Issue+81+-+'Vermin'


 * Issue 81 - 'Vermin' **




 * Plot **

In the final battle in the pocket dimension of Aleph, Bastienne’s grandmother Sophie (an Apocalypse worshipper and member of Clan Akkaba) was prevented from turning Evan (an Academy X student and clone of Apocalypse) evil. Samantha convinced Evan to stop Sophie. Sam then freed those possessed by the spirits of Egyptian deities, though Isis (Carom’s mother Cynthia, a vampire) escaped into the deserts of Aleph. S.H.I.E.L.D. is waiting in Salton City to help the thousands of formerly-brainwashed humans that return to Earth. Back at Academy X, students take final exams. Two thirds head home for break while the rest remain on Utopia (as wards of the school or by choice, like Madison who is fighting with her father). Robin visits his Skrull relatives. Mac returns the Orb of Agamotto and gives Runak’s Hamer and the drained Orb of Ra to his father, Doctor Strange. Evan has become withdrawn after what happened in Aleph. He refuses to use his powers at all. Shortly after this, noises are heard from Asteroid M below the school. Evan isn’t the only one haunted by what the events of Aleph. Rafé and Georgie’s relationship doesn’t survive their mutual possession by Egyptian spirits. Georgie moves to Academy X where the staff completes their end of term tasks, such as sending reports to the Board of Trustees (no one’s heard from Agape; it’s assumed she’s with her vampiric master, Prince Kazimir).  Before Christmas news breaks that a three-judge panel will soon rule on an appeal that could lead to Proposition X being fully reinstated in California – including bans on mutant marriage, chemical castration of mutants, forcing mutant kids to take the Hope “vaccine,” etc. Bastienne and Liam take a trip to New Orleans to clean out Sophie’s house. They return with a 50’s Chevy pickup. Liam then returns to New Mexico with Jasmine to visit family. Bastienne visits her roller derby friends in San Francisco, tours an Egyptology museum in San Jose, and works on her Headmistress duties. Mac keeps busy in his role as President of Utopia by contacting federal, state, and local officials to try to normalize relations between the island and the mainland. He doesn’t make any progress with the federal government, but the Sangrey administration is open to talks and Mayor Sadie Sinclair of San Francisco is friendly. Carom and Alice take a long vacation. When they return Carom goes vampire hunting and works on a secret project while Alice upgrades the school’s computer network. Carom watches her to see if she is still linked to Plex. Matt is busy with security upgrades prior to mutant immigrants arriving in New Genosha, but finds time to take a few days of vacation with Sam. They also visit the Morlocks a few times, though they seem to be hiding something from Sam. Sam is busy with her children (and Davan) and her Secretary of the Interior duties. She still searches for the vessel that bound Alex and, while she is unsuccessful, she discovers her powers have grown. Meanwhile, David trains in a unique fashion. He deprives himself of anything that isn't an absolute necessity to improve his willpower. As a result, he is not in the best of moods. David’s daughter, Dagan, works on college classes during the winter term and visits her boyfriend, Julian, in California. She complains of another headache – she’s absorbed another Alex Nova shard. Ruth works alone in her room most of the time. She is overseeing shipment of Academy X, eXalts, and Utopia merchandise from the Chinese factories contracted to produce the goods and auditing the nation’s books prior to the new year. She also handles the transfer of $5 million dollars from Hellfire Club: Tokyo for their bank in New Genosha. The students that remain on Utopia over break work on various projects on the island. Utopia is now self-sufficient in terms of food, water, and energy, but there are other chores, like tending the livestock (chickens, pigs, and sheep) and Academy X cleaning projects. Liam returns with Jasmine shortly before the new semester and checks in on his “deputies”, Glob Herman and Wicked. They’re doing well.  The New Genosha construction is completed in the middle of January. Several blocks of buildings have been built, including apartment buildings, a gym, a salon, an urgent care/pharmacy building, a garage/gas station, a grocery/general store, a laundry, a café, a transfer station at the docks (for garbage), and a municipal building that handles legal matters, hosts the courts, a post office, fire station facilities, etc. These buildings join the Hellfire Club: Tokyo area (containing the bank and dozens of Asian mutants), the gym and the bar. There’s apparently a functioning K-6 school in the Hellfire Club: Tokyo area. Evangeline Whedon, Utopia’s Attorney General and head of the country’s judicial branch, will soon move into her apartment in New Genosha along with the visa applicants (100 mutants were approved). Meanwhile, Mac hears news from the superhero world. Jubilee is with a group of vampires called the Forgiven and is training to fully control her bloodlust. A group of young Avengers found the Scarlet Witch, missing in action for years. Thor escaped the afterlife and defended Asgardia from an invasion of trolls. He also unmasked the replacement Thunder God, Tanarus, as the villain Ulik. There’s been a staff shake-up at Jean Grey’s School for Higher Learning and a new X-Men lineup at Xavier’s School for Higher Learning, as well.  