Previously on Muir Island New Mutants...

[Charles Warren]

Silent Knight is transformed into Captain Universe by the Enigma Force

ISSUE 16

The Muir Island New Mutants confront Baron Karza in the control room of his Dyson Sphere. Bullet shoots him with a telekinetic bullet, but it bounces off of the corona of energy that surrounds Karza.

Karza boasts again about how his is the power of the Sword Star! He activates all 20 Prometheus Gates, which begins to create spatial tunnels from the Microverse to the Macroverse. Then Karza's energy corona explodes outward, destroying the control center and tossing the New Mutants out into space, where an epic space battle is taking place between Sub-Atomican ships and those loyal to the Microverse. Now, the New Mutants can see for themselves the damage being done to the Microverse by the Prometheus Gates. They can see the distortion effect spreading like a ring around the gates. And they can see monolithic Whirldemons waiting to break through the Space Wall.

Karza begins firing cosmic blasts at the fleet, destroying scores of ships. Silent Knight teleports to the nearest Prometheus Gate, but her powers can't effect it. Blindside and Bullet make their way back to the damaged control room. Blindside creates a whirlwind to throw debris back up towards Karza, but he is too powerful and the debris vaporizes upon contact with his energy sheath. Bullet begins cobbling together ruined parts of electronics, trying to tap into the Dyson Sphere.

Fractal, Silent Knight and Joule try again to battle Karza, but nothing they can do can harm him while he has been "powered up" by the Sword Star.

Bullet successfully pulls up schematics of the Dyson Sphere and he surmises that if the two receptors pulling energy from the star are disrupted, then the gates would lose their power.

Bullet speeds along the inside ring of the Dyson Sphere towards one receptor. Joule launches a cathedral-sized piece of debris at one receptor and flies towards the other.

Karza teleports in front of the massive piece of debris and destroys it.

Blindside begins tearing up one of the receptors, while Joule begins demolishing the second.

Karza teleports to Joule and tries to impale her with his cosmic-powered drill apparatus. She uses her repulsion field to throw him back.

Fractal has detected that the star itself is sentient. Silent Knight gambles and teleports to the energy stream coming out of the star. Then she leaps into it and vanishes. Fractal uses his cosmic powers to try to locate Silent Knight, but this causes him to be sucked into the star too.

Inside the star, Silent Knight and Fractal are addressed by the Enigma Force, who bestows upon them the Uni-Power transforming them both into Captain Universe. Silent Knight immediately teleports Blindside, Bullet and Joule into the star again, and they are transformed as well.

Meanwhile, Karza is attempting to find the missing mutants, when they suddenly reappear as five Captain Universes! They begin blasting him with cosmic blasts and Karza begins to madly defend himself.

With their new cosmic awareness, the New Mutants see the fabric of the Microverse being torn through by the Prometheus Gates and the Whirldemons trying to break free.

Bullet blasts the Whirldemons back, holding them at bay, while Blindside begins healing the spatial tears. Blindside transforms the Dyson Sphere into paper, causing the Prometheus Gates to explode! Then Blindside and Bullet use their cosmic powers to repair the damage to the universe.

Meanwhile, a fierce battle has been waged against Karza by Fractal, Joule, and Silent Knight. After finally weakening Karza, Fractal drains the power from his mind, causing him to pass out. Joule transmutes his armor into glass. Silent Knight shatters his armor and hurls Karza into the sun.

Their duty completed, the Enigma Force transports the New Mutants and Blindside's parents back to Hong Kong. The Enigma Force leaves just enough Uni-Power within them so that they can restore the Yangs to their original bodies.

They appear in front of the Yang Corporation Building. Iron Man has defeated the remaining A.I.M. agents and they are being led into police vans. The New Mutants reunite with Emma Frost and Banshee. They locate the Yang's bodies and find that they are still inhabited by A.I.M. agents who are talking to the police. Bullet uses his telepathy to put everyone in the Yang Corporation building lobby asleep. Then Blindside transfers the minds of his parents back into their bodies. He imprisons the minds of the A.I.M. agents in the roboid bodies that were carrying his parents minds and he reduces them to the size of "actual" micronaut toys.

Blindside reunites with his parents. Emma Frost pledges the help of Frost International to help the Yangs reacclimatize to society and regain control of their company.

Emma Frost presents Blindside with a difficult choice: to stay in Hong Kong with his parents, or to return to Muir Island. He chooses to return to Muir Island. The New Mutants spend a few days in Hong Kong and then return to Muir Island.

A FEW WEEKS LATER (We get to see a preview of next issue)

December 1, 1989

Moira MacTaggert and Emma Frost are arguing in the Danger Room control booth. Wolverine is quiet, smoking a cigar, with his feet propped up. Moira insists that this is a bad idea, but Emma insists that the real world is a hard place and that the students must not be coddled.

The camera angle shifts to show the Danger Room. A-Team is poised and ready for battle. Opposing them is B-Team, consisting of Jubilee, Storm, Apex, Changeling, Skew and Radius. The issue ends just before the sparring begins!

[Charles Warren]

Silent Knight discovers that the Shadow King has been feeding off of her negative emotions

ISSUE 17

December 1, 1989

In the Danger Room, A-Team faces off against B-Team while Moira MacTaggert, Emma Frost, and Wolverine observe from the control booth. Each student has been given a special belt-buckle. The goal is for the students to hit their opponents belt-buckle, which will signal them as "out."

As the countdown is starting, Jubilee cheats. On the count of two, she shouts out "Now!" to Storm, who freezes the Danger Room floor beneath A-Team. Radius is surrounded by a magenta sphere of light that she calls her proximity field. She slides along the ice towards Silent Knight, like a baseball player sliding into to home plate. Radius touches Silent Knight with her proximity field, which gives Tanya bad luck. Jubilee slides across the ice next, attempting to blind A-Team with a pyro-technic blast, but only Fractal is affected. Apex slides in next and grapples Silent Knight, but is unable to throw her. Changeling turns into her alien form and apologetically plops down on top of Fractal to restrain him. Skew cuts his way through the Danger Room floor to try to sneak attack Bullet, but Bullet is able to spin away.

B-Team is able to hold off A-Team for just a few more seconds. But then Fractal nullifies Apex and Skew's powers. Then Silent Knight entangles everyone on B-Team with her dark force tendrils.

Moira, Emma, and Wolverine enter the Danger Room. When Silent Knight deactivates her tentacles, Apex angrily sucker-punches her. Although, Silent Knight is unhurt, she wraps him back up with a tentacle and dangles him high above the Danger Room floor.

Fractal considers using his Reality Warping power to change Apex's attitude, but a telepathic message from Emma Frost tells him that's not a good idea.

Moira tells Silent Knight to drop Apex and she let's him drop from twenty feet above the floor. Joule causes his fall to stop, with his face just inches from the floor. When Apex begins stand, Blindside zips behind him and holds his Acroyear sword to his throat.

Moira tells everyone to stand down and berates Apex for his poor behavior. Apex snidely remarks that there are no rules in combat. Emma says he's got a point.

Joule has an outburst that surprises everyone and she storms out of the Danger Room. Moira follows her.

Wolverine approaches Apex and tells him to come with him. He tells everyone else to hit the showers.

------

Later, Jubilee approaches Bullet while he's in his smoking spot. She bums a cigarette off of him, but begins to cough as she tries it. She asks Bullet about his days in Genosha and whether he wants revenge. Bullet tells her that its too big of a problem for him to put only on his shoulders. "What are you going to do? Attack a whole country?" he asks her.

Jubilee then confides in Bullet and tells him that she plans to leave Muir Island. She says that Wolverine is thinking about leaving to try to track down the missing X-Men and he wants her to stay. But Jubilee plans to runaway after him once he leaves. Bullet warns her that people tend to get hurt when they're around Wolverine, reminding her that Logan has a healing factor and she doesn't. She takes his advice to heart and then heads up to her room.

------

Meanwhile, Silent Knight and Blindside are practicing swordplay in the Danger Room. Silent Knight uses her darkforce blade. Blindside uses his Acroyear sword from the Microverse. Wolverine calls Blindside to meet him in the gymnasium.

When Blindside arrives, he sees a sumo wrestling circle has been set up. Wolverine tells Blindside and Apex to spar and that the first one out of the circle loses. Apex complains that it isn't fair and that Blindside will push him out in a second. Wolverine tells Blindside not to hold back.

The two square off and Blindside immediately catapults Apex out of the circle using his whirlwind ability.

Apex jumps up after being knocked back and throws a tantrum. Wolverine tells Apex that he missed the point of the lesson. He says. "Blindside fights with honor. You don't." Wolverine then thanks Blindside and asks him to leave him alone again with Apex.

------

Later, Silent Knight meets Moira MacTaggert and Emma Frost in Dr. Harcourt's office. They ask Silent Knight if she would like to explore some of the disturbing things that Emma Frost found inside Tanya's mind. Tanya agrees and Emma brings Moira and Dr. Harcourt into Silent Knight's mindscape.

They all appear in Tanya's house, which is swirling in the center of a tornado. Tanya's father and brother lay dead on the floor. Tanya is drawn to a door and gets sucked through it. She hears Emma and Moira banging on the door, but they can't get through.

On the other side of the door is a dining hall made of shadow. At the far end of the table sits Amahl Farouk who is slicing a giant black egg like it is a ham.

Silent Knight joins him a the table. Farouk tells her "the "powerful" emotions. They make us strong. You know this? This is why you are the most powerful of the New Mutants. Because your emotions are the most powerful. And yet. you contain them. They churn within you, like a dark hurricane. They feed you. Can you feel it? Ms. Frost. Dr. MacTaggert. Dr. Harcourt. They want to take that away from you. Is that what you want?"

He tries to get Tanya to eat from the black egg, but she refuses. He erupts into rage, transforming from Farouk and into the Shadow King.

He explains to her that a great dark harvest is coming, during which he will feast on the negative emotions of the entire planet. He needs Tanya for that plan and he will not let her go.

But Tanya refuses to be controlled. She stabs herself with her darkforce sword. When she withdraws the sword, she pulls an identical black egg out of her chest. The Shadow King roars in anger and lunges towards Silent Knight. But Emma Frost breaks through the door just then and terminates the psychic link.

Tanya finds herself back in Dr. Harcourt's office, but the room is now a total wreck.

Moira asks Tanya if she is alright, and everyone is shocked to hear Tanya speak in reply.

-------

Joule is called to her mother's office. Moira and Emma Frost are there. She can tell her mother has been crying. Emma asks Joule a philosophical question. Would it be better to not know a truth and to be happy. Or would it better to know a truth and lose one's happiness. Joule replies that happiness without truth is not real happiness, and she asks what's this all about.

Moira explains that Emma Frost has discovered that both Joule and Moira have had some psychic reconstruction of their memories. That they've discovered something upsetting. They ask Joule if she wants to know and she says yes.

Emma telepathically shares the suppressed memories she's discovered in Moira's mind. Joule witnesses a scene on Muir Island where a strange woman gives a baby to a much younger Moira and tells her: "I've travelled back in time, so that they won't begin to look for many years. Please! As one mother to another. Watch my baby. Keep her safe. No one must ever know of her existence." The woman lays her hands on both Moira and the baby. Then she turns to leave and Joule sees that the woman is Madelyne Pryor, the Goblyn Queen.

When the memories end, Moira and Joule embrace. Moira tells Joule that none of this matters. That Joule always has been and always will be her daughter.

------

Fractal is in his room, preparing decorations for the upcoming Winter Formal. Changeling knocks on his door and asks for advice. She tells Billy: "I have been observing human interaction and I have not been fully successful in my attempts to perform adequately. I want to ask you, because by my estimation, you are a MASTER of human interaction. I have observed, that every one likes you, friend Billy. But not everyone likes me, friend Billy. Teammate Skew says that I have air in my head.
And Teammate Radius. No matter what I do, she does not find my behavior pleasing. And Teammate APEX. He is as they say on the televised broadcasts, exceptionally dreamy. How can I be more appealing to him?

At first Billy advises her to be who she truly is, but that seems to make her sad. So then he tells her to be who she wants to be, which perks her up.

Then he drags Changeling down the hall to Joule's room and tells her that there's only one thing that will fix this: a makeover. Joule is pulled out of her dark brooding and throws herself into the make-over.

At one-point Fractal gives Changeling a Playboy magazine which seems to interest Changeling very much.

------

Several days pass.

The game resumes on December 9, 1989. Mutant tensions are on the rise. U.S. Senator Robert Kelly is proposing the Mutant Registration Act again and it is being debated in congress. He sites the recent mutant attack on New York by the players. He also mentions the X-Terminators and the Mutant Liberation Front.

