Exiles (1st series) #29

Issue Date: 
September 2003
Story Title: 
Unnatural Instincts - part 2
Staff: 

Chuck Austen (writer), Clay Henry (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Transparency Digital (colors), Dave Sharpe (letters), Annie Thornton (assistant editor), Mike Raicht (editor), Joe Quesada (editor in Chief), Bill Jemas (president).

Brief Description: 

As Bad Havok blows Sasquatch and Mimic out of the mansion Nightcrawler looks out of his window and is shocked at what he’s seeing. Nocturne, Juggernaut, Annie and Carter enter the room and explain to Kurt what is happening. Nocturne asks her “Dad” if he can teleport them down there so she can possess Bad Havok and possibly stop him but Juggernaut picks up Nocturne and throws her out the window straight at Bad Havok. The possession fails but Good Havok resurfaces for a minute and tells them to kill him before Bad Havok regains full control of the body. While on the road with Annie, Carter, and Kurt, Juggernaut sees that there are werewolves on the road, as they are attacked, Kurt teleports Annie and Carter away, leaving Juggernaut to fend for himself. As Juggernaut fights with the werewolves, Bad Havok blast the car and send them all hurtling away. Bad Havok stands by the car looking for Carter and Annie to murder but realized that they are not there. Suddenly he realized that the werewolves have surrounded him.

Wolverine, Husk, and Morph fight with the werewolves as Nicholas watches in delight. As Wolverine is being cut into, Husk freaks out. As Wolverine and Husk are pinned to the ground, Wolverine tells Nicholas to run and get help, and not be a slave to instinct. Nicholas tells the werewolves to stop but they pretty much tell him no and that he is being stupid and too emotional, they have to right to kill them because they can. Nicholas, now wanting to help the X-Men manages to have the killing put on hold as he tells them that Husk and Logan could help them get into the school and they can kill there too. Lobo agrees that hostages would be good and head to the school to confront Warren with his werewolves and hostages. They tell Nicholas to keep up and learn their ways. Nicholas is left behind, he carries Morph’s arm and makes way to the school to warn them of the incoming attack. Nicholas holds out the arm and pleads with Sasquatch that it was the only piece he could find and begs her to put him back together.

Magik continues the threaten to take Warren’s blood back to the mansion in a bucket to save the kids in order to finish their mission. Magik and Sunfire fight over Magik’s extreme measures. Magik strikes at Warren with her sword but Warren is ready and fight her back, he delivers a blow square across the jaw and sends her to the ground unconscious. Sunfire offers her assistance to Warren and Iceman, she tells them that she’s not really close with Magik.

Full Summary: 

One mile North of Xavier’s School For the Gifted (Five Minutes Ago.)...

Husk ask Wolverine if he can take the werewolves as they loom over the her, Wolverine and Morph, ready to start ripping them to shreds. Morph chimes in to add his hope that Wolverine can take them. The werewolves, including little Nicholas, start parroting them. As Nicholas watches, the trio is attacked, two werewolves go after Husk as Morph and Wolverine each face one. As a werewolf slices into Wolverine he commands Husk to take Nicholas away from the fight.

Lobo is pleased that he has drawn blood, “Did I take you unaware ‘Wolverine’? Were you overconfident and surprised by my speed and agility? Were you shocked to learn my bones are strong enough to match up to your metal claws? The natural bones of Homo-superior? Nature adapting to survive the ‘new threat’ of metal? ‘Yes Wolverine, you can take them- - right?’” Husk freaks out as two werewolves surround her, she isn’t ready to deal with them again and can’t get away to take Nicholas away. Morph has changed into Colossus and has one werewolf in a choke hold, and is fighting off two others. “God! This is horrible! I can’t think of anything funny to say!” Husk falls to the floor and the two werewolves prepare to attack her. As Wolverine lays pinned to the ground with a werewolf on top of him, he tells Nicholas to listen to him and run to get help. An angry Nicholas stares back, but the anger soon turns to sorrow as he watches the werewolves tear into the people he knew as friends and mentors. Wolverine tells him to not be a slave to instinct and that it only gets you into trouble because he knows. SCHLIP SHRECK SHRIP

At Xavier’s Institute For the Gifted (now)...

Shbow! Mimic and Sasquatch are blown out of the school right through the wall onto the lawn of the estate. Mimic lays on the floor unconscious and Sasquatch pushes herself off the ground. Bad Havok comes through the hole and is annoyed that they are still alive, “Are you dead yet? Cause you’re getting boring. I want to tear someone else apart for a while.” Bad Havok goes on to tell them how he wanted the body of Carter for leaving him in the void while pulling Good Alex out. Standing out in the sun her recharges himself and unleashes another blast of solar power at the now awake Mimic and Sasquatch.

