Generation X (1st series) #33

Issue Date: 
December 1997
Story Title: 
Thieves in the Night
Staff: 

Larry Hama (writer), Steve Harris (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), RS/Comicraft/EM (letters), Javins and Higgins (colors), Mark Powers (editor), Bob Harras (editor in chief)

Brief Description: 

The kids from Generation X and Emma Frost are out for a night on the town and eat at a local diner. They are hassled by Weasel and Dorian, some local bullies, but Chief Authier takes care of the miscreants. While they are out, two thieves break into the school and steal all the teams’ valuables. When they enter the med lab, they are met by a furious Penance who watches over the M twins, and they run away. When the team comes home they congratulate Penance on the job well done, and ask her for clues on the thieves identity. Surprisingly Penance points to the cover of a magazine that shows Bill and Hillary Clinton. Compared to the others‘ losses, The things that Skin, Paige and Jubilee report as stolen seem trivial, but they are determined to get them back. In a local mask shop, they see masks of the President and his wife, and learn that a pair of them were stolen earlier on by a teenager named Aemon. The three mutants follow Aemon, and learn that he is stealing for the bullies from the diner, who blackmailed him and his partner. The Generation X kids jump to his rescue, takes back the stolen goods, and disables the bullies’ getaway vehicle. Chief Authier takes the boys into custody, while the Skin, Husk and Jubilee talk with Aemon about the stolen items. While the valuable things are all there, it seems that Jubilee, Skin and Husk’s belongings are not with the rest of the items. Aemon tells them that his partner, Tracy, has them. The only problem with that is that Tracy is Chief Authier’s daughter. She is at home, and unfortunately she is already reading Paige‘s diary and playing with a gun she found in Angelo’s cigar box. On Muir Island, Moira explains her thoughts on the nature of the Legacy Virus to Banshee who tries to convince her to take it easy once more. In his pocket dimension, Emplate suddenly finds a mysterious door that happens to be a warp chamber. Opening it, he finds Chimera, Dirtnap, and the Plasma Wraiths, who propose an alliance with him.

Full Summary: 

In a cramped car on a rainyd day, Generation X and their teacher Emma Frost drive out for a night in the town. Emma believes that they need some time to relax because of how everyone is depressed from recent events. Everett is sick with guilt about Monet splitting apart, Jubilee blames herself for spilling secrets to Bastion and Paige and Jono are tense because of their unresolved feelings for each other. On top of it all, Angelo tries to cheer them up, but is getting on everybody’s nerves. In the car, Emma gives the kids several options where they want to go, and they are all for the Diner, instead of the Maison Nouvelle, which she would have preferred.

As they drive out the gate of the school, two shadowy figures sneak inside before the gate closes. They approach the building and jimmy one of the windows open.

At the neighborhood diner the kids all order burgers, fries and onion rings, only Emma settles for a salad with low-fat Roquefort. Right then, Weasel and Dorian, two local bullies, head over to their table to hassle them. They don’t like the kids that go to the “special school”.

At the school, the two intruders realize that they got lucky, as somebody forgot to turn on the alarm system. Walking around the mansion looking for things to steal, they don’t realize that they are being watched by the enigmatic Penance who stealthily sneaks into the medical lab to protect the M twins.

Dorian and Weasel pester the Generation X kids and Emma promptly tells her students to ignore the buffoons. Dorian becomes angry and starts yelling at Emma, unaware of Skin and Jubilee’s plan. Skin stretches his fingers and pulls out Dorian’s pants while Jubilee puts a pyrotechnic ball into them.

Meanwhile, the thieves collect their wanted goods and are about to leave when they see the med lab. They wonder if there are any drugs or valuable items in there that can completely get them off the hook. They wander into the lab only to be faced with a ferocious Penance.

At the diner, Dorian fumes with anger. He demands to know which one of the academy geeks dropped a firecracker in his pants. He rears back to punch one of them but his fist is caught by Chief Authier, who promptly disposes of the miscreants and apologizes to the kids. He doesn’t like people being harassed for being different; himself being a Huguenot and Ojibway and his wife being Armenian and Jewish, there is not a drop of blood between them that doesn’t have a racial memory of genocide and oppression.

Outside, Weasel and Dorian get into their car and wonder how Aemon and Tracy made out on their assignment.

Back inside, Chief Authier asks Jono to pull off his mask to make sure that he isn’t a wanted criminal. Chamber panics, but Emma telepathically reassures him and orders him to pull his mask off. Chamber reluctantly complies, and miraculously his face appears whole. Emma used her telepathic abilities to disguise Jono’s appearance to the officer, who, now satisfied, walks away, wishing the class a nice evening.

On Muir Island, Moira MacTaggert stands in the midst of a holographic simulation of human DNA, explaining her theories on the deadly Legacy Virus to Sean Cassidy. She proposes that the virus does not attack on a cellular level like most, but attaches itself to cellular proteins. The virus latches on to the protein that the mutant’s powers are on, changing its shape and destabilizing it until the host dies as a result of their own powers. Sean tells Moira that she is working to hard; there is always a tomorrow to finish her work. Moira answers him that if she doesn’t find the cure that there will not be a tomorrow. Sean says that there is always a new dawn, and that is God’s way of reminding them that there is always hope.

