The Isolationist

Overview:

In a castle of ice in a far off land, a fearsome being called the Isolationist sits and waits and plans...except he need wait no longer. He is coming to Mutant Town, and is seeking out Jamie Madrox. But whether he and X-Factor will be enemies or allies pales in comparison to the shocking developments involving Guido's new job offer, Rictor's unexpected call to action, Siryn and Monet's new case, and--most stunning of all--Layla's disturbing discovery of something even she didn't know

Featuring "Endangered Species Chapter 3"

Issue Summary:

X-Factor #21:
 
Jamie Madrox sits at a table in the local bar known as the Power Plant, drinking from a sloppily poured drink. As he downs the last of what remains in his glass, avoiding the three ice cubes within, he ponders the word “Lonely.” Mockingly, he muses that it’s the state of being alone, from the Middle English, combining the words “all” and “one.” Kinda sucks when “one” and “all”… are the same. Interrupting this thought, as well as punctuating it, the dupe who also sits at the table wonders aloud if they two of them – both Jamie Madroxes – had… he knows… with each other, would that constitute actual… you know…

Regarding the dupe with an incredulous stare, the Madrox prime folds his arms and turns his head the opposite direction. Then again, he thinks, there’s something to be said for being alone. It’s a powerful emotion, though… loneliness. It’s not mankind’s natural state of being. They’re used to huddling together in groups… for mutual protection… for a sense of community… for warmth. Sure, there are about who prefer their solitude… hermits and such. But you have to think that living that way for an extended period… it can make you nuts.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on a frozen, wind-swept terrain, there exists a cave. Deep within its structure sits a man on a throne of ice. He is clad in black, form fitting clothes, except for a buckled leather belt, two armored shoulder plates and wrappings which cover where his boots connect with his lower legs. Likewise wearing black gloves, his entire body is covered save for the area shrouded by the black hood covering his face. From beneath that hood, his right eye flares with a crimson hue. Reclining on his frozen throne, he pleads for someone to go away. All of them, he then adds. Just shut up… for a few minutes… Is that… too much to ask?

However, though in truth the hooded man is alone, the chamber before him is filled with phantoms of a host of people. Male, female, young, old – of all shapes, creeds and types of dress. Their thoughts echo in the chamber in brief snippets. One pleads for their life, another worries if someone will call them, another worries about their job. All of these and more, the man attempts to remove from his mind. Leaving his throne, he walks to a cluster of boxes, one of which is already open. Removing a bottle of pills from one, he opens it and pours more than half a dozen into his palm. A moment later, the man tosses them down his throat. Slowly, the sound of the voices decreases more and more, until the man is alone in the vast and now empty chamber of ice.

At X-Factor’s building, Nicole asks Layla what she meant by “waiting for.” She means, Layla explains, that Nicole is looking out the window like she’s waiting to see something. Her palm pressed against the glass, Nicole stares wide-eyed at the landscape of lights beyond. She replies that Layla that she’s just… taking in the city. It’s… so different from Pairs.

To this, Layla rejoins that it’s not that different. The buildings, sure, but people… People are more alike than you’d think. When Nicole then begins to leave, Layla asks where she’s going. When she replies the bathroom, Layla reminds her to be sure to hold the toilet handle down. Otherwise stuff comes back up. Thanking her as she leaves, Nicole adds that it’s nice to know she’s watching out for her. No problem, Layla replies with a slight smile that promptly disappears once Nicole does. “Little creep,” she mutters.

Downstairs, Jamie Madrox sheepishly says “hi,” to Theresa and Monet, interrupting their respective book and magazine. Bluntly, each returns his greeting and then returns to their reading. Taking a moment to consider what this means, Jamie bites the bullet and asks if they are okay. The look he receives shows him otherwise. Hardly the look of love, he thinks. Jamie’s mind races. He tries to remember that they’re the injured parties. Dupe or not, bottom line, he two-timed them. He needs to remain cool. Everyone is an adult there and if they can just handle matters on a mature level…

“What the hell do you want from me, huh?” he suddenly yells. “I’m sorry okay!? I’m sorry! Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!” Entering the room, oblivious to what he has walked into, Guido smiles innocently, asking what’s happening. He was watching TV upstairs, but this seems far more interesting.

Ignoring Guido, Jamie sits down on the couch and addresses Theresa and Monet again, though this time with a calmer demeanor. Apologetically, Jamie admits that he knows he screwed things up big time. He gets that. He can’t undo it. But he… He’s just trying to be honest. He misses them. He misses being friends. He misses feeling like they can count on each other.

To this, Theresa tells Jamie not to be ridiculous. They can still count on each other. If someone were… she doesn’t know… trying to shove a knife in his back, she’d stop him. And she knows Monet feels the same way, right, Monet? When Monet does not reply immediately, Theresa repeats her name inquisitively. Finally speaking up, Monet asks Jamie bluntly which of them was better in bed. As an astounded Theresa reels at this, Guido leans in to Jamie. “Danger, Will Robinson,” he whispers. “No kidding,” Jamie silently muses. Resolute, Monet presses on. She reminds Jamie that he said he wanted to be honest. She’s testing that. If he’s honest with her, she’ll forgive him.

Jamie Madrox does not immediately answer, but his thoughts speak to him. He realizes that Rictor said something to her. Even if he didn’t, she’s a telepath. She’ll be able to sense it. And if he’s honest, then Theresa will never speak to him again. Lord, please somebody bail him out…

Answering Jamie prayers, Rahne yells to Monet, asking how dare she. She heard what she was saying and… echhh!!! To this, Monet counters to Rahne, mocking that she’s weighing in like she’s the expert on sex. “Don’t make me laugh.” Angered further, Rahne counters that she knows more than she thinks. “How?” Monet smiles. Watching “after school specials?” Yelling for Monet to shut up, Rahne adds that she thinks it’s demeaning that she’s put Jamie on the spot like that. God as her witness, sometimes she doesn’t understand any of them.

