Issue+85+-+'Ironclad'


 * Issue 85 - 'Ironclad' **




 * Plot**

The “Red Star,” also called Comet PHNKS, is on a collision course with Earth. But it’s not a star or a comet – it’s the Phoenix Force returning to the planet to merge with a living being, most likely a powerful mentalist. The Avengers and X-Men are both searching for that being, but for different reasons. The Avengers are hoping to keep the Phoenix Force’s intended host away from the cosmic entity at any cost, even if that means killing the host. The X-Men want to find the host to control him or her. Their plan is to use the Phoenix Force’s power to change the world into a better place for mutants. The search for the mentalist destined to merge with the Phoenix Force’s has brought Academy X to the attention of the world’s most powerful super-teams. Several mentalists at the school are potential hosts: Samantha “Phantasma” Stone, whose mental powers grew after giving birth to Cassanda Nova’s offspring; Evan “Genesis” Sabahnur, the clone of X-Men villain and powerful telepath Apocalypse; Ruth “Blindfold” Aldine, one of the most powerful precognitive mutants on Earth; and Dagan “Glimmer” Lightfoot, a mutant with the ability to absorb mutant powers who recently gained the telepathic abilities of Cassandra Nova. The Avengers arrived and interviewed each of the mentalist mutants residing on Utopia. After they left, Ruth dropped a bombshell: she didn’t tell the Avengers, but the host will be Dagan. Carom asks Ruth is she’s sure. Ruth says she’s never completely certain about any of her visons, but it’s as close as she can guarantee to definitely happening. Dagan goes pale. While the others begin discussing the implications of the news, David’s phone rings. It’s Deputy Barry Mays from New Genosha. A dog is frantically barking in the background. Apparently Police Chief Bailey Fletcher is missing, and Barry believes he’s been kidnapped. Sam tries a mental search of Utopia to find Bailey when red images appear in her yellow, pupil-less eyes: the symbol of the Phoenix Force. An instant later a fiery explosion erupts around Sam. Carom and Liam are badly hurt, while David, Mac and Ruth are injured to a lesser degree. Bastienne nimbly moved behind cover and avoided the worst of the blast and Sam is untouched by the destruction around her. Mac calls for help and Matt arrives from the security room moments later with Craig (the freshman that can heal) and some student staff members. Mac drains their energy to heal everyone. Matt asks what happened and the Academy X staff explains how Sam’s connection to the Phoenix Force caused the explosion. All mentalists on Earth have been boosted by the cosmic entity. David says Sam shouldn’t try looking for Bailey mentally again. Carom and Liam decide to search New Genosha the old fashioned way to look for Bailey. A crowd has gathered outside New Genosha’s municipal building as word has spread that their popular police chief is missing. The dog’s desperate barking has attracted a lot of attention. Once Liam and Carom reach Deputy Barry in the police station the dog has calmed down, however. Max is resting his head on his paws and looks despondent. While Carom asks Barry what he knows (apparently Bailey had the night patrol and never checked in at the end of his shift), Liam kneels beside Max to use his spirit powers to speak to the animal. He’s surprised to find that the dog is strangely articulate. Max explains that Bailey didn’t check in during his shift like normal, so he began looking for him and couldn’t find him. Max leads Liam and Carom to where the scent ends: the docks. On the way Barry asks Liam if he can trust him. When Liam says yes, Barry admits his true mutant ability isn’t super strength, but power mimicry. He copied mental powers from another mutant (possibly Sam, when she visited him recently) and scanned the island. Bailey isn’t anywhere to be found… Back at Academy X, Mac finishes healing after Sam’s detonation. Sam says she doesn’t know how it happened, but a rush of power went through her. Ruth says it’s not the first time it’s happened. The young mutant recently murdered by Purifiers that immolated the religious zealots wasn’t a fire-controller – she was a mentalist. She accidentally channeled the Phoenix Force like Sam and killed a few attackers before dying. David says everyone needs to stop using telepathy – it’s too dangerous. Sam asks if her telekinesis is also off-limits. David says she should experiment. Sam lifts several heavy boulders and nothing bad happens. David concludes that telepathy is the trigger for channeling the Phoenix Force’s power. During this conversation Bastienne notices that Dagan looks sick. The Academy X headmistress pulls her aside and talks to her. Dagan is trying to cope with the knowledge that the Phoenix Force is coming