#project wideawake

[sonofcoulson]

1970 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series 3

Episode 2

"Destiny":

Open on Azazel running, bamfing all over the place. Special forces are armed and in pursuit. It doesn't seem to matter where he bampfs to, someone is always there, or nearby, to intercept.

We cut to the S.H.I.E.L.D. team in their headquarters, tracking Azazel's movements and trying to coordinate teams. It seems like they are the ones pursuing him. But then on the third intercept, in Kazakhstan, they are almost beaten to it by another special forces team. They get in each other's way and Azazel is gone again. The two teams argue.

We cut to Val, who is livid. She wants to know how S.H.I.E.L.D. is one step ahead, how they are everywhere her teams are supposed to be. She is very suspicious of Irene as she is directing the manhunt with her (secretly) precognitive powers. She denies it but Val knows that Gyrich will have serious questions.

Azazel bampfs to location near his and Mystique's old apartment. Under his breath he wonders what made him come back here. He tries to clear his head for his next move when he spies…across the street…could it be? It's Mystique, gesturing for him to come over to a closed down store. He does and follows her inside without being spotted.

Mystique: Are you okay? Are you being chased?...Who's chasing you?...Azazel…

Listen, I know we're not together anymore but of course I'll help you…

Azazel: You can't. They keep showing up everywhere I go. I don't know how they know where I was going to. I don’t even know where I'm going to…

Wait, how did you know where I'd be?

M: …

A: Mystique? 

M: …I have…a friend who can see into the future.

A: Does your friend work with a SWAT team? Because that would explain a lot.

M (not answering the question): I can get you out of here, but you're going to have to trust me.

A: And why should I do that?

M: I trusted you to take the baby somewhere safe, didn't I?

A: …Yes

M: …Where did you take it…?

A: Those armed goons could be here any minute…please.

M: …Okay. See that truck across the street?

A: Yeah.

M: Take us to the trailer.

*bampf*

A: Wow. There is a lot of gear in here. Is Magneto helping you out?

M: No. I don't work for him anymore.

A: Who do you work for?

M: Myself…

I can tell you who's chasing you…

A: Who?

M: If you tell me where you took the baby.

A: Your foresight friend can't tell you that?

M: If I knew where we were going before and I got caught then…

A: They might get it out of you.

M: Where did you take the baby?

A: You mean our baby? Jeez.

M: Answer the damn question Azazel.

A (hesitantly): …Germany.

M (overlapping dialogue): Germany!?/

A: Shit!/ I knew if you found out you'd be angry…but…

M: Why Germany? I mean Canada or maybe even Mexico, but…damn right/ I'm angry about that!

A: I/ just wanted to…

M: Germany is nearly 4000/ miles away! By air!

A: I just wanted/ to…

M: You think/ it will be easy to get on an aeroplane?

A: Good God! Let me finish…I wanted to make sure the he was someplace safe.

A: Where the sapiens wouldn't find him.

A: With people I could trust.

M: …It…

A: Mystique.

M: Not ‘him', it.

M: Unless I'm holding that baby in my arms I don't want to think of it as a person. No connection. It is an it.

A: Then why do you care where ‘it' is?

A: Irene?

M: Because I still want it in my arms!

…Irene says there's a 43% chance that we leave here and go to find the baby, you and me.

M: My…foresight friend.

A: Your friend…is a girl? Just when you had me thinking I had competition.

M: Oh grow up.

A: There are less complicated ways to ask a guy out you know.

M: Don't flatter yourself. This is not about us. This is about freedom and finding our child.

This dialogue is cut here with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Val's troops continuing the search, maps being looked at, the rival teams in Kazakhstan arguing etc. Towards the end of the sequence we see Val realise she hasn't seen Raven for a while. She approaches Irene, leans in and whispers in her ear, “Where is Raven Darkhölme?”.

Mystique leaves Azazel in the back as he is ‘too conspicuous’ in the front. She genuinely thinks about making a run for it, but Val has discovered the double cross and contacts her on a secure frequency, convincing her to come back for Irene. She says Irene is not strong like Mystique and the finger of suspicion is already pointing at her and she can't protect her from Gyrich.

Mystique reluctantly agrees to bring him in to protect Irene. Azazel gets the jitters and wants out but realises he can't bampf away, he just materialises in the same spot, he is trapped in the van. Mystique hedged her bets and brought a van designed by Forge to neutralise his power. He bangs on the truck for her to let him out.

Good girl says Val in her ear. She yanks out the earpiece but goes back to hq anyway, for Irene.

Meanwhile, Peggy is having a somewhat heated exchange with the President. Peggy is adamant that she must speak to the team that is targeting mutants as she believes there is a more humane way to deal with the issue. Nixon is adamant that there is no such team. That he has never approved any agency to carry out these actions. But he does recognise the rise of these ‘mutants’ as a threat.

Peggy is not fooled by any of this and reiterates her concern and reminds him that S.H.I.E.L.D. has a deal with the American government where they don't keep secrets from each other.

After she hangs up she asks Howard if he is ready to trace the President's next call. Howard and the others are worried what will happen if the President finds out his call was traced. Peggy just says, “Then make sure he never finds out”.

Nixon is rattled and calls Henry Peter Gyrich to tell him that S.H.I.E.L.D. are on to them.

Gyrich believes the team's next target could be useful in this situation. Sean Cassidy has been seen/heard approaching New Jersey. He believes Cassidy is making his way to Camp Lehigh. Gyrich actually sees this as an opportunity to solve three problems:

1. Confirm and expose Raven Darkhölme as a traitor 

2. Capture Sean Cassidy and reduce the threat posed by him and Moira McTaggart. 

3. Destroy S.H.I.E.L.D.

He prepares to tell the team their next target.

We cut to Peggy on the phone to Moira McTaggart the next day. Moira warns them Sean is coming. Their source has told them Freedom Force's next target was Angel Salvadore and he wanted to be involved with the counter operation (Angel was once his friend).

The team start to wonder what that noise is. Moira says, that'll be Sean, you hear him before you see him.

Sean Cassidy comes in and introduces himself. He says the information only came in last night and he got there as quick as he could. The team are impressed with his powers.

He tells them where Angel is expected to be and when Cooper's team are expected to strike. They prepare to head out.

Cut to Val's small team. A couple of undercover agents are reporting on Salvadore's movements.

As they are preparing to go Jacqui melts together the doors of the store Freedom Force was hiding in, forcing them to find another exit and buying time.

Meanwhile Sean has intercepted Angel and is trying to convince her to come with him. She is caught off guard and torn between flying off and listening to him. She stays and he tries to convince her a government agency is after her. She reminds him that is nothing new for her. He tells her they have Magneto and Azazel, that they are coming for any and all mutants. This gives her pause.

As they are talking the Freedom Force (FF) agents have found an alternative route and swarm to their location.

