House of M

Season of the Witch

• Writer - Chris Claremont
• Penciler - Chris Bachalo
• Inker - Norm Rapmund
• Inker - Al Vey
• Inker - Jaime Mendoza
• Inker - Victor Olazaba
• Colorist - Studio F
• Lettering - Virtual Calligraphy
• Lettering - Cory Petit
• Ass't Editor - Sean Ryan
• Associated Editor - Nick Lowe
• Editor - Mike Marts
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

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

  Betsy warns Rachel and Nocturne that something's coming: T-Rex bursts into the church, with Caliban as his guide. Betsy holds them off, while Rachel hides Nocturne by having her possess her; they claim they're alone there, Princess Royal and companion, and when T-Rex threatens Rachel, Betsy slashes at him. Black Tom attacks in giant, wooden form, challenging Betsy to see who's stronger, but Wisdom arrives and uses hot knives to back him off. Betsy finishes him off with her psi-blade, noting her TK is limited only by her imagination, which has no limit.

  Rachel isn't herself and flies off; Betsy follows; the Marauders prepare to chase them, but Brian orders them to stand down: he'll take care of it, since this is his realm. He assures her she'll still get the credit and fee, and she warns him not to double-cross her. Meggan has a fit, changing shape to look like Roma, Saturnyne, and Jamie, all warning Brian that he's forsaken his task, and time is running out. Callisto and Brian wonder if Meggan has gone mad.

  Rachel flies fast and low through the streets, enjoying herself but endangering pedestrians, so Betsy knocks her into the ground, and a building collapses onto her. Nocturne fights Rachel for control of her body; she knows all Rachel's powers and fights Betsy, but Betsy's immune to telepathy and bashes another building down on top of her. Nocturne, exhausted, is put down by Rachel, who decides to keep her safe and asleep inside her body. Her name is Talia Josephine Wagner, but she knows nothing else, especially not why the Marauders want her.

  They've wound up at the ruins of St. William's Tower, a fortress older than the Roman Empire, and where Betsy and her siblings played as children. Rachel thinks it looks more like a Victorian-era Chinese Folly, and she shows her what the stones remember: a Chinese fortress; Betsy asks how that could be in Britain; Rachel points out Betsy herself is Asian.

  Betsy remembers the fortress this way, too; she sparred with her older brother Jamie there, while Brian kept his nose in books. Rachel asks why Jamie isn't king; Betsy says he'd mad. Power runs deep in their family, and Jamie, with the ability to pull the quantum strings that define causality, became entangled in them.

  Across the water they see a lighthouse, Brian's favorite place to read, and only Rachel sees a giant "X" slashed through reality at its base. Betsy walks towards it, though Rachel warns her it's not safe, and they use their powers as a safety line. Rachel falls in, and her body begins to disintegrate.

  In Braddock Manor, Brian has a vision of Jamie, and he suddenly remembers everything. He sees Roma warning him she'll nullify this universe if she has to, and Saturnyne eagerly repairing the Nullifier. Meggan assumes Jamie's form, warning him time's almost up; Brian wonders if he's gone mad like Jamie, but Meggan reverts to her own form and insists they need to do something. Brian prepares to, but then a Sentinel head appears at the window. Omega Sentinel Shapandar has an army of them around the manor, and she's there in Magneto's name to arrest him for high treason.

  Rachel pulls Betsy back, but her clothes have been changed into an X-Men uniform, and she realizes reality is unraveling. They are attacked by the Marauders. Banshee's scream easily puts them down, and Nocturne emerges from Rachel and runs up the cliff, but T-Rex catches her. Betsy warns Callisto there's more at stake here than her bounty, but Callisto just knocks her out.

  Betsy finds herself at the manor; she realizes it's a twin thing, and she's seeing Brian. Brian likewise sees Betsy on the beach, and he realizes he's been wounded from Betsy's bloody nose. He asks Shapandar if there's any point in denying the charges, and she says he'll be able to defend himself after being jailed during Magneto's birthday gala. Brian dares her to try it, and when she does, he knocks her right through three Sentinels. Shapandar rises from the wreckage, weapons emerging from every part of her body. She sentences Brian and his family to death.