Nightcrawler looks out of the window and witnessed the battle, just then his bedroom door swings open and Nocturne, Juggernaut, Annie holding Carter all walk in. “Dad!” “What? Damn it!”he exclaims in German. “I knew I should have been more careful.” Nocturne begins to explain how he’s not her real father, then decides that it would be too confusing and take too long. Juggernaut chimes in saying that the confusing issues get worse and that Alex has gone nuts and is trying to kill everyone and Carter need to get to a doctor right away. Nightcrawler returns to the window and sees Bad Havok standing over Sasquatch and Mimic about to blast them again. Nightcrawler expresses their need to get down there and help or else Mimic and Sasquatch will end up worse off than Carter. Nocturne suggest that Kurt teleport them down there so that she might be able to posses Bad Alex. With a smirk on his face Juggernaut has an idea. “Nightcrawler needs to go with us and then help us get the kid to the hospital but- - you ever heard of a fastball special, Kurt junior? … I saw Colossus do this with Wolverine once, and I always wanted to try it.” As Nocturne demands to be put down, Nightcrawler hurries to open the window and Nocturne is thrown at Bad Havok, she goes through him and lands on the ground next to Mimic and Sasquatch. “Dammit! Juggernaut could have killed me...Are you guys ok?”

Bad Havok stands in a shocked daze, gripping at his stomach, it was too hard for Nocturne to possess him but she seems to have weakened Bad Havok’s hold on the body. Good Havok resurfaces for a few seconds, enough time for him to tell them that it’s too hard to get back and that Bad Havok is too strong, he struggles to hold on a little longer, “Is Carter- - is Annie- - are they safe?” Nocturne tells them that they are safe and with Juggernaut and Nightcrawler on their way to the hospital but Good Havok tells her not to tell him because them he’ll know, but it was too late, Bad Havok heard everything and knows where to find them. Good Havok tells them to kill him because there’s no other choice. Nocturne readies some hex bolts but says that they probably aren’t strong enough to kill him and she rather not anyway, “Are you sure there is no other way?” but just as she is about to blast Bad Havok regains control and says that there is no way period.

Lobo Tech, White Plains, NY...

Magik stands ready to attack Archangel, as Sunfire, Iceman, and Archangel stand staring at her. Sunfire questions Magik if she is actually serious about killing Warren and taking his blood back to the mansion in a bucket. She tells her it’s pointless and that even if they complete their mission it doesn’t mean that it’s over and they get to go home. “...it never works that way.” Magik is determined to get home and that any time might be the time that they get to go home. The girls argue some more, “Magik don’t be stupid! These are the X-Men, and...” Iceman stands confused “Wow! What the heck is going on here? Aren’t these two supposed to be dead?” as Archangel decides that he has had enough the bickering and wants to get to help Husk. “The bucket it is!” Magik strikes at Archangel, he blocks with his gauntlet as Iceman looks on amazed. “So that’s what those things are for.” After being commanded to take out Sunfire, Iceman tells him that he is way ahead of him and he encases Sunfire in a shell of ice. “I will get home again with or without your help!” Magik takes another swipe at Archangel with her sword, she misses and he clocks her across the chin and knocks her out cold. “Dude you got steel lining in those gloves?” “No, I’m just bad-ass.” “No Kidding.” As Archangel hold up Magik’s sword the guys get ready to go save Husk. Just then, Sunfire melts her way out of the ice and offers to come along and help. She acknowledges that things got way out of hand and explains that they are from another reality and only came to help. Archangel accepts her help and explanation but asks about leaving Magik on the ground. “She looks comfortable to me,” Mariko replies with a smirk. “ She and I- -we’re not really close.”

Once again, one mile North of Xavier’s School For the Gifted...

Nicholas screams for the werewolves to stop. “Why boy?” Nicholas goes on to explain that the X-Men gave him a home and place to stay, that no one liked him but they were all nice to him and that Husk tried to help him fit in when he first arrived. The werewolves berate him for wanting to fit in. “Fit in? You don’t want to ‘fit in’ with them. You are a wolf cub. The true Homo Superior. You were drawn to us as well as we’re drawn to one another. It is not them you ‘fit in’ with, young Nicholas of the emerging wolf species, it is us. Nicholas realizing that there’s no reasoning with the werewolves and try to buy Husk and Wolverine some time by telling the werewolves that there’s a whole school of other emerging species down the road and that if they keep Husk and Wolverine alive they would make good hostages for Archangel who lives at the school as well. Lobo agrees that it’s a good idea and that he will go to Archangel instead of waiting for him to come to them. Lobo tells the werewolves to bring Wolverine and the other two but the werewolves reveal that it’s too late for “the pale one.” Lobo is satisfied that with two hostages. They run towards the mansion and yell for Nicholas to keep up and they’ll teach him their ways because he is one of them now.

