Gambit and Jean infiltrate the Pentagon!
Originally Published June 1996
We begin at the home of Senator Kelly, where the former #1 mutant hater is expecting a surprising visitor...
But before we can get into the meat of their conversation, we flip the channels to a little ways away, where the X-Men hover ominously, cloaked, over the Pentagon. Did you know the Blackbird can hover and cloak? Well it can.
They've sent Gambit and Phoenix in incognito to listen in on some kind of clandestine meeting. Iceman wonders why, if this is a government thing, this project didn't fall to X-Factor. Nobody explains to him that spying on the government and stealing their secrets is actually not what you are supposed to do when you work for the government.
Charles doesn't want to upset the applecart by monitoring Jean and Remy's positions telepathically -- because, I guess, somehow, that would be a thing -- so he asks Beast to turn on the tracking device they are wearing (hopefully and not one that he, like, installed in them permanently.)
Beast fumbles around because, haha, you're gonna think this is so funny but uh, he isn't actually the real Beast! He's an evil doppelganger from an alternate reality. Clearly he's starting to have some second thoughts about the efficacy of this whole scheme.
I wonder if Dark Hank is looking at all this Shi'ar Tech and everything and going "Jeez, this guy Xavier was like, married to an alien or something?? This world is way crazier than mine!"
Inside, Remy and Jean are unrecognizable -- not because they're in disguise, guest artist Pascual Ferry is just having a hard time keeping them on model.
They find themselves at a big display loudly broadcasting OPERATION ZERO TOLERANCE. I haven't been to the Pentagon a lot but I imagine their secret meetings aren't advertised like 4-D Experience programs at a convention.
Meanwhile, down in Colorado, Warren and Betsy are enjoy a little alone time, working through their various injuries by testing their mutant powers against one another, as mutants in love are wont to do. For our benefit, Archangel tells us that that Crimson Dawn stuff really seems to have hit the spot, but privately she ponders about changes going on under the surface.
But she can only ponder it for so long before she is accosted by a shadowy Whateverthef$%k.
Warren swoops in for a rescue but both end up downed.
Back at the Pentagon, we finally put a face to the name Bastion.
He gives a little TED Talk about human efforts to resist mutant domination. While Jean tries, and fails, to read his mins -- something she finds puzzling -- he pivots to talking about Onslaught, a mysterious mutant entity that has been actively targeting human infrastructure all over the world for unknown purposes.
It seems Onslaught has been a busy boy, and yet Professor X has been completely, to this moment, unaware of his prolific activity.
Back at Kelly's house, a remorseful and reflective Senator gives his own perspective on the human-mutant conflict, having recently been made aware of this Onslaught thing -- whatever it may be -- during his trip to the Sentinel factory.
Before he can say much more, the house explodes.
This is the work of Graydon Creed, who appears to have been on site listening this entire time. A lot of Presidential candidates probably wouldn't be quite so hands on, but this guy is not afraid to get down and dirty. There's a certain contingent of American voters who are into that, you know.
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| Again, if elected, Graydon Creed would not even be the most evil President in American history as of today. |
Charles, having heard a bit about Bastion's take on Onslaught, has decided to listen in after all. Big B reveals there are mutants in the crowd. They fight their way out, again with Jean noting that her powers simply don't seem to work on Bastion.
They make it to the sealed exit, but are aware that there is a squad of military police ready to take them out when they get through the door. Gambit blasts a hole in the wall to get the drop on them and...
The big glowing head of Onslaught appears -- to Jean only -- and explains that this was a gift for her.
Meanwhile down in Colorado, Psylocke and Archangel prepare to face off against their mysterious foe while offering an awkward explanation of, I suppose, Psylocke's new power.
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| She can do whatnow with shadows? |
Further Thoughts:
This is all build. Like X-Men #50, the main objective is to keep Onslaught on everyone's lips, and now to introduce Bastion too. The series has gotten very interested in simply building one upcoming foe after another, which I don't necessarily mind, but I'm ready for the big showdown now.
Editorial notes abound telling me that that more information about Onslaught is coming, so while we're not getting the big exciting climax soon, we are at least headed toward some kind of break in the case. Otherwise it can feel like the book is simply spinning its wheels giving you just enough to chew on (with this Operation Zero Tolerance reveal) without actually furthering the story in any meaningful way. That may be a harsh way to appraise a comic in which a potential big future villain makes his first full appearance, but let's be honest, we're interested in Onslaught right now, and Bastion can wait.
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