Issue+76+-+'She's+Lost+Control'


 * Issue 76 - 'She's Lost Control' **


 * Plot**

The eXalts followed their foe, Phantom, to Salton City, California and found a shocking sight: Bastienne’s sister, Georgianna, dressed as the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet. The leonine woman is flanked by her fiancé, Rafé (tattooed with the symbol of Clan Akkaba, the descendants of X-Men foe Apocalypse’s human followers) and their grandmother, Sophie. Hundreds of Sekhmet’s worshippers watch the scene nearby. After telepathically deflecting Sam’s mental probe, Sekhmet asks if the eXalts will join her as her followers. David flies to her side. Sophie pulls out a powerful artifact called the Orb of Ra and uses it to summon a red scarab from Mac’s torso. Using the scarab, Sekhmet raises a pyramid from the ground behind her. Sekhmet turns to Bastienne and says, “Come with me, sister. Come with your family.” Bastienne reaches out… and takes Sekhmet’s hand. There’s a flash of light. Sam reaches out and mentally contacts David. He says it’s still him and urges her to find him and rescue him. When the light fades, Sekhmet, Rafé, Sophie, Phantom, David, and Bastienne are gone! The group notices Sekhmet’s followers have disappeared as well. Mac contacts Matt over the comms and asks the school’s security officer to search for Bastienne and David’s comms through their GPS link. Matt replies moments later that there’s no signal – they’re gone. Meanwhile, Dagan flies into the air to survey the scene. She’s shocked to find that not only are the residents of the treatment center gone, but so are all the residents of Salton City. Cars are stopped in the middle of the street and no residents can be seen anywhere. Over 4,000 people are gone! Liam walks over to where the pyramid emerged, destroying a quarter of the treatment center. There is now a giant sinkhole in its place. It seems the pyramid was created from the bedrock of the ground. Carom turns to the group and asks how Georgie could have done all this – did she have magical powers allowing her to brainwash people? Sam replies that since her mutation, Georgie only exhibited enhanced strength, speed, stamina, and regeneration. Mac says it’s possible the Orb of Ra gave her telepathic powers as it’s been known to command the living. When Mac mentions the orb was last in the possession of N’Kantu (the Living Mummy), Carom says they should find the monster. Liam asks Mac about the red scarab that emerged from his body, but Mac has never heard of such an artifact and has no idea how it got there. The eXalts find Georgie’s room. It’s spartan – besides the bed, table, chair, and dresser, there are letters from Bastienne and her mother and pictures of her family (sister, father, mother, brother, grandmother, and Rafé). They find no clues about how Georgie became Sekhmet. The group returns to the courtyard to discuss what to do next. Carom jokes that now is the time to rob the banks. In the end Sam, as eXalts team leader, decides to contact S.H.I.E.L.D. to let them know what’s happened. Just after dialing the number, there is a bright flash of light and Bastienne appears in the crater left behind by the pyramid’s disappearance. Dagan rushes over to her, but Carom tells her to stop – she might be dangerous. Bastienne slowly sits up, looking exhausted and despondent. Sam, Liam, and Dagan slowly approach. Sam mentally contacts Bastienne, who makes no effort to block her out. Sam views her friend’s memories of the last hour. She sees how Bastienne was transported to a desert place called Aleph where Sekhmet remade the pyramid into a temple with iconography and statuary using the Orb of Ra. She also created houses for her followers, watch towers, and a great courtyard. Bastienne and David were quickly separated so Sekhmet could speak to Bastienne alone. She told Bastienne that she is a goddess and will rule. She wanted Bastienne to rule by her side. Bastienne tried to talk her down, saying she won’t enable her fantasy and she needs help. Sekhmet was enraged and only spared her life because she was her sister, then banished her. Sam mentally sends the memories to the eXalts so they know what’s going on. Bastienne is in shock – not only has she been disowned by her father and recently been made a widow, but now she’s lost her sister and grandmother. Dagan moves to Bastienne’s side and puts an arm around her to help her stand. She tries to comfort her. Liam checks to see if Bastienne is physically hurt, but she’s okay. Sam decides to call S.H.I.E.L.D. and reaches one of Director Owen’s subordinates. They will be sending a team to investigate. Mac opens a portal to the Blackbird which is hovering nearby. He is relieved to find that his powers still work following the red scarab being