Issue+72+-+'A+New+Machine'


 * Issue 72 - 'A New Machine' **




 * Plot**

Following the death of the giant locusts in Monterrey, the eXalts assist in the aftermath of the attack. Mac uses energy stolen from one of the giant locusts to heal the most critically injured people. Due to the eXalts quick response and the actions of Bastienne, David, and Liam, there were no civilian casualties (though a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents died in their initial response). After a few minutes, two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in light Capekiller suits land near the eXalts. They nod to Samantha, but unaware that she is the new eXalts Team Leader, they approach David instead. Carom notices the agents and quickly teleports away, frustrating Sam. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents nod to David and thank his team, but tell him the eXalts should leave once the reinforcements arrive. Most of them are unregistered, after all, and it would be potentially messy if they were still on site when further authorities reached the scene. David tells them to do their job, and signals to Mac that it’s time to go. David overhears one of the agents signaling to Director Owen – apparently Daisy Johnson has returned to the main S.H.I.E.L.D. command and Owen is now West Coast Director. At that point David and a few other eXalts notice that a dust devil is swirling around him. His force field, previously a faint blue color, is now darker in color. As soon as he concentrates on these strange happenings, the dust devil dissipates and the force field returns to a faint blue. Some eXalts wonder if this has to do with his possession by Runak or if there’s another presence nearby or inside David causing these effects. David signals to Mac that it’s time to go and the team teleports back to Utopia. Back on Utopia, the kids followed the fight on the TV in the common room. They return to their normal Saturday activities, such as team soccer practice and free time. That night, David has a nightmare, and Carom also has troubled sleep. Sunday is a routine day: in the morning the kids undertake chores around Academy X and in the afternoon they enjoy free time at the pool, playing basketball, watching movies, playing video games, or otherwise socializing. Meanwhile, the eXalts hold their weekly meeting. Samantha hands eXalts uniforms and comms to Carom and Liam, formally inducting them into the team. Carom chooses his nickname, Carom, as his code name as well (his real name is Nicholas). As a spirit channeler, Liam chooses Primal. Before they go into the Danger Room, Sam tells Carom that he needs to check with her before teleporting away in the middle of a mission. Carom agrees, and explains that he doesn’t trust S.H.I.E.L.D. because he doesn’t know if they have problems with him. When asked if there’d be a reason why S.H.I.E.L.D. would have a problem with him, he says yes. In the Danger Room the group works on individual and team training. In their first outing, Carom acquits himself well, but Liam is knocked out. Bastienne says he’ll have to train harder. During team training, Dagan wants to try some new powers she experimented with over the summer. She engages several eXalts in melee combat. Her force field deflects most of their attacks. The group is surprised when the minor injuries she sustains heal! She explains that she knew the team was missing Dane as their front-line fighter and wanted to try to compensate. She learned to channel the light energy she used for blasting into healing instead. The group is impressed with how powerful she is. Sunday night brings team meetings. Ruth says the Ardents are fine, though they miss their former advisor, Billy. Half of the Corsairs are now new. They tell David they want additional inter-team competitions besides sports. David says to put together a proposal for the headmasters. Liam’s team, the Excelsiors, want to plan a Halloween party. They know the past Halloweens have not gone well (the dead rose – twice!), but they want to do something fun on the holiday. Liam tells them to put together a plan and he’ll bring it to the teachers. Dagan overhears some troubling conversation from the Exemplars: due to the seeming lack of response to the deaths of the adult mutants in San Francisco over the past two months, the Exemplars express sympathy with the Mutant Revolutionary Front – at least they are trying to help mutants! After the Hellions team meeting, Evan tells Sam that while he was up in the middle of the night last night, he sensed a mental presence on Utopia. Sam asks if he knows who it was, and if it was her daughter Alex. Evan says he couldn’t tell. Sam thanks him for the information and tells him to let her know if he senses it again. At the Paragons team meeting, Carom overhears the group talking about their two recent graduates: Laurie and Morgan. Both former Paragons found employment with the Pacific Trading Company, a Hellfire Club: Tokyo business. Many are excited about internships with Hellfire Club: Tokyo or finding jobs with the group after they graduate. They decide to see if students from other teams might also be interested in those opportunities. On Monday, Mac presides over the weekly Utopia governmental meeting. He proposes a visa program for the island nation. Mutants would need to apply for a visa and there would be strict quotas. There would also be a fast track process for applicants