All right, all right! Monet yells, telling Rahne “down girl” like an animal. She’s got this dog-breath when she’s like that and it makes her… A sudden sensation of nausea coming over her, Monet’s hands begin to cover her mouth as she literally takes flight to the bathroom down the hall. Madrox, Guido, Rahne and Theresa, all dumfounded, peer down the hall from around the corner.

Elsewhere in Mutant Town, a door of light appears in the street, arcs of electricity emanating from its corners and sides. From within, the man clad in black appears, gusts of artic air wafting at his feet. However, the man’s random point of arrival is not one of good fortune, at least not for the driver of the tractor trailer that impacts upon him a moment later. Though unharmed himself, the man’s immovability crumbles the cab of the truck, causing its driver to fly through the windshield and impact on the pavement beyond. Taking a moment to regard the bleeding man, the man clad in black calls him an idiot… and then begins to shrink ever-so slightly. Nothing more to be said or done, he departs.

A short while later, the man finds himself standing outside X-Factor’s building, specifically in the alley beneath the bedroom in which Nicole is sleeping. Seemingly sensing his presence, she awakens and then looks out the window to find him staring up at her. Silently, they regard each other for a few moments, before a slight smile crosses her lips.

Elsewhere in the building, Rictor sits on his bed, his back against the wall and his arms crossed above his knees, which he has pulled close to his chest. He stares forward with eyes that do not seem to see. Entering the room, Rahne holds a tray with a plate and glass on it. She explains that the whole noise downstairs… turned out that Jamie, Theresa and Monet were having it out about… he knows… the whole sex thing.

When Rictor does not respond, she continues. Guess that’s the danger of relationships in the workplace, she opines. Believe her, she’ll never make that mistake. Again, no response. Anyway, she continues again, she thought she’d check back with him. Maybe get some food into him. He’s hardly had anything to eat today, so… And after what Quicksilver put him through… he needs to be building up his strength so she…

Finally responding, Rictor knocks aside the tray that Rahne was placing on the end of the bed, its contents, a BLT and glass of milk, onto the floor. Rather than becoming angry, Rahne becomes even more subdued, softly saying his name. When he tells her to leave him alone, his hands covering his eyes, she refuses. Looking up at her, Rictor’s eyes are filled with tears. He had it back! he tells her. Does she get that? His powers! In his grasp! He had hope! For the first time in… And it got trashed! There’s no hope for him! For any of them! It’s donoe! The whole mutant race, they’re finished. And he’s… He used to be a part of the Earth, and now he;s alone, and he can’t ever…

Sitting next to Rictor on the bed, Rahne places her hand on his shoulder and tells him it’s okay. It’s going to be okay. When he replies that it won’t, Rahne remains resolute, moving her arms around his shoulder and drawing closer. It will… she continues. She doesn’t know how but… he has to have faith. “Yer not alone, Ric… ye…” Her voice trailing, both of their lips meet in a slight kiss. When they part, Rahne and Rictor’s eyes meet briefly, their thoughts conveyed by expression. A moment later, they kiss again, this one more of passion than before. Again, they part, voicing their thoughts by their eyes.

Moving away, Rahne stands and walks to the door. She stands there a moment, her hand on the door… and then closes it. Walking back to the bed, she removes her shirt, wearing nothing but her sweat pants and a cross which dangles from her neck. Climbing atop him, Rahne begins to kiss Rictor passionately, which he returns in kind.

The next day, Guido meets Val Cooper at a local diner. He’s there, he says. What does she want? To this, Val mocks the bluntness. What, no swelling on old times? “Which old times?” he asks. The old times like the other day, when her people invaded Mutant Town? Or the older times when he was a government stooge and she was his boss? Hardly insulted, Val raises her eyebrows and asks back if that is how he sees the old days. She’s a little disappointed.

To this, Guido rejoins that, to tell the truth, he liked it better then. Asked what he means by “it,” he replies that “it” means that one could work as a superguy for the government and it was of your own free will… as opposed to be “licensed.” It’s only one short step from that to an enforced draft for superguys. When she replies that that would never happen, Guido replies that that’s how stuff that could never happen happens… ‘cause people are too busy saying it couldn’t.

Changing the mood of the conversation, a smiling waitress arrives at their table, asking with a “y’all” how the two are doing this morning. Replying that “we all” are fine, he asks the same back. “Terrific!” she replies. What can she get them to start. Val order a coffee, back, to which Guido follows with ordering a beer, whatever they have on tap. Asked by Val if it’s a little early in the morning to be drinking, Guido replies that he learned it from Jamie. He’s their noir expert, so he follows his lead.

Returning to their previous subject, Guido suggests that they cut to the chase. How much is she offering him? Taken aback, Val stammers for a moment before admitting that she’s impressed. How did he know? Arms crossed, Guido explains that she probably figured he’s the go-to guy for what she wants. When Val begins to admit he’s right, Guido adds that she also figures that since he’s done some skuzzy job in his time, he’d go for this. To this, Val replies that they are the O*N*E hadn’t thought of it as skuzzy but…

Interrupting, Guido angrily states that they want him to spy on X-Factor for them. What else would she call it? She figures he can be bought. Well, guess what, Ms. Cooper? It doesn’t matter how much money she’s got… Though Val tries to interrupt, Guido continues. ‘Cause there ain’t enough in the world t’make him spy on his pals, and if she thinks he’s just some blork who’d…

Finally getting a word in with a shout of his name, Val bluntly tells him that they want him to be sheriff! Still indignant, Guido continues his diatribe for another moment until Val’s words sink in. As his face contorts into confusion, so does his indignantly outstretched finger curl in uncertainty. Technically, Val continues, pressing her advantage, “sheriff” wouldn’t be his exact title. “Special deputy” is more accurate… Effectively, he’d be the head of law enforcement for the district. A moment later when the waitress returns with his beer, Guido sheepishly asks her to take it back and give him an OJ, would she? Thanks.

