Issue+93+-+'Protect+and+Survive'


 * Issue 93 - 'Protect and Survive' **




 * Plot **

Following Avengers Arena, when the villain known as Arcade captured dozens of young heroes and forced them to fight to the death, news of an attempted abduction of a super-powered teenager immediately drew the eXalts’ attention. They arrived to save a teenaged mutant named Dmitri from eight gray-skinned soldiers in technological armor, but the soldiers teleported away or melted into dead humans when defeated and Dmitri was injured. Billy rushed Dmitri to the local hospital, then returned with Mac. Meanwhile, Dagan drew upon David’s consciousness that she’d hosted when he was Runak. David, in Dagan’s body, borrowed Sam’s telepathy and spoke to Dmitri. He convinced Dmitri to sign himself out of the hospital and return to Utopia with the eXalts for his protection. Back at the Sunnyvale graveyard where the eXalts defeated the soldiers, Dane takes a sample of the goo remaining from a defeated soldier. Dagan has regained control of her body and treats Sam, who was badly injured in the attack, on the cloaked Blackbird hovering overhead. Sam’s life-threatening injuries from being impaled on the graveyard fence after being knocked out were healed by Mac, but the injuries sustained from a soldier’s blast will not heal. Sam finally wakes, but is in no command to resume leadership of the eXalts. Bastienne, Liam and Bailey talk with the S.H.I.E.L.D. team that responded to the attack. Major Henderson, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s second in command on the west coast, has personally responded to the scene. He is flanked by two agents in Capekiller armor. Usually S.H.I.E.L.D. would respond with at least a half dozen Capekiller agents, but the group is still in rebuilding mode following Dane’s destruction of the Triskelion while a member of the Phoenix Five during Avengers vs. X-Men. Then Billy comes over the comms on the eXalts channel and informs the team that Dmitri has been taken! Billy explains that some strange men entered the hospital near where Dmitri was checking out. They transformed into the same soldiers the eXalts faced in the graveyard. While Billy and Mac fought the soldiers, a pink-skinned woman blinked next to Dmitri and grabbed him. She also opened portals that let the soldiers escape. He’s gone! The eXalts leave S.H.I.E.L.D. to handle the scene at the graveyard and rush to the hospital. Dane joins Billy and Mac to ask for security camera footage. He charms a female guard to get a copy of the video. Then Mac’s phone rings – it’s Dmitri’s father, Ivan Petrov, an employee at Hammer Industries. Dmitri had used Mac’s phone to call his father and tell him he was okay. Dane answers the phone. Ivan wants to know if Dmitri has checked out yet. Dane says Dmitri has been taken. Dane says Dmitri mentioned that the soldiers who took him were looking for his sister, but Dmitri said he doesn’t have a sister. Ivan says that he may have information that helps, but they should meet somewhere to talk. He tells them about a coffee shop across from his workplace and they agree to meet. Dane, Liam and Bailey go the coffee shop to meet with Ivan. He’s a regular of the establishment and gets permission to use a back room for the meeting. Ivan says he has no idea why the soldiers were after Dmitri. No one even knew he was a mutant. His X-gene first activated several years ago and Dmitri kept it a secret. The only ones who knew were Ivan and Ivan’s sister, and Ivan doesn’t think she told anyone. Dane asks about Dmitri’s sister. Ivan says it’s a secret that is many years old. He explains how he was once married to Dmitri’s mother, Natalya, right out of college. They had twins: a boy, Dmitri, and a girl, Katerina. But Natalya had been involved in a secretive religion and began acting more and more strangely over time. The two ended up divorcing. Ivan sought custody of the twins, but the best he could do was to get sole custody of one of them – Dmitri. Natalya left with Dmitri’s sister, Katerina. She changed her name as well as Katerina’s and he never heard from them again. Liam says Katerina may be in danger. Ivan admits that he hired a private investigator to track them down a year ago to find out what happened to them. Katerina Petrov – now Robyn Czakorski – had become a child star in