Cassidy takes out the first with a sonic scream. Angel takes out another with her hardening goo spit thing (that is totally stolen from Toad in the 2000 movie). The agents keep on coming. Brian appears, bends the barrel of an agent's gun and then uses that agent to take out a bunch of others.

Jacqui arrives and puts a protective ring of fire around the group, with the threat of expanding it if they are threatened further.

Above, two snipers are taking aim at Jacqui. They ask for confirmation on the shot.

Howard pulls up with Hank. Asks him if he's sure his contraption will work. ‘Oh it'll work’ says Hank, testily.

He exits the car, puts on the mk I helmet, jumps and shrinks. This propels him way up the fire escape. He reaches the top of the building in two leaps. ‘Well I'll be…’ admires Howard.

The first sniper goes to check the noise from the fire escape. As his partner receives the go ahead for the shot, the first sniper is seemingly beaten up by an invisible assailant. As the 2nd sniper radios through an incomprehensible message about an attack by the invisible man, Hank's suit fails and he appears, full size. Dumbfounded for a second, the sniper is just recovering his wits (and his weapon) when Hank just charges him, knocking them both off the roof. They battle on the way down.

Hank's suit finally releases the Pym Particles and he leaps safely from the falling sniper and lands within Jacqui's flame barrier and returns to full size. Everyone is surprised as Hank had kept his project secret from everyone.

The sniper lands on his Freedom Force Colleagues and they are given permission to shoot through the flames.

As they open fire, James Braddock pulls up in an unmarked S.H.I.E.L.D. van. They bundle in, Angel Salvadore and all, and speed away.

After evading the agents at the scene,  they realise they are being followed by a black sedan on the highway. A window rolls down on the sedan and an FF agent fires.

Hank: Brian, open the doors.

Angel: Are you crazy? They're shooting at us!

H: I'm gonna stop them shooting.

James (Calling from the front): There's no need. Stark bullet-proofed it.

H: But what if they follow us to Camp Lehigh? What if they shoot out the tyres?

Jacqui: Dr. Pym, please! You'll be killed…

H (to Brian): Just…open the doors Falsworth! I know what I'm doing. 

Brian obliges and Hank leaps out of the back of the van, shrinking as he does so.

The process fails halfway through and he smashes, full size, into the windscreen of the Sedan. His speed relative to theirs and his super secret Pym Tech suit protect him from serious injury.

Hank and the FF agents are dazed. They recover first and the shooter readies their pistol. Fortunately the suit tech works this time and he shrinks and enters the vehicle through the open window. While the agents wonder where he went, he operates the hood release causing it to catch the wind and flap up, obstructing their view. He catches sight of Howard speeding behind them to catch up and radios for him to pull up alongside.

As the FF Sedan crashes into a barrier, Pym leaps into the cabriolet. Howard swerves to avoid the crashing vehicle and the S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles speed off to Camp Lehigh. 

When the rescue team return to base,  they start to celebrate and Sean is catching up with Angel.

Peggy upbraids them and tells them not to celebrate as she knows there will be consequences for what they have just done.

Back at FF headquarters, Val Cooper brings the ‘bad news’ of Salvadore’s escape to Gyrich. He is not upset, he simply smiles, points out that S.H.I.E.L.D. have ‘crossed the line’ and adds…

“Release the hounds…”

We flashback to Irene's psychology evaluation from a few weeks before.

Dr Darkhölme gets her to state her name and job title for her recording. They go through some details of her past, but not too deep yet.

Raven circles back to Irene's job.

Raven: You are in their foresight division.

Irene: Yes.

R: It's your job to predict what is going to happen before it happens.

I: Yes.

R: And you're usually correct. Is that right?

(*Irene nods*)

That's quite a skill.

I (after a pause): May we stop the recording for a moment.

R: Agent Cooper prefers that we get this all on tape.

I: I would like it to be private.

R: …

I: After you have heard it you may decide whether to put it on tape.

R: …Interview paused at 4:45pm.

(*stop the tape*)

What did you have to say that couldn't be on the recording Irene?

I: My predictions are not a skill.

R: No? What are they then?

I: …A gift…Like yours.

R (somewhat rattled): …What do you mean?...A gift from who?

I: I am a mutant. Like you.

R: …Did Cooper put you up to this?

I: No. Frau Cooper does not want us to know each other's secret.

That we are not the only one.

That we are both mutants, both being held here against our will.

R: How do I know Cooper's not listening right now?

I: She is not. No one is. The others trust you. Cooper trusts you.

R: Why should I trust you?

I: You will come to trust me because my precognitions are accurate…

My probabilities are accurate…

They will save lives…

Mutant lives…

I believe we will do this work together. I believe that it is our destiny.

R: Irene…I…I'm just trying to survive here.

I: Well…you have been tasked with capturing the other Brotherhood members, yes?

R: …Yes.

I: There is a 43% chance that when you find Azazel you will leave with him to find your child. I can give you the time to get away.

R: …You can do that? You can get me out of this. And get me to the baby.

I: Yes. The chance is only based on the path you choose. If you decide to leave with Azael then you will be successful.

R: And if I do leave? What happens to you and the others?

I: …Nothing is for certain. It all depends on the choices we make.

R: What about working together? Our ‘destiny’?

I: That is your decision to make.

*There is a loud knock on the door*

Guard (from the other side): Dr Darkhölme! Cooper says to wrap it up. You're needed in the command centre. 

*A moment's silence…aaaaand scene.*

[sineala]

Um,Excuse me in Layman's terms in seems like in a post regarding Civil War it says that Tony is willing to sacrifice lives,...they make it sound like he's willing to...Kill his friends or something!?Deep down I think that I know it isn't true, but anyway I hope that it wasn't meant to be written that way,Either way this question is meant purely beacause I Love him and I'm...seeking reassurance I guess!? 😢💔

I don't know what post you're talking about -- but I would say that that's more of a figure of speech for comics Civil War, because finding a solution that will preserve life is absolutely Tony's priority. He's willing to do a lot of bad things so that people won't end up dead. The things he is willing to do do in fact involve other people getting hurt -- but they're not dying.

(If it's my post, I don't remember writing a post like that, but I would say that "sacrifice lives" is being used as a metaphorical proxy for the other things he is willing to sacrifice (say, freedom), but the thing he is specifically not willing to sacrifice in CW is actual human life. So I hope I didn't write that, because that seems prone to misinterpretation, as you say. If it's not my post, then... that's not how I would put it and I'm not standing by that statement.)

I'd say that in other comics events we have evidence that Tony would in theory be willing to sacrifice others' lives for the greater good. I mean, in Hickmanvengers, specifically, he is participating in their incursion trolley-problem. He builds bombs to destroy the other Earths. When it comes down to it, of course, he can't pull the trigger, but I get the impression that, in theory, he'd say that he could sacrifice a small number of people to spare a larger number of people who would otherwise die by inaction. (He also can't actually do it, FWIW.) He's not an arms dealer anymore, no, but he's also not a strict pacifist; I think you could get him into a situation where he'd think that the best moral choice possible might involve someone dying. And there are definitely villains whose deaths he would condone -- I mean, that's what we get in Operation Galactic Storm. He has killed people. He's not proud of it, but he's willing to do it. (This is true of most superheroes, I would think.)

