Issue+89+-+'Monstrous'


 * Issue 89 - 'Monstrous' **




 * Plot **

The Phoenix Force – a cosmic force of destruction - has returned to Earth. When it arrived, Tony Stark blasted it with his Phoenix Buster armor to destroy it, but it split into five shards. Each found a mutant host: X-Men team leader Scott “Cyclops” Summers, X-Man Ororo “Storm” Munroe, X-Corporation: Los Angeles CEO and eXalt ally Heather “Lifeguard” Cameron, former eXalt Dane “Panzer” Lightfoot, and eXalts team leader Samantha “Phantasma” Stone. There isn’t one Phoenix host now – there are five! Each member of the Phoenix Five left for a different area of Earth: Scott for Eurasia, Storm for Africa, Heather for Australia, Dane for the Americas, and Samantha for Utopia. Other than resurrecting her dead husband Matt (who was killed by her accidental use of Phoenix Force energy prior to the cosmic entity’s arrival on Earth), Sam has been avoiding using her Phoenix Force powers while the other Phoenix Five have been using their powers extensively – to bring food, water and energy to poor areas of the world. Most recently, Scott, Dane and Heather appeared before the United Nations General Assembly on Monday morning and declared that war is outlawed… The eXalts aren’t sure what to do. There is some concern that the Phoenix Five are taking away free will and becoming increasingly cavalier with their powers. There’s also a lot of news coverage over the recent Mutant Revolutionary Front bombing in San Francisco. The MRF is a pro-mutant terrorist group that has been carrying out a bombing campaign to protest Prop X, a recently passed proposition that required mutant registration, the chemical castration of mutants, and denied mutant marriage rights. While only mutant registration has been upheld at the moment, it has caused dozens of mutants to join the MRF – and one of them is David Goldberg, Academy X professor and former eXalt team leader. At the MRF’s most recent bombing, David donned his Erik the Red disguise to draw S.H.I.E.L.D. agents away from a protest in front of the Superior Court of California in downtown San Francisco that drew both pro- and anti-Prop X activists. While S.H.I.E.L.D. was distracted, MRF members planted and triggered bombs under the pro-Prop X protestors, killing over five dozen Prop X supporters and over a dozen innocent bystanders. Samantha arrived on the scene and puts out fires, disperses smoke, rebuilds buildings, and stabilizes the dying. She sensed six MRF members nearby - her teammate David, cell leader and former Academy X student Christine, another former student Rodrigo, a mutant that called himself Knightsabre, a Morlock named Troll that hundreds of years old, and a mentalist she could sense somewhere nearby but couldn’t read. And, under the street were around three or four dozen Morlocks (physically disfigured mutants and her family) that helped plant the bombs. She used her Phoenix powers to capture Christine, Rodrigo, Knightsabre, and Troll as well as the dozen Morlocks that actually placed the explosives (as opposed to those who were security, lookouts, etc.). But she’s still getting some negative attention in the press – with her god-like Phoenix Force powers, why hadn’t she done more to prevent the attack? Why didn’t she just root out the MRF completely? Some in the media say she has blood on her hands for the dozens of dead… But the eXalts’ attention is on the other Phoenix Five. After the UN decree, the “Phoenix Four” (Scott, Storm, Dane and Heather) begin dismantling the world’s nuclear stockpiles. Scott disarms Russia, Dane disarms the United States, Heather disarms China and North Korea, and Storm disarms Israel, India, and Pakistan. Sam is horrified by Scott’s plan. She urges Mac to contact the Avengers to hear their reaction, as Mac was once a reserve Avenger. He cannot get in touch with Steve “Captain America” Rogers, however. Mac asks Carom to teleport him to Scott when Scott nears a location that Carom has previously visited. Carom thinks Mac is crazy for wanting to try to stop a member of the Phoenix Five, but he agrees. Meanwhile, David plans for the worst. He already asked a recent Academy X graduate, Shiloh, if she’d use her mutant ability of reactive evolution to practice fighting Samantha. Since she said no, David now asks Shiloh if she’d allow Academy X professor (David’s daughter and the Phoenix Force’s original intended host) to borrow her ability. Shiloh agrees. David then asks Dagan if she’d be willing to train with Sam using Shiloh’s powers. Dagan says yes, as David predicted. Dagan feels guilty she rejected the Phoenix Force when it arrived and therefore feels responsible for creating the Phoenix Five. David also calls recent graduate