deemed to be in immediate danger. Ruth says the program would save lives, but also bring trouble to Utopia. In the end, they vote to approve the program. Sam will draft a proposal (with Bastienne’s help) to be voted upon on a future meeting. This segues into the need for housing. Currently Glob Herman and Wicked are extra residents on the island and are staying in vacant student rooms, but new residents will require new housing. Mac mentions that Asteroid M could be used. New Genosha is a possibility, as the nascent community already has needed facilities (health care, a grocery, a gym, etc.). New residents would need work opportunities. There would also be a need for law enforcement. There is discussion about asking Hellfire Club: Tokyo’s security to oversee these new residents, or having Liam train policemen from the immigrants. Bastienne has news: authorities from California have notified Utopia that the eXalts will need to register as mutants in California or they will not be protected by the Noel Act (a law authored by Bastienne’s father that protects superheroes in the course of their duties). If they don’t comply, power to Utopia may be cut. Ruth says they may want to make Utopia self-sufficient by building a solar power array. There’s also discussion about harnessing Asteroid M's power supply, as it still functions. These projects (housing, power) will cost a lot of money. Ruth says they can afford it, but they will need to look into new funding opportunities. She proposes making official eXalts and Academy X gear, like the products sold at the shop at the San Francisco pier. They vote to move forward with contacting factories to make goods to sell over the Internet. During the week, Dagan designs the GPS tracker David requested. David suffers from occasional nightmares. At the student staff meeting, the head boy, head girl, and prefects say the study body is behaving well – for now, at least. On Thursday, Matt interrupts classes by reporting over the comms that a flyer is nearby. Sam and David respond and fly near the woman. She’s about a half mile from the western coast of Utopia. David hangs back while Sam approaches. She notices the woman’s body jerks occasionally as she flies. The woman calls out for help. She needs to reach Utopia to find “him.” When asked who “he” is, the woman says she has come to see the messiah. The woman, whose name is Jamie Lynn, doesn’t say who the messiah is. Sam tries to mentally contact the woman to learn more, but fails. The wind shifts, and it is clear that Jamie Lynn’s mutant power is to glide in the breeze. She becomes agitated when she notices she’ll fly too far south. Sam won’t let her on the island, but escorts her to an X-Corp: Los Angeles mutant shelter in Oakland. Later that night, Bastienne asks around at her church to see if anyone has heard about a messiah, but no one’s heard anything. After classes on Thursday, Liam is taking a walk to the shore when he sees Wicked. The recent graduate is talking with two ghostly women that Liam recognizes as Jessica and Cordelia from their pictures at Academy X. Wicked notices Liam and dismisses the apparitions. He introduces himself to the young girl, and after a few monosyllabic responses, she perks up. She says she sees that he also has spirits with him. Liam says they are animal spirits, but Wicked notices one is human. She gestures, and a ghostly image of his late wife appears. The ghost is happy to see Liam, and becomes solid in order to hug him. She says she loves him and misses him, and calls him by a private nickname. She thanks him for doing such a wonderful job raising their daughter “Jas” (Jasmine). Liam is overcome by emotion. He says he can’t tell Jasmine he saw her, or it might reopen old wounds. After they part, Wicked dismisses the ghost. Wicked says she understands what it’s like carrying a person with you. She then summons the apparitions of her parents. They immediately attack her verbally, calling her a tramp and “wicked.” Once they’re gone, Liam expresses sympathy and says she should speak to Glenn. As a young mutant bothered by his mutant power, she might be able to help. Wicked agrees. They pledge to talk again in the future. As Liam walks away, he overhears Wicked once again speaking to Jessica and Cordelia. Cordelia tells Wicked that she did well opening up to another person. At that night’s staff meeting, Sam relates the full story about Jamie Lynn. She also tells the group about how Evan sensed a presence on Utopia. Matt fills the group in on happenings in the superhero world: Alpha Flight is fighting a rival group, Alpha Strike. The Defenders, including Mac’s father Doctor Strange, are hunting one of Syn’s hammer wielders that remained on Earth following Fear Itself: Nul, Breaker of Worlds. Wolverine’s X-Men have been dealing with Hellfire Club: New York, while Cyclops’ X-Men had a run-in with Mr. Sinister. The Avengers (and New Avengers) are busy dealing with Norman Osborn. He formed a new group called H.A.M.M.E.R. since escaping the Raft. The Secret Avengers report problems with a group known as the Shadow Council. Closer to home, one of the staff members at Avengers Academy (Jocasta) was found dead. Ruth reports that students need to work on setting up farming for next year. Due to the eruption of Mt. Aso, this year went poorly, but the goal is to provide enough food for Academy X. Dagan has finished designing the GPS device David requested, and she’ll