The Measure of the Man

• Writer - Scott Lobdell
• Penciler - Jan Duursema
• Inker - Jose Marzan
• Lettering - Chris Eliopoulos
• Colorist - Joe Rosas
• Editor - Bob Harras
• Editor in Chief - Tom Defalco

Summary

  Bobby goes to Opal's house in Montclair, NJ;silent gunmen attack them. Bobby throws up an ice shield while Rogue and Bishop knock out the men, who dissolve into sludge.

  Opal demands answers: Bobby says Cerebro identified anomalies nearby. Opal resents being bait, and when Bobby tries to explain what he's been busy with, she gets angrier, wanting to live a normal, boring life.

  Xavier and Ororo are at a party in DC, listening to St. Croix argue with Kelly about Magneto. Xavier speaks with St. Croix, who is an early member of his Mutant Underground (and distinctly Caucasian). Ororo asks him why, and he explains: in 1947 he and his new bride Lenore were hit by a drunk driver. The trauma triggered her mutant power, which scared off the ambulance drivers, so she died.

  The Blackbird hovers cloaked over the Parkway. Inside, the X-Men interrogate the surviving gunman with no luck. So Rogue touches him, he explodes, and she starts to dissolve.

  St. Croix informs them about the assassination attempt on Magneto (X-Men Unlimited 2), and that they used a suit to be invisible to his powers. Xavier wants Ororo to steal data about it, for Forge. This is the first moment she ever doubted him, but she goes.

  Bishop grabs Rogue so she absorbs his powers, which disrupt hers long enough for her to reincorporate. Rogue got one word from the gunman: "Hodge."

  Ororo remembers how she met Xavier in Cairo: she picked his pocket, and he spoke to her mind, and was then attacked by Amahl Farouk. She wonders if he implanted a suggestion in her mind. She breaks into the facility and returns with a disk full of data. She tells Xavier never to ask her steal again.