Generation X (2nd series) #9

Issue Date: 
January 2018
Story Title: 
Untitled
Staff: 

Christina Strain (writer), Amilcar Pinna (artist), Felipe Sobreiro (colorist), Virtual Calligraphy's Clayton Cowles (letterer), Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson (cover artists), Jay Bowen & Anthony Gambino (graphic designers), Chris Robinson (assistant editor), Darren Shan (editor), X-Men Group Editor (Mark Panicca), Axel Alonso (editor-in-chief), Joe Quesada (chief creative officer), Dan Buckley (publisher), Alan Fine (executive producer)

Brief Description: 

Quentin Quire, Hindsight, Benjamin Deeds, Eye-Boy, Nature Girl and other students are searching through the rubble at the museum to try and find the trapped Jubilee and Bling. Nature Girl leaves Shogo Lee in the care of Mrs Opossum. Husk arrives on scene to help, and when she finds Chamber, he tells her that Jubilee hasn't had anything for breakfast. In the tunnel where Jubilee and Bling fell to, Bling helps pull Jubilee from the large spike that she was trapped on – and just in time as they leave that part of the tunnel, it collapses behind them. Back above ground Quentin has made a mess of some of the clean-up, knocking Mercury over and causing some rubble to collapse inwards – Benjamin realizes that the rubble has collapsed on Hindsight, and is furious. He begins to scramble through the rubble, while giving Quentin a piece of his mind, telling him that everything he does blows back on the rest of them, in a bad way. Quentin is annoyed, so he releases a wave of telekinesis that lifts all the rubble, clearing the way to find Hindsight, who is okay. Quentin then flies away, while Benjamin wants to help Hindsight, and uses his jacket sleeve to wipe the blood off of Hindsight's face, as they stare into each other's eyes. Chamber and Husk join the others, and Nature Girl tells Eye-Boy that he needs to inform Chamber about his new power. Eye-Boy reluctantly reveals he can now see through things, and that he might be able to help find Jubilee and Bling. At that moment, Jubilee and Bling come across several Morlocks who have been drained by M-Plate. This causes Bling to panic, remembering what Emplate once did to her. Jubilee comforts Bling, and after rescuing the one Morlock who is still alive, they carry on down the tunnel, unaware that M-Plate and DOA are watching them. DOA is confused as to why M-Plate is just letting them go, but M-Plate has a plan. Elsewhere in the tunnels, Chamber, Husk, Nature Girl, Mercury, Eye-Boy and Shogo, who has been retrieved from Mrs Opossum, search for their friends, when Eye-Boy notices heat signatures below. Mercury shifts her form and seeps through the ground, which Husk then starts to break up so that the others can get down. They find Bling helping the Morlock, as Jubilee told her to keep going, she is back in the tunnel, too weak to carry on. Chamber and Husk rush on to find Jubilee. Chamber gives Jubilee his arm so she can drink some of his blood – and as she does, Eye-Boy and Nature Girl appear, with Shogo, who starts to cry when he sees his mother drinking blood. Later, at the Xavier Institute, Benjamin is taking some potato chips to Hindsight when he bumps into Quentin, who has packed a bag and is planning to leave, even when Benjamin apologizes to him. Benjamin arrives in Hindsight's room and they chat about Quentin, before Hindsight tells Benjamin that he has picked up on the signals he has been giving, and explains that his powers have destroyed any relationship he has ever had, as he has access to, and he doesn't want to lose Benjamin as a friend, so that is all they can be. Outside, Nature Girl tells Mrs Opossum that she will opossum-sit her young, when she notices Quentin climbing onto Krakoa. She asks him where they are going, to which Quentin asks her if she is going to stop him. Nature Girl asks why she would do that, and Quentin and Krakoa leave.

Full Summary: 

'One-man clean-up crew coming through!' Quentin Quire calls out as he uses his telekinetic power to levitate rubble and debris from the ruins of the Museum of Natural History in New York. As he does so, an opossum carrying her young on her back scuttles past him. 'Watch your heads, losers. Or don't. Not like most of you use them anyway' Quentin adds, while the opossum moves past Nathaniel “Hindsight” Carver who is touching some rubble, where he learns that there is a girl trapped under some boards and a chandelier twenty yards away. 'On it!' Shark Girl exclaims as she rushes over. 'How's that?' Benjamin “Morph” Deeds asks as he places a blanket around someone he has rescued, while the opossum rushes past him. 'Better' the man replies, before asking Benjamin if he could sit with him for a minute.

