Fresh Upstart

• Plot - Jim Lee
• Plot - Whilce Portacio
• Script - John Byrne
• Penciler - Whilce Portacio
• Inker - Art Thibert
• Lettering - Tom Orzechowski
• Colorist - Joe Rosas
• Editor - Bob Harras
• Editor in Chief - Tom Defalco

Summary

  In the X-Men's old base in Australia, Sentinels attack the Reavers.

  The X-Men Gold Team attends a Hellfire Club ball in New York and is treated rudely by the Hellions. Frost crashes in, having stopped one in a series of assassins.

  Shinobi luxuriates in his penthouse with Fitzroy. Each has Sentinels at their disposal and are jockeying for position in the Upstarts by killing for points. Shinobi already killed his father (X-Factor 67), and Fitzroy says he sent the Sentinels to kill the Reavers and Frost.

  Frost tries to force open the assassin's mind, and the backlash hurts Jean. Ororo tries to stop her; Bevatron attacks; melee ensues, but Jean telepathically stuns everyone. The X-Men are there because Frost proposed an alliance against a mutual threat. Ororo demands more information, but Frost refuses and wants to continue her interrogation of the assassin. Just then Fitzroy appears, in force field armor, and kills Jetstream.

  In Australia, Pierce rushes to get to Gateway; Lady Deathstrike damages a Sentinel, but this model can repair itself. Pierce makes it through a sandstorm to Gateway, wakes him, and tells him to transport him to whomever is responsible for this attack. Some of the Sentinels make it through the portal after him.

  Fitzroy shoots Beef through the wall, and he falls to the street below. Frost suggests the remaining mutants defend themselves, but Fitzroy presses a button and becomes invisible. He pops up behind Ororo, who blasts him with a hurricane. Jean telekinetically locks his suit's circuitry, but before Frost can probe his mind, a portal opens and Pierce comes through. Pierce blames Frost for the Sentinels, which attack them both. Fitzroy orders them to attack the X-Men and the Hellions.

  Piotr, Tarot, and Jean are quickly put down, and Fitzroy is satisfied and leaves. The X-Men gather in the street, where Kelly berates them for endangering the innocent. He hesitates when he realizes Jean is dead.