pulled from his torso. Some of the eXalts return to the Blackbird to fly back to Utopia while others teleport back to the island. Back at Utopia, Mac contacts Doctor Strange’s manservant Wong and tells him what transpired in Salton City. He asks for resources to find David, to research the Orb of Ra, and to try to figure out what the red scarab is. Wong says he will look into the questions and get back to him. When Bastienne returns to Academy X, she immediately locates Davan and takes him back to her room. Sam goes to the basement and uses Cerebra for hours. She searches for David across the globe but has no luck. Is the scope of the search too large, is David somehow hidden, or is he not on Earth at all? Mac realizes they need to find someone to cover David’s absence at the school. He knocks on Bastienne’s door to discuss the topic with his co-headmaster, but the headmistress doesn’t answer. On Tuesday morning Liam gets up early for his traditional morning run with Bastienne. He finds Bastienne in a field near the school with Davan. Davan is playing with a stick he found. Liam plays with Davan for a time and tries to see how Bastienne is doing. She seems emotionally drained but otherwise ready to continue her duties at Academy X. A little bit later, Mac, Carom, and Liam supervise Combat Club while Carrie, the Combat Club leader, runs the practice. Carrie asks her professors where David is, as he never misses a practice. Mac says he won’t be attending today. At the end of the practice, Mac tells the assembled students (nearly all of Academy X’s student population) that David is gone for now. He says he knows the students remember David’s absence last semester when he was possessed by Runak. David is dealing with the aftermath of that episode. Some of the students wonder if David is possessed by Runak once again or are surprised that he’s not in prison again. Mac then talks to Shaun, the Corsairs team leader, about acting as David’s substitute teacher. Liam volunteers to help if needed. As the students head back to shower before breakfast, Carom asks his girlfriend Alice if she’ll help with the substitute teaching duties. Alice is nervous about being a sub, but when she heard David has left sub plans she’s willing to try it. While many students are talking about David’s disappearance, the school day continues normally. After classes, Sam asks Bastienne if she needs help taking care of Davan. She says she’s used to taking care of Davan much of the time anyway and she can handle it, though she’ll ask for help if she needs it. That night Mac is visited by Amanda, Academy X graduate and Doctor Strange’s apprentice. She is carrying several rare occult tomes that Wong believes may hold clues to the issues Mac wants to research. Amanda says to take care of them because Doctor Strange will need them back. Mac thanks her and agrees to be careful. On Wednesday the members of the Utopian government hold the meeting postponed from Monday. The visa program developed by Sam and Bastienne is ready to be implemented. Construction of the apartment building that will house immigrants was only recently started, however. The legislators vote to begin going through applications to find mutants with skilled trades, such as carpenters, electricians, plumbers, medical staff, law enforcement, and so on. They also want to move mutants in dangerous situations to the front of the line. They agree to start with one hundred immigrants and to begin allowing them to move to Utopia in January, when the apartment building should be complete. Mac, as President, approves the votes. As Secretary of the Interior, Sam reports that the solar panel installation is about to begin on Utopia’s hill. Ruth, as Secretary of the Treasury, reports that the Chinese factory has begun making eXalts and Academy X gear. Bastienne, as Secretary of State, reminds the group that Attorney General Evangeline Whedon has urged the group to find a solution to a domestic police force. The legislators vote to allow Liam to begin training Glob Herman and Wicked to act as law enforcement officers on Utopia. That night Bastienne shows up at Liam’s room with a bottle of top shelf rum. She was going to donate it to the Santa Muerte church but decided against it when it was revealed that they were involved with vampires. The two staff members stay up late talking and drinking. Before the night is out, they kiss. Meanwhile, Academy X sophomore Evan Sabahnur (clone of Apocalypse) mentally wakes Sam in the middle of the night. He’s detected the mental presence that has been periodically contacting Utopia, and this time he knows where it was making contact – Carom’s apartment! Sam contacts Carom on the comms to find he’s awake. She questions Carom about the mental presence Evan