The most exciting news around Muir Island is that Magneto has captured a Genoshan submarine. He is demanding that the United Nations pressure Genosha into freeing all of their mutant slaves. Otherwise he threatens to use the nuclear missiles on random cities.

Moira sends Banshee, Wolverine, Polaris, and Amanda Sefton to negotiate with Magneto.

During all of this, Moira calls the A-Team to the command center. She tells Billy that there's been some news that affects him directly. Billy looks up the screens and sees his home town on televised broadcasts. Immediately and impulsively, Fractal uses his new-found powers to teleport directly to his family home.

He sees Sentinel robots standing guard by the High School several blocks away. He also sees in his front yard is a MISSING sign, with his picture on it. But someone has scrawled MUTIE on top of his picture.

He rushes inside and finds his parents arguing. They rush to embrace him and break into tears. As Billy's mom tries to explain that something's happened to his sister, there is a spatial disturbance in the room. Suddenly Freedom Force appears in the Martin's living room, consisting of: Avalanche, Blob, Pyro, Sabretooth, Spider-Woman, and Spiral!

Pyro says: "Well, it looks like the old bird ain't always spot on, after all."

Sabretooth snarls at Billy. "Please resist arrest. I beg you...."

Billy throws up his arms, ready to use his powers, when we cut back to Muir Island.

Moira shakes her head. "I was afraid he might do that."

Moira looks at the others and says, "There's been a mutant disturbance in Billy's home town. We think his sister's mutant abilities have manifested.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE

[Charles Warren]

JOURNAL ENTRY
by Tanya Brooks
(sometime between Dec. 1st and Dec. 9th 1989)

Fractals. That's what Billy calls them. I can't see them, but since it has been gone, I've been able to feel them. And mine!

It doesn't stay like the other's. It's like a part of me is not complete...no that's not it, it's all there, just not...solid? Stable? I don't
know, but if I try hard enough I can shape it to match other fractals.

I went and saw the children today and it was so strange. I..could do what they could. Not all at once , but if I focused I could match mine to theirs. And understanding. I took a power
and knew how to use it, shape it, make it my own. Some faded, but if I tried I could hold onto it. I wonder what would happen if
I did it to the team!

Blndsisde is so fast, but I think he could do more with his speed. Bullet has his guns and mind woogi. Joule
is crazy powerful and Fractal can change reality itself. And the B team! They're terrible, except Storm and Changeling, but that
girl with the purple light field, I don't know what that was, but it could be useful...And the others! Logan! Jamie! Forge..I swear i
felt his gun in my hand, even though it was still on the table... If I could do it right..I don't know, but I think I could be useful to
the team again. Losing the ability to teleport seems like the biggest downside, but Amanda can do it, so maybe I can too? Billy
could probably help, he has a way to learn about other people's abilities.

I could talk to Moira I suppose, but if we have to go out in the field again, I need to be ready. She was supposed to be working with Polaris and her new powers...I don't know how
that worked out. This eating and sleeping thing is taking some getting used to, I have to remember to be careful, I don't have my armor any more. Or my sword.

I don't know how I'm going to be useful, but I will be.

[Charles Warren]

INTERLUDE
(Sometime between December 1st and December 9th, 1989

Moira MacTaggert's Lab, Muir Island....

Moira moved behind the analysis console, as Jamie Madrox helped Tanya lie upon the examination bed. Two of Jamie's duplicates were also here, one checking the equipment and the other beside Moira at the console.

Jamie gave Tanya a friendly wink as he lowered the sensor arms to surround the girl. "This'll be over before you know it." he smiled.

Moira looked at Tanya and tried to imagine the girl she'd been before her mutant powers had manifested. "Once upon a time," Moira thought to herself. "There was a young girl named Tanya Brooks, who desired no more out of life than what most other young girls dream of. A home. A family. Someone to love and be loved by. Typical 'happily ever after' dreams, eh? Well, mutants rarely get the 'happy ever afters,' do they, love? Not Tanya. And not Fiona either." Moira closed her eyes tightly thinking of what she and Fiona had just learned. That much of their life together could be mere fantasy. False memories implanted in their minds by Madelyne Pryor.

Moira shook off her musings, as Jamie gave her the thumbs up, then moved to join her and his other dupes on the control platform.

"Alright now, Tanya." Moira tried to speak in a motherly tone, hoping her melancholy mood wouldn't show. "Not to worry, Luv." She activated the scan and arcs of energy danced from the sensor arms and down Tayna's body. "Those fireworks only look formidable. They're really quite harmless."

Moira watched as the screens on the analysis console began to fill up with data from the scan. As a geneticist and the world's foremost expert on genetic mutation, Moira's equipment was without equal on the planet. She watched with fascination as the readings from Tanya's scans scrolled before her on the screen.

"Amazing. It looks like I may have been wrong about her powers all along. " Jamie stepped closer with curiosity.

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "Pluripotent echopraxia!"

"Come again?" asked Jamie.

"Power mimicry, Jamie. Tanya's core power never was Dark Force control. It's been power duplication all along. But her psychic possession by the Shadow King seems to have prevented its full manifestation. Instead, she's been subconsciously duplicating powers of the Shadow King. Which may have been what he wanted from the start. But now that his psionic influence has been excised, her true powers have come to the fore."

Moira's fingers tapped at the console as she continued to talk.

"If these readings mean what I think they mean, Tanya should be able to psychically duplicate the power-signature of those around her. Both mutants and non-mutants alike. Remarkable."

"But why?" interjected Jamie. "Why was the Shadow King interested in her? And was it her ability to mimic Dark Force control that he was after?

Or was it this..."

"Pluriopotent echopraxia," reminded Moira.

"Yes. Was it her power mimicry that he wanted control of. Or did he want her for some other reason?."

Moira looked down from the console with motherly concern at the small girl lying there and then looked back to Jamie.

"Let's hope we never find out."

[Charles Warren]

Legion struggles against the multiple personalities that inhabit his mind

ISSUE 18

In the Martin's home, Fractal and his parents face off against Freedom Force. Spider-Woman demands that Fractal surrender. Fractal pushes his parents away and tells them to run. Spider-Woman entangles Fractal in her psychic webbing. Sabretooth grabs Fractal's parents and lifts them off the ground. "Nobody's goin' anywhere."

Spiral attempts to put Fractal to sleep, but he resists and begins to pulse with energy as he prepares a power-nullification wave. Avalanche panics and hits Fractal with an earth wave that throws him out of the house and into the backyard. Pyro envelopes Fractal in a cage of sculpted fire.

However, Fractal's power-nullification wave goes off, affecting everyone except Spider-Woman and Spiral.

MEANWHILE, back on Muir Island...

Moira is upset by Fractal's impulsive departure. Everyone brainstorms on how to get to Fractal. Bullet reaches his mind out across the globe and makes mental contact with Billy, who tells him what's happening. Joule decides that their only hope is Legion and runs off to find him. Moira chases after her, telling her that Legion is too unpredictable.

MEANWHILE, in Burbank, IL...

Spider-Woman pounces on Fractal and tries to knock him out with a punch, but Fractal twists on the ground, making it a glancing blow. Spiral whips out her blades and holds them up to the throats of Fractal's parents, telling him to surrender. But Fractal transforms her blades into harmless gas.

MEANWHILE, back on Muir Island...

Through his mental connection with Fractal, Bullet uses his telepathy to put Freedom Force to sleep. Only Spiral is unaffected. Joule finds Legion in the cafeteria and begins trying to convince him to help.

MEANWHILE, in the future.

We are introduced to a new character named Quark, just as his mutant powers manifest. The year is 2025 and his father has angrily stormed into his room, brandishing a letter of rejection from college. As Quark's powers manifest, time freezes and then begins flowing backwards. Quark is disoriented as time reverses all around him.

Finally when it stops, he is in the Reavis High School Auditorium. The principal is addressing the student body. A Friends of Humanity representative stands by, but everyone is still frozen in time. Quark leaves the auditorium, ignoring the voice he hears and make his way out of the school (stopping to trip up a teacher on the way).

Outside, he sees that time is still frozen around the school, but he can see a barrier through which time appears to move as normal. He hotwires a car from the parking lot and drives out of the barrier, where he sees the army has set up a perimeter around the school Two giant sentinel robots also stand nearby.

A few soldiers jump into a Humvee and pursue Quark, but he ditches the car and flies up above the neighborhood. Looking down, he sees his house! And he sees Fractal and Spiral squaring off in the backyard. Quark heads that way, but sees a Sentinel pursuing him.

MEANWHILE, back on Muir Island...

Joule asks Bullet to add Legion into the team mind-link, but when he does, everyone in the link is sucked into Legion's mind. Inside, it looks like a multi-leveled prison. Emma Frost, Joule, and Bullet contend with the different personalities until they finally are able to convince Legion to help them. Legion teleports Blindside, Bullet, and Joule to Billy's backyard in Burbank, IL.

Spiral has summoned magical swords of energy as she continues to fight Fractal, but when she sees the others arrive, she begins to cast a spell to escape. Fractal uses his new magical skills to ensnare her in the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak.

Blindside picks up Billy's parents and zips them off to a nearby church with his super-speed. Joule, Bullet and Quark begin attacking the Sentinel.

Spiral breaks free from the magical bands and tells the New Mutants that she never liked working for Freedom Force anyway. She tells them if they let her go, they won't see her again. Bullet tells her to get lost and she vanishes.

Joule uses a burst of kinetic energy to launch the Sentinel high into the air and temporarily out of the fight.

Everyone jumps into the Martin's station wagon and Joule levitates it up above the neighborhood. But the Sentinel returns and wraps the station wagon up in its capture coils. Bullet severs the cords with a wide-area telekinetic blast. But it also hits Joule, causing the station wagon to fall. Blindside returns just in time, with his strength boosted and catches the falling car.

Joule slams into the Sentinel, causing it to land with one foot in a nearby home's living room.

Fractal uses his reality warping ability to cause the Sentinels boot jets to malfunction, sending the giant robot flying away out of control.

Still carrying the station wagon, Blindside evades a second Sentinel and approaching military vehicles. He runs into the center of downtown Chicago and sets the car down in into an alley near the Willis Tower.

Temporarily safe, the New Mutants begin trying to figure out what their next step will be. Fractal tells them that they have to save his sister.

END OF ISSUE

[Charles Warren]

The Squadron Supreme confront the Muir Island New Mutants at Area 51
ISSUE 19

December 9, 1989

The issue begins with Tanya Brooks (formerly Silent Knight, but now Flux) practicing tai chi in the gymnasium on Muir Island. There are several thought bubbles and narration panels that make it clear that she is trying to come to terms with her new powers, her ability to speak, and the repercussions of her mind being messed with by the Shadow King.

She turns suddenly and sees that, impossibly, one half of the gym is now a giant chessboard with the New Mutants as playing pieces. Legion looms over it like a giant. He frowns and says, "Hmm. How about I try this..." He lifts the Joule piece off of the chess board and then reaches out and grabs Flux in his giant fingers, moving her onto Joule's space. When she is set down, she realizes that she has been transported by Legion to Chicago with the rest of the New Mutants. Joule is no longer present.

Flux joins Bullet, Blindside, Fractal and a new kid named Quark in a snowy alleyway near the Sears Tower. The sounds of sirens and helicopters are all around. Realizing that they are being pursued by both the military and a Sentinel robot, the New Mutants come up with a plan.

Blindside zips away to find one of the military vehicles that are looking for them. He knocks on the driver window and then begins to lead them on a wild goose chase through Chicago. All the other units try to converge on Blindside, which provides a distraction for the other New Mutants. Flux hot-wires a car and they drive to an abandoned amusement park on Lake Michigan.

While they get to know Quark a little better, Fractal searches the city with his ESP. Specifically Reavis High School, looking for his sister. The school is still frozen in time, but the military soldiers there are using some sort of generators to rescue people from the zone. He also realizes any mutants that the military have found here been sent to Area 51, which they are referring to as Facility X.

Forge calls the New Mutants on their comms and tells them that he is enroute in the Blackbird and that he should arrive at their position within an hour. The New Mutants debate whether to wait for him or not, but finally decide to stay put, while they send Blindside out for some authentic Chicago deep pan pizza.

Forge arrives and greets Quark, telling him that he's welcome at Muir Island. The New Mutants tell Forge what they've learned. Forge reveals that he formerly worked for the military at Area 51 and personally built the defenses there. Forge initially tells the New Mutants that its too dangerous. That they must wait for the X-Men before they go to Area 51, but the kids convince him that the longer they wait, the more danger Billy's sister and the other mutants taken there might be in. Forge reluctantly agrees. They board the Blackbird and head towards Nevada.

Flux mimics Forge's powers and assists him in modifying his portable Cerebro so that it will penetrate the jamming defenses at Area 51. Forge ask Quark to stay close to him when they get there.

