Issue+86+-+'Frigid'


 * Issue 86 - 'Frigid' **




 * Plot**

The Phoenix Force – a cosmic force of destruction – is returning to Earth. The Avengers and X-Men are both searching for its intended host, but for different reasons. The Avengers are hoping to stop the Phoenix Force by preventing it from merging with a powerful mentalist at any cost, even if that means killing the host. The X-Men want to use the host’s Phoenix powers to change the world into a mutant paradise. Utopia resident and powerful precognitive mutant Ruth “Blindfold” Aldine has foreseen that the Phoenix Force is coming for Academy X professor Dagan Lightfoot. When the Avengers learn the truth, they ask reserve Avengers and eXalts member Mac “Mystic” Strange to turn her over. The eXalts have no intention of doing so and the Avengers know it – leading to a clash between the two super-teams! Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, Thor, Doctor Strange, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Ms. Marvel, The Vision, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Falcon, She-Hulk, Moondragon, and Noh-Varr emerge from portals across Utopia and ambush the eXalts and Academy X staff in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. Only Phantasma and Mystic defeat their opponents. They witness Captain America and Spider-Man about to teleport away with Dagan – when former Academy X Headmaster and President of Utopia (and Dagan’s father) Dane Lightfoot also appears out of nowhere! He was last seen abandoning the eXalts with his ex-girlfriend and Dagan’s mother, Meghan Flannagan, who had become Sinmara, Queen of the Fire Giants. Wielding the legendary sword Leviathan, Dane drove back Captain America and Spiderman long enough for the Plexroids (servants of Plex, the Kree artificial intelligence that “lives” under Utopia) to join the battle. The Avengers teleport away all at once, but clearly the war has only begun… Dane picks up his comatose daughter and asks where the other eXalts are. Sam says she doesn’t know. She asks where Dane has been. He says he’s been watching Earth from his plane. He came when he saw Dagan was in danger. Sam realizes the comms are no longer jammed and tries to contact her team. No one responds – it seems only Sam and Mac are left. Sam decides to brave the use of her telepathy (as previous attempts caused explosions of Phoenix fire) to contact her team mentally. She locates each teammate. They’re still alive, but not conscious. Meanwhile, Dane volunteers his energy so Mac can heal his unconscious daughter. Mac agrees and revives Dagan. Dagan is shocked to see her father but hugs him tightly. Dane carries Dagan into the school while Sam and Mac hurry to check on the downed eXalts. Sam and Mac find Bastienne unconscious in her bedroom. Her torso is bloody, but it’s barely bleeding – apparently, since her merger with the Egyptian goddess Bastet, she can regenerate. Mac uses his own energy to revive Bastienne. She relates how Black Panther bested her. Mac tells Bastienne to go to the War Room where she can monitor Utopia’s security system in case the Avengers return. The next closest eXalt is David. Sam and Mac find him just outside the school at the end of a muddy trench created by his crash into the ground. His force field saved him from the fall. After Mac uses Sam’s energy to revive David, David says he fought Iron Man. He wants to know where Dagan is. Sam says she’s with Dane. David is shocked that Dane has returned. Considering David and Dane’s rocky past, Sam asks him to remain with her and Mac as they look for the other eXalts and David agrees. Liam is next to Academy X’s outbuilding behind the pool. There’s a burnt section of ground nearby indicating a recent lightning strike. But it’s not from the storm. After David donates energy to Mac to heal Liam, Liam’s first words are, “It’s Thor!” A distant rumble from the receding thunderstorm startles Liam. But the head to the next-closes eXalt: Carom, who was working on rebuilding a house on the island to the northeast of Utopia when the storm hit. Three tell-tale puncture holes in his stomach reveal that his attacker was Wolverine, though Logan evidently bandaged Carom before teleporting away. Liam contributes energy to bring Carom back. Next the eXalts find Ruth unconscious on a trail between the school and New Genosha. When she is revived with Carom’s energy, she holds her head and grimaces. She says