Mercy. Mercy and her brother Ethan had been reserve eXalts while students, but hadn’t been on many missions. David offers to involve them more in the future. Mercy says she’ll talk to Ethan and get back to him. Bailey, the half-Kree eXalt, speaks to the Kree artificial intelligence called Plex that resides in the former space station below Utopia. He asks if he can tour Asteroid M and even have a room there. Since Plex and Bailey are allies, Plex agrees. Bailey asks if he can bring his fellow half-Kree mutant, Tsu-Zana. Plex says it will have to speak to her first. Bailey begins exploring the space station and sets up a room there for him and his dog, Max. Monday afternoon (just before sunset in Europe), Scott reaches Paris to begin dismantling France’s nuclear stockpile after disarming the UK. Mac knows Carom has been to Paris and contacts his teammate. Carom says he can teleport Mac there if he’s sure. Mac says he just wants to talk to Scott. Carom opens a portal to a quaint town outside Paris where he’d once taken his girlfriend, Alice. Mac says he’ll return in an hour – or not at all. Mac meets Scott in the air above Orly Air Base, nine miles south of Paris. It had been an American air base during the early part of the Cold War and now serves as a secret nuclear weapons facility. Scott is levitating nuclear missiles out of the base and destroying them with his optic blasts. He pauses as Mac approaches. Mac apologizes for the recent conflicts between the eXalts and the X-Men. Scott says not to worry – that’s in the past and the Phoenix Five only want to use their powers to help the world now. He says that destroy chemical weapons next. Mac says he envies Scott’s optimistic view. It reminds him of the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry. Like Gene, Scott apparently thinks that humans can create a perfect world if weapons were gone. Mac is not so optimistic. Scott says the difference between the fiction of Star Trek and what he’s doing is that the Phoenix Five actually have the power to make the dream of a peaceful future a reality. He then cuts off Mac’s response and says that Mac must make a choice – will he rejoin the Avengers (who are plotting against the Phoenix Five) or will he side with his mutant family? Scott also tells Mac to talk to his father, Doctor Strange. Steven could use his powers to help the world. As Scott begins to fly away, Mac calls out to him. He says he recalls Scott’s recent reference to a parable from the Bible called “The Talents” when he was trying to motivate Sam to use her Phoenix Five powers. Mac says Scott should read a famous fable called “The Scorpion and the Frog.” In the fable a scorpion asks a frog for a ride across a river. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung, but the scorpion says if it did so, they would both drown. The frog agrees, but the scorpion does sting the frog, dooming them both. When the frog asks why, the scorpion says it was in its nature to do so. The fable’s moral is that fundamentally vicious natures cannot change… Back at Utopia, Sam and Matt have a long-delayed conversation about Matt’s relatives, the Morlocks. He’d promised to tell Sam the trust about the mysterious activities of the Morlocks but then he died. He now admits he’d been lying to Sam about his family. He’d told her nothing was going on but he was covering for his relatives. The elder of the Morlock colony in San Francisco is an MRF sympathizer. Ever since Prop X passed, the Morlocks felt uneasy living in California. After the recent battle in Union Square, when mutant mentalist Mindworm had drawn dozens of Morlocks to the surface to fight for him, the Morlocks have faced even greater discrimination and enmity from humans. Feeling the MRF is the only group on their side, the elder formally joined the terrorist group. Matt says 1/3 of the Morlocks are firm MRF supporters, 1/3 were swayed by the elder, and another 1/3 disagreed with the elder’s decision. Over the past few months the three dozen or so Morlocks that rejected the MRF have been harassed by the rest of the colony and have recently moved into a different section of tunnels (which explains why Sam noticed many Morlocks were missing recently). That community of Morlocks is the group that asked an Academy X student, Hunter, to lobby for their move to Utopia. Matt would like to find shelter for the group. Sam had recently discussed using her Phoenix Force powers to expand the size of Utopia – perhaps she could also create an underground space for the Morlock refugees? Sam says she probably could do so, but wouldn’t they want to live on the surface? Matt says the Morlocks feel safer underground. They don’t trust their fellow, non-deformed mutants due