December 10, 1989

As the Blackbird approaches Area 51, Bullet dons the Cerebro helmet and scans for mutants. He gets strange readings at first. But then he focuses in on four teenaged mutants in cells. One is Billy's sister, Mary Martin. Another is Angela Day, the mutant girl from Billy's High School who can talk to animals.

Bullet notices a fifth mutant signature running through the base and he focuses on it. It is Destiny. He makes mental contact with her and learns that she's foreseen the arrival of the New Mutants. She's rushing to warn Mystique. Bullet tries to overwhelm her psychically, but Destiny pushes him out of her mind.

Bullet relays what happened and Forge realizes that the base will now be alert and ready for them. Now with stealth no longer an option, Forge decides to negotiate with them. He lands the Blackbird, ordering the kids to stay near and to not do anything sudden. Bullet uses his psychic invisibility to become unnoticeable. Blindside turns himself invisible and Flux mimics Blindside's invisibility. Everyone disembarks except for Blindside who stays on the plane.

On the tarmac they are met by U.S. Agent, American Dream, and Dr. Valerie Cooper. Forge tells them that he's here to talk, not to fight. He insists that the young mutants they have belong on Muir Island and not locked up in Area 51.

Dr. Cooper tells him that the young mutants are there for their own good. She will train them to be members of Freedom Force. And as loyal government operatives, they will show the American people that mutants can be patriotic, law-abiding citizens.

Forge protests, but Dr. Cooper reveals that there is more. Forge violated his contract with the US Government when he fled from them. Therefore, he's under arrest too and won't be permitted to leave.

Forge tells Dr. Cooper that she's underestimating the power of the New Mutants if she thinks that they can stop her. U.S. Agent boasts that they have more power than Forge thinks.

At that moment, the Squadron Supreme descend, levitating on Doctor Spectrum's force disc. Doctor Spectrum covers the Blackbird in a forcefield to prevent them from escaping. Hyperion demands that they stand down. Through the team-link Forge tells the New Mutants to attack!

Forge whips out a massive gun, but Hyperion moves faster than a speeding bullet to Forge. Hyperion grabs the gun and crushes it in one hand. Flux mimics Hyperion's flight, atomic vision and resistances. Bullet shoots American Dream, taking her by surprise. When she hits the ground, American Dream turns into Mystique, as Bullet suspected.

Power Princess activates her energy sword and demands that Quark surrender. Whizzer speeds around the combat, but can't hit anyone. Quark creates a sweltering heat sheath around his body, but Power Princess doesn't flinch. U.S. Agent tries to knock out Fractal with a swipe of his shield, but Fractal catches it in mid-swipe. Haywire sprays Fractal with tanglewire, entangling U.S. Agent as well.

Mystique shouts over her mic, that there are unseen players on the field. Skylark swoops down over Quark, unleashing a sonic blast. Shape smacks Fractal. Fractal breaks free of the tanglewire. Moonglow entwines Quark with moonlight bands of force. Blindside spins and drills his way out of the bottom of the Blackbird to emerge beside it. Forge produces another gun and fires at Hyperion, but the bolts bounce off of him. Valerie Cooper fires a tranquilizer dart at Fractal. Fractal yanks U.S. Agent's shield away from him and blocks the dart.

Meanwhile unseen to all, a telepath begins showing the adversaries the positions of the invisible New Mutants.

Fluxs boosts her strength up to incredible levels and charges Hyperion. Hyperion catches her punch with one fist, the resulting shockwaves shattering windows nearby. Hyperion tells her again to surrender. Then he lets her go and slams into Forge, taking him out with a forearm. Bullet fires at Power Princess, but she deflects it with her energy shield. Power Princess lunges at Bullet, but he keeps her at bay with his forcefield.

Whizzer continues to zip around trying to punch the New Mutants. Quark mind-controls Shape and causes him to elongate and entangle Moonglow. U.S. Agent fights dirty and tries to break Fractal's knee, but Fractal blocks the kick with U.S. Agent's own shield. Doctor Spectrum creates a giant sword out of his power prism and slashes down at Blindside, who blocks it with his Acroyear sword. "Nice sword, kid." says Doctor Spectrum. "Where'd you get it?" Blindside replies, "The Microverse." Then zips away.

Haywire tries to sucker punch Fractal, but nearly breaks his hand when Billy blocks it with U.S. Agent's shield. Mystique runs off the tarmac, shooting at Flux as she goes. The bolts bounce off of her. Skylark swoops down over Fractal, hurting him with her sonic blast. Shape continues to coil around Moonglow and shoves his hand into her mouth as a gag. Fractal heals himself and circles U.S. Agent, ready for the next attack. Blindside zips after Whizzer, but misses him, then shoots over towards U.S. Agent, striking him on the back of the head!

Finally, Flux powers up, mimicking Hyperion's atomic vision... but more powerful! She flies up above the fight where she has a clear shot of everyone! She unleashes a wide-area beam that strikes everyone! Friends and foes alike!

The atomic vision inadvertently triggers Quark's time powers. He vanishes.

After the flash, Bullet falls unconscious. Blindside, Flux and Fractal remain standing, although singed.

Also laying on the ground now are U.S. Agent, Haywire, Skylark, Shape and Moonglow.

The issue ends with a shot of Hyperion, Power Princess, Whizzer, and Doctor Spectrum facing off against the New Mutants angrily.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[Charles Warren]

Doctor Spectrum, Whizzer, Hyperion, and Power Princess confront the Muir Island New Mutants

ISSUE 20

Issue 20 opens with a shot of the New Mutants fighting the Squadron Supreme on a landing strip at Area 51; Legion looms over the scene like a chess-master reviewing his chessboard and the heroes are the pieces.

Legion picks up a chess piece that looks like Joule and he twists it in his fingers. He asks the piece, "Did you know that in the Tempest, the chess game between Miranda and Ferdinand is an allegory for understanding the advancement of the soul?" When the piece doesn't answer, he shrugs. "No, I didn't think you'd care." He looks back down at the air strip. "Oh, well. My move." He places the Joule piece down on the air strip and...

Suddenly Joule appears on the air strip! She sees Fractal and Flux facing off against Hyperion, Power Princess, Doctor Spectrum and Whizzer. Everyone else is unconscious.

Again, Hyperion tells the New Mutants to stand down. When they refuse, he flies up to Flux and the two begin duking it out in the air above the runway.

Power Princess attacks Fractal ferociously, pounding her energy sword against US Agent's shield (which Billy has picked up). But finally, she's able to knock the shield away and takes Fractal out with a powerful blow to his temple.

Whizzer tries to speed by Joule and "clothes-line" her, but she absorbs his kinetic energy and, he is stopped in his tracks. Doctor Spectrum envelops Joule in a sphere construct and attempts to suck the air out of it, but Joule uses her kinetic control to stop the fan blades.

Joule picks up the startled Whizzer and hurls him at Doctor Spectrum, who creates a giant baseball glove construct to catch the speedster.

Flux (having copied Hyperion's atomic vision) shoots Doctor Spectrum square in the back with her eye beams and he drops Whizzer. The Whizzer rotates his arms creating two mini-whirlwinds to slow his fall.

Flux tries to fly away from Hyperion, but he grabs her ankle, spins her around and then throws her down onto to the tarmac! Power Princess charges Joule and begins a savage assault against her kinetic field, hoping to break through. Hyperion joins her and the two continue to pound against Joule's kinetic field.

Flux starts to get up off of the ground, but Whizzer zooms up and strikes her with a flurry of high speed punches that knock her out.

Alone Joule stands against Power Princess, Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum who assault her on all sides, trying to get through her field. Joule lashes out with her repulsion field, knocking out Whizzer.

Unfortunately, the Squadron Supreme begin to recover from Flux's wide-angle atomic vision blast. (see last issue) Outnumbered, Joule flies up above the airstrip. U.S. Agent hurls his shield at her, but she sends it back at him, knocking him out again.

Haywire sprays Joule with tanglewire, wrapping her up. As she struggles against it, Skylark shrieks up to her and knocks her unconscious with a sonic blast.

LATER...

The Muir Island New Mutants awaken in a high-tech cell block. Also being held here are five other mutants, including Fractal's sister. They are wearing black body-suits similar in design to U.S. Agent's.

U.S. Agent walks up and down the cell block banging his shield against the wall and shouting like a drill sergeant. He tells them that they've got collars that nullify their powers and if they tamper with them, they are designed to blow their heads. The new mutants (especially Bullet) heckle U.S. Agent, which makes him angrier and angrier. "American Dream" is also here, but the new mutants continually call her Mystique, much to her irritation.

Dr. Valerie Cooper enters and apologizes for their treatment. She explains that the new mutants are now being trained to become full members of Freedom Force. That through their actions, they can prove to the American public that mutants can be cooperative, productive, and patriotic citizens.

When they are left alone, the new mutants talk to the other captives. Billy's sister, Mary (code-name of Quantum) expresses how happy she is to see Fractal.

The next mutant is Angela Day, who has been given the codename Nature Girl. She is the girl who Billy met at Reavis High before the incident that "outed" him. Antlers have grown from her head since the last time they met. She is in denial about being a mutant and blames her powers on Billy.

In the next cells are Calvin Clay, codenamed Sonic; Brent Laceur, codenamed Riptide; and Donovan Manchester, codenamed Mindjack.

Later, U.S. Agent and a group of soldiers come to get them. Bullet continues to mouth off. U.S. Agent borrows an electric shock stick from a soldier and jabs Bullet with it. However, to U.S. Agent's embarrassment, Bullet does not wince and is even more defiant.

The new mutants are lead into a huge chamber where they are poked and prodded by medical staff. Fractal is able to steal a used needle.

Then Valerie Cooper gives them some more orientation information before turning them over to U.S. Agent for training.

U.S. Agent runs them through several mundane obstacle courses, while the New Mutants talk back to him cockily the whole time.

U.S. Agent loses his temper and decides to beat the snot out of the New Mutants to teach them a lesson. But the New Mutants don't go down as easily as he expected. Licks are traded on both sides, with Bullet scoring a very nice punch on U.S. Agent's jaw. Finally, Flux ends the fight by jumping on U.S. Agent's back and threatening to pull off her nullifier collar. U.S. Agent knows that the resulting explosion would probably kill him too, so he yields.

"American Dream"/Mystique approaches and says, "Walker, if you're finished playing around, why not allow me to give these mutants some real training."

U.S. Agent grudgingly leaves them.

Privately, Mystique tells the New Mutants that she doesn't like this situation any more than they do. She asks them to obey as best they can and to bide their time, until she gives them "the signal."

The New Mutants reluctantly agree.

END OF ISSUE.

[Charles Warren]

The U-Foes confront the Muir Island New Mutants during the U.S. Invasion of Panama

ISSUE 21

December 20, 1989

The issue opens with U.S. Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater addresses the press. He says:

"At 1am last night, at the direction of the President, United States armed forces executed a pre-planned mission to Panama to protect American lives, restore the democratic process, to preserve the integrity of the Panama Canal treaties, and to apprehend Manuel Noriega.

"The situation in Panama under General Noriega has reached a crisis. Democratic elections have been thwarted. American lives have been endangered. The integrity of the Panama Canal Treaty is at risk. General Noriega is under indictment for drug related charges. And the President has made every effort to peacefully resolve the situation through negotiations under the auspices of the organization of American States and Latin American leaders. General Noriega has rejected all of these efforts.

"Therefore, General Noriega has left us no choice but to resolve this situation through more drastic means..."

We cut to Panama City as U.S. Forces are conducting Operation Just Cause.

The Muir Island New Mutants are sitting in a military hovercraft. They are dressed in black uniforms, similar to U.S. Agent's. They are also wearing nullifier collars that are neutralizing their powers. U.S. Agent is at the front of the hovercraft coordinating with HQ. The Blob, Pyro, Avalanche, Sabretooth, and Spider-Woman sit across from the New Mutants.

The New Mutants continue to heckle and harass their captors, but it only seems to amuse the Blob, who shares his Doritos with them.

Avalanche wants to know which of them put him to sleep and stole his powers. Tensions rise, but U.S. Agent tells them that he won't tolerate any infighting. The New Mutants find this hilarious.

U.S Agent tells everyone: "Listen up. This is go time! Relations between the US and Panama have been going downhill for months. Last week, Noriega declared war on the U.S. He shut down all access to the CANAL to all US ships. To make it worse, we've got intel that he's enlisted super-human assets to help him resist US retaliation. That's where we come in, ladies and gentlemen. We are proceeding to the Plaza de los Independencias. Our troops are being held back by unidentified super-types. Our job is to clear the way for them. Got it?"

Radio chatter begins to go crazy as a huge mass of electricity looms up over the Panama City International Airport. As the hoverjet flies past, the New Mutants see the electromagnetic being known as Zzzax terrorizing the airport. U.S. Agent is ordered not to respond and to continue on to their drop point. The Squadron Supreme is called in to fight Zzzax.