sensed. Carom says it’s fine. It’s from Hellfire Club: Tokyo, and there’s not much more he can tell her. Sam says Carom will have to share everything he can at the staff meeting that night. Ruth is the first to attend at the Thursday night staff meeting. The others arrive to find her talking to Lady Fingers, the disembodied hand of former student Sarah. Sam asks how Sarah is doing. The others notice Dagan has hickeys from visiting her boyfriend, Julian, at Stanford. The meeting begins. Alice complains about a lack of sub plans from David. Mac offers to help, but he’s busy with research so Bastienne will, instead. The group then discusses student issues. They approve the Corsairs plan for inter-team competitions. Students will gain one point for their team for minor positive acts, such as getting a difficult question correct in class, good teamwork in athletics an example of good behavior, and so on. They will gain five points for moderate positive acts, like excellent performance on an exam or paper, an impressive play in athletics, a selfless deed, and so on. They will gain ten points for brilliant classroom performance on a huge project, a game-saving play in athletics, a heroic deed, and so on. They will lose one point for a minor negative act, such as minor misbehavior in class, poor sportsmanship, minor rule-breaking behavior, and so on. They will lose five points for disruptive behavior in class, major misconduct in athletics, moderate rule-breaking behavior, and so on. They will lose ten points for their team for extreme negative acts, such as dangerous behavior in class, violent conduct in athletics, or major rule-breaking behavior. Each team will begin with 100 points. Only teachers, staff, the head boy and head girl and prefects can add or remove points (and student staff cannot award points to their own teams, though they can report positive behavior to staff who may do so). Whichever team ends with the most points wins the Team Cup, granting special privileges for the next school year (fewer clean-up duties or shifts preparing meals, once a month extended curfew, a special eating area outside, and possibly more). Bastienne adds there needs to be incentives for seniors, so they decide on a special field trip. Liam brings up his plan to create a quiz bowl club that has categories for popular culture and popular science. Dagan mentions that her team member, Leticia, has requested a space heater for her room. Now that it’s getting colder, she’s uncomfortable at night since she’s cold-blooded. The group approves both requests. Mac updates the group on his research. He has the occult tomes necessary to move forward. He had to decide between looking N’Kantu, researching the red scarab, or finding a spell to locate David. In the end he decided finding David was most important. He will hopefully have a spell prepared by the end of the weekend. Carom then gives an update on the mental presence that’s been periodically present on Utopia. He says it was a Hellfire Club: Tokyo agent contacting him and it’s nothing to worry about. It has nothing to do with his recurring dreams about his mother. He can’t say any more. He does have news from Hellfire Club: they want the eXalts to deal with the vampire problem (specifically the shadow vampire that broke into the bank over the summer). If they don’t deal with the problem, there will be consequences such as Hellfire Club: Tokyo being forced to delay its payment to Utopia. He says he’s obtained permission for Vincent to be reassigned to help. The group comes up with a plan: they will watch Agape’s apartment in hopes she leads them to the vampire she’s bonded to. Liam begins the stakeout that night. Agape returns home from work and stays in for the evening. On Friday the installation of solar panels on Utopia’s hill begins. Carom teleports Vincent to Utopia. A shipment of supplies arrives from San Francisco, including chickens that Bastienne hopes to use for eggs and food. There is also a shipment of wild cats that will be used to combat the growing rodent population on the island. Davan soon takes a liking to the cats and carries one around that he names “Kitty”. Due to his emotion control powers, the cat purrs madly. The cats can often be found following Bastienne around, as well. Meanwhile, Liam continues his stakeout of Agape’s apartment. That night he uses a spirit’s super-senses to overhear Agape order Chinese. When the food arrives he bribes the delivery man to take the food upstairs. Agape doesn’t recognize him and he gets a look into the apartment. He sees it’s slightly messy (textbooks stacked on the table next to the laptop, spartan furnishings, scrubs wadded up, etc.) but nothing strange. That night Carom and Bastienne attend services at the Santa Muerte