I am Uatu, known to denizens of Earthand the cosmos as a Watcher. My lifehas been dedicated to observing theevents unfolding around me withoutinterfering with the natural course offate. One group of interest to me isthe race of humanity called HomoSapiens Superior, also known asmutants. Mutants have run the gamut frombeing superheroes to being one of theworld's greatest problems. Currently,humans are extremely distrustful ofmutants, and even the heroesthemselves are split as to how tohandle the public's reaction to theirpowers and freedom. In the following pages, you'll find myChronicles on the time from the aptly-named Fall of the Mutants to therecent Mutant Genesis detailed foryour edification. Learn well thelessons contained herein as not torepeat the mistakes of heroes past. In this section, you'll find a briefhistory of the Marvel mutants leadingup to the Fall of the Mutants where amore detailed history starts. For moreinformation about this time in themutants' lives, see The UNCANNY X-MEN Special! Campaign Set. The X-Men were the first organizedgroup of mutant heroes. They werebrought together by Professor CharlesXavier under the auspices ofProfessor Xavier's Academy for GiftedYoungsters. Professor X, as hebecame known, was a mutant withtelepathic abilities. He gatheredtogether Cyclops, Marvel Girl, theBeast, Iceman, and the Angel in orderto

teach them how to control and usetheir mutant powers. The X-Men werealso formed to counter evil mutantsand super-powered villains whobegan to menace humanity. In the early years, the X-Menwitnessed the emergence of manyfoes to their cause: Juggernaut, theSentinels, Magneto, and theBrotherhood of Evil Mutants, to namebut a few. As time went on, the teamspent more time fighting against thesesuper-powered foes and less time ontheir studies. While investigating reports of amutant on a South Sea island, thegroup was kidnapped by Krakoa, theliving island. Krakoa, with its need tofeed upon life energy and mutantpowers, sent Cyclops back to bringmutants for the island to feed on. In response to this threat, Prof. Xand Cyclops gathered together a newteam of mutants to rescue the oldteam. The new team consisted ofStorm, Thunderbird, Nightcrawler,Colossus, Sunfire, Banshee, andWolverine. They rescued the old X-Men, and later, all of the oldermembers left the team save Cyclops.Sunfire also returned to his nativeland rather than join the new team. With this band of mutantsexperienced in the use of theirpowers, the team's focus shifted toprimarily a heroic one, dedicated toprotecting humans and mutants fromforces threatening them. Teammembers came and went through theyears. As the X-Men changed, so toochanged the world. As time went on,public opinion of mutants deteriorated.Eventually, just being a mutant wascause to be suspect in

the minds of many non-mutants. During this time, the Morlocks, acommunity of mutants living in thesewers of New York, were discoveredby Mister Sinister. A mysterious manwhose nature and motives arecurrently unknown. Sinister sent hisassassins, the Marauders, to murderthe Morlocks. In an ensuing fight,Colossus, Shadowcat, andNightcrawler were severely injuredand replaced on the team byLongshot, Psylocke, Dazzler, andHavok. During this assault, the X-Men's base (Professor Xavier'sAcademy for Gifted Youngsters) wasalso destroyed. Because of this, theX-Men became a less structured bandof heroes, moving around more often,unable to find a safe haven. Then theFall of the Mutants came and theteam would never be the same again. After the collapse of the old X-Men,Professor X started a new team ofmutants called the New Mutants. Theteam was designed to train the youthsin the use of their newfound powers.This idyllic situation lasted for a while,but the reality of the world eventuallyintruded upon the young pupils. Thefirst major blow to the team occurredwhen Prof. X left the school andappointed former villain Magneto astheir new headmaster. Magneto triedto manage the children, but failedmiserably in this role. Magma returnedto her homeland and Karma went toMadripoor. During the months leadingup to the Fall of the Mutants, the NewMutants were a very fractured teamwith the worse still to come.

INTRODUCTION

The original X-Men, after working forother teams or alone, came togetherunder the team name X-Factor. Whatprompted the creation of this teamwas the "resurrection" of Jean Grey.After the death of Phoenix, Jeancontinued to heal in the energycocoon where Phoenix had placedher. When she was discovered andreunited with her teammates, theyformed X-Factor. The name and initial direction of X-Factor was formulated by a collegefriend of Angel, Cameron Hodge.Unbeknownst to the team, Hodgehated mutants. He suggested theteam become a civilian group ofmutant hunters. Hodge's stated goalwas to capture and train youngmutants whose powers were justemerging. Though X-Factor did helpsome mutants, the public's fears ofdangerous mutants were fuelled by X-Factor's actions. Hodge manipulatedX-Factor's publicity to reflectnegatively on mutants and to whip upanti-mutant hysteria. There was internal strife in the groupas well. Though Cyclops and JeanGrey had long been emotionallyinvolved, Cyclops didn't tell MarvelGirl he was married until severalweeks after the team was formed. TheBeast reverted to his human form andlater, Angel's wings were amputateddue to serious injuries. At the sametime, Hodge leaked information thatWarren Worthington (Angel) was thefinancial backer of X-Factor. TheAngel committed suicide and histeammates mourned his death. TheFall of the Mutants had just begun.

In the following pages, the recenthistories of each major heroic mutantgroup are presented. This materialwas adapted from these Marvelcomics:UNCANNY X-MEN 225-227X-FACTOR 24-26NEW MUTANTS 59-61

Fall of the Mutants

X-Men The X-men struggled to keepCharles Xavier's dream of peacebetween Homo sapiens and Homosapiens Superior alive. The eventknown as the Fall of the Mutantssignaled a change in the mutants'views of the world. Just before the Fallof the Mutants, the X-Men were veryfragmented. The team was scatteredacross the globe, busy followingseparate agendas. This Fall pulledmutants and humans together tohonor the X-Men's sacrifice. The Fall of the Mutants began at theContinental Divide in Yellowstone,Wyoming. Adversary (aka theHarbinger of Chaos or the Trickster)disguised himself as Forge's oldmentor, Naze. He tricked Storm intostopping Forge from closing anunnatural hole in reality that theAdversary needed. After climbing amountain to reach Forge, Stormstabbed him before realizing she'dbeen duped by the Adversary.Together they jumped off of Forge'smountain and disappeared into adazzling display of light. Expecting to die, Storm and Forgeinstead found themselves in a uniqueprison. They'd been sent into to aperfect, uninhabited world by

Adversary. This world's use as aprison was ironic for Forge and Stormbecause it met the dream they wantedmost; to be alone together. The Adversary soon took over thedwelling place of Roma. Roma, theOmniversal Guardian, was a captivein her own Starlight Citadel. WhenForge and Storm finally escaped fromtheir prison, with Storm's powersrejuvenated, they joined Roma in herprison. The X-Men consisted of Psylocke,Storm, Longshot, Rogue, Havok,Wolverine, and Madelyne Pryor.Flying to Dallas to rescue Storm, theyencounter the mutant group known asFreedom Force. Originally made up of former mutantcriminals, Freedom Force made adeal with the United Statesgovernment to be their hired guns.Destiny (a mutant with the power tosee the future) had seen the X-Men'sdeath in a cataclysm at Eagle Plaza inDallas, Texas. Mystique (Rogue'sadoptive mother and head of FreedomForce) warned Rogue to stay awayfrom Dallas, but the X-Men choose tomeet their fate. At Eagle Plaza, Forge's seat ofmystic power, the X-Men werestopped by the building's defenses.Freedom Force arrived and the twoteams began to fight in the plaza.Magik, the New Mutant sorceress,was contacted by her brotherColossus after he received a strangevisit from an unidentified apparition inScotland. She teleported him to EaglePlaza and Colossus' arrival helped theX-Men battle Freedom Force to astandstill.

As a result of Adversary'smachinations, time went crazy inDallas. Dinosaurs and future menwalked the streets together. Chaosflourished as did Adversary's desire tobring about the victory of chaos overorder. In Dallas, Destiny encounteredColossus and was shocked to seehim. She claimed that he wasn'tsupposed to be there, that he wasn'tin any of the futures she'd seen. Usingher mental powers, Psylocke revealedthe identity of the apparition who hadprompted Colossus to rejoin the team:Roma. Colossus was Roma's wildcard to use against her enemy. Afterthese revelations, the X-Men foughttheir way to the top of Eagle Plaza toconfront their destiny. Part of Eagle Plaza blew up, trappingthe X-Men and a reporter in thebuilding. The reporter had a camerathat transmitted the following eventsfor the whole world to see. Psylockesensed Storm and Forge in Roma'sCitadel high above the Earth. The X-Men managed to get aboard theCitadel with the aid of Longshot's luck.Using metal knives, Wolverine's clawsand Colossus' metal body, the X-Menwere able to injure the Adversary. Rogue attacked Adversary next andattempted to absorb Adversary'spower, but only obtained the powersof Naze, the man Adversary hadtaken over. Using Naze's knowledgeand mystic spells, Rogue opened adimensional portal to banish theAdversary from Earth. Adversary wasalmost sucked into the trans-dimensional gate but resisted its pull.

HISTORY

Because of Adversary's battling andthe power needed to resist the forceof the portal, his power over Stormand Forge waned and they werefreed. Forge had the magical ability toshut the gate but he needed ninesouls for the spell to work. The X-Menwillingly gave up their lives so thatAdversary would be imprisonedforever. To the benefit of Earth's mutants,this drama was televised worldwide.In England, Kitty Pryde lay recoveringfrom wounds sustained on Muir Islandand she saw the entire X-Menincident. Believing their teammatesdead, Kitty Pryde and Kurt Wagnerwere without a team. Captain Britainalso believed he'd lost his sister,Psylocke, in Dallas. Thus the "death"of the X-Men helped shape the groupwhich became known as Excalibur. Back in Dallas, the reporter andForge were transported back to Earthafter Adversary was defeated. Withhis involvement in the death of the X-Men, Forge was reviled by many, andMystique in particular considered hima murderer, despite the fact that theX-Men gave themselves willingly tosave the rest of the world. Roma, stating that Adversary couldnot be locked away forever, alteredhis imprisonment to hold for merecenturies. By this action, she restoredthe X-Men to life and returned them toEarth, proclaiming them to belegends. The X-Men kept theirexistence secret for a time, using theirdeaths to operate more effectively insecret.

X-Factor For X-Factor, the Fall of the Mutantsbegan when Apocalypse teleportedthem to his ship. X-Factor discoveredhis plans to cause a war betweenmutants and humans; he wanted afinal battle to determine which"species" would survive. X-Factorfought the Horsemen of theApocalypse, holding their own untilanother Horseman, Death, enteredthe fray. Death was the Angel,allegedly dead but now remade byApocalypse into a metallic wingedmachine of chaos, and he sooncaptured his former teammates. With X-Factor out of the way, theFour Horsemen were loosed uponNew York City. Caliban, betraying X-Factor, pledged himself to Apocalypseif he could gain great powers likethose bestowed upon the Angel.During this exchange, the Beast andIceman managed to free X-Factor.Beast and Iceman stayed on the shipto fight Apocalypse while Cyclops andJean Grey went out to find and defeatthe Horsemen. With the help of Power Pack,Cyclops and Jean successfullystopped the Horsemen. On boardApocalypse's ship, the Beastmanaged to disable the ship, causingit to appear above New York andbegin to fall toward the ground. Theship's descent was stopped by Jeanand Power Pack's Molecula. Theyguided the ship to the harbor safelywhile the Horsemen returned to theship and the battle continued. During the fight, Death was dupedinto believing he had killed Iceman.Shocked, he broke Apocalypse'sconditioning and turned on the

villain. Joining with X-Factor, theydrove Apocalypse off. Apocalypsetook Caliban with him and left the shipin trade for the almost powerlessmutant.