The hovercraft lands in the Plaza where U.S. troops are hunkered down. An officer informs them that super-human assets have taken out a lot of troops with some sort of chemical agent. The U.S. troops are unable to get within a few blocks of the Presidential Palace of the Herons.

U.S. Agent orders everyone to don their gas masks and sends Spider-Woman and Sabretooth to scout ahead.

Blob, Pyro and Avalanche then proceed down the street towards the Palace. U.S. Agent and the New Mutants follow a block behind them. The New Mutants are angry that U.S. Agent hasn't activated their powers yet and tell him so, but he ignores them. The streets are littered with dead soldiers, so the New Mutants help themselves to guns and grenades where they can find them.

At the far end of the street, Blob, Pyro and Avalanche obliterate all normal human resistance. But suddenly they are attacked from a rooftop by a kinetic blast, that takes out Pyro and Avalanche.

U.S. Agent turns off the nullifier collars, activating the New Mutant's powers. Joule flies up above the street to get a view of the enemies. She sees the U-Foes atop the palace, but doesn't know who they are.

As soon as his powers return, Bullet sends a telepathic distress call to Multiple Man on Muir Island, telling the X-Men where they are.

Vector shoots a kinetic repulsion blast on to the street below the Blob, launching him into the air and over the rooftops. Spider-Woman tries to entrap the U-Foes in her psionic webbing, but Vector's repulsion field destroys it. Sabretooth leaps in for the kill, but again Vector's repulsion field sends him flying to the next city block.

Vapor vanishes. Ironclad leaps down to the street and begins throwing pieces of the nearby buildings at the New Mutants.

X-Ray bombards Joule with radiation. Blindside rips his collar off, triggering it to explode. But he's so fast, he throws the collar onto Ironclad and zips away, causing Ironclad to take the brunt of the explosion.

Bullet lashes out with his telepathic sedation, causing X-Ray and Vapor to pass out.

Fractal races from one team member to the other, healing them. Flux begins copying as many people's powers as she can, while she dodges the chunks of masonry thrown by Ironclad.

Vector attacks Joule. Joule decides to absorb the kinetic energy coming off of Vector. Vector panics as he loses control of his powers. He beings to scream as he is sucked into Joule, completely absorbed by her.

Bullet decides to shoot Joule's collar off, thinking that she can withstand the resulting explosion. But the blast knocks Joule unconscious. As she falls to the street below, U.S. Agent leaps off of a nearby building to catch her and using his shield to cushion the fall for both of them. Fractal rushes over and revives Joule.

Ironclad is the last remaining opponent. He rips a street lamp out of the ground and begins attacking whoever's closest.

Blindside summons his Acroyear sword and attacks Ironclad, but barely scratches him. Fractal powers up his fists with cosmic energy and delivers a powerful punch to Ironclad. At first it doesn't seem to have much effect. But then it becomes apparent that the exposure to cosmic radiation causes Ironclad's density control to go out of control. Ironclad collapses to the ground as he gets heavier and heavier, until the street collapses beneath him and he sinks deep into the earth.

U.S. Agent makes sure the area is clear of super-human targets and then calls in the non-powered troops. He turns to congratulate the New Mutants, when Blindside cold-cocks him with a super-speed punch, driving U.S. Agent's shield hard into him. While U.S. Agent is sprawled on the ground, Joule uses her powers in conjunction with Bullet's force field to try to remove Bullet's collar. The collar is removed, but the resulting explosion knocks out Bullet.

U.S. Agent looks up from the ground, his mouth bloody. He tells the New Mutants that they've earned his respect. Then he activates his fail-safe plan. He triggers the subcutaneous chips in each of the New Mutant's bodies, which knocks them all out.

The New Mutants awaken back in the hoverjet as it flies back to Area 51. The Blob looks miserable. Avalanche and Pyro are asleep.

The New Mutants aren't happy about their situation and make a point to U.S. Agent and Spider-Woman that they've just used minors as combatants against their will. Spider-Woman is sympathetic, but U.S. Agent doesn't care.

As the hoverjet approaches Area 51, the pilot tells U.S. Agent that the landing is going to be rough due to a sand storm in progress. As the hoverjet begins to land, all of the New Mutant's collars unexpectedly turn off and they feel their powers return. They all receive a telepathic message from Emma Frost telling them that X-Men are here to rescue them.

As soon as the plane touches ground, Bullet puts the two pilots, U.S. Agent and Spider-Woman to sleep. Fractal nullifies Sabretooth's powers. Sabretooth attacks Fractal, but is pushed back. Then Joule uses her powers to suddenly stop the hoverjet and send Sabretooth flying up front to crash into the cockpit.

Flux continues to learn people's powers as Blindside smashes the floor of the jet beneath the Blob, sending him spilling out on to the runway. Wolverine appears, claws extended and dares the Blob to move.

The plane door is opened by Moira MacTaggert in an X-Men uniform, toting a machine gun. She leads the New Mutants to an awaiting Blackbird. Joule takes U.S. Agent's shield. They see that the X-Men have neutralized the base. The sentinel robot lies smashed on the runway. Storm hovers above maintaining the sand storm. Banshee screams around the perimeter. Forge is leading the new New Mutants to one of the blackbirds. B-Team is on the perimeter assisting with human soldiers.

The New Mutants jump onto a Blackbird with Forge, Emma Frost, Moira and the new New Mutants.

Blindside zips into the base and finds most of the staff immobilized by Emma Frost's mind powers. As he downloads incriminating data about the mutant program, he is confronted by Destiny. She tells him that the New Mutants are part of something of great importance that is in the future and that neither she nor Mystique will stand in their way. On the contrary, she tells Blindside to call them if they need their help.

Blindside zips back to the blackbird. Moira's form shifts and they realize that it is Mystique. Mystique tells them: " Don't misunderstand. I didn't do this for you. There's no one on this planet that I trust more than Destiny. She sees things. And she has seen you involved in some important things in the future. Too important to be prevented by Freedom Force." Mystique gives Forge a card. Then she shifts into a U.S. soldier and jumps out of the blackbird.

Forge flies the jet away, towards Muir Island. Blindside gives Forge the data he gathered.



On the flight home, the New Mutants learn the result of the X-Men's stand off with Magneto. Magneto had captured a Genoshan nuclear submarine and was threatening the world with it, demanding reforms in Genosha. The X-Men convinced him to release the crew and to send the sub into space, where he destroyed it. But Magneto convinced Polaris to leave the X-Men and to go away with him, promising her that he could restore her powers.

As a result, the nations of the world are even more panicked about mutant hostilities.

The blackbird arrives on Muir Island. Moira, Multiple Man and Emma Frost spend a long time examining the mutants, especially the new recruits. They also spend a long time analyzing Joule, worrying about her absorption of Vector.

Later, Banshee and Moira take Joule to the arboretum. They sit beside the "Briar Patch," a mutant plant that the kids like to crawl through and hide in. Moira also extracts samples from the growth from time to time. Banshee and Moira have a heart-to-heart with Joule, asking her why she has been acting so strangely lately. They also ask her to please not get Legion to help them anymore, saying that he is too unstable to trust at this time.

Forge takes Fractal for a walk and tries to warn him about the dangers of studying magic. He tells him the story of how he lost his hand and his leg. He also tells him how mistakes he made in the past resulted in letting the Adversary into this world; and how it cost the X-Men their lives. But Fractal seems unaffected by the talk and only more curious about magic.

Flux tracks down Multiple Man and finds him at the docks, sending four of his duplicates away on assignments. Flux copies his powers.

The issue ends as Christmas approaches.

[Charles Warren]

The master assassin Arcade welcomes the New Mutants to Murderworld!

ISSUE 22

December 22nd, 1989

The issue opens on Muir Island with preparations for the students Winter Formal underway.

Fractal has learned that his parents are fine. In fact, Moira is flying them to Muir Island for Christmas. She's also arranged for Blindside's parents and Flux's homeless friends from Tulsa to be flown in as well.

Forge talks to Blindside and tells him that the X-Men have decided not to release the incriminating data he retrieved from Area 51 to the public just yet. Instead, they plan to use it to blackmail the government and Freedom Force to leave them alone in the future. Blindside says he trusts Forge's judgment.

Fractal visits Changeling and discovers she's taken his advice. She's used her shapeshifting abilities to look like Erika Eleniak from Baywatch. And now Apex wants to go to the dance with her.

Fractal asks Joule to the dance and she says no, but Billy misunderstands and assumes they are going together.

Joule is freaking out because she has just gotten braces. Desperate, she goes to Radius for help. Radius suggests she steal one of Forge's image inducers to hide her braces. Radius also confides that she's jealous that Apex is going to the dance with Changeling, instead of her.

The New Mutants are called in to observe an X-Men meeting for educational purposes. Wolverine has been searching for the missing X-Men and he thinks that Storm's de-aging is a clue. Since the villain called the Nanny has been known to do this in the past, Wolverine proposes that the X-Men do some investigation to see if she's involved.

During the meeting, Joule passes a note to Skew asking him to the dance. He replies back with an awkward "O.K."

After the meeting, Flux notices that Storm is upset. Flux talks to her and Storm shares that she feels pressured to live up to who she was before she was de-aged and robbed of her memories. Flux encourages her by telling her that she can now be anyone she wants to be. They agree to go to the dance together.

Jubilee nonchalantly asks Bullet to the dance. He agrees and tells her he's going to sneak in some alcohol. Jubilee is totally on board.

Radius goes to see Blindside and matter-of-factly tells him that he's going to the dance with her. Blindside knows that he's being used to make Apex jealous and initially refuses. But in the end they agree to go together when she promises to teach Blinside to dance.

At the dance, Moira, Banshee, and Emma Frost are the chaperones. When changeling shows up in a Baywatch bathing suit, Moira tells her that her attire is inappropriate. She changes back to her normal shape in a red tafida dress. Apex quickly loses interest in her.

Nature Girl shows up and glares at Skew and then leaves. When questioned about it, Skew tells Joule that his original plans were to skip the dance with Nature Girl. Joule gets angry about this. Skew angrily leaves the party.

Flux shapeshifts into Wolverine and takes Moira and Banshee aside. He convinces them that they need to give Joule space and not hover over her. They agree and leave Amanda Sefton as a chaperone in their place.

Sunfire chaperones Princess Taiyo and her handmaidens as they attend the party.

Radius uses her enhancement field to make Blindside a better dancer and they cut up the dance floor. The whole time, Radius tries to get Apex's attention.

Finally, Blindside is able to help Radius get noticed by Apex. The two spend the rest of the dance together. Radius thanks Blindside.

Fractal spends the night dancing with Changeling.

Blindside says hello to Princess Taiyo and we see that she has a crush on him. But Sunfire gives him a dirty look.

Jubilee and Bullet sneak drinks from his flask and get a bit tipsy.

Flux and Storm bond duringh the party and then go back to Flux's room to hang out. Storm thanks her for cheering her up.

Bullet walks Jubilee home, who makes it clear that she's so tipsy that she wouldn't say no to a kiss. They kiss goodnight.

That night after everyone has gone to sleep, Bullet is visited telepathically by Destiny. She asks Bullet to bring the other New Mutants into her dream. She tells them that she sees visions of the future where the New Mutants play a critical role. She tells them that she has been keeping diaries of all of her visions. She says that one day they will have questions that need answering. when that time comes, they must seek out her diaries. When they ask where to look, she tells them they will need to go to Mystique. She then shares her latest vision with them, where the world and everything in it turns to crystal, then shatters at the stroke of midnight.

December 23, 1989

Moira and Banshee take the New Mutants to the Edinburgh Christmas Market in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a magical, beautiful evening. The students buy Christmas gifts for each other. When they meet back up with Moira and Banshee, she insists that they all take a picture with Father Christmas. They all pose for a picture, but when the bulb flashes, they all lose consciousness.

The New Mutants awaken inside giant transparent pinball balls and realize that they cannot access their powers. As their giant pinballs are launched onto the board of a gigantic pin-ball machine, they see the eccentric assassin Arcade on a giant video screen. He welcomes them to Murderworld as they bounce around on the gigantic pinball board. Arcade monologues for a bit, but is soon interrupted by Katharsis, the "head-in-a-robot-body" girl that they encountered in Tusla.

Katharsis demands that Arcade stop this nonsense. She's paid him to kidnap the New Mutants so that she can harvest their powers for her new body and she wants them now. Arcade laughs and tells her that's not how Murderworld works. He says that everyone must be guaranteed an equal opportunity to die in style!

The New Mutants each roll into a different hole at the bottom of the pinball machine and are diverted to different locations.

