts, and other crimes attributed to the new adult mutants over the past week. Either Alex’s absence has ended her influence on them or the binding spell Seth cast imprisoned the shards of Alex’s personality that she placed in the new adult mutants. The rest of the staff of Academy X is busy preparing a program for the roughly twenty kids who will be staying at the school over break. Usually those students would spend their break at Xavier’s school, but due to the quarantine there the kids will be staying at Academy X instead. Little do the staff of Academy X know, however, that one of their students has snuck off the island… Ethan has made his way to Sacramento. He approaches a familiar house in a suburban neighborhood: it’s the home where he and his sister Mercy spent several years after being placed from foster care. He’s looking for his step-father, John. When he recently borrowed powers from his sister, he gained some of her memories and learned some of the terrible things John had done to her. Ethan finds John sleeping on the couch in the living room. He’s still in his clothing from the previous day. The house is a wreck. The yard is unkempt and the living room is full of empty takeout containers, liquor bottles, and other refuse. While looking through the window, Ethan bumps a shutter and John wakes. When John opens the door, Ethan says, “I know what you did to her!” and punches him. John collapses to the floor. He puts his hands over his face and yells at Ethan to stop. Finally Ethan heads up to his old room. It’s exactly as he and his sister left it a year ago – John simply closed the door. John returns. He tells Ethan the police are on the way. He also says that Ethan and his sister are trash and he and his wife (who died) should have never taken them in. When Ethan tries to push past him, John shoves him. They fight again. Ethan absorbs John’s attacks and hits back even harder. After kicking John in the side several times, Ethan escapes. As he climbs the fence in the back yard, he hears a window open. It’s John, and he’s got a gun. He shoots Ethan in the shoulder, but the attack barely hurts Ethan due to his absorption power. Ethan runs off to the sound of approaching sirens. Meanwhile, on the ferry, the kids are gossiping about Samantha’s baby as the boat reaches the dock. Liam used his telepathy to spy on the staff and learned that Sam’s baby has horns and cloven hoofs. The kids wonder if Sam will give birth over break and they’ll be able to see the baby once they return. It is at that point that David notices from his perch in the captain’s chair that many people in the crowd are wearing masks of past and present eXalts. The store at Pier 39 that’s selling Academy X and eXalts merchandise is now selling costumes in addition to its other apparel. A crowd has gathered at the dock to greet the ferry. Police officers are keeping people back. The crowd is filled with parents of Academy X students who will be going home over break, shoppers, and many curious people hoping to get pictures or autographs of superheroes. As the ferry completes docking, a dozen people in the crowd wearing eXalts masks throw off robes revealing red bat-like wings and swords. The demonic figures fly towards the ferry. They’re under attack, and David and Lucius are the only staff members aboard! Mustang flies above the ferry to make himself visible to the approaching demons. He turns on his comm and yells, “Do not attack! Return to your dimension!” When the demons don’t stop, he creates a light construct that walls off the front of the ferry. After the first demon hits the wall, the others fly over the construct and land among the students. They begin attacking and several students drop. One of the demons lands next to Prism. Unlike the others, this one is female. She’s also a Caucasian with red hair. She’s wearing an oni-like mask instead of an eXalts one. She says, “Hello, Lucius,” then attacks him with a wicked-looking sword. Prism barely evades. When Prism counterattacks with a light blast, the woman puts up a force field that looks suspiciously like his. Back at Academy X, the staff overhears the battle on the comms. Dane orders the eXalts to rendezvous at the front door of the school. Once everyone arrives, Mac creates a portal and the eXalts join the battle. Blur zips in and pulls two of the downed students back through the portal at Mustang’s command. Mystic breathes fire at one of the demons, but it has no effect – the demons are immune to fire, magic, or both! Mustang, Panzer, Vortex, and Glimmer blast several demons, injuring them. They soon realize the demons are illusions! The female demon lands next to Mustang. She says, “Enough of that