to past incidents and underground mutant communities are safer than ones above ground (perhaps referring to the destruction of Genosha five years ago). But the Morlocks would need resources to be self-sufficient. Sam feels conflicted about the Morlocks. She recently turned over a dozen Morlocks that had allied with the MRF to S.H.I.E.L.D. – should she not have done so, or should she have turned over even more? She agrees to try to help the Morlock refugees. On Tuesday David and Dagan fly the Blackbird to the Cherokee Reservation in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina to meet with Shiloh. Dagan borrows Shiloh’s powers and they fly back west to Utopia. They return in time to make the Tuesday night staff meeting. Bailey has been invited to attend the meeting. David shares with the group his plan to have Dagan use her borrowed reactive evolution powers to develop a defense against the Phoenix Force. Sam agrees to train with Dagan after the meeting. Mac tells the group about his conversation with Scott the day before. They are concerned about Scott’s arrogance but unsure what they can do to stop him. After all, the other members of the Phoenix Five (Dane, Heather and Storm) are behind him. Sam says Matt has something to share, as well. Matt relates the information about the Morlocks that he told Sam the night before. Sam says she can create tunnels for the Morlocks when she extends Utopia. She will extend the island westward, away from Plex’s area. Mac is uncomfortable with the plan and begins mentioning Star Trek again to convey his concerns. Other eXalts criticize his use of geek culture to argue his point. Carom agrees with Sam’s plan and says she can do even more, like turning rocks into gold to help Utopia’s financial situation. David says that could collapse the world economy, or at least the gold market. The group agrees to just start with expanding Utopia tomorrow. After the meeting Sam and Dagan training. Sam uses the barest fraction of her powers against Dagan. Even with Dagan’s impressive abilities, she’s barely able to defend the least of Sam’s attacks… The group gathers Wednesday morning to witness Sam’s use of the Phoenix power. She hovers over the school and reaches out with her telekinesis to raise the sea bed on the western edge of Utopia. But Sam hasn’t been practicing with her abilities, or perhaps she subconsciously wants to do more, because as the power surges through her she does much more than double the size of Utopia. Instead of expanding the island from three to six miles wide or so, the rising landmass extends far beyond the horizon! Matt checks satellite footage. Utopia is now 100 miles in length and averages around 25 miles wide, or nearly double the size of Long Island! And she not only created new land – she created rivers, lakes, and even new flora and fauna to populate the island! After the shock wears off, the group meets on Thursday to decide what to do with all the new land. Should they raffle off lots to mutants or use a lottery? Allow the purchase of the land so they can levy taxes to fund Utopia? The final decision is to leave the ownership of the land in the hands of the Utopian government for now. Maybe they can use much of the land as farmland so the island can not only be self-sustaining, but export excess crops. Mac says they could use some of the land to grow marijuana, as that could raise needed revenue. David thinks that could complicate the already tense relationship with the United States. They are already uncomfortable with the mutant haven just offshore of California that has declared its independence – becoming a drug cartel wouldn’t help. Matt confirms that tunnels have been created under Utopia that the Morlocks could use, so at least that goal was accomplished. Then Mac gets a phone call from acting X-Corporation: Los Angeles CEO Neal Shaara. The former X-Man is frantic and explosions are audible in the background. The Purifiers are seeking retribution against the recent MRF bombing by striking X-Corporation: Los Angeles! Carom opens a portal to assist in the group’s defense. The eXalts arrive to find the building under attack by three dozen Purifier “Biosentinels” (humans injected with nanites that transform them into mutant hunting cyborgs)! There are too many for the eXalts to face, and they’ve already killed dozens of X-Corp employees. But the Purifiers were not prepared for Samantha. With a glance, she forces all of the Purifiers to freeze in mid-air. Then red and gray clouds burst from every inch of their bodies. Sam has telekinetically sucked all the nanites from their bodies! They collapse as husks on the ground. Mac teleports next to them and is relieved to find they are still alive.