she fought Moondragon. Ruth says she now realizes that Moondragon had been sending her “visions” to confuse her precognition. Finally the eXalts locate the newest eXalt, Bailey. The New Genosha Police Chief is just outside his town. He had been using his kinetic energy control to hurry to Academy X to help when he was ambushed by Noh-Varr, a fellow Kree (Bailey is half-Kree) and fellow speedster. The group reunites in the War Room at Academy X. Back at the school the group discovers that Black Widow and Hawkeye knocked out Matt (Academy X’s security officer and Sam’s husband) as well as two powerful students: reserve eXalts (and siblings) Mercy “Sublime” and Ethan “Subsume” Connors. Meanwhile, Spiderwoman, She-Hulk, and Falcon took out the rest of Academy X’s student staff that David had been training to be its own super-team. Once they’re sure everyone is okay (including Matt and Sam’s kids), they head to the War Room. Dagan and Dane are in the middle of a conversation when the eXalts enter. Dagan is telling Dane how Captain America and Spider-Man started by hitting her with a Hope dart to remove her powers. But then she felt feverish and fire exploded from her, burning the Hope from her system. David says what the Avengers have done is unconscionable. The Avengers declared war on Utopia by attacking. He then turns to Dane. He wants to know how Dane knew they were under attack – was he spying on them again? Dane calmly says he was simply keeping an eye on their kids (due to Meghan’s mutant ability of absorption, she passed on the genetic material of both Dane and David to Dagan as well as Dagan’s young brother Davan). He then pointedly asks David if he’s spent much time with Davan lately, knowing David has been a fairly uninvolved parent. Matt interrupts the tense conversation with news that he has video footage of the Avengers’ attack. David says they should share it with the press. Since the Avengers are affiliated with S.H.I.E.L.D., which is affiliated with the United States government, the Avengers attack was an act of war by the United States against Utopia. He asks the group to imagine if the Avengers had attacked Mexico. Mac says Utopia isn’t Mexico. Besides, Mexico doesn’t have weapons of mass destruction (which is how many see the mutants on Utopia). He says they shouldn’t release the footage – at least not yet. Bailey suggests lodging a complaint with the United Nations. Bastienne, Utopia’s Secretary of State (and United Nations representative) agrees to look into it. But the eXalts have more pressing concerns. The Avengers could return for Dagan at any time, and in even greater numbers. Mac says Dagan and Sam need to go to Aleph, the dimension where the eXalts spent some time in the previous semester. Mac has the ability to create a portal there immediately (and is connected to the plane somehow through the Ruby Scarab artifact that gives him his powers). Sam can begin training Dagan in her mental powers in Aleph to prepare her for the coming of the Phoenix Force. The original plan was to send Sam and Dagan to another plane where time moves differently so Sam could have months or even years to prepare Dagan, but Mac was unable to finish his research before the Avengers attack. He located a suitable plane and a spell to open a portal there, but didn’t have enough time to create a “key” to allow Sam and Dagan to return. For now Aleph is their only option. Sam reluctantly agrees. Matt takes her upstairs to say goodbye to her kids (twins Alex and Kurt and daughter Jessie). The twins are unfazed as they don’t seem to understand what’s going on. Jessie, though younger, ages more quickly than the twins and is more mature. She has a harder time with Sam’s departure. Evan (an Academy X student who is a clone of Apocalypse), who had been watching the kids during the Avengers attack, is also upset to hear Sam is leaving. He’s hoping to be adopted by Sam and Matt and views Sam as a surrogate mother. While Sam is saying goodbye, Carom teleports to Xavier’s school on the east coast. As the Avengers have attacked Utopia, Carom sees the X-Men as allies. He meets with the mutant team and informs them of the Avengers attack. When he’s not forthcoming with further details, Emma Frost (Sam’s mother) mentally coerces him to reveal more. Carom admits that Dagan will be the Phoenix Force’s host. Scott “Cyclops” Summers immediately says that Dagan needs to come to Xavier’s school to