New X-Men # 28 - Nimrod (part 1 of 4)

“NIMROD” Part 1(of 4)!

The New X-Men have been killed, blown up, and absolutely decimated. Now, they’re on the offensive! But after all they’ve been through, will they have the strength to defeat their toughest enemy yet? Hey, maybe the New Avengers could help!

Avengers Iron Man and Ms. Marvel are called in to investigate a trio of murders at Stryker’s church due to the clearly superhuman circumstances surrounding the deaths. Iron Man finds a weird energy signature and identifies one of the corpses as Jay Guthrie. Ms. Marvel recognizes the name and they piece together that Jay was the brother of the X-Man, Cannonball and a student at Xavier’s. Carol volunteers to break the news to the X-Men personally. At the Institute, the X-Men and ONE are dealing with the aftermath of the siege of the mansions by the Purifiers. Stryker’s death is being covered up by ONE. The New X-Men are struggling to deal with the attacks and the hatred behind it. They also have to contend with Elixir’s mental deterioration and the grief-stricken mother of their teammate, Wallflower. Ms. Marvel confers informs Cyclops of Jay’s murder as X-23 eavesdrops. Emma arrives to shoo the kids away and then proceeds to reveal Ms. Marvel’s ulterior motive for her visit: to ask for the X-Men’s support of the new Superhuman Registration Act. Emma lays into Ms. Marvel asking where the Avengers were, where she was when the X-Men and mutants needed help. She shows Carol the scene following the bus explosion, the funerals afterwards and wonders why none of the Avengers came to help the way the X-Men did in Stamford. She then shows Carol Lucinda Guthrie and asks if she wants to help break the news of her son’s death to her. Finally she shows her Quill’s body and asks if she wants to grab a shovel to help bury him. She sends Ms. Marvel away with a final warning: if this war is anything like mutantkind’s has been, then she’ll be needing a lot of shovels. Emma breaks down with grief while the New X-Men piece together the clues to Nimrod’s involvement in Stryker’s plans. Nimrod himself is barely functioning and confronts Forge demanding that his creator complete the needed repairs. Forge refuses and Nimrod threatens to teleport to Africa and terminate Storm if Forge refuses to comply.