The Uncanny X-Men #215
The story begins with Madelyne Pryor remembering her plane crash. As she emerges from the flames, a Phoenix effect can be seen behind her and she narrates "My name's Madelyne Pryor. This was my first command." She wakes up in an ambulance in San Francisco, being tended to by Arclight, with Scalphunter driving. She realizes she's missing her baby, and whacks Arclight one, falling out the back of the ambulance. She runs for it, but Arclight knocks her down and Scalphunter shoots her in the back. (I think this must be where Maddie became associated with Mister Sinister, poor gal. I'm not sure what the whole "This was my first command," thing was, though.)
At the mansion, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Kitty are in containment units, being loaded into the blackbird. Storm is sending them, along with Rogue, Psylocke, Dazzler, Longshot, and Callisto to Muir Isle to await further orders. Meanwhile, she and Wolverine are going to tend to some business in New York, and determine if the team can continue. After the jet takes off, Storm goes to Wolverine, who is outside. She says she hasn't seen him since the Malice fight, and he says that's probably for the best, after how he nearly killed her. She says she wants him to help her on some business upstate, extending a hand. He flips his cigarette away and walks off without taking her hand, saying, "Let's go, then." (Just like that, Longshot's on the team. He and Dazzler are already staying close to each other. This basically leaves Magneto alone at the mansion, waiting to see if the New Mutants return.)
In a hospital in San Francisco, some doctors are overlooking Madelyne, who is comatose, saying it's a miracle she's alive. She wakes up and tells them her name. In New York, Wolverine and Storm are driving. Storm is disappointed in Wolverine's defeatest attitude, and Wolverine says that if he can't trust his senses, what does he have left? The two arrive the house of Sara Grey (Jean's sister) and her two children. It is a burning wreck, and Wolverine says it was a gasoline bomb, but he doesn't detect any death scents. Storm thinks of Forge and wonders if its time to swallow her pride and go see if she can get her powers back. Wolverine then says that Sara's scent is old, and she probably wasn't there when the bomb went off. But he senses Cyclops and Jean were. This makes him flip out, and when Storm puts a hand on his shoulder, he smacks her and runs off. (I don't know what happened with Sara Grey, but it must have happened in X-Factor. For that matter, I don't know if she ever turns up after this.)
On the blackbird, Kitty leaves her "lifecell" and walks into the cabin, where Psylocke, Dazzler, and Longshot are sleeping. She looks at Longshot, all crushy, thinking she'll never get a chance to tell him how she feels. She kisses him, and he wakes up, even though she is stuck in phase. Rogue tells her to get back to her cell and she flees. Longshot felt a dark future for her -- "an awful void that hungers for her" -- and wonders if that's death, and Rogue says it could be. (I wonder if Longshot was still supposed to end up with Excalibur at this point, because Kitty liking him never comes up again.)
Storm wakes up manacled in a dungeon. She picks the locks and escapes, seeing another prisoner, a punked-out girl. She goes upstairs and sees that she's in a lavish cabin, with many trophies: an elephant head, big cat heads, and Nazi wreckage. Two costumed men come back to the front door, and Storm hides on a balcony. One is saying that he wishes "he hadn't begged> I hate it when they beg." A third costumed man grabs Storm from behind. She kicks him in the face and flings him over the balcony. One of the men who came in below zips around, blocking her path, and she realizes he's a speedster. He introduces himself as Super Sabre and punches at the air in front of her, knocking her over the balcony from the air pressure. She hits the third man, who says he's Stonewall, and can't be knocked down. Storm jabs at his eyes, making him flinch, then flips away. She pulls the bearskin rug out from under him, causing him to fall. She runs for the door but Super Sabre nabs her and knocks her out with a snap of his fingers that causes a sonic boom. (The introduction of Super Sabre, Stonewall, and Crimson Commando, some of the more forgettable characters from Chris Claremont's run. I like the creative use of Super Sabre's powers, though. Marvel doesn't have too many speedster characters: Quicksilver, Super Sabre, Speed Demon, and the Runner are all that come to mind.)
Storm is soon outside with the other prisoner. The guy who first grabbed her introduces himself as Crimson Commando. He says that he and his colleagues fought in World War II, using their powers to fight the Nazis. They wanted to continue against the Communists, but the government instructed them to retire. Instead they set up their little The Deadliest Game camp and perform vigilante justice against criminals. The girl begs for mercy and Stonewall says her name is Priscilla Morrison. She is a spoiled rich girl who, along with her boyfriend who they had just killed, dealt drugs. She didn't need the money: she just did it for fun, and her family kept her from being arrested. Storm says they are mistaken in thinking that she is also a criminal, but now that she knows about their little operation, they won't let her go, so she flees with Priscilla. She wonders if Priscilla is beyond redemption, remembering that she herself was a child thief. Thus, she decides to protect her at any cost, as the three vigilantes begin the hunt behind the. The end!
Overview: Almost a filler issue, with little of importance happening. We get Alan Davis doing the art on his last fill-in before starting Excalibur in a year or two. We get Longshot as part of the team, closing in on the new status quo. (This is why it was so hard to place the annual where Longshot joins: in it Nightcrawler, Kitty, and Colossus were fine, and the New Mutants were present.)
