Wand'ring Star

• Writer - Chris Claremont
• Penciler - Billy Tan
• Inker - Jonathan Sibal
• Colorist - Brian Haberlin
• Colorist - Avalon Studios
• Lettering - Virtual Calligraphy
• Lettering - Joe Caramagna
• Ass't Editor - Sean Ryan
• Associated Editor - Nick Lowe
• Editor - Mike Marts
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

  Rachel wakes and notes that for a moment you don't know what's real and what's still a dream, but her dreams have happy endings, and when she looks out the window, she sees Sentinels standing over the mansion. They were designed to kill mutants, but the Feds say these are different; she wonders if the Feds are telling the truth, or if the robots have other ideas. She goes to take a shower.

  ONE staff has the whole mansion under surveillance, including the shower; they measure her vital signs and leer at her. Reyes enters; unknown to him, Rachel is there, telepathically monitoring as he berates them as voyeurs.

  Suddenly all their monitors are taken over, switching to a broadcast by "Bean," who poses as a cowboy on horseback and tosses beans at the camera. He reports on the world after M-Day: in central Asia, rioters attacked former mutants, although some had been healers, and burnt them to death. The police did nothing. Normally, the X-Men would help, but they've been inactive since M-Day; Bean shows an image of the Sentinels guarding the mansion and wonders if the X-Men can even protect themselves. "World's in a bad place when it puts good people under armed guard. This is Bean, planting the seeds of truth, from which may grow the trees of liberty." (Note: beanstalks grow from beans, not trees.) Cooper enters and tells Reyes to get his men to stop leering at women and get that hacker off the air.

  Bishop listens while cooking; he thinks Bean means well, but his words could get people killed. Ororo appears as a hologram; she heard about the Greys; Bishop tells her Rachel's okay, the Shi'ar are in custody, and they're working on their next move. Ororo thunders, since Bishop appears to just be cooking; he says it's a way to center his spirit. She says she's coming back; he tells her to stay in Africa, since it keeps her a free agent. Ororo notes Rachel grew up imprisoned by Sentinels, and it must be a nightmare for her; Bishop says it is for all of them. Ororo says in Africa former mutants are in terror of those who still see them as a threat. There's a boom; the Sentinels are moving.

  Paige in metal form punches a ONE soldier who's busted into her room. Other soldiers back him up, warning her to stand down; she says they can't hurt her, but they gas her, and she returns to human form. Outside, Sam blasts at a Sentinel, telling them to keep away from his sister, but he bounces off its force field and is then imprisoned in one. Bishop walks over, telling Sam it's over, and Paige is fine. He says ONE was just doing their job; Sam asks if they have rights anymore; Bishop says the Sentinels can kill them at any time: new reality, new rules.

  Hank tells Rachel Paige is a "world-class hacker," so ONE thought she might lead them to Bean. He's examined Rachel's back, and the death mark isn't just a tattoo but a genetic alteration of her skin color. He can't remove it; Kurt notes Rachel's genome is so fluid she turned herself into an evolved dinosaur (iss. 456) but can't erase the death mark; she shrugs, saying she tried. She thanks him and Betsy for helping her against the Shi'ar and leaves. Betsy wonders if Rachel wants to keep the mark, so the Shi'ar will find her again.

  Rachel meets with Samson, who says he's a psychiatrist with a specialty in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, especially as related to those with powers. She points out he's not a mutant and complains about the camera taping the session; he points out she's not making it easy and turns the camera off. She uses her powers to see he believes that, but she grew up outwitting advanced Sentinel technology and scans the room.

  Afterwards, Samson yells at Reyes and Cooper for spying on their session, saying he can't do his job that way. He says in a matter of weeks Rachel lost her mother and every single member of her family and is under a death sentence. If she has anything like Jean's powers, it's a recipe for disaster. Cooper asks if the X-Men can help her; he hopes so, but they're damaged goods themselves, because of M-Day. Some used to joke about Xavier's being a mutant ghetto, and the Sentinels have made that a reality. Samson thinks Rachel should see a psychiatrist off-campus, where she can relax, but Cooper cites national security.

  Paige drives a jeep angrily through the snow, with supplies for the refugees living in tents on campus. Her brother flies over to the passenger seat, to get her to calm down, but she thinks heroes shouldn't be treated like this in America. She feels helpless, and they took her computer and are probably laughing over all her personal stuff. He tells her to get the mad out of her system, and then they can get payback, if she's up for something sneaky.

  Scott sees a pile of videos Rachel has, noting they're recent, and that store doesn't deliver. He asks her to stop; she asks him to understand, and he says he does, but he's still asking. He says she's acting like her mother; she thanks him. She asks if he's angry about what happened to her family; he says the Greys treated him like a son, and "anger" doesn't begin to describe it, but he has Emma to turn to; she says she's glad for him. He warns her they're teetering between survival and catastrophe, for mutants and humans, and they have a responsibility greater than themselves. He hugs her, saying he's glad she kept Jean's name, and saying she makes them both proud.

  Bishop has Cooper over for dinner, asks her to call him Lucas, and says he wants to "build bridges." Paige on a computer hacks into Reyes's personal history. Reyes rests, looking at a picture of him and his sister. Rachel sneaks off the grounds again; the videos were just test runs. She uses telepathy to fool the human guards and TK for the Sentinels. Kitty gave her a name; she's going to get equipment from Forge and then take care of personal business.

  Note: the Sentinels supposedly guarding the X-Men against outside threats are all facing the institute.