New Mutants For the members of the NewMutants, the Fall of the Mutantsended in tragedy. The New Mutantswere captured by Dr. Animus due totheir friendship with one of hiscreations—Bird Boy. CommanderHodge and the Right financed Animusbut grew suspicious of the doctor'smotives. Hodge visited the islandwhile the New Mutants were captivesand a fight erupted. In the melee,Doug Ramsey (Cypher) was killedwhile protecting Rahne (Wolfsbane)from a hail of bullets. Maddened by Doug's death, Magikfurther lost control upon hearing of theX-Men's fate. She blamed Forge forher brother's and the X-Men's deaths.Magik and the New Mutants wentafter Forge, but encountered FreedomForce before they reached him.Destiny had seen this event comingand was waiting for them. Magik, after a battle with FreedomForce, managed to teleport her friendsand Forge to Limbo, where she nearlykilled him in revenge. She stayed herhand and allowed Forge to live—tolive with what she believed was theguilt associated with his part in thedeath of the X-Men. This bloodthirstyside of Magik's personality was thefirst sign of the Inferno that wouldstrike the mutant groups next.

Between Events 1

X-Men versus the Reavers When the X-Men returned to Earthfrom Roma's home, they foundthemselves in Australia. There theyencountered the Reavers, a group ofcyborg mercenaries, and Gateway, anaborigine able to open a teleportationgate to anywhere in the universe.Inevitably, the X-Men and Reaversfought with the X-Men emergingvictorious. After the battle, Roma appeared tothe X-Men and gave them the SiegePerilous. Siege Perilous was amagical item which gave anyoneentering it a new start in life. Romatold them that only the naked eyecould detect the X-Men now. Noelectrical device could see themexcept for the sensors in their newhome, the Reavers' old base. Theteam decided to remain in Australiaand set up their home in the Reavers'old base. Upon further examination, theydiscovered that the base's computerwas technically advanced, much moreso than they believed the Reavers'capable of constructing. The X-Mentheorized that the base may havebeen an old Sentinel Base,abandoned long ago. Longshot founda room where the Reavers stored alltheir loot and felt compelled to return itto its rightful owners. The X-Men,using Gateway's teleportation powers,gave all the bounty back to its rightfulowners.

The Return of the Brood At the same time the X-Men weresetting up camp in Australia,

half-a-world away, the alien Broodmade landfall in the Rio Diablomountains in New Mexico. Theybegan to consolidate their powers bytaking over the local population. The X-Men discovered the existenceof the Brood's nest on Earth and wentto Denver to destroy them. During theensuing battle, the X-Men learned thatthese Brood were mutants andpossessed extraordinary abilitiesbeyond the normal Brood powers.Finally, the team defeated the alieninvaders. During the fight, Havok wasforced to kill two people who wereimplanted by the Brood, which preyedon his conscience.

Genosha Genosha is an island nation, north ofMadagascar, which usesmanufactured mutates as slaves. Thefollowing two incidents started thechain of events leading to theexposure of the existence of Genoshaand their terrible policies. A mutate inGenosha managed to smuggle a babyoff the island before being killed bythe mutant-hunting team known as theMagistrates. The Press Gang, a group of mutantMagistrates, tried to recapture anotherescaped mutant—Jennifer Ransome.They attacked her plane, being flownby Madelyne Pryor, when it landed ata remote airstrip in Australia. Pryorradioed to Rogue to help them, butthe X-Men arrived too late. Ransomeand Pryor were abducted and sent toGenosha by Pipeline, a man able toreduce people into binary electronic

impulses and send them throughphone lines where they would bereintegrated on the other end. Using his tracking powers, Wolverineled the X-Men to a hospital wheremembers of the Press Gangcontinued with the second part of theirmission: to recapture the smuggledbaby. After an initial encounter,Pipeline transmitted more Magistratesin to help combat the X-Men. The X-Men won, but not without casualties.Wolverine and Rogue were capturedand transmitted back to Genosha. In Genosha, Wolverine and Roguehad their powers stripped by themutant Wipeout. They were thentaken to the Citadel, the headquartersof Genoshan State Security, andimprisoned there. Once in Genosha, the mutants weresent to the Genegineer whose job wasto take mutants (and people withlatent mutant abilities) and manipulatetheir powers into avenues benefitingthe state of Genosha. These mutateslost all sense of identity, wereassigned numbers instead of names,and were supposed to be totallysubservient to their human masters.The Genegineer's son, Phillip Moreau,rebelled when he discovered that hisfiancée, Jenny Ransome, possessedlatent mutant abilities and his fatherhad transformed her into a mutate. Eventually, the X-Men teleported tothe jail where the members of thePress Gang were based. Psylockescanned a member of the group tofind out where they were from andwhat their mission was. Thoughviolently repulsed by what she

saw—the inhumanity beingperpetrated upon the mutants inGenosha—she accomplished hergoal. Meanwhile in Genosha, Roguebegan to emotionally experience allthe personalities of the people whosepowers she'd absorbed. Thisphenomena was caused by the loss ofher powers which had protected herfrom the psychic fallout of her mutantability. The most prominentpersonality in Rogue's crowded mindwas that of Carol Danvers, formerlyMs. Marvel. Danvers took overRogue's body with Rogue's consent.Using Danvers' extensive spybackground, they broke out of the cellwhere they were being held. Oncefreed, she broke the ailing Wolverineout as well. Without his healingpowers, the wounds he'd sustainedduring the fight with the Press Ganghad left him weak and unsteady. Wolverine and Rogue, disguised asMagistrates, escaped the Citadel andworked on a plan to escape fromGenosha. While plotting in a bar, theysaw the Genegineer's son get into afight. As a result of the brawl, he wasthrown onto the Mutie train, thetransportation to the MutantSettlement Zone where the mutateslive. Wolverine and Rogue followedbecause they admired the boy'sattitude. At the camp, Phillipwitnessed what actually happened tothe mutates when they went homeeach night. The camp was no betterthan a jail. It resembled aconcentration camp along the lines ofAushwitz. Wolverine and Rogue approached

Phillip in order to help him escape, butwere recaptured when Phillip wasobserved on the security cameras. Itappeared as though Phillip wastalking to thin air. The camerascouldn't detect Wolverine and Rogue.Because the Genoshans hadimprisoned Rogue and Wolverinebefore, they knew the two mutantswere invisible to electronic devicesand sent out a detachment of guardsto capture them. Meanwhile, the X-Men had launchedan attack on Genosha to free theirteammates. Back at the Citadel,Rogue and Wolverine made a bid toescape. About the same time, the restof the X-Men infiltrated the compoundas well. The Magistrates weredefeated and Rogue and Wolverineregained their powers when Psylocketook over Wipeout and forced him toreverse the effects of his power. TheX-Men took Phillip Moreau and JennyRansome with them so the formerGenoshans could continue their battleagainst the Genoshan government inthe international courts.

X-Factor In the aftermath of the Fall of theMutants, X-Factor helped the NewYork City police save the lives ofmany citizens which helped to soothanti-mutant feelings running rampantat the time. With the sacrifice of the X-Men and the humanitarian work of X-Factor, mutants enjoyed much publicpopularity. Unfortunately, it didn't lastlong. X-Factor freed the mind of Ship fromthe lock Apocalypse put on it. It

was revealed that the Ship was asentient being. Ship became a friendand basically another team member ofX-Factor. Infectia (a mutant who could imparttemporary mutant strength anddisfigurement on humans and thencontrol them) wanted to get onto Ship.She tricked Iceman into saving herfrom one of her own creations andfalsely befriended him. Using some ofher slaves, she managed to captureIceman and was about to use herpower on him when the Beast got inthe way and took the punishmentintended for him. Infectia escaped andthe Beast collapsed in Iceman's arms. Because of Apocalypse, every timethe Beast used his strength hisphysical strength increased and hisintelligence decreased. Infectia's kisstriggered an unexpected reaction inthe Beast's body prompting histeammates to ask Ship to strap himdown in order to keep him fromhurting himself and others. While he was restrained, the Beastwent through many transformations—from human to furry and back again tohuman—getting stronger each time.He became so strong Ship was forcedto keep increasing the strength of thebonds which held him. While this wasoccurring, the Alliance of Evil returnedand began destroying parts of NewYork City to protest the MutantRegistration Act. The Mutant Registration Act was agovernment regulation forcingmutants to register with thegovernment. The Alliance of Evilbelieved they could intimidate

humans into revoking the Act with ademonstration of what mutants couldreally do. The Beast recovered in time to helphis teammates battle the Alliance ofEvil. He was back to his old furry selfand stronger than ever with his fullintelligence intact. X-Factor had thesituation in hand when FreedomForce arrived to mop things up. TheBeast registered as a mutant since hisidentity had become publicknowledge. The rest of the teamsigned, but only under their codenames. Rusty Collins, who helped theteam subdue the Alliance, refused tosign what he called an "odiousdocument." Instead he burned it in hishands in defiance. Cameron Hodge, who still alivethough believed dead in a planecrash, made a deal with the evilcreature known as N'Astirh. Hodge'sarrangement with the evil spirit was asfollows: In exchange for living forever,Hodge would provide the location ofmutant children for N'Astirh to use inopening a gateway between Earthand Limbo. Archangel traced the disappearanceof Candy Southern, a former girlfriendwho had disappeared, to the Right, agroup of mutant haters led byCameron Hodge. Archangel fought hisway into the inner chamber whereHodge had Candy strapped to a deathmachine. Hodge killed her during thebattle to get revenge on Archangel. Cyclops' son, Nathan Christopher,disappeared. Jean Grey and Cyclopssuspected that Nanny and theOrphan-Maker had captured him andstarted their search for the missing

child at the orphanage where Nannyhid her Victims. A fight ensuedbetween the two members of X-Factorand Nanny, and she was battled to astandstill. In the midst of the fight theservants of N'Astirh came andgrabbed as many of the mutantchildren as possible—includingNathan Christopher Summers.Cyclops and Marvel Girl finallystopped Nanny, but not in time torescue Christopher.

New Mutants and Gosamyr During the interlude between TheFall of the Mutants and Inferno, theNew Mutants had an adventure oftheir own. Lila Cheney (interstellarthief, rock-star, and friend of the NewMutants) was kidnapped during aperformance. During their search forLila, the New Mutants encounteredthe alien woman called Gosamyr. She caused conflict between themembers of the team as they tried torescue Lila from Gosamyr's formermaster, Spyder. Gosamyr's racecaused men to be attracted to themand women to dislike them.Consequently, squabbling among theteam members increased. Finally, theNew Mutants freed Lila and escapedSpyder's clutches, only to findthemselves embroiled in Inferno.

InfernoInferno information is taken from thefollowing issues:UNCANNY X-MEN 239-243X-FACTOR 37-39NEW MUTANTS 71-73X-TERMINATORS 1-4EXCALIBUR 6, 7

Madelyne's Story The Inferno came about because ofthree factors: the scheming of N'Astirhto open a gateway between Limboand Earth; the emergence of theDarkchilde as the dominant entity incontrol of Magik, aka Illyana Rasputin;and the plans Mister Sinister had forMadelyne Pryor. The first portent of the events tocome occurred at the X-Men'sAustralian base. During MadelynePryor's shift at the monitoring station,she saw Cyclops with Jean Grey onone of the video displays. In a fit ofanger and jealousy, she punched themonitor. The screen exploded andPryor was knocked unconscious.While unconscious, she had anightmare in which she made a dealwith the being known as N'Astirh.Pryor awoke and believed that thisbargain was a dream, but which wasin reality a real agreement.