need another week to build it. After the staff meeting, Sam uses Cerebra to search for any mental presences on the island. She doesn’t sense any foreign presences at Academy X, though she once again notices that there are dozens of mutants in New Genosha. At David’s request, she scans him with Cerebra. She senses there may be something off about him, but she can’t tell either way. The weekend passes uneventfully. On Thursday, there is news of the death of another adult mutant in San Francisco. Apparently S.H.I.E.L.D. has not been able to stop the perpetrator. The group decides they need to get involved. Bast says she’ll ask around at the church she’s been attending. Liam says he’ll talk to a contact at the San Francisco police department that acts as a S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison. David asks Carom if he can contact Hellfire Club: Tokyo to find out anything. Carom agrees. Sam has no luck learning anything from the Morlocks, but Liam has more success at the San Francisco Police Department. After swearing him to secrecy and extracting a promise of future information, the contact tells him it’s definitely a mutant serial killer at work. Whoever the killer is has been mutilating the bodies. He knows one of the mutants had the power of flight and another had super-strength, but he doesn’t know about the other three victims. Liam thanks him. He talks to a police dog and discovers that his contact is a good man, which makes him happy. Meanwhile, Carom speaks to his contact at Hellfire Club: Tokyo – Shiro, Daimyo of the group and Academy X trustee. Shiro says he’ll see what he can uncover about the murders and forward the information tomorrow. Overnight there is a bombing at a warehouse in Oakland. The Mutant Revolutionary Front takes responsibility. In a statement, they accuse S.H.I.E.L.D. of not taking the murders of adult mutants seriously because of their X-genes. They threaten that the next bombing won’t be in an empty building if more is not done. Later in the day Carom is contacted by a Hellfire Club: Tokyo agent with a strong Asian accent. The man says that he will e-mail the police files about the adult mutant murders to Carom. Carom forwards them to the Academy X staff. Beyond what Liam was able to learn, the medical records reveal that the murderer mutilated the bodies in order to extract bone marrow. They also learn the powers of all five victims: beyond the two mutants with flight and super-strength, another victim could regenerate, another had enhanced reflexes, and the most recent had earth control powers. Lastly, they learn that cameras near two of the crime scenes did not reveal any trace of the murderer. The police are stumped as to how the perpetrator could have gained access to the victims, as there is no sign of entry. There are also no reports from eye witnesses. Bastienne wonders if Phantom, the lone member of the former superhero team called the Guardians, could be responsible. He had the power of illusion and invisibility. His X-gene was implanted, and the bone marrow could be used to create further X-gene implants. Bastienne contacts the Triskelion (S.H.I.E.L.D.’s floating base off the coast of California) to see if she can visit Liberty, a Guardian she knows. She is denied. The group agrees to investigate further. After midnight on Friday, Bastienne runs into Alice in Academy X’s kitchen. Alice makes awkward small talk while the two prepare late night snacks. Alice says she likes Bastienne’s ears and says some Asian guys are really into that, then apologizes for the impulsive remark. Bastienne says it’s okay – Jessica joked about it before, and she knows about those conventions, but she didn’t want to go. At that point Bastienne feels another presence inside her – it’s Baron Samedi, the spirit she made a pact with over the summer that would help her avoid death. Bastienne steps close to Alice and runs her fingertips through her hair. In a husky voice, she says Alice is very pretty. Alice stammers a bit and says she’s flattered, and yes, there was that time in college, but she has a boyfriend and should leave. Bastienne says her boyfriend can join them. Alice makes an excuse and slips away. She then tells Carom about the incident. Carom is concerned, but the two of them shrug off the encounter. On Saturday morning the students work on the fields used for farming to prepare them for next spring. That afternoon, the teams have their first soccer games. After the games, Liam puts together a pick-up football game. Before dinner he receives a phone call from a private investigator friend in San Francisco. He knows Liam is looking for information about the adult mutant deaths in San Francisco. He tells Liam that he heard news in the underground that members of a Santa Muerte cult have recently moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and they’re recruiting. Santa Muerte is a heretical offshoot of Catholicism that incorporates Mexican folk beliefs involving worshipping a grim-reaper like figure. Perhaps the recent deaths are linked to the emergence of this death cult? Liam thanks him for he information. That evening, Mac receives a phone call from Utopia’s Attorney General, Evangeline Whedon. Evangeline is in charge of the judicial branch of the government, and she became aware of an assault on New Genosha. There was a brawl at the drinking establishment in New Genosha, and one Hellfire Club: Tokyo security guard was