Appearing in "Warhunt 2"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
Other Characters:
- N'Daré (Ghost, soul or spirit)
- Thunderbird (John Proudstar) (Only in flashback)
- Vrakanin - (Danger Room construct)
- Lila Cheney (Danger Room construct)
- Jamie Rodriguez
- Tomas, Luis and other Rodriguez family members
- Annalee's Morlock children - (Killed)
Locations:
- Scotland
- New York
- Colorado
- A ship somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic
- Dyson Sphere - (Danger Room construct)
Items:
Vehicles:
- Blackbird
- The Sun God, a cruise ship
Synopsis for "Warhunt 2"
Muir Island: Retired X-Man Sean Cassidy is out for his regular jog that he's been going on since he lost the use of his mutant powers. On this night, however, Thunderbird has come to the island and knocks him out. Thunderbird blames Sean for the death of his brother John, the original Thunderbird and knocks the former Banshee out.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Charles Xavier wakes up to find himself in the private quarters of Callisto following a beating at the hands of an anti-mutant mob. Xavier has difficulty remembering the events leading up to his attack and has no recollection of his attackers. He is disturbed by the change of clothing that Callisto has provided for him but is grateful that her minion the Healer was able to save his life even though he was on the brink of death. Xavier is surprised at the sheer size of the Alley where the Morlocks call home and learns that it stretches all over Manhattan and even reaches as far as his own school. When discussing the leadership of the Morlocks, Callisto explains that while Storm has no powers she maintains leadership of the Morlocks and Callisto cannot challenge her until her powers return. Xavier tries to convince Callisto to bring the Morlocks out from hiding; however, the conversation is cut short when Sunder arrives with the dead children of the Morlock known as Annalee. Furious, Callisto points out that this is why the Morlocks do not live on the surface and warns that if the humans want a race war then the Morlocks are willing to give them one.
Later, in the Rocky Mountains near the NORAD missile command center, Thunderbird is going over the remaining wreckage where his brother died many months earlier and vows to make Xavier pay for sending his brother to his death. He is joined by his fellow Hellions, Empath, and Roulette. Thunderbird is upset that they have come as he wishes to deal with the X-Men by himself. However, they are not without reinforcements as Empath has brought along the newest Hellion, Angelica Jones, known as Firestar, whom he has been keeping enthralled with his empathic abilities much to Roulette's chagrin.
At the X-Mansion, the X-Men and the New Mutants are in a training session. After playing a game of tag, they recreate a simulation of the New Mutants recent episode on the Dyson Sphere owned by Lila Cheney [1]. Their training session ends when Professor Xavier returns with Callisto. Seeing Xavier in the tattered clothing of a Morlock gives the X-Men and the junior New Mutants a good laugh, especially Cannonball who was given grief from the Professor for purposely dressing in a similar fashion.
While on a cruise ship in the mid-Atlantic, Storm is well on her way back to her native Africa so that she can sort out where to go next in her life now that she is without her mutant abilities. She is visited by an apparent vision of her mother and wonders if she really saw it or not and if she is following her destiny.
Back at the Xavier estate, the Professor tries to relax in the bath after his ordeal and finds that even after being healed by the Morlocks healer, he is still very sore after his beating. He is called down to the War Room of the mansion where the X-Men are receiving a video call from Thunderbird who tells them that he has taken Banshee prisoner and he intends to kill him in 24 hours in revenge. He explains to them that he has hidden Sean somewhere in Cheyenne Mountain and for the X-Men to try and find them.
The X-Men quickly mobilize and Xavier attempts to establish a psychic rapport, he finds that he has difficulty and gets Rachel to form one for them. When Shadowcat uses her phasing powers to get herself inside the NORAD facility, it allows Nightcrawler the telepathic "view" needed to teleport in there without hurting himself. Nightcrawler then smuggles Colossus, Rogue, Rachel and Wolverine into the facility, however, it wears him out. He goes one more time to report back to the Professor. Returning back to his friends, the Professor is left alone to monitor things with the Blackbird's portable Cerebro unit. Discovered by the Hellions, the Professor is caught off guard when Roulette tosses one of her discs into the cockpit causing electrical damage that causes feedback into Xavier's brain. In enters Empath who uses his powers to send Lockheed fleeing in terror and then he matches his empathic power against Xavier's telepathy. When Empath bites off more than he can chew, Roulette knocks Xavier out with knockout gas.
This is immediately detected by Rachel who tells the others. Shadowcat goes back to the Blackbird and finds that the Professor knocked out and the equipment trashed. When Nightcrawler asks Rachel to use her telepathic powers to track Sean down, she cannot bring herself to do it as it brings back horrifying memories as her time as a hound and collapses into a ball. Instead, Shadowcat uses her phasing powers so that she and Wolverine can search the facility to try and find Sean. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler teleports Rogue out of the facility to look after the Professor while he, Colossus and Rachel try to move on.
In the War Room of NORAD, Empath has used his powers to gain access and he, Firestar, and Roulette have grown bored with the lack of action. Empath uses his powers to tip security off to the X-Men's presence and has them send out their SecBots to neutralize all intruders. While Empath brags to Firestar, Roulette walks off to try to do something herself to make the White Queen proud of her.
