Schism

• Writer - Chris Claremont
• Penciler - Salvador Larroca
• Colorist - Liquid!
• Lettering - Tom Orzechowski
• Ass't Editor - Nova Suma
• Editor - Andrew Lis
• Editor - Mike Raicht
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada
• Editor - Mike Marts

The Judas Boy

Summary

  When Sage first saw Xavier's, she was amazed to see a building unscarred by bullet holes, in a country where people could live without fear. She thought it was paradise, but that was just a first impression. Now, she arms herself with guns and knives; Lucas asks who declared war, but she just likes to be prepared. Lucas says the school is full of children; Sage says one is an accused murderer. Lucas is concerned about following her analysis on faith, especially since Ororo wanted Xavier to handle it. Sage says she forgets nothing; it's her curse, and if they wait, the mansion will be a wasteland. She admits she's afraid: she once stole something valuable from Elias Bogan, and he gave her the tattoos on her face as punishment. The stolen item was Emma: the prize in a wager. Bogan is using Jeffrey to get her back.

  They ignore a call from Ororo and jump the wall. In New Orleans, Ororo brings down lightning. Logan tries to calm her, but Emma's involved, and Ororo and she have a history. Xavier calls them telepathically, saying he can't reach Emma. Ororo leaves immediately, and Logan tells Xavier to "haul tail" to the mansion.

  Emma uses Cerebra to project her psi-form through the tunnels under the mansion; Sage and Bishop duck; Sage was trained by the best to be invisible to telepaths. Emma tours the dorm and scans the sleeping children's minds. She sees Rubbermaid's dream of Garrett as a knight in shining armor and then sees that Garrett is not dreaming. She thinks he's hiding something, makes her psi-arm into a gauntlet, and grabs a psi-form of Garrett from his mind, treating it as toxic.

  Emma in Cerebra has blood streaming down her cheeks, and she downloads Garrett's memories into the Danger Room so she can interact with them without him knowing.

  Someone approaches Cerebra, which scans her and allows access; she disables the Danger Room safeties.

  Sage sneak-attacks Emma, shooting her against a wall, and she turns diamond. Sage sees the blood on her cheeks and thinks they're too late; Emma kicks her and then throws her at Lucas, who tries to talk to her, but she says they left Xavier's and no longer belong there. Sage lets Emma hit her, distracting her while Lucas gets the drop on her. He blasts her through the wall and Ororo, flying outside, catches her.

  Emma shifts to human form and psi-blasts her, switches to diamond, and lands on top of her as they fall into a snow bank.

  Lucas looks at the hole in the mansion and says either Ororo or Xavier is going to kill them, but Sage is still focused on Bogan.

  Ororo's lightning wakes the kids. Sage tells Lucas that Garrett's the one they have to neutralize before he teleports them away; she enters the room with energy gun blazing. Rubbermaid wraps herself around the fallen boy; Lucas says they just want to contain him until Xavier returns. Jeffrey tells Rubbermaid to run away because he can't stop "him" anymore. His eyes bleed and glow.

  Emma didn't think Ororo carried a grudge, but now she starts fiddling with her mind to force her to love her. Ororo strikes her with lightning and then uses wind to pin her against a stone wall. Emma taunts her, saying she can't hurt a body of diamond; Ororo tosses rocks at her, which shatter, but then uses hay, showing her that a straw in a hurricane can pierce brick. She stands there with a pole in her hand and says diamond can be shattered, but then tosses the pole away. She releases Emma and reminds her: she attacked her the first time they met (X-Men I:130-131), and later stole her body (X-Men I:151-152). When Xavier allied with her (X-Men I:318), she felt betrayed, but other adversaries have become heroes, and if Emma respects Xavier's dream, she'll accept her.

  Emma says don't do her any favors and insists she won't give up Garrett because she thinks he's innocent, and a mutant can't get a fair trial.

  There's a gunshot in the mansion; Ororo flies Emma back to it; she senses very little telepathically because the children are scared, but it's Ororo's X-Men.

  In the dorm, they only find clothes. Everyone's been teleported to the Danger Room. Emma smiles: the room is active with Garrett's memories, and the safeties are disengaged. If they can't get them out, all but Garrett will die.