Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #510

Issue Date: 
July 2009
Story Title: 
Untitled
Staff: 

Matt Fraction (writer), Greg Land (penciler), Jay Leisten (inker), Justin Ponsor (colorist), VC’s Joe Caramagna (letters), Greg Land & Justin Ponsor (cover), Daniel Ketchum (assistant editor), Nick Lowe (editor), Axel Alonso (executive editor), Joe Quesada (editor in chief), Dan Buckley (publisher), Alan Fine (executive producer)

Brief Description: 

The Sisterhood has attacked Graymalkin and several X-Men lie injured. Standing by to save the day is Pixie, who ships in the Stepford Cuckoos and Elixir from the Marina District. Emma Frost, shackled by Regan Wyngarde, gets some unexpected help and manages to overcome her captor. Emma then rescues Cyclops, whilst Wolverine takes on Psylocke. He manages to overcome her, but Madelyne Pryor gets what she came for, a small box from his room. Pixie, meanwhile, realizes what’s going on and, while the Cuckoos stay behind to deal with Chimera, she heads to the brig and shatters Empath’s consciousness. Madelyne senses this occurrence and the Sisterhood teleports away. Later, Scott asks Logan what the Sisterhood took from his room. He replies that it was a lock of Jean’s hair.

Full Summary: 

X-23 and Armor are in a dark room with Armor protecting herself in a crouched position. X-23 asks if she is scared and Armor admits that she is. It’s very scary. They are being attacked and all the adults are out of commission. X-23 bends down and asks her not to be scared. She will get them out of there. Hisako looks over to Storm’s prone unconscious body and asks why anyone would ever be scared of this.

Armor gets to her feet and Laura asks her to stay close. Hisako promises to stay so close it’ll creep Laura out. As they head down a long corridor, Laura asks her to shush. They spot Chimera in the next room on the look out for people to mither. She grins when she senses the two girls nearby and unleashes two of her green serpents. X-23 puts herself between the serpents and Hisako but, fortunately, Pixie teleports in, utters a spell and teleports them both out of there. She deposits them in the grounds and says that she is getting a little tired from all the trips back and forth. X-23 thanks her for saving the and asks where the X-Men are. “Screw that,” replies Hisako. “Where the hell is Wolverine?”

Back inside the building, Wolverine is in a great deal of pain. Deathstrike's claws are plunged through his chest and she pulls them out, leaving Wolverine gargling blood on the ground. Deathstrike gloats that she heard his lungs burst. "Marvelous." Madelyne knows that Logan's healing factor will soon take care of that, so she asks Spiral to bring forth his new playmate. Spiral conjures up a portal and through it steps Psylocke. Logan looks up but doesn't believe it. "Rise to you feet, maggot," states Psylocke, confidently. As she lunges at him with her psychic dagger, Logan responds by snikting his claws and striking back.

Meanwhile, Emma Frost believes that she has been shackled due to one of Regan's illusions, though she is simply lying there unable to participate in the battle. As Regan watches over her, Emma sees a blurred vision. She believes that it's Maddie, but the red-haired woman smiles and replies," Not quite, but I get that a lot." She places a hand on Emma's forehead and a little flame appears from her fingers. She explains that there's some psychic chaff in her mind and fixes it for her. Emma's body buckles but Regan maintains her illusion. Emma tells the redhead that she hasn't been so embarrassed since her father fondled the maid with the common breeding. The redhead asks Emma is she is familiar with the phrase, 'Visions come to prepared spirits?' Emma replies of course. The stranger opens her hand wide and tells her, in that case, to prepare. A fiery phoenix emerges and Emma manages to break free of the illusion.

Unfortunately for Regan, she doesn’t know this, and she walks away thinking Emma is helpless. When her back is turned, Emma changes to her diamond form and leaps at her, smashing her to the floor. She's real mad, and Regan cowers as she wonders how Emma is blocking her out. Emma kicks her to the floor again and asks how she could come and hurt her own people. "Traitor," she remarks as she grabs Regan by the hair and punches her through the wall.

She warns Regan not to make her angry, before contacting Scott telepathically. She informs him that she's back and that the Sisterhood is using some kind of mixture of magic and psychic assault. She's managed to beat it, but where is he? Scott replies that he's in hell. He believes that he is in a classroom alongside several dead colleagues and friends, including Thunderbird, Banshee and Jean Grey, when in fact they are simply other captives. "I'm in absolute hell," he cries, but Emma asks him to keep thinking at her. It's almost over. She finally locates him and opens a doorway into his mind, freeing him.

Emma gives him a cuddle. Scott reckons that it's time to turn this around, but she asks him to pace himself. He’s just had a ferocious monster use his head for a toilet. Scott jokes that he's had bigger nervous breakdowns for breakfast. He asks her to get everyone on their feet and then they will go find Wolverine. He should be several thousand miles past furious by now.

(elsewhere)

Wolverine has Psylocke's blood ripping from his claws. He is indeed a thousand miles past furious, and warns her not to think that because she's body-snatched his dead friend, he's above cutting her damn head off. Psylocke smacks him in the face, but he just grins back at her. "Just my type."