The weekend before the new semester begins sees the return of the student staff. Senior prefects Ethan and Mercy remained at school over break, but junior prefects Melody and Gabriel as well as head girl Carrie arrive on a speedboat. Robin returns in a more exotic fashion: the head boy returns to Utopia in a shuttle from a Skrull spacecraft in orbit! The headmasters meet with the student staff to review policies, go over changes in duties, and other administrative tasks. David meets with them as well, as he has been training them to be a reserve team in case the school is ever attacked while the eXalts are away. There is free time after the afternoon meetings. The returning student staff settle back into their rooms and mingle with the students that remained on Utopia over break. Bastienne finds Mercy in the headmasters’ office. She’s been organizing curriculum materials for the senior independent studies. She also inventoried supplies as part of her role as headmistress assistant. Liam checks on the Excelsiors who stayed at Academy X over break (Mariana who can make zombies and Seth, the human mage). After finishing some paperwork related to his role as President of Utopia, Mac checks on the teachers. He finds Georgie in the library. She is quiet and meek and has difficulty making eye contact with Mac. Perhaps it has something to do with her actions as Sekhmet last semester. Mac has a conversation with Dagan in the medical lab in the basement. Dagan is inventorying her medical supplies before the start of the semester. She complains that Ruth mentioned disaster if she didn’t fill out her purchase orders correctly. Sam and Bastienne relax with the kids. Bastienne easily charms Davan’s pet cat, “Kitty.” The downtime is ruined by news from San Francisco: there was a bombing at a mutant registration site. The bombing took place at the end of the day and killed ten human employees. The Mutant Revolutionary Front takes credit for the bombing and claims it was to recognize the fifth anniversary of the Genoshan Genocide.  The staff members have a start of semester meeting that evening. They discuss the MRF bombing and whether the eXalts should get involved. Do the eXalts have a moral responsibility? Haven’t they pledged to protect the west coast? By not acting, aren’t they tacitly approving of the MRF’s actions? On the other hand, shouldn’t S.H.I.E.L.D. take care of the problem? What if the MRF retaliates against Academy X? And, after all, no one has asked for their help. Some support the idea of getting involved (Dagan and Liam), others are against the idea (David and Carom), and the rest are somewhere in the middle. Mac decides to issue a press release through the Nothing Can Stop the Blog! website condemning the attack. The staff meeting also covers budget issues (including Ruth’s new purchase order forms), concern about the noises Plex has been making recently, and plans for the next semester. After the meeting the staff has free time. Bastienne heads to the mainland to go on a date. Liam is perplexed as he thought they were exclusive. On Sunday the rest of the Academy X students return. Liam, Dagan, and David take the //Poseidon// (the school’s ferry) to Pier 39 to pick up the kids. Bastienne meets the ferry at the pier. She doesn’t hide her mutant features and gets some support but also slurs. At the pier there is a lot of press attention and public interest. The police hold back the crowds while the kids board the ferry. The staff notices that the store selling superhero merchandise, Super San Francisco, is selling Utopia’s official merchandise, including Academy X, Utopia, and eXalts gear. At least the Phantasma doll has a more realistic figure. Back on Utopia, the Academy X Board of Trustees has their traditional start of semester meeting. Honoka and Shiro arrive in a helicopter from New Genosha. They are polite but formal. Heather Cameron from X-Corporation: Los Angeles flies to the island and is friendly, as usual. Matt is already there, of course. He welcomes his fellow trustees to the library (the makeshift conference room) after realizing Agape, the fifth trustee, is likely not going to arrive. After the meeting Honoka chats with Sam and Bastienne makes small talk with Shiro. Matt has news: Agape coalesced out of thin air during the meeting! Honoka and Shiro were clearly not happy to see her. At the end of the meeting she dissipated again.   