Issue+57+-+'Extremist'


 * Issue 57 - 'Extremist' **




 * Plot**

 Alexandra Nova, daughter of Cassandra Nova (and in the body of Samantha and Matthew Stone’s daughter, Alex), has arrived at the eXalts’ secret base on Mt. Whitney. She reveals that while the eXalts were trapped in the mental prison of the Age of X under the power of the mysterious X, they were cloned. Their clones have been in control of Academy X for the past two months, all the while believing they are the true eXalts. Alex took over the body of Academy X student Hana, who has the ability to make others forget she exists. She used Hana’s power to escape and seek out the true eXalts. She says she wants the true eXalts to get rid of the clones, since they are being manipulated by X. She transfers the recent memories of the clones to the true eXalts so they know what they’ve missed over the past two months. She says their first mission should be to find the true Billy, who is still alive!  The group discusses what to do. They agree they need allies. The clones have surely told all their friends that they are enemies and not to be trusted. David wants to seek out Cordelia. Cordelia has been underground for months and can be persuaded. Dane makes a device that will block him from Cerebro’s scans. David then flies off in search of Cordelia. The rest argue about who might help them. They don’t believe they can trust Hellfire Club: Tokyo after the ambush in Tokyo. X-Corporation: Los Angeles, and by extension former student Rafé, is surely on the side of the clones. Some eXalts want to contact other Academy X staff, such as Jubilee or Jessica, but it’s too risky. Sam suggests Mystique, but she’s hard to find. Dane thinks he knows how to contact her. They consider contacting Michael (chair of the Peaceful Coexistence Party) or Cougar (head of the Mutant Revolutionary Front), but aren’t sure if they can trust them. They joke about Dr. Doom, but in the end they decide to get Billy for now and revisit the topic later. Alex tells the team that she last sensed Billy underground in Los Angeles. She believes he’s still underneath the city somewhere. As the rest of the group makes a plan to have Honoka teleport them to Los Angeles after the bars close, Dane sends a quick e-mail to B. Byron Biggs at Oak Investment Partners. He discovered Mystique’s cover identity as Byron years ago. He receives no immediate response. Meanwhile, the group realizes that their captive vampire is gone. Honoka released him! Bastienne realizes that Honoka is “bonded” to the vampire since she ingested the vampire’s blood as part of the Hope cure. By now he’s long gone. It’s time to teleport. The group arrives in a dingy alley next to two bars in Hollywood. The bars have recently closed, but a few drunks are still in the area. Dane wakes up a homeless man sleeping next to a dumpster to ask if he knows any hobos that sleep in the sewers. The drunk claims he can help, but Dane sees he’s lying. He gives him $20 and tells him to go back to sleep. The group puts their plan into action: they go into a local bar that’s still open, hoping to find a vampire. Many vampires use the sewers to hide, and they hope a vampire may know something about Billy being hidden underground. Unfortunately, there are no vampires currently in the bar. Mac hears about a late-night fraternity party at UCLA. There are no vampires there, but Samantha scans a jock named Paul and learns that his friend, Doug, was admitted to the hospital on Friday. Beyond needing his stomach pumped, he was also found be anemic – a sure sign a vampire took some of his blood. But there’s nothing they can do about that now. Their last attempt is a search of the sewers, but that is also fruitless. Frustrated, they find a hotel to sleep for a while. After sleeping until noon, the group decides to find the student with “anemia”, Doug. He lives in a UCLA dorm. While the rest of the team waits downstairs, Samantha knocks on his door. She uses her mental powers to appear like she did as a teenager – a pale-skinned girl with “bubblegum” hair. Doug is easy to read. While he clumsily flirts with Sam, the telepath learns that he was at a frat party a few nights ago and met a Caucasian girl with pink hair named Jane. He remembers making out with her but then passing out. Sam knows Jane must be the vampire that drained him. Doug invites Sam to a party that night. Guessing that Jane will be there, Sam declines to go with Doug but plans to attend the party. The rest of the group agrees to go. At the party that night, Dane is able to easily identify Jane when she enters. He invites her to dance and she accepts. After some flirting, they leave to take a walk. Jane asks about a (nonexistent) birthmark and moves close to kiss his neck. Dane realizes she’s about to bite him and armors up. Her fangs hit only metal. Jane tries to pull away but Dane grabs her with his one arm and locks her in a pin. Dane realizes she’s very strong. When her knee to his groin is fruitless, Dane tells her to stop fighting or he’ll have to fight back. In the end she agrees to trade information to Dane for a future favor. Jane has a contact that might know what’s going on under Los Angeles. She contacts “Rat” who tells her that strange people were frequenting the access tunnels next to the water treatment plant. Dane knows the area – it’s where the Purifiers once dumped Selenium into the water supply, killing many that had taken tainted MGH. He lets Jane go. The group hurries to the water treatment