David tells Carom to collect the gray ball made up of fused nanites and send it to former Academy X staff member Lucius at the east coast mutant school for study. Carom does so, then suggests Sam uses her telepathy to read the minds of the defeated Purifiers. They could locate the remaining Purifier cells and even Purifier leader Simon Trask himself. They could put a stop to the Purifiers once and for all! Sam reluctantly agrees, but says she’ll turn the information over to S.H.I.E.L.D. so human law enforcement can handle the situation instead of the eXalts. David agrees – the eXalts should not act in the United States unless someone asks for their help. The plan doesn’t last, however. On Friday, while Sam is discussing a possible joint strike with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s west coast second in command, Major Henderson, Dane lands on the Triskelion. He dismantles the station’s impressive weaponry, including the stealth helicarrier hidden under the base. He also destroys the group’s “Capekiller” armor units (both heavy and light suits). Clearly S.H.I.E.L.D. is not equipped to take on the Purifiers. Major Henderson tells Sam to have the eXalts handle the Purifiers situation. Sam leads the eXalts to Trask’s compound near Mount Diablo east of Oakland. Trask and about a dozen Purifier Biosentinels attack. Sam once again pulls the nanites from their bodies and leaves the comatose bodies alive. David takes advantage of the situation and fires a killing blast at Trask. Mac notices David attack a downed enemy and makes it to Trask in time to save him. The two argue over the morality of killing a downed enemy. Mac says the eXalts can’t kill their enemies. David says that Trask is an evil person and deserves to die because he’d only kill more mutants if he was allowed to live. Wouldn’t you kill Hitler if you had the chance? Mac says David doesn’t get to make that decision. Dagan appeals to Sam, as team leader, to stop the argument. Sam says to leave Trask alive. David says Sam is a good person and he isn’t. The depowered Purifiers are turned over to local authorities. After the attack, David trains with Dagan and Sam. Dagan can only withstand less than one third of the energy Sam creates. Mac sends an e-mail to Sam asking for a private meeting with her and David. Scott sends Sam a mental message congratulating her on using her powers to expand Utopia and stop the Purifiers. The press alternately congratulates Sam for using her powers for good or condemns her for becoming judge, jury and executioner. Do the people really want a god-like figure dispensing justice as she sees fit? Bastienne heads to the Bay Area, as she’s been doing for weeks. When she returns late at night she works on her headmaster responsibilities. She’s burning her candle at both ends and seems exhausted. On Saturday afternoon the students who are spending the summer at Academy X have free time. Carom is finishing his house on the island northeast of Utopia. Bailey is exploring the new land Sam created with his dog, Max. Mac is studying to learn how to recharge his powers, but isn’t making much headway. Bastienne is at the Santa Muerte church in Oakland. Sam, Matt, Dagan and David are spending time with the kids (Jessie is five and a half years old now while the twins and Davan are two and a half). David sees P’Ythri (the fire demon that’s really Meghan’s son, and therefore Dagan and Davan’s half-sibling). He asks the student if he wants to return to Muspelheim. P’Ythri considers for a long time before deciding he can learn more about fighting in this dimension. David says he’s hoping to go to Muspelheim to find his missing teammate, Billy. P’Ythri offers to act as a guide on the trip. During the conversation Thor appears out of nowhere and grabs Dagan. Sam senses over a dozen new minds on Utopia. The Avengers are attacking again! Sam mentally tells Thor to let Dagan go and they’ll talk. Thor instead calls out to be teleported away. Sam senses Doctor Strange hovering invisibly nearby. She mentally attacks the former Sorcerer Supreme, preventing him from teleporting Dagan. Carom, who was listening in on the comms, teleports to Dagan and tries to pull her free, but Thor is too strong. The battle begins! Wolverine appears behind Carom and attacks, but misses. Mustang flies over and blasts Wolverine, but the injury quickly heals. Ms. Marvel teleports behind David and punches him. Glimmer’s borrowed reactive evolution activates. The bones in her arm melt away so she can pull free, but Thor keeps his grasp. Mac opens a portal so K9 can reinforce the eXalts, but then Red Hulk, Spiderman, Iron Fist and Black Widow arrive. Red Hulk appears in the air above Phantasma and readies a massive attack. Phantasma deflects him into