It's done -- the mutie's as good as dead! 
- —Unnamed Columbia University student
Appearing in "What Was That?!!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Unnamed Columbia University students
- A lion and buzzard
- Poachers
- Unnamed restaurant workers and patrons
- NYPD (Mentioned)
- Nimrod (Mentioned)
- God (Yahweh) (Invoked)
- X-Men (Mentioned)
- Magneto (Magnus) (Mentioned) (Deceased)
- Professor X (Charles Xavier) (Mentioned) (Deceased)
- Street gang and a victim
- Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Mentioned)
- Mystique (Raven Darkhölme) (Mentioned)
- Kate Pryde (Mentioned)
- Hounds (Mentioned)
- NYCFD (Mentioned)
- Wanda Maximoff (Mentioned)
- Pietro Maximoff (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Prime Marvel Universe
- Earth
- North America
- Africa
- Tanzania
- Nairobi, Kenya (Mentioned)
- Battleworld (Mentioned)
- Heaven (Invoked)
- Earth
- Days of the Future Past (Mentioned)
Items:
- Homemade bomb
- Adamantium (on Wolverine's claws)
- Fastball Special
Events:
- Secret Wars (Mentioned)
- Holocaust (Mentioned)
Synopsis for "What Was That?!!"
This story takes place after the events of Secret Wars II #1
Professor Xavier is once more resuming his lectures at Columbia University when he overhears one of the students who beat him months earlier[1] suggest to his friends that hey should kill Xavier as he can identify them. Unfortunately, due to his injuries the Professor cannot, and due to the limitations on his mental powers and the amount of minds in the room he is unable to pinpoint who is plotting to murder him and decides to get the X-Men involved to try and prevent the attack.
Meanwhile, in the African Serengeti, Storm is enjoying the wilderness when she is approached by a lion. Seeing this as a sign she is horrified when the creature is shot dead. When she rushes to it she is grazed by a bullet. This is a shot fired by Andreas von Strucker, who is paying Ororo back for beating her and her brother up earlier and they decide to leave her for dead in the wilderness.
Back in New York City, Professor X meets with his fellow X-Men and Magneto at a deli where he explains the plot against him by the students who beat him earlier. As they begin planning, Rachel becomes distracted when she notices a strange man suddenly entering the deli and asking strange questions about "manners" and satisfying his curiosity about food. Rachel approaches the man and realizes that it's the Beyonder. But when Kitty goes up to see who she is talking to and Rachel tries to point him out the Beyonder has vanished just as mysteriously as he entered, leaving both wondering what the Beyonder wanted. Nightcrawler is paying a visit to his priest father Bowen at St. Anne's church. He explains his encounter with the Beyonder, a being that has shaken his faith in God. Breaking down into tears before the troubled priest, Nightcrawler admits that he has lost.
That night at Columbia University, the students plotting to kill Xavier plants a special device on Xavier's desk that will kill him the moment he sits down at it. While nearby, the X-Men stake out the area looking for clues. As Rogue carries Rachel over the campus she talks about how she can trust Magneto to work with the X-Men considering that in her reality, Magneto was a trusted ally of the surviving X-Men. The conversation ends when Rachel picks up trouble in an alley and the two help stop a mugging. However, it proves to be a bitter victory as the man they saved was jumped while writing an anti-mutant epitaph on the wall. Angry that this sort of anti-mutant sentiment is being allowed, Rachel angrily psi-blasts the wall and vows never to let her apocalyptic future to happen again. As she and Rogue walk away, neither are aware that they were being watched by the Beyonder who has found Rachel's actions very interesting and decide to observe her farther.
Elsewhere, Kitty and Wolverine go over reports back from the others when Kitty's curiosity in Wolverine's cigar makes her yank it out of his mouth and give it a puff. She finds the smoke incredibly harsh and proceeds to have a coughing fit. Wolverine finds this amusing and tells he that the only reason he can handle the cigars without any irritation is because of his mutant healing factor. They then begin talking about if they should be able to trust Magneto, to which Logan suggests that Magneto deserves a chance at redemption.
Kitty then decides to check out their next list of suspects and uses her phasing powers to gain access to a dormitory, unaware that the Beyonder is secretly watching her. She enters a physics lab where she comes across her classmate Roger and some other students working on something in secret. She decides to butt in and start asking questions. Roger, knowing that Kitty attends Xavier's school, asks her if she is a Mutie. When she retorts by asking him if he identifies as a racial slur, he becomes angry and she points out that calling a mutant a Mutie is no different or any less hurtful. When she decides to leave she is maced and chloroformed and Roger decides that she has to die as well. Her attempts to contact Rachel or the Professor telepathically but it's too late. While the other X-Men are waiting for Kitty, Rachel accompanies Xavier and Magneto back to Charles' office. She is expressing her concerns over the Beyonder when she detects his presence when they enter the office. Using her psi-powers to try and get them to see him to, Rachel inadvertently activates the weapon left behind by the students, a psi scrambler device that bombards her mind and threatens to overload it. The resulting blast sends Charles and Magnus flying out of the building.
While the other X-Men rescue them, Wolverine goes up to check on Rachel. Rachel, so furious about being attacked in such a horrible way manifests her hound costume and facial tattoos and races off to find the men responsible. She crashes in on Roger as he is attempting to choke Kitty to death. She knocks all the students aside and when Roger attempts to shoot her with a gun, she uses her telekinetic powers to turn the bullet back. It almost strikes Roger if not for Magneto's timely arrival.
He argues with her that this is not the way to deal with those whose ignorance and hate lead them to treat mutants as they do. He explains that the way of violence has done nothing for him over the years. Rachel counter argues that in the future she came from humans made her into a slave-hound and killed all those she loved. When she expresses that they need to pay for the pain and the suffering they have caused, Magneto decides to let her make up her mind. Telling her that she should slaughter them as mercilessly and callously as they would her. Rachel finds that she cannot take a human life and spares Roger, telling Magneto that she may never be able to forgive him for this and suggests that they leave. As they walk away, Kitty thanks Rachel for her help.
In the aftermath of the battle, the Beyonder finds the whole tableau that happened before him strange and confusing. Wondering why beings of such power would act in the fashion that they did. Finding the X-Men puzzling indeed, the Beyonder decides to turn his attention to others and teleports away.[2]
Secret Wars II continues in Iron Man #197...
See Also
Links and References
- Official Marvel Index to the X-Men (Vol. 2) #4 - See for further referencing
References
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #192
- ↑ He pops up in Iron Man #197