Issue+13+-+'The+Rock+of+the+Bay'


 * Issue 13 - 'The Rock of the Bay' **



**Plot**

Shortly following their return to Academy X after defeating Mystique’s Brotherhood, the eXalts realize that seven students have disappeared. They slipped away while the proximity alarm was already going off due to Dagan’s flight to save Jessica. The students are Roger, his two friends, two other members of Magneto’s fan club, and two other students; all told, one senior, two juniors, two sophomores, and two freshmen have left. The same night, Dagan breaks up with Cameron in an e-mail due to blaming him for not reaching Jessica in time. Liam talks to Cameron about the breakup, but Cameron just wants to work off the stress in the Danger Room with Billy. Afterwards, Sam and Billy receive a phone call from Dane in the desert and hurry off in the Blackbird to rescue him. The next day, David returns from his trip east to reveal his dealings with Dr. Doom. He tells how Doom has accepted his offered trade of the future Doombots (captured following their defeat on the first day of school) for access to Doom’s time platform to send Dagan home. He also tells how Doom has taken “collateral” by injecting Meghan with deadly nanites that will destroy her internal organs at a command, just in case David doesn’t send Doom the future Doombots. This news causes Dane to throw a desk at David, but Sam stops it from causing any damage with her telekinesis. Bastienne asks Dagan whether she wants to go back to her time, even if it means using Dr. Doom’s time platform. Dagan says she wants to return to her time. Samantha talks to Matt about David’s deal with Dr. Doom. Adhra asks Dane out, but is told he can’t due to his position as Headmaster. Meanwhile, Dane’s class has been working on the Sentinel and has re-programmed the robot to follow their commands. Lucius has broken through another layer of the future Doombots’ programming and discovered that Dagan was responsible somehow for Victorious’ defeat! A week and a half later, Jessica has mostly recovered from the shock of having her powers taken away. She and Bastienne have a talk about Jessica’s future. Jess feels that she’d only be holding Bastienne back from her dreams and that there’s no place at a mutant school for a human teacher. She leaves early the next morning. Dane calls in Jubilation Lee (Jubilee) to be a substitute teacher in Jess’ absence. Bastienne goes off to be alone, but runs into Ruth who tells her that Jess will be back – in “every possible future, (they’re) together.” Later, Bastienne reveals to Dagan that Sam was behind the DNA test that revealed that David was Dagan’s father. Distraught at the fight between her “mothers,” angry at her “aunt” and boyfriend, feeling alone and desperate, Dagan decides to leave. She shuts down the security system with a code she’d learned in the future, steals Sam’s motorcycle, and travels to see her great-grandmother Sophie in Louisiana. Ruth has a premonition that Dagan is in trouble, however, and the eXalts take off in the Blackbird to help. They arrive just as The Monitor is attacking Dagan. The Monitor takes over the Blackbird with his machine powers, but Dane manages to shut down. The Monitor nearly kills Cameron and Dagan. The eXalts manage to damage The Monitor and drive it off. Deciding to finish it, the eXalts follow the robot to San Francisco (except for Phantasma, who returns to Academy X with the injured Dagan and Cameron). The Monitor lands at Alcatraz, where he begins backing himself up to a secondary model. Before the eXalts can finish him, The Monitor activates an old Ultron model originally defeated by the West Coast Avengers. The Ultron model threatens nearby tourists at Alcatraz, and the eXalts are forced to leave The Monitor to save the humans. The Monitor escapes, but the eXalts manage to capture his backup model which contains many secrets…

**Next:** Issue 14 - 'We Built This Kitty' **Previous:** Issue 12 - 'It Never Rains in Southern California'