In his office at X-Factor HQ, Jamie is thanked by his guests for seeing them at short notice. To this, he tells Mr. and Mrs. Tyler than it’s no problem. When Mrs. Tyler then asks if it’s okay that they don’t have powers, Madrox replies of course. So many people were depowered that they shouldn’t feel…

Interrupting, Mr. Tyler explains that he and his wife, June… they never had powers. Charlie and her aren’t mutants, his wife adds. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a mutant, be then appends. Yes, she agrees. They know mutants don’t choose it. They’re just born that way. Smiling slightly incredulously, Theresa tells the couple that that’s… very broadminded of them.

Actually, folks, Madrox interjects, most of their clients have been just “regular” folks like them. Usually their cases have some connections to mutant concerns… Oh, their does, Mrs. Tyler interjects. It involves these two children, her husband adds, passing a photo of two children, a boy and a girl. Their grandkids. Molly and Wally… fraternal twins. On the other side of Madrox, Monet chimes in, guessing that they want them to beat up the parents for giving the kids rhyming names. Smiling slightly, Theresa asks her to knock it off.

Continuing their explanation, Mr. Tyler explains that they’re their girl Abby’s kids. They have to understand, Mrs. Tyler says. Abby wasn’t always this way. Things changed since she married Roy, Mr. Tyler then adds.

Confused, Theresa tells the couple that she’s not following… However, Madrox does slightly, announcing that he recognizes the kids. Where has he seen them…? Suddenly, remembering, he says that they are the “Purity Singers.” Taking another glance at the photo, Theresa asks if he means those kids who go around as part of the Purity Movement… Singing about the joy of a world without mutants, Madrox finishes. About how M-Day was God’s will and soon the last of them will be dead. Sounds charming, Monet quips. Do they perform show tunes as well?

To this, Mr. Tyler begins to beam, explaining that they actually have this wonderful Sondheim medley… When his wife then informs him that she thinks she was being sarcastic, Mr. Tyler looks away in embarrassment.

As she said, Mrs. Tyler says, rising from her chair. They didn’t raise their Abby to be so… so prejudiced, but then she married Roy and he brought her into this… this cult of hatred. There’s no other way to say it. They use the children for propaganda purposes… It’s terrible, and they told Abby so, so she cut them out of her life.

But… it’ their kids, Madrox reminds her. He’s not sure what they want them to do… Pulling a piece of paper from her purse, Mrs. Tyler explains that they sued for visitation rights, and the court granted them. But Abby and Roy just… just ignore the court order. And they move around the country so much, there’s not much that can be done to enforce it. In the end, it’s just paper and they… They need something for than paper, Mr. Tyler says. Someone to help them see their grandchildren. They need someone with some… muscle, he guesses he’d say. Maybe even undo some of the damage, Mrs. Tyler then adds. When she thinks of those beautiful children… alone in that… that cult… with no one to provide positive influence…

Accepting to papers, Madrox glances at them as he asks both “Ms. Cassidy” and “Ms. Saint-Croix” how they would like to get their hands dirty. After both reply affirmatively with a smile, he tells them to go to it. Laying hands on his shoulder, Theresa thanks her “boss,” followed by Monet telling him she appreciates it. Silently noting that that sounded sincere, Madrox wonders if there’s a chance of everything returning to normal – or at least as close to normal as anything ever is around there.

Elsewhere, Layla takes a bowl from the cabinet and fills it with cereal and fat free milk. She is joined by Nicole, who is holding a plastic bag containing something sealed within. Grasping the back with cleaning gloves, Nicole asks Layla if she remembers that thing she said about the toilet having trouble. When Layla replies between bites that she does, Nicole states that this morning she guesses someone else around there wasn’t paying attention, ‘cause something they flushed came back up. When Layla counter with a “so?” Nicole tells her that she put it in this plastic bag for her to look at. To this, Layla promptly drops her spoon into her bowl of cereal with a plop.

Turning to Nicole, Layla tells her she’s got to be kidding. Is being that gross a French thing? Why in God’s name would she want to look at… Seeing the object within the plastic bag, Layla’s demeanor changes as an “uh-oh” passes her lips. Holding it out, Nicole asks if it’s what she thinks it is. Told in turn that it depends on what she thinks it is, Nicole answers “a pregnancy test.” Yeah, that’s it, Layla replies. “And the little plus sign on it?” Nicole asks. It means, Layla rejoins, something happening that she doesn’t know about… and that’s never good.

Later, Jamie Madrox finds himself at the counter of a very empty Power Plant bar. Considering his bottle of beer, he notes that drinking early in the day… by himself… That’s probably not what would be considered good. But, hey… drinking alone is better than not drinking at all, right?

Suddenly, Madrox’s thoughts are interrupted by the voice of another, echoing his thoughts exactly. Immediately surmising the meaning, Madrox voices that the newcomer that read is mind, Mr.…? Huber, the man clad in back replies. Josef Huber. And they two of them, he then adds… they’re going to becomes great allies. They’re rather alike in a way. He’s always been… an isolationist. Being alone… it’s a terrible way to live… doesn’t he think?