Blindside is deposited into a Hall of Mirrors where he is attacked by Bruto the Strongman. Blindside quickly comes up with a theory that he and his teammates' minds have been transferred into robotic bodies. Bruto attempts to crush Blindside, but Blindside's skills (developed by years of pitfighting) allow him to beat down Bruto, who turns out to be a robot.

Bullet is locked into a passenger boat in the Tunnel of Love, where he is attacked by a robot of Princess Python and her pet snake. Bullet smashes the head of her python and after several intense moments of fighting, throws Princess Python into the acid river below the passenger boat.

Flux is dropped onto a carousel horse in a nightmarish Merry-Go-Round. Gorilla-Man emerges from a panel in the roof and attacks her. Contending with both Gorilla-Man and animated carousel horses, Flux finally flips Gorilla Man off of the ride and into the rotating blades beside the carousel.

Fractal finds himself on a Bumper Car Ride with an electrified floor and deadly spikes around the perimeter. Jerko the Clown emerges and begins shooting at Fractal from behind the wheel of a different bumper car. Fractal leaps onto Jerko's car, but the clown shoots him point-blank with rubber bullets. Fracatal falls down the front of the car, clinging to the bumper. Jerko then steers the car towards the wall spikes, hoping to impale Fractal. But with an incredible feat of athletics, Fractal lodges his feet on the wall, causing Jerko to be thrown from the car and onto the electrified floor.

Joule appears atop a Ferris Wheel that rotates in a chamber filled with holes that are a combination of cannon-chutes and vacuum tubes. The Human Cannonball is launched out of the nearest chute and slams into Joule's passenger car, causing her to dangle precariously from it. The Human Cannonball is then sucked back up into one of the tubes and moments later emerges again from another one, sailing towards Joule. This time, she leaps onto Cannonball and travels with him down into a vacuum tube. They tussle with each other as they are pushed through the tube. When Joule sees another opening coming, she positions her body to plug up the pressure, causing herself and Human Cannonball to spill out on the chamber floor, instead of being launched into the air. The Human Cannonball tries to leap into an adjacent tube, but Joule is consumed by a murderous rage. She grabs him and holds him in place so that he is split in half when the chute doors close. This reveals him to have been a robot.

All of the New Mutants then are sucked into new tubes and emerge inside giant transparent chess pieces on a gigantic chess board. Inside the other chess pieces are Fractal's parents, Blindside's parents, Moira and Banshee; and Flux's friends from Tulsa. Arcade insinuates that the chess pieces might blow up when they are taken. The New Mutants then begin a frantic game of chess with Arcade, using control panels inside their chess pieces to make moves on the board. After many moves, Joule's piece is knocked over and electrified. But Blindside is able to hack into his control panel and sabotage the game. He causes Arcade's King piece to tip over.

Arcade explodes with anger and slams down a lever. The chessboard floor falls open into a giant trapdoor chute. The issue ends with all of the chess pieces tumbling down into darkness, the New Mutants and their loved ones trapped inside the pieces as they fall!




(End of issue)

[Charles Warren]

When the Muir Island New Mutants meet Tarot again, they discover her looks have changed, as well as her powers.

ISSUE 23

The issue opens with the Muir Island New Mutants and their family and friends trapped inside giant transparent chess pieces tumbling down into a vast pit. As they fall, the pieces bump into each other, revealing the frightened expression of their loved ones. Arcade's voice can be heard:

"Oh, you very naughty mutants. I'd be impressed if I weren't so cross with you! But it'll take more skill than that to sabotage Murderworld! The latest in state of the art MURDER. Engineered for your amusement using the latest in titillating technology! Alllll courtesy of your master of manic machinations....YCKKK!!!"

Arcade's voice cuts off and becomes a choking sound. The New Mutants feel a popping sensation in their minds and suddenly they find themselves inside cryo-tubes in the Murderworld Command Room. Katharsis is holding Arcade by the throat yelling at him. "You miserable little pervert! I WANT THOSE MUTANT'S BODIES AND I WANT THEM NOW!!!

Ms. Locke is shooting Katharsis with no effect. The new mutants see that Banshee also in a cryo-tube. Moira has escaped from her restraints and gotten to a computer console where she's transferred the new mutants from their robot bodies to their original ones.

The New Mutants break out of their cryo-tubes and begin to fight Katharsis. Her suit is much more powerful now, having been upgraded by her father since the last fight. She tries to sedate them all with anesthetic darts, but the heroes overwhelm her, cracking the transparent casing of her suit and causing her life support fluid to leak out.

Some of the new mutants seem prepared to kill her or let her die, but Moira and Banshee convince Flux to stabilize Katharsis' suit before she dies.

Arcade applauds the new mutants. "Bravo! Bravo! THIS is what I live for! Thank you so, much. I haven't had so much fun since I captured Spider-Man and Captain Britain! It's like I told KATHARSIS... its not about the money, honey. It's about the ride!"

But Bullet shoots Arcade's jaw off, revealing him to also be a robot. Arcade says there's one last surprise: that Murderworld is about to self-destruct. The New Mutants with Moira, Banshee and Katharsis escape just in time before Murderworld blows up. (All of the captured family members turned out to be robots)

They find themselves in a cow pasture somewhere in Scotland. Moira calls Jamie Madrox to pick them up in the Blackbird.

While they wait, Moira asks the New Mutants if they would have let Katharsis die, if she wasn't there. Bullet says that people die in war. Billy says he wouldn't have killed her. Flux says that this was the third time they fought her and that she had it coming. Joule is just upset that all of their Christmas presents got blown up with Murderworld. Banshee lectures the kids telling them that when they fight monsters, they must take care lest they become monsters themselves.

Back at Muir Island, Moira removes Katharsis' head from her suit and places it in a life support tank, while they wonder what to do with her.

DECEMBER 24, 1989

Everyone's family arrives and what follows are a few magical days with no disruptions. The New Mutants sing Christmas carols with their music teacher. Storm creates enough snow for a big snow ball fight. Skew makes an offensive Wolverine snowman.

On Christmas day, presents are opened. Flux recalls Mystique's powers and shapeshifts into Santa Claus and gives out presents to the Warpies. Sparkler gives Flux and Joule a crayon drawing of them boating her around the island.

Days later the family and friends return home. Moira talks with Tanya about her decision to set up a home for Flux's homeless friends in Tulsa.

DECEMBER 31, 1989

All of the students stay up until 3am to watch MTV's Big Bang 89.



Right before the ball drops, Doctor Strange's astral form emerges from the TV screen, disrupting the broadcast. He asks Blindside, Bullet, Jubilee, Fractal, Flux and Joule to follow him. But all of the students do so. He leads everyone down to Amanda Sefton's library, where they find her, Moira, Banshee, Forge and Emma Frost all in their night clothes.

Doctor Strange explains: "For the past weeks, I have been searching for any eldritch fluctuations that might lead us to the missing Arcanum. And finally, I have found something. It is my belief that the cards are travelling through ley lines, gathering up magical energy as they go. When they accumulate enough, they are able to escape through a ley convergence. I have detected a disturbance in a powerful locus point. Coral Castle. Sometime's called Florida's Stonehenge. Built by artist and occultist Edward Leedskainin using reverse magnetism and arcane spells, the Coral Castle is a powerful magical node. And it is here where I think one of the cards has emerged."

Doctor Strange continues: " Were it not for more pressing matters that demand my attention, I would investigate it myself. However, there is much strife in Dormammu's Dark Dimension and it falls to the Sorcerer Supreme to quell it. To assist you in your quest, I have provided you each with a Crimson Case of Cyttorak. By focusing upon the box, it may allow you to sense nearby Arcanum. Once found, exerting your will through the case, you may be able to draw the card into the box and trap it there. I wish there were more time to train you upon its use, but we do not have it."

Doctor Strange also explains that he thinks that Blindside, Bullet, Jubilee, Flux, Fractal, and Joule are also attuned to the cards because of their close proximity to the Washington D.C ritual energies. He wishes them luck and vanishes.

Forge and Amanda Sefton begin to argue about the wisdom of this. Forge feels caution is needed in dealing with this new, untested magics. Amanda argues that there is no time for caution, that any delay will allow Madelyne Pryor to get to the cards before they can. Moira reluctantly agrees with Amanda and makes everyone promise to be careful.

Amanda Sefton teleports herself, Forge and the New Mutants to Coral Castle where they interrupt a New Years Party. The crowd is startled, but Bullet calms them telepathically. Amanda senses the trail of the magic energies and teleports them a second time.

This time, they appear inside a warehouse that looks like it was the scene of a Maggia meeting. A long table is set up in the center of the warehouse, which has been riddled with bullet holes. Approximately thirty bodies are strewn all over the place, also riddled with bullets and exhibiting burns around the entry wounds. At the head of the table, the famous Maggia boss known as Hammerhead lies dead, propped up in a chair.

Billy throws up. Forge tells everyone not to touch anything. But some of the New Mutants examine Hammerhead's body. They find a tarot card pinned to his lapel. It is the Justice card and someone has drawn a number 3 on it.

When they hear approaching sirens, Amanda teleports them out of the warehouse and on to the roof of the nearby ten-story Celebrity Cruises hotel.

The heroes see that they are on Dodge Island in Miami Beach. Nearby, several cruise ships are docked and filled with people celebrating the New Year. Across the bridge, many emergency response vehicles are racing towards the crime scene. The heroes look below at the warehouse they were just in and see more dead bodies outside by the cars.

Flux notices they are not alone on the rooftop. There's a second group crouched in the shadows on this rooftop at the far side of the building. It's the Hellions. Tarot, Beef, Empath, Roulette, Jetstream and Catsye. And they also appear to be looking down at the warehouse.

Tarot steps forward and the new mutants see that her appearance has changed drastically since they last saw her. Blindside shoots a wide-area blast at them, but Roulette intercepts it with a bad-luck disk that causes the shot to go awry.

Tarot orders the Hellions not to engage, that their real goal is to find the Tarot card. A portal to Limbo opens above them, and they start fleeing into it. Bullet knocks out Roulette before she can flee, but Beef picks her up and carries her into the portal.

To cover their tracks, Tarot throws out five tarot cards. They hang in the air between her and the New Mutants and begin to grow. Out of the Death card floats an image of Death. Out of the Strength card strides Hercules, who shouts "What, ho! I espy opponents worthy of testing the mettle of the Prince of Power!" Next, Ghost Rider rides out of the Justice card, screeching towards the heroes on his flaming motorcycle. Exploding upward out of the Star card is Binary. And last, striding out of the Fool card is Deadpool.

The issue ends on a cliff-hanger as Ghost Rider streaks across the roof towards the heroes, swinging a length of chain that is burning with hellfire!

[Charles Warren]

Montana, Ox, and Fancy Dan deliver a message to the Muir Island New Mutants from Wilson Fisk

ISSUE 24

January 1st, 1990

Atop the Celebrity Cruises Hotel, Tarot escapes through a portal to Limbo, leaving five magical constructs to delay Forge, Amanda Sefton and the New Mutants. After a brief fight, the Binary, Death, Deadpool, Ghost Rider, and Hercules constructs turn back into normal tarot cards. Neither Amanda, Blindside or Fractal can locate the Tarot Card with the magical boxes given to them by Doctor Strange. But they sense it is near.

Jubilee spots police surrounding the hotel, so Amanda Sefton quickly teleports the group away, just as two police officers storm on to the roof.

The heroes appear at a pool-side party at the South Beach Ritz-Cartlon Hotel. Amanda leaves the new mutants with Forge, and goes inside to get hotel rooms for them. A group of boys come up to Tanya and Fionna and invite them to a party on the beach. They go with the boys and Forge is unable to stop them. His hands are full trying to stop Billy from casting dangerous spells to try to locate the card. Blindside turns invisible and follows the girls to the party.

They join a large group of teenagers on the beach beside a bonfire. The kids are laughing about a friend of theirs who, after dating a girl for a little while, discovered she was a "mutie." The teenagers begin to swap "mutie" stories, which angers Tanya, who vows to get revenge on the teenagers.

Amanda gets Bullet to telepathically tell the kids to return to them and they all go up to their rooms.

Amanda, with Forge's reluctant assistance, stays in a hotel room to perform a location ritual to find the card, while the New Mutants are sent out to do more traditional investigating to see what they can find.

The New Mutants run into J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson in the elevator and in the lobby. They overhear their discussion about the Hammerhead murder and approach them to get more information. When the kids start talking to Jameson, he angrily tries to shoo them away. But Joule gets his interest by saying that she was at the site of Hammerhead's murder.

Jameson pulls them aside and begins to grill them, not yet sure if they are legit or if they are trying to pull the wool over him. Their conversation devolves into a shouting match. Finally an unknown woman comes up to the group and acts as if Fionna was her niece. The New Mutants go along with her ruse, even though they don't understand what is going on and they let the woman lead them away from a furious Jameson.

