WEAPON TWELVE

• Writer - Grant Morrison
• Artist - Igor Kordey
• Colorist - Dave McCaig
• Colorist - Chris Chuckry
• Lettering - Richard Starkings
• Lettering - Comicraft
• Lettering - Saida Temofonte
• Ass't Editor - Mike Raicht
• Editor - Mike Marts
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

  In the Chunnel, Multiple Men guard his team against the thralls of Weapon XII. Siryn, near panic, screams everyone down. Weapon XII approaches, with a large blue tree-like brain, so the team follow French fashion and retreat. M and Darkstar are missing.

  Fantomex flies Jean and Xavier in EVA and explains: the Weapon Plus program was to create super soldiers. Weapon 0 was classified; I was a volunteer; II-III were animals; IV-VI were ethnic minorities; VII on up were kidnapped mutants, including Logan. Weapon XII recruits anyone it touches. EVA is Fantomex's mutation; it emerged from his mouth and eventually grew into a sentient flying saucer. Jean and Xavier sense Weapon XII's composite mind, like worms and disease.

  Weapon XII catches a Multiple Man, who says they just wanted to help mutants in trouble; the other dupes feel Weapon XII's mind like worms and disease.

  EVA arrives, and Jean is able to telepathically halt Weapon XII's army. X-Corporation gets to safety; Jean says Rictor is naturally immune to Weapon XII; Xavier credits Cannonball with saving Siryn's life; her vocal cords are bleeding.

  Fantomex charges in to the train, to get to the off-switch for Weapon XII, who used to have a life and be called Zona-Cluster 6. Jean follows, not wanting him to kill all Weapon XII's thralls. Xavier asks to borrow Multiple Man's nervous system.

  Matrix-like wih acrobatics and gunfire, Fantomex makes his way past enthralled humans to the train. M is shocked when he kills Darkstar, but he reads her body language and knows she barely knew her.

  Xavier, using Multiple Man's dupes, confronts Weapon XII's army on an equal footing, and melee ensues.

  Jean tells M that Darkstar wasn't herself anymore; she sees two containment pods in the train and realizes Fantomex is another Weapon Plus. He readjusts his cowl to keep his mind from leaking and admits his back-story was illusion, including his mother. But Weapon Plus is real: "They dipped us into liquid time, Jean… injected us with micro-Sentinel machines - the world is smaller than this one. Its rulers and its people are very, very different." He refuses to be anyone's soldier and pushes the button turning off Weapon XII.

  Xavier at first thinks he did it; Jamie points out all the thralls are dead; M leads the survivors out and says Darkstar is dead, but mission accomplished.

  Fantomex disables his own off-switch and says he can tell Jean is attracted to him and won't let him be recaptured. She gives him ten minutes of falling debris as he runs for England.

  The military arrive; the commander has been trained to hide his thoughts (under reruns of adult movies), and he tells Xavier he'll have to play along with a cover story: bioweapons accident, dead mutant hero, boo hoo. Now get out of the way while they recover Weapon XIII, but Jean says he got away.

  Note: Wraith, Mastodon, Maverick, Sabretooth, Silver Fox, Deadpool, and Wild Child may fit into this Weapon Plus numbering.

Summary

  Cover name was changed to "New X-Men" for Issues 114 - 156.