Prelude to Inferno As time went on, it became apparentthat Madelyne Pryor held more powerthan she'd let on. In her pact withN'Astirh, she obviously had the upperposition. She made this deal torecover her son and to gain revengeon the Marauders for all the sufferingthey caused during the

Mutant Massacre. Havok andMadelyne became closer and it soonbecame apparent that some sort ofinfluence was working on him. Duringtheir bargaining, N'Astirh insisted oncalling Pryor the Goblin Queen. Using the computer in the Australianbase, Havok located the Marauders inthe sewers of New York City and theX-Men teleported there. A fightensued during which the X-Men tookno quarter. New York City was in thethroes of the Inferno in which thedemons of Limbo, led by S'ym andN'Astirh, began to invade the Earth. Pryor encountered Mister Sinister,the leader of the Marauders, whoclaimed to be her father. They battledand during the fight, Madelyne’s onlyally, N'Astirh, teleported away to takecare of other business of his own,leaving her to the tender mercies ofMister Sinister. The X-Men and Marauderscontinued to fight in the City ofNightmares. Colossus learned that hissister, Magik, had been overthrown asthe leader of Limbo by S'ym andN'Astirh. He discovered that S'ym andN'Astirh were planning to remakeEarth into the image of Limbo and thespell they were concocting wouldcenter on the Empire State Building. The evil of Inferno began to take itsaffect on the X-Men, corrupting theirnature into something more evil thangood. They began to quarrel amongthemselves and became selfish, to thepoint of ignoring other people'ssuffering. Meanwhile, Mister Sinister

revealed that Madelyne was a cloneof Jean Grey he had created.Madelyne escaped the clutches ofMister Sinister when he foolishlyunderestimated her power. N'Astirh appeared with NathanChristopher Summers and gave thechild to Madelyne who was turninginto the Goblin Queen. X-Factorfought Pryor and N'Astirh's servants,but they were unable to wrest thechild from the Goblin Queen. Under the influence of the Inferno, X-Factor and the X-Men continued tosquabble and skirmish amongthemselves. In one of these fights,Cyclops chose to save Jean Greyover Madelyne Pryor therebyconfirming to Madelyne hertransformation into evil andtransforming her completely theGoblin Queen. Havok joinedMadelyne and N'Astirh and wasrenamed the Goblin Prince to bringthe next step of the transformationspell to completion. Jean Grey sensed that Madelynewas going to sacrifice her son tocomplete the spell, so the X-Men andX-Factor launched an all-out assaultagainst the Empire State Building.The combined teams destroyedN'Astirh, but at that point, the GoblinQueen appeared and sent herdemons against the mutants. The combined teams battled thedemons and Madelyne Pryor torescue Christopher Summers andclose the gateway to Limbo. In the end, the piece of Jean Grey'smemory that the Phoenix stole andgave to Madelyne was returned to itsrightful owner and Jean gained bothMadelyne's and

the Phoenix's memories, making herwhole. All the destruction wreckedupon New York City disappeared.Madelyne was dead. Jean andNathan Christopher were alive. Just as New York City was returnedto normal and Madelyne was killed,Mister Sinister launched an attackupon the mind of Jean Grey. Hebegan destroying her newly-integratedmemories from inside. Psylocke tookthe X-Men into Jean Grey's mind andfought Sinister on his own ground.After he was beaten back the X-Men,in their real bodies, rushed to hisheadquarters which turned out to beProfessor Xavier's old mansion. Theyfought, capturing Malice, then Sinisterblew up the mansion to keep the X-Men from learning anything from theircaptive.

The teams came together and put upa combined front against MisterSinister and Malice. Psylockecoordinated the fight, but all thesemachinations were only diversionarytactics. The real fight was beingfought between the captive Cyclopsand his brother, Havok. Cyclops hadbeen chained by Mister Sinisterbecause he feared the power ofCyclops’ eyebeams. Havok keptblasting his brother, which could onlyannoy him because the brothers wereimmune to each other's powers.Sinister kept taunting Cyclops to fightback until Cyclops saw Jean indanger. Enraged and fearful of Jean'slife, Cyclops' eye blasts destroyedSinister with a single blast.

New Mutants When Magik tried to use herteleportation disks to get the teamback home from Gosamyr's formermaster's ship, they ended up strandedin Limbo. Limbo, once Magik'sdomain, was now controlled by herformer servants S'ym and N'Astirh. Magik was able to get the team backto New York, but was unable to shutthe gate behind her thereby allowingthe Inferno onto Earth. Magik fought N'Astirh while the NewMutants teamed up with the X-Terminators to shut the gate andrescue the people of New York Cityagainst the invading demons. In theend, Illyana, who had beentransformed into the Darkchilde,renounced her Darkchilde persona ina choice of good over evil. Sherestored New York City to normal asshe relinquished her Darkchildepowers, appearing to perish in theprocess. However, instead of dying,she was reverted to the age she wasbefore Belasco had imprisoned her inLimbo in the first place. At the end of Inferno, the X-Menreturned to Australia. X-Factor, nowknew their friends the X-Men werealive and with a psychicallyreintegrated Jean Grey returned toShip. The New Mutants survived theordeal and brought the child Illyanahome. Gosamyr returned to space inorder to save the team from bickeringover her all the time.

Between Events 2

The Siege Perilous Rogue, with Carol Danvers havingtaken control of her mind, went backto New York City to get her (CarolDanvers'), life in order. As she arrived,there was a disturbance in a nearbyshipyard. Being a good crime fighter,she responded to the distress call. Atthe shipyard she fought areincarnation of Master Mold. Nowintegrated with the future mutanthunter Nimrod. Meanwhile, in another part of NewYork City, Senator Robert Kelly andSebastian Shaw discussed thepossibility of a mutant hunter programat the Hellfire Club. Driving home, thecar carrying Kelly and his fiancéeSharon was struck by Master Mold.Sharon was gravely injured. The X-Men arrived and easilydefeated Master Mold because hiscomputer sensors were unable todetect them. However, Master Moldreintegrated himself again and thistime its sensors could detect hismutant foes. In an attempt to get rid ofthe robot, Dazzler threw the SiegePerilous behind the robot's head,attempting to blast it into the portal. In a last ditch effort, Master Moldgrabbed Rogue, using her as a shield.Rogue talked Dazzler into blasting therobot into the portal anyway, hopingthe robot would lose its grip on her.Unfortunately, Rogue was blownthrough the Siege as well. Sharon died as a result of MasterMold's attack and Senator Kelly toldShaw to continue with the MutantHunter Project Nimrod. Kelly promisedhe would see that the

project received the necessary federalsupport for its successful completion. Rogue was the first member of theX-Men to go through the Siege. Later,others followed. Longshot left the X-Men to findhimself. He believed himself a lostsoul. Longshot has recently returnedto Earth and has been reunited withAlison Blaire. He has not yet beenreunited with the X-Men nor have hisactivities been revealed. Then, Nanny attacked the X-Men inan attempt to save them fromthemselves. Everyone but Storm fellunder her control. Storm attempted totake the Nanny's ship down, but wascaught by the ship's defenses. Havok,disorientated from just coming out ofNanny's control, fired a blast at thefleeing ship which caught Storm aswell. Her body was recovered at thecrash site and she was believed to bedead. Actually, Nanny had fakedStorm's death for her own purposeswhich the X-Men would discover later. Lorna Dane contacted the X-Menand left a message with theircomputer that she needed their help.Her personality was more and moreunder the control of Malice and sheneeded the X-Men's help to get rid ofthe malevolent villain who had takenover her body. When they found the note, the X-Men used Gateway's teleportationpower to locate Lorna. Meanwhile,Lorna had been attacked by menriding small dinosaurs, servants ofZaladane from the Savage Land. The mutates from the SavageLand—Whiteout, Barbarus,

Amphibius, and Gaza—joined thedinosaur-riding men when they andthe X-Men clashed. The X-Men won inthe end, but not soon enough toprevent Lorna from being captured bythe Savage Land forces. Havokmanaged to get one of the SavageLand soldier's uniforms and wentundercover to try and save Lorna fromher captors. When Zaladane put Lorna into aTransmuter designed by the HighEvolutionary, Havok tried to make hismove. Unfortunately, Zaladane hadbeen aware of his presence the wholetime and he was easily subdued bythe mutate known as Lupo. Thetransference continued uninterruptedand the machine gave Lorna Dane'spower to her supposed sister,Zaladane. The ruler of the SavageLand then threw Havok and Lorna intoa cell for the mutates to play with untilshe had further use for them. Meanwhile, the rest of the X-Menwere captured and put under thecontrol of Zaladane by the power ofWorm. Worm is able to generate aslimy substance which forces thevictim to follow the orders of Worm. In the dungeon, Lorna suddenlyexhibited new powers such as super-strength and invulnerability. She brokeHavok and herself out of the prisonand the two of them stormedZaladane's throne room. Havok's blastknocked Worm out and this freed theX-Men from his control. The X-Men,Ka-Zar, and Shanna, who had alsobeen captured, escaped the palace ina flyer. Havok tried to level Zaladane'scitadel with a blast, but a force fieldhad already

been raised. Gateway teleported theX-Men back to Australia from the flyerleaving Lorna, Ka-Zar, and Shannaalone in the vehicle. Back in Australia, Psylockeconvinced the X-Men to go throughthe Siege Perilous to gain the new lifeRoma promised they would have. TheX-Men entered the Siege just as theReavers were about to launch anattack on them. Psylocke knew theReavers were coming and knew theX-Men were in no condition after theirencounter with Zaladane to fight thecyborgs. Pierce, the Reavers' leader,destroyed the Siege crushing it in hishand in frustration.

The Reavers A young mutant, Jubilee, snuck ontothe X-Men’s base through one ofGateway's portals from Hollywood.She lived at the base for weekswithout any of the X-Men noticing her. Meanwhile, an event that wouldimpact both Jubilee and the X-Men,occurred across the globe. AlexanderPierce, a former member of theHellfire Club who hated mutants,escaped his prison and took over theleadership of the group known as theReavers. The Reavers were a groupcomposed of cyborg beings. They setout to kill as many mutants aspossible, starting this campaign byheading toward their former base inAustralia—currently occupied by theX-Men. Wolverine, who had taken a leave ofabsence before the X-Men went to theSavage Land, returned to theAustralian base only to beoverwhelmed and captured by the

Reavers. They staked him to awooden "X" in the desert then torturedand tormented him. Jubilee watchedthis from her hiding places in the baseand during a fierce rainstorm, whenWolverine pulled himself off of thestakes, helped him find a place to hidewithin the tunnels of the base. Theysuccessfully escaped the cyborgs andmade their way toward Madripoorwhere Wolverine planned to recoverfrom his injuries.