Los Angeles. Using the stage name Robyn Skye, she starred as Elizabeth Shark on the hit Splash TV show “Miss Popular.” But Natalya – who had changed her name to Charlotte Czakorski – had overdosed at a party. Robyn had gone into foster care, though now she’s 18, has a job, and is living with roommates in Los Angeles. The eXalts decide to go after her and Ivan tags along. Up in the Blackbird, Sam is finally able to move around. Dane pilots the plane in stealth mode to the apartment where Robyn is living. Billy and Bailey use their enhanced speed to patrol the perimeter while Liam, Mac, Dane and Sam enter the building to talk to Robyn while Bastienne and Dagan remain in the plane above. Sam knocks on Robyn’s door. Inside are her roommates Elizabeth (“Liz”) and Veronica (“Ronnie”). They are shocked to see the eXalts at their door but let them in. When the eXalts start asking about Robyn’s whereabouts, they are evasive and uncooperative. While Liz dodges questions, Bailey notices that Ronnie is texting. Dane asks her to stop. Liam tells the two girls that Robyn could be in trouble and they need to find her. At first they only say that she often goes on runs, but eventually they admit that she’s out patrolling. Ronnie is reluctant to tell any more, but Liz says they can trust the eXalts – after all, Mustang isn’t there. Liz says Robyn is secretly the vigilante known as Flyweight. She uses her mutant powers to stop crime in the neighborhood. The eXalts thank the girls for the information and leave the apartment. Liam joins Billy in looking for Robyn. They find her as she is exiting an alleyway and heading across the street to a park. She’s wearing a hip hop outfit that somewhat disguises her, but based on information from her roommates they can identify her. Liam calls out to her from the middle of the park. Robyn recognizes two of the eXalts and turns to head back towards the alley. Suddenly a shot rings out – a hidden sniper has hit Liam! People begin screaming and Robyn turns to see why, and when she looks back she’s stunned to see she’s surrounded by a dozen girls who look exactly like her! Since Primal is only barely injured, Blur tells him to contact the rest of the team for help and goes on the attack. He zips into the middle of the pack of girls and attacks one. Little does he know that he’s stunned the real Flyweight! She manages to gasp, “Why are you attacking me?!” But then the other Flyweights scream and Blur isn’t sure which one is real. The girls lash out at Blur, but he uses his time manipulation powers to dodge their attacks. Primal lets the eXalts know what’s going on over his communicator, then flies in the middle of the pack in his “hawkadile” form. Using his super senses, he’s able to determine which Flyweight is real. A couple of the false Flyweights attack Liam. He is hit several times but shakes off the attacks. One of soldiers accidentally takes out another soldier and it immediately begins melting into goo. The sniper hits Primal again, but Primal’s scaly skin is too tough to penetrate. K9 enhances his kinetic energy to speed to the scene. Mystic flies behind him, matching his pace. Phantasma rockets ahead and uses her telekinesis to carry Panzer in his metal form. Glimmer flies behind Mystic, carrying Bastet on a light platform. Meanwhile, Flyweight shakes off Blur’s attack and faces the group of soldiers that look just like her. They’re still screaming and acting like cliché panicked teenagers. Flyweight, indignant, says, “I don’t even sound like that!” and punches a clone. Blur now knows which Flyweight is real and zips away. He returns with a can of paint that he throws on her. He yells, “This one is real!” Flyweight shrieks, “But that’s my costume!” Blur tells her to bill the eXalts. Seeing their ruse is up, the rest of the false Flyweights transform into their soldier forms. Primal is surrounded! He lashes out, injuring one, but the others attack. He’s only slightly injured, but how much longer can he last? Bastet leaps from her light platform and lands behind one of the clones. She rips into him with her claws, stunning him. K9 zips onto the scene and tries to stun one with his tonfa, but it shakes off the injury. Mystic flies above the fray. He creates his duplicates and blasts a soldier. Phantasma throws Panzer into the middle of three soldiers. He