The Uncanny X-Men #408

Archangel prepares to take down the Vanisher's drug business. Stacy X aids a dying man.

In Manhattan, Archangel holds a press conference at Worthington Industries and tries in vain to answer the flood of questions concerning the recent events involving the Church of Humanity, the X-Corps disaster, and the X-Ranch. Nightcrawler teleports into the room and proceeds to flaunt for the press, jokingly suggesting that the media should treat him as they would treat a celebrity, and wondering if he should get a Hollywood agent. After the conference, Warren and Kurt speak in an office on the top floor of Worthington Industries. Warren wants to know why Kurt acted so showy in front of the press, to which Kurt replies that Warren wasn't in control of the conference, and that the media appreciates showmanship. He begins to joke with Warren that he should run for President. Warren becomes impatient, wondering why Kurt is acting with such strange levity. Kurt answers that he thinks that a return to the recklessness of his earlier days would make his return to the X-Men after the Europe incident less uncomfortable. With that, he 'ports out, leaving Warren alone in the office.

At The Gene Pool pub Chamber and Iceman are interrupted from their conversation by a young man who asks Jon where he got his fix of designer genes. The man is obviously ravaged from the effects of his addiction to the genes.

Back at Worthington Industries, Stacy informs Warren that she has an appointment as a "pheromonal prostitute" and must go to meet her "date." Warren assures her that she doesn't have to keep turning tricks now that she is financially secure with the X-Men. Stacy tells him that her being a working girl is more about identity than money, and assures him that she is still willing to fight for Xavier's dream. Warren sternly warns Stacy that living in such a way doesn't lead anywhere. She becomes annoyed with his judgmental attitude, and leaves. Warren receives a call from Kurt: in the basement of St. Paul's Church, he has discovered a room full of dead bodies!

In his apartment, Stacy angrily vents to Logan. She is miffed that Warren, who had quite a wild youth, is telling her how to live her life. Logan shows Stacy his old yellow uniform that he received in service of the Canadian government, telling her about how he wore it years after he left the government's service because he was too afraid to leave a role that everyone was used to seeing him in. He tells Stacy that it took time, but eventually he took off the mask physically and metaphorically and let the X-Men see his true self. Stacy considers these words.

In the church basement, Nightcrawler and Archangel observe the dead bodies of teenagers who overdosed on the designer genes, knowing that it is the Vanisher's drug that killed the kids. Nightcrawler suggests that they call in the rest of the team.

Stacy arrives at a large skyscraper, the location of her "appointment." She finds an emaciated old man lying in a hospital bed in one of the rooms who tells her that he is her date. The man introduces himself as Jason Treemont. Stacy realizes that Treemont is "Chef Jay-R-Tee," the creator of Chef Jay-R-Tee's Noodle-oo's, which she loved as a child. She begins to undress, but Treemont informs her that he is not her regular kind of customer : he is a mutant who has been cursed with accelerated aging and an immunity to all medicine. No amount of morphine has any affect upon him, and he is wracked with pain. He asks Stacy to help him take away the agony that he lives with at all hours of the day.

At the church, Archangel and Nightcrawler discuss the Vanisher, and the way that he wishes to be seen as a businessman. Archangel calls Childs at Worthington Industries and tells him to begin a board meeting with the topic "mergers and acquisitions."

At Treemont's apartment, Stacy finishes her pheromone work on the old man. He is unconscious, but has a smile upon his face. Logan, Jon, and Bobby arrive. Stacy tells them that she affected his pleasure centers so strongly that the effects will last for the remainder of his short life. Stacy is surprised when the three support her in her actions, telling her that she did the right thing. Drake reveals the reason for the X-Men's visit: they are preparing to move against the Vanisher, and it's up to them to bring Porter into the open.

At the Worthington Industries meeting, Warren tells his people that they have a new and important objective: to follow the paper trail from a series of street-level operations all the way to the man behind it all. He warns his board members that it will not be easy.

In an office building somewhere in the city, three men await a meeting with the man who has recently moved in and taken the street-drug trade from them. The Vanisher teleports in all of a sudden, and tells them ominously that they are already working for him.