But in Civil War? The plans he makes are specifically to avoid getting other people killed. We find out his reasoning in Casualties of War and The Confession. He knew that the government had plans to run Project Wideawake -- the Sentinel program that is usually the thing the government tries to do to mutants -- with all superhumans as the target, and therefore he knew that if Registration happened, and Wideawake happened, a bunch of of people would die. So he gets in there and gets in charge of Registration and does a bunch of things that are really pretty terrible, like building prisons and imprisoning his friends who don't register. He does this because imprisonment is a better choice than death. Because if someone else runs Registration -- we know this canonically, from What If Civil War, where we see a world in which Gyrich runs Registration -- his friends are absolutely going to die. He very specifically picks the solution that doesn't involve killing them. He is willing to sacrifice their happiness and freedom and so on, and he's willing to do that because the other choice is sacrificing their lives. So I think in CW he is very specifically not willing to sacrifice lives. (Other than his own. There are a few statements he makes to Sentry in New Avengers that suggest he'd be fine with dying for the cause.)

And the thing that really messes him up is, as we find out in The Confession, that he does all of this to try to keep people safe and alive... and Steve dies anyway. The one person whose death he was most trying to prevent is the person who dies anyway. Granted, it's not his fault (even though he believes it is) and it's also not because of Registration (even though he possibly believes it is), but what really, really hurts him is Steve's death, because that was absolutely unacceptable to him. And it happened anyway.

So, yeah, no, in Civil War, I would say that life is the thing Tony is not willing to sacrifice, and that all the actions he takes are meant to preserve human life.

However, I must inform you that sometimes comics are bad and there are multiple comics where Tony does in fact straight-up kill his friends. It's just that none of those are Civil War.

Mostly it happens because Tony is under some form of mind-control, as in The Crossing, which is, incidentally, the worst comic book I have ever read and it's hard to say what he does or doesn't believe in it. But I think that we're supposed to think that all of the murders he commits are indeed at Kang's instigation.

And there is, unfortunately, Cantwell's recent Iron Man run, in which Tony, who is at the time addicted to morphine and making some very bad decisions, gets the Power Cosmic and murders Rhodey when Rhodey tries to stop him from taking over New York. This isn't a villain AU or anything. This is one of several reasons that this run is dead to me. So, uh, sometimes canon itself is OOC and can contradict things previously established in canon. This is a fun thing that can happen in comic books. I am using the word "fun" sarcastically.

[justdealingwithsomeissues]

and we learn the real reason for this secret base is to exist as Project Wideawake's Sentinel Program, restarted behind closed doors... and interestingly we see most of the team is against it EXCEPT for Quicksilver...

[magnetos-dynasty]

Polaris's stat sheet from the '80s Marvel Super Heroes role-playing game (specifically the supplement Project: Wideawake by Jeff Grubb)

[xprojectrpg]

This Day in X-Project - November 14

2015: Alison posts about nearly outing herself as Dazzler during the dance by doing her signature dance to one of her songs.

2016: Wade asks about a missing shipment of Christmas candy.

2017:

2018: Garrison posts about Adrienne coming home. Adrienne and Garrison make a quiet return to the mansion. Clarice asks what people would do if they weren’t mutants.

2019: House of Horrors: Laurie posts about her Halloween nightmare and her history with being kidnapped and tortured. Jubilee returns from Australia.

2020: Time Stand Still: Sooraya meets her 'nephew' Nathan, son of Clinton Barton and Angelica Jones; The ritual is performed to send the visitors home; Topaz posts to let people know the crisis is over and their guests have returned to their own time and place; Betsy points out that the whole thing was a good example of why not to have kids; Alison admits she enjoyed the experience, in small doses at least.

2021: Operation: Wideawake: The first team - Kevin, Darcy, Gabriel and Doug - get in to bypass security, but Kevin hits an EM field which scrambles his powers and he has to be pulled out; North and Natasha take over the security station while Jubilee and Felicia retrieve the asset, who turns out to be Clint Barton; before the other two teams can get out, the Brotherhood arrives, leaving the third team - Amanda, Marie-Ange, Artie, Wanda and Emma - to use illusions, chaos and telepathy to confuse them long enough for everyone to get out. Back home, Gabriel posts a “I told you so” to the mission having issues.

2022: Scott makes a journal entry about cleaning up the Blackbird, and asking if anyone needs to be re-familiarized with it.

2023: Matt finds Sharon committing a crime and helps. Shatterstar checks on Hope A.. Garrison picks up Rogue at the airport; Marie later posts to the journals to let folks know she's back; Doug avails himself of the advertised 'free hugs' offered upon the return of a good friend. A Haven to Call Home: Madin finds Quentin in the Box, and they talk.

[uprisingpr]

SEEKING SCIENTISTS FOR MUTANT EXPERIMENTATION

Trask Industries contacted to create mutant suppression & control collars on AU Marvel Site focused on Civil War and the Superhuman registration Act

back in 1972, trask industries lost the contracts to create the sentinel program, codename project wideawake - robots designed to locate, hunt, and neutralize mutantkind. since then, boliver trask has never let it go. without the funding for sentinels, the program died; but trask industries never let their research go entirely.

publicly, they are an aerospace and defense technology company, always in the shadows of northrup grumman and lockheed martin, and have nothing to do with mutants - they left that behind after the white house incident, as the public relations spin goes. that's what they'd like the public to believe, of course.

recently, however, trask industries has gotten a new contract.

they've been contracted to create a means of neutralizing mutants and metahumans, ways of - with a shadowed government contractor group they know only as task intiative i. what they don't know - but suspect - is that the contractor is connected to the dodc.

because the test subjects being delivered to their labs have to come from somewhere, after all.

the codename?

project beastmaster

(up)rising is an au marvel civil war rp, where the superhuman registration act is being debated by congress and is on the cusp of passing—and tensions in the broader superhuman community have never been higher. the legislation divides the world as people begin to take sides; driving friends and allies apart. both canon and original characters welcome! WANT AD // BOARD // CANON LIST // GUIDEBOOK

[x-mencomics]

The Uncanny X-Men #176 - Decisions

South Pacific Ocean.

Honeymoon time! Scott and Madelyne fly a plane to an island to celebrate their wedding (last issue). Madelyne asks if Scott has made a decision about leaving earth with his father (last issue again). Scott says he has not. Suddenly, the weather turns violent and there's wind, rain, lightning, and a lot of turbulence. Lightning strikes the plane and the electrical systems shut down. The plane starts falling towards the ocean, but being the excellent pilots they are, Scott and Madelyne land safely on the water. They climb out of the cockpit to examine the damage, and discuss getting the engines back in working order. And then a shark jumps up and tries to bite Scott! Scott blasts it with his powers. The shark swims away, but gets caught in some HUGE purple tentacles...

