BIOGRAPHY - Page 5
The X-Men and Inhumans remained quietly at odds with one another as the M-Pox raged. Magneto's cold war against the Inhumans almost turned hot when they revealed the existence of Ulysses, a future profiler of tremendous accuracy who could prove too great an asset to Attilan. Magneto directed Fantomex to infiltrate New Attilan and observe Ulysses, but Storm's more neutral X-Men faction sent Gambit to counter any move Magneto made towards Ulysses. Gambit disabled Fantomex and removed him from the Inhumans' home before Medusa found them. Psylocke's growing differences with Magneto put her on Storm's side in this dispute, rebuking the prisoner Fantomex for attempting an assassination. Jean-Philippe was defiant in the face of Betsy's judgment, declaring how badly she had misread both him and Magneto. His mission parameters had been "do not engage," and casual murder wasn't something either of them engaged in anymore. Still, with Fantomex as a distraction, Magneto was able to breach New Attilan and confront Ulysses himself. Ulysses foresaw that current conflict would only cost more mutant lives, and so Magneto agreed to stand down against the Inhumans, for now. [Civil War II: X-Men #2-4]
That detente could not last forever, though, for Beast discovered and reported that Terrigen saturation levels in the atmosphere were reaching critical mass. Soon, the very air on Earth would be poison to mutantkind. The united X-Teams decided to act first and eradicate the remaining Terrigen cloud before that happened. A plan was put into motion to neutralize the more serious threats among the Inhumans before targeting the cloud. Fantomex drugged their teleporting dog, Lockjaw, and worked on a plan to neutralize Magister Karnak, the Inhumans' greatest fighter. Karnak was deposited into the World for safekeeping, with Jean Grey and the Stepford Cuckoos keeping him further contained in a psychic environment he could not fight his way out of.
However, Fantomex had a secondary use in mind for Fantomex, accomplished with the private assistance of Irma Cuckoo. Fantomex needed to explore the World to learn how the Someday Corporation got a hold of its technology. Deep inside the World, Fantomex faced opposition from Weapon Plus units that had been co-opted by Someday as he fought to reach the core of the "infection." Karnak's mastery of combat came in part from his ability to analyze any foe or situation to identify weaknesses and act against them. By adding Fantomex's obstacles to Karnak's psychic scenario, Irma Cuckoo could scan Karnak's analysis and feed the responses to Fantomex, allowing him to fight through Someday's minions as Karnak would. Once he found Someday's virus in the World, Fantomex severed their connection but inserted himself in its place, establishing a greater link between himself and the World than ever before. [IvX crossover]
Despite (or perhaps because of) his newfound control over the World, Fantomex became restless again. He still feared the influence of his Weapon Plus programming, that one day he would become a threat to mutants like the microscopic machines in his blood always whispered and encouraged him to be. He fell back into the role of heartless thief as a distraction, and somehow earned a debt of honor from Remy LeBeau, Gambit. By holding this over Gambit's head, he compelled LeBeau to perform a series of jobs with him to work off the debt. Fantomex cared nothing about the debt or the burglaries, but going through the motions kept him focused on less intense matters.
During one heist, Gambit received a psychic cry for help from Psylocke, which Fantomex tepidly agreed to follow up on. They and several other X-Men arrived in London to release Betsy from the control of the Shadow King. Farouk was tapping an outside power source, making it possible for him to seize control of any and all psychics from the astral plane. To stop this, Psylocke needed to send a team of X-Men into the astral plane to waylay the Shadow King's plans. When Gambit volunteered, Fantomex did so as well, claiming he only did so to look after his investment in the Cajun. There was no love lost between Fantomex and Psylocke, and she only barely agreed to trust him with this mission.
In fact, the Shadow King was playing a game against the disembodied consciousness of Charles Xavier, preserved on the astral plane since his mortal death by Farouk to continually torment his favorite opponent. Xavier had surreptitiously orchestrated the arrival of several specific X-Men who would prove ideal opponents for Farouk on a mental landscape. During their preparations, however, Xavier also had an extended chat with Fantomex in between moments in time. Fantomex confessed his concerns about himself to Xavier, and they discussed the many students the professor had taught and brought redemption to in the past. When Farouk was defeated, the spirits of the X-Men returned to their bodies, but now Xavier lived on in Fantomex's place. The mind of Charles Xavier had rewritten the nano-code of Fantomex's Weapon Plus body into a young and fit duplicate of his own. [Astonishing X-Men (4th series) #1-6]
Suspicious about this new version of Charles Xavier who had spent so long in Farouk's control, Psylocke visited the astral plane to confirm Fantomex willingly gave up his body like 'X' claimed. Indeed, Jean-Philippe seemed to be at peace and greeted Elizabeth warmly. He, too, recognized that he could never be certain he wasn't telepathically prodded into accepting Xavier's exchange, but he believed it was his decision, and that it was the right decision to make regardless. Fantomex lived in fear of his darker instincts, but on the astral plane he would no longer be a threat, in exchange for allowing a man as respected and truly benevolent as Charles Xavier to live again. Jean-Philippe expressed his contentment and forgiveness to Elizabeth, and asked that she visit him sometime on the astral plane, when she had the time. [Astonishing X-Men (4th series) #7]