On the road leaving Xavier’s...

As the group drives towards the hospital, Juggernaut is teasing Nightcrawler for not being able to drive. He defends himself by saying that Xavier has jets and that he can teleport and that he would be doing that right now but the hospital is too far. Annie asks if they can take a jet but Nightcrawler tells her that they wrecked a few lately and that Cyclops’ group is doing something big. He assures her that Carter will be alright and he will start jumping them there when they get withing ten miles. Annie checks on Carter once again and tells them that he looks alright but she just wants the doctors to check on his concussion. She thanks them for their help and questions them about what happened with Havok. As werewolves stand in the road ahead, Nightcrawler assures her that it’ll all be sorted out later and that they should concentrate on Carter for now. Juggernaut tell Nightcrawler that there are some dogs in the road ahead, he dismisses him telling Juggernaut that they are neighborhood dogs and that they’ll move. He reasons with Annie saying that Carter probably wouldn’t have been hurt in the first place if he weren’t associated with the X-Men. “Kurt- -it’s them wolves! We should have killed ‘em when we had the chance, elf!” A werewolf jumps onto the hood of the truck and punches through the windshield. Juggernaut yells for Nightcrawler to get Annie and the kid out of there. Nightcrawler reaches for Annie and asks her to take his hand. She’s afraid but he assure her that it’ll be alright, suddenly a werewolf grabs his neck and Nightcrawler teleports out, purple smoke. Juggernaut fights with the werewolves and catches a glimpse of Bad Havok coming up to them. “Oh hell..” Bad Havok sends a solar blast at the truck; the werewolves, and everyone in the vehicle are all sent flying.

At Xavier’s Institute For the Gifted...

Mimic, apparently coherent now, asks if everyone is alright and suggest that they go find the others. Just then Nicholas runs up to them holding Morph’s dismembered hand. He tells them that the werewolves just attacked the truck and is killing everyone in it and are en route to the school to kill everyone here. Sasquatch recognizes Nicholas as the other half of their mission. Nocturne, while holding her side comments how what a great job they are doing. Nocturne is confused about the wolves and questions Nicholas about them as Sasquatch turns back into her human form. “...A what have you got there?” “I don’t know his name, but her can change shapes and they ripped him apart and this was all the, you know- - this was the only piece I could find and I don’t want to lose it for when we have to bury him.” Sasquatch affirms that it’s Morph’s arm. Nicholas tells them how he wanted to help the werewolves kill but at the same time he didn’t want to because he liked Husk and that Wolverine is right because he doesn’t have to do what his insides are telling him and kill people. “Can you pleas put him back together, please? Nicholas kneels on the ground holding up Morph’s arm with tears in his eyes.

On the road...

Bad Havok stands on top of the burning truck and yells for Annie and Carter to come out. He sees that there’s no one there but Juggernaut and the smell of rotten eggs. “Jeez, that reeks. What’d you do, fat boy? Cook ‘em and eat ‘em? Huh? You get hungry and reach around for a little drive-time snack?” His last sentence is parroted, as bad Havok turns he sees there werewolves holding the bloody body of Wolverine.

Characters Involved: 

Magik, Mimic, Morph, Nocturne, Sasquatch, Sunfire (all Exiles)
main Marvel Universe "616":

Archangel, Havok, Husk, Iceman, Juggernaut, Nightcrawler, Wolverine (all X-Men)

Annie Ghazikhanian, school nurse

Carter Ghazikhanian, her son

Nicholas Gleason, student at Xavier's

Maximus Lobo and his crew of werewolves

Story Notes: 

The X-Men encountered Maximus Lobo and the werewolves in Uncanny X-Men #417-420 (Dominant Species) Lobo believed that his kind was to dominate and they had to right to kill because they can. Wolverine was beaten to a bloody pulp and Husk was killed, only to be resurrected by Archangel’s second mutation of healing blood. The two have formed some what of a bond after that, Paige helped Warren get over the loss of his ex Psylocke, and they have been dating since.

Alex Summers apparently died at the end of X-Factor #149, and then awoke in the body of another Alex Summers in another reality. "Bad Alex" appears to be the Alex whose body "616" Alex usurped.
Nicholas Gleason was originally introduced in the Chamber limited series.

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