Japan.

Wolverine returns to Mariko's ancestral seat. He says now that Mastermind has been beaten, his influence over Mariko should be ended, and they can be together again. But Mariko disagrees. Because of Mastermind's manipulations, her family is now tied to a criminal underworld, something she wants to UNtie her family from. And she wants to do it alone. Wolverine says he understands. He leaves her again.

Washington, D.C.

Henry Peter Gyrich (see issue #142) arrives at the US Capitol for a meeting with the National Security Advisor, Judge Petrie. Gyrich assumes the meeting will be about "Project Wideawake," but he isn't sure - Petrie didn't say. At the meeting, Petrie explains that Magneto destroyed Varykino, a city in Russia, after the Soviets failed to disarm their nuclear weapons as ordered by Magneto (see X-Men #150 where the X-Men stopped Magneto from destroying anything OTHER than the Russian city). A woman at the meeting, Dr. Valerie Cooper, explains how mutants like Magneto and the X-Men have been appearing in many countries around the world, and that some governments want to use mutants' abilities for their own hostile interests - as assassins, spies, etc. She says the US must use its own mutant population to strike back against this. Gyrich worries that the government using mutants in this way may cause mutants to believe Magneto's argument - that humanity will use and eventually enslave mutants. Dr. Cooper says that mutants are a danger and must be dealt with at once.

New York City.

Callisto, the former leader of the Morlocks, visits Caliban. She's joined by Masque and Sunder. They discuss Caliban's obsession with Kitty and how foolish Caliban must feel since Kitty left the tunnels with the rest of the X-Men. Callisto says she intends to bring Kitty back to Caliban. Caliban seems very pleased about this.

South Pacific Ocean.

Scott and Madelyne get the engines of the plane working. Madelyne goes to pull up the plane's anchor and TENTACLES! The huge purple tentacles wrap around her and pull her underwater. Scott jumps in after her and gives the gigantic octopus a few optic blasts before finally unleashing a full power blast which explodes the octopus. They scramble back on the plane, start the engines and take off. Scott tells Madelyne he has decided not to go to space with his father after all. Instead, he wants to stay with Madelyne on earth and start a family.

[marvelman901]

The New Mutants vol 1 2 (1983) . Sentinels . Written by Chris Claremont Penciled by Bob McLeod Inked by Mike Gustovich Colors by Glynis Wein Lettered by Tom Orzechowski Edited by Louise Jones . Shaw's and Gyrich's Project Wideawake was out to get the New Mutabts, with Sentinels... . See more relevant content here: #marvelman901newmutants #marvelman901bobmcleod #marvelman901moonstar #marvelman901cannonball #marvelman901professorx #marvelman901brood #marvelman901sebastianshaw #marvelman901hellfireclub #marvelman901sunspot #marvelman901karma #marvelman901wolfsbane #marvelman901sentinels . #newmutants #sentinels #80s #bobmcleod #karma #psyche #moonstar #mirage #sunspot #cannonball #wolfsbane #professorx #xmen #brood #sebastianshaw (på/i New York, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CowJ5Z0NSjs/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kurt-wagner-official]

Post #47: UXM issues 181-183

The X-Men rematerialize on Earth, but just outside Tokyo, and Lockheed’s dragon friend is suddenly massive. Xavier tells Anna to get back to New York to check on Kitty while the rest of them find and deal with the dragon. Anna looks to Ororo for orders, and she agrees with Xavier. Already, this is a much better and more nuanced take on the leadership struggle. Ororo and Xavier aren’t yelling at each other, they’re just both instinctively leading. Logan’s though bubbles reveal a take I agree with- Ororo didn’t ask for the job of team leader, but she accepted it, and the job has caused her pain and turmoil worse than anything she’s ever dealt with. If Xavier swoops in and takes the job from her, it means all that pain was for nothing. Mariko, who has some sort of vague role in the government, sends her cousin Sunfire out to help the X-Men fight the dragon, who doesn’t seem to be malicious but is still causing a lot of damage in the city. Meanwhile, Scott, who the Beyonder plucked from his honeymoon, is reunited with Madelyne, who’s been worried about him for the past week. It’s hard being married to a superhero, not knowing if your life partner is alive or dead at any given time, but they’re trying to make it work. Back in Tokyo, Xavier, out in the field for the first time in years, panics when faced with the threat of losing his legs again. Logan has no patience for him, still loyal to Ororo over him, and he’s busy helping survivors from the wreckage of damaged buildings. He finds a dying mother who begs him to save her daughter, and he promises he’ll protect her like his own child. The dragon scoops up a bunch of scrap metal and flies out a field, but Lockheed appears and attacks her to defend the children below. We learn what’s been going on- the dragon was gathering materials for a nest to start a family with Lockheed, but didn’t realize that that’s not what Lockheed wanted. Despondent, she abandons her plans and vanishes. The sad story of unrequited love is juxtaposed with Logan and Mariko, who are in the same city fighting the same threat and still in love, but unable to face each other or find their happiness together. After leaning a lot into drama with recent plots, this issue was just Claremont having fun with a giant dragon while still putting work into character arcs. It’s the kind of fun, mostly inconsequential issue that can only work in a years long run like this one, and it was a fun read. The final scene is a terrible portent of things to come: a cut to DC, where Senator Kelly is introducing a bill to potentially legalize the enslavement of mutants for military purposes.

In issue 182, we focus on Anna’s mission to get back to the mansion and check on everyone. As she approaches, she surprises herself by thinking of the mansion, and the X-Men, as home. She likes being a hero, but she also feels like she’s betraying her moms, and she’s scared that she’ll have to keep choosing between them. She hears an alarm when she enters coming from the X-mansion emergency phone, and finds a voicemail from Carol Danvers’s old lover Michael Rossi calling the professor for help on the SHIELD helicarrier before being attacked. She flies off to save him, forgetting her mission to check on the New Mutants, who at this moment are still in Massachusetts. Rossi was caught by Shaw’s double spies in SHIELD while he was researching to Hellfire connection to Project Wideawake. Anna breaks into the helicarrier, causing a bunch of property damage as she searches for Michael, finding him just before he was about to be murdered. When she sees him, her mind starts to unravel- one second she believes she’s Carol Danvers, the next she knows she’s Anna and she’s terrified of what’s happening. While in her Carol persona, she takes Michael to Carol’s childhood home and starts to have a breakdown as Carol’s memories rush through her mind stronger than ever before. Forced to confront how much she stole from Carol, she finally regains control of her consciousness, but still feels Carol’s love for Michael. When she tells him (he had no idea what happened to Carol) he screams that he wishes he could kill her, and Anna agrees. This is the first time we see how much of Carol’s psyche was transplanted into Anna. Anna doesn’t know where the she ends and Carol begins, and it’s tearing her apart. But Michael knows she’s not really the woman he loved, and his condemnation of Anna cuts her to her core. it’s awful to watch her unravel as she realizes everything she’s feeling is something she accidentally stole from another woman. She’s filled with guilt and with grief for having to reject the happy memories that aren’t hers. This complete breakdown of her mind is an important step in her journey, and a foreshadowing of her clashing personas that’ll become an even more prominent struggle down the line. In the final scene, Fury orders his men to hunt down Anna, who they don’t realize was on a rescue mission.

