Appearing in "Crusade: Part 4 of 4"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Purifiers
- William Stryker (Death)
- Matthew Risman
- Nimrod
Other Characters:
Races and Species:
Locations:
Synopsis for "Crusade: Part 4 of 4"
The Purifiers begin attacking the X-Mansion, managing to knock Beast out with an explosion. Emma Frost commands the students to remain in their rooms, or face her ire. Outside, Bishop and Cannonball fight the Purifiers, though the Nimrod gauntlet Stryker has is able to disable Sam's powers, allowing Stryker to shoot him as well.
At Stryker's church, two leftover Purifiers are removing the body of Dust, when they'd rather be partaking in the attack. Suddenly, there's a loud "snikt", and both Purifiers find themselves facing X-23, who'd been in disguise as Sooraya. Inside, two more Purifiers talk about Nimrod, as Icarus bleeds out on the floor. Then, Nimrod activates and kills the Purifiers. Unable to walk, Nimrod crawls across the church floor, briefly analyzing Jay, and while unable to kill him personally, it determines his injuries will quickly result in his death. With that done, it proceeds with its primary objective.
Back in the mansion, the students go to find out what's going on, leaving Quill alone... just as a Purifier appears and shoots him point-blank. David leaves the unresponsive Josh, immediately running into the Cuckoos, who are alarmed at their inability to detect who it is that's attacking them. David suggests looking through someone else's eyes, only for the Cuckoos to feel Cannonball and Bishop's pain, though they do realize it's Stryker attacking them.
Emma, meanwhile is attacked by a female Purifier, who due to the Nimrod tech is immune to ignore Emma's telepathy, and stabs her with a vibranium blade. Before she can decapitate Emma on Stryker's orders, she's attacked by Hellion and Surge. However, both of them are quickly incapacitated by the Purifier weaponry.
In Texas, Forge continues working on his project, an anti-Sentinel project, only to be interrupted by a warning from Surge's gauntlets, which are overloading. He commands them to automatically shut down, only to be informed something's jamming communications.
In her bathroom, Sooraya awakes in a state of dishabible, asking why Laura hit her, only to find Rockslide and Mercury fighting right outside. An angered Dust quickly unleashes her powers on the Purifiers, killing them. Stryker, meanwhile, is hunting the last of his "list", only to be shocked when one of his troops informs him about Dust.
Meanwhile, Surge, having abandoned her damaged gauntlets, faces Mary, only for X-23 to leap into the fray, violently dispatching her enemies on her own. After finishing, she informs Sooraya that the address Jay had given her was in fact a trap. Hellion removes the knife from Emma's shoulder, while Laura grabs one of the not yet dead Purifiers... and stabs him, via the implant on his neck. It's one all the Purifiers have, along with Jay, and the reason they smelled "like death". With the implant disabled, Emma is able to read the man's mind, learning of Stryker's involvement in everything, but just before she can learn about Nimrod, the man perishes. In the shadows, Elixir hears what Emma said. Emma then tries to contact the Cuckoos, who along with David are under fire from Stryker. David, it seems, is one of Stryker's seven high priority targets.
Emma and the students confront Stryker, who is confused as to how Dust can be alive. He decides he's being tested by God, and powers up his gauntlet. At which point Elixir grabs him from behind, and uses his powers to hurt Stryker instead of healing, killing the man. However, in doing so Josh's skin turns pitch black, and he screams.
Later, Commander Reyes and Val Cooper go over what's happened. Several Purifiers escaped, and the Nimrod arm is being taken in for study. Emma and Scott discuss what happened, Emma lamenting the death of yet another student. Meanwhile, Elixir is non-responsive, David speculating that he was never meant to use his powers as he did. The conversation turns to Stryker, with the New X-Men still unsure why he thought he'd succeed.
Back in Dallas, Forge finishes up a call to Cyclops, informing him that he'll be visiting the mansion in another week, and he'll be bringing a gift with him, though he'll be unable to attend Storm's wedding. Just as he signs off, Nimrod appears. Apparently, the Super-Sentinel has need of him.
Notes
- The cover art is an homage to the cover of New Mutants #38 (April 1986).
- Scott asks Forge if he will be able to attend Storm's marriage to Black Panther, the writers' acknowledgement of his prior romantic history with her.
- Somehow, X-23 is able to make the distance between Westchester the mansion, on foot, in an incredibly short period of time, no more than a handful of minutes at the most.
- Quill is murdered by a Purifier, being the only student casualty of the Purifier's attack, and indeed the only casualty at all. Bishop, Beast, Cannonball and Onyx are all injured, but recover.
- Exactly where and how the Purifiers acquired a vibranium knife is not made clear.
- The scene of Sooraya in the bathroom is a rare showing of her outside her burqa and niqab, something Santo notes on seeing her, X-23 having taken it after knocking her out. Between killing the Purifiers and confronting Stryker, she manages to acquire another.