Homefront,+Part+3+of+4


 * Age of X: Homefront, Part 3 of 4 **




 * Plot**

(Takes place at the same time as Academy X Issue 54)

While taking the seniors on an outing to a mall in San Jose, normal-looking people in the food court suddenly transform into biosentinels! The rapid transformation of the otherwise average people takes the staff of Academy X by surprise. Billy, Dane, Jessica, and Samantha quickly get ready to defend the seniors. Bastienne shadow steps from the other end of the food court to tackle Billy to the ground. She had received a phone call from precognitive staff member Ruth that he was in danger. The seniors try to defend themselves, as well. Julian stands and extends his hands to blast the nearest Purifiers away using his telekinesis – when an explosion blows him backwards. His hands have been blown off! Billy rises to help Julian, but his eyes go wide and he collapses! What is going on? Panzer grabs the nearest Purifier and throws him into another, knocking them both back. Surf uses the water from the fountain to create a waterspout that knocks tables and Purifiers aside. Phantasma slams a Purifier into a pillar, knocking her unconscious. Bastienne shadow steps behind a Purifier. Her surprise attack catches the biosentinel off guard, and he is knocked out. Glimmer uses the powers she borrowed from Medic to heal her boyfriend, Julian, as best he can. The seniors jump into the fight. Tierra, Leong, and Nga try to mentally blast the Purifiers, but they’re resistant. Jordan blinds the nearest group. Amanda and Laurie team up to blast one Purifier and injure him. Taz takes over for Billy and uses her super speed to attack. Carlos puts himself to sleep and soon a jaguar is attacking a prone Purifier. Gunther phases through another, stunning her. Kenji unleashes flesh and metal tentacles to stop some Purifiers from taking to the air. Morgan, Wicked, and Reuben hide behind overturned tables. Then Sofia creates a block of some solid matter and throws it into the water remaining from Surf’s waterspout. The substance reacts violently with the water, causing a huge explosion! Most of the Purifiers still standing are knocked unconscious. The rest flee. Glimmer then tries to use Medic’s healing power to help Billy. It doesn’t work! At this point Nightwind teleports onto the scene. She quickly transports Jess, Billy, and Julian back to Academy X’s medical lab. She teleports back and forth until all the seniors are back at the school. Julian’s wounds have been healed, but his arms were destroyed in the blast – they’re gone! Billy’s collapse wasn’t due to physical injury. He apparently fainted due to low blood flow to the brain. Jess does some further testing. Dane and Samantha remain at the mall to help with cleanup. S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives and takes statements. When it’s clear that there’s nothing more for them to do, the two eXalts prepare to leave. Daisy Johnson casually tells Dane that his unregistered students used their powers – a violation of the law. There will be consequences. Results come back from the tests Jess performed on Billy. She discovers that he seems to have hemolytic anemia. It is a condition where the body’s red blood cells abnormally break down. Billy admits that he’d been more fatigued and often short of breath recently. Glimmer, in the lab with Julian, says she’s been having similar symptoms, as well. Jess is worried. She does tests on all staff and students. The results are alarming – Bastienne, Dagan, Dane, Honoka, Mac, and Samantha all show signs of their red blood cells breaking down. Jess can’t tell what’s caused the condition. Could it be something the Purifiers did? And is Billy’s condition the most advanced due to the extra time he’s experienced due to his mutant powers? Jess also has another alarming finding – the blood samples procured by Agape’s friend at San Francisco General Hospital reveal that the mutants in comas have the same condition! Lastly, testing the students has turned up a worrisome result. Gilberto Cohuelo, a new sophomore, apparently has an implanted X-gene like the adult mutants over the past spring. Somehow his X-gene didn’t “shut off” like the others when Kaga was defeated… The staff spends time with their loved ones. Matt was concerned about Sam due to her pregnancy. Ruth stays at Billy’s side even though he says he feels better. Regardless, Jubilee volunteers to cover for his classes until he’s back to normal – whenever that will be. Dane spends time with his son, Davan, and his sister, Ginny. Late that night he hacks into the mutant registration database. After almost being caught several times, he manages to wipe the database! But he’s pretty sure the backups are offline where he can’t erase. Lucius is working on prosthetic hands for Julian. Matt is also up late. He watches footage from the various Purifier attacks that Lucius obtained to see if there are any clues before the biosentinels transform. There seems to be no warning. And he’s shocked when he watches the footage from the security cameras at the convention center attack. There’s a gap in security patrols at the main hall where the Purifiers attacked. No security is stationed there, either! Why was there a security blind spot, and why was it in the exact place the Purifiers bombed, killing over twenty mutant kids? At the S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskelion, David is able to talk to a few of the former Guardians during their exercise time. They apologize for what they did under Watchman’s orders. David isn’t very sympathetic to their plight – plenty of other soldiers