Once alone, she tells them that her name is Trish Tilby and that she's a reporter for the National News Network and a friend of Dr. Hank McCoy, the Beast. She shows the kids a clipping from the Daily Bugle that shows a photo of Joule doing a flyby of the Daily Bugle building and Joule admits that she is the girl in the picture.

Trish takes the New Mutants down the block to a Pizza Bar and they begin to share information.

She tells them that she is in Miami to report on a string of murders. Over the last month, there have been six killings. All the victims have been of different ages, occupations, and genders. They have nothing in common, except for the fact that their bodies have been found mostly eaten. Many think that it is a large sewer alligator. The local news has started calling the killer the Miami Monster. The city is hysterical.

She tells them that the Hammerhead murder is now a new development. Hammerhead was meeting with the heads of three Maggia crime families when he was killed, along with all of the other Maggia members present. Trish tells them that in the last week, there have been two similar incidents in New York. First the Owl was killed, along with most of his senior mob bosses. Next, Jigsaw was killed, along with most of his gang.

Trish asks the New Mutants what they know, and they tell her that they are in Miami to locate a magical artifact before the Goblyn Queen can. Trish and the New Mutants agree to work together to try to find out what is going on.

A white stretch limo pulls up at the Pizza Bar and the New Mutants are approached by three men, who they later learn to be the Enforcers: Fancy Dan, Montana, and Ox. Fancy Dan asks to Trish to step away so that he can have words with the New Mutants and the kids take an instant dislike to him. Trish finally agrees and steps into the Pizza Bar. Fancy Dan tells the kids that Wilson Fisk, the famous Kingpin of Crime, would like to meet with them. The kids eventually agree, but not before several minutes of mocking Fancy Dan.

The kids leave Bullet with Trish Tilby and get into the limo. On the ride to meet Fisk, they take turns sticking their heads out of the limo's sunroof.

The limo pulls into an oceanarium that is closed for remodeling. The kids are led inside where they find the Wrecking Crew sitting around playing cards. The New Mutants continue to harass Fancy Dan and the Wrecking Crew die with laughter, taking an instant liking to the kids. Piledriver tosses Fractal a beer. Jubilee orders him not to drink it, but Billy takes a chug, then quickly spits it out.

The kids are led into Fisk's office, where they find the Taskmaster standing guard. He ushers them into where Fisk is dining.

Fisk welcomes them and offers them food. After some formalities he gets down to business. He tells them that they are, in a way, after the same thing. He shows them video footage that his spy drones have taken of them at the Hammerhead murder scene. He tells them that Frank Castle, the Punisher is responsible. Fisk tells them that the Owl was found with a Justice card with the number 1 written on it. Jigsaw was found with one with the number 2 on it. He shows them the Justice card that was sent to him and it has an 8 on it.

Fisk asks them to kill Castle for him, and in exchange, he'll give them the Tarot card they're looking for. The New Mutants make a counter-offer. They'll stop the Punisher and take the card from him and de-power him, which should give Fisk a better chance of survival. Reluctantly, Fisk agrees to the terms and tells them where the Punisher will strike next.

Fisk tells the kids that the next target will be the Slug, a Miami drug lord who operates a luxury yacht where the rich and depraved can go to explore their sick fantasies. He says he can arrange for them to be snuck on board as part of the yacht's waiting staff. Using the cover of being waiters, they can be on hand when the Punisher arrives for the Slug. The kids agree.

The limo drives the kids to a pier beside a small Deep Sea Tours building. The kids are mixed in with the real waiting staff, and soon a boat comes to pick them up. After an hour-long ride, they arrive at the Anastasia.

As they board the ship, they are searched very thoroughly for weapons, while super-villains Electro and Blizzard supervise. Then they are taken below to sleep.

When the game begins next time, the kids will be given "uniforms" and instructions before being sent out among the guests.

Before our issue ended, the players learned that the Slug is expecting the Punisher to come for him, so he has hired all of the super-villains he can to protect him. Present are:

The Beetle
Blizzard
Boomerang
Constrictor
Electro
Mister Hyde
Melter
Rhino
Shocker
Whirlwind

[Charles Warren]

The Punisher possessed with the power of the Justice Tarot

ISSUE 25

Aboard the Slug's luxury yacht Anastasia, the New Mutants are taken to a barracks where the night shift sleeps during the day. At 4pm, everyone is roused and taken into a mess hall. While they eat, they are given an orientation by a woman named Ms. Stella.

She tells them that if they do what is required of them and if they honor their confidentiality agreement, then they stand to make a lot of money. "Don't speak to the guests unless spoken to. Unless you're asking them if they'd like something from the bar or off the menu. If a guest decides to include you in activities other than your waiter duties, go with it. They're paying a lot of money to be here. Log the activity and you'll be compensated. You might see things. Unpleasant things. You are never to speak of them, do you understand? Failure to follow any of these rules may lead to ... termination..."

Flux see a young waitress who has been severely beaten. She is told that a guest named Nikolai Gorokov likes to get rough. Flux takes a mental note to make this guy pay.

The New Mutants are given uniforms. The boys uniform resembles shirtless Chippendales outfits. The girls look like playboy bunnies. They are brought out onto the party deck where Slug holds court.



The New Mutants begin to work their way through the low-life guests to serve as their waitresses. They notice that the Slug has hired lots of super-villains to guard him against a Punisher attack. Present are:

The Beetle
Blizzard
Boomerang
Constrictor
Electro
Mister Hyde
Melter
Rhino
Shocker
Whirlwind

Billy begins making his way around the party deck, offering drinks.

Joule gets grabbed by a casino tycoon to blow on his dice at the craps table. She uses her kinetic powers to make sure the dice always win. After he wins too much, some of the Slug's thugs take him away.

Flux gets hit on by Boomerang, but snubs him. Then she joins Gorokov's table, so she can watch him.

Blindside is watchful, using his sonar to enhance his surveillance of the deck. He overhears Electro and Blizzard discussing the Punisher.

After a time, the Slug stops the music and tells everyone that he has a special treat in store for their evening's entertainment. Then he orders the Jacuzzi evacuated. When everyone is out, he has his thugs dump three barrels worth of live slugs into the water.

The Slug says: "Many of you may find my little pets a tad repulsive, but they do the job that is asked of them. That is more than I can say for you, Mr. Schiffman." The Slug's men bring out Mitch Schiffman, one of the Slug's accountants who begins to protest. The Slug continues, "You were one of my trusted aides. How do you replay that trust? You bungle a five million dollar deal!"

Schiffman is hogtied and hoisted over the Jacuzzi. Then at the Slug's command, he is dunked over and over into the slug-filled water. After the third dunk, Joule uses her powers to toss Schiffman overboard. Fractal and Flux shout out that Schiffman is a mutie, to explain the strange occurance. Slug believes them and orders his unpowered thugs to go after him.

The Slug then goes into a tirade about how no one defies him aboard his ship. How he is the law here. He erupts into laughter, until he's interrupted by a ghostly voice. Everyone instantly realizes that this is Punisher talking.

"They laugh at the law. The rich ones who buy it and twist it to their whims. The other ones, who have nothing to lose, who don't care about themselves, or other people. All the ones who think they're above the law, or outside it, or beyond it. They know all the law is good for is to keep good people in line. And they all laugh. They laugh at the law. But they don't laugh at me!!"

There is an explosion at the aft of the boat, followed by sounds of automatic gunfire and screams. Guests and staff panic and run in all directions. The super-villains line up to protect the Slug, but are nervous as they hear the sounds approaching.

Fractal reaches out with his mind to assist the Punisher, but comes into contact with the immensely powerful psychic entity of Justice. He becomes possessed as well, until Blindside is able to snap him out of it.

Flux follows Gorokov as he flees the party deck and then kills him by breaking his spine.

Finally, the door blows inward and in the doorway stands a tornado of fire. Ghostly skulls, spirits of the guilty swirl among the flames. And then the Punisher strides out of the fire, looking very different from how he normally appears.

"Time to pay for your crimes, Lugman..." says the Punisher, then he unloads his automatic pistols. The bullets impossibly veer around the innocent to wipe out all of the thugs in the room.

Electro, Blizzard, Boomerang, Melter and the Shocker unleash their attacks on the Punisher, who is shielded by the fiery tornado. The Rhino charges the Punisher, but the funnel of flame and skulls spins the Rhino around and hurls him into the sea.

Next, the Punisher shoots Electro, Blizzard, Melter and Shocker in one barrage. Once they fall, the rest of the super-villains decide this isn't what they signed up for and flee.

The Slug emerges from his mound of pillows, revealing a moveable platform with treads beneath him, as he tries to flee.



This entire time, the New Mutants have been trying to pull the Tarot Card out of the Punisher with their Crimson Cases of Cyttorak, but so far without success.

The Punisher shoots out the treads of the Slug's moving platform. Then he steps up onto the platform behind the Slug and presses his gun against his skull, telling him to speak his last words. Blindside collapses the floor beneath the platform, tilting it and sending the Punisher falling to the floor below. Flux tries to wrestle with the Punisher, but with his enhanced powers, he's able to toss her aside. The Punisher shoots up the floor beneath the Slug, hoping he'll fall through the floor too, but Joule keeps him aloft with her powers. The Punisher continues to try to get in position to execute the Slug, but the New Mutants hold him at bay until they are finally able to draw the Justice Tarot card out of him.

Flux tries to get the Slug to pay her ten million dollars for saving him, but the Punisher awakens before the deal can be finalized.

The Punisher tells the New Mutants about the being possessed by the card. "When...it was inside me... I was someone else. No. I was no one. I was pure punishment. No pain. No memories. Just total purpose." When Fractal asserts that that was a good thing, the Punisher disagrees. He says, "But I need the pain. I need the memories. So that I'll never forget WHY I do what I do."

The Punisher tells the New Mutants that they know what he's got to do. Meaning that he needs to execute the Slug. But the New Mutants make a deal with him. They convince him that he owes them for saving him from being possessed. They'll take the Slug in and then the Punisher is free to do whatever he needs to do later. The Punisher agrees to the deal. As he strides out of the room, he turns back and says, "I may not have powers anymore. But I still have my list." Insinuating that he's still going after the Slug and the Kingpin, among others.

The New Mutants put out most of the fires on the boat and Joule pushes the yacht back into US waters where coast guard ships are waiting to arrest the Slug and all of the other criminals who fled the ship. The Coast Guard captain is appreciative and says he won't mention the fact that the X-Men were involved in his reports. Especially in light of the fact that in a special session of Congress, Senator Kelly is trying to push the Mutant Registration Act through again.

A coast guard boat takes the kids back to shore just as the sun is coming up.

JANUARY 2, 1990

The New Mutants are put ashore near the Miami South Beach Police Headquarters where a press conference is being held. They see that Trish Tibly, J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson are among the crowd. The police chief is addressing reporters.

"Last night, officers located another victim of the so-called Miami monster. And while details of the crime and the identity of the victim are being withheld until notification of next of kin, myself and the Mayor want to assure you that we are taking every step we can to ensure the public safety and to find the perpetrator of these crimes. While we are continuing to pursue traditional means of investigation, the dire nature of these events have compelled this department to accept help that has been offered from an outside source. And so I would like to announce that we have enlisted the help of a specialist track down whoever or whatever is perpetrating these horrible crimes. I present to you, KRAVEN THE HUNTER!"

Kraven the Hunter walks up to the podium, followed by his daughter and Calypso. He addresses the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I KRAVEN the HUNTER, have tracked down the ferocious jungle cats of Wakanda. I have climbed the Canadian Rockies to capture the heartless Wendigo. I have even successfully tracked the infamous Man-Wolf of New York City. I have even ensnared the menacing Spider-Man! I assure you. That tracking and eliminating this MIAMI MONSTER will be child's play for the greatest HUNTER IN THE WORLD! Sleep well tonight, Miami. Kraven is here. Your monster will trouble you no more!"

After the press conference, the kids bring Trish Tilby up to speed on what happened on the yacht. J. Jonah Jameson confronts Tilby and the kids, asserting that they are trying to steal a story from him, but they brush him off and leave.

The New Mutants decide that they want to catch the Miami Monster before Kraven does, but first they need to get the Tarot Card back to Muir Island. They head back to the hotel room and catch Forge and Amanda Sefton in the same bed. Both are extremely embarrassed. After giving them a few minutes to dress, the kids give them the card and say they want to stay in Miami to catch the monster. Forge and Amanda don't want to let them. But Fractal uses his ESP and sees the Lizard attacking the officers and forensic scientists at the most recent crime scene.

Amanda agrees that there is no time to waste. She creates a portal to the crime scene and the New Mutants jump through it.

