X-Men (7th series) #8

Beast slowly regains consciousness. He is lying in the dark in an unfamiliar room and hears a female voice addressing one P-resident Lopez, assuring him he will be pleased. Pleased enough to forgive the long flight from Terra Verde.

He hardly noticed the flight, the man replies, addressing her as “warden.” He was so preoccupied with the chance to right the wrongs done to his people. Very poetic, the warden agrees and adds sarcastically that a show trial for Henry McCoy, architect of their misfortunes, will make it much easier to hide the environmental devastation being wreaked by Lopez’ Roxxon puppet masters. Roxxon has been a good friend to the people of Terra Verde, he replies, strictly operating withing the law. He resents that insinuation.

Beast manages to sit up and begins to realize the horror of his situation. From the cell’s entrance, Warden Ellis remarks that, as long as Terra Verde makes its generous contributions to Graymalkin’s operating budget, she doesn’t much care what Lopez feels about any situation. He is awake, she observes. “Hello, you horrible Beast,” she greets him. Welcome to Graymalkin Prison.

At the Factory, Cyclops informs the rest of the X-Men that Hank has been taken. Target? Psylocke asks practically. Kid Omega summarizes that he was on the phone with Beast when he got taken. He skimmed the short-term memories of everyone who was around and put together a model of what happened. He got caught in Merle. Quentin then loses track of him, until someone sees a small aircraft, assuming it belongs to the X-Men. He then checks the memories of commercial pilots, noticing that aircraft on a flight route he predicted. A path that leads to Westchester, New York.

Cyclops continues ,stating that Hank’s in Graymalkin Prison. It’s time they broke it. Does he mean “broke in?” Psylocke asks. No, he replies curtly. He orders Quentin to copy the battle plan from out his mind into the common knowledge pool and ready the Hellions Protocol. He orders the team to gear up. They are moving.

Psylocke asks him to calm down. He is angry and likely to make a mistake. Scott replies that Hank McCoy was like his brother. They grew up together. And then Hank became a monster and he lost him. But now his brother is back, and he is not losing him again! So yes, he is angry!

Graymalkin Prison:
Hank is not the only X-Man trapped in Graymalkin. They also recently captured Jubilee of the Louisiana-based team and one of their students, Calico, who are in the meal hall. The naïve young Calico looks at the slop they’ve been served and asks what this is. Food for mutants, Jubilee replies, or something resembling it. Horrified, Calico asks if she could have something else, please. Jubilee reminds her they are in prison. “Like” doesn’t enter here. “Something else” doesn’t exist, just whatever the lowest bid for the mutant chow contract turned out to be. She eats a spoonful and orders the girl to do the same. They are on wartime footing; they don’t get to choose their rations.

She is surprised when she sees Beast and calls out for him. Hank joins them and greets her, bemused, identifying her as Jubilation. Jubilee understands that this version of Hank has never met her before. Calico shily introduces herself as Becca Simon-Pinette of the Louden County Simon-Pinettes. But her mutant name is Calico, of the Louisiana X-Men. Equally polite, Beast introduces himself to her. Jubilee jokes that Scott’s X-Men seem to have some problem if he got snatched. Hank retorts he is counting two Louisiana X-Men here to one prisoner from Alaska. Calico only counts for a half, Jubilee retorts.

Hands! a guard orders. Warden on deck! The prisoners put their hands in sight and freeze as the heavily guarded Warden Ellis walks past them. Would they look at that, she remarks, disdainfully. The two muties she wanted to speak with, sitting together. Not “with,” she corrects herself. That implies a level of equality… peers. Speak to.

She sarcastically informs that Beast that she has good news. Negotiations are proceeding extremely well with Terra Verde. Which means he will be leaving them soon. True, it will be for black-bag extradition, followed by a show trial and quick execution, but she has never claimed to be Santa Claus. But for her, Becca Simon-Pinette of the Louden County Simon-Pinettes, she may think of her as bedecked in jolly red and white. Her wealthy, politically-connected family has gotten in touch. Imagine Ellis’ surprise when they told her Becca is not a mutant after all. She can leave as well, given that her family will make a sizeable contribution to Graymalkin for all the trouble. They may even name a wing after her. All she has to do is sign this affidavit that she is not a mutant like the rest of the gene thrash here. She’s sure Becca will be happy to be back with her own kind.

Becca ignores the paper and begins to wolf down the disgusting food, tears in her eyes. Ellis demands what she is doing. She is eating mutant food. With the other mutants, Calico spits out. Because her name is Calico of the Louisiana X-Men. And she is a mutant!

Not showing her anger openly, Ellis reminds a guard that the mutie moved after hands was called. One guard gets ready to hit Calico with a baton, but Beast steps between them and takes the blow. Unimpressed, he spits some blood aside and asks if that is all he’s got. If he must strike an X-Man, why not a fully grown one? He does believe they all look the same to him.

Ellis calmly orders the guard to kill the next mutant who moves and give that repellent atavism what he wants. The guard hits Beast in the face with his baton. Ellis remarks she still fully intends to sell him to Terra Verde. But if she has to give them a discount for damaged goods, so be it.

That moment, she is informed via comm that they are under attack.

The Marauder has teleported in and is firing at the prison. Inside the Marauder at the controls, Kid Omega gleefully informs Cyclops of the damage done so far. Their main anti-teleport shielding should be down. Loss of life? Cyclops asks and is assured none. He turns to the meditating Magik and asks about their reinforcements. On their way, she assures him and asks about their parameters. What parameters? he asks. Murder parameters, she clarifies. He gives permission to hurt and punish, but not to kill. They are going to come for the X-Men for what they are doing today. Stacking bodies will make this harder. He used to be fun, she pouts. Please, he was never fun, Scott retorts.

Outside Graymalkin, the guards are waiting for the next aerial attack. Instead, the ground rumbles and huge demons from Limbo rise to the men’s horror.

Inside, Warden Ellis is informed that the X-Men have taken out the primary generator. She contacts the control center and gives orders for Trask to send a cohort of his Wolfpack Sentinels to the main prison level.

The guard, his baton bloodied, asks if they should return these muties to their cells. Did she tell him to stop hitting the mutie? she retorts and warns that the X-Men didn’t just come to trench their yard. They will have visitors shortly.

And, indeed, a teleportation circle brings Cyclops, Psylocke and Temper to the lobby. Quentin, in the Marauder, is responsible for psychic comm and aerial support. Magik’s demons keep the distraction going and Juggernaut is in place for his attack run.

Cyclops explains that Beast built countermeasures from the stealth SHRIKE suits they took off the ONE people. While not invisible, Graymalkin’s sensors will have a hard time getting a lock on them.

Warden Ellis enters the command center, orders Scurvy to bring he trustees online and asks where the X-Men are. But as Cyclops predicted, the sensors can’t lock on them. Nevertheless, the trio runs into a group of armed guards. Joined by Magik, the X-Men quickly and brutally make short works of them. Cyclops asks Psylocke to get a tactics overview from one of the unconscious men’s brain. A moment later, she gasps; this is worse than they thought. They’ve taken mutants and turned them into things! Trustees they call them…

A moment later, one of these trustees, the Blob, crashes through the wall to attack them. Calling him by his first name, Fred, Cyclops assures him he doesn’t want to hurt him. He can’t hurt him! Blob leers. She can, Magik replies and hits him with her soulsword.

As Blob sinks down, a hand grabs him. Typical, Rogue sighs, Cyclops’ team finally stops dragging their feet and decide to come dancing and, right away, they got stepping on her group’s toes. She is flanked by Wolverine and the Outliers Ransom and Jitter.