Exiles (1st series) #30

Issue Date: 
September 2003
Story Title: 
Unnatural Instincts - part 3
Staff: 

Chuck Austen (writer), Clay Henry (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Transparency Digital (colors), Dave Sharpe (letters), Annie Thornton (assistant editor), Mike Marts & Mike Raicht (editor), Joe Quesada (editor in Chief), Bill Jemas (president).

Brief Description: 

Sasquatch, Nocturne, Mimic and Nicholas Gleason go into the wood to look for Morph, whom they find re-assembling himself. They head out to find Havok, leaving Nicholas in the woods. They spot Havok and about to be killed by a werewolf, which he had been fighting with for a while, and are glad but Juggernaut stops it. Cain beats up a few of the werewolves but is blown away by Havok. Bad Havok then sees Paige unconscious on the ground and decided that he should have some fun with her. He is stopped by Archangel who hits him with Illyana’s sword. Iceman then shows up and freezes Bad Havok. As everyone argues about what to do with Bad Havok, he begins to collect power and charges himself back up. Havok breaks free from the ice. They all fight with him and Juggernaut gets back and tells Kurt that if they have to choose between the kids and Havok then Havok has to die. Nocturne decides to try and possess Bad Havok and succeeds. Bad Havok’s psyche is sent back to the void where the Timebroker is waiting to take care of him.
The Exiles spend a few days with the X-Men, recovering and Archangel keeps Magik’s sword, whereas she creates herself another one.

Full Summary: 

At the Xavier Institute For Higher Learning, Home of the X-Men, Sasquatch, Mimic and Nocturne head into the woods with little Nicholas Gleason to find Morph and the others. Nicholas continues to cradle Morph’s severed arm in his arms. Calvin holds his stomach in pain as Heather helps him along the way. She questions if he’s sure that he is alright but he assures her that he is because he got some of Wolverine’s healing power along with his claws. Nocturne asks little Nicholas if he is sure that he is going the right way and he assures her that he is and that the Exiles should trust "us X-Men" a little more. Suddenly they hear a noise and they all look back to see what it is. Calvin asks what the noise was and tells Nicholas this is part of why they have trust issues. Nicholas picks up Morph’s scent in the bushes, as he pulls aside some branches everyone is shocked and worried about Morph’s appearance. A slightly embarrassed Morph is hopping on his left leg as the other is connected to his chest from the knee, his right arm from the elbow down is still missing. Morph sees Nicholas holding his missing arm and asks the "young man" if he knows how long he has been looking for the missing arm.

Elsewhere… Nightcrawler, and Annie holding Carter walk through the woods lost, Nightcrawler has no clue as to where they are because they teleported away from the wolves in a panic, he thinks that they are near the mansion somewhere. Annie expresses how confused she is over the Exiles popping up and the wolves. They see buildings up ahead and find that Kurt has teleported them into the city park. A few joggers look at them strangely as they step out from some bushes.

North of Xavier’s… Bad Havok unleashes a blast of solar energy at the werewolves as Cain lays unconscious on the ground. The werewolves duck and try to avoid the blast, they are still holding onto unconscious Logan and screaming Paige. A wolf standing on the side lunges forward and takes a swipe at Bad Havok only to find his attempt was in vain. His razor sharp claws only serves to make a lovely chang sschang noise as they collide with his metal gauntlets. Another solar blast is fired as another wolf jumps forward curled into cannonball position, landing on the ground with a thak, he then flips and jumps out of the way of Bad Havok’s drawn fire. As Bad Havok is concentrating on the jumping wolf, two others sneak up behind him and rips into his back with the razor talons. Havok falls onto his knees, having suffered a painful blow and depleted his powers. The wolves mock him and feign pity. With Bad Havok’s head grasped in his paws holding him in place, a werewolf prepares to strike a blow to Havok’s head.