prepare to be the Phoenix’s host. At the very least the X-Men need to go to Utopia to defend Dagan and train her. Carom attempts to argue, but Emma convinces him that it’s a great idea to bring the X-Men back to Utopia with him. Carom opens to portal to Academy X. Before the portal opens, Sam and Dagan say goodbye to their teammates. Sam reminds David that, as the former eXalts team leader, he’ll once again be in charge during her absence. Dane says he’s going with Dagan. Bastienne is also going. She may have some sway in Aleph due to her merger with Bastet as the plane is controlled by two rulers posing as Egyptian gods. Liam also volunteers to go to Aleph. When he uses his spirit control powers in the Egyptian-esque plane he manifests the animals’ traits. He can appear similar to the Egyptian gods in Aleph, which could be useful. Mac will be going because he is the one who can open portals to and from the plane. In the end Sam, Dagan, Dane, Bastienne, Liam and Mac depart for Aleph. They step from Mac’s portal onto a massive courtyard before the pyramid temple where Aleph’s rulers reign. There is some panic when the commoners (who appear Egyptian due to the magic of the plane despite belonging to many different Earth ethnicities) see Bastienne and Liam (who has channeled a jackal spirit and looks like Anubis, Lord of the Dead). Two high-ranking gods at the pyramid usher the group to the top of the structure. It is a sumptuously-decorated space with tapestries, statuary, plush cushions, and more. Bastienne sees the place where she recently killed her grandmother who had been revealed to be a member of Clan Akkaba and had tried to manipulate Evan into becoming Apocalypse. On the balcony overlooking the courtyard are the two rulers of Aleph: Ra (who is really David’s clone possessed by the Norse god Runak) and Isis (who is really Carom’s vampiric mother Cynthia, unaffected by the sunlight of Aleph). Ra, the Pharaoh, is being fed grapes and fanned by topless servants. Isis stands behind him, perhaps the true power behind the throne. Ra says they were not immediately arrested or attacked because they recently helped drive Sekhmet (the real Egyptian deity) from the plane. But if they intend to stay, they will owe him a gift. Ra, as a Norse god himself, notices that Dane is carrying Leviathan, a powerful weapon from Norse mythology. He says he will allow them to stay for the sword. Dane says it’s not his to give. The group attempts to negotiate by promising a future reward, but Ra wants something now. Dane whispers to Bastienne that he knows the location of one of the hammers left behind on Earth by one of Runak’s teammates during their failed attempt to cause Ragnarök. Ra (as Runak) already has one hammer, but surely desires more. Bastienne offers to bring Ra the hammer soon. Ra wants it now. Isis whispers to Ra that she trusts Bastienne and Ra reluctantly agrees to the price, though he wants the hammer within one moon cycle. He then has servants bring them to the palace where Mac and Bastienne were recently imprisoned by Sekhmet. Dane, Dagan and Sam remain in Aleph while Bastienne, Liam and Mac return to Earth. The eXalts return to Utopia. Just as Bastienne has finished explaining their deal with Aleph, Carom’s portal opens and the X-Men emerge. Emma comments that something is blocking mental communication to and from Utopia. David says it’s Plex, the Kree AI from the former space station Asteroid M below Utopia. The eXalts and X-Men then discuss what to do about Dagan. David says they’ve already begun training the young mentalist in Aleph. Emma wants to know who is training her, and snarkily comments that it certainly shouldn’t be her daughter, Sam. David shares his plan to send Dagan to another dimension where time moves more slowly compared to Earth. Dagan will have more time in that dimension to train her abilities. Scott agrees to the plan, but says he wants to help train her and protect her. Aleph isn’t a good location. He suggests Limbo, the dimension X-Man Magik controls. They agree to discuss the matter further. That night the X-Men use empty student rooms (vacant due to Schism). The Academy X staff has a conversation the next morning before meeting with the X-Men. There is a debate as to where Dagan would be most safe: Aleph or Limbo. While Ra and Isis would defend Aleph with their soldiers, Limbo has more defenses in the form of Magik’s army of demons. Plus Doctor