After Rogue and Dazzler barely avoided drowning last
issue, they’re found by the Malice-possessed Polaris! Polaris suddenly gets
blasted from shore by Havok, unable to see who he actually attacked. Rogue
flies them all back to shore, landing exhausted in the sand. Psylocke and Havok
hitch a ride there from Lt. Morrell and Psylocke telepathically reaches out to
see what Rogue learned. Rogue flies off to find Madelyne, leaving Dazzler to
watch over the still unconscious Polaris. Dazzler decides to recharge her
powers in case more Marauders show up. She draws in all the sound from the
surrounding area, utterly freaking out everyone nearby, until Havok and
Psylocke arrive to point out how much she’s scaring the crowd. Havok checks on
the Marauder he blasted, finally realizing it’s Polaris as she awakens and
blasts him right back!
In the Rockies, Storm and Naze set up camp to rest in
their search for Forge. They’re suddenly approached by a scared woman screaming
for help, as a huge boulder comes hurtling their way! They avoid the boulder,
but the woman turns out not to be what she seems as she grabs both Storm and
Naze by the neck! She tosses Storm, who barely avoids going splat against the
boulder, as the woman’s equally dangerous brother arrives. Storm and Naze fight
back until their attackers morph into their true forms, horrible bird/reptile
creatures called Eye Killers! Storm and Naze discover that the Eye Killers
don’t like fire and end up setting them ablaze to stop them! Wounded and tired,
but alive, Naze realizes that the lines are blurring between the real world and
the spirit world, where the Eye Killers must have come through from.
Back in San Francsico, Psylocke is able to temporarily
free Polaris from Malice’s control. The momentary respite is halted by the
arrival of Vertigo and Harpoon who attack the X-Men, allowing Malice to regain
control. Arclight sends a shockwave that splits the ground underneath the X-Men
sending them tumbling into the bay, aside from Havok who desperately grabs onto
the fleeing Polaris. Elsewhere, on the Golden Gate Bridge, Scalphunter aims to
shoot Rogue as she’s searching for Madelyne, but he’s stopped by Longshot and
Wolverine. Scalphunter shoots at the two of them, causing Longshot to fall off
into the ocean below, while Scrambler jumps on Wolverine, temporarily
disrupting his healing!
Sabretooth then arrives to attack his hated enemy and
ends up breaking his hand on Wolverine’s skull. Wolverine retaliates by
stabbing Sabretooth in the chest and tossing him to the others. Scalphunter
opens fire with higher powered rounds, forcing Wolverine to jump off the side
of the bridge, where he’s caught by Rogue. They return to the bridge to find
the Marauders have escaped, assuming their job of killing Madelyne successful.
Wolverine then heads down to the lower part of the bridge to find Longshot wading
in the water with Madelyne, having luckily fallen right on top of her! Madelyne
asks Wolverine what’s going on and he admits he doesn’t know but that they’ll
find out. Finally, Polaris, with Havok still holding on, floats over Alcatraz,
until she knocks him loose. She taunts him to stop her like he tried to before
and he asks for forgiveness before letting loose a powerful blast! She’s able
to deflect it and taunts him as she flies off, pointing out that though he
failed to killer her, what’s more important is that he actually tried!
Give that special marvelite a timely gift