game.” She drops the illusion, revealing each of the demons were a few feet from where they seemed. She then says, “Hello, David. Long time no see.” She blasts Mustang with his own light attack. The eXalts team leader barely deflects the attack with his force field. The woman then attacks with her gigantic sword, badly injuring Mustang. On the ferry deck, Prism creates illusory dire wolves that drag all but four students through the portal. Blur pulls two more downed students to safety at Academy X. Mystic drops the portal (stranding Blur at Academy X) in order to teleport to a demon and drain it. Sublime tumbles into the middle of a group of demons and unleashes a vibratory blast that injures several. The demon leader says they have what they came for and opens a portal. She flies through and disappears. Mustang considers following her, but blasts a demon instead. The demons then start grabbing the eXalts and imitating their powers! Panzer is surprised when his opponent turns to liquid metal. Several demons near Sublime touch her and manifest her molecular control powers. Panzer, Glimmer, and Vortex continue attacking the demons. Vortex drops one with a powerful blast, killing it. The demons then head towards the portal – they’re going to escape! Mustang tries to create a snare to trap a demon, but misses. Sublime concentrates and suddenly the air temperature plummets around her. The demons scream in agony as their blood nearly freezes in the sub-zero temperatures. While the demons manage to escape through the portal, one collapses from the cold and is left behind. In the chaos following the demon attack, Wonder Man arrives. He calms the panicked crowd and speaks to the police. He then lands on the ferry and asks if the eXalts need any help. The eXalts thank him for his assistance but he gives them credit for stopping the attack. David wants to interrogate the unconscious demon. Dagan says she can use the telepathy she borrowed from Samantha to read its mind. David agrees. He creates an opaque light chamber for the three of them and flies it into the air above the ferry. Dagan drains energy from the demon and then wakes it. She’s able to enter its mind. The demon doesn’t speak English, but Dagan acts as a translator by mentally communicating David’s questions. The demon is angry at being a prisoner. It wants to die as a warrior. Even in its weakened state, it surprises the two eXalts by grabbing David and attacking him with his own light powers. David is caught flat-footed and is momentarily stunned – but the light platform disappears and the three plummet towards the ferry below! Dagan grabs David in mid-air. Prism creates an illusory net that catches the demon. Mercy uses her disintegrating touch to burn away the demon’s skin. It collapses on the ferry deck, unconscious. While the eXalts argue over what to do with the demon, Mercy tries to break its neck. She’s unsuccessful. Several eXalts pull her from the demon. Meanwhile, back at Academy X, Bastienne discovers none of the unconscious students brought back from the ferry have serious injuries. The demons were using nonlethal force. But she also realizes that one student didn’t return from the ferry – Academy X’s Head Girl, Amanda! The eXalts realize the demons attacked the ferry to kidnap her. They must have used the illusion power they stole from Lucius to hide her disappearance. But why do they want Amanda? David says the demon is their only source of information that could help the find Amanda and takes him back to Academy X. Though Mercy and Ethan haven’t spoken since they gained each other’s memories a week ago, Mercy decides to look for her brother after returning to Academy X. When she can’t find him, she reaches out to him mentally. She’s shocked and angry to hear that he’s in Sacramento. She runs over to Mac and manages to tell him that Ethan is missing. She writes on a pad of paper that he’s in Sacramento. Mac says he can teleport to the city to retrieve him. Mercy tells Ethan to head to an In-N-Out burger. Once Ethan arrives at the restaurant, Mac creates a portal so the young boy can return to Academy X. Mercy sees him covered in blood but unhurt (due to his regeneration) and slaps him. She then bursts into tears and Ethan hugs his sister. Mac says they’ll talk about how he got to Sacramento later. After creating a cage for the demon in the Danger Room, David has Dagan borrow Adonis’ charming touch. The ploy works. The demon sees Dagan as a friend and is willing to talk. He says he is from Muspelheim, or one of the nine realms from Norse mythology. It’s the fiery realm that’s home to the fire giants and is ruled by Surtur. The demon says the female leader of their group