"Endangered Species Chapter 3":

The frozen wind sweeping through his course fur, the Beast tells the knight of Wundagore that he walked all the way up this mountain to see the High Evolutionary. He’s not turning around until they’ve talked.

Yes, he is, the knight, a anthropomorphized Bengal tiger, replies. Otherwise, he – and those who travel with him – will die. In reply, the Beast asks the knight, as well as the others who flank her, whether they have asked their lord and master if he’s prepared to talk to him. He is the creator, the knight replies. And they have standing orders. How long do they think they’ll stand, the Beast retorts, if the X-Men decide to pay them a call? Bring them, she replies. They’ll see.

As his guides behind him begin to quake in fear, the Beast turns to their leader, Stanis. He instructs him to tell his men to turn around and begin the descent. He’ll be right behind them. Returning his attention to the knight, the Beast asks her if White Tiger was a relative of her by any chance. Replying that she was her blood-sister, the knight asks why. Now speaking through bared teeth, the Beast replies that she would have bitten off her own tongue before she threatened unarmed men.

Reeling at this for a moment, the knight’s shock turns to rage and she leaps at the Beast with a savage roar. The knight manages to draw first blood, slashing the Beast’s shoulder with her claws, and then topples him onto his back. Perched atop him, the Beast at the edge of a crag of rock, the knight snarls that the Beast impugns her honor. She’ll write his epitaph with his own entrails. To this, the Beast suggests that she let him help her with that… He follows his quip with a right cross, followed by a left. “Big M, little C.

Before the startled knight can mount a counter attack, a voice rings out over the frozen terrain, calling “enough.” A moment later, the armored visage of the High Evolutionary appears bfore the Beast and the assembled knights. Addressing the knight as “Snow Queen,” he orders her to stop this now and to tell her knights to stand down. They are to let Doctor McCoy’s companions depart in peace. They’ll talk alone.

A short while later, the Beast is escorted into the laboratory of the High Evolutionary. Addressing him as Professor Wyndham, the Beast apologizes for his trespass on his privacy. However, the urgency of the situation has played all kinds of hell with his manners. Glancing back from his experiment which currently focuses his attention, the High Evolutionary asks the Beast if reminding him of his human name is part of a deliberate strategy. He is the Evolutionary now. Wyndham is a fading memory.

Changing subjects, the Evolutionary asks the McCoy to state his purpose, a request with which the Beast immediately complies. The mutant rate, he begins, his race, is about to become extinct. There are only two hundred of them left. If anyone knows how to remedy the situation, he tells the Evolutionary, he’d say it was him.

Assuming that were true, the Evolutionary replies, why would he wish to remedy it. Extinction has its place in the natural scheme of things. To this, McCoy asks if they are talking in cliché now. He thought he’d stick to English, if the Evolutionary doesn’t mind. Wanda Maximoff, he continues, reshaped reality by a single act of will. Using chaos magic – which isn’t exactly a natural process.

To this, the Evolutionary counters that it’s no tragedy. Nobody died, beyond a few unfortunate souls. No, the Beast admits, but lives were ripped out of their courses. Their futures were stolen from them. They’ve become an irrelevance. The cauterized stump of a species. And might not Wanda Maximoff, the Evolutionary couonters, still be the agent through which nature acts? Like the comet that destroyed the dinosaurs, like the great plague, or the sundering of continents?

Fangs bared in anger, the Beast retorts that she was a tortured woman who carried the burden of a terrible power. What spoke through her wasn’t nature, or fate, or God, or anything else. It was just her own suffering. Moving his hand forward in frustration, the Beast’s hand passes through the Evolutionary’s body. Cursing, he announces that he’s not even there, is he? That’s how little this means to him! He is elsewhere, the Evolutionary admits. And occupied with many things. But he’s monitored his research, he tells the Beast. And he cannot see it leading to success.

As the Evolutionary turns back to his project, the Beast’s demeanor turns more conciliatory. If he had the answers already, he admits, he wouldn’t have come. But he needs more than that. What is he doing wrong? Aiming at the flames perhaps, the Evolutionary replies. Treating the symptoms. Barking his reply, the Beast counters that he’s not interested in poetic metaphors. Tell him straight. What should he do? What should he be looking at? Where would he start?

His first though would be to go to the source, the Evolutionary replies. But that is impossible there. And, since magic created, the crisis, science may not avail to end it.

As the Snow Queen comes to lead the Beast away, he asks if that’s all the Evolutionary has to offer him. It’s better to stay where you are, he replies, than to embark on grand voyages to all the wrong destinations. That’s what he told his colleague, when he came there. But, like him, he found the truth unacceptable. Confused, the Beast asks what colleague. What is he talking about?

Ignoring him, the Evolutionary instructs Snow Queen to see Doctor McCoy to the outer gates. His business with him is concluded. As the image of the Evolutionary disappears, the Beast yells to him that he was a man once. And he’s not a god yet, even if he thinks he is. Help them! If he’s got anything at all that he can use… Interrupting, the knight accompanying Snow Queen pleads with Doctor McCoy, reminding him that his audience is over. The subsequent walk to the outer gates is in silence.

Once the Beast has passed through the force field of the outer gate and is once more in the frozen world beyond, the Snow Queen speaks again. She tells him that life is lent to them for as long as they’re fit to receive it. And those who can’t adapt, perish. When sarcastically asks back if that’s a fact, she replies that it is. It is a fact.

As he walks away, he final words cling to the Beast. “Wherever you go in the world, you walk on the bones of dead races… crumbled into dust.”

Overview:

Meet Molly and Wally, two charming children who go around the country singing cheerful songs that incite people to violence against mutants. Siryn and Monet have been dispatched to deal with them...except the twins have a rather unexpected protector. Meanwhile the Isolationist continues his manipulations to establish a world where mutants need never live in fear again. Question is, by the time he's done...will they be living at all?
 