Issue 183 opens with a scene I’ve been looking forward to for as long as I can remember, Peter and Kitty’s breakup. It is actually a very touching sequence. Peter solemnly tells Kitty how much he loves his new, dead girlfriend, and she responds with supportive friendship while her thought bubbles reveal how she feels like he’s destroying her heart. Kitty grows up a lot in this issue. Every little change usually sends her into a rage, but here’s something she though that she could count on be pulled out from under her, and she just quietly sobs in her room while Illyana hugs her. Claremont’s goal here is actually to replace Peter with Illyana as Kitty’s partner, but unfortunately Jim Shooter hates gay people. Anna is in the Danger Room fighting a bunch of robots that she’s programmed to kill her. Because Xavier is out of town with the New Mutants, it’s up to Ororo to be the therapist, but Anna refuses help. She says she’s to dangerous for anyone to be close to her, and there’s nothing anyone can do to help her. Ororo then finds Kitty, who finally opens back up to her. She hates Peter for how he hurt her, and she doesn’t want to let him see her cry, so she’s taking a break to visit her dad. Logan has taken Peter to a bar, with Kurt as chaperone, and they get drunk while Logan chews Peter out. He says Peter didn’t really love Zsaji, he was just scared of how things were getting serious with Kitty and looking for an excuse to end it. Peter is pissed at him, and also very drunk, and ends up spilling his drink on the worst possible person- Cain Marko, the Juggernaut, who was in civilian clothes at the bar. They get into a bar fight that Logan refuses to let Kurt intervene in, until eventually Peter gets kayoed. Cain leaves a wad of cash for the owner to fix all the damage and leaves, not looking for a fight. When Peter is upset that his friends didn’t help him, Logan says it’s the same betrayal he did to Kitty. The issue ends on a cliffhanger with Selene appearing in New York and vowing to rule the world. Logan’s whole speech is very dumb. It’s founded on several terrible key points. The first is that Peter owed Kitty his love, which is not how emotions work and terrible advice. Logan is also basing that on the fact that she gave herself to the Morlocks for him, another terrible plot. Also, Logan and all the X-Men are acting like Peter and Kitty were a healthy couple. Claremont seems to think they were, and he’s upset at Shooter for making him break them up so he’s hellbent on framing it as the wrong move on Peter’s part. Honestly, I’d rather forget about this whole relationship and move on, but that won’t happen for a while. I did really like the bar fight though, it was fun. So this issue had that going for it, plus a nice follow-up to Anna’s mental breakdown.

[nerdcalendar]

April 10, 1963 - Lee Harvey Oswald Assassinates Edwin Partridge

Political unrest over the election of Civil Rights proponent John F. Kennedy to the office of President of the United States was already reaching dangerous levels by 1962. During that year’s Cuban Missile Crisis, rumors of “beings with fantastic and dangerous superpowers” began circulating, fueled by eyewitness accounts of naval officers present. The rumors were largely dismissed, but some, including retired US Army Major General Edwin Partridge, were believers.

Partridge was active in the Dallas, Texas political scene, speaking at right-wing rallies and stoking the flames of segregation. He had begun subtly slipping allusions to mutants into his speeches as early as 1961, attracting the attention of violent mutant rights activist Erik Lehnsherr, also known as Magneto.

Lehnsherr recruited 24-year-old Marine Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate Partridge. On April 10, 1963, Oswald completed the job, shooting Partridge in the head with a rifle as he sat at his kitchen table. This event lead the Kennedy administration to commission Project Wideawake, and on the other side of the political spectrum, strengthened the convictions of Partridge’s followers. Mutant hate groups such as Friends of Humanity and the Purifiers sprung up across the American south, and throughout the 1963 “Summer of Hate” at least a dozen suspected mutants were murdered.

(X-Men: Days of Future Past, 2014) (source)

[marxalittle]

Emma Frost figures out Trask is surveilling her and starts using him as her personal answering/calendar service. Emma Frost gets blackout drunk and shakes down the surveillance van for what she did last night. Emma Frost acquires the secure, direct line phone numbers for Trask and members of his staff, starts prank calling them. Emma Frost steals surveillance footage of herself and uses it to estimate how much exercise she's getting. Emma Frost buys a Boston newspaper and hires at least one reporter to spend all their time hounding Senator Kelly. Emma Frost funds primary challenges to Senator Kelly from the left and the right just because she can. Emma Frost anonymously mails her newspaper recordings of all of Kelly's phone calls from the last year, also acquired from Trask. Emma Frost as the unacceptable antifa sorority girl of your nightmares.

[sonofcoulson]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 3

Episode 3

"Banshee":

Freedom Force have tracked Sean Cassidy to Camp Lehigh. They arrive at the gates and demand entry as they are harbouring a wanted mutant. Peggy does not recognise their authority leading to a standoff between the two sets of agents. Peggy orders her agents not to fire first. She keeps all those with superpowers inside so as not to stoke tension.

Unbeknownst to her, a shrunken Hank Pym has snuck out and is investigating the enemy convoy parked outside the gates. He disables the weapons of the combatants in the first van causing much confusion, especially as he has also disabled their radios.

A S.H.I.E.L.D. tower guard by the gate sees agents pouring out of two vans with a third following swiftly after. Peggy knows exactly what is happening…

Peggy: Pym! What the hell do you think you're doing! Get back here right now! We do not want to give them the excuse to-

Hank (having entered the 5th van): Peggy, I know what I'm doing.

P: Do you? If you get captured they can bloody well keep you!

H: Uh, the agents in this van are unarmed and they're all wearing power dampeners.

P: …Hank, get out of there.

Forge switches one power dampener off and radios that Dukes is ready and the other ‘hounds’ are on standby.

Hank retreats, but his Pym Tech fails as he runs towards the gate. The Freedom Force agents open fire. He is able to shrink before he gets hurt but the damage is done. Gunfire is exchanged between the two agencies and the agents with disabled weapons and radios are re-equipping. Peggy is livid.

Fred Dukes, the first ‘hound’, emerges from the fifth van and is sent to the gate as he has superhuman durability and can repel the bullets. This is a young, fit Dukes, before he becomes ‘Blob’. He uses his super strength to wrench the gates off and Freedom Force swarm the base.

As Freedom Force technically fired first she orders Jacqui and Brian to slow down the advancing horde. Angel Salvadore and Sean Cassidy offer to go with them…Peggy agrees but gives them an alternate route to the hangar and the mk II Quinjet. Says they'll retreat to Muir Island, if Dr. MacTaggert will have them. Sean assures them she will.