is their mother, Sinmara. Sinmara is Surtur’s wife. She wields the legendary blade Lævateinn. He says they’re able to remain on Midgard because their mother is originally from this realm. Dane wonders… a redhead from this realm with the ability to borrow powers that was trapped in a fiery dimension… could it be Meghan? Lucius creates an illusion of Meghan and the demon confirms that she is his mother. When they ask what Meghan’s plan is, the demon says she needs Amanda because the Head Girl can create magic portals. If she can create a portal to Muspelheim, Surtur and his army can come through and they can conquer this dimension. At this point David realizes his sword wound is getting worse – and Mac can’t heal it! The demon says Sinmara’s blade is poisonous and he will die of his injury. Mac researches a cure using the tomes provided by his father, Doctor Strange. Meanwhile, David contacts the editor of the Nothing Can Stop the Blog! website to ask for a favor. He wants footage of the ferry attack to see if it will yield clues to Amanda’s location. The ferry attack is all over the news and the editor is able to find footage on several websites. Unfortunately, the videos only show that Amanda disappeared when Sinmara dropped her illusions. Also in the news is the massive eruption of Mt. Aso in Japan. It’s even larger in scope than the eruption of Mt. Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland a year ago that disrupted air traffic in Europe for weeks. The press is calling it a supervolcano, but it’s not quite that extreme – it’s more like the eruption of Mt. Tambora in 1816. Mac finds a spell that he thinks will draw the poison from David. He only has one shot; if he can’t stop the poison, David will die. David is weakening and needs to be treated immediately. Mac casts the spell. It works! Without any leads on how to find Amanda, the eXalts get some sleep. On Sunday Mac and Bastienne meet with Bishop George Hinton of the Unity of the Holy Cross church. Hinton thanks them for finally meeting with him. He knows they’ve been busy. He says he’s been following the raids Wonder Man has been making on Church of Humanity sites that are sheltering Purifiers. He believes the only one who would know of those locations is Simon Trask, former Purifier leader. He thinks Simon Trask is trying to get rid of the Purifier cells that are following his rival, Jacob Robitaille. There are several Robitaille mental clones still out there and Trask is trying to kill them to reestablish his control over the Purifiers. Hinton thinks that the mysterious source that lead the eXalts to the Purifiers after the attack on X-Corporation: Los Angeles was Trask as well. Mac is concerned that the Purifiers are being reunited under one leader, but in the end he supports Wonder Man if he can stop the terrorists. Dane submits a budget requisition to the legislative council on Monday. He wants equipment to patch the tunnels of Asteroid M below the school so they can pump the selenium-tainted water out of the corridors. Mac and Ruth approve the request and the plan is put into motion. It will be several weeks until they have the equipment on site, however. Also on Monday, Lucius begins researching the weakening dimensions. He creates a database of every dimensional breach revealed when someone disappeared, reappeared, or when monsters emerged from another dimension. He then checks in on Old Lucius. He finds that Old Lucius is still researching the Sami people of northern Europe. Lucius sees that Old Lucius has discovered one family tree among the Sami that never interbred outside the racial group and may represent the last people without a dormant X-gene in the world. Unfortunately, the last two members of that family line (a brother and sister) disappeared only a few days ago! As Lucius researches the disappearance, he suddenly realizes Ruth is next to him. Ruth says, “Embla?” When Lucius doesn’t understand her, she keeps questioning him, asking “Embla?” over and over again. She doesn’t know what it means, but she knows it’s important and related to his research. Lucius tries translating the word, rearranging the letters, and more, but he can’t decipher its meaning. He finally discovers that Ruth was asking Embla because there are two mythological figures named Ask and Embla in Norse mythology, part of the Sami belief system. They are the last two pure humans that will survive Ragnarok and repopulate the world. Lucius goes into a panic – is Ragnarok approaching? He begins researching the event in earnest. During the first week of spring break, junior student Robin sits next to Mercy at dinner and asks if she wants to see a movie later. Mercy is surprised, but nods