The Return of the X-Men In Mississippi, Storm, who hadescaped the explosion of Nanny's shiponly to be reverted back to her youth,was discovered by the authorities andplaced in the hospital. A policeman,Inspector Reisz, took an interest inStorm and made an attempt to seeher. Reisz was actually the ShadowKing. An almost immortal, powerful,evil being. His goal was to gain revenge uponProf. Xavier and all his students.Professor X had once defeated theShadow King in a psychic battle whilethe Shadow King was using the bodyof Amahl Farouk. Storm sensed thatReisz was the "evil one" and escapedfrom the hospital before the villainreached her room. While in his spirit form, Forgeencountered the Shadow King in hisAmahl Farouk persona and witnessedStorm being turned into a youth. Heand Farouk psychically arm wrestled,but the contest was cut short whenForge's bionic hand disrupted thecontact. Forge now believed Stormwas alive and began

searching for her. On Muir Island, where MoiraMacTaggart maintained a mutantresearch facility, Banshee and Moirareceived a distress call from LornaDane. Lorna had taken a boat to getto the island, but during the trip, thecrew members began fighting amongthemselves. Lorna didn't know thisbehavior was caused by hermysterious new powers and pleadedfor help. Banshee arrived just as theboat was sinking and saved Lorna bytaking her back to Muir Island. Meanwhile, the Reavers concludedthat Muir Island would be the firstplace a wounded Wolverine would goto and the island became their nexttarget. At the same time, Bansheeand MacTaggart received a call fromAmanda Sefton that she was comingfor a visit. When Banshee arrived atthe mainland dock, Sefton hadincluded Brigadier Alysande Stuart inthe trip to the island. As Banshee, Sefton, and Stuartreturned to Muir Island the Reaversdiscovered them and tried to kill them.During the conflict, Banshee was shot.Using her magical powers, Amandateleported the three to the relativesafety of the island. The Reavers continued their attackon the mutants, striking next at thecivilian section of the compound. Prof.Xavier's son, Legion, put up a shieldto protect the children, but let it downcausing Sunder to be hit. Legion'smultiple-personality disordercompelled him to play both sidesthroughout the fight. This was toamuse some of the personalities whowanted the fight to continue.

In America, Freedom Force andForge formed an uneasy alliance tohelp the people trapped on MuirIsland due to the Reavers’ onslaught.They flew to the island and joined thefight. Destiny, the team's precog, forcedMystique to get out of the jet and helpher hated foe, Forge, fight theReavers. Destiny had foreseen themoment Legion would destroy theplane and wanted to get her belovedfriend out before Legion killed themboth. Legion did destroy the plane andkilled Destiny, an act which wasultimately attributed to the Reavers. The Reavers teleported away afterForge killed one of their number,Skullbuster. The heroes had their owncasualties as well— Destiny, Sunder,and Stonewall. Psylocke was washed onto thebeach of a south China Sea islandand taken captive by the Hand. TheHand was a group of assassins-for-hire working in the region. A memberof the Hand offered his services to theMandarin, long-time foe of Iron Man,promising to make the former X-Maninto the Mandarin's chief assassin. The Hand brainwashed her andtrained her in martial arts. Sheexhibited a new version of her psychicpowers, psi-daggers. When she getsclose enough to thrust them into herenemy's brain, the psi-daggers renderher opponents unconscious. With hertraining and conversion complete, shewas allowed to use the Mandarin'srings in battle and was renamed LadyMandarin. Meanwhile, after escaping the

Reavers in Australia, Wolverine andJubilee sailed into Hong Kong Harbor.Due to the stress of his injuries,Wolverine hallucinated and sawimages of Nick Fury and CarolDanvers who spoke to him and gavehim advice. He experienced problemswith his healing factor—it was not asquick to act as it had in the past. Wolverine and Jubilee were capturedby the Hand. Wolverine was placed ina sensory deprivation tank whilePsylocke did her best to psychicallyconvert her former teammate to thecause of the Hand, but Wolverineresisted the brainwashing. In adesperation attempt, the telepath triedto use her psychic knives to subdueLogan, but it had an unintendedaffect; Wolverine's psychoses becamePsylocke's own. She saw Wolverine'shallucinations of Nick Fury and CarolDanvers and made their actions realby unconsciously using her powers toimitate the effects of bullets.Wolverine escaped from the tank andtogether Psylocke and Wolverinedefeated the guards. They formulated a plan and Psylockepresented a supposedly deadWolverine to the Mandarin. In heranguish, Jubilee, who wasn't in on thedeception, used her power in the mostdevastating explosion she had everreleased. In the following confusion,Psylocke took advantage of thesituation and attacked the Mandarin,dropping all pretense of alliance. Thetwo foes were fighting for control ofthe rings when Wolverine snuckbehind the Mandarin and threatenedto kill the

villain. A truce was made and theheroes left the island. In Soho, another X-Men returnedfrom the Siege Perilous: Colossus.Now living as the artist PeterNicholas, Colossus had no memory ofhis life with the X-Men. Still, his heroicnature continued to surface, such aswhen he helped some expatriateGenoshans fight back againstMagistrates who came to take themforcibly back to that island nation. Alison Blaire was the next X-Man tosurface. She was discovered washedup on a beach in California by Guido,an employee of Lila Cheney. Dazzlerhad also lost her memory, but thehigh-tech house where Guido broughtDazzler informed her of most ofDazzler's history. On Muir Island, Legion donnedCerebro in an attempt to locate theonce presumed dead, now suspectedstill-living, X-Men. During this attempt,Legion's unique psychic make-upcaused a massive feedback withinCerebro resulting in a psychic blastwhich knocked everyone on the islandunconscious. Forge and Banshee leftthe island after recovering from thepsychic blast, suspecting some evilinfluence behind the scenes on MuirIsland. Legion took control of Muir Islandand was in turn taken over by theShadow King. Eventually, everyoneon the island came under the sway ofthe Shadow King. Banshee and Forge were on theirway to Cairo to investigate AmahlFarouk when they saw a picture ofDazzler in a magazine. They

changed their plans and decided to goto Hollywood and talk to Dazzler, tofind out what really happened to theX-Men. The plane they weresupposed to take to Cairo was blastedout of the sky by the Strucker twins.Thinking quickly, the mutants got outof the area and headed to the UnitedStates, allowing the people who triedto kill them to believe they hadsucceeded. Forge and Banshee ended up in thelower levels of Xavier's ruinedmansion when they saw Jean Grey onthe property. She was attacked bymonsters wearing costumes similar tothe X-Men's and lost the fight. Theyrescued her and, when they weresafely in the mansion, she told themthat the X-Men were alive. Jean Grey and Banshee wereteleported away from the mansion byan unknown assailant. Forge armedhimself and went into the tunnels tofind his friends. He succeeded infinding them, but their captor, theMorlock Masque, had changed them.Instead of arms, Jean Grey hadtentacles while Banshee had nomouth. Meanwhile, Masque also capturedPeter Nicholas and the beautifulwoman he had been chasing after,who turned out to be Callistotransformed by Masque. Peter wastransformed into a flesh Colossuswhen Masque recognized who he wasand he and Callisto were given anhour to find their way back to thestreets before the Morlocks went afterthem. Just as Masque and the Morlockswere attacking the fleeing duo, Forge,Banshee, and Jean Grey

appeared to help them. In the fight,Peter was stabbed, but no bloodcame out of his wound. He hadunconsciously transformed to hisColossus state. They overcameMasque when another Morlock,Bouncer, teleported them out ofharm's way. Using previouslycollected tissue samples. Forgerestored his teammates. Peter stillhad no recollection of the X-Men. Once again, the Magistrates madean attempt to recapture JennyRansome. This time, she was on X-Factor's Ship. Wipeout used hispowers to temporarily negate Ship'sdefenses and Pipeline sent some ofthe Press Gang onto the ship. For awhile, the Genoshans held the upperhand, but when Forge and OfficerJones eliminated Wipeout's influenceafter eluding their Genoshanpursuers. Ship reasserted it'spersonality and recaptured theintruders. They were repatriated toGenosha.

Gambit In Cairo, Illinois, Storm managed toescape the Shadow King and wasmaking her living stealing from therich. She had regained partial controlof her powers. The Shadow King, in the disguise ofReisz, took over Val Cooper and senther to kill Mystique. Mystique waswaiting for Val Cooper, thanks to anote written by Destiny before shehad been killed, and was able to takethe government agent's place usingher shape-shifting powers. To the restof the world, however, Mystique wasreported dead. Even the powerfulShadow King fell for the ruse.

The Shadow King now focused hisattentions on capturing the youngStorm. He set his Hounds, men andwomen that he had taken control of,after her. Storm fought them brieflyand managed to escape with the helpof the mysterious man known only asGambit. Gambit was able to imbueenergy into items that would thenexplode when he threw them. Theyeventually lost the Hounds andbecame a pair of modern day RobinHoods in New Orleans—stealing fromthe rich and giving to the poor. Nanny went after Storm but the duomanaged to defeat her and in theprocess, Storm regained her fullmemories and better control of herpowers. Finally, Rogue returned from herpassage through the Siege Perilous.She ended up at the Australian baseand learned that the woman sheconsidered to be her mother,Mystique, had been shot andapparently killed. In an attempt to flyto Gateway, she jumped out thewindow and plummeted to the groundright at the feet of the Reavers.Pierce, seeing no use for Rogue,ordered them to kill her. Just then, Ms.Marvel showed up and saved Rogue,who fled the scene heading forGateway. The Siege had split the twowomen apart, which is a possibleexplanation for the length of time ittook for Rogue to reappear. Rogue absorbed Gateway's power inan attempt to teleport away but Ms.Marvel caught up to her just as shejumped through the portal. Rogue wassent to the Savage Land and Ms.Marvel ended up on Muir Island. Ms.Marvel was taken over by

the Shadow King who had establishedthis island as his new base ofoperations. Rogue spent some time in theSavage Land before Ms. Marvel foundher. Sent by the Shadow King to gainrevenge upon Rogue, the two fought.In close proximity, they were leechingaway each other's power and lifeenergy. Each one started todecompose, as only one of themcould live with the energy they shared.Magneto stepped into the conflict andsaved Rogue. She was restored by amachine of Magneto's making withoutthe memories of Carol Danvers butwith the powers of Ms. Marvel.

X-Factor X-Factor had taken responsibility forthe children, both mutant and human,that were found at an old abandonedorphanage during Inferno. Nanny andthe Orphan-Maker tried to take thechildren away from X-Factor as theywere transporting them to Washingtonto be returned to their parents. Theybattled and Archangel stopped Nannyby slicing what he thought was arobot. It screamed and Warrenrealized that within the egg-shapedarmor was a person. It turned out that Nanny had workedfor the Right, pioneering cyborgtechnology, until she discovered thatthe Right was using her technology todestroy mutants. She tried to stopthem, but they captured her andlocked her in her

armor. Being so confined drove hercrazy prompting her bizarre behavior. Nanny and the Orphan-Makerescaped in a cloud of smoke afterJean found her sister's childrenhidden in the ship. X-Factor continuedon to Washington and turned thechildren over to Freedom Force whohad begun looking for their parents. Meanwhile in England, a trollwitnessed a teenager, Thomas Jones,turning a pen into gold. The trollabducted the young man at its firstopportunity. Ship informed Cyclops ofthe young man's disappearance andX-Factor went immediately toEngland. They followed a trail of goldwhich led beneath the streets rightinto the lair of five trolls. The trollscaptured X-Factor using theirstrength. The Trolls wanted to ruin England'seconomy and force the people toreturn the control of the British Isles tothe magical creatures of the past.Some of the trolls left, taking Tom withthem, to make their opening salvo. X-Factor escaped, and ultimatelyTom saved himself by turning hiscaptors into gold. This powerful youngmutant decided to stay in England andgo to the University to learn moreabout biochemistry in order to controlhis powers.