lands on one, badly injuring it. Phantasma then tries to pull Flyweight out of danger, but she finds that the girl is super dense and impossible to move, even with her incredibly powerful telekinesis. Meanwhile the soldiers press the assault, injuring several eXalts with punches or the black energy blasts that badly hurt Phantasma in their last battle. One soldier targets Flyweight, but K9 jumps in the way and takes the hit for her. The sniper once again hits Primal, though he somehow manages to stay up. Bastet uses her super senses to locate the sniper – he’s shooting from behind the sign of a pizza shop on the edge of the park. She tries to teleport to the sniper, but finds she can’t for some reason! She instead makes a running jump and lands next to him. She’s shocked to find that she recognizes his scent – he smells very similar to T’Challa, King of Wakanda! The sniper is none other than the king’s half-brother, a former general who once tried to overthrow T’Challa. He’s wielding a magical staff whose end has transformed into a sniper rifle. The staff is somehow blocking her shadow stepping! Back in the battle, one of the soldiers manages to grapple Flyweight. Another uses his technological armor to call for a portal. A pink portal blinks open and the solider prepares to escape with the girl! K9 jumps in front of the portal at the last moment. His skin has turned blue as he’s adapted to the soldiers’ attacks. He frees Flyweight, but the solider knocks him through the portal. The portal closes – K9 is gone! At the same moment, several eXalts are left reeling by the other soldiers’ attacks. If that’s not enough, Jakarra grows nearly three stories tall. He swings his staff like a bat, solidly connecting with Bastet. She flies through the sign and nearly falls off the building. She can barely move! Mystic slightly drains one solider while Blur staggers another. Panzer and Phantasma team up to finish him off. He immediately begins melting into a dead human. Primal moves towards another soldier that has grabbed Flyweight. Primal suddenly grabs his head as his body begins to shift. Beyond just having a crocodile snout, all of his skin turns green and scaly and a tail sprouts to swing behind him. He’s now a humanoid crocodile – Sobek, the Egyptian god he was channeling! Sobek yells, “They have the seed! We must free her!” He then goes on a bloody rampage, downing two soldiers (including the one grappling Flyweight). But in his berserker rage he can’t determine friend from foe and he savagely attacks Blur, badly injuring him. Despite being badly injured, Bastet leaps to her feet and charges Jakarra. She slashes at him, slightly injuring him. He sneers. “Is that all you can do, little cat?” She replies, “There’s a reason you’ll never be the Panther.” He roars in fury. The eXalts press the attack following Sobek’s rampage. The tide has turned in their favor. Phantasma uses the break in the battle as an opportunity to mentally scan the soldiers to learn what they know before they turn to goo. She’s surprised to find that they’re cultists who volunteered for their transformation. Two gray-skinned men with red eyes made them soldiers… of Clan Akkaba! They’re soldiers of Apocalypse! Does this have something to do with Evan, the clone of Apocalypse and student back at Academy X? Bastet is still in trouble. Out of nowhere, half a dozen black cats emerge from alleyways and bushes and swarm the soldier closest to the cat goddess. They swarm all over him, biting and clawing, leaving him defenseless. Mystic and Blur quickly finish the solider off. Flyweight also moves to help Bastet. She reveals a new power when she unleashes a disintegration ray that burns into Jakarra’s side. He howls in pain as layers of clothing and skin melt away, revealing flesh and bone beneath. Panzer uses the distraction to leap up to Jakarra and unleash a powerful punch to his torso. He punches into Jakarra’s chest, leaving a gaping hole. Jakarra drops to the ground, dead! Sobek, still in control of Primal, continues his rampage and drops the remaining soldiers, but accidentally injures Flyweight. Mystic is able to heal her. Phantasma quickly goes into Primal’s mind and knocks him unconscious. The battle is over! K9 is still in danger, however. He emerges from the portal to an opulent meeting room in a