for her while also dealing with the shock of witnessing a small demonstration of the Phoenix’s destructive power. At the New Genosha docks, Liam asks Barry about the dock where Bailey’s trail went cold. Was there a ship there? Bailey says to speak with the harbormaster. Liam meets the man on duty, a green-skinned man with a dinosaur-like fin on his head, appropriately nicknamed “Finn” (two “n’s”). Finn checks the records from dock 9. A ship did depart in the middle of the night, which is odd. But it’s marked in the logs as a “Code Black” – an Asiantown boat. He only has basic information about the ship, like its name (the Ka Ryu Maru). Finn says that Brittney might know more. She was on duty last night and would be up by now. Finn also says to Liam that he heard about the spirit channeler’s decision to run for mayor. He says Bailey is likely to run away with the election and he should consider running for town councilman instead. Liam says he’ll consider it. While Bastienne escorts Dagan back to Academy X, David, Sam, Matt, Ruth, and Mac discuss what to do about Dagan. Ruth says that once the Avengers learn Dagan is the Phoenix’s intended host – and they will learn soon – they will try to put her in another dimension, but it won’t work. David says Dagan needs to find a way to get her emotions in check. That’s how Jean Grey once controlled the Phoenix Force. David wonders if they can send Dagan to another time to avoid having the Phoenix Force possess her. He also mentions that Professor X and Beast once had a way to bind the Phoenix Force or influence it somehow. Maybe they would share that knowledge. The others wonder how likely it is that Xavier would cooperate, as he’s a teacher at Logan’s mutant academy in Canada now. And since Logan is an Avenger, asking any questions might tip their hand that the eXalts believe one of their own is the host. David responds that there are four possible hosts on Utopia and the eXalts just want to know more in case the Phoenix comes to them. At this point Alice (Carom’s girlfriend) approaches. The group can immediately tell from her body language that she’s been possessed by Plex, the Kree artificial intelligence living in the former space station below Utopia. The alien AI once possessed Alice and left behind a way to take her over again in the future. Plex says that Bay-Lee is missing and the eXalts need to find him. The group agrees they need to find Bailey and ask if Plex can help. Plex says he will send his Plexroids. Moments later dozens androids fly through the air towards California. The eXalts are shocked – last they knew Plex only had 3 Plexroids and none could fly. The inscrutable AI has become more powerful… Liam knocks on Brittney’s door in New Genosha Apartment Building 1. The deputy harbormaster is a brunette maybe twenty years old whose mutant ability seems to consist of creating sparkles in the air around her. She can’t control the ability, so the apartment is filled with flickering lights. She tells Liam, Carom, and Barry a little more about the Ka Ryu Maru. Four men carried a heavy crate around four feet by four feet by four feet onto the ship before it departed. When they ask her about Bailey, she said she saw him early in his patrol but not at the end of her shift as normal. She’s concerned about him. After leaving Brittney’s apartment, the trio discusses their concerns that Bailey was taken aboard the Hellfire Club: Tokyo ship. Carom discretely sends a text message to his boss, Academy X trustee Shiro “Sunfire” Yoshida, informing him that there may have been a stowaway on his ship. Barry heads back to the municipal building while Liam backtracks Bailey’s trail by channeling a bear spirit to follow the chief’s scent. They find an unoccupied home near Asiantown where there are signs of a struggle: a drop of blood, scuff marks, a dent in the house’s siding. Liam smells four different scents that left the scene to the docks. Shiro calls Carom and they converse in Japanese. The Hellfire Club: Tokyo Daimyo tells Carom some men were paid to move crates. This side job was not sanctioned by Hellfire Club. He interrogated the man and uncovered where they delivered the crate brought to the Ka Ryu Maru. Carom says New Genosha’s police chief may be in the crate. Shiro apologizes for the problem and says Carom and his allies can speak to the men. Carom thanks Shiro and calls Sam. He asks her to involve the eXalts and she agrees. Meanwhile Max (Bailey’s dog) paws at Liam and whines. He wants to know what’s happening, which is odd for a dog. Liam fills him in. The eXalts gather at Academy X. Dagan, still in shock with the news about the Phoenix Force, asks to sit this mission out. Sam agrees. Bastienne pulls Evan aside and asks him to keep an eye on Dagan. Evan looks alarmed – he doesn’t know how to look after someone, much