church. Carom notices a figure hiding in the shadows at the back of the room. Bastienne recognizes her as Jane, the vampire they’d worked with in Los Angeles. When Jane slips away, Bastienne follows. They begin talking in the alley next to the church. Bastienne says she’ll take Jane up on her offer of coffee. At this point, however, Carom teleports in with the eXalts and Vincent to subdue Jan. Jane uses an emotion-control power and hisses, scaring away Mac and Bastienne. The others quickly subdue Jane, however. Carom stakes the vampire, paralyzing her. Sam attempts to mentally contact the vampire to learn more about their activities, but (as usual) finds her difficult to read. Carom says they should kill her, and when no one else objects Vincent lights his fists on fire and turns the vampire into dust. On Saturday the students take part in the traditional cleaning project and soccer games. Mac, Matt, and Liam pool their resources to engage in some research. Mac reiterates what he’s learned about the Orb of Ra. It dates from the time of Egyptian necromancer Rakses (around 1050 BC). According to mythology, it was crafted from the right eye of Hathor in order to prevent her from transforming into the war goddess, Sekhmet. The orb has been shown to command the living and raise the dead. A few years ago, a man called Mister Fazil discovered the tomb of Rakses and liberated the orb. He reanimated Rakses, but misspoke the incantation. Rakses killed Fazil and reclaimed the orb. N’Kantu, the Living Mummy, arrived at the pyramid to stop Rakses. Rakses used the orb to summon the Demon of the Sands and a monstrous scarab, but N’Kantu grabbed the orb and destroyed Rakses. N’Kantu became the caretaker of the orb. Liam and Matt discover that N’Kantu was arrested for siding with the anti-registration side during Civil War. The Orb of Ra was taken from him during that time. S.H.I.E.L.D. placed the orb in a secret Smithsonian vault, but it was broken into a few months ago. Liam trains Wicked and Glob in the social skills needed in law enforcement. Carom takes over tailing Agape, but she’s busy most of the day working at the hospital. When she leaves he investigates her workplace. Carom later asks Alice to look into her involvement with the blood drives. Alice is able to hack into the hospital system, but she doesn’t find any irregularities in the blood drives or blood shipments. Sam spends her Saturday with her family, but that night she and Bastienne have some girl talk. Bastienne relates the story of what happened between Liam and her on Wednesday. After their talk, Bastienne finds Liam and apologizes. She says she wasn’t herself on Wednesday night due to the influence of “the Baron” (Baron Samedi). It’s a spirit she’s bonded with that sometimes influences her (Wednesday most of all as it was his feast day). Liam says he understands what it’s like to channel a spirit and says that she’s never boring. Bastienne says the Baron took advantage of her interest in Liam, and Liam says the interest is mutual. Mac finishes his research into a spell to find David on Sunday. The spell will only work if the dimension is close enough to their own dimension and if the dimensional contact was recent. Therefore it can’t be used to find Billy or Dane (they disappeared too long ago and Muspelheim and Niflheim are too distant). He’ll need a conduit to David – something he cared deeply for. Mac searches David’s room for Magneto’s helmet, but can’t find it (Dagan hid it elsewhere). In the end he decides to use Davan, as the ritual will be safe. Several eXalts witness the spell as it conjures an image of David’s location. First Mac sees the desert scene from Bastienne’s memory: Aleph, Sekhmet’s city. It’s in another dimension! Then the scene shifts to a dark room dimly lit in blue. The walls look like stone blocks and it seems like a cell – is it the interior of the pyramid? David is slumped against the wall. Now that Mac knows where David is, he can work on a spell to allow dimensional travel to David. Later that afternoon, Bastienne and Sam talk. Bastienne is upset. She tells Sam that Georgie offered to bring Jessica back to life using the Orb of Ra, but Bastienne didn’t accept the offer and feels guilty. Sam can only offer a shoulder to cry on. At the eXalts meeting on Sunday night the group discusses what to do next. They decide to focus on the vampire problem while Mac works on his dimensional travel spell. They will continue to follow Agape until she leads them to her master. Later that night are team meetings. Ruth learns about an Ardent party on Saturday night where the kids were “drunk” (due to Madison’s power). The Corsairs are excited about team competitions. Liam learns that his team member, Robin, has been having headaches. Is it related to