Storm is looking for trouble in San Francisco's Chinatown. She quickly finds it, and defeats a gang beating up some civilians. She then makes the acquaintance of Bree Morrel, SFPD Lieutenant (and semi-regular in Claremont's Spider-Woman run), who says the X-Men are fine by her and that she hopes they stay. (They missed a trick by not having her be Head of Police or something after Manifest Destiny).
They're hanging out at Jessica Drew (that is, Spider-Woman)'s house, where they get a postcard from Alaska, from Scott. "Is all well with his family, Rogue?" asks Colossus, pointedly. "Seems so, Pete." replies Rogue. Given they're in CA already, might they pop over to AK for a visit? Rachel thinks this isn't a very good idea, for entirely incorrect reasons.
Kitty has gone to a Lila Cheney gig - in fishnets (I suppose she's finally got over Storm's change in look and is now emulating her), and on her way back she and David Ishima - Jessica Drew's landlord and love interest - are attacked by the ironically named Freedom Force, which now consists of Avalanche, Spiral, Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter), Pyro, and Blob but minus Mystique. They are there on official business, supposedly, to arrest the X-Men, but they've been very badly briefed, as they are not aware that Storm has lost her powers.
With the X-Men beaten, Lieutenant Morrel arrives, and you can already see where this is going. Where the X-Men failed in combat, she defeats Freedom Force with her power of bureaucratic stonewalling.
Meanwhile, Madelyne Pryor winds up in a San Francisco hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. Given the earlier postcard, this is surely another swipe by Claremont at what Layton is doing with Scott. It's fascinating to see comic books argue with each other like this. In a way, I almost regret that things will soon be smoothed over, as it might have otherwise reached epic levels.
but they've been very badly briefed, as they are not aware that Storm has lost her powers.
ReplyDeleteWhich is especially sad since Mystiqwue was, you know, right there when it happened, was bosom buddies with Forge thanks to her DoD job.
In a way, I almost regret that things will soon be smoothed over, as it might have otherwise reached epic levels.
Oh, we've still got a bit of that left coming up. Claremont takes some pretty good swipes at Scott's behavior in the run up to "Inferno".