#it would start at the point in new mutants when cable joins the team. so at issue 87 would be episode 1 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

multiverseforger · 3 years

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Chris Powell was the teenage son of Mike Powell, a cop, and Grace Powell, a District Attorney. Following his younger twin brothers, Jon and Jason, to the abandoned amusement park across from his home, Chris discovered his father taking a bribe from mob boss Phillipe Bazin.[5][6]

While trying to escape with his brothers from Bazin's henchmen, Chris discovered an amulet that transposed him into the Darkhawk armor. When his father disappeared after Chris saw him, he swore to use the Darkhawk armor as an "edge against crime". Darkhawk's powers included a force blast which emanated from the amulet on his chest, a force shield from the same amulet, a claw cable which could serve as both a Wolverine-like claw, and a grapple cable, glider wings and later flight capability, enhanced vision and strength, and an image underneath the Darkhawk helmet which served to frighten and distract his enemies.[citation needed]

He often teamed up with Spider-Man. As a sometime member of the New Warriors, he befriended Speedball, Nova, and later, Turbo.[citation needed] During his tenure as a crime fighter, he was often trying to rescue his father, mother, or other family members.[citation needed]

He developed quite a roster of enemies: he would fight villains such as Hobgoblin and Tombstone, who were seeking to take his amulet, with the latter succeeding. He was extremely weakened and even dying from having the amulet removed, but still able to use all of his powers except for turning back into human form to heal. Once he retrieved the amulet he was able to put it back in his chest and fully heal. Darkhawk had 2 separate encounters with Venom, who felt that Chris was good natured and held back whereas Darkhawk was greatly opposed to Venom's ideals and way of handling crime, and swore to bring him to justice, despite Venom offering to be his ally. Lodestone: a magnetically-powered villain developed by Bazin, was often pitted against Darkhawk. He also fought against some who would later ally with him, such as Portal, a teleporting mutant who killed another Darkhawk and stole parts of his armor, Savage Steel, which had been created by the secret police cabal that Chris' dad had been a member of, and Damek, a mercenary sent from the future to kill Darkhawk.[citation needed]

Chris learned that his armor was actually an autonomously existing android armor, one of five commissioned by an alien mob lord named Dargin Bokk, being held in a sentient spaceship, Ocsh, in Null Space. When Chris grasped the amulet, it actually caused his body to switch places with that of the Darkhawk body, although his mind remained in control of the 'replacement' body.[citation needed]

After helping them several times, Darkhawk was brought aboard the Avengers West Coast as a reserve member, but saw little action with them after becoming a member, because they were dissolved shortly thereafter. Nonetheless, he did at least start a lasting friendship with Spider-Woman.[citation needed]

Darkhawk 2.0

Later, Chris and Darkhawk actually split into two separate entities, with the armor being updated into the "2.0" form, as it was informally known. This advanced form of armor gave Darkhawk new powers, such as the ability to form a force shield encasing his body, an actual "Hawk" construct (a gigantic force-field shaped like a hawk), and the ability to summon weapons from Osch. Darkhawk 2.0 and Chris re-merged, with the prospect of no longer needing to use the amulet in order to switch bodies.[citation needed]

Loners

Chris joined a self-help group of ex-teenage-super-heroes, the Loners, who admitted to being addicted to their powers. Members included: Turbo, Green Goblin IV (Phil Urich), Ricochet, Lightspeed and later Spider-Woman III (Mattie Franklin). The group was hired by a mysterious benefactor, later revealed to be Rick Jones, to track down the Runaways in Los Angeles.

Powell displayed trouble controlling his anger in his Darkhawk persona, leading to a short skirmish with Turbo. Dismayed with himself, Powell admitted to his teammates that he suffered a nervous breakdown.[7] Powell decided to never turn into Darkhawk again, but this decision did not last long, as shortly thereafter the group battled the notorious Avengers villain, Ultron. Darkhawk delivered the final blow, using a darkforce blast at point blank range to blow Ultron to pieces.[8]

The Loners continued their meetings and Chris was drawn back into heroics by Spider-Woman and made an enemy of MGH manufacturers who had abused Mattie Franklin and the woman running them as well as Nekra, a woman who was getting rich by selling her bodily fluids to them. Chris then got his Darkhawk amulet stolen from him temporarily by an unbalanced Phil Urich but was able to regain it with help from the group.[9]

Secret Invasion

Having registered with the government, Darkhawk was assigned to the position of security chief at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.. During the Skrull invasion, he worked alongside his old teammate Nova against the Deviant Skrulls.[10]

Fraternity of Raptors

The being known as Talon came to Earth, and offered to teach Chris how to control his amulet. They went to the Negative Zone to fight Annihilus. There, Chris bonded fully with his amulet. This allowed him to learn that the Fraternity of Raptors that Talon represented was evil and that the Fraternity had created the amulets. Evilhawk had been a hallucination caused by his mind, which had been unable to process all the information the Amulet gave him. The Raptor, known as Razor, took over Chris' body and assassinated Lilandra.[citation needed]

Later he fought Gyre another member of the Fraternity of Raptors that had been recruited as a pawn of the Sphinx. Darkhawk, Nova, Black Bolt, Mr. Fantastic and Namorita defeated the Sphinx and his pawns. Darkhawk was able to separate Gyre from his Kree host by using the same technique Talon used to separate Chris from Darkhawk and bring back Razor.[citation needed]

Avengers Arena

Arcade kidnapped Chris and fifteen teenage heroes and brought them to Murderworld, a secluded island where no one could find them, and forced them to fight each other to the death, and only the last man standing within thirty days would be allowed to leave.[11] One night, he was attacked and had his amulet removed, leaving his fate unknown.[12] His amulet would get passed around by others locked in Murderworld.[13]

Chris was later shown in a coma-like state in a strange tank along with the deceased heroes, where Arcade appeared to be healing him. Waking up, he located Arcade and knocked him out. He later reclaimed his amulet and was among the survivors of the battle.[14]

Marvel Legacy

Powell eventually resurfaced back in New York, set to marry a new fiancée by the name of Miranda Cruz. With whom he'd shared all of his exploits while piloting the sentient automaton known Darkhawk. Nowadays his Amulet has become inert, not so much as even changing when he focuses his thoughts on becoming his alter ego again; but lately has been suffering from nightmares of the Tree of Shadows every time he slept. Following in his father's footsteps, he eventually became an officer of the law at the NYPD. Taking to the same beat Micheal Powell used to back when he was one of the police, he reminisced about how his father would listen to people and remember their names while trying to keep the peace on the streets.

Trying to be the every bit as big a man and a better cop than he was by holding the values he once thought Mike stood for before, Chris found out his father was a corrupt cop. All the while ruminating on whether the world needed him as Christopher Powell, police officer or as the cybernetic hero he once was. While on patrol, dispatch sent out notice of a disturbance at Wonderland Amusement Park, where he first found the Raptor Amulet.

While investigating the derelict establishment, Powell was approached by two shady cops right near the area where he first became Darkhawk. Officer Hal Fingeroth and Sergeant Harold Conrad came to Powell offering certain opportunities while on the force which Chris quickly denied, when the latter opted to be a bit more forceful in his persuasion; Conrad was quickly eviscerated by members of the Fraternity of Raptors who were after the young officer's depowered amulet. Canorus and Aceptar created the odd circumstances which led to Christopher retracing his origin as a superhero in order to kill him and take what they believed was theirs by right, but the former raptor didn't go without a fight; discovering that these new raptors were in actuality just armored Shi'ar thugs given how easily Aceptar was stunned by a shock baton.

Though Christopher was eventually subdued by Canorus and his gem taken from him. Canorus was able to activate it again with a damaged Razor taking his place, whom nearly beat Powell's other would be assassin to death until Chris got his attention. The badly broken android grabbed hold of Powell and ported him to a portion of the Datasong he called the "Perch," where memories of previous host pilots were stored within a Raptor's own motherboard.

Razor, now calling itself Darkhawk after the recombinant persona imprinted on itself due to their shared escapades as a hero. Chris learned from his other half that a whole new Fraternity has sprung up in the wake of Novas' decimation, eager to bring the universe to heel under their thrall and had been searching for a means of acquiring the Raptor androids from the Null Space void to cement their dominance. Horrified by this development the now empathetic Razor sought to defy this mandate by said cabal of zealot pretenders by escaping his pod and severing his link to the Tree of Shadows, which was the reason why Powell couldn't become Darkhawk anymore. Severing his brethren's connection to their amulets earned Raptor their ire, however. They nearly hunted it down and executed until he was summoned to Earth by Canorus. Seeing the opportunity to heal itself, and hoping to enlist aid in stopping the renegade Raptor sect, Darkhawk sought union with Chris Powell once again in order to recover and grow in power.

Seeing as the whole of the universe was at stake, including his own homeworld in the long run. Chris knew in spite of his misgivings about space travel and the new life he has on Earth, that since his android had grown a conscience since the War of Kings. That he could not just sit by and pretend what effects the galaxy has no consequences for everybody involved, himself included. Donning the name Darkhawk once more, he took to the skies after blasting the other raptor back to his enclave in space before taking off, wondering how Miranda will react to the change of pace.[15]

Infinity Countdown

After learning from Richard Rider that the Fraternity of Raptors were after the Infinity Stones, Chris wanted to find a way to stop them, but he was stuck on Earth. He was later attacked by the bounty hunter Death's Head who was hired by the Raptors to capture Chris and bring him back to them alive. After learning that Death's Head had a spaceship, Chris was able to convince Death's Head to take him to the Raptors. After saying goodbye to Miranda, Chris and Death's Head traveled to where Death's Head was to meet the Raptors, the planet Arcturus IV; however, the Raptors betrayed Death's Head and destroyed his ship. Chris survived the ship's destruction and confronted the Raptors, but he was quickly overwhelmed by their numbers.

Chris' Darkhawk Amulet was removed from his body by the Raptors' leader Gyre and used in a ceremony to transform Richard Rider's brother Robbie Rider into the being called Dark Darkhawk by fusing him with Ratha'kon, a being supposedly more powerful than the Phoenix Force. The Raptors then left a dying Chris where he was set off to destroy Earth. As Chris dragged himself across the ground, he encountered his other half Razor who revealed to him the origins of the Tree of Shadows and of the first Raptor. After some coaxing from Razor, Chris tapped into his hidden strength and emerged with a new Darkhawk body after fully fusing his mind with the armor. Chris then flew after the Raptors to stop them.[16]

Chris battled the Raptors with help from Death's Head and Nova Prime. Nova made it difficult to fight Dark Darkhawk as he preferred to reason with his brother Robbie than fight him. Dark Darkhawk then shockingly turned on Gyre and destroyed him while stating that he would bring order to the universe, not Gyre. The Raptors were eventually stopped when Death's Head rigged the power core of the Kree ship the Raptors stole to explode. Only Dark Starhawk survived the explosion, though stunned, allowing Chris to reclaim his Darkhawk Amulet. Dark Starhawk then disappeared in a flash of light after striking his Nega-Bands together. Grieving over the loss of Robbie, Nova angrily told Chris to stay on Earth or he would have him locked up. After Chris returned to Earth, he decided stay out of space for a while. Later that night, he was met by Sleepwalker while he dreamed, telling him that the influence of the Infinity Stones threatened the Mindscape and that the only way he could protect it was to become a Sleepwalker.[17]

Young Again

Darkhawk attended Thanos' funeral along with prominent cosmic figures where it was revealed that Thanos had transferred his mind into a new body. However, the Black Order came and stole Thanos' corpse, while opening a rip in space in order to trap them.[18] While trapped there, Darkhawk's atoms began to break apart, affecting his link to the suit. After being captured by the Universal Church of Truth from a possible future, Chris found out that his body was merged with the armor and that he had become younger than when he first found the amulet.[19] Under the control of the Church, Darkhawk and the other prisoners attacked the Guardians of the Galaxy, but Rocket Raccoon was able to free them from the Church's control and sent the church back to their timeline.[20]

After the Void was leading the forces of the Cancerverse into invading the Negative Zone, Darkhawk was among the heroes summoned by Mister Fantastic using his Dimensional Anchor in order to defeat the Scourge. Once the Silver Surfer managed to merge Bob Reynolds with Void back, Nova sacrificed himself in order to defeat the Scourge, ending the threat.[21]

Powers and Abilities

Power Grid [24]Intelligence 2Strength4 Speed*5 3Durability4 Energy Projection*6 3Fighting Skills 2* Armor Transformations

Abilities

Skilled Combatant: Chris is skilled in Kendo and an unidentified branch of Karate.[citation needed]

Strength level

25+ Tons.[15]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Darkhawk Amulet:

Consciousness Transfer: Chris can transfer his consciousness into the Darkhawk's alien android while at the same time, switch the robotic body's place with that of his own body wherever he is at any time.[citation needed]

Darkhawk Android: The Darkhawk Armor is advanced Shi'ar technology meshed with magic, allowing the host numerous superhuman capabilities:

Superhuman Strength: The Armor allows Chris to lift in the excess of 25+ tons. Able to knock out Venom.[citation needed]

Superhuman Speed

Superhuman Durability: Darkhawk is superhumanly durable; he is capable of shrugging off physical impacts, energy blasts, and most artillery fire.

Superhuman Agility

Superhuman Reflexes

Armament Conjuration: The Android can summon weapons from the extra-dimensional expanse from whence they came, or manifest desired munitions from its own body at will.[citation needed]

Flight: The retractable glider wings under his arms allow him to glide on air currents. Darkhawk can also fly at speeds that let him fly from New York to California in only a matter of hours. After the Darkhawk armor attained a new form, Chris is able to fly interstellar distances.[22]

Self Repair: Even major injuries to his Darkhawk body can be repaired by switching back to his human form.[citation needed]

Superhuman Vision: Darkhawk has telescopic and infra-red vision. He can see through most camouflage.[citation needed]

Force Field: Chris can utilize a circular wafer-thin force field.[citation needed]

Concussion Blasts: He can fire blasts of destructive dark energy from the amulet on his chest.[citation needed]

Mode Shifting: Talons can morph their bodies into a host of augmentative forms. Becoming transparent, doubling body armor, projecting greater weaponry, etc.[citation needed]

Formerly *Avengers Identicard

Transportation

Formerly Avengers Quinjet

Trivia

Darkhawk's armor and appearance has been a continued source of debate amongst Marvel "True-Believers." After his series was canceled, his new appearances often reverted back to the original Darkhawk armor. As of his Loners appearances, he is in "DH 1.0" form, although he had appeared a few times as DH 2.0 prior to this.[citation needed]

It has been a misunderstanding amongst many readers and fans of Darkhawk that he was aware of his status as a hero within the Marvel 2099 universe, in which he is known as "The Powell," one of the "most powerful, and feared, heroes in the universe." This wasn't Earth-928 (or Marvel 2099), it was a similar cyberpunk dystopia world within Chronopolis. This was resolved by DeFalco himself within the letter columns in one of the final issues of the ongoing series.[citation needed]

Links and References

185 Appearances of Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

15 Minor Appearances of Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

Media Christopher Powell (Earth-616) was Mentioned in

123 Images featuring Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

13 Quotations by or about Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

Character Gallery: Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

Christopher Powell (Earth-616) on Wikipedia.org

Darkhawk Zone: The Ultimate Darkhawk Fansite

Darkhawk @ New Warriors Continuity Conundrum

New Warriors Message Board

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starcityhq · 4 years

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WHAT: The Avenging League finalizes a plan to move against NOVA. This time, the X-Men join them.