the ground, creating a huge crater. Spiderman snares Mustang in his webs. Black Widow misses K9. Iron Fist stuns Carom with a martial arts attack. Thor subdues Dagan in a grappling hold. Mystic calls out to Thor. “Warrior of Asgard, is this what you’ve been reduced to – a kidnapper and a thief?” Thor scowls, but is clearly demoralized. At that moment Phantasma’s Phoenix Force energy flares. When it recedes, Cyclops is flying next to her. He yells at Thor to let Dagan go, then fires a massive blast of energy at the Asgardian. Samantha throws a boulder in the way, protecting Thor! Cyclops is incredulous. Captain America finally arrives. He throws his shield at Cyclops and actually hurts him. He tells Cyclops the Phoenix Five cannot control the Phoenix Force and they must stand down. Mustang asks Bastet over the communicator to help. She says she’s in Oakland and can’t get back in time. Mustang then blasts Captain America, but Cap deflects the attack with his shield. Phantasma tells Cyclops to stop – they need to talk, not fight. Carom teleports midair next to Phantasma. He says, “You were never worthy.” He then pulls out a fragile-looking pink crystal the size of a finger. He snaps it in half, revealing a black circle of energy. The circle pulses, creating a wave of gravitational energy that sucks Carom in! Phantasma is barely able to avoid the black hole’s gravitational pull. The Red Hulk takes advantage of the distraction and leaps at Phantasma. She deflects him with a telekinetic blast so powerful he’s knocked to the ocean horizon. The Avengers press the attack. Mustang is staggered and the rest of the eXalts are injured. Then Cyclops unleashes a massive optic blast that targets all of the Avengers at once. Each of Earth’s mightiest heroes fall, except Iron Fist who is somehow able to create a mystic shield to repel most of the attack, though he’s still staggered. Cyclops calls out to Phantasma to finish off Iron Fist. Phantasma tells Iron Fist to stand down. Iron Fist says, “Lady, I can barely stand at all.” But the black hole is expanding and threatening to suck in all the heroes. Glimmer’s arm dissolves into a gas. Now free of Thor, she flies over to Doctor Strange and says she’ll go willingly. Doctor Strange has shaken of Phantasma’s stun and teleports the Avengers and Glimmer away.K9 pulls Mustang free from the black hole before he’s drawn in. Cyclops unleashes a massive blast of Phoenix energy at the black hole. It’s not enough! He calls out to Phantasma for help. The two members of the Phoenix Five surround the black hole with Phoenix fire until it winks out. The threat is over, but Carom is gone! Scott picks up Captain America’s damaged mask and says, “They’ll never stop coming. Men know that, regardless of their endless sins against mutants, their heroes will protect them. It changes now. No more Avengers!” He disappears in a flash of fire. Mac says the crystal that created the black hole was a shard of the M’Kraan Crystal. The black hole was a portal to the nexus of all realities – a living embodiment of the multiverse powered by countless neutron stars. Sam wonders if Carom was trying to kill her. Mac isn’t sure, as the Phoenix Force is the guardian of the M’Kraan Crystal. David notices that Bailey’s skin is blue! The explosion of Sam and Scott’s full use of their Phoenix Force power apparently triggered a reaction within him. Bailey feels different. He can sense things he never could before – new sounds and smells.But he doesn’t tell anyone this. Bastienne says she’son her way back from Oakland, but she’s still at least ninety minutes out. David sends Jamie, one of the Academy X students at school over break, to fly the Blackbird to retrieve the headmaster. Jamie had some training on how to fly the jet over the past school year and agrees. The eXalts meet in the War Room. Matt, who watched the battle from the security system, says Plex sent Plexroids to help but the battle was over before they arrived. David wants to know why Bailey is blue, but Bailey doesn’t know. The blue is already fading. David then turns to Mac. He tells him to call his father to demand answers. Why did they attack? Sam says to Mac, “Tell him Scott is coming to lock them all up!” Mac, frustrated, says, “Neither of you give me orders again. I have a call to make,” and he leaves the room. David wants to know more about the crystal Carom used. He says they need to tell Carom’s girlfriend, Alice, what happened. Bastienne returns from Oakland. David fills her in. He says Dagan went with the Avengers because she feels guilty and they manipulated her (as he recently did, though he doesn’t mention that). Bailey wants to know what Scott is going to do once he captures the Avengers. David says Scott might bring them to the