'Thank you for watching Shogo, Mrs Opossum' Lin “Nature Girl” Li remarks as the opossum comes to a stop where Nature Girl is standing with Trevor “Eye-Boy” Hawkins, who is carrying Shogo Lee, who laughs. Trevor tells Lin that he doesn't know about this, and asks her if they can really trust a marsupial to watch a baby. 'She already has six, Trevor. What's one more?' Lin points out, before telling Trevor to come on, as they have work to do. The massive Krakoa then lifts Trevor and Lin over to where Quentin continues to move rubble with his telekinesis, an where Shark Girl and Hindsight check over the girl they rescued. Benjamin is still with the man he was helping, and Graymalkin is nearby, as Mercury checks another rescued civilian.

'Fore!' Quentin calls out as he lifts some more large steel beams. Jono “Chamber” Starsmore tells Quire to watch it, as one of the beams nearly hits him. 'Jono!' a voice calls out, and Chamber looks up to see Paige “Husk” Guthrie rushing over to him. 'I called Kitty to make sure y'all made it back to the school -' Paige begins. 'And she told you me, Jubilee, Roxy and an entire building fell into a bloody sinkhole?' Chamber asks. 'Basically' Paige tells him, before asking him if he has been able to reach them. 'Psychically? No. Quire and I tried, but neither of us got through to Lee or Roxy' Chamber explains. 'And you're sure they're still -' Paige asks. Chamber reminds her that it will take more than just a building falling on her to do her in. He adds that he is more worried about Roxy, and when Husk asks him why, Chamber points out that he is not sure Lee had anything for breakfast!

Inside the tunnels that run under the city, Roxy “Bling” Washington has torn off the sleeve of her jacket and puts it in Jubilee's mouth for her to bite down on. 'And I'll pull, okay?' Bling adds. 'One. Two... three!' she exclaims as she pulls Jubilee off the large steel pole that was wedged through her stomach, and Jubilee screams, before collapsing to the tunnel floor. There is a creaking, as Bling asks Jubilee if she is sure she is okay, as she has lost a lot of blood. Jubilee tells Bling that everything hurts like hell, but that means she is alive and healing, so she can't complain. The creaking noise becomes a rumbling, as the tunnel roof suddenly collapses. 'Spoke too soon!' Jubilee exclaims. 'Watch out!' Bling calls out as they are forced to make their way down the tunnel, Bling lighting the way with her phone. Jubilee suggests that they find themselves a new way out, to which Bling mutters 'Story of my life...'.

Back outside Cessily “Mercury” Kincaid is sprawled over the ground, re-forming herself, while Quentin stands nearby. Benjamin and Nature Girl rush over and Benjamin asks them what happened. 'Not much... Quentin's just treating clean-up like it's the world's biggest game of Jenga' Mercury mutters. 'She means I clipped a wall' Quentin explains. 'And knocked it over on me!' Mercury snaps. Benjamin asks her if she is okay, to which Quentin declares that she is fine. 'Just look at how salty she is' he points out. 'Anyone ever tell you you're the worst?' Mercury asks. Nature Girl then asks about Nathaniel, to which Quentin replies 'What about that nerd?' to which Nature Girl reports that Nathaniel was by the wall Quentin “clipped”, causing Benjamin to look horrified, and Quentin and Mercury both look concerned.

'Oh, God -' Benjamin begins, while Mercury extends her form as she begins seeping through the rubble, searching for Nathaniel. 'Dammit, Quentin' she exclaims. 'You can't pet this on me, Cessily. It was obviously an accident -' Quentin begins, while Benjamin, who is searching through the rubble, tells Quentin to shut up and to help them find him. Nature Girl looks too, and uses an eagle to carry some rubble out of the way. 'What, you think I did this on purpose?' Quentin asks Benjamin, who replies 'Of course not – you'd have to be able to recognize that there are people in the universe other than you, first'. Quentin puts his hands on his hips and asks Benjamin what he means, and where this is coming from. 'Oh, I dunno – you wrecked the school over a shoe, dragged us into a den of murderers for fun, left Krakoa alone for weeks because you forgot about him – take your pick, Quentin – everything you do blows back on the rest of us!' Benjamin exclaims, while Quentin looks very unimpressed, “Blows back” he calls out, repeating Benjamin's comment, as he unleashes a surge of telekinetic energy that clears the debris from the area.

'Nathaniel? Is this him?' Mercury asks as she re-forms near the motionless Nathaniel. 'What do you know... I found him' Quentin mutters. Benjamin rushes over to Nathaniel, who sits up, and coughs as he rubs his head. 'You're welcome – Benjamin' Quentin snaps, before he starts to fly away. Benjamin calls out to him, asking him to wait. Nathaniel coughs some more, and Cessily points out that the cut on his head is deep. Benjamin tells Nathaniel that she is right, and it looks bad, that there is a lot of blood. Nathaniel coughs as he assures Benjamin that he is fine. Cessily announces that she and Lin will get someone to check on him, just in case. Benjamin puts his hand to Nathaniel's forehead and wipes the blood out of his eyes. 'You're getting blood all over your sleeve -' Nathaniel points out. Benjamin tells him that it is fine. 'It's leather' Nathaniel declares, but Benjamin tells him that he doesn't care. 'I'm just... glad you're okay' Benjamin adds, as he and Nathaniel stare into each other's eyes.