did terrible things while “under orders” and it’s not a good defense. The Guardians do leave him with one interesting tidbit: they know Phantom is still on the loose, and they believe he’ll try to get revenge on the eXalts. David considers that worrisome threat while working out. Strangely, he’s more out of breath than normal… The school week goes by quickly. Stephanie Lub, the new junior, is trying to fit in. The kids ask permission to attend the next Unity Campaign event, but considering the recent mall attack, the headmasters say no. Lucius fits his prosthetics onto Julian’s forearms, but they won’t work. Further testing reveals that Julian’s telekinetic field will not allow prosthetics to function! He’s incredibly distraught. Dagan tries to comfort him. Later she visits her foster mother, Bastienne, for advice. She knows Medic’s healing powers won’t help, but maybe magical healing will. She asks if Bastienne thinks it’s a good idea to ask Jubilee for help. Her vampiric blood might be able to help Julian. If not, maybe Bastienne can help contact more powerful vampires? Bastienne says to wait for now and see what happens. At the end of the week, the school receives formal word from the California Department of Social Services. Due to the students not registering and violating the law, and due to suspicions that the school has advocated this course of action and thus encouraged minors in its care to break the law, the Department of Social Services will be investigating the school. Depending on its findings, the wards of the state at the school may be forced to leave – more than one third of the student body! On Saturday the second round of business protests by the Unity Campaign is well attended. The businesses must be beginning to see losses due to their pro-Prop X funding, because two businesses decide to halt funding the pro-Prop X groups. Agape visits the school to see if there’s been any progress locating Cameron. She’s been missing him a lot lately. Jess asks if she’s been feeling out of breath or fatigued. She admits she has, but she figured it was due to working such odd shifts (overnights to days, and so on). Jess does a quick blood test and discovers she has hemolytic anemia as well! Jess has been working on finding a cure or even a cause for the condition, but has found nothing so far. The staff of Academy X decides it’s time to get additional help. Sadly, Kavita Rao is now working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and is not to be trusted. Dane puts out feelers among the mutant and superhero community to see if anyone can help. The group is also worried about the information Bastienne obtained from her source. What does it mean if Jacob Robitaille has returned? How is it possible, since Daniel (his father) killed him? The next week passes without further incident. Those that have developed hemolytic anemia are feeling more and more fatigued. Samantha’s pregnancy seems to be unaffected so far, at least. Billy is too weak to teach. Ruth remains at his side. Hank McCoy (Beast) and mutant doctor Cecilia Reyes study the blood work sent by Jess. They determine that those that are afflicted seem to have the condition “naturally.” It’s not due to magic or some kind of power that can be reversed. Jess pledges to not give up. Mac decides to try a new tactic in his Unity Campaign for Saturday. Instead of continuing the same protests, he wants to stage a major event while everyone is still paying attention. He announces that he will be healing anyone who needs help at a Unitarian Universalist church in San Francisco. There is a lot of media buzz over the event. Several eXalts are worried. Billy wishes he could go to provide security. Jess wants to remain by Billy’s side. In the end, Agape, Bastienne, Dagan, Dane, Honoka, and Sam, as well as Jubilee, agree to be nearby in case of a Purifier attack. It appears their concerns are well-founded. After healing several grateful people at the church, a group of “sick” people is revealed to be Purifier biosentinels! The Purifiers immediately begin firing their Hope rounds at the eXalts. But the joke is on them – this time Lucius provided the group with his Hope “vaccine.” They’re unaffected! Medic is injured badly by several Purifier blasts, however, and is dying. Glimmer is knocked out and can’t help! Desperate, Jubilee uses a large amount of her blood to save him. But then having so little blood left in her system is too much for her to handle. She goes berserk and attacks the nearest eXalt, Bast! Just before Jubilee’s teeth can sink into the headmistress’ neck, a force field appears out of nowhere to protect her – it must be Gabriel! The battle turns against the Purifiers. As they escape into the streets of San Francisco, Phantasma tries to track them mentally. Their psych shielding holds, however, and they’re gone. Just at the edge of her range, she feels a familiar presence however: Robitaille! Just as she senses him, she loses the psychic contact… That’s when the group gets terrible news: Jessica contacts them from Academy X. Billy’s condition has taken a turn for the worse. His advanced hemolytic anemia has caused pulmonary hypertension. He’s gone into right ventricular heart failure. In other words, he’s had a serious heart attack. The group can tell by Ruth’s wailing in the background that the worst has happened. Billy is dead. **Next (Issue):** Issue 55 - 'Explosive'  **Next (Storyline):** Age of X: Homefront, Part 4 of 4  **Previous (Issue):** Issue 54 - 'Tinderbox' <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Previous (Storyline):** Age of X: Homefront, Part 2 of 4