[Charles Warren]

Kraven the Hunter is hired to track down the Miami Monster; but the Muir Island New Mutants must stop him before he kills an innocent child

ISSUE 26

In the South Miami Beach Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Bullet awakens to hear his teammates have returned. As he is brushing his teeth, Forge bangs open the door that connects the boys hotel room with the girls and tells Bullet to hurry. Bullet rushes into the other room to see his teammates leap through a magical portal into the Miami sewers. He follows them.

The Muir Island New Mutants appear at the crime scene of the latest victim of the Miami Monster, startling the forensic team there. Bullet telepathically puts them all to sleep. Blindside uses his sonar and quickly sees the Lizard watching them from the water, accompanied by five alligators. Bullet shouts out that he is there, and the Lizard flees, swimming away down the sewer tunnel.

Flux chases after the Lizard along the sewer ledge and then dives into (what Joule keeps calling poo water) to wrestle the Lizard. While they tussle under the water, Fractal tries to nullify the Lizard's powers, but realizes that he is not a mutant. Blindside uses his sonar again and locates the fallen policeman (see last issue) and a curious object. An action figure is near the crime scene. Its ROM the Space Knight, with the markings B. Connors written on it.

The Lizard tries to bite Flux, but she's too tough for his teeth to puncture. The alligators all lunge for Flux, but their bites don't do any damage. Bullet shoots a wide area telekinetic blast at the alligators, but its not enough to knock them all out. Joule uses her kinetic powers to part the "poo water" so Flux won't drown. Finally, Bullet uses his telekinetic powers to put the Lizard to sleep. It quickly begins to transform into Dr. Curt Connors.

No longer under the Lizard's control, the alligators begin snapping at everyone close by. Blindside creates a whirlwind and transports the alligators far down the sewer and lets them go, then returns to his friends.

Dr. Connors comes awake and tells the New Mutants that the Miami Monster is his son, Billy Connors. He asks for their help in finding him, before Kraven the Hunter kills him.

The New Mutants take Connors out of the sewers and to a nearby McDonalds, where he tells them the whole story. He tells them of how he lost his arm and his subsequent experiments on reptiles designed to regrow it. He tells them how he inadvertently turned himself into the Lizard and of the many times he endangered his family.

Finally, Martha Connors had had enough. She left Dr. Connors in New York and took their son back to their home in the Everglades, hoping that distance would keep them safe from the Lizard. But two weeks ago, Connors had gotten a frantic phone call from Martha. Their son Billy was missing. He had apparently discovered one of Connor's secret labs and had somehow been exposed to his chemicals. His son was now a lizard creature and undoubtedly the Miami Monster.

Connors travelled to Miami to try to save his son. But after many days of failure, he was forced to use his last resort. He mixed a weak version of the Lizard serum, hoping he would stay in control of the monster and find his son. But it didn't work. Now, he asks the New Mutants to please help, where he had failed.

The kids agree and Fractal begins using his ESP to try to locate Billy Connors. However, his ESP is intercepted by a powerful spell being cast by Calypso. She extends the spell to affect Fractal too, and he begins to walk zombie-like across Miami to find Calypso.

The New Mutants send Connors home and follow Fractal across Miami and into the Everglades. Around nightfall, Bullet puts Fractal to sleep and they rest for a few hours in a roadside motel. Once rested, they let Fractal wake up and continue following him.

JANUARY 3RD, 1990

At around 1am, Fractal leaves the road and heads across the marshes. In the moonlight, the kids notice a wisp of mist that seems to be leading Fractal. So, they all take to the sky, deciding to approach Calypso from above. From the air, they see an incredible sight. A magical mist creeps over the marsh, summoning alligators, frogs, snakes, and every sort of reptile. They all appear to be converging on Calypso's location.

Moments later, the kids fly over a couple of buildings in the marshland. They see Calypso dancing beside a fire. A man beside her is pounding on bongo drums. A circle of thousands of reptiles surround the area, as if kept at bay by an invisible wall. They also see snipers on the roofs and in the trees, watching the surroundings.

One by one, Bullet puts all of the snipers to sleep. Calypso realizes something iswrong and calls Kraven and his daughter out from one of the cabins. Alerted, Kraven and Lady Kraven begin creeping around the perimeter. Kraven vanishes into the shadows, but Bullet is able to sense his mind and Blindside can pinpoint him with his sonar.

Flux drops Fractal on top of Calypso and she barely jumps out of the way in time. Joule floats down beside Fractal. Flux stays unseen above. Blindside and Bullet descend, both invisible.

Calypso tells them that they have no right to disrupt the Sacred Hunt. The kids tell them that the monster is really a kid and that they won't let Kraven harm them.

Blindside uses his super-speed to take the drum sticks away from the drummer. Bullet gets tired of the conversation and puts Lady Kraven to sleep as well. This enrages Kraven who leaps out of hiding to confront the New Mutants.

Kraven tells them that, child or no child, this creature has killed an eaten at least eight people. He warns them not to stand in his way. He turns to head out into the marsh to track the creature, when the Flux calls him a coward. The rest of the New Mutants begin riffing off of how the name Kraven means coward. Kraven flies into a rage and whirls to attack them.

Kraven leaps towards Flux, but she slaps his knives out of his hands. He somersaults over her and strikes her with a series of blows that are ineffective. Joule shoots him with a kinetic blast, but he rolls out of the way only to be punched in the face by Blindside.

Calypso starts casting a spell, so Billy uproots a tree and smacks her with it, sending her sailing into a cabin. But just then, Billy Connors (Gila) emerges from the trees and leaps upon Fractal. Fractal dodges and then catches Gila's tail. Bullet puts Gila to sleep, the creature transforms back into a little boy in Fractal's arms.

The New Mutants force Kraven to look at Billy Connors, showing him that he is just a child and that no honor would come from his killing. Humiliated and robbed of his prey, Kraven turns his back on the New Mutants and storms out of the camp site. Calypso grabs Lady Kraven and follows.

The New Mutants borrow a suburban left behind by Kraven and drive back to Miami, stopping at a gas station and a K-Mart along the way.

They bring Billy Connors to his family. When Dr. Connors begins to inject his son with a anti-lizard serum, the kids ask him if that has been tested. He hesitates, realizing that it hasn't. Joule then tells him that she is Dr. Moira MacTaggert's daughter and that she could help him return Billy to normal. After a quick call to Moira, the Connor's are invited to live on Muir Island while a cure is developed for their son.

The New Mutants sneak off for a day pass at Disney World and then return to Muir Island.

JANUARY 4TH, 1990

The New Mutants return to Muir Island, wearing Mickey Mouse hats and shirts. Moira MacTaggert and Amanda Sefton take the kids down to the maximum security level of the research center, where they were always told they were forbidden to go. Moira tells them that they are never to come here, unless accompanies by herself or by one of the X-Men. But she needs to show them where they are storing the Tarot cards once they are brought to the island.

Once in the maximum security area, the kids curiously eye the plaques on the cell doors they pass by. The first reads MUTANT X. The second one is Legion's unused cell. The third one is for HIROSHIMA SHADOW. The fourth is for QUNBULA, who the X-Men captured in Cairo. In the fifth cell, they see that Doctor Strange has delivered an artifact that places things into a mystical pocket dimension for safekeeping. Amanda Sefton instructs them on how to place a card inside it, in case it is ever necessary.

Moira leads them out of the maximum security area and the kids avoid the temptation to meddle with the mutants housed there.

Back on the first under-level, Forge asks to speak privately with Amanda Sefton. The New Mutants make teasing noises and Moira reprimands them.

Moira takes them to see where she's put Katharsis' head in statis. She tells them that she's going to wait until they meet some Shi'ar or the Starjammers and then ask them if they can use their technology to clone a new body for Katharsis.

Flux begins asking pointed questions about the patients in the maximum security level. Fractal comments that he's sure they are there lawfully. Moira's mood darkens, clearly bothered by this. Joule tries to reassure her, but Moira leaves them.

Emma Frost contacts the kids and draws them into her mindspace to ask them about their encounter with the Hellions. The kids describe how Tarot has changed. Emma vows to save her students from Madelyne Pryor. The New Mutants ask her if the Hellions are prisoners? Or following Pryor of their own will. Bullet then asks pointedly if the Hellions served Emma of their own free will, insinuating that she may have resorted to mind control in the past. This seems to touch off a nerve and Emma dismisses them.

The kids go upstairs only to be confronted by Coach Archer. He tells them that he's been assigned Home Economics duties and he leads them into the cafeteria for their next project. He tells the kids to pair up and assigns them a bag of sugar as their "sugar baby." He tells them that they've got to keep the baby safe for two weeks and then he'll check the integrity of it. Bullet thinks the idea is stupid and goes psychically invisible. Coach Archer tells the others to tell Bullet he's earned a demerit and then partners him up with Jubilee. Blindside and Joule partner up. Coach Archer makes Fractal and Flux pair up.

Changeling finds the kids and they see she is crying. She tells them that she's discovered a great evil at the Research Center and asks the New Mutants to help her defeat it. They ask her what it is and she has them follow her. She leads them to the science classroom and into Dr. Perry's storage room. There she shows them many aquariums full of living frogs. She tells him that Dr. Perry plans to have the students ritually kill and dissect the frogs in a few weeks. She is horrified by this and wants to set them free. But she think's they'll die if set free on Muir Island.

Bullet again thinks this is stupid and leaves. Blindside leaves too, but then returns to offer some advice. Joule, Flux and Fractal agree to help her and the issue ends with them Joule and Changeling deciding to confront Dr. Perry about the frogs.

[Charles Warren]

Magneto attacks the U.S. Senate during their vote on the Mutant Registration Act

ISSUE 27

JANUARY 4, 1990

Changeling and Joule go to Professor Perry's room and confront him about his plan to dissect the frogs. But Professor Perry explains to them the value of animal testing. The girls are somewhat satisfied by his promise not to kill the living frogs. He promises that only the ones that are already dead will be dissected.

JANUARY 5, 1990

The next day, nearly all of the New Mutants on Muir Island participate in a Danger Room session. But Changeling is so distracted by the "frog situation" that she inadvertently causes a chain reaction of events that results in a disastrous session. Skew nearly losing control of his powers again, but Fractal is able to nullify them just in time. Wolverine angrily terminates the session, and Emma Frost tells the students to hit the showers.

In the girl's locker room, Radius begins to blame Changeling for their failure. Jubilee tells Radius to leave her alone, and soon the two girls begin fighting. Joule separates them with a kinetic repulsion field. Changeling blames herself and leaves. But moments later, the girls hear Changeling's blood-curdling scream and rush to her locker. The boys rush in as well. They find Changeling crying in front of her locker, where someone has cut open her "sugar baby," spilling sugar all over the floor. Joule exclaims, "They killed her sugar baby!" Changeling runs off to her room.

One of the A-Team members figures out that it was Nature Girl who punctured the sugar baby with one of her horns. A shouting match begins, where Nature Girl blames Fractal for making her a mutant and where she confesses that, despite having the mutant power of Animal Control, she doesn't even like animals!!

Before the situation can escalate, Emma Frost telepathically summons the A-Team to the Command Center.

In the Command Center, Moira and the X-Men are present. Multiple Man and Sunfire are also here. The New Mutants are thrilled that they are invited to sit at the X-Men conference table for the first time. Moira and Banshee brief them. A special session of Congress has been called to vote on Senator Kelly's Mutant Registration Act. It has passed the House and is going to be voted on in the Senate tomorrow. A group calling themselves the Mutant Liberation Front have threatened to retaliate if the legislation passes. Moira has decided to send the X-Men and the A-Team to Washington D.C. to prevent any attacks, fearing that an attack would make the world hate mutants even more. Sunfire objects to the plan and stays behind.

Later, at the Blackbird, Jubilee tries to convince Wolverine to take her along, but he refuses. Jubilee storms off and shouts, "Wolverine is a JERK!"

The X-Men and the New Mutants board the Blackbird and head to America.

JANUARY 6, 1990

The next morning, the X-Men and the New Mutants slip into the crowds of protestors surrounding Capital Hill. Four Sentinel robots stand guard around the Capital Building. Alongside the police are members of a new arm of the government called the Mutant Response Division. The New Mutants are assigned to an X-Man and they split up, moving through the crowd, trying to locate any possible terrorists.

Banshee and Joule take the south side of Capital Hill. As they walk, Banshee reflects on how much he misses the old days, when Joule was younger. He tells her that even though they are not blood relatives that he's always thought of her as his daughter. Joule calls him "Dad" for the first time and Banshee gets misty-eyed.

Forge and Flux take the west side. As they move through the crowd, Forge begins to tell Flux an old Cheyenne tale about a chief's daughter who gave birth to seven pups. Flux says that he's creeping her out. Forge tries to find a moral to the story, but then agrees to shut up and just look for any possible terrorists.