plant. Honoka is able to track footprints down one access tunnel to a utility room. Dane and Mac notice a rat is nearby watching them, evidently unafraid. Sam uses her telekinesis to grab the rat. Dane guesses it’s a vampire or an animal charmed by a vampire. When it doesn’t respond to his efforts to communicate, they let the rat go. Mac is able to pick the lock to the utility room. When he opens it, he hears a soft click. As he warns everyone about the noise, a huge explosion knocks the team back. Fortunately Dane shifted to his armored form and he’s able to block much of the blast, but even he is hurt. Agape and Honoka are in bad shape. A huge chunk of shrapnel imbeds itself into Dagan’s torso. She’s dying! Mac quickly heals her. Meanwhile, Sam senses a mind somewhere in the room – but it’s fading. The person is dying! Dane uses his super breath to blow back the smoke. Mac runs inside and heals the badly burned man. Upon healing him, he can recognize the man – it’s Billy! He’s healed, but he’s still unconscious. He’s been chained to the wall and has a feeding tube and catheter. The group quickly unhooks him. Honoka teleports them back to their hotel room. Sam reads his mind, but he’s a confused mess. He still believes he’s in the Age of X! The group realizes they were all held in that room at one point. Since Billy “died” in the Age of X, he remained behind while the rest went to Xavier’s school to use Cerebro. Even after Mac’s healing, he still has old burns on his arms that no one remembers seeing before. There’s nothing they can do at the moment. Everyone is exhausted and needs sleep. They crash for eight hours. The next morning, Mac tests Billy’s blood. He doesn’t have hemolytic anemia like the other clones. He’s the real deal! Billy finally awakens. He’s disoriented at first as he believes he’s still in the Age of X. He’s confused that everyone looks younger, that Bastienne no longer has her physical mutations, that Dane is missing an arm, and so on. The team fills him in on the truth. Alex also shares the other Billy’s memories up until his death. Billy feels awkward about his relationship with Bastienne and confused in general, but he agrees to help. He has some news. Though everyone thought Mystique killed him in the Age of X, he actually woke up alone at the school later that day. X entered and said she needed him for a special project. She helped him get over his mental block that prevented time travel. His first attempt lead him back to the explosion that “killed” Ruth, giving him new scars. But his second attempt worked. He was able to go back in time and save Cerebra before it was destroyed. The group is alarmed. X must be planning to use the Cerebra unit to depower all mutants! The eXalts decide they have to contact their allies, even if they might not be believed. Mac writes a letter to Professor X. He, Bastienne, Dagan, and Honoka travel to a nearby town. Mac and Honoka go to the post office to deliver the letter. Mac notices Honoka linger near the mailbox. Dagan and Bastienne go to an internet café. Bastienne sends an e-mail to Professor X and Dr. McCoy telling them the truth. She receives an e-mail response from Hank immediately. It’s a notice that he’s away from the school and won’t respond right away. A quick news search reveals the X-Men are busy with either some event involving the Hulks or something called the “Chaos War.” Meanwhile, Dane calls Heather Cameron (head of X-Corporation: Los Angeles) on her personal line. Heather answers but doesn’t believe Dane is the real deal. Dane checks his e-mail to see if Mystique has replied, but he’s received no response. He then calls Oak Investment Partners and asks to speak to B. Byron Biggs (Mystique’s cover identity), but he doesn’t get anywhere. He leaves a message. Sam also calls for B. Byron Biggs and leaves a message. Neither message is returned. Sam decides to call Michael, chairman of the Peaceful Coexistence Party. He doesn’t answer, possibly due to not recognizing the number. Sam leaves a message asking him to pick up. When she calls back, he answers. She tells him the entire story and he listens patiently. In the end he says he’ll only trust her if they meet and if she comes alone. He’s in Sacramento helping governor-elect James Sangrey prepare for his inauguration. He tells her to meet him in an all-night diner outside Sacramento. The eXalts debate the wisdom of attending the meeting, fearing for Sam’s safety. In the end Sam decides to go and to go alone. She arrives early and watches Michael enter. He slides into the seat and asks to hear the story again. He asks pointed questions about the condition of the so-called clones. When Sam mentions the hemolytic anemia, he says he believes her story. He then hits her with a tranquilizer dart under the table and she passes out. Sam re-awakens in a storage unit. A half dozen men in masks surround her. Directly in front of her is Michael. Michael says they are all wearing telepathy-blocking earpieces. Unfortunately that means no one can read Sam’s mind, either. Michael will have to trust her. He agrees that X has to be stopped from using Cerebra, if her story is true. He says he’ll go to Academy X, see what he can find, and contact her later. Sam gives him her contact information (a burner phone). He then tranqs her again. She wakes up in a stall at another diner. She realizes she has a telepathy blocker in one ear. She calls Dane to fill him in on her meeting with Michael. She then flies back to