NEW MUTANTS #95: Shell Game (The X-Tinction Agenda Part 2)

The kidnapped mutants try to escape Genosha while the rest of the teams regroup!

Originally Published November 1990

We begin in Genosha, where some mutant slave units note a big bright flash at the (apparently reconstructed) Citadel, heralding the return of whatever forces they had sent out via Pipeline, along with their catch of the day.

That would be the New Mutants' Boom Boom, Rictor, Wolfsbane and Warlock, along with tween Storm of the X-Men -- all nude from the teleportation process (why the Genoshans do not arrive all nude wherever they go, I do not know, just that, heehee, naked people are funny.) 

And they've landed right in the claws of their latest enemy... this guy.

What's that, you don't recognize him from all the way back in X-Factor #1? Well, there have been a few changes.

This is none other than Cameron Hodge, who started his career as the P.R. flack behind X-Factor's doomed "Fake Mutant Hunter" gimmick, but later betrayed them as a human supremacist and possibly spurned admirer of Warren Worthington III. He was behind Angel's wings being amputated (which led Apocalypse granting him his cool but possibly autonomous and murderous razor-wings) and, in the run-up to Inferno, he made a deal with the demon N'astirh that he could never die if he helped gather mutant babies for sacrifice to help open the portal to limbo. N'astirh was so grateful that he continued to honor the agreement even after he, himself, was killed, which was advantageous to Hodge since, in the interim, Archangel decapitated him. I guess you could say he was thinking ahead.

Ahem.

The mutants put up a little struggle, but the Genoshans have their man Wipeout erase their mutant powers, leaving them defenseless.

Naked and afraid

Back in New York, the remaining heroes discuss what they know about the events that transpired in Part 1, about the sneak attack and being locked out of the battle and the kids all being teleported to who-knows where. And because we also read the previous part of this story, we also know all about it. But I guess it's possible someone would have missed Part 1 of this story and wound up reading Part 2 anyway.

Forge, shockingly, fails to identify the modus operandi and equipment of the Genoshan Magistrates, whom he just fought, like, last week, and who have been crowing in the press about openly seeking revenge on the X-Men.

He's the Maker, not the Thinker.

Back in Genosha, the kidnapped mutants have been put into those tacky slave skinsuits and are being prepared for programming. Warlock, being not a mutant (in the conventional sense) but a shapeshifting alien robot, actually still has his powers, but he's running low on battery -- that is, lifeforce, which he would need to absorb from the organic being present to recharge himself. This would be done at great risk to the donors, who may in return get infected with the Transmode virus.

But just as the kids are willing to put themselves at risk, Hodge shows up and declares that if anyone is going to go trans, it's him.

That is to say, he covets Warlock's shapeshifting powers for himself and wants to develop a process to steal it, because I guess being affixed to a giant mechanical spider is not his cup of tea (despite having the Jon Peters seal of approval.) 

He takes his plight to the Genegineer, who is somewhat nonplussed -- he's here to make mutant slaves, not... whatever this is.

Aiding this particular abomination is simply one step too far.

Back in the cell, Storm and Boom Boom argue over whether Storm was right or wise to block the others out of the battle, with Ororo reasoning that it enables them to come to the rescue instead of getting kidnapped themselves, and Boom Boom asserting that their supposed rescuers have no way of knowing where they are (which they should, but don't.) In the midst of this, Warlock slithers away from his captor and manages to make it back to the cell, where he shorts out the forcefield-generating bars and enables his teammates to make a break for it.

Reluctantly, Wolfsbane agrees to leave behind the severely-drained Warlock, with Rictor insisting that even powerless, they can rely on their Cable-taught survival skills to escape.

However, as she makes her way, she overhears Hodge torturing the recaptured Warlock in the process of transferring their bodies. She arrives and disrupts the process...

Which leaves Hodge stranded in his spider-bod, but causes Warlock's life energy to run out.

Rahne can only weep for another fallen friend while Hodge shrugs that even if he didn't get a new body, at least he killed someone.

Back in New York, X-Factor have arrived, having been summoned by Stevie Hunter. They learn on the news that their teammates have been taken to Genosha, but before they can act, they receive a call -- from none other than Special Assistant to the President (and current puppet of the Shadow King) Val Cooper.

But does the government want to stop the team from going to Genosha? Or wish them luck?