Underbelly

• Writer - Scott Lobdell
• Penciler - Tom Raney
• Inker - Hilary Barta
• Lettering - Lois Buhalis
• Colorist - Joe Rosas
• Editor - Bob Harras
• Editor in Chief - Tom Defalco

Summary

  Callisto, beautiful and bloodied, comes tothe mansion in the middle of the night and asks he old beau Piotr for help. She has brought Healer, who is dying on the front lawn, and says the Morlocks attacked them.

  Mikhail has been having nightmares and hallucinations of his comrades, whom he killed (iss. 284).

  Xavier rushes Callisto and Healer to the med lab, then she has him read her mind and debrief the team: in the wake of Masque's death (X-Factor 9) Healer came to Callisto, but she's living aboveground now. Morlocks burst in, angry at her for abandoning them.

  Mikhail somehow heard this telepathic conference and wants to aid her, another leader who has lost her flock. Ororo insists it's her sole responsibility, Warren is angry that her leadership of the Morlocks resulted in the loss of his wings (X-Factor 10). He points out they live in a mansion and usually ignore the Morlocks.

  Meanwhile, Healer has dragged himself over to Callisto and healed her, thereby killing himself and returning her to her natural, ugly state.

  Interlude: in Eden Rock Nursing Home, a nurse and an agent look at a patient, "humanity's last hope" (see iss. 313).

  Xavier decides to go with the X-Men, saying he can telepathically calm the Morlocks. Jean is worried that he is overcompensating for losing his legs. They go through the tunnels and find a large pile of Morlock corpses. It is an illusion: a psychic "Do Not Disturb" sign. The Morlocks are insane and destroying themselves; Xavier senses their minds are linked, deranged by Masque.

  Bobby is back in the mansion guarding Callisto, so she doesn't go to attack the Morlocks. Mikhail demands he release her.

  Ororo goes to reassert her authority (iss. 170), which she had abandoned, like she abandoned Forge. The Morlocks surround her, asking for help, and she gets claustrophobic, and brings lightning to Times Square and blasts a hole to freedom.