WHO: Batman, Captain America, Cyclops, Wonder Woman, Superman, Iron Man, Loki, Bucky Barnes, Emma Frost, Blue Beetle, Iceman, Zatara, Batwoman, Gambit, Moxie, Signal, Black Widow, Supergirl, Flash (Barry Allen), Flash (Wally West), Spiderman, Nightcrawler, Huntress, Hawkeye, Bruce Banner, Rogue, Human Torch, Zatanna, Beast Boy, Green Arrow, Speed, Cable, Nightstar, Polaris, Marvel Girl, Wolverine, Honey Badger, Raptor, Oracle, Batgirl, Stinger, Wiccan, Scarlet Witch, and Red Robin.

WHEN: August 30th, 2020.

BATMAN: The meeting was called in light of new information received from Tony Stark, a man Bruce could take or leave, given the choice, but it provided them with enough to make a move. In the recent weeks he knew some of the burden had fallen on Steve's shoulders. There were other things going on within his own family that needed to be addressed and taken care of, but he didn't even know where to start. Damian and Dick's absence from the large table was strange, discomforting, and his expression was more grim than usual.

Also notable was the addition of the X-Men. He'd never worked with them before in this capacity, but he knew what they were capable of. Over the years, he'd built up a mutual respect with Scott Summers and, perhaps to a lesser extent, Emma Frost, but the others he was much less familiar with. Scott was already in the know.

"The X-Men have joined us because we have a plan. One that will involve every person in this room." No greeting and no small talk. He wanted to get straight to the point.

CYCLOPS: Scott didn't conduct things in quite the same removed fashion that Bruce usually addressed people, but they weren't there for greetings and small talk. If there had ever been a time for that, it was long since passed. "All of us in this room have a part to play in eradicating a threat that is becoming so ingrained and systemic in our world, that if we fail to address it now we may not get another chance. The X-Men," he glanced briefly toward the faces who had accompanied him there from District X, "will do it standing beside the League. Whatever ills mutants have faced alone in the past, we don't need to face NOVA alone. We can't."

"Several weeks ago, a NOVA detention facility was destroyed outside the city." His gaze flickered briefly to Lorna, masked entirely by his visor, "There are others like it. Mutants, metahumans, and other enemies of NOVA are being held there illegally. I won't go into detail about the things being done to them in captivity. Whatever your imagination tells you, it's likely worse. We need them removed, the facilities shut down and reduced to be non-operational. My X-Men and I will assist the League in making sure this is done. Many of you have asked me when we would make our move, what I was waiting for. Here it is."

He had the information that Tony would be presenting and he already knew what part he meant his people to play. X-Force had been reconvened for a reason. They could handle the unknown and the half-known. "Iron Man has uncovered something disturbing that we can't ignore. Our X-Force team will be going alongside members of the League to investigate. We expect resistance. Beyond that..." he spread his hands, "be ready."

CAPTAIN AMERICA: Steve looked first at Bruce and then at Scott, wondering what it was like to lead large groups with little to no inclination to speak to the members like people and to just regurgitate information. He just... had never functioned that way. Maybe it was because he wasn't some kind of super genius, or maybe it was because he had gotten his start in the army rather than alone or at fifteen on a team of child soldiers assembled with little to no prior training before they were flung out into the world. He was used to talking to people as just another person. As someone who had to connect and convey urgency. "I think a little bit of context is necessary here," he said simply. While they could all just cut to the chase, he was sure it would eliminate questions to fill people in on what the hell they were talking about.

"As you all know, several months ago we had our first meeting of the Avenging League, wherein teams were assigned and objectives were given. X-Men, to fill you in, we have been working on NOVA on five fronts. Bruce and Scott are referring to the findings from some of those teams. The patrol team, meanwhile, has been discrediting NOVA and diffusing violent patrols on the streets whenever possible. I'll leave Bruce to explain the findings, but suffice it to say that our more technical side of things, particularly Oracle and Red Robin, have been working on hacking in to NOVA's systems for all those months as well. However, as Bruce said, it was Tony who discovered something urgent enough to call us all to order."

He glanced at several members seated around the massive table before continuing, "Last meeting, we were interrupted by Robin coming in with what we now know to be a prototype of one of NOVA's inhibitors, the effects of which were what caused the city-wide loss of powers during the Joker's crime spree. Tony, Bruce Banner, and formerly Princess Shuri had done work on figuring out what we were dealing with and Tony came to me last week with a... disturbing hypothesis on how they managed to pull all of it off. That's a big part of why we're here. It's time to start acting, as Scott has said."

He knew that the X-Men hadn't necessarily carried the same ideas as the League or the Avengers in the past, but he wanted to make it perfectly clear that they were allies this time around. "The X-Men and their X-Force will be invaluable help in dealing with this. For all intents and purposes, we're all on the same team. Scott, Bruce, and I are going to make sure the efforts are evenly divided to get the job done, but we need to deal with this threat quickly and efficiently. This is what we've been waiting for. I'm gonna pass the floor to Tony to explain further what we're dealing with. Tone?" He looked to his friend, knowing he could definitely articulate things more clearly.(edited)

IRON MAN: Cyclops wasn't as dry as Batman, but it was a close call. Tony didn't exactly mind, because he wasn't in the mood to listen to a bunch of small talk when he was eager and ready to share what he knew with the rest of the league. He'd never been the best at teamwork or collaboration, but he'd come a long way from where he started. By now, he was smart enough to realize that there were plenty of capable people working around him, even if they weren't on the same team, and he was especially impressed by those working the digital side of things. They were also the only team he had regular communication with.

He was out of his seat before Steve finished talking. Pressing a button illuminated a blue, 3-D model of the city above the center of the table. "Caught some footage from my suit during a flyover." It didn't occur to him to explain that this happened only because Hulk had split the concrete. He breezed by that point, instead changing the view so the ground lit up in yellow criss-crossing lines. "There's a whole grid system underneath the city. The inhibitors are all underground." He pointed at each intersecting line. "We're talking far. The grid goes as far down as a mile areas with a higher elevation. It was lucky for us that the portion I caught was high enough to be unearthed at all. There are thousands of them, all connected, which means they likely have the same power source."

Changing the view, he rotated the city so they were looking at it from above. The yellow color was brighter along the water. "I also picked up an area, near the harbor, that is giving off much stronger radiation. Energy. Much too strong to be just an inhibitor. My hypothesis is that they have an underwater facility. Connecting underground tunnels that gave them the ability to set up this entire grid without any of us being the wiser. They did it all right under our nose."

ORACLE: Babs sure did have a time not cutting over people, eyes mostly just focused on Tony once she heard that he had things to share. It wasn't that she was uncaring about the X-Men, quite the opposite. She was happy they were here, but she wanted to know the news more than anything else. She almost smirked as Tony rose from his chair, sensing the same impatience in him. Keen eyes inspect the model before them, even rising from her chair and leaning forward silently to get a full look. At the news of the same power source though, she smirked. That's something they can deal with, even if it was underwater.

"Well, that big of an energy reading means that they're leaving a nice bread crumb trail for me," she'd already had her laptop out at this point, and she goes from looking at the model to typing quickly, though doesn't break her thought process, "Give me time and I can get a rough estimate of where the power source specifically should be. A layout will take more time, their systems are tricky but not impossible. Any entrance would help in that department." Unlike most everyone else, she could start her work right away.

BLUE BEETLE: Teddy had been working on the same team as Tony so far, so the news he was sharing wasn’t a surprise. He’d never been the most confident when it came to situations like this, usually his input was ignored or not even asked for. But he had been given a job as part of the Tech group and had some less than thrilling news to share. “We’ll likely need one. In fact any way we could try and get a head of this would be smart.” Ted said, his voice quieter than his usual boisterous nature as he rose to his feet. “See, Tony charged me with working a kind of Faraday Cage, something we could use to block any kind of electromagnetic fields. It would stop the pulses their technology sends out and render it useless in the affect it has on anyone with enhanced abilities.” He explained. “Ideally this could’ve been equipped on someone like Stinger,” he nodded at Cassie, “But it’s just not feasible.”

“Despite having a great deal of experience in this area,” his damn backpack could fly off and produce one, “Every prototype I’ve been able to create just isn’t strong enough to effect the web they’ve already weaved.” He adjusted his goggles, a little nervously and continued, “I could eventually make something strong enough to neutralise it but I’d need time, weeks, maybe even months to make a finished, reliable piece of tech that I’d be confident in risking someone going in with.” Ted wasn’t about to put someone’s life at risked with a rushed piece of equipment. “And… given who we’re dealing with, I don’t think we have that much time to waste.” ICEMAN: As Teddy returned to his seat Bobby spoke up from the other side of the room “We don’t.” His voice certain. Bobby’s bottom jaw jutted forwards a little bit, as though thinking hard on what he was going to say (a rare thing for him) “I dunno all the work you’ve been doing. But I’ve been doing recon on behalf of the X-Men. I’ve gotten a look deep inside NOVA’s workings and the shit they’re doing to people… to children-“ he cut off and swallowed, going quiet while the temperature around him dropped by several degrees, his emotions getting the better of him like they almost always did. He cleared his throat, “We don’t have months. We don’t have weeks. We don’t even have days.” He looked around at the other faces in the room. “They need to be stopped and they need to be stopped now. Whatever it takes. Go in guns blazing get the damn media involved if helps.” He shook his head slightly, running a hand through his hair, obviously agitated.

ZATARA: “That won’t help.” Zach hadn’t gone into this affair planning to say a thing, he was new to the group, one of the younger members and probably disliked by several of the others in the room. But he could offer one insight the rest of them probably lacked. “That one article the paper got out the first time hurt them some and the fallout of that was NOVA coming down hard on the political powers in the city. I’m pretty close to the Mayor and his wife so believe me when I say they’ve got their claws embedded deep into the politics and the papers. Even if we went public with this information, gave it over to reputable journalists anyway? They’d have a hell of a time getting it out in any official way and even if they did NOVA has the influence to spin it any way they like. Doesn’t help that that Nabel woman’s got enough PR skills to make my agents jealous.” He added wryly. “We’re on our own here.”

FLASH: "We need an opening." Barry spoke up from another part of the room. He had been biting his tongue - trying to contain his natural urge to meet-and-greet with all of the new faces that were there since their last official meeting. "We have been making steady process, but without an opening to exploit we aren't going to be getting anywhere. Inhibitor networks miles underground or inside mountains... that isn't an issue. Normally, speedsters like myself or Wally could just phase ourselves through the ground to get to them. It's tricky phasing downwards instead of forwards, but it could be done. Underwater, however? We can run on top of the water - but not through it." He shook his head. "Zach and---I don't know your name, sorry; I'm not the one with the files on everyone--" Barry grins playfully and shoots a look a Bruce before clearing his throat and continuing. "They're right though. We don't have the time to plan things out any long than this meeting. We need to come up with a course of action and we need to do so in a speedy manner."

SUPERMAN: The sheer number of people in that room would have been enough to give anyone hope, surely. Had there ever been a larger, better equipped, more motivated group ready to take action? He couldn't recall one. He knew little of the X-Men, though he'd been into District X a handful of times, but they seemed as eager and prepared to make their move as the League. Moreso, maybe. Their struggles had gone on long before NOVA was in the picture.

He opened his mouth to say something to that effect, but Zach's mention of the papers turned his attention elsewhere. "NOVA doesn't have their hands in everything. The Gazette has been standing against them for months. We do have a voice, and we're using it when we can. Taking direct action against NOVA is only one step. We need the people on our side, and we've been working since the day the League reformed to make sure that's happening. The Gazette is doing it with us. But even without that..." he made a broad gesture with one hand around the room that had seemed so large but with all the teams present was nearing capacity, "are we really that few?"

"For those of us heading underwater who can't manage it naturally, I have plenty of confidence that our tech team can compensate. Anyone here taken scuba lessons?" The grin he wore wasn't at all because he wasn't taking it seriously. He was. He knew everything they stood to lose, everything that inaction had cost them and so many other people, but when he looked around that room he knew that it would finally be dealt with. It was worth smiling about.

NIGHTCRAWLER: Kurt had stationed himself in a proper vantage point in the room - nestled quite comfortably up in one corner near the ceiling; hands and feet clinging him to the walls with ease. There were so many people, it was astounding when you got them all together in one room. It really opened his eyes to just how many people were working to help keep the people of this City safe and to help rid them of the NOVA situation that plagued them all. The mutant recognized only a handful of non-mutants; most by reputation and name alone and others by former relations - such as the faces of several Avengers team members. The man couldn't help but frown as Bobby spoke from another part of the room. He wanted to comfort him - seeing his expression change as his emotions took hold of him - but there was a time and place for that and this wasn't one of them. Once 'Superman' had finished speaking about his confidence in the teams they had assembled, Kurt took the opportunity to speak - keeping his pace slow so his accent wouldn't make it too hard to understand him.

"I personally haf followed efery story ze Gazette has put out regarding mutant relations or ze situation ve haf vis NOVA. Zey are expertly written and judging from ze online forums of various chat groups sroughout ze city, zere is a large amount of support backing ze ideologies zey are composed of." He explained. "I cannot speak so much on tactical advice as I can on my own matters - I am a teleporter; ze X-Men's 'Nightcrawler' and vherefer ve need to get into; I am my Bamfs are at your disposal." He gave a nod of respect to their 'leaders'.

RED ROBIN: Tim listened, knowing better than to get involved until he had more information. "Babs and I have nailed down the coordinates of the detention facilities outside the city like the one Magneto attacked. We have all those official locations." It had taken months to crack their system, but once they had, it had come easily.

He moved his spot to settle next to Babs, pulling out his own machine to begin working with her. "We'll help however we can, including zeroing in on a signal for this new underwater facility." He didn't have too much more to add. He had been so busy with nailing down things about Dick's assault that he hadn't focused on the League as much as he should, but now that he was close to cracking that, too, he could put much more effort in.

BRUCE BANNER: Bruce was momentarily grateful for Tony's focus on certain details while completely ignoring others. It wasn't as if everyone in that room wouldn't have known what happened, what Hulk had done, and Bruce did struggle to compartmentalize it enough to accept something good coming of it. It had though, at least in this case. Minimal injuries, maximum and unexpected information. Not that he was going to take any kind of credit for smashing holes in the ground.

"What you're looking for is similar to gamma radiation, but it's not..." he spread his hands, and looked between Barbara and Tim, "it's not like anything I've seen before. If you find the focal point, wherever that's strongest, that's where we'll need to be."

SUPERGIRL: Kara squirmed in her seat at the mention of the media. Both Lois and Clark worked for the Gazette and had been producing articles shining the light on NOVA's terrible actions. Even though she knew what they knew, it didn't prepare her to hear the details from both Scott and Bobby. Wincing, she looked down at her hands. "How long?" She directed the question at Bruce, Steve, and Scott. "Before we make a move, I mean." They said there was a plan. It didn't seem likely, given the circumstances, that they would sit around longer than they had to.

NIGHTSTAR: M'gann paid close attention. This was her first official hero meeting and she intended to remember every detail of it. Down to the cookies Supergirl had brought. There were far more heroes than she'd expected, many of them familiar faces. She took great comfort in that.

"I might be of some use in finding these underground facilities. My telepathy extends out like a globe. It would be easier if I had a specific person to track." An exact telepathic signature. "But people being kept underground is unusual. I should be able to sense them without too much trouble." The rest of what she could do, the team leaders already knew.

HONEY BADGER: This is the first time Gabby has ever seen so many different people in the same room that were like her! It was kind of amazing if she was being honest with herself but this is a serious meeting. This wasn’t the first time Gabby had been in one but it was the first time when it was for something good. She took a handful of cookies — four of them laid out on a napkin in front of her as her feet kicked back and forth while listening to everyone else speak first.

“We have to help everyone in those facilities, I agree with Bobby. We should be doing everything that it takes. I know what it’s like to be poked and prodded at in places exactly like where NOVA is operating. I’m willing to take the risk so we don’t leave those people in there because they might not have much time.” She crushes a piece of the cookie she broke off in her hand so crumbs fall into her lap. Gabby tries to collect herself, looking over at her family for a moment then back to everyone else in the room. “I don’t care what someone has done, treating anyone like an experiment isn’t okay.”