'NATHANIEL! You okay, lad?' a telepathic voice booms, as Chamber and Husk make their way over to Nathaniel and Benjamin. Nathaniel gets to his feet and assures everyone that it is just a cut and that he is fine. He adds that he is ready to keep going. Chamber suggests that don't take any chances and get him back to the school. Chamber adds that other than Jubilee and Roxy, everyone has been accounted for, so he and Husk will take it from here. 'I thought you said that you didn't know where she was' Nathaniel remarks. Paige reports that they know she is underground, so they are clearing a way down now. Nathaniel offers to help, to which Chamber tells him it is a good offer, but that they will sort it. Nature Girl turns to Trevor, who sighs, and mutters 'Yeah, I know...' and informs Jono that he thinks he can help with finding Jubilee, as he might have sorta started seeing through stuff. Chamber asks Trevor what he is on about , so Nature Girl explains that he can see through walls and clothing and skin. 'What?' Chamber asks, 'That's not... I mean, it is...I just... I'm just trying to help!' Trevor exclaims.

'Holy cats' Jubilee gasps in the abandoned subway tunnel, as she and Bling come to an old subway train, littered with Morlock bodies. Jubilee rushes over to one that she thinks is still alive, she can hear his heartbeat. 'Who did this?' Bling wonders. 'I can't be, like, 1,000% sure, but... I think...' Jubilee begins as she checks for the Morlock's vital signs, then suddenly, the subway car door slams as Roxy leaves. Jubilee helps the Morlock to his feet and they get out of the subway car, to find Bling courching, gasping for breath. Jubilee asks her what is wrong, and tells her to relax, that she is going to be okay. 'But Emplate...' Bling begins, to which Jubilee tells her that it is okay, as Monet is not here. 'How do you know?' Bling asks. 'I don't smell the overwhelming amounts of Chanel No 5, do you?' Jubilee jokes, adding that, unlike her brother, Monet is annoyingly smart and methodical, so she is probably lying low and plotting out how to beat them at checkers with chess – or however that expression goes.

Bling asks Jubilee whether the Morlock is still alive, and Jubilee looks at him and tells Bling that he is, to which Bling points out that means Monet was just here. Jubilee is distracted as she looks at the Morlock, before telling Bling that she is right, and that they should get out of here. Jubilee then tells Bling that she did a nice job today. 'Seriously? I had a panic attack' Bling replies. 'And I impaled myself on some rebar. No one's perfect' Jubilee remarks. She adds that her body isn't done with healing, and asks Bling if she can help her with the Morlock. 'Maybe it's not your wond holding you back, but your age?' Bling grins. Jubilee laughs and points out that it looks like Bling is feeling better, and as she helps the Morlock down the tunnel, they are unaware that standing in the shadows watching them are Monet St Croix and DOA, who exclaims 'But Sir, they're right there... why are you letting them go?' Monet replies that Jubilee was right – she has a plan.

Down another tunnel, Trevor carries Shogo and tells Nature Girl that it's not that he doesn't trust Mrs Opossum. 'It's just...' he begins. 'Just what?' Nature Girl asks. 'She's an opossum?' Trevor points out. 'So you thought it was a better idea to bring him down here?' Cessily asks as she walks alongside Chamber and Husk. 'Because Jubilee trusted me with keeping my eyes on him' Trevor declares, before his newfound abilities enable him to see two figures beneath this level. 'I'm going down first!' Cessily calls out as she shifts her form to liquid metal and slides through the floor, while Chamber is annoyed that he can't just blast the ground open, as he doesn't want the floor collapsing on top of them. Husk tells Jono not to worry, that she will clear the way, she just has to change into something a little bit sturdier. She then shucks her skin back, tearing it off, revealing a hardened form beneath.

Down below, Bling is still escorting the Morlock, but looks up as she sees liquid metal dripping down before her. 'Cessily' she exclaims. 'Took you long enough' Bling smiles as Cessily re-forms and helps Bling with the Morlock. 'You know, you can just say that you missed me' Cessily smiles, before Chamber calls out to Roxy, asking her if she is okay. Bling looks up and sees that Husk has ripped the floor open. 'Where's Jubilee?' Husk asks. Bling reports that he is okay, but that Jubilee is  farther back in the tunnel, that she said she was too weak to keep going, and told her to go on without her, causing Chamber to go wide-eyed.