well-appointed manor. He sees stained glass windows, fine pieces of artwork, and expensive furniture. The art depicts a gray-skinned man: Apocalypse! Sitting at the table are two gray-skinned men with glasses, two Caucasian men in business suits, a Caucasian woman and a dark-skinned women in dresses, and a woman in a burqa. She’s Blink, the former New Mutant! At the end of the table is an elderly Caucasian man. He says, “You are not welcome here!” and gestures towards K9. A pink portal appears and moves over K9, teleporting him away. He suddenly finds himself on a sand dune in the middle of a desert that extends in all directions. His eXalts communicator was somehow left behind! His skin turns a darker shade of blue as he adapts to the heat. His super senses faintly detect the distant smell of water and runs off in that direction, hoping for the best. Back at the scene of the battle, Mac yells at Dane for killing Jakarra. They can’t kill their foes! Dane argues that Jakarra was a threat to Robyn and his teammates. Mac drains some energy from the unconscious Liam to heal Bastienne and the others. Robyn uses the opportunity to escape. She changes her density from super dense to lighter than air and begins to fly away. Sam uses her telekinesis to grab her. She says, “You’re in danger. You should stay with us.” Robyn reluctantly agrees. Bastienne says, “She’s a seed! She’s a god!” Robyn is confused, as is Billy. He wasn’t around when Bastienne merged with Bastet and he doesn’t know what a seed is. Bastienne explains that some people were somehow created or modified by Clan Akkaba to be seeds – or hosts – for Egyptian gods. Bastienne was a seed for Bastet while her sister Georgie was a seed for Sekhmet. No one is sure who Robyn might be a seed for, but as someone with air powers, Shu and Horus seem likely. Dane interrupts the conversation to point out that, besides Bailey, Glimmer is missing. No one has seen her since the start of the battle. Sam reaches out with her telepathy and locates her a half block away. She’s unconscious on the ground in the middle of what looks to have been a fiery explosion. Mac tries to heal her, but there’s nothing wrong with her physically. She’s unconscious due to some mental attack. Bastienne calls S.H.I.E.L.D. to the scene. The eXalts grab their downed allies (Liam and Dagan) and head back to Utopia to search for Bailey. Matt has been searching for his communicator, but it seems to be dead. On the Blackbird, Robyn meets her father, Ivan, for the first time. It’s an awkward reunion considering the circumstances. Ivan says he isn’t looking to insert himself into her life, just there to answer questions if she has any. He reveals her real name is Katerina Petrov and her mother was Natalya. Robyn is a little overwhelmed by the sudden right turn her life has taken: not only were the eXalts after her, but so where a bunch of scary gray-skinned men that wanted to kidnap her. Then she learned she may be some kind of seed to become a god, and on top of that she has a father and brother she knew nothing about. And the gray-skinned men have already kidnapped her brother! The Blackbird lands on Utopia. The eXalts squabble about what to do next. Michael appears and offers to take Robyn to a room. He soon realizes he can’t leave her alone, however, as Blink could teleport in and abduct her like she did with Dmitri. Mac calls Wong to see if his father, Doctor Strange, can help. Wong says he’ll have Doctor Strange’s apprentice, former Academy X student Amanda, send along an artifact that blocks teleportation. Meanwhile, Bastienne goes to find Evan. He’s studying and has no idea what’s been going on. She tells him that Clan Akkaba is planning something. Evan knows Clan Akkaba are Apocalypse’s earthly descendants. But there are many factions within Clan Akkaba (like the one formerly lead by Bastienne’s grandmother, Sophie, until Bastienne killed her) and he doesn’t know which faction this might be. Evan mentally reaches out to Robyn and can immediately sense she’s a seed for Horus, god of the sky and kingship. That must mean that Robyn’s brother Dmitri, with earth powers, must be a seed for Anubis, god of the earth and judgment. Meanwhile, Sam uses Cerebra with Matt at her side. She locates Bailey in the middle of the Sahara. As Mac has never been nearby and can’t teleport