less one of his professors and especially a woman! He asks if he should bring her a blanket and Bastienne, amused, says yes. He finds one of the Stone family’s blankets and brings it to her. Dagan is amused by the Dora the Explorer blanket but is appreciative. The eXalts teleport to the back room of a Chinatown tourist shop. It’s a smoky room fanned by overhead fans with only a long table and chairs. Shiro is there with several beefy-looking Asian guards. The Hellfire Club: Tokyo smugglers are bound to two of the chairs. Max begins barking uncontrollably. Liam tries to get him to stop, but Bastienne is the one who finally calms the dog down. Carom questions the men. They’re Filipino, not Japanese (one of the Asian guards uses a slur to refer to them). They claim they don’t know anything about a man in the crate. They weren’t involved in any kidnapping – they were paid to pick up a crate and deliver it to an address, nothing more. They said two other men actually picked the crate up and delivered it. Carom takes Shiro to a Hellfire Club: Tokyo housing complex nearby and returns with the two men. They said they were paid by an old white man with glasses who seemed to be a doctor. Sam wants to use her telepathy to see if they’re telling the truth, but David says it’s not worth the risk. Shiro asks why she won’t use her powers. Mac lets it slip that it’s too dangerous with the Phoenix Force approaching. The eXalts teleport to the address where the crate was delivered. It’s a unit in a self-storage facility. Liam has a hard time sorting through the scents in the area. Bastienne finds around ten distinct scents at the unit where the crate was dropped off, including Bailey, the four men they interviewed and the two that fought the chief. They break into the storage unit but the crate is gone. The security cameras have been erased. The scent trail leads to a parking lot. David notices a security camera at a nearby business that might have footage. The tape reveals that two older people and two younger people loaded the crate into a pickup truck. There’s a white lab coat – the doctor! The video footage also reveals a license plate number. Liam calls his police contact who runs the plate. The truck is registered to a Doctor Singer in Los Angeles! The eXalts teleport to the doctor’s house. It’s dinnertime by now. The man that answers the door is the man from the video. Doctor Singer is surprised to see the eXalts on his doorstep. He tries to plead ignorance but Liam notices he is surreptitiously pulling something from his pocket. Liam tackles him to the ground while the doctor yells for help. There is noise from below. The eXalts rush into the basement to find the older woman from the video and the two younger accomplices, one male and one female (the ones who attacked Bailey in New Genosha). They are guarding a man with blue skin strapped to a chair hooked up to dozen IVs. It’s Bailey! His eyes are glazed and he’s being forced to watch a video of the older woman preaching. She is saying, “You are the ultimate unifier who will one day return the glory of Hala to all Kree! The Ultimate Unifier will lead our people out of subjugation by our blue brethren and will usher in a golden age!” The four kidnappers are “pink-skinned” Kree that believe Bailey is their messiah! The four Kree put up a fight, even the older two, but the eXalts quickly subdue them. In the middle of the fight a blonde woman bursts into the basement through a window. She says she’s Tsu-Zana, also known as Ultragirl! After the fight she says the four Kree (Dr. Singer/Bheton, elderly woman Madame Singhre/Zenna, Amber/Ahmbra and Devin/Dandre) were friends of hers from her childhood. She’s also a half-Kree. They raised her to be their messiah, but after she fled them they must have turned to Bailey. She heard from a friend that the four Kree were up to something and was keeping an eye on the house. Zenna says they didn’t kidnap Bay-Lee – they were only trying to help him realize his potential. Mac and Liam take out the IVs. Liam can only identify a few of the chemicals. While Tsu-Zana helps them with Bailey, Sam calls her S.W.O.R.D. contact, Abigail Brand. S.W.O.R.D. is S.H.I.E.L.D.’s sister organization that handles extraterrestrial threats. Brand agrees to take the Kree into custody. At the very least they’ll be deported. The eXalts are fine with that outcome. Tsu-Zana accompanies the comatose Bailey back to Utopia to get treatment. He recovers that weekend. On Saturday David visits Credit Dauphine, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s cover business in San Francisco. He delivers the false intelligence given to him by Christine’s MRF cell. On Sunday the students return from spring break. The seniors go into the Danger Room for the first time and choose codenames. Several already have names (Carrie