Wolverine and Shadowcat manage to find Sean chained to one of the shock absorbers that protects the secret facility. There Wolverine is attacked by Thunderbird, who is at first no match for Wolverine's superior fighting skills. However, Thunderbird has prepared for this and the room begins pumping with gas. Shadowcat quickly gets Sean to safety, however, when she goes back to help Wolverine the gas knocks her out and she falls through to floor in her solid state knocking her out. With Wolverine distracted over Kitty's well-being, Thunderbird takes advantage of the situation by landing a powerful punch. Leaving the room before the gas can affect him; Thunderbird is shocked to see Wolverine go back for Shadowcat when he expected him to abandon his comrade like he believed was done with his brother John. Thunderbird realizes that he cannot leave the two X-Men behind to die in such a dishonorable way and drags them out of the room to safety. Placing gas masks on their faces, Thunderbird rushes off hoping to get revenge against Xavier.
Elsewhere in the complex, the SecBots find Colossus, Rachel, and Nightcrawler, prompting Nightcrawler to bring Rogue back to join the fight. As Nightcrawler, Colossus and Rogue fight off the robots, Rachel is still in an emotional breakdown, unable to break out of her fetal position to fight back. As they are distracted, Firestar smashes through the room, pulling Colossus outside with her. The SecBots capture Nightcrawler and down Rogue. The two mutants are about to be executed when Nightcrawler teleports free and knocks out the commanding officers who have arrived on the scene.
With Colossus high in the air and succumbing to Firestar's microwave powers, Rogue comes to his rescue as the girl struggles with the waning effects of Empath's powers. Rogue knocks the girl out with ease and carries her and Colossus back down to the ground. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler is fighting off those under Empath's thrall when Thunderbird appears and gives Empath trouble for interfering in his revenge plot. Shadowcat sneaks in and pulls Empath through the floor and he passes out when Wolverine threatens him with his claws. This causes everyone to snap out of it and attack Nightcrawler whom they shoot at with extreme prejudice as he is trying to capture Roulette. He manages to avoid injury by slipping into a heating duct.
Meanwhile, Thunderbird continues to make his way out of the facility to get back at Professor X and manages to avoid getting caught by Shadowcat. Before Kitty and Wolverine can go after him, they are found by guards and another SecBot. While elsewhere, Rogue and Colossus attempt to convince Rachel to fight with them, but she cannot bring herself to use her powers. Rogue, getting sick of Rachel's weakness in a dangerous situation tells her to touch her bare hands so that she can absorb Rachel's telepathic powers and use them instead. Nightcrawler arrives and convinces Rachel to use her powers to locate Wolverine and Shadowcat so he can teleport to their location. Rogue then leaves with the unconscious Firestar to bring her back to the Professor.
Professor X, meanwhile, has revived from being knocked out to find Thunderbird standing over him. The Native American warrior accuses Xavier of being responsible for his brother’s death. However, Xavier explains that his brother’s death was an accident and that he was telepathically linked with his brother at the time of his death. Unwilling to believe Xavier, Thunderbird raises his knife to stab Xavier to death but falters and gives up, finding that he cannot bring himself to kill a man that he is not entirely sure was responsible for his brother’s death.
With the battle over, the X-Men take the Hellions back to their headquarters where they learn from their news that the X-Men were being blamed for the "attack" on NORAD. Rogue surprises Kitty by finding Lockheed and bringing him back, and Thunderbird decides to go back to his teammates in the Massachusetts Academy, duty bound to stay by his comrade’s side. Xavier asks what Angelica wants to do; Angelica explains that she too must return to the White Queen. Xavier departs and wishes the two young mutants the very best.
While later at the Rodriguez household in New York City, the Rodriguez family is preparing dinner for their new tenant, a "man" named Nimrod, in reality, a super powerful Sentinel from the future sent back in time. Using the computer belonging to Jamie's son, Nimrod accesses Federal defense and law enforcement databases. Overhearing a news broadcast about the Juggernaut being sighted and that the X-Men are now wanted felons, Nimrod decides to make the destruction of both threats its primary objective.
Notes
- This issue is a 100th anniversary double-sized issue.
- The dedication at the end of the story reads: "To Len Wein and Dave Cockrum who had the dream... and Tom Orzechowski and Glynis Wein who've been with us from the very beginning."
- This issue is reprinted in many other comics and books, see references for more info.[2]
- Thunderbird previously appeared in New Mutants 17. He will appear next in Firestar 2.
See Also
Links and References
Template:UXM Links
- The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators - accessed on 08/27/2009
- The Official Marvel Index to the X-Men (Vol. 2) #4 - See for further referencing
References
- ↑ New Mutants Annual #1
- ↑ This story is reprinted in the following comics/TPB's:
- X-Men Classic #97 - 1st story
- Essential X-Men #5 - 14th story
- FOOM #1 - 5th story
- Giant-Size X-Men #4 - 5th story