Spiral informs Maddie that something's happened to Mastermind. Maddie asks her to go check it out and for Deathstrike to lend Psylocke a hand. "As you wish," replies Deathstrike. She joins Psylocke and they both attack Wolverine. Madelyne enters Logan's room, and he realizes that he hasn't got the time to be messing around with her hired lackeys. Madelyne picks up a small box; the item she's been looking for, and Wolverine stands in the doorway telling her not to touch his @%$& stuff. She tells him that possession is an illusion. Owning things isn't very zen.

(elsewhere)

Josh Foley, better known as Elixir, is holding court at the Kundalin-Me Yoga Studio in the Marina District. His students are Mindee, Phoebe and Celeste, the Stepford Cuckoos. He explains to the girls that kundalini means 'coiled' in Sanskrit. It means the coiled serpent power that rests in the base of the spine. The sleeping Goddess. He adds that this energy, this power, it's what the seek to awaken here today with their yoga practices. 'kay? Their work will be intense and prolonged. Epic. They should grab their chakras, as they seek a complete and total transmogrification of the psychospiritual self through tantric sex magic. The Cuckoos ask, with wide grins, if it’s supposed to be so hot in there. If they took off any more clothes they’d be naked. But, they add cheekily, everything’s negotiable in times of enlightenment. Josh tells them that he loves their enthusiasm, but they’ve got all night.

Pixie then teleports in and informs them that the X-Men are in trouble. She whisks them back to Graymalkin where they discover Piotr and Kurt lying on the ground, injured. Elixir, the healer, is on the case immediately, bending down to place his hands over the two X-Men. Kurt is healed quickly and sits up with a start. The Cuckoos ask how this happened. Pixie informs them that the Sisterhood only seem to have plans for the grown ups. All they can do with the kids is to chase them around. She has her suspicions about how they got in and wants to head to the brig.

Before she can do so, one of Chimera’s serpents crashes through the wall and attacks. Chimera follows close behind and smiles when she sees the assembled youngsters. She asks where her little friends are. They should party. The Cuckoos asks Pixie to hit the brig and to hit it hard. They’ll take out the trash. Pixie fiddles with her souldagger and considers how to approach this. Empath is in the brig, and Pixie wonders what Wolverine would do. In the brig, Empath is grinning, believing his Red Queen will come for him. Pixie arrives first and confronts him. Manuel calls her a winged witch and covers his eyes. Pixie tells him that he led them there, didn’t he! He’s like a bloody lighthouse. He beat the dampeners and showed the Sisterhood how to get to them! “Hold still,” she warns, “This is going to hurt.”

Madelyne senses Empath’s consciousness shatter from afar, but as she now has what she came to collect, she tells the Sisterhood that it’s time to go. They begin to disappear through Spiral’s portals, though one of the Cuckoos gets one last kick at Chimera before Spiral comes for her too. Colossus and Nightcrawler appear, but it’s too late and Spiral departs with her colleague.

Deathstrike, meanwhile, warns Wolverine that he will not survive the night. If he kills her or Psylocke, the X-Men will die under the boot of the Sisterhood. Logan tells her to shut up, just as Spiral appears in her portal. Logan has a claw at Psylocke’s throat and he tells Spiral that she isn’t his teammate. Whatever parts of her might be in there, this ain’t her. If they are counting on him having some kind of sentimental attachment, they’re gonna be disappointed.

Spiral and Deathstrike enter her portal, and Spiral informs Logan that they have his children. “Yer bluffin’” he replies. “Try me,” she warns. “Harm our sister and their blood will run.” Logan grits his teeth, looks at Psylocke and says he isn’t afraid to find this out the hard way. Before he can do anything rash, Cyclops and Emma come rushing in and Scott orders him to let her go. Logan smacks her away and tells Scott that the Sisterhood is gone. They got chumped. He then asks for someone to turn off the damn security lighting.

(later)

Everyone gathers together to discuss what just happened. Scott explains that the Red Queen was using a combination of magic and the powers of her team. She broadcast them through Empath, and that’s how they got in. The civilians who are staying there got away relatively safely. The Sisterhood came to mess with them. Dr. Nemesis replies that by all accounts, their raid was a smashing success. Wolverine says he bets Bradley had a great view from the vaults. Bradley replies that he’d have given anything to see them get their butts whipped by a bunch of women.

Scott asks them to be cool. He informs Logan that the science team is quarantined to the vault in case of security breach. They’re his orders. He won’t allow for those assets to be endangered by combat. They need the big thinkers thinking their big thoughts down there. Wolverine provides him with a big thought of his own. They make a huge stink about coming to San Francisco and opening a damn embassy and then take in civilian refugees? They just got yoked. They need more than a basement with power dampeners to drop the bad guys into. Beast replies that he’s had some thoughts on that himself. It’s going up on his white-board immediately.

Scott wonders what the Sisterhood wanted. He asks Logan what they were searching for in his quarters. Logan looks down and replies that they took something. Scott asks him not to keep him in suspense. What was it? Logan replies, “A lock of her hair, Slim. I kept a lock of Jean’s hair. Now it’s gone.”

Characters Involved: 

Beast, Colossus, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Nightcrawler, Storm, Wolverine (all X-Men)

Elixir, Pixie, Stepford Cuckoos, Surge, X-23

Chimera, Lady Deathstrike, Lady Mastermind, Mastermind, Madelyne Pryor, Psylocke (the Sisterhood)

Empath

Dr. Nemesis

Story Notes: 
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