Judgement War A few weeks later, Ship wascompelled to leave Earth on anunknown course, dragging X-Factor,

who were on-board at the time, alongfor the ride. Ship entered hyperspaceand ended up orbiting an unchartedplanet. Recognizing the language ofthe planet, Ship gave each member ofX-Factor a translator. The planet's social structure wasbroken up into three major classes;the Chosen, the Rejects, and theBeginagains. The Chosen werephysically perfect mutants, butfrowned upon public displays ofpower. The Rejects were strongmutants but physically different andreveled in the use of their powers. TheBeginagains were a cult of mysticswho encompass disgruntled membersof the other two groups. They werepacifists and tried to work asmediators between the other opposinggroups. The Celestials had arrived atthe planet, and were judging thepeople of this world. The team encountered a Celestial,who scrutinized Ship and thenteleported the team to the surface intothe middle of a war. In the melee, theteam got split up and they werepushed further apart when theCelestial began to land on the planet. Archangel was captured by theChosen Lord Rask and was forced tofight in the arenas. Iceman lost hismemory and believed himself to be aChosen Dueler. The Beast ended upwith the Reject Rjade clan. Cyclopswas rescued by the Beginagains whothought he was their prophesied worldsavior. At this time, Marvel Girl began

having problems integrating thepersonalities of Phoenix andMadelyne Pryor, which she now heldas a result of Inferno. Eachpersonality was trying to gain controlof Jean Grey's body. She was injuredwhen a psychic Jammer onslaughtoccurred during the fight. The Celestials drained Ship of all theinformation it had gathered then leftShip to its own course, which was tothe side of its friends. In the end, all the people bandedtogether when the Celestials landed tojudge the planet. All the strength andwill of the people was exhibited in apower blast from Cyclops, which wasincreased by the power of the Phoenixleft in Jean Grey. It destroyed theHand of the Celestial which was aboutto pass sentence on the planet. TheCelestials left the people to their owncourse. After saying farewells, X-Factorreturned to Earth in Ship. Upon itsreturn, Ship landed in New York Citysituating itself so it looked like abuilding. Meanwhile, Sabretooth returned toNew York to finish off the rest of theMorlocks. He killed one Morlock, butthe second Morlock he encountered,Mole, escaped and was taken in byOpal. Sabretooth soon found adifferent foe, Archangel, and they hada bloody battle in which both mutantswere poisoned and seriously injured. Caliban (altered by Apocalypse tohave strength, invulnerability, andother powers) teleported himself to

New York against Apocalypse'swishes to gain revenge on Sabretoothfor killing his fellow Morlocks. First, heencountered a weakened Archangeland decided to kill him since he washis master's first creation and Calibanwas jealous. He didn't succeed andleft a critically injured Archangel at thefeet of the police. Bobby Drake met Opal and askedher out on a date. She accepted butthe Morlock, Mole, didn't trust Iceman.They had a short fight, then Icemanand Opal helped Mole return to theMorlock tunnels. Archangel broke free from hisrestraints because he washallucinating that everyone aroundhim was a pawn of Apocalypse. Forgeand Banshee arrived to help recapturethe insane hero, but just as their planwas about to work, Crimson and thegroup of psychic vampires known asthe Ravens plucked Archangel fromthe heroes' grasp. Using her powers,Jean Grey followed Warren's trail andX-Factor eventually rescued him fromthe vampires. This encounter alsohelped to return sanity to Archangel.

New Mutants--Enter Cable After Inferno, at Xavier's mansion,the New Mutants and the Hellfire Clubmet. Magneto was challenged bySebastian Shaw because he nolonger controlled the New Mutants norwas he involved with the X-Men.Shaw claimed Magneto could nolonger remain as the White King

because he wasn't worthy. Magnetowon the duel but the New Mutantsrefused to follow him, seeing hisruthlessness returning. He releasedthem and told them that they werefree to go and forge their owndestinies. Another result of thiscombat was the ousting of SebastianShaw as a member of the Inner Circleof the Hellfire Club. From Asgard, Hela took overDanielle Moonstar because the youngmutant was a Valkyrie as well as amember of the New Mutants. Themistress of Hel sent Danielle on arampage that was eventually stoppedby the New Mutants with the aid of Dr.Strange. Freedom Force came after RustyCollins a young mutant who the NewMutants tried to help. During the fight,Dr. Strange felt that Danielle was toodangerous to remain on Earth. Hetransported the New Mutants to thesource of her possession—Asgard.There they helped the Asgardiansrepel an attack against Asgardintended to kill Odin and allow Hela torule the legendary city. Danielleelected to stay in Asgard as the NewMutants returned home. Back on Earth, Rusty Collins andSkids were rescued from FreedomForce by the Mutant Liberation Front.A new player on the scene, Cable,was captured by government agentsafter tangling with the MLF and wasinterrogated by Freedom Force. Heescaped the facility and stayed onestep ahead of his pursuers until he

ran into some members of the NewMutants on the streets. They helpedhim fight and defeat the Blob, Pyro,Crimson Commando, and SuperSabre. Cable assumed the leadershipposition vacated by Magneto andbegan assembling the teenagers intoan efficient fighting force. The firstmenace they faced with Cable as theirleader was Sabretooth in theMorlock's tunnels. In the end, theyhad a ringside seat for a vicious battlebetween the enhanced Caliban andSabretooth, one in which Calibanbested the savage Sabretooth quickly. The next test of the New Mutantscame when Cable and Sunfire sharedthe common goal of tracking down theMLF in Madripoor. Sunfire's intent wasfor a lethal new drug to be destroyedbefore reaching Japan and Cable'sinterest was revenge. Though theirmotives weren't the same, they led tothe same group—the MLF. Part of theteam faced Kamikaze, Sumo, andDragoness, the part of the MLF thatoperated in this part of the world.Stryfe, the worldwide leader of theMLF, and Zero, the team's teleporter,showed up and tipped the advantageto the villains' side long enough thatthe heroes were defeated. Meanwhile, Cable's groupencountered Wolverine. ThoughCable and Wolverine knew eachother, they still managed to get into afight. After a minor tussle, Rictor gotbetween them and broke it up. The

Canadian mutant joined Cable’s groupto save the captured New Mutantsfrom the MLF. Cable and Stryfe met inone-on-one battle which wasunresolved when the building wherethey were fighting blew up. The NewMutants were saved only to beplunged directly into the X-TinctionAgenda.

X-tinction Agenda

X-tinction Agenda information comesfrom the following issues:UNCANNY X-MEN 270-272X-FACTOR 60-62NEW MUTANTS 95-97

The X-Men and New Mutants wereboth living at Professor Xavier'smansion and tensions were becomingstrained between the two groups. TheMagistrates from Genoshaunexpectedly attacked the mansionand were able to capture BoomBoom, Rictor, Storm, Wolfsbane, andWarlock before the rest of the teamscould help them. Cameron Hodge, with areconstructed powerful cyborg body,was now a Commander in theGenoshan government. He attemptedto meld Warlock's shape-shiftingability to his new mechanical body sohe could at least mimic humanity, butWolfsbane interrupted the procedureand Hodge was denied the power.Warlock was apparently killed in theprocess. A group of mutant heroes, made upof the remaining members of the X-Men and X-Factor, headed toGenosha to rescue their captiveteammates. When they arrived inGenosha, they were immediatelyattacked by Havok and a group ofMagistrates. Havok had returned fromthe Siege Perilous without his memoryand became a citizen of Genosha.Cyclops went one-on-one with hisamnesiac brother. Havok had Pipelinetransport the Magistrates out of thearea when they started to loose thefight.

More mutants were captured byCommander Hodge (Wolverine andPsylocke, to name two) and the freemutants, led by Cyclops and Cable,proceeded to launch an assault on theCitadel to rescue their comrades. The Genegineer transformed Storminto a mutate, subservient to the will ofGenosha. But he realized thatCommander Hodge was becomingincreasingly more insane with thepassage of time, so he altered Storm.When she came in contact withanother mutant, she would restorethat mutant's power and she wouldregain her memory, her adult body,and her powers. Though more out of control, Hodgecaptured most of the remainingmutants. Havok regained his memorybecause of Cyclops' badgering anddecided to maintain the illusion of afaithful Magistrate to help his friendsat the right moment. The mutants, some with their powersrestored by Storm, attacked Hodgewho used his phasing power to runaway. Storm, with her power torestore stolen powers, releasedRahne from the control of theGenegineer. But when Rahnetransformed into her wolf-form, it waslarger and stronger than before. TheGenegineer had brought her innatestrength to the fore and Rahnepledged to use all of it against Hodgefor his crimes against her kind. Rictor and Wolfsbane faced offagainst Hodge and soon were joinedby the other freed mutants. Finally,Cyclops and Havok, the Summersbrothers, teamed up and blasted thenow inhuman Hodge with all thepower they could muster. They kept

hammering away until all that was leftof the villain was his head which wastossed off the side of the Citadel andlanded at the feet of Wolfsbane. Sheripped it apart and threw it toward therecently demolished building. Rictorused his power to destroy the Citadeleven more, burying Hodge's headunder the structure's debris. Havok and Wolfsbane decided tostay in Genosha to protect themutates and insure that some goodcame of this catastrophic battle. Back in the United States, the NewMutants poured Warlock's remainsover Doug Ramsey's grave. Unknownto his departing comrades, whatremained of Warlock began tosparkle. Given his level of power andresilience, this might suggest that thealien may not be dead after all.

Between Events 3

After the X-tinction Agenda, thevarious mutant groups gatheredtogether at Professor Xavier'smansion in Salem Center. The variousgroup leaders—Storm, Cyclops, andCable—disagreed about how theteams should progress from this point.Cable announced that he would runhis team his own way, i.e., militarily,and promptly left with his group. ThenScott Summers and Jean Grey left themansion, just before Lila Cheneyappeared and asked for the X-Men'shelp rescuing Professor X. The remaining mutants teleportedinto space with Lila, directly into a trapset by Deathbird. The coordinates hadbeen implanted in Lila's brain and shehad no control over the destination.The mutants were all captured andinformed that they were going to helpDeathbird kill Xavier. Wolverine broke free with the help ofJubilee and went after Deathbird.Jubilee freed the rest of the X-Men asLilandra and the Starjammers arrivedon the scene. Together, they defeatedthe Imperial Guard. Wolverine broughtback an unconscious Deathbird andthe X-Men were reunited with CharlesXavier. Gambit and Jubilee, while sneakingaround the spaceship, discoveredevidence that Xavier had turned to thecause of evil and was plotting to takeover the Empire. When Gladiator wasabout to kill the helpless Deathbird,Gambit could watch no longer. TheCajun X-Man

broke in and threw his energy-charged knives at Gladiator.Deathbird took advantage of theopportunity and sliced open Xavier.Gambit freed Lila Cheney and theteleporter released Deathbird but leftbehind the two X-Men. Gambit andJubilee combined their powers,causing a large explosion which drewthe attention of the rest of the team. While investigating the explosion,Wolverine sensed something amissand abruptly, without any explanation,killed Xavier. Before he had a chanceto explain, Psylocke used her psi-daggers on him, rendering himunconscious. To further complicatematters, Lila and Deathbird returnedand teleported Storm, Forge, andBanshee away. They ended up on adevastated world, one whichDeathbird blamed Xavier for killing. Meanwhile, Lila gathered weaponstogether and armed the teammembers she'd brought with her.Then they launched into space,heading toward Deathbird's ship. Theyran into the Starjammers who hadtracked Deathbird through a hiddenbio-tag and a battle ensued. Deathbirdhad Lila teleport her elsewhere, onceagain leaving the X-Men to face thethreat. On the ship, Wolverine and Jubileediscovered that they were captured bySkrulls. They were placed in theCadre's matrix to be copied. Xavierwas also a prisoner and he was beingcopied by the real threat—Prime, aWar-Skrull. Hidden aboard the Starjammers'ship, Gambit interfered just as the

