X-Men: Legacy (2008 series) #268

At the end of Avengers Vs X-Men #5 the Phoenix Force gave parts of its power to 5 X-Men (Colossus, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magik and Sub-Mariner). Now they're busy improving the world.

In war-torn Narobia in Africa yesterday Cyclops destroyed all weapons, both of the government and the rebels and any other armed factions. Now we see the 3 Stepford Cuckoos and Warpath involved in dismantling Iran's nuclear program. The Cuckoos are also in mental contact with Frenzy dropping out of a plane over Narobia. It seems that Cyke missed some guns and their possessors are starting to fight over the power vacuum. They want her to keep the peace for say 6 hours until they can get there to do a mass mind cleansing. Frenzy's not happy because she thought was being sent to fight, not to hold the hands of 'flatscan' humans. They just tell her that they've implanted in her brain knowledge of the local languages.

Invulnerable Joanna Cargill lands with a loud boom but survives. She enters a village and sees a man beating a young woman because she dares to defy him. Our heroine intervenes but the man says it's his duty to discipline his disobedient wife. She asks the girl if she became his wife willingly and she relies no. The man advises the American to go back to distributing aid or he'll teach her to know her place. She dares him and he hits her with his machete, which breaks. Then she breaks his wrists and declares the pair divorced. The man realises she's a mutant abomination and runs off declaring that the balance of power will return to 'normal' once they've gone.

The girl confirms that he's part of the militia and Frenzy decides to follow him. But the girl says she'll never find the camp in the bush without her as a guide. Frenzy dismisses her suggestion but the resulting downcast look reminds her of her father telling her she was good for nothing. So she accepts her help. On the way the girl notes that Frenzy is strong, and asks if her father taught her to fight. Another memory shows him hitting her for playing with her brother Gareth's toys (they look like real weapons and uniform to me), and she answers yes but the girl guesses about the beating. Joanna explains that dad was a soldier and he had a son to carry on his legacy. But she was unplanned, a premature birth and weak and sickly - useless. Her churchgoing mom didn't do anything but say things like "The meek shall inherit the Earth" and "God never sends us more than we can bear". But then their son was killed in action and dad lost it to drink. And then he caught her wearing Gareth's beret and he took it all out on her until her mutation kicked in and she punched her fist through his chest. And then she ran away from home.

Now it's the girl's turn to tell her story. Soldiers came to her village and killed her father. They shot her mother too but not fatally and then gave the girl a machete and told her to finish the job the or they'd kill *her*. Then they took her to their camp and when she was 13 they 'gave' her to her husband. After that she did many bad things, but Frenzy says she had no choice. She learns that the girl's name is Angelique and then they get near the camp but find her husband's dead body. In the camp they see 'soldiers' with other captured villagers. Frenzy runs in and defeats them all.

2 hours later they're back in the village and the Stepford Cuckoos have arrived who are going to enter their minds and take away the villagers' bad memories. Joanna thinks it's good to reduce the traumatic effects of the things they've been through. But to delete the memories as well would be to take away part of what they are, even if the memories are painful. The Cuckoos say they *could* do that but they want to consult Cyclops or Emma Frost. Joanna says that it should be each villager's *own* decision. She tells them to do it and she'll take responsibility. Then she says goodbye to Angelique and tells her that their future is now up to themselves.