Having been transmitted to Genosha last issue, Rogue
and Wolverine fight through the Citadel, the headquarters of the Magistrates,
Genosha’s state security. The magistrates are overwhelmed and try locking them
in the hangar while they call for reinforcements. Rogue and Wolverine bust
through the door and discover the captured Madelyne Pryor and Jenny Ransome in
cells. Some of the magistrates grab Rogue, instantly knocking them out and
clueing her in on where they are. Rogue and Wolverine are then zapped by a
magistrate called Wipeout, instantly nullifying their powers! Elsewhere, on the
island, a call is made to the Genegineer, high ranking official in the Genoshan
government. The call is picked up by his son and a vehicle quickly comes to
pick the Genegineer up. After it leaves, scorch marks are left in the yard and
a slave-like mutant fixes the grass good as new!
As the vehicle makes its way to the citadel, the
Genegineer is filled in on the arrival of Rogue and Wolverine, and how they’re
invisible to their scanners. When he gets there, the Genegineer is escorted to
Rogue and Wolverine, now captured and in cells. It’s explained that all
attempts to identify them electronically have failed, and that a virus may have
infected their own systems. When being processed, some of the magistrates got
overly touchy with Rogue, leaving her curled up in her cell. The Genegineer
demands that nothing like that happen again and is made aware of the existence
of the other X-Men, theorizing that they’ll be coming to try and rescue their
comrades at some point. Back in Sydney, Hawkshaw, Pipeline, and Punchout sneak
around to try and free the magistrates that were arrested by the Australian
police. Gateway teleports Storm, Psylocke, and Colossus right into the
magistrates’ cell, where Psylocke can use her abilities to read their minds.
What she discovers about how Genosha treats mutants horrifies and enrages her,
but she pushes through her anger with the information on where their friends
are. They are then teleported back to Australia to regroup with the others
before heading right back out again. Meanwhile, down in the computer center, the demon N’astirh calls with a message for Madelyne but finds she’s not
there…
Back in Genosha, the Genegineer’s son Phillip is
jogging along when suddenly a magistrate strike team shows up to take his
girlfriend Jenny’s family into custody! He questions what’s going on and one of
the magistrates nearly attacks him before they realize who he is. The
magistrate apologizes profusely before Phillip runs off to figure out what’s
going on. Meanwhile, back in her cell, Rogue was so traumatized by the
magistrates’ treatment of her that she’s retreated into the deepest parts of
her subconscious. There, she encounters the psychic residue of everyone she’s
ever absorbed and they start to overwhelm her. She’s then rescued by Carol
Danvers’ psyche that still exists within her and Carol offers to help. Though
there’s still some tension between the two, Rogue agrees to let Carol take
control of her body in order to get them out of this mess. When the magistrates
show up to harass Rogue some more, Carol as Rogue knocks them out before
freeing Wolverine. Though Wolverine’s having a tough time of it without his
healing factor, Carol refuses to leave him as they plan their escape.
Elsewhere, back in his father’s study, Phillip
accesses his father’s computer and learns his girlfriend Jenny Ransome is a
mutant and slated to be modified to fulfill her duty to Genosha. The Genegineer
catches Phillip and reveals that Jenny’s father switched her file with another
girl’s to hide the fact that she was a mutant. When the change was discovered
the Press Gang was sent to bring Jenny back home where she can be modified to
be used as slave labor, as is the law for all mutants on Genosha! Back at the
citadel, the Genoshan scientists inspect both Madelyne and Jenny and are quite
confused by Madelyne’s readings, or rather lack thereof. N’Astirh once again
shows up on the screen to contact her, but she tells him later. He departs,
blowing up the screen and shutting off power to the entire complex! In the
hangar, Carol and Wolverine use this power failure as an opportunity to
commandeer an aircraft and escape, with plans to make the Genoshans pay! To be
continued!
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