In the Morlock tunnels, Kitty Pryde confronts
Wolverine over stabbing Rachel at the end of last issue. Wolverine defends his
choices, saying that Rachel was out of control and there was no other way to
stop her. Wolverine reaffirms that they’re supposed to be heroes, held to a
higher standard, and what Rachel was planning was the unprovoked execution of
the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club. Though Kitty still isn’t satisfied,
Storm shuts the argument down, pointing out that Rachel is still out there somewhere
and their priority right now is to find her as soon as possible. She requests
the Morlocks’ assistance from Callisto who points out that, given Wolverine’s
skill, it may already be too late! Meanwhile, a mugger aims to assault a woman
in Central Park, when he’s suddenly grabbed by Selene and his life force
drained to restore her back to health. The would-be victim tries to thank
Selene, before Selene drains the unfortunate woman as well.
Selene heads back to the Hellfire Club to alert
Sebastian Shaw and the others of what transpired. Selene feels that Rachel’s
planned execution of them all presents her as a threat they should deal with
sooner rather than later. Shaw agrees, but posits that he wants Rachel alive,
as a tool to be of use to them later. Elsewhere still, Nimrod scans New York
for signs of mutant threats, quickly coming across Rachel’s energy signature.
His scanners tell him that she’s alone and injured and he decides he should deal
with her now while she’s most vulnerable. Before he can depart, Nimrod is
interrupted by Tomas, the son of his friend Jaime that he’s staying with, and
promises to check his homework in the morning. With that out of the way, Nimrod heads out to complete his mission. Finally, in Central Park, we find the object of
everyone’s search: Rachel, injured and failing to screen out the city’s
thoughts. She thinks to last issue, about how Wolverine stabbed her to keep her
from killing Selene. She’s using her telekinesis to keep her wounds closed but
knows that if she relaxes her concentration, she’s as good as dead.
Feeling exhausted and betrayed, unsure if she can
still trust the X-Men, Rachel comes across the bodies of the two people Selene
killed not too long ago. Feeling this only proves her intentions justified, she
sends her power down to the Morlock tunnels and psionically attacks Wolverine,
knocking him onto the subway tracks! Kitty just barely manages to phase him out
of the way of an oncoming train before Nightcrawler teleports them to where the
others had met up in Central Park. Rogue and Storm both lament having pushed
Rachel away earlier when they should have known better but determine that their
mission remains unchanged. While Nightcrawler looks after Wolverine, the others
head out, using Caliban to locate Rachel. The Hellfire Club likewise arrive in
Central Park to locate Rachel and Selene alters Friedrich Von Roehm into
something akin to a werewolf to track Rachel. And finally, Nimrod’s scanners
indicate he is near as well.
Eventually, everyone converges on Rachel as Rogue
tackles Von Roehm to keep him from Rachel. Her costume tears a bit, causing her
to absorb Von Roehm which also puts her under Selene’s thrall. Kitty manages to
rescue Rogue from Selene’s grasp and both sides notice that in all the
commotion, Rachel has fled! Harry Leland uses his power to increase Colossus’
mass, causing him to sink into the ground. Rogue burrows into the ground to
rescue him while Storm tries to coordinate a surprise counterattack, while unbeknownst
to her, the Hellfire Club’s soldiers are sneaking up on her from behind. Not
far away, Rachel realizes she can warn Storm but it’ll alert Selene to her
whereabouts. Hurt and tired, Rachel reasons that the best course of action is
to escape, to remove the reason for the fight currently raging. Then, before
any side can take another step, Nimrod appears to announce that he’s there to
eliminate every mutant present, to protect humanity! To be continued!
For the special marvelite in you