The Uncanny X-Men #210
The story starts with a man in a Hellfire guard uniform getting stabbed in the back with a harpoon in Los Angelos. He begs his companion, Tommy, a weirdly-colored girl, to give him his gun, but she is afraid and runs away. As he crawls toward his gun, a foot steps on his hand and he is shot in the head. The girl turns herself "flat as a sheet of paper" and slips into a train car, hoping to get home to the Morlock tunnels. A voice watches, saying they are to kill her later and that they are called the Marauders. One says, "I hope Malice is having as much fun with her assignment in San Francisco."
In San Francisco, Dazzler is still undercover in Lila Cheney's band, with her hair dyed black. She hates the facade, but recongizes its necessity. She sees a face in the mirror, her own but as she was, with blonde hair. It says it's Malice, and it's the real her. It jumps out of the mirror and wraps its fingers around her throat, and she lets out such a strong light blast that she knocks herself out. When she recovers, she thinks she must be so exhausted that she's halucinating. She is wearing a choker that she didn't have before, and she goes to bed.
In New York Rogue is flying around, looking for Rachel, but her wrist sensor isn't picking anything up. She sees the X-Factor building, which has been the site of a battle, it appears, but doesn't know who they are. She sees a scaffolding give way and flies to help the men falling off it. One of the men wants to kiss her, but she has to decline. She sees her reflection in a window as she flies past and that she looks awful after the battle with Nimrod. She flies to Bloomingdale's and gets a makeover. A man starts calling he a mutie, saying he saw her fly in. She doesn't worry about him, but the guy who she saved earlier comes in and almost starts a fight with him. She flies past an X-Factor sign on a bus and think she'd better tell Storm: "Mutant investigations and resolutions! No need to be fearful any longer! Our skilled team of experts will aid you in finding the answers to one of the must urgent problems of our time! Call our toll free number! [etc.]" (X-Factor was posing as a private "mutant disposal team" if you will, showing up to get rid of mutants, but they were really the original X-Men, and they would rescue mutants and give them sanctuary at their base. When they operated openly, they went under the name "X-Terminators.")
At the mansion, Illyana is visiting Colossus's room. She sees some sketches that he never had a chance to send her while she was in Russia. She sees a sketch of Kitty and Colossus admits he never stopped caring for her. Illyana says that Kitty's world is falling apart, with Rachel running away and Nightcrawler missing, and that they need to help her. In the professor's study, Kitty is upgrading Cerebro, phasing so completely that she doesn't disrupt the computer parts, while putting in new parts. Colossus and Illyana come in and talk to her, and Cerebro's alarm goes off, indicating that one of their missing teammates has been found.
Magneto is going to the Hellfire Club, at their invitation. Magneto sees X-Factor, who has been called in by the police to investigate the site of the Nimrod battle, and is shocked, knowing X-Factor's cover story. He assumes Jean is Madelyne Pryor. X-Factor sees Magneto entering the Hellfire Club and think he probably belongs there among the other villains. Sebastian Shaw has invited Magneto to assume the role of White King, because the world is becoming so dangerous for mutants. He cites Freedom Force, X-Factor, and Nimrod. "We may all hang together, Magneto, but I guarantee we haven't a prayer of enduring separately." Magneto says he'll consider it. (Magneto joins the Hellfire Club fairly soon. The X-Factor thing isn't resolved for quite some time, and the two teams don't cross paths, really, in the meantime.)
At a derelict warehouse on the Hudson, a mob is chasing Nightcrawler, throwing bottles and bricks at him. Illyana teleports Colossus, Kitty, and herself to the scene, out of sight, and they come into view. Kitty shames the mob into dispersing, then asks why Nightcrawler didn't teleport away. He says he seems to have lost his power. (Nightcrawler's power doesn't return to full capacity until after Chris Claremont stops writing Excalibur, quite a few years down the road. He can still use it, as early as next issue, but it takes a great toll on him.)
At the Delacorte Theater, Wolverine is with Storm. Wolverine says the trail ends there, and Rachel's gone somewhere they can't follow. Storm says he shouldn't have acted alone against Rachel, and that if he had summoned the team, perhaps they could have calmed her down. Wolverine says he's always been a loner, but Storm says she needs to be able to rely on him. He puts out a hand, and she says, "You must be there," taking it. He says, "I will be. To the end." (I almost feel like there are hints of an unspoken love between Wolverine and Storm, during this period. Like they have deep feelings for each other, but are too mature to act on them. Wolverine isn't kidding about being there to the end. Around X-Men #251 and beyond, he becomes the last X-Man and is very into his obligations to the X-Men.)
In New York's steam tunnels, Tommy, from the beginning, is rushing toward the Morlock tunnels, but a harpoon impales her, then she is killed by a gunshot. The shooter tells her not to worry, because where she's going, she'll soon have lots of company. The end!
Overview: A good issue, with no real action, but lots of character stuff. After the team gets sundered next issue, the Colossus/Illyana/Kitty relationship will be sorely missed, so it's nice that the got a few pages of interaction here. This is also the last issue of John Romita Jr. as full penciler during this run. After Wilce Portacio leaves in the early 90's, though, he comes back to the book as regular penciler, the first to do so. The next penciler is Marc Silvestri, but he doesn't turn up for a good ten issues, with lots of filler artists. As stated before, the filler artists are from canceled books that Chris was using: Captain Britain's Alan Davis, Longshot's Art Adams, and Dazzler's Butch Guice. (Although Art Adams only does covers and annuals.) There are a few others in there, too, like Bret Blevins, who co-pencils next issue, and goes on to become a regular penciler on New Mutants, all the way up to Rob Liefeld.