there, Dane volunteers to fly the Blackbird to pick him up (as Sam and Bastienne have more duties on Utopia). Billy volunteers to join him. Billy fills Dane in on their encounters in Muspelheim since Dane has no memories of his time there. Billy explains that Dane was Queen Sinmara’s consort (Sinmara was once Meghan, their classmate). Dane asks if he had children with Sinmara, but Billy is unsure. While Dane and Billy fly to Africa, Sam sits with Dagan and Susanna (Bailey’s girlfriend) in the med lab. Susanna is David’s substitute teacher while he’s in prison. She had some medical training while a member of the Avengers Initiative (the 50-state Avengers program that was created following the superhero civil war) and has been looking after Dagan. Dagan still hasn’t woken up, however. Sam goes into Dagan’s mind and is surprised to find an “echo” of Phoenix energy there. It seems she somehow triggered a Phoenix-like explosion and was knocked unconscious. Everyone gets some rest after such a busy day. On Tuesday, Robyn visits Combat Club before breakfast. Bastienne introduces her to Evan. He tells her she must train in combat club to become stronger, for only the strong will survive. Robyn is a little freaked out by how intense Evan is, but agrees to train with the students. She puts up a fight, but Evan defeats her fairly easily. She is impressed by how powerful he is. After the fight several students go over to Robyn. They recognize her as Robyn Skye, star of Miss Popular from Splash. She says she’s not Robyn Skye, but she’s misidentified as the star a lot. The students are disappointed and all depart – except for Liam’s daughter, Jasmine. Jasmine was a super fan of Miss Popular and is convinced that Robyn was the star. Robyn admits the truth once Jasmine swears not to reveal it to anyone else. Jasmine says she’ll give her a tour of the school. The school day goes on as normal. Robyn spends time with Bastienne in the morning when the headmistress has time off to work on her school duties. She then goes to Bastienne’s sparring sessions in the afternoon and helps the seniors train. Due to her time as Flyweight, she is more skilled than all of them. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">That night there are two meetings: the rescheduled Utopia meeting and the student staff meeting. At the Utopia meeting Mac and Sam discuss the trade deal they proposed with the Morlocks. Sam went to the Morlock caves below Utopia and met with Valerie, their surface representative. She offered the Morlocks help, which Valerie flatly refused. They don’t want handouts. Valerie seemed more open to a trade, however: supplies for the Morlocks in return for goods like clothes. She says she’ll inform the Elder about the offer. Bastienne has news for the Utopia meeting as well. Mayor Sadie Sinclair of San Francisco says she can probably make a trade deal that’s very financially lucrative for Utopia, provided they take any adult mutants that apply for citizenship – and all the Morlocks remaining under the city. The group says they can’t force the Morlocks to move, but are open to the deal. Heather Cameron of X-Corporation: Los Angeles, who has been laying low since she was a member of the Phoenix Five, has offered whatever financial help she can. Bastienne also has news from the United Nations that most countries feel the punishment David received was too light, but they are at least relieved that Utopia seems to be policing its own. Michael says Utopia needs money and Hellfire Club: Tokyo may be willing to help. Liam says that Wicked and Glob Herman need help patrolling the huge island. Lastly, the group votes on allowing the Cotati (telepathic plant people from the Kree homeworld) to move to Utopia as requested by Bailey (the half-Kree member of the eXalts) on behalf of Plex (the alien artificial intelligence in control of the former space station Asteroid M beneath the school). The group somewhat reluctantly agrees. Bastienne seems distracted during the vote and Mac calls her on it. During the meeting Dane and Billy reach Bailey at an Oasis and pick him up. They head back to Utopia. At the student staff meeting that night, Gabe tells Bastienne that new junior prefect Hunter has been using his prefect privileges to sneak out of the school at odd times. Bastienne agrees to look into it. During the meeting, Evan pays a surprise visit to Robyn. He asks her out of the blue whether she’s ever had any dreams of her true self, meaning as Horus. When Robyn says she has never had any dreams of ruling over peasants in Ancient Egypt, Evan just as quickly departs. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Dane returns the next day. On Thursday morning he plays the “Miss Popular” theme over the school’s PA system. Many kids freak out, taking it as confirmation that Robyn really is the star. Robyn is annoyed. She joins the eXalts meeting that night. Evan appears out of nowhere with Dagan. He used his telepathy to bring her out of her comatose state. Dagan explains she has lost control of her powers a few times since she hosted the Phoenix Force, and Sam admits it’s happened to her as well. Evan says he wants to join the eXalts. When Mac says they have a policy that students can’t join, Evan accepts the decision and says he’ll look into the Clan Akkaba issue himself. Sam and Bastienne urge him to wait. He agrees to wait for now. He tells Robyn not to join the eXalts – it is too dangerous. Then he leaves. Next the group discusses what to do with Robyn. Leaving her at the school is too dangerous because Clan Akkaba knows she’s there. They discuss options: hide her in Bastienne’s church, with the vampires, Aleph, Limbo, or somewhere else. Robyn agrees to go into hiding on her own. Mac says he’ll create a talisman to hide her from scrying. The last discussion is about an eXalts chain of command. Dane is left near the bottom as Sam is still upset he killed Jakarra. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">Over the next week Dane runs test on the goo obtained from the soldiers. Bastienne researches Clan Akkaba as she is worried about the seeds and her missing sister. Mac creates a talisman to hide Robyn from scrying. Bailey faces protests at his town council meeting from townspeople angry that the town hasn’t moved quickly enough to become more independent, even though elections will be held the day before Halloween for two new legislators (and to replace the Secretary of the Treasury, since Ruth departed; David has announced his candidacy). Ethan and Mercy have opened the town’s elementary school. Barry reports that a VIP has recently arrived in Asiantown. Could it be the Emperor of Hellfire Club: Tokyo? On Thursday night, someone (or some people) post fliers around New Genosha with a list of demands for the Utopian government. It’s a spark that ignites the growing unrest among a certain segment of the populace. Some of David’s supporters visit him in jail to tell him the news. He issues a demand for immediate elections and challenges Mac for the presidency, promising jobs, private ownership, expanding the legislature, and limiting the power of the rulers (they could only belong to two of the following groups: eXalts, school administration, or government). He closes, “I am Utopia!” Meanwhile, Bailey proposes holding a town hall meeting while Mac thinks that would be raucous and counter-productive. He’d like to invite a representative from each group (New Genoshans, Asiantown, Morlocks, etc.) to a televised meeting instead. That evening it’s time for Robyn to leave. She takes Mac’s talisman and a communicator. She says goodbye to everyone. Bastienne hugs her and says, “Be safe, sister.” She departs on a bus from San Francisco, hopefully to safety.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">Then, on Saturday, Bastienne holds a press conference to announce she’ll be stepping down as Secretary of State effective February 1st of the next year (or one month after she is replaced, whichever comes sooner). At the same time, Dane posts on the Facebook group used by most New Genoshans to announce he’d like to resume his position as president that he lost when presumed dead. He outlines a platform that involves being a full-time leader (instead of splitting time working at Academy X), an oversight committee for the eXalts, private land ownership and additional legislative positions. Due to all the activity, New Genosha is in chaos. As the staff of Academy X fights among themselves for control of the country, what will be the future of Utopia, Academy X and the eXalts? **Next:** __Issue 94 - 'Sky is Falling'__
 * Previous: ** Issue 92 - 'Run Boy Run'