She takes a quick bite of whatever is left of the sweet in her hand, trying to calm herself down. “I’m sorry. I’m just really passionate about this sort of thing. I just want the world to better for everyone — Mutants, Meta-Humans, and animals too. Whatever plan we come up with, I want to be part of it.” Her mind trying to ignore flashbacks to her upbringing.

POLARIS: Lorna couldn't help the guarded look she wore, arms crossed firmly across her chest as she peers around. Sure, one could argue that she had reason to trust those around them now, but she only trusted those she knew. Her eyes dart between the people talking tech, and if Bobby hadn't burst out she would have. Still, she takes a breath. It's quite difficult in the moment, not to snap, not to break in, but hearing the sentiment of brute force makes her shake her head as people speak. She choses her words carefully, more than aware that it's possible others here may know she was with Magneto, more than the couple that did. Still, she wasn't about to shy away from saying her thoughts, and if it came up, then it came up.

"If Magneto showed us one thing, it's that brute strength will backfire on us. The short term saving mutants will be a success, yes, but at this point the long-term repercussions could be catastrophic. Think a mob of civilians descending on District X-- people we don't want to fight." her eyes go to Gabby and Bobby, but land on the man who spoke just before him, "My powers work with the Earth's magnetic fields, and metal. Is there something that I could help with? I know how to create electromagnetic pulses. I... can feel what they have. The web, and I could feel an underground facility if I had time," her eyes turn to Tony Stark, trying to explain, "If you can help me narrow down any materials they're using in construction I may be able to get a better sense, too.... but it may involve concentrating in a very obvious area... like in the air above it. Not sure if that's helpful. " she shrugs with a sigh, turning to her teammates particularly. Normally ready to go in guns blazing with NOVA, she's trying to take a moment.

"If we repeat what happened, we'll have more fallout to deal with. The brief amount of time that it takes to get a layout and a plan together is worth it. Unless we want to be grouped with Magneto some more."

ROGUE: Anna stiffened, her gloved hands folded on the table, but she didn't say anything at first. She hadn't been involved in what happened at the first facility, or fully supportive of the move in the first place, but that was exactly why she'd stayed out of it. Her gaze went to Wanda, as if to see if she were at all affected by the topic of her father being raised at the table.

Normally she was all for going in hard and strong. All the tech talk wasn't her style and she didn't really know what any of them were talking about, so it wasn't something she could offer help on. "Dunno if that's such a good idea, sugah," she said to Lorna under her breath, but she was looking at Scott. Erik had worked with the X-Men plenty of times in the past, but she couldn't imagine him willing to take orders from a group that included so many non-mutants.

MOXIE: She was told to keep her words concise and professional. This was not a time to mince friendly words with others, though she could barely contain her excitement to be a part of something greater than anything she had ever seen in her life.

“Well, first of all,” she started, standing from her seat when it was her turn to speak, blueprints in hand. “Thank youse for bringing me on board. I ain’t much of a hero myself but if I’ve been invited here, that must mean I’m bringing something to the table, right?“

Without another moment’s pause she presented one of the blueprints, unfurling it on the table. She would gesture a hand towards the different aspects of her design as she spoke.

“Sorry it’s on this silly little blue paper. I like to keep things old fashioned, ya know? Feel free to pass it around to the higher ups over there. I understand youse need extra support under the water. I myself did some digging on the currents here. They’re not any more pleasant to the kinda waters I’ve experienced back home. Taking that into consideration with my daddy’s notes on the conditions of the water he had left before he passed, I’ve been working on some deflector technology that could be attached to anyone’s suits, which could provide extra support while you’re lookin’ for these facilities. I used my Heart of Gold as a reference, but because some of it is influenced by magic and I’m not magic at all, I substituted that with a modified magnetic wave field that serves a similar purpose to “Nyx’s Blessing,” which will deflect any projectiles coming towards you on land or underwater, in this case. It’s activated by your heartbeat and breathing patterns so if you sense something is wrong, it’ll give you a small barrier to protect you.”

An anxious grin followed, swallowing the forming lump in her throat.

“But y’know, if that’s not suitable, I’ve got other plans I’m willing to share with the technology team to provide my experience on the kinda conditions and obstacles we’ll have to look out for if we’re going underwater. I have access to all my daddy’s old notes. Seeing as he was an Atlantean, I’m sure the materials would still be useful and their technology is more advanced, from what he told me.”

BLACK WIDOW: Natasha sat by Logan rather than James this go around. It wasn’t all that often that the X-Men and the Avengers were in the same room together and it wasn’t for some fight. So she was pleased that she could actually settle beside her friend. Since the incident with the inhibitors and leaving Clint, they had been meeting up semi-regularly just to drink and talk. Not much beyond that. Now here they were about to take down NOVA. She bit her lip as she listened, taking in the influx of information. “Wanda and Billy could help those of us who need help with the breathing underwater issue, right?” She had, in fact, taken scuba lessons, but it didn’t seem pertinent to bring it up.

She was also aware of the heightened emotions in the room and she ignored them for the most part. This was a mission briefing. “I’m sure that Cap, Batman, and Cyclops have a plan, and I’m sure it won’t include mass destruction of the facilities and every living thing inside that doesn’t ping for mutant, meta, or enhanced.” If it did, she’d still do what she was told, but it would still shock her. Cap didn’t work like that and neither did Batman. She didn’t speak for Cyclops. The X-Men had done their share of death. Not that she blamed them. Sometimes it was the best way to go about things. “Let’s give them a minute to tell us what we need to be focusing on. A lot of us have been running recon, so we’re aware of what’s going on on the inside. I’m sure that’s why we’re here.”

She listened to the new girl speak, blinking at how she sounded like she was from an mafia movie about Capone. She’d been around in the 20s, but she didn’t remember it. Surprising. “It seems like a good idea,” she said. “So we aren’t completely relying on powers in case the inhibitors pop.

ZATANNA: "I've enchanted charms to grant glamours and certain physical protections before. I wouldn't even need to be near them or concentrating on the spell. Water breathing wouldn't be much of a problem. But," As much as she hated to admit any shortcomings, Zatanna obviously had the foresight to plan in situations like this. Recalling her very similar conversation with Barry, the corners of her mouth turned down a smidge. "They haven't been tested near inhibitors. And relying on them underwater isn't exactly the safest test run."

Zee shifted her weight from one foot to the other, glancing at Bruce, at Clark, at Diana, at the rest of the most familiar faces. It felt less like failure directing her statements to people who already knew. "I can provide heavy combat power until the second they decide to turn on the inhibitors. If we beat them to it, though, I can portal a good number of the people trapped there out."

GREEN ARROW: Oliver Queen had finally managed to return to Star City after well over a year's absence, and what he was met with was...worse than it had been. NOVA and The Justice--The Avenging League (he still needed to get used to that) were locked in an all out war, and it held Star City, HIS city, in a stranglehold. He wouldn't have it. Not at all. So, he jumped right back in, with briefings from both Clark and Bruce, and was finally back in the meeting. There were...a lot of personalities in the room. Some he knew well. Many he'd never even seen before. It was refreshing, in an odd way. Gave him hope that they may just pull this shit all off.

As he listened to the people talking, he couldn't help but feel like people were just...rattling stuff off. It felt structureless, like a city hall town meeting instead of a game plan. But, he was sure that Bruce had a plan. Bruce had a detailed plan for how he ate breakfast in the morning. "Alright, everyone," Oliver spoke up, putting his feet off the table he currently had them resting on. "I'm sure they know exactly what all of us are supposed to be doing. Just give the big guys a chance to speak. You all know what I can do, just point me and my bow in the direction of the bastards who are ruining my home."

BATWOMAN: This was a ridiculous amount of people. Kate was used to flying solo and only occasionally pairing up with maybe a handful of other heroes and heroines at most. Even as a part of the old Justice League, she had never really had to worry about dealing with the entirety of their membership. Here in Star City, however, under this - Avenging League - and now with the addition of the X-Men from District X, it was honestly a little overwhelming. Yet, she outwardly showed little expression - her jaw locked into a sharp frown and her body poised with a rigidness that mimicked Bruce's own. She listened to each person in turn as they spoke up, taking in the words they sad - no matter how heartfelt or generic the information they held seemed to be. Everyone has a part to play, no matter how small, and the only way they were going to deal with this NOVA group was by putting everything together into one solid plan.

To that end, the woman leaned forward - the brilliant red of her cowl's attached wig draping over her shoulders as she waited for Oliver to finish what he had to say. "Look," She began - her tone low and just slightly off-pitch thanks to the slight modulation tech incorporated into her cowl. "I'm rather new to everything going on here in Star City, so I've had to play catch up in an extremely short amount of time." She prefaced. "We need to look at this from a more tactical perspective. Yes, we each have bits and pieces of information to share, but we should be focusing our efforts on the biggest problem at hand - how do you assail an underwater fortification with possible inhibitor technology in place? We still don't know if they actually have inhibitors in place around the power core or not, right? All our planning and preparations aren't going to do a damn bit of good if only a tiny fraction of us can even make a stand." Kate finished her statement with a sigh. "We need plans - and we need contingencies for that plan; and more for those."

HUMAN TORCH: “Whatever the plan is, I’d like to officially unassign myself from computer duty and underwater mystery investigations.” Johnny wasn’t the “come up with a plan” guy. He was the “ball of fire and great hair” guy, and lately he’d only been the latter. Peter wasn’t going to go off the rails, and if he was tucked behind a screen with Oracle and Red Robin then it wasn’t like he was going to cause another scene. Johnny didn’t need to be there, and he definitely had no place in the ocean. That left the other thing. He was pretty sure in all the many many words that had been spoken, somebody had said a team would be going after the other NOVA detention centers. He wanted a spot. With a small shrug, he leaned back in his chair. “That’s all I got.”(edited)

SPEED: His first impression had been that everyone talks so much. it was almost enough for Tommy to try hiding under the table to sleep until it would be over. Although the only aspect that keeps him actually paying attention is the fact they’re talking about a topic familiar to him. His fingers grip onto the armrest of his chair as they vibrate just enough to disintegrate them into ash while everyone talks. You just might miss it if you weren’t paying attention but at least Tommy didn’t blow anything up.

He spent his entire childhood in and out of detention centers. It wasn’t until his powers came in that they slapped an inhibitor collar around his neck and threw him in a high security prison. He knows what if’s like to be treated like an animal and experimented on everyday.

“You should always plan on scum like that having inhibitor technology built into everything. They’re prepared even if it doesn’t appear like they are. It could be in every wall they build.” His voice finally fills the room as he leans forward, memories of his own torture playing on repeat in his mind. It doesn’t stop him from getting a word in though. He doesn’t have much else to add because Tommy knows they wouldn’t like hearing what he would like to do. If it were up to him every facility would be vaporized with the scientists with it.

BATGIRL: Stephanie had five cookies left, but none of them were chocolate chip, and suddenly that was the one she actually wanted. Her gaze darted over to the plate once or twice as she pondered whether or not it was worth calling attention to herself just for another cookie. Ultimately, the answer was yes.

But she was quick. It was just a coincidence that she got back to her seat just as it suddenly seemed to be her turn. Was she supposed to say something? Her gaze darted to Bruce, Tim, and Cass - in that order - but then she shrugged. "...Sounds good to me. Anything that's not circling the same city block twelve times in one night." Patrol was getting a little repetitive, even though she enjoyed making the embarrassing NOVA tweets and TikToks. The one trending right now was one showing an agent reaching for his weapon only to discover that it'd been replaced with a very large churro.

HUNTRESS: Helena knew this was serious talk, and she was taking it seriously, but she had never been one for good posture, or for being a leader, for that matter. She was more than comfortable listening to the plans form around her, her foot slung up on the edge of her seat, chin propped against her knee, messing with the hoop in her conch piercing. She was paying close attention, even if it didn't appear that way. It was a strategy she used often: if no one took her seriously or thought she wasn't paying attention, they'd let slip information they'd otherwise hide.

So she was prepared when the discussion rolled around and it seemed to be her turn to talk, and sat up straighter, dropping her hand from her ear. "I'm with Green Arrow. Give me a direction to point some arrows, and I'm good. If you need to keep someone in my ear for on-the-fly instructions, my only request is that it's Oracle, Blue Beetle, or Red Robin," she dropped a wink in their direction. She knew enough to know that they'd most likely describe her as the 'problem child' of the Birds and want to keep track of her so she didn't take things into her own hands if things started to go south."Beyond that, I just wanna take these fuckers down." She shrugged. "However you want to use me to do it, I'm willing to do. But uh... I do agree with Bat-chick over there," she nodded towards the redhead, "We need some contingency plans. Something tells me NOVA isn't gonna have just one line of defense." With that, she sat back again, hand moving almost subconsciously back to the earring, twisting it back and forth.

HAWKEYE: Kate had technically led people before. She didn’t love it. It hadn’t even actually been on purpose. Regardless, it had happened (somehow) and given her a newfound appreciation for what it was like to be at the head of the metaphorical (or in this case very big and literal) table. She could just sit there and take direction, but...

“I don’t mean to pop the power bubble or anything, but I’m pretty sure that we shouldn’t be relying on anybody’s extra abilities to get or find or detect anything. It’s you guys,” she made a vague gesture at a random assortment of her fellow League-ers who were more than just baseline human, “that they’re trying to get rid of. This is just a shot in the dark,” except it wasn’t really, “but I’m guessing that means it’s probably also you guys that they’re prepared for. If they’ve got a super secret lair under the ocean, we should probably count on getting in the old fashioned way. Isn’t that like, somebody’s job? Your job, probably?” The final remark was directed toward Tony Stark at the front, though it probably didn’t rest squarely on his shoulders.

SCARLET WITCH: Wanda sat listening for the most part. She wasn't passive, per se, but she certainly wasn't going to interrupt. However, she didn't particularly appreciate the insinuation that she and the others in this room--mutant, meta, or enhanced--were not capable of infiltrating without their abilities. "If I'm not mistaken, mutants are not useless even with the inhibitors. All of the Avengers have been trained to fight by Captain America. As I understand it, so have the X-Men by Cyclops. While it is wise not to rely solely on our powers, we don't know what NOVA will do. Regardless, I'm sure it will be taken into account that powers may be lost." It made her uncomfortable to be seated in the same room as the X-Men discussing the loss of powers, but it was what it was. She was who she was. "As it is, however, we shouldn't do nothing with them on the chance NOVA will see fit to remove them again. We should use what we have while we have it."

She didn't even entertain the notion of grouping with Magneto and frankly couldn't help the look she shot Lorna in spite of herself. Fortunately, Anna spoke before that and she kept her tongue. Whether their reasons were the same was hardly the point. What did matter was that they surely didn't think her father was the right fulcrum for these plans. Rather than commenting, however, she instead turned her attention to the newcomer. She was old world, much like Steve and Bucky, but what she said did make sense. "A failsafe, as it were," she agreed, nodding to Gladys. "It makes sense. If it can be pulled off quickly enough." She glanced to Tony on reflex. He was, after all, the tech genius she was most familiar with. As Tommy spoke, Wanda could sense his discomfort with the scientists. She felt her jaw tense. Of course her child was uneasy. Without a thought, one long-fingered hand reached out to catch her son's, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She wanted to provide a quiet strength for him, and a grounding one. After all, he was always poised to bounce off the walls. And when he was uncomfortable, she knew it would be worse. He'd want to run off the extra energy.

MARVEL GIRL: Prior to the initial start of the meeting, Jean had caught sight of some faces, familiar and unfamiliar. There was hardly any time for any mingling, as it was serious business. But still, she made the effort to ensure her son was sitting right next to her. She had reached over and patted the top of his hand, leaning down to kiss his cheek before taking her seat.