is Arsenal, Dondre is Shaft, Ethan is Subsume and Mercy is Sublime), others choose names they had from other schools (Jimmy is Batwing, Kevin is Thunderstrike, Pedro is Trovão, Robin is Boggart and Shaun is Xenon), while others choose names for the first time (Erica is Bug Girl, Shiloh is Selu, and Tani is Bristle). That week is the team competition final in Combat Club. The Ardents win! The eXalts notice Dagan is not coping well with the news that she’ll be the Phoenix Force host. Some wonder if they should contact the Avengers or X-Men for help. They decide against it. Sam says the Avengers may kill her. Carom asks if they can trust Scott and Emma, but Bastienne says the X-Men want to use Dagan. David asks Sam to call Xavier to ask about the device he used with Beast to control the Phoenix Force. Sam calls but Xavier says he’ll have to get back to her. Carom says that Sam should train Dagan so she can control the Phoenix Force. Meanwhile David asks Mac to find a dimension where time moves more slowly. If Sam and Dagan went there Sam could have months or even years to train Dagan before the Phoenix arrives. Mac says it will take at least three weeks to enact the plan – one week to find a suitable plane, another week to research a way to open a portal there, and a last week to create a talisman to allow Sam and Dagan to return. He begins work on the project immediately. The following week Sam begins training Dagan while Mac researches. The students are working on the Academy X farm. Dagan, overwhelmed by stress, loses control of her mental ability and explodes as Sam recently did. Sam is injured and Dagan is even more anxious. As Mac heals Sam, a Blackbird approaches. It’s the X-Men! Emerging are Scott/Cyclops, Emma Frost, Erik/Magneto, Piotr/Colossus, Danielle Moonstar, Domino, Betsy/Psylocke, James/Warpath, Ilyana/Magik, Ororo/Storm, Namor, Danger and Lucius! It’s an overwhelming force that sends a message. Scott notes from the still-smoldering flames that he can see they’re having problems. He addresses the Academy X staff by saying they need to work together. He acknowledges that there’s been tension between the west and east coast schools even before Schism, but in the end they’re all mutants. They’re one family, and even though families fight, in times of trouble they need to come together. The Phoenix Force is coming for a mutant for a reason. He believes they can harness the Phoenix Force to make the world a better place for mutants. Too many states have passed Prop X-like laws. Too many mutants have been wrongly arrested, infected with Hope, lynched, driven to suicide, and suffered from other terrible fates due to prejudice. And it’s happening around the world. He wants to find the host and prepare him or her to control the Phoenix. David, Sam and Liam ask his intentions. He says the Phoenix has the power to influence everyone. They could end anti-mutant bias or at least have the “big stick” to force non-humans to treat mutants fairly. David says Scott isn’t the only one looking for the host. The Avengers recently visited Academy X. While Scott and David talk, Lucius and Bastienne catch up. Lucius, a former Academy X professor, is happy to visit his friend Sarah (the disembodied hand). Carom and Alice also talk to Lucius. Lucius and Alice, as the technology officers of their respective schools, have already exchanged e-mails. They bond over their shared love for Doctor Who. Scott and Emma begin their interviews by talking to Sam. Scott wants to know what Sam has experienced. Emma is disdainful. Scott tries to convince Sam of the righteousness of his cause. Sam doesn’t like the idea of using the Phoenix Force to mentally influence people. What about free will? Erik approaches David and asks how his son is doing. He’s glad to hear David seems to be back on a good path after walking the line of becoming a villain for so long. Scott and Emma talk to Ruth. They say she’s the most powerful precognitive on the planet – perhaps the new Destiny. Ruth lies and says she can’t see who the host will be. Mac and Magik discuss magic, though Ilyana doesn’t share anything that might be useful. Scott and Emma interview Evan, but Sam insists on being present. The X-Men don’t seem to know about Dagan’s recent acquisition of mental powers. They promise to keep in touch and then depart. By the weekend Mac has succeeded on two out of his three tasks. He’s found a suitable plane and learned how to open a portal there. Now he just needs to create a talisman to allow a return trip. If all else fails he knows how to create a portal to Aleph, the dimension the eXalts visited last semester. At the staff meeting that week the group brainstorms who to turn to. If the Avengers and X-Men are out, who could be on their side? They list Plex, Hellfire Club: Tokyo, and X-Corporation: Los