x-force #002: angels and demons

Reverend Matthew Risman is the leader of the Purifiers, a group of anti-mutant religious extremists. Risman and his followers attacked a S.H.I.E.L.D. installation where they stole a heavily guarded object - the severed head of the mutant-killer, Bastion. As a response, Cyclops assembled the X-Force and sent them in to take down the Purifiers, with extreme prejudice.

Upon arriving at the Purifier compound, X-Force cut their way through the Purifiers, narrowly missing Bastion's resurrection and merging with the sentinel from the future, Nimrod. Instead, X-Force was confronted by Risman holding Wolfsbane at gunpoint. X-23 leapt at Risman calling his bluff as a shot rang out...

*******

Outside Fargo, North Dakota. The Church of The Reverend William Stryker. Now.

Agent Morales and a platoon of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were after Risman's group and tracked them down to an old church only to find it in debris.

Eleven hours earlier.

"After all the mutants I've taken from your institute, did you really think I wouldn't kill one more?" Matthew Risman taunted Wolverine.

He's a dead man, Logan thought. Cyclops ordered X-Force to take down the Purifiers, and Rahne wanted in. I said no. So she came by herself, ahead of us, and got captured. Now she's got a bullet in her knee. Best-case scenario is she gets out of this with a limp. Worst-case is she doesn't get out.

"Fortunately for your friend, I am a man of God and decided to show her mercy not deserving of your kind... But I am only human, and have my limits. So surrender now... or she begins her eternal suffering in hell tonight," continued Risman.

"He drugged her, heroin," X-23 exclaimed still on her guard.

"Do what he says, X," Logan commanded.

"He's lying."

"We're not risking Rahne's life on a hunch... Now, stand down." He insisted as he got on his knees slowly. "You're dead, do you hear me Risman? All of you are..." Logan threatened the leader of the Purifiers before he was hit by a gun on his head.

"You have the eyes of a killer, girl. Not like Wolverine. No, he's just an animal. But you, you were bred for murder. And right now you're thinking of eleven different ways to kill me, aren't you?" Risman spoke as he faced the young lady.

"No... twenty-seven."

"Heh. I believe you."

"He will not kill her," X-23 said calling out to Logan.

"Stand the $%@# down, X! Now!!"

"This is a mistake," X-23 muttered as she followed Wolverine's command. With that, Risman ordered his guards to bind everyone.

Crap like this is why I'm no leader. Any other time, this guy would have lost his hand for that. And any other time, I'd have given in to the beast inside me and Risman's intestines would be decorating this place. But now I'm responsible for...

Wolverine was in mid-thought when a guard found out and shouted that X-23 is holding a bomb. It was her mission's contigency plan. He tried to stop her but it was too late, she already activated it. The whole building exploded along with those that are inside, except for X-23's target - Risman was alive and on the move. And now that she has recovered from the explosion, she's on to him.

After using his healing factor from the wounds he had from the explosion, Logan looked for Warpath who used the Purifiers' bodies to shield himself from the brunt. The two set off to find X-23 who was already on Risman's trail. The latter was aboard the helicopter with the cult's prisoner. X-23 managed to kill several other guards but she eventually ran out of ammunition enabling for Risman to escape unscathed.

"I'm gonna kill Summers," Logan muttered as he caught up with the seemingly defeated X-23.

Angel's Aerie, The Colorado Rocky Mountains. Now.

Wolverine is telling off X-23 for failing to inform him of her contingency plan. He told her that the two of them can be burned, blown up and take a thousand rounds in the chest but their teammates, Warpath and Wolfsbane can't. She reasoned out that they survived and saving Wolfsbane was not her mission.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Wolverine asked.

Cyclops stepped in and said, "she means exactly what she said. Her mission was to eliminate Matthew Risman, not perform a search and rescue. The situation with Rahne is your doing, Logan. Net hers. If you'd let Rahne explain what she was after, you'd have known how determined she was to get inside. So if anything happens to her now, it's on you."

"Is that so? Look, bub... Aw, hell," Logan cut his statement short as he noticed Warren Worthington coming in downwind.