badly hurt. She will be investigating the incident and imposing judgment. She says the incident highlights the need for a police force for the island. The eXalts act like the nation’s army, but there should be a local law enforcement arm to handle domestic incidents. Mac agrees, and they discuss possibilities. Liam is an obvious candidate for the job, or at least training their recruits. Evangeline mentions that Glob Herman and Wicked are living on the island without a job and might be good candidates. Mac agrees to discuss the issue with the legislators at the next Utopian meeting. Dagan finally completes her GPS tracker on Sunday. That afternoon, David assembles Mac and Liam for the expedition to Asteroid M. Dagan is tracking their movements on her GPS device. Matt and Sam spend time with the kids on the school grounds, but are monitoring the comms. Bastienne is joined in the security room by Alice. They also monitor the expedition. Bastienne awkwardly apologizes to Alice about their encounter in the kitchen, and Alice seems to brush it off. Meanwhile, in the Danger Room, David deactivates the security sensors on the panel over the hole that leads down to Asteroid M. It is dark below, but the three staff members can see the red emergency lighting faintly glowing. David uses his light powers to create a bright glow about him, then descends into the opening. The other two soon follow. David, Mac, and Liam can all feel the vibrations emanating from the station more strongly from within Asteroid M. The metallic corridors show no sign of any damage or salt residue from the ocean waters that were recently pumped out. Another odd detail is that all he doors lining the corridors are shut – when David and Mac travelled through Asteroid M months ago, they were all open. Mac wonders if the station is on some kind of emergency lockdown. Liam channels the spirits of the bat and the dog. This gives him sonar, as well as super-senses (smell and hearing). His sonar doesn’t detect any movement down the corridors, but his super-smell notices a faint tang of salt and cleaning chemicals. The group wonders if the station is somehow being maintained. Liam then focuses on the noises coming from the station. He hears the thumping and grinding of machinery from below and to the west. He barely makes out the faint humming of electronic machinery nearby to the east. The group heads east to investigate, passing many doors marked with the symbol of a red circle. They recall that they’re living quarters. The group continues to hear faint mechanical noises, though otherwise eerie silence. They soon reach a door to the east. This one is marked with a green triangle. The humming is closer now, but the door is locked. There is a touch pad next to it, but it is not lit up. David asks Liam to open the door. Liam channels the spirit of the bear instead of the bat. With his new super-strength, he tries to pry the portal open. The heavy metal door groans, but does not budge. David recalls that the base was built with alien technology that Magneto traded for, explaining the strength. The group moves on to the south and reaches another corridor with a door to the east. This time, Mac touches the keypad. It lights up with a green glow, revealing a number pad. The group cannot figure out how to use the keypad. They bemoan the absence of Dane and Lucius. The group then heads west along a long corridor. They ignore branching corridors to the south (dead ends) and the north (heading to the first corridor they explored). Finally, they reach a new corridor that heads west. This door is marked by a yellow square. David contacts Dagan and asks her to call Magneto’s personal phone number. She patches through the call. David calls Magneto father and tells him he’s exploring Asteroid M. Magneto warns him to be careful – the base has an alien security system and is dangerous. David tells Magneto about the locked doors, and Magneto says they could be locked from inside or the base could be on lockdown. Magneto tells them the code: the number tattooed on his arm during the Holocaust. David tries the code, but it doesn’t work. Someone changed the security protocols. They guess it wasn’t the Atlantean vampires, but who could it be? Mystique? Someone else? David thanks Magneto and hangs up.  David concentrates and creates a laser beam with his light powers that burns a hole through the door. Mac notices that the red emergency lighting in the distance is now flashing. Liam hears the sound of metal sliding against metal in the distance. Has a door opened? Mac looks through the hole and sees another corridor with doors on the other side. The group is interrupted by Bastienne and Matt on comms. They’ve both noticed that someone’s logged into the security system: Dane! Before they can figure out what that means, Liam hears helicopter blades, and eight softball-sized helicopters with eight pincer-like legs fly around the corner. David puts up a light construct wall to block them, but four are able to piece it! Mac creates a portal for them to escape to the Danger Room. They notice a keypad below is lit up, implying something recently used it… but then Bastienne contacts them: the hangar door is opening! Overhearing, Carom teleports to the basketball court. He sees three androids rushing towards nearby students. They’re targeting Robin!
 * Next:** Issue 73 - 'Wake Me Up When September Ends'
 * Previous:** Issue 71 - 'Youth of the Nation'