There had been quite the amount of opinions, both formidable and perhaps, a bit disconcerting. She exhaled quietly right after Wanda had finished speaking and she stood from her chair to address the crowd.

“I for one, agree with Wanda,” she said, gesturing her sentiments towards the woman, “Though I myself have been out of commission for quite some time, I wouldn’t dismiss the idea that us mutants can’t continue to fight back even with the Inhibitors in play.”

She turned her gaze briefly towards Scott. She had worked with him for many years as well as most of the X-Men in the room. Though he was not perfect, he was someone she admired and to know that he was putting in his efforts on behalf of the X-Men was worth praising. “Scott is a formidable leader. He is very capable of consolidating our strategies as well as an excellent negotiator. If need be, I would like to echo his sentiments on dispersing us to work in tandem with the rest of the League.

The young lady with the underwater devices does have a point about observing the currents of the water, provided it is confirmed they do have an underwater facility. It would be far too dangerous to go in there unless we know what exactly is in there. If it’s deep enough, they could be using the darkness of the water as a disguise to hide various traps and mines. Not to mention water currents can be as aggressive underneath than just on the surface. If that’s the case, perhaps if there is someone willing to scan the area by sonars, we needn’t worry about losing any additional numbers in our rankings. As for the various ground teams, I would take advantage of those who are able to easily detect things by smell, such as my colleague, Logan and his daughters, who have an enhanced sense of smell. Surely, even if certain chemicals didn’t have a particular smell on the surface, I’m sure it could still be detected. If not, if there are any samples of such Inhibitors obtained, I’d recommend anyone with a strong knowledge of chemistry observe the ingredients to see if they react to certain elements such as fire or magic.”

Her gaze flickered in Logan’s direction, pursing her lips. “But of course, that is all pre-planning as I wouldn’t want anyone to be put at risk in those stages alone. I think it’s important to find out exactly what we’re dealing with other than the threat of a potential underwater facility. NOVA surely has information on some of us and may be more than prepared and if we don’t have the contingency plan, things will surely turn sour.”

WOLVERINE: This wasn't the first time Logan had worked with the Avengers and he'd been much less reticent than the others to attend the meeting, despite not always being the most reliable team player. The so-called Justice League he didn't know much of anything about. He wasn't exactly eager to end up on a team with a bunch of strangers, but it wasn't his call to make. There were a lot of things he could say about Scott, was perfectly willing to say about Scott, even, but he was here because he believed in his leadership. That was the whole point.

Everyone was just talking so damn much.

Seated between Natasha and Gabby made it a little harder to show that annoyance. He'd met Gabby recently, it took adjusting to, but he was already letting himself get involved in her training. He didn't doubt she was fully capable of holding a position on the team, but he hadn't seen her in action, not like he'd seen Laura or Daken, and she was different. Even Laura he didn't completely want on the X-Force.

He watched Jean as she spoke, giving a slight nod, and realized suddenly it was time for him to say something. Instead he made a nondescript hand motion. "I like the cookies. Next."

BUCKY BARNES: “The odds of figuring out exactly what’s in there ahead of time are probably zilch,” Bucky pointed out. He wouldn’t be heading to that facility, regardless, as the recon team had been working for months to be ready to take down the remaining detention centers. They were as ready as they were going to be for that, though. It wasn’t the thing that needed discussing. “Nothing is ever that easy. But given what we know about NOVA, whatever they’ve got isn’t something any of us want them to keep having.” He shifted in his seat and lifted his left hand as he looked to the three up front. ”However you get in, just make sure you’re ready not to leave anything behind. That’s what you need to do the old fashioned way.” Besides, an underwater explosion, by nature, was more easily contained.

LOKI: Loki nodded at Bucky’s assessment. He didn’t particularly understand the issue with mutants versus non, and he wasn’t at all uncomfortable to be sitting in a room with both. He considered for a moment. He had been trying to find out more about the inhibitors, but it was a slow process. June headed that up and he could get too deep in her science because of how territorial she was. Still... if they had some time, perhaps Loki could get Jihl to talk to him about it. He had had dinner in her office a few times and he could tell she was warming to him even more. He could get information about the facility maybe, if not the actual inhibitors.

“I should hope that the Media isn’t corrupt any longer,” he remarked. Though he would have been able to tell if Lois was a liar. “As for what goes on with NOVA, many of us are aware. Is that not why we’re here?”

He looked over to Batman and Captain America. “Your inside man,” he pointed out, knowing it was prudent to keep his name out of people’s heads specifically but aware that they had discussed the concept itself in the past. “Could he or she not try to tease out some information on this facility?”

SIGNAL: This was the first chance he'd had to really see everyone together. The past couple weeks had just been weird. Duke didn't really know how to process everything yet. He gave a short clap at the end of Gladys' presentation, grinning at her, and leaned over to whisper, "good job." Even though he hadn't seen the finished product until now, he still knew how long and hard she'd worked on it. She was clearly proving to be a good asset to the team. He was glad Bruce had trusted him enough to give her that chance, even though that undoubtedly meant he had a file on her now. That had been the only reason he'd hesitated in getting her involved.

"I don't think anyone in here would be useless without their powers," he offered mildly. With Bruce's rigorous training, he knew he would be able to keep up with the others. His abilities were completely separate from that. Judging from how competent Steve and Scott had proved to be as leaders, he had no reason to think they wouldn't have trained their teams similarly, or at least prepared them for that possibility in light of recent events. "I think the point she was trying to make was that plans shouldn't have us rely on enhancements if there is a chance of them being taken away."

CABLE: War never changes.

Nathan learned that lesson a long time ago. He rose up against Lord Apocalypse once, a vicious dictator from two thousand years into the future. He doesn’t know how to feel about the likelihood of him trying to rise up into power again but that isn’t what this meeting is about. The point of these thoughts is that Nathan has led armies before —and worked alongside others to strategize the best plan of action to take.

He might not be a leader anymore but maybe some mannerisms never really leave you. His messiah complex still deeply embedded into his actions. However, Nathan just wants to try helping out not just his fellow Mutants but anyone they needs his help. He has always fought for everyone and it was important to come together now.

He felt honored to be part of the meeting but maybe being part of the X-Men and X-Force meant playing his part by offering his expertise. It makes Nathan happy to have guaranteed a chair next to his mother — sitting up straight while everyone is talking their piece. He was even taking notes and scribbling in his own ideas between the lines. His attention focused on every gesture and expression while everyone spoke. It finally comes down to his turn so Nathan does what he happens to do best — public speaking.

His chair is pushed back silently, only a slight squeak before Cable is on his feet. Everyone else might have spoken while sitting down but that’s never how he addressed his associates in an environment like this. One hand made of flesh and bone pressed against the table while the cybernetic one is on his hip.

“If any of our efforts are going to work we have to unite as one. Some of us have never worked with each other but we’re here to change that. We don’t have much time but what we can’t afford to do is rush in without a plan.“ His left eye glowing yellow while speaking as wisps of energy flow out of it. “While I’m always in favor of using our abilities to our advantage, I agree with the others that we have to put into consideration that NOVA will develop creative ways to prevent us from using them. We can’t rely on just that if we’re going to succeed but you’re all brilliant so I trust that you know this already.” He’s not always this serious but Nathan takes meetings like this seriously and always will. “If there’s a chance that we can make this world a better one for all of us then who would turn it down? We’re taking these facilities down either with our enhancements or without them.” Nathan could do both — he’s an expert marksman after all and also pretty good with a sword too.

Deep breath. “Nobody is useless without their powers but maybe that’s not what they’d expect out of us. I look forward to investigating as part of X-Force. We should keep in mind that communication and cooperation will be a must going forward. This is about freeing those people and reuniting children with their parents. I take it very personally when families are ripped apart, maybe more than most but this isn’t about my personal feelings right now when there’s so much at risk. We know what NOVA is capable of but we can’t eliminate the potential for the unexpected. It won’t be easy but taking down any threat is always going to have it’s challenges. If we work together I know that we can come out on top in the end. This won’t be without bumps and bruises along the way but I have faith in us.” He takes a moment to look around the room.

“That’s all I got unless anyone wants to hear my potential tactics after we’re done here.” Nathan slowly sits down in his chair and his eye stops glowing finally. His gaze looks at who was next with a nod of his head as if to signal that it was their turn.

STINGER: Though Cassie took in every word that people said, she was otherwise slightly occupied. She was suddenly keenly aware of Tommy's presence, wanted to go something when he spoke, but the helmet and Stinger costume meant he didn't know who she was. Well, what she was about to say was going to be a dead giveaway in combination with the (very clear, very purposeful) Wasp designs in her costume. Still, she'd keep her cool in this moment, and find him the moment they finished. "Those of us with tech or no powers may be able to get inside, but it's still risky. As long as I have the suit, the pym particles will keep working for me, and I should be able to get small enough to avoid security sensors." no doubt, since the bank, Cassie hadn't gone anywhere without her suit stored somewhere on her person, terrified of being caught powerless again. Still, the suggestion was gentle as she even began to find flaws in it after a moment. Her helmet turns to the head of the table instead, trying not to stare at Tommy.

BEAST BOY: Gar sat quietly, looking from person to person as they spoke. He wasn't even sure he should be here, really. He hadn't taken on any real hero role (animal rescues didn't count) since he left the Titans, so to be at the table with everyone here was... wild. Still, he can't dent the way his heart tugs towards the people lamenting what NOVA could really do. He knew he'd be among the first to be picked out himself, but too much violence in response wasn't the answer. They needed a plan, and he's go with it, but for now he sat quietly, awaiting to see what those he was used to following would say.

FLASH: Contrary to his normal demeanour, Wally had elected to keep his mouth shut unless absolutely necessary. Seeing all the unfamiliar faces sat around the table had made him painfully aware of how long he'd been out of the game, and how much their world had changed since he'd taken his sabbatical from hero work. The experience was giving him flashbacks to when he was first introduced to the Teen Titans: young and naive, suddenly seeing a whole new world that he was suddenly a part of. AS the presentation started he reached down and gave M'ann's hand a squeeze, glad that she'd saved him a seat. The comfort didn't manage to stop the nervous machine-gun tempo of his heart as the reality of the situation seeped in. He was here, in costume, with Barry, and Megs, and Bats. Swap out M'gann for Dick and it was almost like the old days. Including a really ostentatious, expensive and largely impractical secret facility for the bad guys.

He leaned forward on the table, resting his chin on steepled fingers in thought. "Barry's right, our powers really don't gel with water all that well. We're still pretty fast, but the heat build up we generate evaporates all the water around us. So not exactly subtle. Get us close enough however..." He shrugged, knowing full well how difficult that would be. But who knows, maybe there was someone here whose powers could get them to a wall of a facility that was god knows how deep beneath the ocean. "There's not a lot of things that we can't phase through, and we probably have enough brain cells between us to unlock the doors." He became aware that he was breaking his no-talking rule by a significant amount. "You know, if possible. Not saying we have to, just thinking out loud."

BATMAN: Everyone deserved a chance to speak. For that reason Bruce was silent, his gaze shifting to each person as they said their piece, and he didn't once move to interject. The suggestions for contingencies were acknowledged with a slight nod. He never did anything without thorough planning. That included back-up plans and back-up plans for those back-up plans. Even if he hadn't been a vigilante for as long as others at this table, he knew nothing ever went according to plan.

Once it came back around to him, he was quick to make one thing clear, even though he'd stated it in no uncertain terms at the very start of the meeting: "A plan is already in place." This was a league and he knew that meant collaboration, but responsibility fell on the leaders' shoulders when it was all said and done. "What Iceman has said is correct. We do not have weeks. There is no time to test and redesign shields that could effectively protect against the inhibitors. We do not even know if it can be done. As Bruce Banner said, this radiation is nothing like what we've seen before." Although others had suggested using their powers to find the inhibitors, it was Lorna he addressed. He knew she'd attacked the NOVA facility from a distance with Erik, but that was before the inhibitors had been upgraded. At that point they had only affected mutants. "You will not be able to use your powers. Even when the inhibitors are shut off, they give off enough radioactive energy to effectively cloak themselves to metahuman, mutant, or alien abilities. We will not be able to rely on enhancements, which is why I would encourage everyone to brush up on their training. That is why," he directed his next statement to Gladys, "your deflector technology will be helpful. Red Robin, Oracle, and Spider-Man will be on the comms. They make up the first team. There will be three more. We've split them based on your individual abilities and where you're best suited to help. The first team is charged with detecting and infiltrating the underwater facility. Superman, Iron Man, Dr. Banner, Blue Beetle, Moxie, Cyborg, Tempest, Flash." He looked at Wally to indicate which Flash. "Wiccan, Scarlet Witch, Nightstar, Wolverine, Gambit, Polaris, Cable, and Raptor. Red Robin will be on your team's comms and help direct you, along with Moxie's technology. The second team will be large. There are multiple facilities involved. From my understanding, Cyclops will further split you up. This group will include Supergirl, Speed, Human Torch, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Zatara, Flash." Barry this time. "Black Widow, Rogue, Stinger, Black Bat, Captain America, Sergeant Barnes, Cyclops, Ms. Frost, Huntress, Marvel Girl, and Honey Badger. Oracle will be with you on the comms." He sighed. "As you know, we are unable to leave the city vulnerable. The final team will remain here - prepared, willing, and able to respond to any location at any given time. I will be on that team, along with Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Batwoman, Loki, Batgirl, Signal, Black Canary, Hawkeye, and Beast Boy. Spider-Man will be assisting us on the comms. The city will need us to be visible in the case that something goes wrong."

CYCLOPS: “It’s not lost on us how much is at stake here,” Scott began, looking toward Bobby, Nathan, and the others who had accompanied him there. It was the kind of fight that they’d been intimate with for most of their lives, a ceaseless monster of a thing that grew a new head every time one was removed, but it was a fight they could never give up on. By extension, it was one he never stopped planning for. A major reason he’d allied them with the League was the expectation that they could not lean too heavily on the abilities that came naturally for them, and that no amount of training could entirely prepare for that. They needed other resources, technology, and just sheer numbers - all things that the League and its members could provide. “We have to go into this with the intention and plan to use everything available to us. When it comes to NOVA, consider any powers you have to be a liability, not an advantage, and in any situation where we might rely on them we’ll have a second option.” And given the way both Scott and Bruce thought, probably a third and fourth one, too.” “X-Force will be going with the first team to the underwater facility. All of you are in this room with the exception of Kid Omega, and the assignment will be relayed to him as necessary.” There were enough dissenting voices and disruptions without including Quentin when it wasn’t required. “For the facilities outside the city, we have every reason to believe they’re structured similarly to the one taken down a few months ago. That mission didn’t end as we expected,” thanks to Erik and Lorna, which he didn’t point out, “but it let us know what to expect inside. Three six person teams will infiltrate these bases, liberate the people that NOVA is holding captive within them, and render the buildings unusable. We are not there to take the lives of the agents. This is a non-lethal mission, and anyone unwilling to abide by that rule...” he lifted a hand toward the door, “remove yourself. We can’t allow anyone to jeopardize this operation, the lives of your teammates, or the freedom of NOVA’s prisoners because you’d rather exact justice a different way. Is this clear?” He continued on, willing to address opposing opinions once they’d covered the basics of what he meant to occur. “You’ll be given your team assignments once this meeting has adjourned, and in the short window of time between this and when we take action, we’ll spend most of it training. Many of you in this room don’t know one another and trust doesn’t always come easily, but we’re all going to have to find it. We have a way into these facilities that we expect to work, a way to skirt around the inhibitors and get one person inside each of them to shut the system down and give the other team members a window. This has to happen simultaneously, or close to it, at all three locations. We don’t want NOVA to have time to compensate or react, if we can help it, and to do that we have to give them as little warning as possible. Execution in the beginning has to be as flawless as we can make it.” And for the X-Men in the room, they’d know Scott’s standards for that were particularly high. “That means working together and doing your part, but believing in the rest of us to do ours, too. I know this may seem like a situation where there’s too many cooks in the kitchen, but if we move in tandem and follow the plans that are being laid out, we can win here. We all know what’s at stake if we don’t.”