'Jubilee!' Husk calls out as she and Chamber race down the runnel. 'Lee!' Chamber exclaims. 'Paige? Jono...' Jubilee calls out, leaning against a wall, she tells her friends that in the time it took them to get their butts down here, they found Monet's “crash opad”, Roxy nearly had a panic attack, and she came this close to eating a Morlock, but she didn't, she just needed a little help focusing her mind on pain over hunger. She then collapses into Chamber's arms, while Husk notices Jubilee's hand, which is covered in blood. 'Everything's a “good idea” when you're sarving...' Jubilee explains. Chamber tells her that he has a better one, and rolling up his sleeve, offers his arm to Jubilee. 'Jono, what are you -' Jubilee begins. 'Just a nip. You need your strength' Chamber points out.

'Atta girl' Chamber declares as Jubilee bites down into his arm, but suddenly, 'Mommy...?' Shogo calls out, as he, Trevor and Lin arrive in the tunnel. 'SHOGO!' Jubilee gasps, pulling away from Chamber, her mouth covered in blood. 'Shogo, honey, why are you -' Jubilee begins, but Shogo bursts into tears, screaming. 'Oh, God...' Jubilee utters. Shogo doesn't stop screaming as Trevor and Lin try to console him, while Chamber and Paige look after Jubilee.

 

Later, at the Xavier Institute, Benjamin rushes down a corridor, carrying bags of potato chips, when he bumps into Quentin. 'Smooth' Quentin mutters as Benjamin drops all of the chips. 'Sorry about that...' Benjamin replies, before noticing Quentin has a bag and asks him if he is going somewhere. 'Laundry' Quentin replies. 'You? Laundry?' Benjamin asks, surprised. Quentin tells him that you can only wear underwear inside out so many times. Benjamin looks sincere as he tells Quentin that he is sorry about earlier, that he didn't mean to be so harsh. 'Whatever' Quentin snaps, hanging his head, he declares that he is over it, and turns and walks away.

'But he wasn't over it at all' Benjamin tells Nathaniel as he sits on Nathaniel's bed. Nathaniel is sitting there, too, in his pyjamas, and opens one of the bag of chips, while Benjamin admits that he shouldn't have snapped at Quentin, that he thinks he might have screwed up. Nathaniel suggests that Quentin probably needs a minute to cool off, but Benjamin isn't sure. Nathaniel offers the potato chips to Benjamin, and tells him that Quentin would never admit it, but that Benjamin is basically the closest thing he has had to a brother, and for him, that is everything. 'Trust me, I've been in the jerk's head. Twice. It was two times too many' Nathaniel adds, before rubbing the back of his neck and remarking 'While we're on the subject of clarifying where people's heads are...' to which Benjamin tries to smile, as Nathaniel tells him that he has been picking up on his signals. 'Oh. That's... cool?' Benjamin replies.

Nathaniel then explains to Benjamin that his powers have basically nuked every relationship that he has ever had – one touch and suddenly, everything is different, and there is no coming back. He closes his eyes as he tells Benjamin that he has access to everything going on in someone's head, whether they want him to or not, so then he suddenly seems harder to read and more closed off, more judgmental – because he is. 'And maybe this wouldn't matter so much if – I didn't like you as much as I do, Ben... so I'm terrified of losing you. Especially as a friend'. Benjamin looks upset, and both men hang their heads. 'I'm sorry' Nathaniel tells Benjamin, who replies 'It's okay. I get it'.

Outside, Nature Girl is sitting in a tree with Mrs Opossum and her children. She runs her hands through Mrs Opossum's fur and tells her that she can still opossum-sit for her tonight. Suddenly, Lin sees Quentin approach Krakoa, and asks him where they are going. 'What do you care? You gonna try to stop me?' Quentin asks as he climbs onto Krakoa. 'Why would I do that?' Nature Girl replies. 'Yeah, that's what I thought' Quentin mutters as Krakoa carries him off into the night.

Characters Involved: 

Bling, Eye-Boy, Hindsight, Kid Omega, Morph II, Nature Girl (all Generation X)

Chamber, Husk, Jubilee

Shogo Lee

Graymalkin, Mercury V, Shark Girl (all X-Men students)

Krakoa II

 

M II

DOA

 

 

Zookeeper

Civilians

Morlocks

 

Mrs Opossum

Story Notes: 

Eye-Boy developed the ability to see through walls, clothing and skin in Generation X (2nd series) #5.

Bling had previous dealings with Emplate in X-Men Legacy Annual #1 and X-Men Legacy (2nd series) #228-230.

Quentin abandoned Krakoa II in Mighty Thor (2nd series) #18, Krakoa showed up at the Xavier Institute last issue.

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