Starjammers fired upon the X-Menthus saving their lives. The X-Men gotaboard the ship and carried the fightto the Starjammers, where it wasrevealed that they were not theStarjammers but really war-skrulls. Lila and some of the X-Menteleported to the Maul, a group ofasteroids containing atmosphere,where they confronted the group ofwar-skrulls impersonating Xavier,Jubilee, Wolverine, and Psylocke.During the fight, the real Xaviermanaged to communicate with Lilaand she teleported away to bring therest of the X-Men to the scene. Thewhole team triumphed and the captivemembers were freed. Lilandraregained the crown to the ShiarEmpire as Deathbird had grown tiredof it. Xavier, after a reunion with hisstudents, learned of the dire threat ofthe Shadow King from the mind ofStorm. The team, including Xavier,were teleported to Earth, to rescuetheir friends. Meanwhile, while most of the teamwas in space, SHIELD launched anattack on Zaladane's stronghold in theSavage Land, but the initial group wasdefeated. Magneto, Rogue, and Ka-Zar faced Zaladane and her troops,while the next group of SHIELDagents made their way into theSavage Land, this time led by Furyand including some Soviet soldiers aswell. They beat Zaladane's troops andformed an uncomfortable unionagainst the strength of Zaladane. The combined forces were launchingan attack on Zaladane's troops whenone of the Russian

soldiers shot Magneto as he wasflying to join the battle. The Russianblasted him to gain revenge for thedeath of his son by Magneto yearsago. Magneto and Shanna werecaptured by Zaladane and much ofMagneto's power was transferred toZaladane. Only his force of will kepthim alive through the process. As he was being led back to a cell,Fury, Rogue, and Ka-Zar brokeMagneto free and he struggled to geton the machine and reverse theeffects of his loss of power. Hesucceeded and quickly had Zaladaneat his mercy. During their time in thejungle, Rogue and Magneto hadgotten close, but her pleading did notconvince him to spare Zaladane's life.Magneto still killed her in cold blood.He had taken another step on thepath to evil.

X-Factor The members of X-Factor struggledto develop some semblance of anormal life. Bobby Drake, aka Iceman,was endeavoring to start arelationship with Opal. Bobby andOpal were attacked later in arestaurant by a group of Japanesecyborgs. They defeated Iceman andkidnapped Opal, who was actually agranddaughter of the master of theTatsu clan. When Bobby awoke, he learned ofOpal's past from her adopted parentsand headed to Japan with Jean Greyto rescue Opal. In order to rescueOpal, Bobby found himself battlingwithout his powers against Hiro, thecyborg servant of the Tatsu clan. Hirolost the fight on purpose when herealized his built-in powersautomatically took over and hecouldn't fight without them. He faceddefeat instead of dishonor.

Apocalypse Returns X-Factor was further plagued byconflict when a group of beings weresent by Apocalypse to destroy Ship.They broke into Ship and disrupted itsfunctions, while other members of thesuper group went after NathanChristopher, a child Apocalypsebelieved would grow up to be apowerful force for good. Askani, awoman from the future, came to thistime and tried to protect the child. Shereferred to him as one of the Chosen,but X-Factor believed that she waspart of the invading force and attackedher. This allowed the real villains toescape with the child. Despite the damage caused by theinvaders, the Beast found a way tocommunicate with Ship and learned itwas going into orbit and planned todestroy itself so that no further humanlives were threatened. Ship didexplode, but its personality and X-Factor were kept alive andtransported to the moon by theInhumans. Apocalypse had recentlyattacked the Inhumans, and the twogroups teamed up and attacked thevillain at his base. In the battle, Askanisaved the Beast's life. Together theydefeated Apocalypse, but not beforehe infected Nathan Christopher withthe same virus which had attackedShip. Askani told them the only way tosave the child was to allow her tobring him to the future, where hewould be cherished and needed. Tosave his son's life, Cyclops agreed.(Note: The virus had already affectedthe right eye of the child. It is possiblethat this child could be Cable orStryfe.)

Muir Island Saga

The Muir Island Saga took place inthe following issues:UNCANNY X-MEN 278-280X-FACTOR 69,70

After dealing with the anti-mutantmenaces in Genosha and the UnitedStates, Prof. X and Colossus met X-Factor in Washington in order torescue their friends from the ShadowKing who had taken over Muir Island.Though Rogue, Wolverine, Forge, andBanshee remained free on the island,most of the other inhabitants hadbeen taken over by the Shadow King.Prof. X and the team (including ValCooper and Inspector Reisz, who wasreally the Shadow King in disguise)made their way towards the island. X-Factor squared off against the X-Men who were under the ShadowKing's control. It was then that Reiszmade his move trying to strangle Prof.X in the plane. Val Cooper, whomReisz thought he had under control,shot him before the Professor waskilled. Cooper turned out to beMystique who had taken Val's place. Part of the strike team found thenexus to the astral plane being heldopen by Lorna Dane. In order to trapthe Shadow King, the gatewayneeded to be closed. Before theycame to a conclusion on how toresolve this problem, The ShadowKing found himself a new host inLegion and destroyed much of theisland in a single blast. It was onlythrough the powers of Jean Grey thatthe X-Men were saved.

What ensued next was a battle onthe astral plane between Prof. X andthe Shadow King. The evil creaturewas able to cripple the Professor'sbody during this fight. While theShadow King was busy fightingXavier, a small band of X-Men madetheir way to the pan-dimensional gateand Psylocke severed Lorna Danefrom the link by using one of her psi-daggers. The Shadow King wasdissipated and the mind of Legionwinked out of existence.

Current Events

Mutant Genesis is the saga mostrecently played out in Marvel Comics'mutant titles. The followinginformation is culled from theseissues:UNCANNY X-MEN 281X-MEN 1X-FACTOR 71X-FORCE 1

X-Factor X-Factor (Havok, Polaris, Guido,Wolfsbane, and Jamie Madrox) wasformed to take the place of FreedomForce as a U.S. government strikeforce. Val Cooper, who survived herencounter with Mystique, was thegovernment liaison. The team wasformed to work on the public's imageof mutants and to repair the damagedone to it by evil mutants, includingthe previously-mentioned FreedomForce.

X-Men-Gold Team The team split into two field groupsin order to better manage the amountof mutants who had joined

the X-Men. The first team, codenamed Gold, was led by Storm andwas made up of Colossus, Iceman,Angel, Marvel Girl, and Forge. Thesecond group, code named Blue, wasled by Cyclops and contained themembers Wolverine, Gambit,Psylocke, Rogue, and the Beast. Sentinels attacked the Reavers' basein Australia and destroyed many ofthe Reavers. Only Pierce, their maintarget, and Lady Deathstrike survivedthe initial assault. These Sentinels, more powerful thanany other in the past and able torepair themselves in the middle of afight, were sent by Trevor Fitzroy in anattempt to gain control of the"Kingship" of the Hellfire Club'sUpstarts. Shaw's kingship had beenhad been wrested from by his son,Shinobi. Using Gateway, Pierce momentarilyescaped the Sentinels by orderingGateway to teleport him to whoeverwas responsible for the attack.Coincidentally, Fitzroy was attackingthe White Queen, the Hellions, andthe X-Men at the Hellfire Club. Pierce brought three Sentinelsthrough the teleportation gate with himand they began attacking any mutantin sight. Before they were driven off,Jetstream and Tarot were dead andJean Grey was assumed dead also.Emma Frost was taken by Fitzroy asproof that he had won the right to becalled King of the Upstarts. The X-Men returned to the mansionwith a Sentinel's head and the body ofJean Grey. Forge was

able to get some information out ofthe head of the Sentinel, enough toguess the location of the Sentinel'sbase—a floating iceberg. Professor Xalso said that he would have sensedJean's death, so she must have senther consciousness into anotherperson's body, probably the WhiteQueen's. Prof. X accompanied histeam to the location of the base topinpoint Jean Grey's psychicemanations. Fitzroy's power was revealed to bethe ability to open time portals with theenergy he steals from other people.This energy drain killed the victims inthe process. When he used his poweron Emma Frost, Jean Grey assertedherself and attacked her captors. Thisalerted Professor X and the X-Menquickly entered the

fray, cutting through all the opposition. Fitzroy, in a last ditch effort tosalvage a victory, drained the lifeenergy from his remaining captivesand opened the largest portal to thefuture that he had ever attempted.The beings who came through hadsome sort of pact with Fitzroy, thatthey would act as his warriors andthey fought the X-Men at hiscommand. Fitzroy's gambit failed,however, when the mutant namedBishop came through the portal andgrabbed Fitzroy. Fitzroy managed toescape as the X-Men battled the manknown as Bishop. Bishop seemed tothink that the X-Men he was fightingwere impostors, as the legends hehad heard in the future had said suchimpossible things

about them. They fought to a standstilland were separated at the end of thefight.

X-Men—Blue Team The X-Men Blue team, led byCyclops, encountered Magneto ontheir first mission. Nick Fury, calling asthe head of SHIELD, asked Xavier toinvestigate Asteroid M orbiting abovethe Eurasian continent. Magneto had resurrected the sunkensubmarine. Leningrad, one that hehad destroyed in self-defense yearsago after it had launched missiles athim. His intent was to salvage thenuclear missiles for self-defense. TheX-Men confronted him and a battlebegan when talks between the twoparties broke down. It was astalemate when Magneto left

with the missiles, ordering the X-Mento leave him alone. Rogue flew afterMagneto and talked him intoreconsidering his decision when aRussian jet launched an attack onMagneto but hit Rogue instead. TheMaster of Magnetism flew Rogue tosafety and then detonated one of thenuclear devices in the upperatmosphere, annihilating the planeswhich had attacked him. Once again,fate had intervened and causedMagneto to continue along the path ofmutants against humans. Rogue ended up in a Genoshanhospital and was attacked by a groupof mutants pledged as Acolytes ofMagneto. The X-Men, having locatedtheir teammate after a call from theGenoshan government, came to herrescue in the nick of time. Then,Magneto appeared and declaredAsteroid M a sovereign world with theonly requirement for citizenship beingthat one is a mutant. Magneto thentold the X-Men that the Acolytes wereunder his protection and any attemptto stop him or harm them would bedealt with accordingly. After transporting his captives toAsteroid M, Magneto discovered thathis genetic structure had beentampered with. His suspicion provedcorrect when he kidnapped Moira andProf. X and forced the truth fromthem. In the past, Magneto had beenreverted to infancy by the MutateAlpha, in order to give him a secondchance at life untainted by evil. Moira,wanting to give Magneto a chance togrow up with a better viewpoint of theworld, had manipulated his geneticmakeup during that time in order forhis body

to better handle his mutant power andnot seemingly drive him insane.Incensed that he had beenmanipulated so, he encased Moira ina thin sheet of metal. He thenprepared himself for another assaultby getting one of his Acolytes tobrainwash his X-Men captives intobelieving that they were followers ofMagneto. The Gold team was called in torescue the captured Blue team. In theensuing battle, Cortez, one ofMagneto's acolytes, fled Asteroid Mand activated the plasma cannon ashe simultaneously detonated all of thenuclear weapons on the base. Cortezwanted to use Magneto as a martyrfor mutants to inflame and inspire theirrebellion. Magneto prevented thenuclear explosions, but the plasmacannon destroyed the asteroid. The X-Men managed to escape, but, from allsigns, Magneto perished within theasteroid as it exploded.