Pym returns and tries to apologise. Peggy tells him to save it, she'll deal with him later. Pym is ordered to supervise the concealment of ‘sensitive’ tech, including his own.

Peggy calls the President to see if she can get a reprieve.

James Braddock goes to prep the Quinjet for escape.

Howard begins to barricade with some volunteers. The non-combat staff are told to evacuate through the warren of tunnels running under the base, including Howard's heavily pregnant wife, Maria.

Cassidy, Salvadore and the Falsworth twins enter the fray and are making fairly short work of the Freedom Force agents. But they grind to a halt against Dukes as he swats away their normal attacks. They realise they need to work together. Jacqui flames on to obscure his vision and Brian sucker punches him in soft tissue (eyeball). Dazed, he is unable to brush Angel Salvadore away and she spits hardening goo on his face so he can't breathe. Cassidy sonic screams him hard, direct in the face, and Dukes is down. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents begin to retake the upper level.

Peggy gets off the phone and informs them that Nixon told her that his hands are tied. She then asks Pym how many others there were in the 5th van…

Simultaneously, Henry Peter Gyrich confirms that the other ‘hounds’ should be released. Forge deactivates more collars in the 5th van.

The hounds are all dressed in black combat gear with slight variations.

One of them (Avalanche) touches the ground by the van, causing the ground by our heroes to rumble and crack. This breaks the hard goo on Dukes’ face. The hounds approach the team as Dukes remains prone on the ground recovering his breath.

Our team group together. Jacqui lays down a wall of fire to keep them out.

Another hound (Stonewall) walks straight through as he has turned himself to stone. Angel goos him before he can grab Jacqui but he starts to crack it with his stone hands. One hound (Toad) leaps over the fire and dropkicks Spitfire to the ground.

Brian starts toward her but is caught by a blow from another hound (Crimson Commando) who also has super strength.

The hounds battle the S.H.I.E.L.D. squad, who just about manage to hold their own, even when Dukes recovers, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. troopers are managing to keep Freedom Force out of the underground part of the base.

Gyrich calls for the last hound.

Out of the 5th van he steps and begins to charge his chest plate. Cassidy and Salvadore recognise him, even under his helmet and armour, as Alex Summers (aka Havok). They scream for everybody to fall back.

When the blast comes the three flying heroes manage to get out of the way, and some of the hounds too. But Brian, Fred Dukes and several troops from both sides are caught in it.

Peggy, hearing all this, calls on everyone to retreat. Troopers are to get to their nearest safe house and the supers to the hanger where the Quinjet is prepped and waiting. Jaqcui drags her brother to his feet. But they are obstructed by another hound (Super Sabre) who has super speed.

Cassidy warns everyone to cover their ears and lets out the loudest, widest ranging scream he's ever produced. With the enemy stunned and Brian up and they make haste to safety.

Havok is charging up another shot for the Quinjet but deliberately misses after Forge instructs him to let them go. This was at Gyrich's request. He knows where they're going and wants an excuse to follow them there.

When Gyrich leaves the channel, Forge is livid that they had Havok fire on their own men. Val understands Forge's anger but says the must achieve their objective no matter the cost.

Forge says the cost is rising and wonders where Gyrich will draw the line.

We see a shot of the team landing and disembarking on Muir Island while Moira McTaggart looks on.

We also see that Pym stayed, as he didn't want anyone to find his stuff and has enough Pym Particles to keep himself hidden.

We cut to Mystique, collared, in a cell. A guard lets Evangaline Whedon in. She sits. Pointedly she does not turn on the tape recorder. She puts a small medical kit on the table, unzips it and puts a syringe next to it.

Evangaline: Miss Darkhölme. How are they treating you?

Mystique: 

E: They've sent me here to administer your medication.

M: 

E: I believe this was your job.

M: You know what it does?

E: They explained it. It is deeply unethical. 

M: And yet here you are…

E: I didn't have a choice, just like you didn't have a choice.

M: There's always a choice.

E (momentarily thrown by Mystique's assertion): …They seem to have given up any pretense that we have rights in this place.

M: Isn't that why they brought you here? Mutant rights?

E: They brought me in to avoid a prisoner revolt. To give these mutants the illusion of due process, of a proper government department.

M: The truth! I wasn't expecting that from you.

E: What were you expecting Miss Darkhölme?

M: You have singularly failed to stand up to Gyrich or even Cooper. What about the rights of those prisoners? What about a fair trial?

E: You helped to capture all of those prisoners. Some of whom were former colleagues of yours. So don't try and lecture me about mutant rights.

M: So Cooper finally told the team about my past…you need a mutant to catch a mutant, right?

Has she told them about Irene Adler?

E: Yes. That made sense. Her predictions were a little too good.

M: Did she tell them about Forge?

E: Forge is a…

M: Yes. He just doesn't know it yet.

Did she tell them about you?

E (momentarily thrown again): …Me? What about me?

M: That you're one of us.

E: Is this…Did Cooper put you up to this?

M: I think that was my response.

E: To whom?

M: …Can I really trust you, Evangeline? 

E: You noticed that I didn't turn the tape recorder on? Gyrich's going to string me up for that.

M: Maybe you want to trick me into giving you my co-conspirators and escape plans to feed back to Cooper.

E: …I just want to go home, Raven…You want an affidavit? 

M: …Okay…If I'm vague on the details…then there's nothing to report back…

First, you need to decide what you're going to do with that medication.

E: …

M: I told you, there's always a choice. It has to be your decision. 

E: Some choice…

M: And then, when the time comes, you will need to use your power to help everyone escape.

E: …I can’t…

M: You can, Evangeline.

E: I killed someone the last time it happened.

M: I heard they had it coming.

E: …

M: It was you or them, right?

E: …I did a lot of damage too.

M: We're kind of counting on that.

E: Raven, I completely lost control.

M: You may have more control than you think. You just need practice.

E: …No…I…

M: Just a fingernail, a hand…an arm…start small.

E: Does everyone escape?

M: Unclear. But you give us the best chance of success.

E: That sounds like Irene talking.

M: No. No names. Not yet.

E: How will I know when the time comes?

M: Oh, you'll know.

M (Looking at the syringe, then at Evangeline): So…what's it going to be?