“That said...with most of the X-Men out of District X, the people on the other side of the wall are counting heavily on the League members remaining in the city to keep NOVA in check. We have our own defenses in place, but it’s a responsibility I normally take on myself. I’m taking...an enormous leap of faith.”

He nodded toward Steve, then. “Captain America, Emma, and I will be heading out to these detention centers with you and training with you to do it. We plan to be there every step of the way. X-Force, you’ve been told who you’ll have on your side, and you’ll hear more from Iron Man how you’ll be getting into the facility. Your mission is less predictable. I have faith in you all to complete it.“

CAPTAIN AMERICA: A while back, I said that some of you could train with Wanda and Dick on how to figure things out without the use of your powers. My team has been specifically trained in hand to hand as well as with their powers and it's been invaluable in times like these." They didn't have time anymore to recommend training. He could only hope people had taken Dick and Wanda up on the offer that had been made at the first meeting. He wasn't sure how Scott trained his people, but he didn't ask right now. They had already placed emphasis on being sure to be ready to use them as a last resort.

He waited to see if anyone left on the non-lethal stipulation, hoping they didn't lose anyone. He was glad when his team and the X-Men proved them all right by not leaving before he continued on. "Avengers, we've done things like this before. You know how goes. Tony's got briefings on the detention facilities, like Scott said. With any luck and a lot of strategy, we'll be able to get in, do what we need to do, and get out without much fuss and this'll be a huge hit against NOVA. We can manage this kind of thing without bloodshed. I know we're capable of that."

He glanced to some of the people around the table before adding, "If you see anything while you're on this mission that could be useful in the future, I absolutely suggest you take note of it. Maps, plans, et cetera. That's not the main focus of the mission, but you'd be amazed what kinds of things you can run across." That had been how he had managed so many years ago to help take down HYDRA. Just one glance at a map when he was on a rescue mission for Bucky. It had been invaluable.

IRON MAN: It had taken an enormous amount of effort to sit there and wait until everyone finished talking. Tony had to force himself not to interrupt at least half a dozen times, particularly to explain the pointlessness of using abilities to locate devices that canceled out abilities, but even he recognized that not everyone in the room was up to date on the technology. It had undergone a massive enhancement once it was upgraded to include mutants. He managed to relax when that was explained, at least as much as he could relax with frayed patience. "The silver lining is that there's a lot of gray area between alive and dead, for those of you not morally reticent."

Nodding, he stole a quick glance around the table at those named to be in their group. A click of a button displayed a 3-D map of a NOVA facility that had been provided to him prior to the meeting. "All of their above ground facilities are laid out the exact same way. Guess NOVA doesn't budget for style. As Cyclops pointed out, my team, the one that's going underwater: we're at a disadvantage. I have a plan, but it'll be touch and go. We don't know that the layout will match this. We have to rely on constant and consistent communication with each other and, more importantly, Robin. Right? ...No. You're one of them though, I know that - wait, don't tell me." He snapped his fingers. "Red Robin. We'll go over the details later." Unlike the other team, they weren't fortunate enough to have actual 3D blueprints. Most of their information would be reliant on Gladys and Tim and what they would pull from their respective technologies. For Steve's sake, he was attempting to trust that everyone knew what they were doing - but seeing firsthand how the bat cult offered some comfort.

CYCLOPS: “You have your assignments,” Scott interjected after Tony. “Those of you heading to the detention centers, convene with me and I’ll split our teams. Use what little time we have wisely, find a way to trust the people you’re going in with. Whatever differences we’ve had, leave them at the door for now. We’ve got too many people counting on us.”

He glanced toward Steve and Bruce to see if they had any parting words, and for his part ended on a simple, “Good luck to all of us.”

CAPTAIN AMERICA: Steve nodded as Scott spoke, pleased by how well this had gone. "Remember that it takes teamwork for an undertaking like this one, but it's what we've been working towards for months now. This is the first step in finally getting these guys outta here. Familiarize yourselves with one another as much as you can. Trust that we'll have each other's backs." He shook his head. "The last thing we want is for a man to get left behind if we can help it, and we want to get the people suffering out of harm's way. But this is what we do best."

With a little playful grin, he added, "I'd say 'Avengers assemble', but we're so much bigger than that this time around. Just like this is so much bigger than any one team." He looked around at every face around the table before speaking up. "Heroes," he said in that authoritative tone, because that's what they were. First and foremost, beyond teams, beyond friendships, and their grievances of the past between one another. They were sworn to protect, to save those who could not save themselves. And perhaps there wasn't need for pomp and circumstance for them. So he spoke to them like a man speaking to his equals, fist curling in front of him to assert the point. "Let's get it done."

#starcevent #starcplotdrop #starcadmin #dc rp #marvel rp

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chromecutie · 4 years

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Not A Ghost - part 38

A/N - Multi-part fic. Colossus x OC where OC has come home after being wrongfully imprisoned in the Icebox. Warnings for whole fic - references and flashbacks to harsh prison environment, including various types of abuse.

NEW WARNING - fictional police brutality. Takes place shortly after events in Deadpool 2. Whole thing will end up on my AO3 eventually.

Masterlist on my profile!

Taglist: @emma-frxst @ra-ra-rasputiin @holamor @empressme-bitch @marvel-is-perfection @hazilyimagine �� @marvelhead17 @rovvboat @angstybadboytrash @whitewitchdown @master-sass-blast @mori-fandom @mooleche @dandyqueen @emberbent @leo-writer @silver-stormy . Wanna be added or removed? Holla at me.

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Hot rage surged and Rhonda slapped a palm on the plexiglass wall. The force made her shoulder flare in agony, but she ignored it. “FUCKING GODDAMMIT!” she screamed. “He fucking brought the girls!” A cluster of guards was closing around the whirling blue sparks and the orange forcefield growing like an angry bubble. The team had splintered throughout the yard and mess hall. Battered as she was, with gashed arms, a ruined shoulder, and something wrong with her ribs, Rhonda was filled with enough rage to fight even the Juggernaut if she had to. She kicked off her shoes and yanked the grimy socks off her feet.

“Um, Rhonda?” Wade asked, “What are you doing? I know you’re a little cracked, but this isn’t the beach.” He looked around the office, as if confirming for himself that this was indeed not the beach.

She rounded on Wade and said, “Stay here and watch these two. Make sure they don’t do anything stupid.” With a glare at Mimi and Robinson, she demanded, “Let me out.”

Mimi flicked her tongue, clicking her teeth and raising her brow. She gestured with her palms up. “Okay, bitch, give them hell.”

She waved a finger and Robinson beeped the door open for Rhonda to slip out. She took two of the discarded collars with her, clicking them closed.

Rhonda threaded through inmates. The ones strong enough to fight had either joined Colossus and Beast against the DMC or had decided to settle their own grudges amongst themselves - or against the X-men, ignoring the warnings from Mimi and Guestbook. As she ran on the metal walkways, each time her foot met the surface, she sent a strong electric pulse. Anyone close to her took a nasty shock, stunned and needed a moment to recover. It kept everyone from getting close to grab her.

When she was as close as the network of walkways would allow, she was above the guards attacking the young women on the ground floor. Rhonda threw one of the collars like a frisbee, and shot a spark after it. The explosive in the block detonated over their heads and as they looked up and around for the source, she shouted to get their attention.

Yukio and Negasonic almost faltered in their guard at the sight of their friend, Negasonic’s unofficial adoptive mother. She had a wide, sinister grin as she antagonized the officers into following her. Her hair was tangled and frizzy, one sleeve completely torn away, and splattered with blood in a few spots. She looked every bit like some kind of supernatural monster.

The guards, faces obscured in their gear, shouted and tried to clamber up the stairs to a spot where they would be able to hit her with a cattle prod or a new collar. Rhonda dodged and maneuvered through the railing, landing on the concrete floor with a roll. She tossed the other collar and sent a spark to detonate it at the guards’ feet. It was so cold she could hardly feel her fingers, toes, or her bare arm, but she felt the glass in her feet as she darted across the yard toward the solitary unit, drawing the guards away from her girls.

Her lungs burned, her feet burned, her eyes burned, but as long as she was still conscious, it didn’t matter. The Department of Mutant Control would burn too.

Screams of combat and death echoed through the Icebox, a grim chorus in a cathedral of carnage. Cable and Domino had no qualms about killing anyone who attacked them. Nightcrawler and Storm did their best to use non-lethal means, but certainly they had a few fatalities among the officers and inmates. Yukio and Negasonic Teenage Warhead seemed to be the ones most careful to follow the X-Men’s first rule.

From the office, Wade cheered at the top of his lungs about X-Force. Mimi regarded the scene as if she were watching a casino floor - a multitude of individual games making a greater mosaic of risk and reward, all the while calculating her own chances of escaping alive.

“I think that’s Knowles,” Robinson pointed at a guard who had lost his helmet and took a hard hit to the head with Nightcrawler’s sword hilts. “Haha, he’s a prick!” The turncoat guard was maybe a little too giddy as his coworkers fell one by one to the attacking mutants.

Wade was only too happy to share Robinson’s glee. “Oooh, heyyy,” Wade drawled. “We got a plan for the free mini grenades?” he turned and jerked his thumb at the pile of collars. “‘Cause I have an idea.”

All the lights in the Icebox flickered, and in bursts the light bulbs throughout the whole complex started shattering. The screens in the office went dead for a moment, before emergency power kicked on, along with pale green emergency lights. Spilled blood looked black, living skin looked sickly, the Icebox looked utterly alien.

When the electricity went haywire, Colossus froze. His gaze wildly swept up to the office, and across the yard and mess hall. Rhonda was nowhere in sight. For the X-Men’s part, the fight was handled. The remaining inmates made it clear they wouldn’t fight. Storm, Cable, and Domino dragged unconscious and handcuffed people into a pile to save warmth until someone came for them. Yukio and Negasonic caught up with Colossus, tripping over their own words to tell him something had happened, Rhonda had done something.

“Slow down,” he told his rising panic as much as he told the young women. “Where is she?”

“She ran that way,” Negasonic pointed down the far end of the mess hall.

He was already running, with his mentees following closely as he asked, “How many guards followed her?”

“It was hard to tell,” Yukio’s breath came out in little grey puffs of steam. “At least five.”

As they got closer, wailing and howling echoed down the dark halls to them. Fearing the worst, Colossus followed the screams until he saw flashes of light from behind a door that stood ajar. Above the door read bold lettering, SOLITARY HOUSING UNIT. He bolted for it and threw it open.

The scene of bodies made him stop short. Someone closer to the door was shrieking in agony before they fell to the ground, convulsing as threads of blue-green electricity danced and laced over the body. In seconds, the screams stopped. A few other bodies lay on the floor, smoke rising from their corpses. Any skin that was visible was charred, blackened. The room was dark, except for the dim emergency lights, but Piotr could make out the figure further down the cell block, where the lightning was coming from. They wore a filthy jumpsuit that should have been yellow. One arm was completely bare and littered with tattoos.

“Rhonda!” he called.

Surprised, the forks and spears of lightning retreated until the figure was wreathed in jagged bright lines around their shoulders.

“Is she alive?” Negasonic asked behind him.

“Wait here,” he said breathlessly. Carefully, slowly, Colossus entered the unit. He could hear his wife’s ragged, heavy breathing, and saw her shoulders heaving. He saw numerous dead inmates on the floor stretching through the whole unit. Those looked like they had died of stabbing or blunt trauma. What froze his heart was the six bodies of officers on the floor that had clearly been electrocuted with Rhonda’s abilities. It made him sick, but after seeing other areas in the Icebox - the chaos, the raw ferocity of the inmates and the cruelty of the guards - everything inside him screamed to get his loved ones out of this place. “They can’t hurt you anymore,” he said loudly. She was breathing so heavy he thought she was sobbing. She still emanated lightning from most of her body, and her lack of response was worrying. The floor around her was streaked with blood and she was barefoot.

“Rhonda,” he tried again, softer, “You don’t have to fight anymore.” He took slow steps forward. He had to step over a dead inmate.

Between the heaving breaths, Rhonda managed to rasp out, “You see what I am now.”

Colossus was finally close enough to make out some details in her face - bruises, busted lip, blood-matted hair at her temple, scratches over her cheeks, paler and greener that she should be, or was that the emergency lights playing tricks on her skin? “I see you are injured and sick,” he answered simply. “The jet is waiting, let’s get out of here.”

She took a step back, extending one palm to lean on the wall beside her. “I killed these people.”

“Self defense,” he said numbly.

Rhonda shook her head and her eyes briefly rolled back before she answered, “Not all of it.”

It was dangerous to touch her while she was electrified like this. Colossus could do it, but it would hurt and if anyone else touched him, all the more dangerous for them. He had to get through to her and get her to come along.

“What’s happening?” Yukio was barely audible from the hallway.

Throat tight, Piotr locked eyes with his wife cited their wedding vows in Russian, “[I will love you until all the stars go dark, and after.]”

Her brows lifted and she exhaled a shallow breath. “[You love who I used to be.]” Piotr heard hopelessness and defeat in her voice.

“Can we talk about this at home?” he urged, “Will you please come home with me?” He was close enough now that he held out his hand, expecting her to pull herself together and take it.

She shifted, and there was a sticky, wet sound under her feet. “You know no one will let me stay there, and they shouldn’t.”

“Rhonda!” Piotr pleaded. “That’s not true!” He thought of one last thing that he hoped would get through to her. He focused on every memory he could recall of holding her, any time he was touching her skin, and in a few seconds his armor melted away to reveal his own skin. “I’m not leaving this place without you. Please, let’s go.”

Even in the dim emergency lights, Rhonda had no trouble making out his soft, dark hair and bold blue eyes and the short, thick beard framing his face. How many times had she envisioned his face during her captivity? Her head hurt, she felt like she was in a strange dream. His long, muscular arms extended toward her. He was her home, everything good in the world. Hope sparked in her soul - hope that her worst fears were wrong, that Piotr could still be her home and that maybe there was a way she could move forward from the horrors of the Icebox--

There was movement in the corner of her vision, a silhouette rising from the floor and holding something sharp.

Without a thought, Rhonda sent a powerful spike of lightning surging through the air, just past Piotr's elbow and striking the figure behind him. The body fell, twitching and smoking, and a long shiv made from a piece of sheet metal clattered on the floor.

In the split second it had taken Rhonda to fire off the bolt of lightning, Piotr had armored up again out of reflex. He looked down at the fallen inmate, a man with crusty blond hair, who had gotten within inches of being able to stab him. He quickly looked back at his wife, who had furrowed her brow, electricity finally under control.

She wouldn't meet his eyes, instead looking down and away. “Are we going?" she asked with a hard edge.

Taking a few hobbling steps, she struggled to breathe evenly and was leaving bloody footprints. Piotr heard a sickening crunch in each step. “Sladkaya, what happened to your feet?” It would take too long to reach the jet like this. Piotr swept her into his arms, ignoring her pained grunt, and sprinted for the way out.

Negasonic and Yukio followed on his heels, running for the main area where the rest of the team was. Beast, Cable, Domino, and some of the inmates had already headed back down the tunnel to the jet, while Storm and the others waited in the mess hall to make sure everyone was accounted for. As Colossus reached her, Storm asked, “You found her?” She gasped when she saw her friend’s condition.

“Where is Beast?” he asked urgently.

Storm shook her head, “He took some of the injured in the railcar for the jet.”