New Mutants/X-Force A mysterious man called Gideon hadSunspot's father killed and made itlook like a heart attack. At themansion where the New Mutants werestaying, an assassin named Deadpoolattacked Cable, calling him Nathanand saying that Mr. Tolliver hired himto kill him. With the timely arrival ofDomino, an old friend of Cable's,Deadpool was captured and sent backto Mr. Tolliver. Sunspot, after learning of his father'sdeath, decided to leave the team andreceived a cold farewell from Cable.Cable's belief that

people should choose their owndestiny wouldn't let him stop theyoung mutant. Sunspot gravitated toGideon and became his student bothin combat and in the business world. James Proudstar joined the teamafter his village was apparently wipedout by the Hellfire Club. He proposedthat if Cable's team would help himwith his revenge, he would help themwith their battles. A being known as Shatterstarappeared in the Danger Room andidentified himself as a blood-warrior ofthe Cadre Alliance. He was sent bythe Cadre Alliance to seek the X-Mento help them battle Mojo V and hisexecutioner. Spiral. At the same time, Boom Boomdiscovered a cat-being known asFeral in the mansion. Feral wasrunning from Masque and hisMorlocks and thought the NewMutants could help her. Robotsteleported into the mansion to bringShatterstar back and Masque arrivedto capture Feral. The New Mutantsfought them all off and decided tomove their base so all their foeswouldn't know where they were.Shatterstar and Feral decided to staywith the team as well. They alsochanged their name to X-Force,officially ending the existence of theNew Mutants, The team has sincebeen confronting and fouling all MLFplots they meet. The young team hasalso encountered and defeated thenew Brotherhood of Evil Mutants andassorted other foes.

Excalibur The British superteam, three of itsmembers former X-Men, spent muchof its time travelling through thedimensions, trying to find its way backto their own world. They were on alocomotive powered by a large,wingless dragon that was able tocross the dimensions, with help by thecreature known as Widget. They returned to their owndimension with the aid of Saturnyne,

the Omniversal Majestrix, who resetWidget with the correct coordinates. Recently, the team had splittemporarily, with Meggan and Phoenixsearching for Meggan's past.Nightcrawler forming a team, the N-Men, from the members of theTechnet to investigate a series ofmysterious thefts in England andCaptain Britain facing the rest of theCaptain Britain Corps and coming togrips with his power and his place inthe team. They have only recently

reunited to fight Necrom and the Anti-Phoenix with their new alliesKylun and Cerise.

Freedom ForceFreedom Force, a governmentcontrolled mutant group, has beendisbanded. Mystique, the formerleader of the group, has been workingwith heroes such as Wolverine, whileother former members have returnedto crime like Blob and Pyro.

DIFFERENT GROUPS

Hellions Emma Frost, the White Queen of theInner Circle of the Hellfire Club,manages a group of super-poweredyouths known as the Hellions. Themembership of the team hasremained fairly stable: Jetstream,Tarot, Roulette, Catseye, and Empathmake up the core members. Newmembers include Beef and Bevatron. Firestar was a member of theAcademy Frost runs, but was neveran official member of the group. Infact, Ms. Frost renounced any claimthat she believed she had on the fierymutant when the Hellions lost a fightto Firestar's current team, the NewWarriors. The future of the Hellions is in doubtat the current time. During a combinedattack on the Hellfire Club by a groupof Sentinels and Fitzroy, Tarot andJetstream were killed and EmmaFrost and Beef were gravely injured.Whether the Hellions ever reunite as ateam is unknown at this time.

Morlocks After the Mutant Massacre, theMorlocks were led by the mutantknown as Masque. They now havevery antagonistic dealings with othermutants since Masque took over,focussing much of their time towardrevenge upon the ones that ravagedtheir numbers—the Marauders. Withthe help of Caliban, they have metedout this revenge upon Sabretooth.

New Brotherhood of Evil Mutants Under the organization andleadership of the Toad, Blob and Pyro(formerly of Freedom Force) set out toreconstruct the Brotherhood of EvilMutants. The Toad was a member ofthe original Brotherhood, which wasled by Magneto. The other member ofthe group is Phantazia, a mysteriouswoman, who apparently has thepower to scramble electrical fields. The first act of this new group wasthe forced transformation of Dr. Lykosinto the being known as Sauron whichrounded out the new membership, The team sought other mutants toally themselves with and decided ontalking to the remaining Morlocks ledby Masque. In the agreementbetween the two groups, theBrotherhood promised to destroy X-Force, the mutant group of heroesthat had repeatedly foiled Masque'splans.

Upstarts This isn't really a cohesive band ofmutants, more like a society where amember is added once a task isaccomplished. In this case, the taskone has to perform to enter this groupis the termination of a member of theHellfire Club's Inner Circle. So far, thisgroup has five official members.Gideon killed Emmanuel Da Costa tojoin the group. Shinobi killed his ownfather, Sebastian Shaw to gain entry.Trevor Fitzroy killed a

former member, Donald Pierce andhas claimed that he has finished theWhite Queen, Emma Frost. Whethershe is actually dead or not hasn't beenrevealed yet. The Strucker Twins,known collectively as Fenris, areconsidered members, yet it hasn'tbeen revealed how they managed togain entrance to this twisted club. It seems that the Black Queen,Selene, is behind the machinations ofthe Upstarts, but the labyrinth of evilabout this club has not yet beenpenetrated.

X-Terminators The junior members of X-Factor tookon the name X-Terminators andfought against the demons during theInferno. The members of this groupwere Boom Boom, Rictor, ArtieMaddicks, Leech, Rusty Collins,Skids, and Whiz Kid. At the end of the Inferno, the oldermembers of the team joined the NewMutants and eventually found theirown places in other mutant groups inthe ensuing months. Boom Boomstayed with X-Force. Rictor left theNew Mutants for Genosha and hasn'tbeen seen since. Rusty Collins andSkids were rescued from jail by theMutant Liberation Front and theyremained with that group out of asense of gratitude. The youngermembers of X-Terminators, Leech,Artie, and Whiz Kid went back toschool.

Excerpts from Forge’s VerbalJournal

The following are excerpts fromForge's Verbal Journal inchronological order.

Mutant research-log 10210 The US government hascommissioned me to engineer andbuild a weapon used to strip thepowers from a mutant. I can't refusemy government, but I also can't bringmyself to betray my own brethren. So,I've come up with a compromisewhich I will not allow the officials toknow. Instead of a device to strip thepowers from an individual, I'veproduced a gun that blocks the use ofa power. The results are the same,yet no one will know the difference inthe government. Their scientists won'tbe able to grasp the fundamentals ofthe design anyway. This way, bothobligations are fulfilled and myconscience can be salvaged.

Adversary's World-log 10339 I've finally constructed this cruderecording device in order to keep mylog going on this world. And what awondrous world it is! Pristine, unaffected by the blemish ofman's technology. And now I'mintroducing my technology to this landwhile I wait for the other occupant ofthis created world—Storm. BelovedStorm, off to find peace within herself.She had been fooled completely bythe

Trickster and she has to come toterms with that.

To Break Free-log 10405 Finally finished the device to breakthe blocking of Storm's powers. Hadto scavenge parts from my bionic legand since the power source has to besolar, there'll only be one shot for it towork. Now, I've got to wait for Ororo toreturn from her self-exile. I wish wehad the option of staying here andraising a family uncluttered withsociety and civilization, but that iswhat the Trickster is counting on. Wecan't let him have our home world asa personal playground for chaos.Ororo, please return soon.

Death-log 10425 As I walked down that street inDallas, hearing the accusing shouts of"murderer," I had no choice but toforce myself to ignore everything—even my own feelings. I did send theX-Men, including my beloved Ororo,to their deaths, albeit they did sowillingly to save the world from theAdversary. That doesn't heal the openwound of my shame and loss. If Ihadn't let my grief and anger rule myactions when I opened that vile gate inVietnam, all my friends would still bealive. The worst part of this is thatMystique is correct. I am a murderer,of the Vietnamese soldiers in the past,and of the X-Men now.

Desert Sickness-log 10432 Sick to my stomach, I headed out tothe desert to ponder my future and toregain my sense of spiritual balance.That's where I am now and

I'm not getting anywhere with this. The emotions rage inside, secondguessing my every move during thetime in Dallas. I can't get the wordsout of my ears ... murderer, murderer.I know what I did was right, but wasthere anything I could have donedifferently that would have saved theirlives, including the life of my belovedOroro?

X-Men Past One-log 10459 It seems that all the information I hadrecorded about the X-Men hassomehow been wiped clean from mysystems. I was doing a regularsystems check when I noticed muchof the information I'd recorded wasgone. I've salvaged what I could fromhard copy records, but much of it wascompletely gone. I assume it hassomething to do with the events atEagle Plaza, but have no confirmationof this hypothesis. Consequently, I'mgoing to re-enter as much lostinformation as possible from memory,and what better place to start withthan Ororo, known to the world atlarge as Storm.

X-Men Past Two-log 10460 My first vision of Storm, as Iremember, was of her in flight, herwhite hair flowing with the wind. Bymy ancestors, she was beautiful.Then the prototype gun had to be firedby that self-serving man, HenryGyrich. No matter that it was aimed ata supposed criminal, Rogue; it struckStorm and stole her powers away. Ithas been a long road back tofriendship and more, but it looks as ifit is slowly working out.

FORGE’S JOURNAL

X-Men Past Three-log 104061 The X-Men, as far as thegovernment records I saw indicated,have become a close knit group ofmembers in the years since theirrescue of the original team from thehands of a living island. Memberscame and went from the active team,but a core group formed. Some of themembers included Wolverine, Storm,Nightcrawler, Colossus, andShadowcat.

X-Men Past Ten-log 10469 At the time of their deaths, themembership of the X-Men consistedof Storm, Wolverine, Longshot,Psylocke, Rogue, Colossus, Dazzler,Havok, and Madelyne Pryor. From all indications, this particularcombination of mutants came about inthe aftermath of what has becomeknown as the Mutant Massacre. Amysterious villain, known as MisterSinister, brought together a largegroup of super-powered beings,named the Marauders, and set themloose against the relativelydefenseless Morlocks in their home inthe sewers of New York City. Whatresulted was a slaughter of life,stopped only by the intervention of theX-Men, who suffered some casualtiesof their own. Colossus, Shadowcatand Nightcrawler were seriouslywounded and were transported toMuir Island for more intensive care. Havok, Longshot, and Psylockejoined the team at this time as well.

Magik Attack-log 10527 The death of the X-Men continues tohaunt my dreams and today, it cameback to haunt me physically. Thesister of Colossus, now known asMagik, came to kill me for the death ofher brother. Initially, I fought thesorceress with my own magical might,using the spirit form of Cheyennesorceries as my armor and shield. Heranger was too much for me to bear,so I gave her the choice to kill me ornot. One thrust of her sword almostkilled me, but she decided not to finishthe deed. Guess she let me live withthe guilt. May her soul find the peace that itobviously doesn't have now and thather friends survive the upcomingweeks as her power seems almost outof control.