The three new villains are kind of uninspired. Stonewall is just pretty much like the Blob, and a speedster isn't anything too daring. Crimson Commando is just another peak human type mutant. They don't go far, but I'll cover that after next issue. Another thing that strikes me is that in a modern comic book, three characters who abduct criminals and take them into the forest and hunt them for sport might be seen as straight heroes in modern Marvel comics.
At the mansion, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Kitty are in containment units, being loaded into the blackbird. Storm is sending them, along with Rogue, Psylocke, Dazzler, Longshot, and Callisto to Muir Isle to await further orders. Meanwhile, she and Wolverine are going to tend to some business in New York, and determine if the team can continue. After the jet takes off, Storm goes to Wolverine, who is outside. She says she hasn't seen him since the Malice fight, and he says that's probably for the best, after how he nearly killed her. She says she wants him to help her on some business upstate, extending a hand. He flips his cigarette away and walks off without taking her hand, saying, "Let's go, then." (Just like that, Longshot's on the team. He and Dazzler are already staying close to each other. This basically leaves Magneto alone at the mansion, waiting to see if the New Mutants return.)
In a hospital in San Francisco, some doctors are overlooking Madelyne, who is comatose, saying it's a miracle she's alive. She wakes up and tells them her name. In New York, Wolverine and Storm are driving. Storm is disappointed in Wolverine's defeatest attitude, and Wolverine says that if he can't trust his senses, what does he have left? The two arrive the house of Sara Grey (Jean's sister) and her two children. It is a burning wreck, and Wolverine says it was a gasoline bomb, but he doesn't detect any death scents. Storm thinks of Forge and wonders if its time to swallow her pride and go see if she can get her powers back. Wolverine then says that Sara's scent is old, and she probably wasn't there when the bomb went off. But he senses Cyclops and Jean were. This makes him flip out, and when Storm puts a hand on his shoulder, he smacks her and runs off. (I don't know what happened with Sara Grey, but it must have happened in X-Factor. For that matter, I don't know if she ever turns up after this.)
On the blackbird, Kitty leaves her "lifecell" and walks into the cabin, where Psylocke, Dazzler, and Longshot are sleeping. She looks at Longshot, all crushy, thinking she'll never get a chance to tell him how she feels. She kisses him, and he wakes up, even though she is stuck in phase. Rogue tells her to get back to her cell and she flees. Longshot felt a dark future for her -- "an awful void that hungers for her" -- and wonders if that's death, and Rogue says it could be. (I wonder if Longshot was still supposed to end up with Excalibur at this point, because Kitty liking him never comes up again.)
Storm wakes up manacled in a dungeon. She picks the locks and escapes, seeing another prisoner, a punked-out girl. She goes upstairs and sees that she's in a lavish cabin, with many trophies: an elephant head, big cat heads, and Nazi wreckage. Two costumed men come back to the front door, and Storm hides on a balcony. One is saying that he wishes "he hadn't begged> I hate it when they beg." A third costumed man grabs Storm from behind. She kicks him in the face and flings him over the balcony. One of the men who came in below zips around, blocking her path, and she realizes he's a speedster. He introduces himself as Super Sabre and punches at the air in front of her, knocking her over the balcony from the air pressure. She hits the third man, who says he's Stonewall, and can't be knocked down. Storm jabs at his eyes, making him flinch, then flips away. She pulls the bearskin rug out from under him, causing him to fall. She runs for the door but Super Sabre nabs her and knocks her out with a snap of his fingers that causes a sonic boom. (The introduction of Super Sabre, Stonewall, and Crimson Commando, some of the more forgettable characters from Chris Claremont's run. I like the creative use of Super Sabre's powers, though. Marvel doesn't have too many speedster characters: Quicksilver, Super Sabre, Speed Demon, and the Runner are all that come to mind.)
Storm is soon outside with the other prisoner. The guy who first grabbed her introduces himself as Crimson Commando. He says that he and his colleagues fought in World War II, using their powers to fight the Nazis. They wanted to continue against the Communists, but the government instructed them to retire. Instead they set up their little The Deadliest Game camp and perform vigilante justice against criminals. The girl begs for mercy and Stonewall says her name is Priscilla Morrison. She is a spoiled rich girl who, along with her boyfriend who they had just killed, dealt drugs. She didn't need the money: she just did it for fun, and her family kept her from being arrested. Storm says they are mistaken in thinking that she is also a criminal, but now that she knows about their little operation, they won't let her go, so she flees with Priscilla. She wonders if Priscilla is beyond redemption, remembering that she herself was a child thief. Thus, she decides to protect her at any cost, as the three vigilantes begin the hunt behind the. The end!
Overview: Almost a filler issue, with little of importance happening. We get Alan Davis doing the art on his last fill-in before starting Excalibur in a year or two. We get Longshot as part of the team, closing in on the new status quo. (This is why it was so hard to place the annual where Longshot joins: in it Nightcrawler, Kitty, and Colossus were fine, and the New Mutants were present.)
The three new villains are kind of uninspired. Stonewall is just pretty much like the Blob, and a speedster isn't anything too daring. Crimson Commando is just another peak human type mutant. They don't go far, but I'll cover that after next issue. Another thing that strikes me is that in a modern comic book, three characters who abduct criminals and take them into the forest and hunt them for sport might be seen as straight heroes in modern Marvel comics.