X-Men #174

Publisher
Marvel
Year
2005
Month
10
LastChanged
2/3/2024 8:21:54 AM
Bizarre Love Triangle

Election Day
Summary

  Emma interrupts her videoconference with Hank to answer Mystique's cell phone. The caller asks for her and refuses to give his name, just saying he's "a scourge on the bourgeoisie. A lunatic anarchist trickster. An unrest cure for the powerful."

  Mystique says if you love someone, you trust them, and if Remy really loved Rogue, he wouldn't be tempted by her. Rogue asks if he was tempted; she changes to his form and quotes him: "Oh, cheri, you don't know how long…" Rogue blasts her with atomic flame and grabs her head, determined to learn the truth; Mystique reverts to blue form and is stunned as Rogue absorbs her memories.

  Rogue blasts through a door to find Remy sitting with Bling; he says she's a student, and they were having a private tutorial; Rogue asks if that's all it was and tells Bling to leave. Rogue puts a hand over her face, telling Remy this is what he's turned her into; she demands to know what happened between him and Mystique. She failed to absorb Mystique's memories: she's had something done to her mind; Remy swears nothing happened, and he didn't tell her Foxx was Mystique because he didn't want to worry her. Rogue just gives him a look.

  She flies out to find Bling and apologize; Bling says she doesn't need to stay here to be abused, since there's a whole world which will do that. Rogue says when she came to the institute, she thought all the pain and insecurities people like them feel would disappear, but she's still waiting. Bling asks what's going on.

  Next morning, Remy's students watch as X-Jets land; all the X-Men are assembling. Onyxx is worried they'll be punished for their little rebellion (iss. 172), but Bling tells them it's all about Mystique. Onyxx is infuriated to learn Foxx isn't real, and he and Flubber get into a scuffle over, but then Onyxx lies down, crying. Bling says she can see how someone could get hung up on Foxx: that was the whole point of her.

  Rogue goes to Emma, saying she couldn't read Mystique's mind and asks her to sneak a peek into Remy's. Emma says Alex asks her to do the same to Lorna; Rogue wonders if all men are just sneaky, but Scott enters and says he hopes not. The meeting is about to start; Rogue hopes the two of them will vote against Mystique; Emma asks Scott what he'd do if he could no longer touch her, he says he'd just throw himself more into his work.

  Mystique makes her case before the assembled X-Men: she's over 80, and back then it wasn't so easy for mutants, especially blue ones. She had to fight to survive, and it's no wonder she "occasionally" strayed. She knows some of them will empathize, but Emma just has Piotr escort her back to her cell.

  They discuss: Hank notes she could have been a power for good; Rogue says they said the same about Hitler. Remy notes she tried to kill them on many occasions; Bobby points out he's just siding with his girlfriend, who was once a villain, too. Lorna would like more X-women; Logan doesn't want to make this a woman's rights thing, but Ororo challenges him. Scott asks if they can forgive her; Hank notes they didn't always worry about that; Emma points out they've welcomed Cain, Sean, Creed, and herself as well. Rogue points out if they were less forgiving with Magneto, they'd have saved a lot of trouble; Logan notes they wouldn't have let her join, either. Lorna admits it's a risk but wants to give her a chance; Alex agrees; Bobby gives him a dirty look for siding with Lorna.

  Onyxx walks into Mystique's cell, saying he fell in love with her, angry that she led him on. She says she didn't, but he attacks her, choking her, demanding she turn back into Foxx and say she loves him.

  Scott says Rogue isn't objective; she says he wouldn't be if it were his mother; Logan says many of them have personal reasons to vote for or against Mystique. Remy wants what Rogue wants, of course.

  Onyxx smashes Mystique into the wall, which doesn't make her love him. Kurt pops in, telling them to stop fighting, but she gets in one good blow, ripping the toilet from the floor and smashing Onyxx with it, felling him. Kurt says it's trouble wherever she goes; she says he started it; he says she should know better, she's older.

  Kurt was shaken when he learned his mother wanted to join the X-Men; he admits he doesn't have a thick hide. He asks her a favor: no matter what the vote, he wants her to disappear for a while, till he gets adjusted to the idea of her being around.

  Emma announces the results: probationary membership for Mystique, contingent on her good behavior. She asks Rogue to deliver the news; she's upset, so Remy goes with her. They find the cell busted apart; Onyxx is rushed to the infirmary, and Emma made sure he signed a waiver admitting his legal culpability for the fight; Hank says he'll be okay. Mystique has disappeared; Rogue thinks she'll be back.

  Mystique goes on a caper with Augustus; she didn't tell Rogue about him yet. She assumes the X-Men voted her down but is glad she's harmed Rogue and Remy's relationship. As they make their getaway, Augustus asks about her and Remy, but she refuses to talk.

  Note: currently on the 3 teams there are 7 women (Ororo, Rachel, Betsy, Lorna, Rogue, Kitty, and Emma) and 9 men (Lucas, Kurt, Alex, Bobby, Remy, Scott, Hank, Piotr, and the ubiquitous Logan), and one would think the women's rights issue was settled in UXM 201.