"When my home is being used for cladestine meetings, yeah. I can do sneaky. Now... if anything happens to who?" Angel asked as he landed on the porch.

"Don't look at me - ask Xavier junior here. He's the one callin' the shots," Logan quipped pointing at Cyclops.

However, the X-Men leader refused to give Warren any details, requesting that he stay out of this matter. But Warren wouldn't budge and kept on asking what was going on.

"It's Rahne. She's been captured by the Purifiers." Warpath gave in and squealed.

Angel wanted to alert the rest of the X-Men about this incident but Cyclops stopped him. He said that if they get the X-Men involved, they'll be putting Wolfsbane at even more risk and guaranteeing that someone on their side will get killed. Furthermore, he informed that Wolfsbane was with team because she just found out that Reverend Craig has joined the Purifiers.

"She wanted revenge," X-23 stated.

"No! You don't know Rahne, she'd never want that," Warpath rebutted her. "When Rahne and I first met, she knew all about my brother and we used to swap stories. I told her about Johnny and she used to talk about Craig. Rahne told me that Reverend Craig believed that she was a test from God. That she was a living sin, sent to him for cleansing. But she had to find out the truth about him on her own. Craig wasn't just the man who raised her. He was also her father."

Meanwhile, Rahne is now held captive somewhere in the base of the Purifiers. A few moments later, Reverend Craig walked in on her cell. She asked him what was he doing with the Purifiers. He said that he used to think that he was alone in fighting Satan spawns like her but he realized why he was made to suffer for her existence. He injected a drug into her system that made Rahne seemingly paralyzed as he proudly stated that he'll be her inquisitor. He will listen to her sings and make her amend to the Lord for poisoining Eden with her wickedness.

Through the observation booth, Matthew Risman seems concerned about the newly-resurrected Bastion. He stated that Bastion won't meet and speak with him. And he has taken over the group.

"... What do you think you are doing?"

"Bastion," Risman seemed surprised as the sentinel just stepped in. "Reverend Stryker left specific instructions for Rahne Sinclair. She was chosen to..."

"Kill the mutant."

"What? I can't... Please let me explain, there is a plan."

"No. We have analyzed your 'plan'. It has a 99.74 percent probability of failure. Its failure has already begun. The X-Men have sent their trackers and killers after you, Matthew Risman. Wolverine, Warpath and X-23. Even as we speak they are raiding Purifier bases. They will torture and kill every Purifier they find, all to recover their teammate. And eventually, Matthew Risman... they will kill you," Bastion warned him.

Risman reasoned out that Stryker entrusted him with two tasks should he ever be killed - to protect the Oracle and to create the Choir. However, Bastion said that William Stryker was a flawed man and eventually asked Risman if he was defective as well raising a powered up arm at him. "We know how to eliminate the mutants but you do not listen to us. Yet your mission is to eliminate mutants. Why will you not obey your own mission?"

"No. No, I'm not defective. I'll listen."

Bastion then informed him that the X-Men are the greatest mutant threat in this timeline or any other. And that no existing terrestrial force can guarantee the total elimination of that group. However, prior to his restoration, he was made aware of a creature with the ability to infect and absorb organic matter, converting it into sustenance or infusing it with its own sentience. But the creature was reverted to a nascent form and left on the bottom of the ocean by the X-Men. And he already sent a team down to investigate, knowing that the creature will find them.

"Does your creature have a name?" Risman asked.

"Magus."

*******

Now I'm giddy. Magus was a foe of the X-Men way, way back. Although its most recent incarnation, if I'm correct, is the Phalanx. This book is really doing its history assigment and I love how they made it appear that everything that happened years back has an effect in the present. They did not sever the continuity which almost always happen when new writers step in and take over a book.

The twist on Logan being a team leader is great, as it has been the goal of Kyle and Yost to show his other side - the more responsible one. They did a good job on that one. And Cyclops is definitely getting bolder as the story progresses. I like it.

And of course, any book that features Angel is just plain cool.