Featuring "Endangered Species Chapter 7"

Beast’s scientific journey to cure the effects of M-Day, lead him back to… THE AGE OF APOCALYPSE!

Issue Summary:

X-Facor # 22:

(now)
Nicole stands at the center of a stone bridge which straddles a stream running through Central Park. Standing at the side of the span, she picks up a stone that half the size of her head. Holding it over her head for a moment, she brings it crashing down on an object set on the stone railing of the bridge. Plastic shards shower to the stream below as a result. Following them, Nicole tosses the rock itself into the stream as well. Her task finished, she descends the arc of the bridge, returning to the city beyond.

(Madrox)
It’d be nice if the bad guys wore black hats. Or maybe had horns. Or wore a name bade that said, “Hello, my name is: Evil.” I mean, some guys make it easy. Modok. Red Skull. Doc Doom. Scary, evil-looking guys. And you can be damned sure that whatever side they’re on… you want to be on the opposite. Guys like those make it easy to know what’s right. What’s wrong and what side to take. That’s why the Civil War was so hard on everybody. When it’s only good guys fighting, right and wrong get really blurry.

(some hours earlier)
Considering the introduction just made to him, Jamie Madrox repeats it. Mister… Huber, he said? Stretching out his hand, which Madrox accepts, the man replies that that’s correct. Josef Huber. It’s a pleasure to meet him.

Puzzled slightly, Madrox asks if he knows him. Who doesn’t know the renowned Madrox, the Multiple Man? Huber replies. “Madrox to Reg. Act: Drop Dead,” he quotes. A very memorable headline. Well, that’s the Daily Bugle for you, Madrox rejoins. It takes a true patriot to say “no” to his government, Uber replies. And to speak truth to power. May he sit? Taking another drought from his bottle, Madrox replies that, presuming his knees bend, he doesn’t see why not.

Considering this newcomer as he drinks, Madrox notes that he seems pleasant enough. Affable. He speaks with the sort of confidence that instills it in others. But the name… Huber… He remembers what his dupe said… the one who claimed to be “The World’s Greatest Detective” in Chicago… before the police filled him with more holes than a sieve. He said…

(flashback)
“I’ve been chasing leads… seeing patterns where everyone else sees only chaos. I know what’s coming. I know about Uber.

(reality)
“Uber, Huber,” Madrox continues to consider as Huber lifts the glass of the drink he just ordered. Way too close for comfort. He means… could be a coincidence… and the dupe was pretty hammered… but still…

Detecting Madrox’s pensive mood, Huber notes aloud that he seems distracted. Engaged in an internal monologue? Taken aback slightly, Madrox replies that he was, yeah. How’d he know that? Jokingly, Huber replies that he knows a little something about internal voices. Yes, he does. Sometimes they can damn near overwhelm you, can’t they? They sure can, Madrox admits.

So, Mister Huber, Madrox says, changing the subject, what brings him to their little section of Hell? He’s not exactly from around there, he takes it? He’s German, actually, Huber replies. But he is also… in his own humble way… rather influential. He has a good deal of money, he tells “Mister Madrox.” His family it quite rich, always has been. But he also has… and this will not sound humble at all… a finely honed sense of morality. Of right and wrong.

Smiling slightly, Madrox thanks Huber for clarifying that. ‘Cause until he did, he had no idea what “morality” was. Told that he jokes, Madrox admits that he’s been known to. The bottom line, Mister Madrox, Huber continues, is this: the mutant population needs a lobby. Are they building a hotel? Madrox asks back. More like a foundation, Huber rejoins, not rising to the jest. Mutant have lost their power… but that doesn’t mean they can’t have a power base. They are going to make the very same that has abandoned him… berated him… invaded his privacy… They’re going to make the government mutantkind’s greatest ally.

Incredulous at this, Madrox asks if that is so. How exactly? Simplicity itself, Huber replies. The ESA of 1973. Recognizing the reference, he says it aloud. That’s the Endangered Species Act… Informing Mister Madrox that that’s right, Huber states that they’re going to have Homo superior declared an Endangered species.

(Nashville, Tennessee)
Theresa and Monet stand among a throng of fans, all in adulation to the band performing on stage. The lead singers of the band are Wally and Molly, who sing about the “blessed judgment day” when God cut down the mutants. “For men were never meant to fly, with wings across the velvet sky, or read the thoughts of fellow man, or do the things that mutants can.”

Regarding the performers, as well as the fans who surround them, Theresa asks Monet what she thinks. Charming, Monet replies. The Fray should record a cover version. Then asked what she seriously thinks, Monet replies that she thinks the kids’ parents should be taken out and shot for filling their children’s heads with such bile and poison.

Overhearing the two through the noise, one attendee asks the Monet what the two of them are yammering about. Is she one o’them mutant huggers? Responding indirectly, Monet admits that she has shagged a few, to which the man asks what mutants have to do with carpets?

Stepping in, Theresa asks the man what if she said she was a mutant. He wouldn’t hate her, would he? As he begins to reply with a “heck no,” Theresa presses. All of this talk of carpeting… it really puts her in the mood for a nice, expensive Persian rug. Now fully entranced, the man turns around and departs, announcing that he’ll run right out and blow his life savings buying her one. Walking the man depart with a grin on her face, Monet tells Theresa that she has a deep streak of cruelty. She’s starting to think they could be friends after all. To this, Theresa remarks that she doesn’t know whether to be flattered or frightened.

Later, after the concert, Theresa and Monet approach the backstage entrance, which is guarded by security. Unbeknownst to them, they are watched through binoculars as the Siryn-voice charmed man lets them through, saying that he’s sure the kids would just love to see them.