Next: Mister Sinister, the Marauders, and the Mutant Massacre!
In San Francisco, Dazzler is still undercover in Lila Cheney's band, with her hair dyed black. She hates the facade, but recongizes its necessity. She sees a face in the mirror, her own but as she was, with blonde hair. It says it's Malice, and it's the real her. It jumps out of the mirror and wraps its fingers around her throat, and she lets out such a strong light blast that she knocks herself out. When she recovers, she thinks she must be so exhausted that she's halucinating. She is wearing a choker that she didn't have before, and she goes to bed.
In New York Rogue is flying around, looking for Rachel, but her wrist sensor isn't picking anything up. She sees the X-Factor building, which has been the site of a battle, it appears, but doesn't know who they are. She sees a scaffolding give way and flies to help the men falling off it. One of the men wants to kiss her, but she has to decline. She sees her reflection in a window as she flies past and that she looks awful after the battle with Nimrod. She flies to Bloomingdale's and gets a makeover. A man starts calling he a mutie, saying he saw her fly in. She doesn't worry about him, but the guy who she saved earlier comes in and almost starts a fight with him. She flies past an X-Factor sign on a bus and think she'd better tell Storm: "Mutant investigations and resolutions! No need to be fearful any longer! Our skilled team of experts will aid you in finding the answers to one of the must urgent problems of our time! Call our toll free number! [etc.]" (X-Factor was posing as a private "mutant disposal team" if you will, showing up to get rid of mutants, but they were really the original X-Men, and they would rescue mutants and give them sanctuary at their base. When they operated openly, they went under the name "X-Terminators.")
At the mansion, Illyana is visiting Colossus's room. She sees some sketches that he never had a chance to send her while she was in Russia. She sees a sketch of Kitty and Colossus admits he never stopped caring for her. Illyana says that Kitty's world is falling apart, with Rachel running away and Nightcrawler missing, and that they need to help her. In the professor's study, Kitty is upgrading Cerebro, phasing so completely that she doesn't disrupt the computer parts, while putting in new parts. Colossus and Illyana come in and talk to her, and Cerebro's alarm goes off, indicating that one of their missing teammates has been found.
Magneto is going to the Hellfire Club, at their invitation. Magneto sees X-Factor, who has been called in by the police to investigate the site of the Nimrod battle, and is shocked, knowing X-Factor's cover story. He assumes Jean is Madelyne Pryor. X-Factor sees Magneto entering the Hellfire Club and think he probably belongs there among the other villains. Sebastian Shaw has invited Magneto to assume the role of White King, because the world is becoming so dangerous for mutants. He cites Freedom Force, X-Factor, and Nimrod. "We may all hang together, Magneto, but I guarantee we haven't a prayer of enduring separately." Magneto says he'll consider it. (Magneto joins the Hellfire Club fairly soon. The X-Factor thing isn't resolved for quite some time, and the two teams don't cross paths, really, in the meantime.)
At a derelict warehouse on the Hudson, a mob is chasing Nightcrawler, throwing bottles and bricks at him. Illyana teleports Colossus, Kitty, and herself to the scene, out of sight, and they come into view. Kitty shames the mob into dispersing, then asks why Nightcrawler didn't teleport away. He says he seems to have lost his power. (Nightcrawler's power doesn't return to full capacity until after Chris Claremont stops writing Excalibur, quite a few years down the road. He can still use it, as early as next issue, but it takes a great toll on him.)
At the Delacorte Theater, Wolverine is with Storm. Wolverine says the trail ends there, and Rachel's gone somewhere they can't follow. Storm says he shouldn't have acted alone against Rachel, and that if he had summoned the team, perhaps they could have calmed her down. Wolverine says he's always been a loner, but Storm says she needs to be able to rely on him. He puts out a hand, and she says, "You must be there," taking it. He says, "I will be. To the end." (I almost feel like there are hints of an unspoken love between Wolverine and Storm, during this period. Like they have deep feelings for each other, but are too mature to act on them. Wolverine isn't kidding about being there to the end. Around X-Men #251 and beyond, he becomes the last X-Man and is very into his obligations to the X-Men.)
In New York's steam tunnels, Tommy, from the beginning, is rushing toward the Morlock tunnels, but a harpoon impales her, then she is killed by a gunshot. The shooter tells her not to worry, because where she's going, she'll soon have lots of company. The end!
Overview: A good issue, with no real action, but lots of character stuff. After the team gets sundered next issue, the Colossus/Illyana/Kitty relationship will be sorely missed, so it's nice that the got a few pages of interaction here. This is also the last issue of John Romita Jr. as full penciler during this run. After Wilce Portacio leaves in the early 90's, though, he comes back to the book as regular penciler, the first to do so. The next penciler is Marc Silvestri, but he doesn't turn up for a good ten issues, with lots of filler artists. As stated before, the filler artists are from canceled books that Chris was using: Captain Britain's Alan Davis, Longshot's Art Adams, and Dazzler's Butch Guice. (Although Art Adams only does covers and annuals.) There are a few others in there, too, like Bret Blevins, who co-pencils next issue, and goes on to become a regular penciler on New Mutants, all the way up to Rob Liefeld.
Next: Mister Sinister, the Marauders, and the Mutant Massacre!