New Mutants #22

Official Solicitation

The last surviving mutants have banded together, spending each day securing the walls of their stronghold, beating back those who would see them wiped out. But when a conspiracy is discovered within the fortress itself, could it be that mutantkind's last bastion will crumble from the inside out?

Story Information

As the Age of X is set in an alternate universe, many familiar characters have different names. Keeping with the continuity of the story, all characters will be referred to by their new names. The most notable changes in this issue are:

• Basilisk = Cyclops
• Eclipse = Sunspot
• Legacy = Rogue

This issue follows the events of X-Men: Legacy #245.

Synopsis

On a balcony near the top of Fortress X, Jubilee & Chamber discuss why they keep fighting. Chamber's realistic but pessimistic answers left Jubilee even more saddened.

Below in the monitoring room Legacy offered her services to Magneto. Her powers would allow her to syphon information directly from Pryde more effectively than an interrogation, however he refused stating that Pryde may have brought unknown & dangerous back with her from the outside. Unsatisfied, Legacy went to visit Box who was trying to study starlight with the help of his mechanical assistant Matilda. He inspected the camera that Pryde had hidden, but only uncovered 247 blank pictures. He expressed how he felt he was becoming more of a machine everyime he wore his Box armor. So to tempt him in to sharing his powers with her, Legacy offered him a kiss to help him feel like a man.

Basilisk stood naked in the bedroom window, holding on to a chain as he watched Legacy descend the steps outside. Frenzy tempted him back to bed, but pointed out that his kiss was half-hearted. He opened up to her admitting that he was holding the dog-tags of "Jackson, 45th Infantry, 2776" a Caucasian human woman who'd died in battle. Basilisk had been collecting the dog-tags of all fallen warriors as a way to remember them all. However, he'd already collected the dog-tags of "Jackson, 45th Infantry, 2776" a couple of months earlier who he recalled as a Black human male.

Meanwhile, Legacy spoke to the security systems of the Brig using Box's powers. She entered the Brig, but as she passed through the cells Blindfold reached out to her. The girl was frightened & confused, calling Legacy "Rogue". Still wearing her Young X-Men uniform, Blindfold begged Legacy to "untie it" or take her back. She warned Legacy of the "scar tissue", something about "where it doesn't fit" and "Where everything was amputated but didn't die". Her words to ask the professor rang in Legacy's ears as she walked away. However, Danger's sensors recorded Blindfold's distressed state and therefore she sent a couple of drones to investigate.

Legacy found Pryde who's powers were dampened by a helmet. She responded to Legacy as a hostile interrogator, offering only sarcastic replies. Eventually Pryde mysterious mentioned that "he said take a lot of pictures" but she was stopped short by the arrival of Danger's drones. Legacy used some of Box's powers to stop one drone, and then borrowed Pryde's powers (but not memories) to run through another which unexpectedly caused it to malfunction. Still pursued, Legacy phased through the wall and fell into the room holding Charles Xavier. The figure of the unconscious bald man stirred something deep within Legacy's mind. She didn't know him, but somehow recognised him. From her cell, Blindfold clasped the bars and cried out to "ask the professor". Instinctively, Legacy reached out and touched him on the head through the hole in her glove.

The immense flood of telepathic power was too much for Legacy to handle. She collapsed as she was instantly flooded with images of Magneto looking out over his balcony, Legion slouching & unhappy at being unable to unleash his powers, Gambit holding his rifle, Basilisk worrying about Frenzy as she collapsed with a nosebleed and Wolverine cutting his arms to create scar tissue. The mutants inside Rat Run writhed in agony as blood poured from their nostrils. Chamber carried Jubilee's unconscious body & warned X that they were under attack. Magneto was forced to his knees, but somehow recognised Legacy's involvement.

Legacy was just pulling herself back together when Danger burst into the room. Danger demanded Legacy's immediate surrender, but instead Legacy used up the last of Box's powers to control the old bank security systems in the room to attack Danger. No longer able to phase or control machines, Legacy fled the laser fire by throwing herself out of the closed window. From the broken window, Danger could not detect Legacy's impact on the ground below. She assessed that Legacy had not absorbed the powers of flight from anyone, but without a confirmed body Danger informed X that there was a rogue mutant on the loose who had tried to rescue Pryde & attacked all other mutants.

Low below the broken window, yet high above the ground, Legacy held on to Matilda. Box's mechanical assistant was happy to assist any of Box's friends. Meanwhile, Magneto gave the order to use any means necessary to stop Legacy from escaping. Therefore X called in the Moonstar Cadre consisting of Moonstar, Dust, Karma, Magma, Eclipse & Warlock who were all eager to hunt her down.

Note

This issue is followed by X-Men: Legacy #246.