Amanda Sefton and Fractal take the north side of crowd. Amanda has a long talk with Fractal, asking him to please refrain from using magic during this mission. She assures him that one day he'll be a fine sorcerer, but that he needs to learn to walk before he can run. She asks him to please just use his mutant abilities today.

Wolverine and Blindside approach from the east side. Wolverine tells Blindside that he thinks they're in a no win situation. That no matter what the outcome here today, the public will just end up blaming mutants again. Blindside reminds Wolverine of the lives that could be saved here and they continue their search.

Emma Frost and Bullet move through the crowd towards the mobile command center where law enforcement and the MRD are concentrated. Emma notes that there is a lot of psychic shielding all over the area. In particular, the Capital Building appears to be completely shielded from her. She asks Bullet if he can sense the fear and the hate of the slobbering masses all around them. She says that their fear is justified, knowing that mutants will replace humans. Bullet tells her that politics bore him and she asks him to at least to pretend he's interested.

Flux uses Fractal's mutant detection power and detects nine other mutants in the crowd. Eight appear to be converging on the positions of the four Sentinel robots. The ninth appears to move towards the mobile command center.

Emma Frost telepathically shares Flux's findings with everyone and they all begin to converge on them.

Banshee and Joule split up and begin approaching two women (who they will discover to be Dragoness and Locus) from both sides. Locus stealthily summons a backpack, but Dragoness notices Joule gawking at them. Dragoness moves to intercept Joule, while Locus begins moving quickly through the crowd towards the south Sentinel. Banshee pursues Locus.

Bullet moves to intercept a girl (who will be revealed to be Jurassic). He tries to distract her with conversation, but she pushes past him, telling him to leave her alone. Once she passes, Bullet touches her and entraps her in a psychic force field. Meanwhile Emma Frost appears to be in some sort of psychic contest with an unseen assailant.

Wolverine smells explosives and tells Blindside to speed ahead to confront their targets. Blindside makes himself invisible and zips up to the two females. He produces a whirlwind around them, revealing them both as Strobe and Tempo. The crowd is alarmed by their appearance.

Forge and Flux follow two mutants (who will soon be revealed as Carapace and Quake). They watch Carapace pass a backpack to Quake, who then uses his Earth Powers to sink it into the ground. Flux quickly copies Quake's powers and then is able to see that Quake is attempting to move the backpack under the Sentinel using Earth Control. Flux quickly begins to use Earth Control to counter him, and both wrestle for control of the backpack.

Amanda Sefton and Fractal converge on two mutants (who will soon be revealed as Slab and Coldsnap). Amanda Sefton begins casting a spell to teleport their backpack of explosives away, but Coldsnap freezes her in a burst of ice. Fractal touches Slab and nullifies his powers. He crumbles into a pile of stone, and a little person crawls out of the rubble.

Dragoness activates her cybernetic helmet and wings and then fires a gout of flame at Joule. Joule easily evades it by flying above the crowd. Locus teleports to the Sentinel. Banshee switches into his costume and flies over the crowd, pursuing Locus.

Jurassic transforms her hands into dinosaur claws and tears through Bullet's force field. She spins to confront Bullet, but he quickly puts her to sleep with telepathic sedation. A tenth person appears (who will be revealed as Zero) and creates a portal that teleports away the mobile command center and a large number of law enforcement officers.

Strobe shouts for Tempo to go now. Tempo uses her time control powers to fly over to the Sentinel using super-speed. She places the backpack full of explosives at its feet, but Blindside zips up, grabs it, and then speeds away. Wolverine sneaks up behind Strobe and puts his claws to her throat, telling her not to move. But Strobe's hands begin to glow and she lunges for Wolverine. Wolverine avoids her lunge and slices into her. Strobe doubles over.

Flux is finally able to wrest control of the backpack and it flies up out of the ground into her hands. She sees its full of explosives and yells, "It's a bomb!" Nearby protestors panic and begin to flee. Carapace rips off his trenchcoat and begins to move towards Flux, but Forge gets his attention, by shooting him multiple times with his energy weapons. Quake sends two huge chunks of rock sailing towards Flux, but she easily swipes them both aside. Then Flux hurls the backpack into the nearby Potomac River.

Coldsnap snaps his fingers a Fractal, who is encased in a burst of ice. Then he begins running through the crowd towards the Sentinel, freezing bystanders along the way by snapping his fingers.

Bullet strikes Zero with a telekinetic blast. But he soon floats back up and teleports Bullet into the Potomac river.

Blindside zips away with a backback and Tempo begins to fly after him with super speed.

Fractal uses a cosmic blast to shatter the ice that has imprisoned him. Then he begins pursuing Coldsnap.

Dragoness flies after Joule, hurling fireballs at her. But they are easily evaded. By now, everyone has realized that the Sentinels are not acting like they should. Emma Frost tells everyone that she senses a mind shielding the Capital Building.

Joule decides to ignore Dragoness and flies straight for the nearest Sentinel. Instead of crashing into it, she flies right through it.

Emma Frost finally overwhelms the mind she senses and the psychic illusion surrounding the Capital Building fades. All four Sentinels vanish.

Atop the rotunda, Mastermind has stumbled back, reeling from Emma Frost's attack. The roof of the Senate Chamber has been torn off and above it floats Magneto. Beside him floats Polaris, with her powers of Magnetism restored. On the other side of Magneto, floats the Scarlet Witch.


Polaris, with her powers of Magnetism restored

In front of Magneto, Senator Kelly floats entwined by beams of metal. Above the Senate Chamber, Magneto is assembling some sort of machine, using parts of the four Sentinels, as well as equipment he has brought with him.

Joule flies up to Magneto, and says, "This isn't right, Magnus."

Magneto replies, "Is it not? The Humans have gone too far. They seek to hunt us, cage us like animals. But would they hunt themselves? Behold, my neogentic recombinator. The same device I used to create the Savage Land Mutates. Now, I shall use my recombinator on the Senate to give them the gift of mutation. How do you think they will feel about a Mutant Registration Act, when they become mutants themselves?"

The issue ends here.

[Charles Warren]

Magneto and the Brotherhood of Mutants

ISSUE 28

[Editor's note: This was a truly epic game session. So so many cool things happened during this complicated fight, that I can't remember them all or keep track of them. My write-up doesn't nearly do this session the justice it deserves. Hopefully, I've captured the major plot points so we can refer back to them. But I definitely have not captured the full awesomeness of this session.]

JANUARY 6, 1990

Magneto floats above the U.S. Senate chamber. The roof has been torn away and the senators cower below him, trapped in the senate chamber. Senator Kelly, wrapped in metal bars, floats nearby Magneto. Floating beside Magneto are Scarlet Witch and Polaris, who are assembling a giant neogenic recombinator. It's purpose is to mutate all of the senators present.

Joule hovers in front of Magneto and tells him that this makes him just as bad as they are. Magneto says that the Humans have pushed him to this. Magneto then levitates 10 reporters and cameramen and their equipment up to him, so that his speech can be broadcast across the news networks.

Meanwhile, Coldsnap continues to run through the crowd, freezing bystanders as he goes with snaps of his fingers. Fractal chases him, but the little person who was Slab tries to tackle him from behind. The tackle is ineffective, but it gets Coldsnap's attention. He snaps his fingers and Fractal is encased in a burst of ice.

Carapace has Forge by the ankle and continues to bash him against the ground. Forge shoots an explosive device onto Carapace's chest. It detonates, throwing the two apart, but also knocking out Forge.

Quake levitates a chunk of rock and rides it over to confront Flux. But when Mastermind's illusion drops, both of them take a moment to be awed by Magneto. Quake asks, "Are you with him...?" Flux says no and gives an impassioned speech to Quake, saying that together they must stop him. Quake deliberates for a moment, then agrees. Quake tells Flux to hop on his floating rock, then flies them both up to where Magneto is.

Blindside (holding a bomb in a backpack) is speeding through the streets of D.C., with Tempo hot on his tail. However, he executes a series of sharp turns that Tempo can't make, and she goes crashing through the Library of Congress Building. Blindside zips over to the Potomac River, where Bullet is pulling himself out of the water. There is a flash of light, as Banshee is teleported there by Locus and plunges into the river. Blindside shouts "bomb!" as he hurls the backpack as far as he can down the river. Banshee unleashes a sonic scream to initiate his flight and scoops up Bullet to speed away from the bomb. Bullet zips away as well, heading back towards Capitol Hill.

Joule watches as Magneto begins his speech. She also sees Mastermind, atop the rotunda, in a psychic battle with Emma Frost.

"Listen to me, Humans of Earth..." But before he can launch into his speech, Joule uses her kinetic control to hurl a metal toolbox against Mastermind's head and he collapses.

Banshee and Bullet come screaming up behind Magneto, and Bullet shoots Magneto with a telekinetic blast. But Magneto rips a mass of masonry up to intercept the blast.

Locus and Dragoness arrive near Joule, listening to Magneto. He implores them to allow him to speak uninterrupted for the sake of mutantkind, but the new mutants dont' let him.

Banshee drops Bullet off on the roof and hits Magneto full on with a sonic scream.

Flux and Quake arrive. Flux copies Quake's earth control and rips a piece of the rock they are riding on off, sending it hurling towards the neogenic recombinator. However, Scarlet Witch casts a hex that causes the chunk of rock to fall apart before it gets to the device.

Bullet shoots Magneto in the back with a telekinetic bolt, causing him to drop a few feet before he catches himself again. In anger, Magneto sends the 10 reporters and cameramen flying in all directions. It seems that they are going to fall to their deaths, but Blindside stunts into "passengers." Extending his intertia control around him, he zips around the Capitol Building, catching each of the falling reporters and taking them along with him as he speeds around the building.

Toad leaps up towards Bullet, trying to grab his gun with his prehensile tongue, but misses.

Quicksliver speeds by Emma Frost and takes her out with a super-speed punch.

Scarlet Witch hurls energy bolts at Bullet, but he dances away from them along the wrecked rooftop.

The fight rages on. Polaris is taken out by Bullet and falls into the Senate Chamber. Banshee and Quake are teleported away by Locus. Tempo is clothes-lined by Joule.

Blindside creates his own version of the Fastball Special and throws Wolverine at Magneto with his whirlwind. But Magneto stops him in mid-air. Joule backhand slaps Magneto, causing him to lose his concentration on Wolverine. Wolverine drops down on to a floating piece of rock and is able to cut Magneto with a mean slash from his claws. Angered Magneto, hurls Wolverine nearly through the entire Capitol Building.

Flux leaps through the neogenic recombinator, destroying it. Joule leaps forward and stops the pieces of it from crashing down on the senators below.

Bullet takes out Dragoness. While Joule and Magneto battle each other, Flux copies Magneto's powers. Flux hurls Wolverine back into Magneto, and Wolverine stabs him with a flurry of jabs. Magneto falls into the senate chamber.

A quinjet arrives and the Vision floats out of it and towards Scarlet Witch. Vision tries to reason with her.

Wonder Man and the original Human Torch fly out next and Wonder Man takes Scarlet Witch out with a punch to the jaw. She falls and Joule catches her.

Iron Man (James Rhodes) arrives and begins to help the senators escape.

U.S. Agent, Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Tigra fly in to the scene of sky-cycles. But Joule makes U.S. Agent's sky-cycle crash into the ground.

Magneto tries to encase himself in a sphere of metal. But Flux leaps inside it and head-butts him. Wonder Man rips the sphere open and Iron Man knocks Magneto out with a repulsor blast.

Quicksilver grabs Scarlet Witch and tells the West Coast Avengers to stay out of his sister's business. Then he speeds off with her.

The Vision informs Wolverine and the New Mutants that, under the circumstances, they must be detained. Wonder Man is in agreement with him, but Hawkeye sides with the X-Men.

Wolverine tells Wonder Man, "I'd rethink that, if I were you."

Wonder Man replies," Wolverine. You look half-dead. I think you'd fall over if you tried to attack me."

To which Wolverine responds, "I wasn't talkin' about me."

Blindside brings all the reporters back into the senate chamber and addresses them. He tells them to look and see how the government is treating children. Children who risked their lives to save innocent people and who took down Magneto.

Tensions begin to rise, but Blindside uses his inertia powers to grab all of the X-Men, the New Mutants, Magneto, and Polaris and zip them all back to the blackbird.

Aboard the blackbird, Amanda and Fractal are treated for hypothermia. Emma Frost is angry about the bruise on her face. Flux and Wolverine argue over who gets Magneto's helmet, but Bullet takes it away.

As the blackbird flies back towards Muir Island, they see that they are all over the news. Senator Kelly rails against mutants, saying: "They have attacked the very institutions of our democracy! This will not stand. From this day forth, America needs to institute a zero tolerance policy as far as mutants concerned. For everyone's safety."