blue side of the moon, as Jean once spent time there as the Phoenix. Alice then arrives. David tells her what happened to Carom and asks if she knows anything about the crystal or Carom’s plans. Alice says she doesn’t know. David says they have a dysfunctional relationship. Alice yells at David that it’s the eXalts’ responsibility to find their missing teammate. David says Alice needs to research what Carom was up to. Alice storms out. David turns to Sam and says they need to find Dagan. Sam concentrates for a moment. She says Dagan isn’t on Earth or even in the solar system. She says she can sense that the Avengers think they can use Dagan to stop the Phoenix Force. David is pissed. Mac is unsurprised that he can’t get in touch with his father. He yells at Steven’s manservant, Wong. “Tell him he wielded power like a club and made the situation worse!” Wong calmly says he’ll pass the message along. Steven always wants to know if Mac contacted him when he returns from another plane. Mac apologizes, but Wong says he’s used to dealing with people on their bad days. Mac returns to the War Room to see that David is twitchy, Sam has her head in her hands, Bailey is still blue, and Bastienne is busy texting someone. Mac asks what the plan is now. David worries that Carom was trying to turn Sam into a dark phoenix. The Hellfire Club tried it before (though it wasn’t Hellfire Club: Tokyo). David wants to look for Billy. Bastienne suggests reaching out to Avengers Academy for help. Mac says Iron Fist seems to have some ability to stop the Phoenix Force. Sam says Iron Fist isn’t on earth, but Xavier is worried about Scott and might be of assistance. David says the Phoenix Five aren’t doing anything wrong. Sam contacts Xavier mentally. The professor says Scott probably wanted Dagan out of the Avengers’ hands because her connection to the Phoenix Force is stronger than his own. The other Phoenix Five are now hunting the Avengers with the help of most of the X-Men. Xavier tried to counsel Scott but he wouldn’t listen. He advises Sam to continue to be careful with her use of her Phoenix Force powers. David says there are three options: helping Scott, working against Scott, or remaining neutral. Sam thinks helping Scott isn’t a good idea. He’s not trying to help the world anymore, he’s trying to take out his opposition. David says that they’ll take care of their own, then – they’ll look for Carom and Billy. Over the weekend there is news of Avengers being captured by members of the Phoenix Five. Ruth shares a vision of a battle between the Avengers and X-Men. The Scarlet Witch joined the battle for the first time and actually hurt Lifeguard. Lifeguard lashed out and nearly killed Hawkeye. Scott was able to save him. Black Panther hurt his own wife, Storm. It seems Panzer, Lifeguard, and Storm are turning brutal and are beginning to lose control of their powers. Everyone is worried about what that means. Sam contacts Honoka for answers about the shard of the M’Kraan Crystal, guessing Carom obtained it from Hellfire Club: Tokyo. Honoka admits she provided the shard. It was meant to be used if any of the Phoenix Five presented a danger to Utopia, though it seems Carom used it for personal reasons. Bastienne interrupts the call to tell Sam she isn’t needed if they are in wait and see mode. She’s depleting her funds to fly to Wakanda where she is needed. Bailey begins stocking Asteroid M like a bomb shelter. Mac learns through research that Sam’s Phoenix Force power could recharge his abilities. The next day (or late at night in Africa), Bastienne reaches Wakanda. She’s greeted by a small delegation of her faithful, led by her high priest, the Black Panther himself. T’Challa brings him to her temple. They speak about their recent troubles. T’Challa confesses his rift with his wife, Storm. They sleep together. At dawn Bastienne is awoken by a howling hurricane. A dozen tornadoes the size of skyscrapers are striking the capital city – Storm is attacking! Bastienne teleports to the center of the city with T’Challa. Suddenly Captain America appears with three dozen Avengers! It is a brutal fight, but with Iron Fist and the Scarlet Witch’s help, Storm is defeated. Then the other members of the Phoenix Five are drawn to Storm. Sam teleports to the scene with the eXalts. They watch Storm’s Phoenix energy leave her body to join the other Phoenix Five. They’re even stronger now! Captain America tells the eXalts to look at the destroyed city. Now will they join the Avengers? David wants to know Dagan is okay. Steve says to join him and they’ll see her. The eXalts teleport away, but not before Mac says to Scott, “Sorry, it’s in our nature.”
 * Next: ** __ Issue 90 - 'Rebirth' __
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