Glory Days

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

Wand'Ring Star

Summary

  Africa: Logan and Ororo scout; Ororo sees a body in the distance, near a crater. Logan has Ororo generate a line of thunderclaps from them to the body; it detonates a minefield: this is a trap. Ororo recognizes the body from Xavier's files, a low-level TK. Logan notes two dozen scents, mostly kids; the mutant was captured but ran into the minefield, unwilling to become a soldier. Ororo determines to put a stop tot his.

  Chicago: Rachel apologizes to Lyszinski for the fight wrecking her office; she grabs her and flies away, blasting backwards at the Shi'ar to mess with their minds, putting them all in agony.

  Black Cloak watches from above, impressed with Rachel. He contacts the ship in orbit to request assistance, the captain advises him to clean up this mess before it becomes a disaster.

  Rachel flies along a railroad track, when she's shot at from above, knocking her down. Commuters pull Lyszinski up to the platform, assuming she's being kidnapped by the mutant. Lyszinski grabs Rachel up just in time, as a train races past. The Commandos have arrived; a confused police officer holds a gun on them, warning them not to move; when Offset is about to eat her, Rachel trips her to get her out of the way and then blasts Offset into the sky.

  The Shi'ar captain asks for odds; when told it's 50-50, he prepares main cannons to destroy everything in a hundred mile radius. He observes the X-Men approaching but lets the Commandos deal with them.

  The Blackbird approaches, and Kurt ports away with Betsy and Sam, who was the pilot. Val is left with Lucas, who takes the stick. Their Sentinel escort is attacked by Krait; Kurt sends Sam to deal with him, while he and Betsy find Rachel. Lucas shoots grappling hooks into the Sentinel to keep it from crashing to the ground, and Val learns of the need for seatbelts. Below, a kid plays with a toy Sentinel, when the real one lands just outside his window. Sam blasts into Krait's wings to disable him; he hears a railgun and warns Lucas, but it's Warshot shooting depleted uranium at the Sentinel, which shields itself and then shoots back, felling him. The kid is impressed. The Sentinel has a lock on the other Commandos, but its flight systems are offline, so Sam flies Cooper and Lucas there, to the Field Museum of Natural History.

  Rachel is up against Flaw and not winning; the Skrull asks who she'd like to have kill her, Kitty or Elaine Grey, and he shifts shapes into each form. Before he can carry out his threat, Betsy attacks from behind with a psychic knife through the skull. The other X-Men arrive, and melee ensues; the X-Men soon defeat the Commandos.

  Rachel is about to thank them, but she senses the Shi'ar commando ordering the main weapon fired. She tells Betsy to link her TK with her, and they shield Chicago from a powerful blast. Black Cloak realizes his captain has betrayed them; people in the city see the blast in the sky and are horrified; Rachel and Betsy redirect the blast back to the Shi'ar ship, disabling it.

  Cooper makes some calls to clean things up; and when she grounds Rachel for the next millennium, she's not joking. Kurt checks on Rachel, who admits she wanted to kill the Shi'ar, but her family's got enough bad karma already (see iss. 135). She's decided she won't kill, and she means to find her destiny in a way that will bring honor to her and her mother.