(several hours later)
The Generation X kids return home to find that they have been robbed. Everyone lists off the things that have been stolen from them, and Chamber and Synch get angry at Jubilee, Skin and Husk for their apparent trivial losses compared to Everett’s life savings and Jono’s entire CD collection. Jubilee is missing the cowboy hat Logan gave her, Skin lost his cigar box, and Husk reports her advanced calculus book as stolen. Emma bursts into the hallway, exclaiming that her jewels have been taken also.

Chamber remarks that Emma must really be upset over the fight with Banshee, as she forgot to activate the security system. She dismisses the comment and asks if anyone has checked on Penance and the twins. The team looks in the med lab and finds it in disarray, the beds overturned. Synch finds Penance hiding in the medicine cabinet with the twins sleeping by her side. They all congratulate Penance on her quick thinking, and Jubilee asks for a clue as to who robbed them. Penance scratches around on the floor for a magazine. She picks up one and shows the cover to the team. They all stare in disbelief at the picture of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

In a pocket dimension belonging to Emplate, D.O.A. scurries to his master to tell him of recent developments. A mysterious door, labeled WC, has appeared in their dimension. Emplate orders D.O.A. to open it, much to his dismay since the origin of the door is unknown. Submissively, D.O.A. complies with his master’s orders.

(the next day)
Jubilee, Husk, and Skin discuss their thefts while walking through town. They are determined to get their things back and wonder what Penance meant by showing the picture of the Clinton; surely it wasn’t them who broke into the school. As they pass a mask shop, Jubilee sees masks of the Clinton’s in the window and realizes that the thieves must have worn similar masks. The teens quickly question the shopkeeper, who says that he never sold one of them, but he suspects that a pair of them have recently been filched by a certain teenager.

Elsewhere, D.O.A. shakily opens the door and four shapes come tumbling out, a blonde female followed by two Plasma Wraiths and Dirtnap. The leader introduces herself as Chimera and proposes an alliance between her party and Emplate. Curious, Emplate asks her if the door she just came through is a dimensional gateway, and she tells him that it is a warp chamber, which is pretty much the same thing.

In Massachusetts, Skin, Jubilee, and Husk are hiding in the bushes outside a house. They wait until they see a figure with a Hillary mask come out the window. Jubilee wonders where “Bill“ is and Angelo makes a joke that he is probably at the motel with Paula. The kids secretly follow the thief and see him meet up with the bullies from the diner. The thief, Aemon, loads the stolen goods into Dorian’s car.

Dorian wonders where the other thief, Tracy, is and Aemon relays her message to them. She told them that they could kiss it because she doesn’t want to do their dirty work anymore. Dorian loses his temper and punches Aemon. He is about to punch him again when Husk jumps out from behind the fence to save the young boy. Paige stands in Dorian’s path, but she cannot use her powers for fear of endangering the school’s secret. Dorian punches Paige and her teammates jump to her rescue. Still hidden in some bushes, Skin entangles Dorian’s feet and trips him while Jubilee beats up Weasel.

The bullies jump into their car to drive away, but Skin is able to take the suitcase of stolen merchandise out of the trunk and Jubilee throws a “paf” up the tail pipe of the car. The engine of the car blows and it skids to a stop, right before the eyes of Chief Authier. He arrests the young hoodlums, who claim that it wasn’t their fault. But those of “them weirdo geeks“, but the Generation X teenagers have already left.

Later, Page, Angelo and Jubilee talk to Aemon about the things that he stole. Inside the suitcase they find Everett’s money. Emma‘s jewels and Jono’s CDs, but their own things are missing. They ask him where their belongings are and Aemon tells them that his partner Tracy has them. He then tells them who Tracy is.

On the other side of town, Chief Authier walks into his home and calls out to his daughter, Tracy. She sits on her bed wearing Jubilee’s cowboy hat, reading Paige’s journal which was hidden in her calculus book. With the other hand she is playing with a gun she found in Angelo’s box of cigars. She tells her dad that she heard him, but she is reading right now.

Characters Involved: 

Chamber, Husk, Jubilee, Penance I, Skin, Synch (all Generation X)
Banshee, White Queen (Generation X‘s teachers and tutors)
Claudette and Nicole St. Croix
Moira MacTaggert

Chief Authier
Tracy Authier, his daughter
Aemon, Tracy’s friend
Dorian and Weasel, two bullies
owner of Kim’s Variety shop

Emplate
D.O.A.

Chimera
Plasma Wraiths
Dirtnap

Story Notes: 

Emplate resides in a pocket dimension beside the main Marvel Universe, which he sometimes uses to help him hunt his mutant dinner. Traveling between dimensions is very painful for him, which is why he is intrigued by the prospect of a warp chamber.

Chimera last appeared in Wolverine (2nd series) #97, Dirtnap in Wolverine (2nd series) #100. It is unknown how they ended up in each other’s company.

M split into twin girls when the Prime Sentinels attacked her in Generation X (1st series) #31. Banshee
traveled to Muir Island to find an answer for M’s separation in Generation X (1st series) #32.

Paula refers to Paula Jones, a woman who claimed to have been sexually harrased by then-governor of Akansas, Bill Clinton. The investigation by prosecutors in preparation for the trial led to the revelation of Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky and the subsequent impeachment proceedings. Ironically, Clinton and Jones settled the lawsuit out of court.

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