House of M

• Writer - Mark Farmer
• Colorist - Avalon Studios
• Colorist - Matt Milla
• Lettering - Virtual Calligraphy
• Lettering - Chris Eliopoulos
• Ass't Editor - Sean Ryan
• Editor - Mike Marts
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Season of the Witch

We're not in Kansas anymore!

Summary

  Note: this is part of the House of M cross-over.

  Betsy and Rachel prepare to attack the Sentinel, but there's a flash of light, and they're transformed: Betsy is HRH Elisabeth Gloriana, Princess-Royal of England, and Lady Rachel Grey her companion. They go in to the royal party, and Rachel uses her power to transform their clothes into gowns. Queen Meggan greets Rachel, who telepathically screens their private moment from the party-goers; King Brian hugs Betsy, glad she's alive after what he heard from Spain (see X-Treme X-Men 2). The twins joke, she being older by a few minutes, and Rachel wonders why she's not on the throne, then; she says they made a deal: he's king, and she gets to be a warrior. He's always afraid he'll lose her, and she assures him he will, someday, but for now she wants to party.

  Servants clean up after the party, while Meggan and Brian sleep. He has a nightmare: Roma, Opal, and Jamie warning him he has 48 hours to save his world; Opal activating the Celestial Nullifier and removing this universe.

  He wakes screaming and gathers his family to tell them about it; he sure, somehow, it's all true, but he doesn't know how to prevent something that's happening in another dimension. Wisdom enters with the morning dispatches a guest who won't take "no" for an answer. It's Ross, his friend since high school, but he leaps at her, calling her Sat-Yr9 of Earth 839 (see Excalibur I:5). Rachel sees in his mind that he intends to kill her, so Betsy tells her to shut him down, but when she tries, he knocks her through the window. She flies back, realizing she's just attacked the king, which is treason, but she can't let him commit murder. Betsy meanwhile has her psi-katana out, but Wisdom attacks her with hot knives; he's not only Brian's private secretary, but his bodyguard. Rachel flies back in and kicks him down; Meggan tries to reason with Brian, but he insists Ross is a dangerous alien, but when he tries to find the tattoo on her thigh, it isn't there. He realizes he's mistaken, but the room is trashed and Ross dissolves in tears.

  Betsy tries to understand what just happened; Rachel knows the correct pronunciation of Saturnyne but doesn't know how she knows; Brian says Saturnyne and Sat-Yr9 are two different women. Betsy asks Rachel to probe Brian's mind, and he agrees to it, but she can't find anything there; he starts to wonder if he's gone mad.

  Wisdom brings up the dispatches: SHIELD agent Wolverine has gone rogue in New York; MI-13 has detected mutant signatures in the West Country, one related to Magneto, and they're being chased by the Marauders. Brian says they're not authorized and decides to clear his head by a little head-thumping.

  Juggernaut holds off the Marauders single-handedly, till the Blob is dropped from a plane on top of him. Callisto notes that's only half the contract, and the "money" is still loose: Nocturne. Brian and his team arrive, and he demands an explanation, but she says her warrant is from Magneto himself. While Brian inspects it, Rachel takes Betsy off into a nearby town; she's detected something, and T-Rex follows them. Rachel notes Betsy's shortcomings: although she's immune from psi-attack, she has no real psi-power, and what power she has is strong, but with little finesse. She takes Betsy into a derelict church, and they use their powers to trap Nocturne, hiding in the rafters. She responds by trying to possess Betsy, but she's immune, and Nocturne cowers, pleading for them not to hurt her. Rachel and Betsy see she looks nothing like Magneto, and there must be a big scandal here.