Angeles. The Phoenix Force is rapidly approaching. The populace has become concerned that the “Red Star” is on a collision course with Earth. They have to do something. Mac says he trusts the Avengers more than the X-Men. David is in disbelief. They will kill Dagan! Mac says he’s a reserve Avenger, and besides, the Phoenix Force is too powerful to control. He doesn’t trust Dagan in Scott’s hands. David would rather take his chances with an untrained Dagan than let the Avengers kill her or the X-Men use her. Mac says the eXalts are the only side he trusts. His statement is put to the test on Friday. Shortly before completing his ritual to create an amulet, he receives a phone call from Steve Rogers – Captain America himself! Steve says the Avengers have discovered that the host is Dagan. They want to bring her in and find a way to prevent the Phoenix Force from bonding with her. Dagan isn’t ready and the merger of the powerful mutant girl and the Phoenix Force would be disastrous. Mac asks if Steve is sure about Dagan. The X-Men visited recently and were also looking for the host, and they didn’t even consider Dagan. Besides, others have channeled the Phoenix’s energy, like Sam. Steve says the Avengers have tracked over two hundred such incidents, but they know Dagan is the intended host. He asks Mac to bring her in so they can explore options to protect her from the Phoenix. Mac says they can come in the morning, but Steve says they’re coming tonight. Mac says give me an hour, but Steve says he has five minutes. Mac hangs up and immediately transmits on the eXalts frequency. He says they have to send Dagan to Aleph with Bastienne now. He attempts to open a portal, but something is blocking him! Carom’s portals also won’t work! And the eXalts are scattered all over the Academy X campus on that rainy afternoon. Suddenly portals open next to each eXalt. The Avengers are attacking! Ms. Marvel appears next to Phantasma and tells her to give up. The two battle, but Phantasma’s Phoenix-powered abilities are too strong. She slams Ms. Marvel into a wall. Suddenly her Phoenix power explodes, dropping Ms. Marvel! Wolverine appears next to Carom. He says, “Sorry, bub,” then stabs him! Carom manages to open a small portal to deflect he attack, but he’s too slow. He drops from the injuries. Black Panther appears in Bastet’s bedroom. The catgirl quips that he didn’t need an excuse to come to her room. She asks about his troubled marriage. T’Challa seems uncomfortable fighting his goddess. He goes for a haymaker, leaving himself wide open – but the attack connects and Bastet goes down! Mystic faces the Vision. Vision attempts to phase his hands into Mystic’s head to stun him, but misses. Mystic shifts into his ruby form and headbutts Vision, but the Vision is still incorporeal and isn’t hurt. Mystic follows with a hellfire blast that stuns Vision, but he feels his energy is drained. He can no longer use his hellfire blast! He uses an acid attack and knocks the Vision unconscious! Mustang isn’t so lucky. Iron Man appears before him. Tony has studied David’s powers and is ready for him. After several misses, Mustang flees. He tries the comms but they’ve been blocked. He sees an astral figure floating off the shore of Utopia – it’s Doctor Strange! He’s using magic to block their teleportation. Iron Man blasts Mustang and knocks him out. Meanwhile Thor surprises Liam. He says a sneak attack is dishonorable and gives Liam a chance to prepare. Liam channels the spirit of a chameleon to hide, but Thor blasts the area with lightning and then drops Liam with a hammer strike when he’s stunned. Thor says Liam was an honorable combatant. Sam and Mac, the only eXalts left, fly over Academy X. They see that Black Widow and Hawkeye knocked out Sublime and Subsume. Spiderwoman, She-Hulk, and Falcon dropped the student team. Moondragon bested Blindfold, and Noh-Varr defeated K9 when he came to help. But the more alarming sight is Captain America and Spider-Man fighting Glimmer. Dagan has been caught in Spider-Man’s webs. A fiery explosion of Phoenix energy frees the girl, but she is quickly webbed again and then knocked prone by Cap’s shield. Young Avenger Wiccan opens a portal to abduct Dagan. Plexroids are coming, but like Sam and Mac they won’t be in time. Then a figure appears in a burst of flame. It’s Dane “Panzer” Lightfoot, former Academy X headmaster! He’s wielding the magical sword of the fire giants! He drives back Captain America and Spider-Man, buying enough time for the Plexroids and Sam and Mac to assist. Captain America sees they’re defeated and calls for a retreat. In a flash of light the Avengers are gone. But the conflict has not been settled, Dane has returned, and Dagan is still fated to be the Phoenix Force host…
 * Next:** Issue 86 - 'Frigid'
 * Previous:** Issue 84 - 'Patriot'