Meanwhile… Annie and Kurt watch on as a doctor examines Carter; actually Annie is giving the doctor her diagnosis as she used to be a nurse in an ER. The doctor is slightly annoyed with her, and asks is Carter is a mutant. Annie and Kurt look on slightly concerned, she says yes. The doctor says that he’ll still treat Carter because he looks mostly human but they aren’t supposed to treat mutants. The doctor then leers over at Kurt and tells Annie that Kurt will have to wait outside of the building because he doesn’t want his "funny looking" appearance to disturb any of the other "normal" patients.

North of Xavier’s… Morph is carrying T.J. in his arms as he flies them toward Havok. Heather is being carried on Calvin’s back. T.J. and Morph talk about how she never knew he could break up into pieces and put himself back together again. Morph tells her that he never knew either but he does know that some people like to dismember themselves for fun and see if they can try to put themselves back together but he had just never got around to trying it. Morph spots the X-Men, T.J. sees the wolves trying to kill Bad Alex. Morph grins at her and tells her that it just saves them the trouble, he goes on to try and entice her on what they can do to kill time. T.J. is annoyed. Heather spots Juggernaut getting up below.

Cain gets up, Bad Havok, along with the werewolves are surprised, the wolfs question what it takes to kill him. Cain replies that it will take more than a couple of overgrown dogs, he manages to grab a wolf by the leg and fling him up in the air and slam him back down to the ground. T.J. is upset that Juggernaut just saved Bad Alex and that Wolverine just woke up and is starting to help. T.J. wonders if Wolverine knows that Alex is bad Alex. Calvin states that it doesn’t matter because Alex is powering up.

Wolverine is about to go after some wolves that are getting away just as Bad Havok shoots Juggernaut with a solar blast and sends him hurtling into the sky. Bad Havok is pleased with himself having Juggernaut out of the way and the werewolves down and out, he then notices an unconscious Paige on the ground, "A potential romantic interlude?" He pulls his collar with a smirk and walks over to her just as Warren shows up and hits Bad Havok across the face with the sword he took from Illyana. Warren goes over to help Paige as Bad Havok gets very pissed at him and threatens that he will kill him for hitting him. Warren fully believes Mariko that this is not the real Alex.

Bad Alex shoots at Warren and Paige but Warren holds out Illyana’s sword and deflects the blast. All three are shocked that the sword was actually able to do that. Suddenly Bad Havok is encased in ice, Calvin lands and tells Iceman he did a nice job. Naturally Bobby is confused by Calvin and continues to stand between him and Bad Havok as Calvin tells him to move aside. Mimic tells them that Bad Havok has to be taken out because he will keep trying to kill the little kids. Bobby tells Mimic that despite Alex not being his favorite person, especially these days, but they can’t just take him out. Mariko starts to tells them how she sees Bobby’s point of view but that they’ve been shown part of the future and that the little boys are supposed to live and for some reason Alex won’t stop until both or one of them are dead. Nightcrawler suddenly teleports in, Nocturne calls out to him, "Dad?" He tells her to stop calling him that. Warren chimes in saying that the body still belongs to their Alex and only the mind has been erased.

All the while, Bad Havok was charging himself up, Paige was the only one who noticed and was trying to get everyone’s attention but they were all to busy talking about what to do with Bad Alex. Bad Alex breaks out of his ice prison tells them all that everyone is going to die now. Mimic pops out his claws and T.J. yells to take him down but is pulled back by Nightcrawler telling her that there has to be another way. Morph has changed into the form of and angle wearing a toga, palms clasped together with tiny wings in back. He begins to quote the Lord's Prayer, going "Hallowed be thy name..." then quipping that he will never know why his father would be named "Hallow Ed."

Sunfire tries to burn Bad Havok, Morph fights with his hands, one as the hammer of Thor and the other with the shield of Captain America, Mimic is using claws. Suddenly little Nicholas appears and watches the fight. Juggernaut crawling out of the bushes tells Kurt that if it’s between the kids or Havok then it’s got to be Havok that dies. Little Nicholas leaps out and clings to Bad Havoks arm, Sasquatch tries to grab bad Havok from behind. T.J says that the only way is to get Bad Alex out of Good Alex, she then suddenly remembers her possession powers and tells Juggernaut to serv up a fast ball special with her as the fastball. Cain smiles and says that he’s starting to love this job. Bad Havok is holding up little Nicholas and threatens to make him a rug for his bath room once he gets on. T.J. yells for Alex to think fast as she is air born and posses him.