Plex? The group realizes they haven’t heard any sounds or felt vibrations from below in the past few days… Several Exemplars are still showing MRF sympathies. Hellions Evan and P’Ythri have begun their own personal combat club at free times during the day. Bastienne says it’s fine, despite P’Ythri failing several midterms. She’ll keep an eye on them so neither gets hurt. The Paragons want to visit New Genosha. On Sunday night Liam witnesses Agape leave her apartment and head to O’Grady’s, the neighborhood bar. This is it! Carom teleports the eXalts to a nearby rooftop while Liam listens in. It’s the same conversation: blood drive updates, Agape reporting on her week, slurping and moaning. When Agape leaves, the eXalts watch as a man with short black hair, sideburns, and wearing a band-shirt, jeans, and combat boots leaves through the back. They teleport beside him. Suddenly he disappears – to everyone but Bastienne! When Bastienne says she still sees him, he smiles at her and then zips away using super-speed. Carom says it’s likely he was a member of the Lunatic sect – they have the vampiric powers of stealth, speed, and often are found around hospitals or mental health facilities. The group then decides to bring in Agape. When she leaves the bar, Carom creates a portal next to her. Dagan steps out and nullifies her mutant powers. Mac grabs her and drains her to unconsciousness. They bring her back to Utopia and place her in a Danger Room cell. They plan to sedate her while Dagan is sleeping to prevent her from regaining her mutant powers. On Monday morning Agape awakes to find she has no memory of the past several months. She thinks Cameron is still her boyfriend and asks for Jessica. When she’s told the truth about her involvement with the vampires and losing the memories of the past few months, she’s upset. They tell her she has to stay in the cell for now. At lunch on Monday the staff discusses what to do about vampires now that their lead on Agape’s master is gone. They decide to search San Francisco for signs of vampires, starting with nightclubs and bars. At first they don’t find much – vampires are very good at staying hidden. By Wednesday, Agape complains of having nightmares about a man whose face she can’t make out. She asks if she can leave, then pleads. When they say no, she becomes angry. It’s classic withdrawal behavior. At the staff meeting on Thursday Carom reports a possible lead: while asking around at the clubs he heard of two prostitutes that passed out when they should have been working. Could a vampire be involved? There’s also news that pro-MRF graffiti was found in the boys’ bathroom upstairs. On Friday Carom addresses students at breakfast and says that while the MRF has done good things, they are also violent and go about things the wrong way. The weekend passes normally. On Sunday Mac completes the spell to allow transport to Aleph. This time he uses Dagan as the conduit. Bastienne suggests bringing Gabe in case Dagan is in danger during the spell. She’s been training with Gabe and he’s ready. The group decides not to involve students. Mac performs the spell in the middle of a deserted area of the Mojave desert. Through the portal they see David. Bastienne steps through – but does not appear on the other side! Sam decides to have the team (except Mac and Dagan) hold hands and go through together. They arrive in the entryway of the pyramid. The guards outside haven’t noticed them. The team is surprised to see that Liam has taken on the physical traits of spirits in this dimension: he has a crocodile’s head with the feathery wings of a hawk! They head down a dark passageway that heads under the pyramid with Sam and Carom holding hands while Bastienne and Liam lead with their low-light vision. Eventually Liam finds a hidden tunnel. They recall that pyramids often had false entrances to deter thieves. It leads to a treasure chamber with gold statuary, coins, and gems. At the end is a stone door with a circular opening that looks like it requires some sort of key. Sam uses her telekinesis to grab stray rocks and fit them into the opening’s primitive tumblers. The door opens! Inside there is faint blue light illuminating the room. The group can just make out an elaborate sarcophagus in the middle of the room and several plain sarcophagi lining the walls. David should be somewhere at the far end of the room. Bastienne shadow steps into the room and Liam begins to fly over the sarcophagi when the stone doors slam shut behind them. Rafé is standing there! A scraping sound reverberates throughout the room: the lids of the sarcophagi fall to the floor and several mummies rise from their rest. They’re under attack!
 * Next:** __Issue 77 - 'Fix You'__
 * Previous:** Issue 75 - 'The Living Dead'