Freedom Force-log 10554 Val Cooper has asked me to aid the"government" agents, Freedom Force,to help the people of Muir Island fightoff an attack from a group of cyborgs.I do not relish the thought of facingMystique again, as she still blamesme for the death of her adopteddaughter Rogue in Dallas. Still, thereare friends on that island and once Imade the decision to enter the publicworld of mutants, it seems my fatehas been sealed alongside that of theX-Men. My other reservation is the allies I'dhave at my side, the so-calledreformed citizens of Fred J, Dukesand St. John Allerdyce, the Blob andPyro, respectively. How can thegovernment sanction the activities ofthese criminals? I'll work with them

not because I want to, but because Ihave to, in order to save my friends.

Death Again-log 10562 Another death, this one totallywithout merit, without justification.Destiny has been killed by DonaldPierce and his cyborg servants, theReavers. Again, Mystique hassuffered a loss and blames it on metotally. I'd say the shapechanger and Iwill never be on cordial terms exceptfor the strange conversation I had withDestiny before she was killed. Shetold me to keep my heart open forMystique, even after I told her myheart was spoken for. What did shesee about Mystique and me with herfuture sense before her death?

Places-log 10579 My attempt to gain the balancebetween my mutant half and myheritage as shaman and medicineman for my tribe has beenprogressing, slowly but steadily. I'mcoming to terms with myself and myplace in this world of humans andmutants, learning that I can't run awayfrom the problems facing my kind inthe world today. The racism I've facedgrowing up in America as an Indianhas better prepared me to combat theignorance of mutant haters, betterthan most of my companions at thispoint.

Ororo is Alive-log 10782 Just came out of a spirit walk andhave to get this recorded beforeanything fades from memory. I sawOroro in a cage. She was old thenquickly faded down to her youth. A

fat middle-eastern man challenged meto arm wrestling, during which hishand transformed into an amorphousshape. Only my bionic hand savedme, but what is most important is thatshe's alive. Storm survives and I haveto find her! I feel alive again!

Choices Lost-log 10805 It seems that my destiny has beenintertwined with the fate of the X-Menand other mutants worldwide. Thechoice of running away and living onmy mountain isn't available to meanymore. I've decided to stay withMoira and Sean on Muir Island to helpthem locate the other X-Men.

Banshee-log 10811 About Sean Cassidy, a new-foundclose friend, we've developed a bondforged from similar pasts and similarpresent goals. We're about to embarkon a trip to find as many of themissing X-Men as possible. Our firststop will be Egypt, since we haveseen the image of Amahl Farouk andthat suggests Cairo.

Close-log 10823 This is being recorded on a hastyflight to the United States. Sean and Imade one of the best decisions in ourlives today when we made the choiceto ditch the idea of continuing on toCairo. Luckily, we spotted a picture ofAlison Blaire, the Dazzler, in amagazine and decided that it was astronger lead than the tenuous onewe had been following. The plane we had been scheduled totake to Cairo was destroyed in a fieryblast, obviously designed to kill

us. Thinking quickly, Banshee flew usaway from the airstrip and we are nowon the way to the US. Our first stop isgoing to be Xavier's Mansion.

Thinking-log 10835 I managed to save Jean Grey andScan from a horrible fate just bythinking ahead and getting lucky. I'mgrateful there was time to prepare andthat I had an inkling of who we weregoing to face. Masque, of theMorlocks, gets perverse pleasure frommanipulating other people's physicalform into anything that the monsterdesires. By taking a small sample ofmy friend's cells, I was able to restorethem from the shapes Masque leftthem in, a multi-tentacled woman anda mouthless man, into their originalforms. If only all battles andencounters could be so forecast.

Genosha-log 10876 Something has to be done about theisland nation of Genosha. Theirmutant hunting tactics endanger notonly mutants, but civilians anywherenear their "repatriation" efforts. Afterobserving particular Genoshansduring their attempt to capture JennyRansome, I found one named Pipelinean extremely dangerous individualwithin a group context. His"teleportation" power allows for instantreinforcements and instant escaperoutes for Genoshans and theirprisoners. A priority target early in anyconflict.

Charles-log 10909 Charles Xavier has returned to Earthto spearhead the leadership of

all the X-Men. We managed to defeatthe menace of the Shadow King withCharles' help at the expense of MuirIsland and Charles' son, Legion. It iscomforting that he has returned at thisjuncture in our lives. With Cable'slarger following and the activities ofthe Mutant Liberation Front gainingmore prominence, a level headedleader is needed.

Roles-log 10939 I find myself in the position of advisorto Charles and a non-combatant inmost situations. We have enoughfront-line soldiers at this point,(hmmm, maybe Cable has had someaffect on my thinking), so my talentsare best used behind the scenes,designing weapons, defenses, andother devices.

Chess-log 10945 Charles' chess playing skills areexceptional. He beat me even with thepsychic dampener in place during thegame. I'm not used to being beaten soeasily. Note to myself: practice moreand read Kasparov's chess manualagain.

Consequences-log 10981 With the Genoshan governmentenacting reforms, Magneto out ofcommission, and the Shadow Kingdestroyed, I wonder what threat isgoing to rear its head next? Will we beup to the challenge this time? In timeslike these, we can't afford to lose evenone time. The consequences are toogreat.

These opinions and reviews werefound under the heading of "PotentialNew Recruits" in Cable's files.

Iceman Very undisciplined, the proverbialhot-head with the power of ice. With his enhanced power andexperience, and a dash of direction,he could prove to be a welcomeaddition to my strike force. He could be too willful though, so itmay be best for X-Force to continueon without an attempt to gain him for amember. Such an action would alsoalienate his friends in the X-Men, and,although we're not on the best ofterms, I wouldn't want them activelyworking against me.

Angel His violent attitude and razor-sharpwings could prove beneficial for thewar, but his ferocious temper seemsto be getting dulled recently. Heseems more relaxed and comfortablewith his altered state. Would thishamper his effectiveness in the longrun? Also, the same concerns with theX-Men that I have with Iceman applyhere as well.

Hellions Now that Emma Frost is out of theway, it may be possible to recruitsome of the students of theMassachusetts Academy. I wouldn'twant to inherit the whole group, butsome of the member's powers haveinteresting possibilities. The fact that they are used to astrong leading force, such aspresented by Ms. Frost's command,

would make the assimilation to X-Force that much easier. The following are the individualstudent reviews for the survivingHellion members:

Roulette: Her good luck/bad luckdisks brings into question hereffectiveness as a soldier. A goodfighter should be able to control hisactions and know the consequencesof an action. This mutant's powers go in exactlythe opposite direction, whererandomness is the end result of herabilities. So far, according to reports,her disks have worked effectively forher, but there is no way to predict howher good or bad luck will affect theother members of any attack force. This leads me to believe that,although her powers show some slightmerit, I believe it advisable not toapproach her.

Beef: More muscle, and not exactlywhat I need, now that Proudstar isgrowing in size and strength andconfidence as each day goes by. Afterthe beating Beef took at the hands ofFitzroy, it's still a question whether hewill ever fully recover.

Empath: He has an excellent power,to control emotions, but he is anuncontrollable individual. His frequentdisobedient episodes with EmmaFrost are well known and if a telepathof Frost's strength had troublecontrolling Empath, I'd probably endup having to shoot him. Ultimately, notworth all the trouble he'd cause.

Bevatron: A recent member of theHellions, so I don't have as muchinformation on him as I'd like. From allreports, he's cocky, but still a novice inthe fighting department. His rangepower could make him a potentiallyvaluable addition to X-Force, but do Ihave the time to train him for the field?That reminds me—we need some sortof offensive weapon usable from adistance. Talk to Domino and getrecommendations for new membersthat would fit into this category withmore combat experience thanBevatron.

Catseye: Already have one feline inthe group, and I don't see the need foranother one. Feral is enough troubleto control without adding anotherfurred mutant to the mix.

X-Terminators I've already got one of this defunctteam's members involved in the battle,Boom-Boom. If these other membersprove to have the same spunk andattitude as Tabitha, then they maymake useful additions to my team.

Artie Maddicks: This child may havepowers that could serve the teamextraordinarily well. Being able tomindlink with another person wouldgive us a great advantage in findingout the plans and locations of ourrecurring foes, especially the MLF.Maddicks' powers would go a longway towards putting a stop to theirterrorist activities. He is still a child, which is a plus. Wecould mold him into an effective teammember if he makes the

CABLE’S NOTES

decision to join X-Force. The key togetting Artie Maddicks may rest inconvincing his friend and partner inmutant affairs, the power dampener,Leech. (See the Leech entry for moreinformation) These two young mutants, if of theright mindset, would be exceptionalassets to my team. Look into an anglefor getting them involved in X-Force'supcoming missions.

Leech: What a power—a powerdampener—not only of mutantabilities, but of other super powers aswell! If I could work up enoughprotection for the kid, we couldtransport him into the middle of ourenemies and hit them while theirpowers were not functioning, Does the youngster have the gutsand determination to become amember of the team? Would he bewilling to take the chances necessaryto win every battle? It would be worththe almost certain trouble to find outwhether this kid has what it takes tobe an effective soldier in the battle. The records that I perused indicatedthat control over his power has grownconsiderably with age. This makeshim even more desirable as a teammember, as other abilities maysurface as he grows. Take note of his documentedfriendship with Artie Maddicks. Thesetwo kids, taken separately andtogether, could represent a majorforce in the years to come. Best keepa close watch on any newdevelopments in their lives.

Fallen AngelsAriel: This alien's powers of instanttransport and psychic coercion couldcome in handy, but her somewhatquestionable past makes her adangerous security risk. With theshort-lived mutant-filled group knownas the Fallen Angels, she arranged formembers of her own team to becaptured for study by her homeplanet's scientists. Sure, she changed her mind andused her powers to help them escape,but it could have easily gone the otherway. I can't risk essential members ofmy team with an irrational, emotionalchild. Another negative is the fact thather space warping power needs somesort of doorway as a focus. Not thatthis minor inconvenience wouldeliminate her completely, but taken inconjunction with her history, it paints asorry picture. If we're not able to comeup with another mode oftransportation, Ariel may look moreenticing, but at this point, I think itprudent to go with my initialassessment and pass on any furtheraction in this case.

Chance: Another mutant member ofthe Fallen Angels and another powerthat affects the effectiveness of other'spowers. This girl's ability has aninteresting twist to it, though. She canincrease the limits of another's powersas well as decrease them. Justimagine, Proudstar with even morestrength, or Sam with more speed andmaneuverability. There is potentialhere. Her background, growing up instreets and surviving, bodes well for

her inclusion in the war. Definitely amutant to look up and put a proposalon the table. Talk to Domino to makethe meeting take place.

Morlocks We need a mode of quick transport,similar to that served by Zero for theMLF or Pipeline for the Genoshans.The Morlock who helped Masqueescape Forge and his little group ofmutants could be useful for thispurpose. I must ask Feral about "Bouncer"and the mutant's view on the world. If Icould convert him to our cause, itmight make my job easier and theteam a more effective strike group. Maybe there are other mutants downthere that could help us that don'tquite agree with the way Masque isrunning things in the tunnels. A quickexcursion down there may prove verybeneficial.

Alchemy Just recently heard of the Britishmutant known as Alchemy. His abilityto alter substances could be useful tous in the war, but even more so forour opposition. Alchemy should bewatched, if not for recruitment, then toprevent our enemies from capturinghim for their own plans. Note: Findaddress and set up a monitoring detailfor him.