“KURT!” the Russian shouted. At the bamf sound, he turned and begged, “Please, can you take her? You can get her to Hank faster than me, please!”

Nightcrawler gave a hurried affirmative as he took the wheezing, barely conscious woman in his arms, and disappeared to catch up with Beast and the first wave of injured mutants.

Wade and two more inmates ran up to Colossus, each holding an armful of collars. “Hey, big guy!” he beamed. “You found Little Miss Rampage?” He shared the same bright grin with the younger mutants with him, “Hi, Yukio!”

“Yes, and we have to go,” he answered impatiently. He was already heading for the way out and ushering everyone else along.

Negasonic frowned, “What’s with the collars? What the fuck are you doing?”

Wade’s shoulders bounced in a playful shrug. “We’re going to put them in a nice pile by the door so we can wreck this shitbox on our way out.”

The inmate beside him, a thin woman with dark grey scales, added seriously, “We just need a way to detonate them.”

The crazed mercenary raised his brows pointedly, “I’d use a gun, but NOBODY WILL GIVE ME ONE.”

Negasonic pursed her lips, then said, “Fine, I can do it. But we have to go, now.”

When the Icebox was clear of everyone who was leaving on the X-Jet, Wade, Mimi, and Robinson piled the collars near the main entrance that DMC personnel used. Yukio led Mimi and Robinson down the tunnel, while Wade and Negasonic waited a short delay before she sent a wave of energy that set off all the collars’ explosives. Each individual charge wasn’t much, but together it was a significant blast. The structure around the entrance crumbled, and cracks radiated in the rock along the tunnel.

“Fuck,” Negasonic spat. She and Wade sprinted headlong to catch up with the others, shouting for them to hurry because the whole tunnel could collapse.

“We did pretty good,” Wade huffed. “This went great. Let’s make an annual prison break tradition, huh? Good team building! Like an escape room, but extreme.”

#not a ghost #deadpool fanfic #colossus x oc #piotr rasputin x oc #colossus #xmen #marvel

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mwritesink · 5 years

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littledemonlorne mentioned you in a post

@mwritesink I thought he wanted to go see them as they were his only friends? Like Scott don't got a lot of friends. That kind of reads as abusive from her end. "If you go see the only friends/other family members you have then don't come back!". Like. He can't have friends ever? Seeing them ever? And he couldn't really come back when she told him flat out to get out if he went to see them. The Hell kind of ultimatum is that? That's just fucked up and controlling.

You really want to do this on a tuesday night at 9pm (at start of writing this post). Okay then, let’s do this.

Making this a separate post so not to clog up @thisiswhatwereupagainst‘s activity feed (unless you want to join in with a comment).

So. You have her quote completely wrong, and the situation completely wrong.

X-Factor volume 1 issue 1 originally published in 1986. It takes place maybe three weeks, perhaps less, since the adventure where Scott had helped with a trip into Asgard with the X-Men to rescue the New Mutants, had an interlude in Paris for the trial of Magneto, and ended with dueling Storm for leadership of the X-men, which Scott lost. At that point, not only had Scott himself been on the sidelines for X-Books, coming in only for special events, for quite some time, he and Maddie were happily married and living it up in Alaska working for Scott’s grandparents.

However, some cracks were starting to show between Scott and Maddie, where Scott was pulling away more and more emotionally, and Maddie needed more and more plainly stated assurance from him that he still loved her and was willing to do his part in their relationship. This comes to a head with the birth of their son Christopher Charles Summers (later known as Nathan Christopher Charles Dayspring Askanison Summers, aka Cable) which Scott missed becuase he was in Paris with the team. It should be noted that the writers made special mention to the fact that EVERYONE BUT SCOTT called the mansion after they landed in Paris to check on Maddie. Scott and Maddie have a discussion where she accurately points out that Scott doesn’t feel that he has an identity outside of the X-men, and that she feels that while she has been willing to give up everything for Scott, he hasn’t given up anything for her.

Given that his head is not in the game at all, Scott loses the duel with Ororo, and, per the terms that Scott himself set, he concedes leadership of the X-Men to her and takes a step back, going back to Alaska with Maddie and their son.

so that’s the set up, and in X-Factor, we find that married life is definitely not what either of them thought they would have together. Scott is chopping wood with his concussive laser eyes, getting justifiably angry at the worsening political plight for mutants, and brooding about Jean, while Maddie has been taking care of the baby, running errands, doing her full time career, and living with the knowledge that Scott would be gone in a second if circumstances were slightly different, if Scott were any less honorable.

Scott: It’s not that simple, Maddy

Madelyne: You’re right.. But things aren’t that simple here either! Things have changed, Scott. You have a responsibility to your family now! I can’t be the only one working on this marriage! We’re supposed to be in this together, aren’t we? Don’t you think I know the only reason you came back to us at all is that you bombed out in your bid to lead the X-Men? Don’t you think it hurts knowing that? Just like it hurts knowing why you married me in the first place! Becuase I reminded you of your old flame -- the late, but not forgotten Jean Grey!

Scott: Madelyne! Please, stop! That’s uncalled for!

Madelyne: No! I’m telling you what’s called for! I love you, Scott, and the X-Men don’t need you! Jean is dead! I’m the one that needs you!

Think about that. The fear and anxiety that would engender in you, knowing that someone you dedicated your life to, someone whom you thought you could share a life with, would be gone if they could be. That they would rather be with someone else. I’ll grant, and Madelyne does to in the panels after the quotes above, that she snapped and was angry when she said that. She admits that she’s frightened that she’s losing him, losing their marriage, and he admits that he doesn’t know what they have between them anymore.

Over in New York, Warren Worthington finds out from the Fantastic Four that Jean is alive. and he calls Scott, tells him that he needs to come to New York immediately because Jean is back.

Scott is just finished making a morning statement of how “we’ll work it out! You’ll see!” when Warren’s call comes in.

Scott, speaking into a phone: Hello? Warren! How are you I -- huh...? But... How can that be? I-it’s impossible! How?! Yes! Yes! I’ll be there! uh... Bye!

Madelyne: Darling? What is it? What did Warren want?

Scott, to Madelyne, not looking at her: He... er... needs me to meet him in New York-- today!

Madelyne: Well -- tell him you can’t make it!

Scott: I- I can’t do that, Maddy!

Madelyne: Scott Summers! If you walk out that door -- -- Don’t bother coming back!

Scott: I’m-- Sorry, Maddy! I have to go!

Clearly, yes, the ultimatum of “if you walk out that door, don’t bother coming back” is not the way to go about resolving their issues, or the best way for Madelyne to convince Scott to stay. But their marriage issues have revolved around lack of communication between them, and Scott pulling away emotionally while Madelyne scrambles to keep him close. But the reasons Madelyne says what she does is that she is being confronted with her deepest fear: that Scott will leave on another adventure with the x-men, and never return to their little family.and even after she says it, after Scott walks out, the art makes plain that she regrets having said that.

However, the point of the ultimatum is not to keep Scott isolated from his friends and family, it was to keep him from doing x-men related adventures after he had said that he would stop, and live with his wife and child, knowing that if it weren’t for his bone deep sense of honor, he would be off on an X-men mission at the drop of a hat.

The rest of the issue is Scott emotionally wrestling with how to tell Jean that he’s married to a woman that looks just like her and they have a child, and the newly made X-Factor team rescuing Rusty Collins, a young man newly awakened to his mutant power of generating fire from his hands.

but the last panel of the comic goes back to Alaska, where Madelyne has been watching an X-Factor commercial, and gazing sorrowfully at a picture of Scott and baby Christopher

Again, she knows that saying the ultimatum was the wrong way to go about things. She regrets that she had said it. But she now doesn’t know how to contact him, or if he would accept her calls, as Warren keeps it quiet who exactly is on the X-Factor team.

She can’t apologize for her fear turning into anger and having it come out at him. Scott decides not to explain that Jean is alive, or that he truly can’t move on from the X-men no matter how hard he tries.

The situation itself could have been resolved entirely if Scott offered for Madelyne to come with him, or if he had explained. She still would have been mad, but all the emotional knives they run into would have been solved early on through clear and open communication between the.

#littledemonlorne #long post #madelyne pryor #marvel comics #x-men #marvel #Maddie pryor defense squad

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duhragonball · 6 years

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duvete replied to your photoset “”

Omgosh I had forgotten about Marrow! I don't remember a lot about her, but I do remember liking her. And how much late 90s X-Men was really fun to read!

Well, I’m finally caught up on her convoluted backstory, so I’ll fill you in.

So the Morlocks were mutants that lived in abandoned subway tunnels, sewers, etc. under New York City. Then they all got killed in the Mutant Massacre crossover (Uncanny X-Men #210-212, et al.). Then Marvel upgraded their status to “all dead” to “ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ” and introduced a group of survivors in the late 1980′s. They continued to live in the tunnels until Uncanny X-Men #293, when Mikhail Rasputin killed them and himself in a flood.

Marrow was introduced as a Morlock child named Sarah in Cable #15. A Morlock survivor named Thornn suspected that there might still be others still living in the deserted tunnels, and she convinced Cable and Domino to help her perform some sort of ritual to lure them out of hiding. Sarah was the only one who responded to the signal, and she only stuck around long enough to confirm that there were other survivors.

In Uncanny #325, Callisto revealed that Mikhail had actually teleported the Morlocks to another dimension, one where time moved faster than it does on Earth. When the second generation Morlocks grew up, they became disaffected and angry about being forced to leave their original home, and Sarah led them back to New York as a terrorist cell called “Gene Nation”.

Sarah, now using the codename Marrow, plotted to bomb a bunch of humans to commemorate the anniversary of the Mutant Massacre, but Callisto warned the X-Men about it. Marrow had rigged the detonator so that it could only be disarmed by stopping her heart, and challenged Storm to a duel. Reluctantly, Storm removed Marrow’s heart, killing her to save the day.

In Cable #42, Marrow came back, revealing that she’d had a second heart all along. I don’t know if Marrow knew that all along, or if she found out the hard way. This time around, Marrow and Callisto were working together to bomb a Lila Cheney concert. I think Callisto went pro-terrorism because Operation: Zero Tolerance was starting to rev up, so she started to see thing’s Marrow’s way. Their plan failed and they got away, only to return in Uncanny #346, in a bid to assassinate Peter Gyrich. This was foiled by Spider-Man, who helped Marrow protect Callisto when she got injured in a fight with Prime Sentinels. After that, Callisto convinced Marrow to join forces with the X-Men while Callisto recovered from her injuries, and that’s about where I came in.

I’m starting to see now that the stuff I liked so much about the ‘98 X-Men wasn’t really meant to last. The whole point of Maggott, Reyes, and Marrow joining the team was that they had all taken heavy losses after Onslaught and Operation: Zero Tolerance, so the newbies really didn’t have anywhere else to go, and the mainstay X-Men needed all the help they could get. Once things settled down, there was no reason for them all to hide out in an empty mansion, and they could move on with their lives. Eventually, Professor X probably set Dr. Reyes up with a quiet medical practice, and Marrow probably would have reconnected with the Morlocks one way or another.

Still, I really liked that whole period, because I never got the sense that the X-Men were particularly desperate before this. They’re always marketed like we’re supposed to feel sorry for them all the time, except they were always rich and beautiful and lived in a mansion full of Star Trek technology. In ‘98, all they had were their powers and each other, and Marrow kind of embodied that. She had a whole tsundere thing going on where you could tell she secretly admired the X-Men and wanted to be more like them, but she also didn’t want to lose her bad guy cred. And the others thought she was a jerk, but they loved having her on their side in a fight. Sort of like Namek-era Vegeta, but with bones growing out of him.

Actually, now that I think about it, “Majin Marrow” was what they should have done with the character. Marvel never bothered to explain why she left the team in 2000, and afterward she just sort of bounced around in Supporting-Character Limbo, but they really should have done a story where she tries to turn evil again, but everyone knows she’s just afraid of “going soft”.

MARROW: That’s right, upworlders! The Dark Thunderbolts have turned me back into the killing machine I was always meant to be!

WOLVERINE: Pull the other one, darlin’. It glows in the dark.

CANNONBALL: Yeah, quit horsin’ around, Sarah. We’re having taquitos back at the mansion.

MARROW: B-baka... !

#ask duhragonball #sorry to geek out about comic books on this blog but i figure after a year of jojo everyone who would have minded is long gone #and i like talking about this stuff now that i know mei's familiar with it #i can compare stuff to dbz lore and not have to worry about no one getting it #which reminds me #i need to write that thing about continuity #i was waiting until i got to uncanny 350 to do it #and i'm already way ahead of schedule #because the comics got really good so i'm reading them faster #also it's amazing how many more comics i'll read when it helps me put off writing #i gotta put down 2500 words today #and they can't be about gambit #those won't count #and it's already 10am so i better get moving

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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New Mutants: How Magik and Lockheed Fit Into the X-Men Franchise’s Evolution

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This article contains New Mutants spoilers.

The New Mutants, now available to watch on streaming, is the final outing in Fox’s eclectic X-Men film franchise. While Marvel Studios’ finally confirmed Deadpool 3 is a wild card in how it connects to anything, that’s in Disney’s hands now. Otherwise, we have 13 movies in 20 years celebrating superpowers as a metaphor for real-life prejudice. But only in the end, did the X-Men franchise really start to open up to a universe where mutants aren’t the explanation to everything outlandish.

One of the reasons the Avengers movies worked out so well was the contrast. It was a tech super-genius, a super-soldier from another era, a science-based anger monster, a Norse god, and two hyper-competent humans teaming up against an alien invasion. This felt fresh and right for a comic book universe. For X-Men, they didn’t embrace such an idea until it was too late.

Being from the Marvel comic universe, X-Men has always shared continuity with otherworldly concepts from other walks of life. And while the movies didn’t include connections to the larger Marvel Universe, even the X-Men properties themselves eventually strayed off from the mutant gene.

Think back to X-Men: The Last Stand. The movie introduced two major parts of X-lore in the form of the Juggernaut and the Phoenix. In the comics, Juggernaut is powered by a demigod bent on destruction and his connection to everything X-Men comes from his relationship with his stepbrother Charles Xavier. Understandably, they didn’t want to delve too far into that for a supporting villain and made zero mention of any relationship with Xavier, all while explicitly showing that in this world, Juggernaut’s strength was based on the mutant gene.

As for Phoenix, despite being one of the most defining X-Men storylines, the force was revealed not to be a cosmic being from beyond the stars, but an overpowered and uncontrollable part of Jean Grey’s psyche. It is depicted as the worst-case scenario for someone having mutant abilities.

Even the super-science of the X-Men movies was almost explicitly about mutants. A psychic hub to track down mutants. A cure for mutant abilities. Shoving multiple mutant powers into a single human test subject. Time travel by using mutant mind powers. Robots programmed to exterminate mutants and counter their powers.

Gradually, they started to branch out. Wolverine fought a samurai mech. Deadpool showed that excessive physical abuse could awaken powers in non-mutants if done right. Cable used time travel in a way that wasn’t directly linked to a mutant’s abilities. In Logan, Donald Pierce is a cyborg. Even though X-Men: Apocalypse once again reveals the Phoenix as an extension of Jean’s psychic powers, Dark Phoenix goes against it by adding its cosmic origins and throwing in a bunch of aliens as the antagonists.

Who is Magik and what are her powers?

That brings us to New Mutants and the character of Illyana Rasputin, otherwise known as Magik. Unlike the other four main characters, Magik existed before New Mutants was a thing in the comics. Dating back to Colossus’ first appearance in 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1, Illyana was just a side character with the focus on her chrome-plated older brother. Being that she was only a little girl, they decided to dramatically age her up in order to make her a believable hero type.