Once inside, Monet tells Theresa that she’s almost sorry she developed that mind-swaying power. There’s something to be said for punching one’s way in. Then sarcastically told she’s a real humanitarian, Monet counters that she hopes not. Changing subjects slightly, she asks Theresa if her plan is to use her “voice” to persuade the parents to turn the kids over to them. To this, Theresa replies that it seems the simplest, rather than informing them that they are there to enforce the court-granted visitation rights of their children’s grandparents.

As Theresa begins to hope that maybe, just maybe, the grandparents will be able to talk some sense into the kids, she is cut off in mid-sentence as a projectile from a rifle slices against her temple, knocking her out. Astonished, Monet has time to catch Theresa before she falls. She then quickly spies a sniper on a scaffold. She begins to threaten the sniper to try their luck on here, but instead is attacked from a different direction when someone appears from behind and places a cloth soaked in an anesthetic. As she begins to lose consciousness, Monet’s attacker points out that that bullet could have one into her friends brain instead of just creasing her skull Be happy they let them off easy.

(X-Factor HQ, New York)
Entering the gym, Rahne finds Rictor finishing up his hundredth push-up. When she immediately notes that he seems healthier than he was, he tells her that it’s thanks to her, “Corazon.” Unfamiliar with the term, she sheepishly reminds him that her name is Rahne. Is he having memory issues? Sitting on the floor while regaining his breath, he tells her it’s a term of endearment.

Aye, about that, she replies, uncomfortably. That… may not have been the best move on her part. Standing up and approaching her, Rictor tells her not to sell herself short. She has some great moves. Rather than taking the compliment in its sentiment, Rahne becomes more uncomfortable and turns away from Rictor. The truth is, she tells him, she felt sorry for him. Rictor considers this for a moment in silence before eventually replying “Okay. So?”

Taken aback, Rahne’s demeanor changes from regret, to astonishment, to anger. What does he mean, “so?” He means, Rictor replies, that he’s okay with it. If that’s how she has to justify it to herself… Now even angrier, Rahne rejoins that he doesn’t have to justify anything! She’s not ashamed! Part of her is, Rictor replies. As Rahne turns, he presses. He thinks she was operating entirely on instinct, and she doesn’t want to admit it. ‘Cause instinct is where her wolf side lives, and even after all this time, she still hates that part of her.

Turning back to Rictor, Rahne is incensed and yells that he’s wrong and for him to shut up. Resolute, Rictor refuses to back down and replies that he’s not going to shut up, because he’s right. And she knows he’s…

Rictor’s words end abruptly, as Rahne grabs his head with her hand and pulls her toward her, their lips locking in a passionate kiss. Pressing forward, she moves him backward until she leaps upon him, her legs wrapping around his torso, their lips never parting. Unprepared for such an aggressive maneuver, Rictor loses balance and falls to the floor.

The moment is suddenly ended, however, by someone downstairs calling for Rahne. Calling back to the voice, Guido, Rahne asks what it is. In reply, Guido yells back that Jamie wants her down there. He’s got someone he wants them all t’meet. And bring Rictor if he’s up, he then adds. Glancing down to Rictor’s pants, Rahne states, “Ooooo, aye… He’s up.” When Guido then asks about Layla or Nicole, Rahne tells him that Layla went out for a walk. She hasn’t seen Nicole.

The conversation with Guido over, Rictor regains his composure and tells Rahne that she should head downstairs. He’ll be along… Rahne begins to discuss what just happened, but Rictor pushes her off. They can talk later, he tells her. Haltingly, she replies that that’s… that’s fine… They’ll talk later. From her vantage point of departing, Rahne cannot see the ripped section on Rictor’s shirt, where she clawed at his back. Nor can she see the cuts that went deep enough into his skin of draw blood.

Elsewhere, Theresa and Monet find themselves in a darkened room, the only source of light emanating from the next room which outlines of the door leading to it. While Theresa is sitting in a chair, her hands lied behind it and her feet bound by the same rope which snakes from the back, and her mouth taped shut, Monet is only shackled by a heavy chain that connected to a brace on the floor.

Testing the chain, Monet asks Theresa what the hell her problem is. When Theresa is only able to respond with a muffled query, Monet points out that she is more injury-prone than anybody she’s ever met. She’s Irish for God’s sake. Isn’t here people supposed to have all the luck?

A moment later, the two are joined, as the door to the next room opens. Mocking them as their “hosts,” Monet asks if they mind telling her what these chains are made of. Then asked why, Monet replies that she, when she strangles them with them, she can shout, “You idiot! Don’t you know these chains are made of…” whatever. To this, one of the two men in the door replies that he doesn’t think he’ll need doing that.

Pressing, Monet asks if they want to at least tell her their names, so she can say derisive things about them while they’re gone. To t his, the second man in the doorway replies that he wouldn’t be so mouthy if he were her. Considering they could have killed her while they were unconscious…

Angrily now, Monet repeats her request for their names, calling them gutless wimps in the process. Or maybe the only way they’re not afraid, she continues, is if they have a cloth with a chloroform on her nose? So goaded, the first man, wearing a green body armor and a pistol in his right hand introduces himself as Solo. In contrast to Solo’s fair skin and red hair, the second man has silver air, with a highly tanned skin, over whose arms are a pattern of ornate tattoos. Introducing this man as his associate, Solo names him as Clay.

To this, Monet quips to Solo that, if he has an associate, in the interest of accuracy, shouldn’t his name be “Duo?” Replying in kind that that’s very amusing, he tells “Ms. Saint-Croix” that, if it’s any consolation, she damn near busted his arm evern through his armored suit. The next thing she busts of his, Monet rejoins, will be lower. When Monet then asks Solo how he snuck up on her, he replies that all his suits have light-refractive capabilities. Yeah, well, Monet replies, all her suits have designer labels. So bite her.