That afternoon David approaches Liam and Sam. He says that during his month living out in the elements on Utopia he noticed something odd in New Genosha. He saw a light in an uninhabited house in “Asiantown” (Hellfire Club: Tokyo’s area). Then the light went out and a translucent, humanoid-like form phased through a wall before disappearing. He asks Sam to share the memory with Liam. She finds the task surprisingly easy. They discuss the event and wonder if it’s Phantom, a vampire, or something else. As they don’t have jurisdiction to search the home, they decide to wait and see for now. Team meetings are held Sunday afternoon. Ruth reports that the Ardents want to put on a drama production but need a director. David volunteers. She also mentions that Madison seems upset due to the conflict with her father. The Corsairs want to push the inter-team competitions even further by engaging in team vs. team combats. David immediately agrees. The Excelsiors notice that Robin seems different since his visit with his Skrull family – more mature and comfortable in his own skin. Dagan’s telepathy (permanent since she absorbed several mental shards of Alex Nova) reveals that most Exemplars hold pro-MRF beliefs even after their bombing resulted in the deaths of innocents. The Hellions are concerned about how withdrawn Evan has been and the Paragons push Carom to finally schedule a field trip to New Genosha. He agrees to do so soon.   On Monday Carrie runs the first session of Combat Club for the new semester. They will be holding a competition for Combat Club Leader soon. Everyone assumes Evan will win battle royale… except he doesn’t show up for the club meeting. He’s the only student not in attendance. Meanwhile, the 100 immigrants approved to move to New Genosha gather at a secluded dock in San Francisco. Out of the 100 immigrants, around 80% are mutants (there are a few human spouses or partners and a dozen or so kids). There are a larger percentage than normal of mutants with physical mutations (though only a dozen or so that are Morlock-like). This makes sense as the Utopian government put an emphasis on accepting immigrants that were in dangerous situations and obvious mutants are more likely to face discrimination. Most mutants seem to have minor powers. One of the mutants in the crowd is Bailey Fletcher, a detective from Kansas City, Kansas with his dog. He will be New Genosha’s police chief. He meets a mutant couple in their early twenties that most recently worked for Mutantes Sans Frontieres (“Mutants Without Borders”), a charity organization originally funded largely by Worthington Industries but most recently funded mostly by T’Challa, King of Wakanda. Barry (strong and tough) and Catalina (creates smoke) were working in Slokovia when they became targets of anti-mutant violence. They luckily received Utopian visas.. Bailey learns that Barry will be his deputy and Catalina hopes to work in a store. Bailey then meets Evangeline Whedon, Utopia’s Attorney General, on the ferry ride to the island. She laughs when Bailey says he was interested in the California weather, as San Francisco is too cold for her taste. She misses lying out in the sun.

Upon their arrival in New Genosha, the immigrants meet the X-Corporation members that are handling their transition to Utopia. The man in charge is Neal Shaara, a former X-Man (“Thunderbird,” though his codename is now “Agni”). There will be an orientation, job placement, and tour of the town. Later they will move into apartments in the recently-constructed apartment buildings. First there is a welcome ceremony by the Utopian government. Evangeline Whedon joins President William “Mac” Strange and Utopian legislators Bastienne Noel (Secretary of State), Ruth Aldine (Secretary of the Treasury) and Samantha Stone (Secretary of the Interior). Mac gives a speech about how the immigrants haven’t moved into a camp or shelter, but instead have found their home. He stays to have lunch and mingle with the immigrants (and meets Bailey briefly) before returning to Academy X. Bailey joins the other immigrants in attending the orientation, job placement, and tour before moving into his apartment.  <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;"> The rest of the week passes uneventfully. Bastienne takes Evan running during Combat Club meetings. She also visits with Georgie whenever she can. For the first time there is awkwardness and distance between the sisters. Bastienne can tell Georgie feels remorse due to her time as Sekhmet and guilty because she was “saved” from possession by Sekhmet by the Orb of Ra and Bastienne wasn’t. David continues training the student staff team. Bailey engages in foot patrols of New Genosha and makes it a point to meet each of the residents. That weekend, Tigra (headmistress of Avengers Academy outside Los Angeles) calls Bastienne and asks if they have any candidates for a student exchange. Two Avengers Academy seniors are interested in finishing their academic careers at Academy X. Perhaps one of them would fit in? Bastienne says two Academy X seniors are interested in attending Avengers Academy, so why don’t they exchange two students? Tigra agrees. On Sunday Arturo Corea (an Excelsior that joined the school in the fall) and Patrick Nesbitt (the Exemplar team leader who once was a member of Academy M and was a spy for Xavier’s school) transfer to Avengers Academy. Meanwhile Kevin “Thunderstrike” Masterson (the son of Eric Masterson, a man who was once merged with Thor and later wielded an Asgardian weapon which passed to Kevin after Eric’s death) and Jimmy “Batwing” Santini (a human mutated into a bat-like form) transfer to Academy X. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;"> There is news early next week that a mutant was killed by Purifiers in Fremont, California. The mutant’s injuries indicated a biosentinel attack. One attacker was immolated to death by the mutant, however. The Purifiers later officially claim credit for the death. They say the attack was in response for the MRF bombing of the San Francisco mutant registration site. While on a run with Evan, Bastienne makes the young mutant an offer but he says he needs time to think it over. Bailey contacts Matt at Academy X and requests a meeting to discuss joint police efforts on the island. They agree to meet soon. Georgie tells Bastienne she would like to ask the Utopian government for permission to move to New Genosha. She wants to get a job there and try to start a new life. Bastienne says she understands and supports her, both as a sister and as a Utopian legislator. The petition is approved the following Monday at the Utopian governmental meeting. On Wednesday Bailey is on his usual patrol through New Genosha when he reaches the apartment buildings south of the town’s downtown. Two of the three apartment buildings are complete but the third is still under construction. Suddenly the crane collapses and will soon fall on several construction workers! Bailey uses his mutant gift of kinetic energy control for the first time on Utopia. He propels himself toward the crane, hoping to use his super strength and toughness to block the collapsing crane in order to save the workers. He realizes he won’t make it in time, however. He desperately uses his kinetic energy control on the crane and slows its movement until it freezes in midair. The workers scramble to safety. Bailey is a hero! <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;"> During his visit to Academy X to coordinate police efforts with Liam and Matt, Mac invites Bailey to the headmasters’ office to congratulate him on his heroism. Bailey then meets Liam. Liam practices his animal control powers on Bailey’s dog, but the animal just looks at him strangely. Liam is able to speak to the dog and learns that Bailey treats him well. Matt joins the meeting and the three men make plans to utilize technology to coordinate their efforts. Matt says his “IT department” (jokingly referring to Alice) will handle it. When Baily returns to New Genosha he is in for a shock. The entire population of the town (except the Hellfire Club: Tokyo employees in Asiantown, of course) have gathered for a meeting without his knowledge. Bailey is stunned to find they have elected him Mayor of New Genosha! He tries to get the townspeople to reconsider or at least research the legal question of whether they can elect a mayor and whether he can be both chief and mayor, but it’s clear that the New Genoshans want him to be their leader. Evangeline confirms there is no official reason he cannot be mayor even though she thinks it’s potentially problematic. She asks for a sauna. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;"> Over the weekend Bastienne helps Georgie move into her apartment in New Genosha. Sam realizes that Jessie has outgrown all of her clothes again and plans a shopping trip to San Francisco. Sam, Matt and the kids have been joined by Evan more and more recently. Even though he stays mostly on the periphery, he seems to enjoy being near the family. Then a strange event takes place on Thursday. During free time in the afternoon, Bastienne and two-thirds of the student body spontaneously head towards the Academy X docks. When questioned they say they want to go to San Francisco. Evan realizes something is wrong when he sees Sam’s kids and Davan running to the docks without Sam or Matt around. He uses his powers for the first time in over a month to telepathically contact Sam and ask her what’s going on. Sam realizes something is wrong. She scans the area, an easy feat with her recently-improved telepathy. Through her scan she discovers someone in San Francisco is mentally influencing Academy X. She also realizes Madison Turner, one of the juniors, is gone. She hurries to the docks along with the other eXalts. Sam surprises everyone by easily lifting the ferry boat from the water with her telekinesis. She then breaks the mental influence on Bastienne and most of the kids. Now that the immediate danger of dozens of students leaving for the city is over, she scans for Madison and finds her in Union Square. Matt comes onto the comms to say that there are reports from social media that dozens of Morlocks are converging on Union Square as well. Sam, as eXalts team leader, orders the team into the field. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;"> Mystic teleports to New Genosha to retrieve new eXalt Bailey (though it’s unclear when he joined the team). The eXalts teleport to the top of a building overlooking Union Square. Dozens of mutants (including several Morlocks) are converging on the center of Union Square. Bastienne, now codenamed Bastet, spots Madison. Phantasma scans the crowd and realizes a man with an oversized head, a mutant called “Mindworm,” is the mentalist drawing mutants to him. He’s also William Turner, Madison’s father! Bastet teleports into Madison’s shadow and asks what’s going on and how she’s doing. Madison is surprised to see Bastet, then surprises Bastet in turn when she grabs her teacher. Her mutant ability (making others “drunk” through touch) causes Bastet to pass out! Mystic creates a portal in the middle of the crowd of mutants for his teammates to use. But by now the eXalts have attracted attention, however. Mindworm orders his mutant followers to attack. Blasters slightly injure several eXalts, though many of them miss or are unable to affect the more-powerful eXalts. Carom diverts a few attacks back at other attackers. Mustang fires a light blast at Mindworm but misses when a mind-controlled mutant jumps in front of the blast. Then Glimmer shifts into her “light armor” form and steps through Mystic’s portal. She immediately falls to her knees while clutching her head and screaming. All around her mutants begin collapsing in a wave outward through Union Square. What is going on?... <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;"> The battle against Mindworm continues. Bailey steps through Mystic’s portal and attacks the mentalist with his batons. Mindworm surprises Bailey by nimbly dodging the attack. He used to be an Olympic-level gymnast! More brainwashed mutants attack, slightly injuring a few eXalts. Bailey nimbly dodges several attacks, then uses his kinetic energy control to slow a bull-like mutant’s charge before he can strike. A Morlock with spider legs climbs the building where a group of eXalts is standing and stuns Primal. When Carom redirects more attacks back against Mindworm’s followers, the crazed mutant loses his patience. He unleashes a mental blast that badly hurts several eXalts. Carom is overwhelmed by blast. He suffers brain damage and collapses! Meanwhile more and more mutants are collapsing outward from Glimmer. In the blink of an eye all remaining mutants collapse as far as the eye can see, though the eXalts are strangely unaffected. Glimmer rises from her knees, her eyes glowing red. “WHERE IS MY MOTHER?!” she shrieks. Along with the shout is a wave of mental fury that blasts the eXalts. Bastet revives after the attack and asks Glimmer what she wants. Glimmer says she isn’t Glimmer any longer. She’s Xandra Nova! Sam gasps, realizing Mindworm has summoned all the “adult mutants” in San Francisco – and each possesses a mental shard of Alex Nova. Glimmer has now absorbed all the shards and is possessed! <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;"> Bastet tries to convince Xandra that Quentin Quire was responsible for binding Alex Nova, but to no avail. Bailey takes another swing at Mindworm, but misses. The mentalist retaliates with a powerful mind blast. Bailey’s eyes become unfocussed and his jaws goes slack. He’s suffered brain damage! Mystic then steps through the portal and surprises everyone when he shifts into a ruby form similar to Emma Frost’s diamond form! His chest glows red in a scarab-like pattern as he transforms. Mystic engages Mindworm in melee combat to protect Bailey while Phantasma flies next to Xandra and tries to reason with her. Phantasma finds that her “granddaughter” is all rage, and cannot be reasoned with, however. Xandra blames Phantasma and the others for allowing Alex to be imprisoned and not freeing her. Primal takes advantage of the distraction Xandra is providing. He channels the spirits of the hawk and the crocodile. The spirits feel more powerful for some reason. As Primal draws on the attributes of the spirits, his teammates are surprised to see his face elongate into the jaws of a crocodile and his eyes and nose become bird-like. Primal has channeled the spirits of the Egyptian gods Horus and Sobek! Primal demonstrates his new power when he flies to Mindworm and drops the powerful mentalist in a single attack.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">But Xandra Nova has had enough. She grabs onto her “grandmother” Phantasma. Her skin momentarily turns blue as she absorbs Phantasma’s telekinesis. She says, “He has bound my mother, and he will die for what he has done!” She uses the telekinesis stolen from Phantasma to take off like a rocket into the sky. Phantasma says that they need to contact the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning to warn Quentin Quire. But Bastet and Mystic say that Xandra isn’t headed north towards Canada. She’s headed west, to Utopia. The eXalts realize Xandra isn’t after Quentin Quire, but the one that actually bound Alex into a physical object – Seth, the human mage and Academy X sophomore! If she isn’t stopped soon, the young boy will soon be dead. But Phantasma is barely standing, two eXalts (Carom and Bailey) had their brains fried, and everyone else is injured. Can they stop Xandra Nova or will one of their students pay the price of their failure?
 * Next:** __Issue 82 - 'Savage'__
 * Previous:** Issue 80 - 'How to Save a Life'