Seven years after her debut, Illyana was involved in a storyline where the villain Belacaso pulled her into Limbo (not-quite-Hell, but kinda). A moment later, Kitty Pryde pulled her back to Earth, but Magik came out of it as a teenager. A later miniseries explained what she was up to in-between those instances, where time moved differently and she spent several years training in combat and magic.

Magik then joined the New Mutants as it turns out, she does have a mutant power based on teleportation. It’s just that, at least back in the early days, she would have to go to Limbo before choosing where else. So she could get you to the Grand Canyon if you want, but there’s a quick stop in an otherworldly hellscape first.

This situation would lead to Inferno, the New Mutants’ big event that was going to be the basis for one of the film sequels had New Mutants caught on and not have been released among a gigantic film industry quagmire and global pandemic.

What’s up with Lockheed?

The movie was fairly accurate on its portrayal of Magik, but what of that weird dragon puppet stuff going on? That would be Lockheed, another one of the non-mutant aspects of classic X-Men comics. Lockheed is more linked to Kitty Pryde than even Magik, but Illyana does have ties to his origin. Sort of.

Back before Illyana took her trip to Limbo and lost her innocence, Kitty was trying to get her to sleep by telling her a bedtime story. It ended up being a medieval fantasy where the characters were mapped out as members of the X-Men (this was adapted into an episode of X-Men: The Animated Series, but it’s told by Jubilee and mainly remembered for its rough animation). Since the team wasn’t going to have a state-of-the-art sci-fi jet in this setting, Kitty came up with Lockheed, a large dragon that they would fly around on.

A few months after Magik’s return from Limbo, the X-Men were stuck in a space story where they fought Xenomorph knockoffs the Brood while teaming up with Carol Danvers (who had a really, really nasty split from the Avengers prior). During that adventure, Kitty was rescued by a random dragon.

Imagination! Imagination!

A dream, can be a dream come true!

With just that spark… in me and you!

The dragon – which Kitty named “Lockheed” because of her bedtime story – ended up following her back to Earth. They were only a few years before such a thing bit Spider-Man in the ass, so everyone was okay with Kitty having her own pet dragon from outer space.

Later comics revealed Lockheed to be far more competent and intelligent than anyone realized, to the point that he was an undercover agent of SWORD (Sentient World Observation and Response Department) like a character out of Men in Black. And he can talk, but chooses not to do that when anyone’s in the room.

Lockheed has indeed palled around with Magik in the comics, but he’s more of a sidekick to Kitty. Considering they did a whole five-season animated series without even mentioning Kitty (despite the previous attempt at an X-Men cartoon, Pryde of the X-Men, literally being named after her) there was no problem in cutting out the middle woman.

While the New Mutants movie suggested something supernatural was going on with all the Pennywise-like horror situations haunting everyone, the whole thing ended up just being Dani Moonstar’s psychic powers manifesting and going out of control. The double-twist in all of this is that after all this time, the X-Men film franchise had fully embraced stepping outside the box by going full ham on Magik’s character.

Teleports to Limbo on the reg? Check. Her dragon puppet can manifest into a literal purple dragon? Check. Has some kind of mystic sword? Check. Yes, she’s a mutant, but that doesn’t mean she’s not magical.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Ah, well. Too little, too late.

The post New Mutants: How Magik and Lockheed Fit Into the X-Men Franchise’s Evolution appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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comicbookrearview · 7 years

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Uncanny X-Men vol.1 issue 294

X-CUTIONER’S SONG PART 1

It was February 1993 by the time this issue came out at newsagents in Australia, it was already four issues into collecting uncanny x-men. The cartoon had aired in America, i guess it was around this time it started on Australian TV in the morning before school.

This issue was poly-bagged (and this is where i learned the term, to this day only comic book kids will know what that is) with a Skybox X-Cutioner’s song trading card. Sure! What the hell, i’m a kid.. i like stuff.. i have no money so it helps if that stuff is free too!

Aw man.. it’s Xavier... 11 year old me: *Yawn.

THE COVER

The cover price is $2.25 Australian, pricey for ‘93, poly-bags must cost more to make because the last issue was only 1.80.. hey everyone, lets all hug and reminisce about when we could afford things!

The corner box lists the Australian price so the kid who learned about the whole speculators market a few years later will tell you this is already worth less than a “legit american copy”. The corner box was your standard head shots of the team members of this book, i wish they still did these today, not for any other good reason besides nostalgia, but it’s just an inconsequential thing that kids thought were cool, it complimented the logo i guess (shrug). Also what i miss is what i think is Marvel’s greatest ever company logo, before they changed it to hide that they were about comics and it was the M with the word comics scrawled through it.. c’mon, some graphic designer was really tuned into the demographic with this, i hope that paid for a wing on their house.

The image is by interior artist Brandon Peterson. We’ll talk about his art later on some but i do want to note that it displays the two most used depictions of eyes being drawn at the time. Grim and gritty shadowed over, serious, moody, dark. Or you have completely devoid of anything, “what i’m reacting to is so intense in some way that my eyeball has lost all pigmentation, my pupils are no longer there.. je suis mort”.

The image is an already cool AF Cable holding a big ass gun, standing over the smoldering body of a pupil less Professor X with a corresponding big ass hole in his chest, possibly made by the big ass gun, i can’t say for sure. What i can say for sure is that this was drawn by somebody with a better grasp on anatomy than the infamous creator of Cable, Rob Liefeld, because everything is in proportion, has been researched or well thought out, Cables gun is big, but not scientifically so big that he shouldn’t be able to hold it in the air even with the aid of a 90′s AF cybernetic arm. His pouches, which i’m guessing Peterson may have been loath to draw and are possibly an editorial edict, look as practical and functional as they can, they look full and in use. I know it’s cool to rag on Liefeld, I've nothing against the man, he’s genuinely earned his place in comic book history, but all i’m saying is if we had to endure accessories like this as staples of the genre at the time, effort like Peterson’s was the most correct way to go about things. Anyway, white background, cool, our focus should be solely on the jarring image the cover confronts us with.. the cover should make you want to read the book and tell me you didn’t suck in a room full of air and snatch this of the stands when it came out.

THE STORY

We start off with a splash page (we’ll talk about them on the whole in the art section) Warren Worthington III is taking his girl on a date. Where? Where would a guy in a tux with a bouquet of flowers and access to a limousine take somebody dressed in leathers and a white tee? To a concert in the park.

A peace rally in central park. Hey! I know central park, i know places geographically because i read comics and watch TV ... thanks world, screw you school I owe you nothing. We cut across to different pairings of x-men characters discussing either there feelings about Xavier's speech that is about to transpire or events in their personal lives that are happening or have happened in surrounding issues. Little asterisks direct us to the relevant issue if we’d like to catch up these ourselves. Thanks comics, it was actually very helpful back then to have a point of reference to call back to or to further our reading.. another thing comics seemingly have abandoned today (can anybody reading this tell me why?). These conversations give the characters their voice and straddle a good balance between the picture/word ratio an 11 year old wants to see in a comic book. Scott Lobdell only got better at this as time went on but read through this issue and you’ll find he did so well to cram in foreshadowing, back story, character and truth into those speech bubbles, the man, i feel, has been forgotten in a way since the 90′s, his talents seem under appreciated.

Another thing he does well is to control pace and actually build towards events, we’re four pages in before the title card/opening credits/ splash page hits us and it happens after a third page so you have to turn the page for a reveal, it’s not given away by accidentally glancing over to page 3, no, page 4 is the perfect place for these pages. What is the reveal? Two anti-mutant terrorists are planting explosives to violently disrupt the peace rally, making bigoted slurs and all until BRRZT... BRRZT ..Cable shoots them both in their mother effing backs, stops to reveal himself and pose for the camera and ...what... HE’s got dibs on Xavier? Uh-oh.

We’re left hanging as we’re then shown Cyclops daydreaming as he waits for Jean Grey. His telepathic girlfriend walks in on him fantasizing about teammate Psylocke.. yes Scott.. that’s why Jim Lee re-designed her as such, we all did that. This sequence takes on different meaning at each age that i’d read this issue. 11 year old me sort of got it, teenage me got it but didn't completely get it and adult me wold get conflicting emotions about getting it. See, Scott Lobdell could write soap opera with merit. Same goes for the next scene where Iceman and Colossus in their civilian identities are doing the x-mansions grocery shopping. Because the x-men weren't the Avengers and were always more relate-able because they did things actual people did when they weren't superheroing. Everyone can relate to a supermarket run. I probably coerced my mum to buy me this very issue while she was on said supermarket run. My man at the time Gambit is interacting with storm, this is what i thought was cool at the time kids. A roguish (no pun intended) charm, a trench-coat over a singlet top and shorts... the undercover exercise look, was all the rage in the early 90′s.. look it up..go.

Then we cross to a sidebar of other x-team, X-Factor, preparing to watch the concert. Lobdell writes them with all the spirit, voice and character that Peter David, who was writing the hell out of X-Factor at the time, did.

So lets re-assess, so far Lobdell has shown us Archangel on date, Professor X and Lila Cheney, Bishop and Rogue, Storm and Gambit, Cyclops, Jean, Iceman and Colossus and name dropped Beast, Forge,and Psylocke AND shown us X-Factor. And i’m still on the edge of my seat already because of the ominous way Cable has been introduced. This is how you write a team book that’s going to have it’s reach into a 12 part cross over. We aren’t even at the catalyst event yet. Scott Lobdell, again ladies and gents, Scott Lobdell.

Suddenly...

Cyclops and Jean are ambushed by ex-X-factor teammate Caliban. We’re given a page of Cable in the crowd as the tension builds, we cross BACK to the action away from the concert we’re colossus and iceman are attempting to join the Caliban/Cyclops/Jean fracas until they’re ambushed by War and Famine... um.. the characters, they aren’t suddenly having an existential crisis with the actual concepts, and then we’re back to Xavier. Who’s giving an inspiring speech about race relations that is extremely relevant 25 years on. This again is a great example of Scott Lobdell’s talent to shift from fever pitch to still and thought provoking in a manner of pages. Even the layout of pages 18 and 19 are in contrast to each other while being at the same time relevant to what the written words are saying.

And then...?

BRAM... “CHARLES!!!!!”

Cable takes his shot, shooting Xavier from the crowd, and even though you knew it was coming (It’s on the cover remember), it’s still a shock, it still jars the reader. Lobdell slaps you in the face and shakes you, but doesn't let you catch your breath as we’re back immediately to battle with Caliban and the side battle with War and Famine (the people not the concepts).. the action has reached it’s fever pitch. Both battles end abruptly and as a reader you’re thrown into total confusion with this three pronged attack of events in succession so by the time you’re back to the chaos of the concert you’re in the same emotional state as the characters should be.. reacting to these overwhelming events that have just unfolded.

In a nice nod to the theme of the issue on race, something Lobdell also writes well and treats with detail and respect, it’s revealed that Archangel is wearing an image inducer to blend in with the crowd, speaking in a subtle and layered way on identity. He springs into action, or reaction, going straight for Cable as some of the other characters we’ve seen in this issue race to the Xavier’s side. The situation is dire. Cable eludes Archangel by teleporting out. (”Celebration bound” you absolute asshole, Cable). And then we’re taken to the current whereabouts of another team, X-Force, who are Cables charges and are just now witnessing the news footage of events and we’re left on a cliffhanger with them.

The executioners song has begun.

THE ART

Brandon Peterson, i’m assuming, was given the art duties on this title because his style was similar enough to Jim Lee’s. I don’t mean that as an insult, it stands enough on it’s own so that the two can be distinctive of each other but at least the influence or some of the stylistic tropes are there.He does extremely well at adapting to the pace of the writing in the book and he moves the story sequentially very well. I hadn't realized he more or less has 6 splash pages in this issue, but they’re used well and effectively at the right times to visually tell the story and give the right moments weight and impact. A hallmark of the early 90′s culturally and in artistic meaning, was the mullet, and Peterson’s mullets are right up there with the Bagleys, Romita Jr’s and Lims of their day. Another 90′s thing to do for some reason, and it would only get more pronounced through out the 90′s, was the tendency to use a characters trademarked logo when their name is being shouted out, see the point where Archangel soars towards Cable. How would that sound i wonder? Bucking the trend at the time, Peterson’s expressions aren’t just blank or gritted teeth. Faces in a panel are reacting to what is happening in that panel logically. Also characters aren't just dressed in some stock depiction of clothing. Only Jamie McKelvie, i feel, has a knack for capturing the clothing and trends of the exact minute, but Peterson’s characters dress to reflect their personalities, even Gambit (discussed above) and with only the exception of Rogue, who’s civilian outfit is a rejected costume idea with a military green X-jacket that she’s torn the logo’s off (I’m on to you Rogue). Bishop is dressed like the militant tightwad that he is, Cyclops is fathers day catalog K-mart. Jean is Danielle Steele non-descriptive female actress. Archangel is rich guy wears suits. Iceman is swinging single guy, Colossus is drab, loose fitting artist. I used to wonder why nobody wore brands in comics or dressed like people i knew but they wouldn’t. You wouldn't get the visual idea of their character in one glance if they all wore street brand hoodies and designer jeans. Peterson is also really good at slightly playing with convention and perspective. Larger than life moments like Caliban bursting through a ceiling or Colossus and Iceman changing form and charging into action are embellished by exceeding the borders and constraints of the panel.

So that’s it for this issue.

Thanks for reading if you’ve read it through. I’d love to talk about it more with any of you, these posts are also on the twitter link if I've done it correctly. The Instagram account is where i share photos of the tattered issues I've just danced down memory lane with and i’m hoping to get up a curated playlist of things relevant to this review on the YouTube channel in time. (Just give it time).

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thisiswhatwereupagainst · 7 years

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NON-MUTANTS ON X-TEAMS

Something I've run into a lot while RPing in the X-Men fandom is the idea that anyone who is not a mutant, and ESPECIALLY if they are a baseline human, is an unwelcome oddity at the Xavier's school. However, nothing could be further from the truth. From the beginning of the series to the current cast, there have always been non-mutant cast members ranging from androids to aliens to plain ol' regular humans, and they've never had a problem being accepted by the X-Men. Thus, I decided to make a list of them all.

I kept it strictly to non-mutants who served with the X-Men or among their affiliates (New Mutants, X-Force, etc.) but there have also been non-mutants who served on villainous mutant squads too, such as the mutate Lorelei with the Brotherhood and Donald Pierce with the Hellfire Club.

This is probably not even a COMPLETE list; I'm sure there are many more non-mutants among the X-Men and their affiliates!

Calvin Rankin/The Mimic - Calvin is a not a mutant but a mutate, having gained powers due to an accidental mixup of chemicals from an experiment his father was doing. As a result, he can take on the superpowers of anyone near him, as well as any skills or knowledge that they have. Kind of like Rogue, but without the drawbacks. He first used his powers to attack and bedevil the X-men for sheer spit back in the 1960s when it was just the O5, but in recent times he has changed his ways and was allowed to join the X-Men when he asked. Rogue even says she thinks he'll be a wonderful teacher!

Juggernaut/Cain Marko - Comic book Juggernaut is NOT a mutant, he gained his powers from the magical Gem of Cyttorak. He is also the step-brother of Charles Xavier, and you can guess from the name "Cain" what kind of relationship they have. Since his first appearance in 1965, he's been a villain. But in the 2000s, he joined the X-Men team. Not everyone liked him, and it turned out to be a ruse on his part, but he was allowed to become a member. And any problem anyone had with him was not due to not being a mutant, but on having TRIED TO KILL THEM SO MANY TIMES and being a general abrasive jerk.