Strange knows Mac can open a portal to Aleph, making it a more obvious choice. It would be easier for Doctor Strange to open a portal to Aleph than Limbo, as well. David doesn’t like the idea of going somewhere where the X-Men have such an advantage, however, but in the end he gives in to the rest of the group when they vote for Limbo (all except Bastienne). Mac says he doesn’t trust the X-Men, but David says they only have to trust them for a few weeks while Mac finishes his research to allow Dagan to go to another plane. At that point they can reevaluate their partnership. The eXalts inform the X-Men they accept their offer to go to Limbo. Along with the X-Men and Dagan, Dane, David, Sam and Liam will go along. The rest of the Academy X staff will remain behind. With both Sam and David gone, Bastienne will be eXalts team leader. Magik opens a portal and the group enters the hell-like dimension of Limbo. In Magik’s plane she becomes a tall, horned demon with cloven hooves known as Darkchylde. She introduces them to her lover, former Academy X student Daniel Robitaille. Daniel’s mutant ability is resurrection, but each time he dies he reverts to the age when his mutant ability first manifested. He died on Earth but Magik had a shard of his soul in Limbo and brought him back. Now, when he dies, his age doesn’t change. He’s noticeably older now. Limbo is a chaotic plane and time moves differently there. Magik can influence its flow, but not to the point of giving Dagan months to train. David asks Magik to open a portal back to Earth to see how time has passed. His real motive is to help Christine, former Academy X student and current leader of a Mutant Revolutionary Front terrorist cell. He’s agreed to join an attack against an underground Purifier group (Purifiers are an anti-mutant hate organization). He dons a red outfit once worn by “Erik the Red”. While David creates a distraction, Christine uses her mutant ability of invisibility and intangibility to bomb a Purifier meeting. David is caught on film. Not recognizing David in his new outfit, the press discusses the emergence of a new MRF member during their coverage of the attack. The bombing kills nearly a dozen members of the Unity of the Holy Cross Church, including several Purifiers attempting to recruit new members. There is one tragic loss: Bishop George Hinton, a member of the church trying to open a dialogue with the more radical members of the congregation, was among those killed. Bastienne counted Hinton as a friend and grieves for his loss. There’s also news about Comet PHNKS on Saturday. The comet (really the Phoenix Force) has passed the Messenger spacecraft near Mercury, giving astronomers their best glimpse of the strange red comet yet. Astronomers are puzzled that it doesn’t seem to have a core of dirt and ice like most comets. Soon PHNKS will come closest to the sun, which should cause it to shrink or at least alter in course and miss Earth. Of course, the eXalts know that’s not going to happen…  On Sunday Bailey is visited by a new Plex personality: a blue-skinned scientist. She says she investigated the chemicals used by the Kree group that recently kidnapped him and hooked him up to several IVs. The chemicals were designed specifically for a half-Kree and intended to force another mutation. They were hoping to make him their messiah. Bailey isn’t sure what to do with the news, and it doesn’t seem the chemical cocktail did anything to him, anyway. Over the weekend Carom works on his project on the island off Utopia. The Academy X student teams meet on Sunday night. The Ardents are preparing for the upcoming production of Beauty and the Beast. The Corsairs are excited about the Combat Club “Last Mutant Standing” competition to select a new team captain. In the wake of the Avengers attack, Kevin (Avengers Academy transfer student) ranted about how much he hates the Avengers during the Excelsiors team meeting. The Exemplars have noticed how Hunter has been having some family drama with the Morlocks lately. The Hellions relate some troubling news: Etta, a precognitive Hellion, recently experienced an explosion of Phoenix Force energy while using her powers. Fortunately it was not as destructive as Sam’s outbreaks and no one else was around. Lastly, Ethan and Mercy share that the Paragons have been in more frequent communication with Hellfire Club: Tokyo following the school’s field trip to their bank in New Genosha. Are the Paragons still working as spies?  