For what it’s worth, she continues, they’re on the wrong side there. Those kids are spewing venom, and they’re enforcing their grandparents’ court-granted rights. Undeterred by this, Solo replies that he doesn’t care if they’re spewing pea soup. What it’s worth is their paychecks, plain and simple, to protect those kids from folks like them. This was a warning, “Ms. Saint-Croix,” he then adds as he closes the door. Come around again… They’ll kill her. A moment later, the door closes with a Ka-Clik, plunging the room into darkness once again.

Meanwhile, back at X-Factor HQ, Guido sits on the couch, confused. “Endangered species?” He doesn’t get it. Then asked Huber what is not to get, Guido asks if the Endangered Species Act about Eagles and Pandas and stuff? Laws, Huber begins with a smile, are made to be interpreted, Mr. Carosella. His interpretation… and he thinks the fact will bear his out… is that Homo superior is, in fact, a separate species… And with its numbers having dropped, to… one hundred ninety-eight is it?

“Depends on who you talk to,” Guido replies uncertainly. Then asked by Huber “how so?” Guido replies that at it’s at most a hunnert ninety-seven now… ‘cept Siryn still don’t believe her dad’sdead, so she’d tell him a hunnert ninenty-eight. As Madrox and Rahne both proceed to rub their forehead in exasperation, an even more confused Guido asks what. What’d he say?

Breaking the tense moment, Rictor enters, asking what he missed. Immediately, Madrox introduces “Josef Huber” to “Julio Esteban Richter.” Stretching out his hand, Huber says hello to “Mister Richter,” only to be corrected that most people just call him “Rictor.” Smiling at the invitation to informality, Huber’s handshake becomes a strong pat on the back, which in turn elicits a howl of pain from Rictor. Through the subsequent pain, Rictor gives Huber the thumbs up and haltingly tell him that he’s very happy to meet him. When Huber then proceeds to ask if there’s something wrong with this back, Rictor denies it. He’s fine. Fine. It’s all good.

Immediately, Madrox silently detects something amiss. Something going on that’s not being said… A quick mental notation of Rahne’s over-attempt at being casual leads Madrox to the pieces of the puzzle. The realization made, he quickly tries to return the focus back to Huber.

When Madrox asks him to elaborate about the idea for a “sanctuary,” Huber explains. When they get mutantkind declares an endangered species, the government, by law, cannot do anything to threaten them. They must provide a protected sanctuary, where mutants can reside safe from harm. Why, he continues, leaning over Madrox’s desk, there’s even a chance – if they can prove that it threatens the identity of mutant super heroes – that they can use it as a precedent to overturn the Registration Act.

Still in his chair, Madrox replies that this sounds like a stretch to him… Mister Madrox, Huber counters, the flat-back turtle is given full protection of the law. The black-footed ferret. The grand skink. Shouldn’t mutants be accorded as much respect… as a skink? From across the room, Guido replies that that depends. He should see some of the skinks he’s dated. When Rahne and Rictor, both sitting on either side of him, get up and walk away, Guido lowers his head in frustration. People used t’have a sense o’humor around there, he says. Sometimes, they’d even laugh.

Back in their prison, Monet’s labor against the chains continues. Cursing her captors and mocking their apparent belief that they are going to stay helpless, she tells her non-present captors to screw that! Cursing again, Monet finally succeeds and the chain snaps. A moment later, Monet bursts through the flimsy wooden door of hers and Theresa’s jail, calling for Solo and Clay. This isn’t over! not by a long… shot. Monet’s voice trails as she discovers that their prison is actually a small concrete bunker, set in the middle of a desert.

Back at X-Factor HQ, Monet’s words ring through Huber’s skull, as well as the voices of others. Seeing their guests as physically pained, Madrox says his name inquisitively and asks what’s wrong. Huber, however, is engrossed in trying to remove the cap to his bottle of pills. When Madrox persists, he backhands Madrox out of pain, knocking him back and generating a dupe in the process. Newly created, the dupe opines that Huber seems to be suffering from a disorder of the serotonergic control system. When Rictor clearly does not understand, the dupe elucidates: “a migraine.”

The dupe then begins to prescribe them finding a darkened room, but Huber regains his composure. Downing pills directly from the bottle to his mouth, he tells the group that he’s fine. He’ll be fine. It’s… nothing he cannot handle. As before, the noise of the voices begin to subside until they disappear altogether.

Elsewhere, Layla stands at the center of a stone bridge which straddles a stream running through Central Park. Standing at the side of the span, she regards a simple device made of plastic: a pregnancy test. Speaking only to herself, Layla says that she means, she always knows. That’s her thing. If she doesn’t… then she’s just… some girl.

Suddenly aware of the presence of someone else, she turns to regard Nicole and asks what she is doing there. Haltingly replying that she followed her, Nicole asks her not to be upset. How can she possibly be upset about having her own stalker? Layla asks. She’s gotta say, she then adds, she’s getting pretty tired of having a creepy little girl around who isn’t Layla Miller.

Changing the subject, Nicole asks Layla what she’s going to do about the pregnancy test. Returning her attention to it, Layla responds that it’s hard to know what’s right. She can’t believe she’s asking this… but what does she think? To this, Nicole replies that, honestly, she thinks Mister Huber wants her to die. Confused at this, Layla begins to ask what that is supposed to mean, but she is suddenly beaten senseless when Nicole hits her across the head with a slab of loose stone masonry. Unconscious, Layla falls onto the edge of the bridge, and a moment later falls into the water below.