Moira MacTaggert: If you're imagining a sexy young American CIA agent, stop it right now. I'm talking about comics Moira. Comics Moira is around Charle's age, very Scottish, and she is actually DOCTOR MacTaggert, a world-renowned leading geneticist whose area of specialty is mutants. She's badass, she's smart, she calls Charles out on his shit when no one else does, she has dark issues of her own, and she goes after a kelpie with a giant gun. She's a longtime ally of the X-Men and friend to mutantkind, she lives at the mansion and forms a relationship with each team member of the time, and even forms/leads her own team of X-Men on Muir Island (the site of her research center) when it appears the original team has been killed. Moira debuts at an early point in the comics, and is an important player in numerous stories for years to come up until her death at the hands of Mystique, but not before she discovered the cure to the Legacy Virus, saving the lives of countless mutants. If you remember no one else on this list, remember Moira MacTaggert.

Amanda Sefton - Many fans know that Nightcrawler was not raised by Mystique, but they don't know much about the family that did raise him. Well, that would be Margali Szardos, his foster mother. She had two biological children as well, Stefan and Jimaine. They were humans, but also practitioners of magic. When Nightcrawler left to join the X-men, Jimaine secretly followed him, using magic to disguise herself with the identity of "Amanda Sefton" under which she became Kurt's girlfriend. Yeah. His sister became his girlfriend while using a magic disguise. I'm serious. No, it's not treated as gross. After she reveals herself, she helps the X-Men on several adventures, using her magic powers to aid them against the Hellfire Club, Mystique’s Brotherhood and the aliens known as Dire Wraiths.

Madelyne Pryor- I know, you're all going "but she's Jean Grey's clone, that makes her a mutant!" Well, the X-Men didn't know that, and neither did she. She was with the X-Men for six years as a normal powerless human before anyone knew she was Jean's clone...before the writers knew, actually, as that was NOT their original plan. She was actually just supposed to be a human woman with an uncanny resemblance to Jean but no connection to her. The Gobyln Queen/clone thing got decided waaay later down the line. And even if it had been intended from the start, the CHARACTERS still regarded her as an ordinary human, since she had no powers until the Goblyn Queen thing, and yet she was a contributing member of the team, and proved herself a very valuable one.

Longshot - Longshot is an alien hailing from Mojoworld. He is one of many slaves created by genetic engineers in the employ of Mojoworld's masters, but he was one of the ones given free will by the head geneticist in hopes they would rebel, which they did. They also underwent a mystical ritual to give them good luck powers. However, their rebellion failed, and Longshot's memory was erased. Mojo then sent him to Earth, where he joined the X-Men and has been a regular member of their crew since the 1980s. He is often involved romantically with Dazzler.

Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander - Tom and Sharon were both humans who worked at the Xavier's School as staff. Sharon was the nurse and Tom was the PE teacher. Also, this was during the New Mutants era, when Magneto was the headmaster, so even he was a-okay with having them there. He was also outraged when Empath, an evil young mutant, did something horrible to them. Tom was also faculty at the school during Generation X, alongside their 'main' teachers Banshee and Emma Frost (Sharon had sadly been killed by then) When Generation X disbanded, Tom left once more as he had when the New Mutants had done the same, but he later returned when the Xavier's School student body grew once more. When M-day resulted in most of said students losing their powers, Tom was out of a job once more, and his current whereabouts are unknown. Oh, yeah, and they were originally white people but due to an incident with a demonic bear, they were magically transformed into Native Americans. Because comic books.

Stevie Hunter - Stevie Hunter is a human who was Kitty's ballet teacher. Through a series of adventures, she found out about Kitty's real identity as Shadowcat, and the X-Men in general. She not only kept their secret, but became their ally, trying to do what she could to help them whenever she found herself caught in the crossfire of their frequent battles. Xavier offered her a part-time job teaching ballet to the New Mutants, and she accepted. As with Tom and Sharon, Magneto had absolutely no problem with her when he took over the school. In fact, at one point, she chides him for being too hard on the kids for giving her trouble! Even after the New Mutants were no more, Stevie was still a welcome guest at the school, such as when she joined in the Thanksgiving dinner there Uncanny X-Men #308 and the wedding of Jean and Scott in X-Men (second series) #30.

Warlock - Warlock is an alien from the cybernetic race known as the Technarchy. Warlock, unlike others of his race, possesses a distinctive degree of compassion, and as a result was dubbed a mutant in spirit. He was a member of the New Mutants for almost the entire course of the group's existence, and has featured in many X-men stories since.

Bird Brain - Bird Brain is an Ani-Mate, an animal/human hybrid creatures created by a mad scientist known as the Ani-mator. Bird Brain escaped the island where the Ani-Mator created and tormented the Ani-Mates, and befriended the New Mutants. The New Mutants went with him back to the island to help the other Ani-Mates, which sadly resulted in the death of Doug Ramsey. After the Ani-Mator is no more, Bird Brain remains on the island with his fellow Ani-Mates to teach them how to live a better life from the lessons he learned with the New Mutants.

Gosamyr - Gosamyr is yet another alien, and another non-mutant taken in by the New Mutants. She first tried to manipulate them into rescuing her family, but after her family died, she stayed with the New Mutants and began trying to change her manipulative nature for the better. Realizing that her powers were beyond her control and she would cause trouble and manipulation even if she didn't need to, she chose to go in search of a rumored planet of mystics said to be able to help her people control their nature. She has still not returned or been heard from since.

Ship - Ship is, well, a ship. The Ship is specifically an AI created a millennia ago by the beings known as Celestials. It came into the possession of Apocalypse, which he used as his headquarters. When X-Factor defeated Apocalypse, he left Ship behind, and X-Factor decided to adopt Ship as their own new base. Ship revealed its AI to them and became something like their butler, even assisting in taking down the booby traps that Apocalpyse had left. Ship would also later house the New Mutants and the X-termintors. It would at one point be reduced to an orb inside Cable's chest, because comic books, and acted as an adviser to Cable while helping to keep his TO virus infection under control.

Ariel - Ariel is an alien and while she initially joined up with the villainous Vanisher and his Fallen Angels when she first came to Earth, she later aligned with the good guys and resided with the X-Men on the mutant community of Utopia, where she used her teleporting powers to help them. While teleportation is an ability that all members of her species posses, Ariel also has an addition power of being able to supernaturally persuade and sweet-talk others. She claims that this bonus power runs in her family, which sort of makes her a genetic mutant too...just, not a human one.

Shatterstar - Like Longshot, he hails from the Mojoverse and is of the same genetically engineered slave race. In fact, he is the son of Longshot and Dazzler, raised in the future, because comic books. While on a mission to Earth to find the X-Men for aid, he instead found X-Force. At first he battled them, but after talking, they aided him in the slave rebellion and promised to help him defeat Mojo one day. From that point on Shatterstar has been a member of X-Force, and formed a relationship with his mutant teammate Rictor, making them one of the first same-sex couples in the X-comics.

Adam-X - Adam X, or Adam the X-treme, or Adam Neramani, is a half-human half-Shi'ar who also has the ability to make blood explode. Yeah, he's the 90s incarnate. He was originally intended by Fabian Niceiza to be the half-brother of Cyclops and Havok, but that never actually came to pass on the page, though many readers guessed it. In any case, this bad boy worked with X-Force during the 90s, and while his appearences have been sporadic since, he's also worked with the X-Men themselves in recent times as well.

Gaia - Though Gaia is sometimes called a mutant by others, it's actually not totally sure what Gaia really actually is. Generation X found her in another dimension. She looks totally human, but so does Ariel, so she could be an alien, or she could be a super-powered human, mutant or mutate or something else, who is just from another dimension. It's unsure. What is sure is that she was one of Generation X for awhile, but left them to go do her own thing and explore life on Earth. She has not been seen since. But consider her powers are pretty major, she's probably ok. Not only was she telepathic, empathic, and telekinetic, but she could reshape matter as she pleased, even creating objects out of nothing, such as a big fancy futuristic house for herself. Regardless of her odd origins and indistinct species one thing is for sure: Gaia was one of the team for the short time she was on it. No one ever cared one bit that she might not exactly be a mutant per se, or even mentioned it at all. She was one of Generation X, and that's what mattered.

Davis "Slipstream" Cameron - Davis was not a mutant, but his sister Heather "Lifeguard" Cameron was, and when she joined the X-Men, he came with her, and no one objected at all. Later, he would become a mutant himself; during a crisis in which Heather was in danger, Sage explained to him that while he was not a mutant, he carried latent mutant genes, so his children or grandchildren would probably be mutants, but not him. However, due to her own powers, she could activate these genes, enabling him to help the X-Men save his sister. Davis agreed to it, and gained the ability to teleport. Davis left the team when his sister underwent a physical transformation that revealed she was half-alien in addition to a mutant; despite having had no problem with his sister's mutation, her new alien-hybrid form horrified him. It is unknown if Davis too is part alien, or if he is in fact only her half-brother and thus fully human.

Annie Ghazikhanian - Annie succeeded the late Sharon as the human nurse at a mutant school. She had a mutant son, Carter, but she also had some anti-mutant prejudices which she was working through. Nonetheless, she developed a friendship with Northstar, and got on well with most of the X-Men. The only person she actually had a problem with was Lorna, and this was due to them both being in love with Alex...and the then-unstable Lorna attacking her with scalpels. However, she eventually left the school with her son due to her understandable fear of the supervillain attacks that plagued it, specifically after one resulted in the death of another student that her son was friends with.

Hepzibah - Hepzibah is an alien who has long been a member of the space adventurer crew known as the Starjammers, who have teamed up with the X-Men on many occasions. She eventually joined them, and served through many X-Men adventures such as World War Hulk, where she answered the Stepford Cuckoo's call for help when the Hulk attacked Professor X, and Messiah Complex in which she joined X-Force. When the X-Men make their new base Utopia, she is seen there, despite it being a "mutant sanctuary". Currently, however, she is back in outer space again.

Danger - So it turns out that the Danger room is alive and sentient, and then it turns into a vaguely female-looking android thing called Danger, and tried to kill the X-Men, but then joined them. Yeah. So that's a thing that happened. She has since been a member of X-Club and X-Factor as well as the X-Men, and has an interest in rehabilitating villains such as Empath, Sebastian Shaw and Donald Pierce.

Karima Shapandar/Omega Sentinel - What's a more archetypal foe of mutantkind then than the Sentinel? And yet, the X-Men have even welcomed one of them into their ranks. Karima was an ordinary human police officers who was transformed into an Omega Prime Sentinel against her will by Bastion. A Prime Sentinel is a human with cybernetic nanotech implants which, upon activation, transforms them into armored beings with powerful weapons systems...programmed, of course, to kill mutants. Though Karima tried to fight her programming, she was no match for it alone. It was not until she encountered Magneto and Xavier on Genosha that she was freed. Together, the two men combined their powers to restore her human consciousness and free will, rather than destroying her. She remained in Genosha to rehabilitate and adjust to the changes of her body, and used her powers to help mutants. Eventually, she joined the X-Men. Even Magneto of all people shows her great kindness; there's a scene of him reading to her from a Kipling book during her recovery! And yeah, Kipling was hella racist against Indians so maybe not the best choice to read to a woman who is Indian, but MAGNETO is being KIND to a HUMAN who is also a SENTINEL ok, it's amazing, and it's proof of how well-accepted she is among the X-Men and their lot. Eventually during the course of her adventures with the X-Men, her Sentinel aspects are rendered inert by a villain, making her virtually human again. She chose to continue to serve with the X-men and was a welcome member of their team. However, she later leaves the X-Men to take a job with the mutant superheroes Sabra and Gabriel Shepherd, saying she feels she'd be a better fit there and she wants to pursue a case they're working on.

Dr. Kavita Rao - Creator of the famous "cure" for mutation, Dr. Kavita Rao is an ordinary human as well as a brilliant geneticist. Though she saw mutation as a disease, she was motivated by good intentions rather than hateful ones, having seen so many mutants suffer or hurt others because of their powers, and believed that she was helping them. Considering that hundreds of mutants signed up for her cure, known as Hope, perhaps she even had a point in some cases....such as that of Tildie, one of her patients, a little girl whose uncontrollable powers had killed her own parents. regardless, Wolverine destroyed her work. Despite the hostile feelings of many X-Men towards Kavita's beliefs, and the fact she had allied with the alien villain known as Ord, she was recruited by the X-Men for their science squad known as the X-Club. This gave her a home and a job, as she had become a pariah in the scientific community due to her alliance with Ord becoming known, and, after M-day, out of work as someone who studied mutants, since there were virtually none left. She has since done her best to help the X-Men and mutantkind.

Broo - Of all the extraterrestrial species that the X-men have ever encountered, there is none more horrifying and loathsome than the evil creatures called the Brood. And yet, when the X-Men discovered a young and tiny specimen among them that, unlike the others, had the capacity to feel compassion, they welcomed him with open arms. Rejected by his own people, the little alien now known as "Broo" has found a home in the Xavier's School. Though he was teased in the beginning by some obnoxious classmates, the staff has always supported him, and he has made great friends among the other students. He's rather like the Warlock of his generation!

Fantomex and E.V.A: Fantomex was created by the Weapon Plus program, the same people who made Wolverine, to serve as a super-sentinel against Earth's mutant population. Weapon Plus created a population of technorganic organisms whose living tissue was fused with Sentinel nanotechnology at the cellular level. His mother, a member of this race, became pregnant when she was fertilized with nanomachines, resulting in the birth of Fantomex. So basically he's a sort of human sentinel but not in a cyborg way like Karima is. It's weird, Grant Morrison wrote it. Anyway, he escaped, and after a lot of contact with the X-Men, he ends up among them, living on Utopia and helping them in their missions. He then becomes a member of Uncanny X-Force, a secret team organized by Cyclops without the knowledge of other X-Men in order to carry out missions that they would never do, such as the assassination of Apocalypse while he was incarnated in a child form. Though Fantomex carried the mission out, he also cloned the child, resulting in Evan Sabahnur/Genesis. When Cable created his new X-Force team after this, Fantomex was a member, and he is a member of the most recent X-Men team in All New All Different led by Magneto. As for EVA, she's a sentient spaceship that is his external nervous system. I told you, Grant Morrison wrote it.

Deadpool - Believe it or not, this fan-favorite is not a mutant! He's a mutate, meaning someone who wasn't born with their powers. For instance, Captain America and Spider-Man are mutates. In Deadpool's case, while his backstory varies a lot, the general history is that he was given his healing factor artifically by Dr. Emrys Killebrew of the Weapon X/Weapon Plus program. However, since Deadpool was suffering from cancer, this made his cancerous cells as immortal as his healthy cells, hence his horrendous appearance. He was a member of the same X-Force team as Fantomex. He's also claimed to be a member of the X-Men, but I'm not sure if he actually was or not.

Deathlok Prime (Unit L17): A cybernetic soldier from an alternate future who joins X-Force and teaches at the Jean Grey School. He has Wolverine-like claws made of energy, carries an alternate version of Captain America's shield, and can predict numerous versions of the future.

I didn't count Lifeguard because she joined the X-Men as a mutant, it wasn't until later she discovered and manifested her half-Shi'ar side. So as far as they and she knew when they let her on, she was a mutant, and my point with this list was that the X-Men welcome non-mutants as much as they do their own kind. That's the same reason I didn't count Jubilee; she was a mutant on the team for a long, long time before she became a human-then-vampire, so it's a different dynamic.

I didn't count Valerie "Val" Cooper (the human in charge of X-Factor) because despite the "X" in the name, X-Factor was a government team, not affiliated with the X-Men and/or Xavier in any way. But you should check her out! You should also check out Yukio, a badass human lady who is a close friend and ally to Wolverine and Storm. She's not on this list because, while she's helped them, she's never actually been a member of the X-Men or a teacher at the school or anything like that. But she's super duper awesome!

But yeah, that's our list---mutates, aliens, Sentinels, and plain ol' baseline humans, there's a place for them all with the X-Men!

#xmen #x men #x-men

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