At the Last Mutant Standing competition on Monday, junior Corsair Hikaru (a mutant who can phase objects, like phasing her sword through armor) wins the competition. Junior Paragon Ashley Davis (who can turn heat into lava) is the runner-up. Carom later asks Ashley about joining Hellfire Club: Tokyo’s vampire hunters after graduation. She expresses some interest. The students are busy that week working the Academy X farm. The last growing season was a bust due to a volcanic eruption in Japan, but they are optimistic for this year. In the middle of the week Bastienne attends Bishop Hinton’s funeral and gives her condolences. As she’s an “out and proud” mutant and many at the services are anti-mutant, it’s a tense scene. Hinton’s wife appreciates her attendance, though. After the funeral Bastienne deals with some errands in the Bay Area. She also finds time to visit Namor and “make nice” with him. Namor agrees to help her retrieve the Norse hammer from the Marianas Trench. He explains that, while he’s an Avenger, he sides with the X-Men because he always fights for the underdog and he respects the X-Men. That weekend Mac realizes his Avengers reserve status has been revoked. He’s also visited in the middle of the night. He awakes to find Bastienne has taken control of him to open a portal to Aleph. Ever since she merged with Bastet she’s been able to use the Ruby Scarab within him, even without his permission. She delivers the Norse hammer to Ra as per their deal and has Isis send her back.  There is news from New Genosha early next week. X-Corporation: Los Angeles, Academy X’s ally and the organization managing New Genosha, has found a lawyer to fill in as Utopia’s Attorney General. Their former Attorney General, Evangeline Whedon, was injured in a previous MRF bombing and is still in a coma. The main reason David joined the mutant terrorist group was to stop the MRF from bombing civilian targets (and instead target Purifiers). The X-Corporation: Los Angeles lawyer is named Jack White. He is a mutant with an eidetic memory. He once worked with Professor Xavier and defended Professor X’s brother Cain Marko (AKA the Juggernaut). He took a job with X-Corporation a few years back and has volunteered to help Utopia while their attorney general is in the hospital. Late that week Comet PHNKS (or the Phoenix Force) has its closest approach to the Sun. It comes within about one million kilometers of the star, or 100 times closer to the Sun than Earth. To the surprise of astronomers, it not only does not become smaller or get knocked off course – it seems like it’s growing in size and it’s headed straight for Earth! To combat the ensuing worldwide panic, Steve “Captain America” Rogers addresses media worldwide. It’s the first time any of the Avengers have been seen in public since their attack on Utopia. Steve admits that the comet is the Phoenix Force, an alien entity. He says it won’t impact the Earth like the destructive asteroids of the past. He says the Avengers have a plan to deal with it, though this assurance doesn’t calm everyone’s fears. Many people across the planet are convinced an apocalypse is coming for Earth, and they might not be wrong…  That Saturday the staff of Academy X is surprised when some of the early morning fog coalesces into a human form: it’s Agape, former eXalt and member of the Academy X Board of Trustees. They know she’s working for a powerful vampire, despite being one of their bosses. Agape greets her former teammates in a friendly fashion, but it’s clear she’s at least mentally unstable if not insane. She says she’s there to help them, but she needs to call an emergency Board of Trustees meeting. The other trustees gather, including Matt, Heather Cameron (CEO of X-Corporation: Los Angeles), Honoka Ogawa (Shogun of Hellfire Club: Tokyo), and Shiro Yoshida (former X-Man and Daimyo of Hellfire Club: Tokyo). During the meeting Mac finishes creating the amulet that will allow Sam and Dagan to return from the dimension where Dagan can train. They can bring them back from Limbo and enact their plan. Meanwhile Bastienne spends time with Heather’s bodyguard, Rafé. Rafé was once engaged to Bastienne’s twin sister until she became the host of Sekhmet. He’s still upset about the breakup. Bastienne comforts him and they end up in bed. Then the Board of Trustees emerges from their closed-door meeting to request