Aaand scene

[starvels]

there’s something about this moment in what-if civil war

that just has so much meat about the steve/tony dynamic in times of high stress and moral arguments. in this what-if, steve and tony actually end up working together to manage SHRA. what’s interesting is that steve was only being able to calm down his self-righteous anger over civil war to see tony’s side of the story when tony....emotionally prostrated himself in front of steve? only when tony bared himself all the way to the bone did steve listen to what tony was trying to say.

it’s not like steve doubts tony’s ability to intuit the future - he relies on it a lot. but in this scene in CW, it really feels like steve only makes space to pause and listen to tony when steve feels that tony has adequately emotionally bared his throat, all or nothing. only when steve thinks tony has rightfully given steve the upper hand to make a decision, rightfully humbled himself to saying he needs help, admitted that he is deeply flawed.

only then, does steve say yes okay.

i think it could come from a place of not striking someone whose guard is fully down, from a place of not being able to trust without being trusted but, tony in CW actual was asking for the same thing, just couldn’t articulate it as openly. for someone as emotionally bullheaded as steve is often, this is a wild benchmark of moral absolutism to hold tony to. he’s really out here saying, ANY AMOUNT OF LYING TO ME IS WRONG. only the absolute truth is morally upstanding! tony get on your knees emotionally and ask me pretty please, say that you need me, assuage my hurt feelings and be more emotionally open and honest with me than i have been with you this entire time, right now, while i hold the possibility of no within my hand and weigh the entire superhuman community’s future over whether or not i think you’ve repented enough and said you love me enough.

this issue also firmly establishes that tony is right in civil war, that someone did have to take the path of lesser evil to prevent project wideawake from sweeping through the superhero population.

so here’s the narrative establishing that tony stark was right about civil war, but then immediately stating that steve roger’s feelings and perspective, his desires for how to handle this situation and need for tony to act a certain way are should nonetheless be validated.

and maybe most interestingly, steve in what-if proceeding to do all the things SHRA registration and hill and reed and tony do, is then held as THE supreme example of peaceful coexistence and moral uprightness. this is portrayed as the best possible civil war outcome:

steve’s morals being assuaged and him holding the same secret ID info, holding the same directoral position as tony did.

and its not like that’s an isolated incident of 616 canon′s validation of steve’s unique approach to ethical fading, obvs.

here is an example of steve in new avengers vol 4, being highly emotional, berating tony for not being ~truthful, condemning him for his sins, essentially telling him the only way he could have repented for his faults is by being overwhelming truthful 100% of the time with all grand, global secrets

but then the narrative in new avengers goes on to outright say that it’s a-okay to do this apparently immoral lying to the rest of the superhuman community about the infinity stones, IF AND ONLY IF steve rogers is in on it with tony stark, so that tony isn’t lying to steve.

lmfaooooo

moral pluralism? nay,, more like moral cap-alism

this repressed, head over heels for tony stark, catholic boy that the whole world idolizes...,.,. i tell y’all,.,.

[sneakymystique]

Not A Man’s Best Friend-A Mystique Drabble

Being something so utterly different was never a comfortable feeling, but as the saying went ‘needs must’ and the utility of the form was more than enough to make up for the temporary discomfort. Padding between the legs of the gathered dinner party, the German Sheppard ignored the “Awws!” and “Urgh I don’t like dogs!”, seeming to meander aimlessly until a voice rang out.

“Patton! How did you get in here? C’mon buddy you’re going back outside.” General Robert Yorke, Head of the US Army’s Project Wideawake and close friend to William Stryker, his voice making Patton wag his tail eagerly despite the firm grip that descended on his collar. A quick internal adjustment to her salivary glands to open the sachet stored in them and a quick lick of the hand sealed the General’s fate. The poison was slow acting, but extremely lethal even in small doses and what she had just exposed him to was enough to kill everyone in the room several times over. Did she care if any of the party goers died too? Not in the slightest considering all of them worked for the same program. Bigots at best, murderous psychopaths at worst.

Ejected into the garden, where Patton padded off into the bushes, nobody saw the four legged shadow grow into a two legged one, dark blue skin blending perfectly with the shadows as Mystique vanished into the night.

[multiversecarnavep]

Nimrod is a mutant-hunting Sentinel from an alternative future and was created by the Sentinels ruling that timeline. When Rachel Summers travels backwards in time to the present, he follows Rachel. Although not capable of time travel by himself he was transported back in time by Doctor Strange and Magik using their powers to change time to prevent Kulan Gath's occupation of New York. Thus Nimrod saves the life of construction worker Jaime Rodriguez by slaying a mugger (Kulan Gath's destined host), who would have otherwise killed Rodriguez. In gratitude Rodriguez offers Nimrod a job and a home with his family, not realizing who or what the shape-shifting Sentinel truly is.[2]



Nimrod in Uncanny X-Men #194 (June 1985); art by John Romita Jr.

After gathering information about the timeline in which he finds himself, Nimrod eventually changes his prime directive from the extermination of all mutants, having determined that such widespread destruction is not necessary in this era, to only the extermination of mutants who were regarded as outlaws by the government, such as the X-Men. He fights the Juggernaut. He hunts Summers and the X-Men, but is defeated by Rogue when Rogue absorbs the mutant powers of Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde and Colossus. Based on a plan that Kitty conceives before losing consciousness, Rogue uses Nightcrawler's teleportation to teleport part of Nimrod's body away, with Rogue's and Colossus's combined invulnerability protecting Rogue from the resulting physical strain in a manner that Nightcrawler could not have handled.[3] Some time after this, Nimrod garners a reputation with the public of New York City as a heroic vigilante, assuming he is simply a man in powered armor. He also adopts the more human personality Nicholas Hunter as part of a cover alias as a construction worker.[4]

Nimrod later faces the combined forces of the X-Men and the Hellfire Club and proves himself as a powerful threat, killing Black Rook Friedrich Von Roehm, causing Harry Leland's fatal heart attack, nearly killing Nightcrawler and badly injuring Rogue and Sebastian Shaw.[5]

When Nimrod comes across a piece of the gigantic Sentinel Master Mold while working on a construction site, his programming is immediately co-opted; Master Mold merges with Nimrod, using its systems to rebuild Nimrod in its own image. The X-Men are initially hard pressed to defeat the reborn Master Mold, but Nimrod comes to their aid, claiming he has evolved as well and no longer views them or mutants as a threat. Nimrod asserts enough control over Master Mold to render it immobile, and even convinces it that it has become a mutant as well. Thus, to fulfill its prime directive to exterminate mutants, it must self-destruct. The remains of both robots are pushed through the Siege Perilous, a mystical gateway that causes all who passed through it to be reborn with new bodies.[6] Though the exact moment is unclear, Nimrod and Master Mold are merged into the being Bastion, a man who had absolutely no memory of his former existence.[7]

In X-Force, a modern-day version of Nimrod appears. Created by an offshoot of Project Wideawake, this version is based on the technology derived from the Nimrod from the future.[8] In truth, between the time of Nimrod's first arrival and its apparent destruction when it merged with the Master Mold and had traveled through the Siege Perilous, it had taken precautionary measures to ensure its survival. By downloading a self-awareness program into the base's military computer cybernet, the program served as a sleeper virus that awaited the opportunity to access a Sentinel development program so it could use it to re-create Nimrod itself. Nimrod's detection of the invading X-Force had caused it to act before it had originally intended to fulfill its imperative. It deactivates itself when Cable convinces Nimrod that its earlier creation in the timeline would cause a paradox and incalculable damage to the timestream.[9]

