I am Nimrod! Your physical nature automatically brands you as felons. The unsanctioned use of those mutant abilities is a capital crime... punishable by death! 
Appearing in "Retribution"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Hellfire Club
- Black Queen (Selene)
- Black King (Sebastian Shaw)
- Black Bishop (Harry Leland)
- Black Rook (Friedrich von Roehm)
- Tessa
- Unnamed Hellfire guards
- Nimrod
Other Characters:
- Unnamed Central Park mugger & victim - (Death)
- Thomas Rodriguez
Races and Species:
Locations:
Synopsis for "Retribution"
Continued from last issue...
Wolverine has returned to the Morlock tunnels to explain to her fellow X-Men that he was forced to use lethal action against Phoenix to stop her from slaying Selene, the new Back Queen of the Hellfire Club. Both Shadowcat and Nightcrawler are mortified by learning that Wolverine did this, and an argument about what right he had to do so break out. It's eventually stifled by Storm who understands why Wolverine chose to do what he did, but does not condone it. She reminds the team that Rachel is still out there somewhere hurt and they need to get her help fast. The X-Men enlist the aid of the Morlocks in order to begin searching for their missing friends.
Meanwhile, in Central Park, Selene has become withered and aged due to depleted energy and comes across a mugger attacking his intended victim. She uses her powers to drain the life out of the mugger, then in turn does the same thing to the woman she had saved in order to restore her youthful vitality. Returning to the Hellfire Club, she has a meeting with the Inner Circle and reports to Sebastian Shaw of the Phoenix's attack on her. She convinces the Hellfire Club to rally together and hunt down Phoenix and destroy her before she can recover and attack the Inner Circle anew.
While elsewhere in the city, Nimrod is scanning the area by uplinking to a satellite dish. He picks up Phoenix and registers her as an omega class mutant and is about to go to attack her when he is briefly interrupted by Thomas Rodriguez the son of his friend Jamie. Nimrod changes into his human disguise when the boy asks him to check over his homework. Nimrod tells him that he can't because he has business downtown and is left alone. Nimrod reverts to his robot form and flies off to intercept Rachel with the intention of eliminating her.
While in Central Park, Rachel is still alive, in blinding agony her mind is flooded with stray thoughts of the millions of New Yorkers all around her. She has managed to survive having her lung and heart pierced by Wolverine's Adamantium claws by using her telekinetic powers to keep everything together, but she needs medical attention fast because if she slips for a single moment she will die. As she wanders through the park she comes across the remains of Selene's last victims. Furious she psi-links with Wolverine and shows him what his mercy toward Seline has a cost: the lives of two innocent victims. She uses her powers to throw Wolverine onto subway tracks in the path of an oncoming train. Wolverine is saved from being killed thanks to the split-second timing of Shadowcat who uses her phasing powers to save him. Pulling him up into Central Park, the X-Men realize that they should have not turned Rachel away earlier and this could have all been avoided, but are more determined to go looking for her. Leaving Wolverine behind in Nightcrawler's care to heal, Storm leads the X-Men and Morlocks with Caliban using his tracking abilities to try and find Rachel. Caliban tells Storm that he has found her, but there are others out hunting her down as well.
Caliban couldn't be more right, as both Nimrod and the Hellfire Club are out searching for her. As Selene unleashes her minion Von Roehm to hunt her down, Nimrod's scanning systems detects the presence of all the mutants in the area and prepares to deal with them with extreme prejudice. Von Roehm finds Rachel first, but before the feral mutant can attack her Rogue slams into him. When he claws her he causes her to absorb his powers and she becomes possessed with his personality. Before she can attack Rachel, she takes Rogue down with a psi-blast. However, before Phoenix can get away the Hellfire Club is upon her and Seline manages to encase her in animated Earth. The other X-Men arrive and a full-on fight breaks out.
During the fight, Henry Leland uses his gravitational powers to increase Colossus's mass and cause him to fall through the ground. When Rogue attempts to save him, her ripped gloves causes her to absorb his powers instead. Fearing she might rip Colossus's arms right out of their sockets she instead smashes through the ground to dig him out. Sebastian Shaw orders Storm and the X-Men to surrender in order to save their friend's life. As she is considering this, Rachel manages to crawl away, deciding that the best course of action would be to remove herself from the location so that the X-Men and the Hellfire Club have anything to fight over. As she is fleeing she is spotted by some of the Hellfire Club's mercenaries who chase after her. However, before anything else can happen Nimrod appears, telling the gathered mutants that the use of their powers are a capital offense, punishable by death.
This story is continued next issue...
Notes
- This issue indicates that Rachel Summers is a class 'Omega' mutant. A classification considered 'on par' with Nimrod. This is referenced by the Nimrod's own computer database.
See Also
Links and References
- Official Marvel Index to the X-Men (Vol. 2) #4 - See for further referencing