the presence of Academy X’s headmasters, Bastienne and Mac. The two eXalts join the meeting and learn that the board would like to send Academy X’s students to Avengers Academy for the remainder of the term. The Avengers could attack again once Dagan returns and it’s better to be safe than sorry. Bastienne and Mac understand the board’s rationale even if they don’t agree. Agape’s proposal passes – the kids will leave immediately. The Academy X staff is not happy about the decision, but they help their students transition to Avengers Academy. Avengers Academy Headmasters Hank Pym (“Ant Man”) and Tigra welcome the students and assure the Academy X staff that the recent conflicts between the Avengers and the mutant community won’t get in the way of them looking after the mutant students.  On Sunday the X-Men return with Dagan, Dane, Sam, and Liam. They are surprised to find the students are gone, especially Liam (as his daughter, Jasmine, is gone). Matt tells Sam about the board’s decision. He admits he voted in favor of moving students. Sam is upset. They’ve been in danger before – why move the students now? Matt says this time they know danger is coming. In the past they were taken by surprise. During the argument Sam learns the proposal came from Agape. She’s infuriated. Why is Agape’s vampiric master’s plan? She uses telepathy to read Agape’s mind. But the image of the Phoenix Force appears in her eyes. There’s an enormous eruption of Phoenix Force energy, even larger than before. A firestorm explodes from Samantha, though she is safe in the eye of the storm. Matt is not so lucky. He is engulfed in the flames and collapses. The entire first floor of Academy X is ablaze. Bailey and Carom are the first to reach Matt. He’s dead! Sam is catatonic. Bailey says he’ll bring Sam to the school’s medical lab, but the fire has spread and parts of the second floor are collapsing. Suddenly Agape appears. She extends her hands and the flames are instantly coated in ice. Icy stalactites and stalagmites cover the entire area. The fire is out, but it’s clear the school has suffered extensive damage. It’s a good thing the students aren’t there after all. Carom asks if Mac can use magic to bring Matt back. Mac says magic doesn’t work that way, and even if it did he isn’t powerful enough. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">Bailey uses his limited police medical training to check on Sam. She’s physically okay, but she’s clearly in shock. Carom tries to reassure Sam that the Phoenix Force – an entity known for rebirth – has the power to bring Matt back. Liam assists Bailey in bringing Sam to her room. Bastienne takes charge of Evan and the Stone children. Then the rest of the eXalts realize that the X-Men disappeared during the chaos of the explosion and its aftermath. Dagan, Dane, and the mutant team are all gone! They find a note Dagan left behind. It says she made the decision of her own free will to leave. She wants to train with the X-Men. And this way, if there is trouble it won’t come to Utopia. She also trusts the X-Men to do what is needed if she can’t control the Phoenix Force, and she doesn’t want to put any of her friends or family in that position. After reading the letter, perhaps jokingly, Carom says they should contact the Avengers. David says no – they are still on the X-Men’s side. He asks Mac to bring him to Xavier’s school. They arrive at the east coast school and talk to Warpath. He says the X-Men did not return and is not very helpful. David, furious, tells Mac to bring him home. But during a stop halfway in Milwaukee, Mac’s teleportation power is drained and he can’t open a portal, just like his hellfire blast recently stopped working. He’s forced to fly David home. In the aftermath of the Phoenix explosion, Bastienne flies Liam to Avengers Academy in the school’s Blackbird to visit Jasmine and the other students. Carom talks to Bastienne’s sister, Georgie, to find out what’s needed to fix the school as she was an architectural student. There’s news that the MRF bombed a civilian area, but called ahead to make sure no one would be there. And Liam contacts the Apache elders in New Mexico. They have legends of a “firebird” and know about the Phoenix Force. They also heard from fellow Native American Warpath that it destroyed several planets on its way to Earth, and it will soon arrive...
 * Next:** Issue 87 - 'Deadeye'
 * Previous:** Issue 85 - 'Ironclad'