Reverend William Stryker later found a damaged Nimrod as it enters the Marvel timeline from an alternate one.[10] Immobilized, Stryker secretly uses Nimrod's memories of future events to give him the appearance of precognition to his followers and to help plan an attack on the X-Men and other mutants, but Nimrod alters its memories to facilitate its own escape, and Stryker is defeated. During the New X-Men[11] story arc "Nimrod", it searches for Forge, whom it believes is its creator. Nimrod believes Forge can repair its damaged body, but Forge instead transfers Nimrod's programming into a new chassis which Forge can control. Believing Forge to be in danger, the New X-Men travel to his workshop to help him. This eventually leads to Nimrod gaining control over his body and attacking Forge and the New X-Men. Nimrod is defeated when Surge overloads Nimrod's temporal unit, blasting Nimrod out of the timestream. Nimrod survives and travels back in time to March 1985, where the events involving Jaime Rodriguez and Kulan Gath's amulet play out exactly as they had originally[12] with its memory corrupted, resulting in its existence in the 'true' timeline — with Rachel's history erased — becoming a temporal paradox.[13]

The series X-Force reveals that the Purifiers held on to most of Nimrod's original body and fuse it with Bastion's head to reform Bastion.[14] He then, using the Technarch transmode virus, revives numerous villains that have destroyed many mutants.[15]

During the events of Second Coming, he personally confronts Hope Summers, Rogue and Nightcrawler, leading to the death of the latter. Bastion appears to be reverting more and more to fully being Nimrod. Some time later, Bastion unleashes an endless horde of Nimrods from an unknown future to destroy the X-Men. However, X-Force, Cypher and Cable go to that future and destroy the Master Mold controlling them. At the end of the crossover, the original Nimrod (Bastion) takes his original form but is destroyed by Hope. The chest and head of Nimrod are later shown to be exhibited in X-Force Headquarters. Deathlok identifies it as version 32.1 and the possibility for its future to come to be is 1.34%.[16]

During a brief glimpse three months into the future seen in Uncanny Avengers, Havok, Scarlet Witch and Sunfire are shown fleeing from a new model of Sentinel. Havok refers to the machines as Nimrod units, and mentions that they were built by Tony Stark.[17]

Dawn of XEdit

In this new X-Men timeline, "Nimrod the Lesser" is seen 90 years in the future, along with "Nimrod the Greater" seen 990 years in the future.[18] It was soon revealed that a human coalition of scientists and espionage agents from various secret agencies have joined forces to form Orchis, the ultimate mutant-fighting organization. Along with the former X-Man Omega Sentinel and built on the remains of Sol's Hammer, they have created the Orchis Forge solar orbiting space station which serves as a construction platform for the Mother Mold, a Master Mold capable of creating other Master Mold Sentinels. After intel provided by Moira MacTaggart suggests that this event is the probable origin of the Nimrod Sentinels, a team of X-Men invade the Orchis Forge and successfully decouple the giant Sentinel before it fully awakens, sending it plummeting into the sun.[19]

Later, on the Orchis Forge, it is discovered by Mystique during an infiltration mission that Director Killian Devo has completed work on an unknown component that Dr. Alia Gregor installs inside the torso of a Nimrod unit that is in the initial stages of construction.[20]

At the behest of Xavier and Magneto, Mystique returns for a final desperate mission in the Orchis Forge to detonate a mini-black hole bomb designed by Forge capable of annihilating the entire station. Her mission coincides with Dr. Gregor preparing to resurrect her husband, Captain Erasmus Mendel, who was killed in the original Orchis raid, into the chassis of her newly constructed Sentinel prototype. The activation succeeds and the crystalline memory transfer is successful, but the Erasmus persona prototype immediately detects the disguised Mystique as a Mutant and sacrifices itself to save the Orchis base by teleporting into space with the bomb she has triggered, leaving two emotionless duplicates without Erasmus' memory core yet uploaded to subdue Mystique before she can escape the station, and to protect Dr. Gregor. Executing Mystique through the entrance of her Krakoa escape portal, the fearsome Sentinel announces his existence as "Nimrod, The Hunter" to the X-Men, who have failed once again in their attempt to destroy Orchis, vowing to hunt down and kill all Mutants.[21]

Aware of Nimrod's creation by Orchis, Bishop, who refers to the prototype as "Nimrod 2.0", advises the X-Men, the Hellfire Club and X-Force about the formation of a highly specialized strike team that has experience fighting Nimrod Sentinels in the past and to create unorthodox weapons and strategies to deal with Orchis' new threat.[22]

[xprojectrpg]

This Day in X-Project - November 13

2015: Clea is excited about the Homecoming Dance that night. Miles posts a photo to Instagram of himself and Bobby at the dance. North gets retribution for that one time Felicia stole all of North's clothes and sent them to her tailor.

2016: Maya asks Wade if they can go camping. Laurie posts about it being Match Day for med students.

2017:

2018: Jubilee posts about food. Laurie posts about volunteering in a soup kitchen during Thanksgiving.

2019: Topaz wonders about the wisdom of the Chicago Library transcribing spellbooks. Clea posts a link to a new band, heavily featuring hammers and spaceships.

2020: Gabriel reflects on how the mansion never ceases to surprise him. Time Stand Still: Alex meets Franklin early in the morning in the kitchen and helps him achieve mac and cheese and cartoons; Kurt meets Talia and it’s not actually weird at all; Cypher calls for volunteers for the ambush in Avalon; Changeling draws the Other Topaz to Avalon and the trap is executed; Wolverine, Facade and Sombra cut a path through Other Topaz’s shadow creatures on one side, while Ronin, Blink and Pyro do the same on the other side; Echo, Skin and Sentinel take care of the third side and the Frosts - the White Queen, Fourteen and Ruby and Garnet - psychically prevent her from draining emotions for power; finally, Tarot, Dust, Marvel Girl, Psylocke and Topaz overload Evil!Topaz, allowing Daytripper to come in and kill her.

2021: Gabe runs into Jean at a bar where she reveals she has quit Claremont. Operation: Wideawake: Amanda emails Marie-Ange about receiving a tip about another Sentinel project and an asset inside who needs extracting before the Brotherhood turn up; Marie-Ange alerts the team they have a job. Arise, X-Man: Laurie takes Nate to a movie to test his powers and uses an unorthodox technique to calm him down when he panics.

2022:

2023: Jubilee and Namor banter at the lake. Topaz posts a picture of fireworks from London. Garrison emails Marie to ask for some temporary help. Madin returns to the mansion and meets Sharon in her human form. Jessie Drake stops by the community center to find out about becoming a volunteer, and meets Sooraya. A Haven to Call Home: Quentin texts Sue and Hope A. to follow up on some of Radha's financial accounts; Quentin posts about what happened with Haven; after getting the people out of Radha's dimension, Hope A. finally wakes up, to Sue's relief.