her assent. During the movie Robin tries to put his arm around her and Mercy pushes him away. She storms off, leaving him stunned. Later that week David decides to get to the bottom of the Paragons that are seemingly spying for Hellifre Club: Tokyo. There’s one member of the Paragon spies that’s still at school during break – Morgan, a senior. He enters her room and closes the door. He asks her about the spying. She says the Paragons kept a close relationship with their former team advisor, Professor Ogawa. Honoka promised them jobs after they graduated. The Paragons have been passing along information to Honoka and Shiro when they visit. Morgan doesn’t think it’s a problem since both of them are members of the Academy X Board of Trustees. David doesn’t agree and tells her to research the Hellfire Club to find out why they’re a problem. He says if she doesn’t write a twenty page paper about the history of the Hellfire Club, she won’t graduate. At the end of the week, Dane reads on the Academy X Board of Trustees forum that a vote has been proposed by Emma. The proposal will give the Board of Trustees the sole power to hire and fire personnel at the school as well as sole control of the school’s finances. Dane disagrees and Honoka supports him, but Shiro votes with Scott and Emma. The vote passes and the Board of Trustees now controls hiring, firing, and money. That weekend, Cameron leaves a Danger Room training session in his air form. He is surprised to see a figure emerge from the technology lab – it’s Old Lucius! Everyone thought he disappeared into another dimension months ago. Cameron follows him into the medical lab. Old Lucius is doing some DNA tests on medical samples. Cameron stays invisible and keeps the information to himself for now. During the second week of spring break, S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives to inspect Academy X and Utopia. Commander Daisy Johnson herself comes to the island with her second in command, Agent Owen. Among their retinue is Agent McAlister, Mac’s cousin. Mac avoids the S.H.I.E.L.D. group as he doesn’t want to run into his cousin again. Samantha also wants nothing to do with the group due to her dislike of Daisy. Dane accompanies S.H.I.E.L.D. as they tour the construction of New Genosha on the northwestern shore of Utopia. The skeletons of the buildings are in place. Bastienne then allows them to inspect Academy X. Daisy seems satisfied with the inspection, though she has two items to discuss with Utopia’s president. She tells Dane that Cameron is still wanted for attempted murder and should face justice. In addition, she gives Dane a flash drive with security footage. She says it will show Julian killing twelve S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Dane said he did so while possessed by Danielle Robitaille, but Daisy wants to confirm that with S.H.I.E.L.D. telepaths. Dane says he’ll get back to her. Meanwhile, Samantha is surprised by a knock on her door. It’s a nondescript S.H.I.E.L.D. agent asking for Matt. While Matt and the agent talk quietly, Sam uses her telepathy to listen in. She can’t read the agent’s mind, so she taps into Matt. The agent says they haven’t found Quentin yet, but the search is ongoing. The agent reminds Matt that this favor comes at a price. Samantha realizes the agent is Maria Hill and guesses the favor involves Matt rejoining S.H.I.E.L.D. Team 6 for a secret mission. On Sunday the students return from vacation. At dinner that night, Ethan, Mercy, and Seth choose their codenames. Ethan announces his codename is Subsume. Lucius creates an illusion of Mercy’s codename above her head: Sublime. Seth says his codename is Binder. Bastienne announces that Liam has been stripped of his prefect status due to misusing his telepathy and spying on staff members. At a staff meeting that night, the group discusses the vacancies in the student staff. With Amanda missing, they’ll need a new Head Girl. Senior prefect Tierra isn’t interested in the position, so junior prefect Ginny is promoted to acting Head Girl. Now they have two junior prefect openings (for Ginny and Liam’s positions). Bastienne says she’d like to promote Ethan and Mercy, but she thinks prefects should remain at the school during danger and both Ethan and Mercy are eXalts. Billy supports Ethan and Mercy as the new prefects. David is against the idea because he doesn’t trust them. Dane thinks Ethan and Mercy have earned the chance, and Ruth agrees. In the end Mac decides to offer them the positions. They accept. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">That night Samantha goes into labor. Dagan uses the memories she borrowed from a doctor to deliver the baby. The little girl has cloven feet and nubs at her temples that will become horns. She also has bright blue skin and yellow eyes. She’s perfectly healthy. Samantha names her Jessica Cordelia. Also that night Cameron visits Young Lucius. He finds Lucius creating illusions of events leading up to Ragnarok according to Norse myth. Cameron says he’s discovered that Old Lucius is still at the school. Once Young Lucius realizes he’s not in trouble for hiding Old Lucius’ presence, he asks Cameron to leave as he’s working on an important project. Cameron just asks him to make sure Old Lucius isn’t engaging in any dangerous experimentation, as he was working in the medical lab. Lucius realizes Old Lucius was testing Ethan and Mercy’s DNA, and that the two students share the same X-gene. Meanwhile, Dane works on a device that will detect the strength of the dimensional barrier and will scan for dimensional openings that allow people – or monsters – to pass between realities. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Two weeks later it has become evident that Sam’s baby is growing at an advanced rate. At two weeks old, Jessica is the size of a two-month old. Mac guesses the girl has her father’s Morlock heritage and her X-gene activated at birth. That same day, Dane finishes his device. He scans for dimensional breaches and finds one that temporarily opened in Oregon. But then he finds something more troubling: a gateway between two dimensions has opened in Death Valley, but it’s growing in size instead of closing, as other breaches quickly do. Lucius says it would be easier to open a portal to Muspelheim in a hot location; it’s probably Meghan / Sinmara! Dane notifies the eXalts on his comm. Before getting on the Blackbird, Mercy finds Robin and kisses him on the cheek. The eXalts quickly fly to Death Valley. Once they near the location of the portal, the group is stunned to see that Sinmara’s gateway has already allowed a small army of fire giants and fire demons to come through. At the edge of the growing portal is Sinmara, with Amanda at her side. Sinmara’s children are also nearby. Through the portal the eXalts can barely see a massive figure – it’s Surtur, king of the fire giants! If he gets through, there will be no stopping him. Then the fire giants unleash blasts of flame at the Blackbird. Dane manages to bring the Blackbird down in a controlled crash landing. The eXalts emerge from the plane. They must close the portal! <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Blur attempts to run to the portal with his super-speed, but he’s surprised to find that Sinmara has nullified his powers (even at range!). Mustang tries to snare Amanda, but fails. Vortex creates a blast of air that propels Amanda halfway to the eXalts. Meanwhile, the other eXalts attack fire giants and demons. Mystic remembers that fire giants are cloaked in flame and too dangerous to attack hand-to-hand. Glimmer blasts a fire giant while Subsume and Sublime attack fire demons. Panzer holds off a fire demon and one of Sinmara’s children, but he’s badly hurt. Blur shakes off Sinmara’s attack and regains his time control powers. He speeds over to Amanda and pulls her to safety. She tells him that the portal is almost open! The eXalts focus their attacks on Sinmara. The fire demons flying nearby interpose themselves between the eXalts and Sinmara, however. Glimmer flies over to Sinmara to attack her personally. A fire demon intercepts her draining touch. Blur speeds over to Sinmara, but misses. Ethan then borrows Mercy’s powers and runs forward. He unleashes a blast of cold temperatures across the entire battlefield. Mustang collapses from the sudden cold and several of his teammates are stunned – but even more fire demons and fire giants collapse! <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Surtur is almost through the portal. Mystic realizes that the time to close the portal is now or never. He teleports next to Sinmara. He tries to stop his former ally, but she shakes off the attack. He has one last chance. He casts a desperate spell to counter Sinmara’s magic. In the battle of magical power, he overwhelms her and changes the portal so that it draws in fire creatures instead of allowing them through. The fire demons and giants are sucked back into Muspelheim! Sinmara and her children are drawn back into the gateway, as well. But Sinmara has one last surprise. As she’s drawn into the portal, she grabs Glimmer’s arm. The girl will be pulled into Muspelheim! Blur then knocks Glimmer free, but he’s pulled through instead! The portal closes – Sinmara and her army are gone, but so is Billy!
 * Next:** Issue 66 - 'Unease'
 * Previous:** Issue 64 - 'Depression'