Now alone, Nicole holds the stone over her head for a moment and then brings it crashing down on the pregnancy test, which she had set on the stone railing of the bridge. Plastic shards shower to the stream below as a result. Her task finished, she descends the arc of the bridge, returning to the city beyond, leaving a blood Layla Miller floating face up in the water, amidst pieces of broken plastic shards.

"Endangered Speicies Chapter 7":

Regarding the X-wing jet they are in, which soars over snow-capped mountains, the Beast tells the Dark Beast that he travels in style. No, the Dark Beast replies, he travels discretely, whenever possible. But this is a long haul and there’s no viable alternative.

Changing the subject, the Dark Beast tells “Henry” that they’re friends now. All smiles and slumber parties and shared secrets. “Drink this.” When Hank regards the outstretched glass vial the Dark Beast is offering, asking what it is, the Dark Beast replies “holy communion.” His own extracted cordical cells. Acetylcholine and a catalyst he likes to call AZ-3194-T. It’s liquid memory. He can spend three month reviewing his paperwork, or drink this and know what he knows.

Accepting the vial, Hank considers it for a moment and lifts it to his lips. A moment later, his eyes go wide and he falls to the floor, his face contorting in the sensations. “Edited highlights, of course,” the Dark Beast states, his guest writhing on the ground behind him. Even best friends don’t share everything. As the memories flood through him, the Dark Beast narrates what Hank sees. The Age of Apocalypse was another country, he tells him. They did things differently there.

In one memory track the Dark Beast introduces himself as “Doc” to a frightened child named Emily, clasping desperately to her mother. She and her mom, he tells the little girl, are going to visit with her in the lab today, aren’t they?

In another track, the Dark Beast is in an operation, working on a group person composed of multiple individuals as one entity. Holding a hacksaw, the Dark Beast instructs his assistant to tell their Lord and Master that, individually, Alex and Julie and Jack and little Katie are just curiosities. Fused together, they could become something really special.

In another memory track, the Dark Beast addresses a man who is being carried by two assistants. Addressing the man as Madrox, whose duplicates litter the laboratory, some in pieces, the Dark Beast tells him that he was worried about running out of test subjects until he met him. He’s like the answer to a prayer.

In another track, the Dark Beast snarls at his assistant, Mister Bedlam. “It!” he yells. Not “he!” They call the patient “it,” as in “it has just died because you didn’t have the damn blood pump on the right setting.”

In another memory track, the Dark Beast experiments on a redheaded woman clad in red, electrical volts coursing through her manacles his clasp her feet and hands. Describing the experience as wonderful, he tells Prelate summers that he could do it all day. Then asked by Cyclops what the point of it is, the Dark Beast regards the data on the screen and replies that the subject, Jean Grey, is astonishing. She does beyond mutation into some other category he doesn’t yet have a name for. Even on the microscopic level, each of her body’s cells is a ferment. A separate center of power.

He begins to muse about talk between physicists, about white fountains, the spontaneous outpourings of energy, or cosmic birth, but Cyclops interrupts him. He tells the Dark Beast to get to the point. He’s saying she’s unique. For the moment, yes, the Beast replies. But if someone were to culture some of her nerve tissue in a medium of…

In another memory track, the Dark Beast sits in a darkened room watching the images displayed on a wall before him from a projector. He tells the one operating the projector to show him the footage again. From the start. Seeing a young man, floating inn the eye of a swirl of energy, the Dark Beast states that it’s clear that Sinister was plotting against the Lord Apocalypse… probably for decades. And this was his secret weapon. A telekinetic mutant.

Noting the manipulation of the youth’s powers, the Dark Beast can tell that he’s not stopping the explosion. He’s just curving the shock wave – and the shrapnel - around himself. The control that must take… incredible.

Leaning forward, the Dark Beast realizes something else. He’s her son. He must be. Nothing else explains it. Not a birth son, but a vat-grown hybrid of her DNA with… someone else. And he has her powers. Her… morphology.

(present / reality)
Hank McCoy coughs and gurgles as he returns to the here and now. As he does so, the Dark Beast, still piloting the aircraft, explains that that’s his half of the bargain. Now what has he got to put on the table?

Still recovering, Hank calls his companion a psychopathic butcher. He had… no right to make him see those things. His attention still on the controls, the Dark Beast replies that he didn’t just make him see them, he made him feel them. And he hopes he’ll be just as open handed with him.

Changing the subjects, the Dark Beast asks to be told about the Greys, Jean and Nate. “They’re both dead,” Hank replies. Well, yes, the Dark Beast rejoins. But with that family, he’s found it’s best to get frequent updates. Exactly how dead, at the moment in time? Jean fell fighting Magneto, Hank explains. He caused an electrical surge in her brain. She died in Scott’s arms, a massive stroke. Nate, he continues, dispersed his being and his consciousness into every living thing on Earth. It was the only way he could stop an alien race from feeding on them.

Interesting, the Dark Beast replies, still checking the controls. If Nate Grey dismantled his mind and body by the application of his own mutant power… he can presumable be retrieved and reconstituted in the same way. Promptly told by Hank that he’s insane, the Dark Beast replies that he’s not. But he’s not averse to a little grave-robbing if that’s what it takes to get the job done. And, speaking of the dead, he continues, he thinks they’re there.

Eying their destination out of the cockpit, Hank tells the Dark Beast that it’s just an abandoned nuclear plant. On the face of it, yes, the Dark Beast replies. When you’ve done as much grave-robbing as he has, you learn a few tricks of the trade. But the first rule’s pretty obvious. Dig deep. With this, the jet begins to slow, coming to its final destination of the nuclear plant/government research facility in Alamagordo, NM where, according to its sign, trespassers will be shot.