Mt. Whitney. Dane examines her earpiece, but it’s already deactivated. He might be able to reverse-engineer the device, however. The group isn’t sure what to do next. Bastienne checks her e-mail and finds no response from Xavier or Hank. She sends an e-mail to Jessica’s personal e-mail account. While the team argues about their next course of action, news breaks on the radio. The Purifiers have launched a two-pronged attack. One team is attacking the Peaceful Coexistence Party’s San Francisco’s headquarters. The eXalts (the clones) have responded, but Icegirl isn’t with them. A second attack began minutes later at the Los Angeles headquarters of the Peaceful Coexistence Party. Since the eXalts are tied up, no one is responding to that attack, and there are casualties! The group debates whether they should help. Dane is torn. Sam wants to go, and she’s team leader. Dagan agrees, saying it would prove their heroism. In the end, the team decides to help. Honoka teleports them nearby. They arrive to find the Purifier biosentinels blasting humans or mutants working for the PCX party. The eXalts leap into the fray. Blur uses his super-speed to reach the nearest biosentinel and injure him. He also draws fire off the escaping civilians. He’s hit by several blaster attacks, but he’s still standing. Phantasma throws Panzer at another Purifier. The metal man lands a powerful blow, knocking him out. Nightwind and Medic teleport next to Blur and drop the one he was fighting. Bast teleports to another and injures him, proving she’s effective even without her mutant abilities. Glimmer and Icegirl strike from above, helping Bast. The combined onslaught knocks the Purifier unconscious. Phantasma uses her telekinesis to grab the seeming leader of the Purifiers and slam him to the ground. Panzer charges over and knocks him out as well. While the fight seemed to be going well for the eXalts at first, the Purifiers rally. Blur and Nightwind are badly injured and nearly drop. Medic is stunned. Glimmer is unable to help. Suddenly Mustang bursts onto the scene! He was bringing Cordelia back towards Mt. Whitney when she sensed the emotional disturbance of the attack. He quickly knocks out the one about to finish off Blur and Nightwind. Cordelia is left on the top of a building nearby for her safety. Her emotion powers won’t work on the biosentinels. The battle turns against the Purifiers. Only a few are left standing. At that moment, X steps out from behind a building. She says she knew the second attack would draw them out. She says it’s time to see if her plan will work. She puts on a helmet that the group recognizes – it’s the helmet that connects to the Cerebra unit! It’s somehow been modified to work wirelessly! X concentrates and, before anyone can respond, a wave of energy washes over them. The eXalts react as if being hit by Hope! Panzer’s armor disappears. Honoka’s darkforce sword winks out. Glimmer, Icegirl, Mustang, and Phanasma plummet to the ground. Icegirl and Mustang are knocked out from the fall. Things look grim. Panzer charges over to X and grapples with her. Even without his super strength, he’s still stronger than she is. He’s able to wrest the helmet off her head! Bast uses her martial arts skills to stun X. Can the eXalts win the battle? Two remaining biosentinels attack. Phantasma is knocked out immediately and Glimmer is badly hurt. Medic tries to heal Phantasma and is surprised when his mutant ability still works! Blur knocks out one biosentinel. Only one is left. It flies over to the still-stunned X and flies off with her. She’s escaped! <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The eXalts have other problems. Sirens aproach. S.H.I.E.L.D. will probably arrive soon. Fortunately, Mac’s teleportation power still works. He teleports them 100 feet away. Cordelia soon joins them – but she’s lost her powers, too! Dane says they have to find a mentalist fast before the helmet shuts off. Maybe that way they can restore their powers. Sam doesn’t have her powers, however, and can’t help. Dane puts on the helmet but he can’t use it. The helmet suddenly shuts off. The group then hears a voice mentally. It’s Alex Nova. She says they have to keep running – she’s blocking the Cerebro scans, but others are after them! The group manages to find a car and escape Los Angeles. They drive towards Mt. Whitney. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the way back to their secret base, they listen to the news on the radio. The other eXalts stopped the San Francisco attack. Everyone is wondering how there were two different eXalts teams with (nearly) the same members. And there’s news on the east coast. Agape publically gave her powers back to Bobby Drake. He’s an omega level mutant again, and she’s powerless! Back at their base, Dane asks if Alex can use the Cerebra helmet. She says no. It has to be wirelessly connected to the base unit. Alex says the Cerebra unit turned all of them into latent mutants. She can’t reactivate their powers. Mac asks why he still has his powers. Alex says it’s because he was never a mutant. He used his magic unconsciously as a teenager to give himself an X-gene. Now he’s using his powers through magic instead of as a mutant ability. While the group is glad Mac still has his powers, they wonder what they can do next. They’ve taken the Cerebra helmet, but what if X finds another way to use the powerful machine and depowers all mutants?...  **Next:** __Issue 58 - 'Jinxed'__
 * Previous:** Issue 56 - 'Paradox'