Suddenly bad Havok finds himself in darkness, back in the empty void he was trapped in, but this time, not alone, or with good Alex. This time he is with Timebroker, who informs him that he is indeed in the same place but this timer more solid than last time – solid enough for the Timebroker to eliminate him personally.

Mimic is informed by the Tallus that their mission is completed, T.J. is on the floor kneeling next to Alex. Alex tells Nocturne that he is the real Alex. Nightcrawler approaches T.J. with a smile and asks who the luck wife is if he really is her father. He smiles and says that she is quite attractive. Morph and Mariko hug after they talk about her seeing herself dead on the previous mission, she says she knows that he didn’t mean to hurt her and he says that he even annoys himself sometimes. The tell each other that they love one another and she calls him a silly putty man. Mimic tells the Exiles that Tallus has given them four days before they have to move on. He then tells Paige that the danger is over and that she can change back to her normal form. She informs him that she won’t in front of him. (When she husks back into her normal form she is naked.)

T.J. and Kurt bond instantly, "it was good for her to connect with him-someone so like the father she loved and missed so desperately." Kurt tells her that he will miss her and has enjoyed having her around. She tells him that she knows because she has that effect on people. He calls her a little smarty pants and says that he’s going to have to give the Scarlet Witch a call.

Nicholas and Carter talk and Nicholas apologized to Carter but Carter tells him that he needs to apologized to Alex. Nicholas tells him that he has apologized to Alex, ten times! Wolverine avoided Mariko for the entire four days as Heather avoided him. Illyana showed up demanding her sword back but Warren refused saying that he had a connection with the sword. Having the X-Men to back him, Illyana made herself another sword, one that she sneered was superior to the previous one. As the Exiles left Alex had just fully recovered but he would always be left wondering if he and Carter were finally safe. "We felt for him. But we should have been more concerned about ourselves." Somewhere in the darkness the Timebroker stands grinning eerily in the dark abyss, his black eyes looking out.

Characters Involved: 

Magik, Mimic, Morph, Nocturne, Sasquatch, Sunfire (all Exiles)

Timebroker
main Marvel Universe "616":

Archangel, Havok, Husk, Iceman, Juggernaut, Nightcrawler, Wolverine (all X-Men)

Annie Ghazikhanian, school nurse

Carter Ghazikhanian, her son

Nicholas Gleason, student at Xavier's
a doctor

Maximus Lobo and his crew of werewolves

Story Notes: 

The X-Men encountered Maximus Lobo and the werewolves in Uncanny X-Men #417-420 (Dominant Species) Lobo believed that his kind was to dominate and they had to right to kill because they can. Wolverine was beaten to a bloody pulp and Husk was killed, only to be resurrected by Archangel’s second mutation of healing blood. The two have formed some what of a bond after that, Paige helped Warren get over the loss of his ex - Psylocke, and they have been dating since.

This story probably takes place continuity-wise some time after Havok’s canceled wedding (Uncanny X-Men #425-426).

Bobby used to date Polaris before she left him for Alex with whom she then had a longtime relationship. The night before the wedding, Bobby and Annie left the bachelorette party together after they kissed and were seen holding hands at the wedding. Alex canceled the wedding and hooked up with Annie.

Alex Summers apparently died at the end of X-Factor #149, and then awoke in the body of another Alex Summers in another reality. "Bad Alex" appears to be the Alex whose body "616" Alex usurped. During his adventures in the other reality in the title Mutant X, Alex also became the nexus of realities at one point.
Nocturne is the daughter of her reality’s versions of Nightcrawler and the Scarlet Witch.
Nicholas Gleason was originally introduced in the Chamber limited series.

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