House Arrest

• Writer - Peter Milligan
• Penciler - Salvador Larroca
• Inker - Danny Miki
• Inker - Allen Martinez
• Lettering - Virtual Calligraphy
• Lettering - Cory Petit
• Colorist - Liquid!
• Colorist - Avalon Studios
• Ass't Editor - Sean Ryan
• Associated Editor - Nick Lowe
• Editor - Mike Marts
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Losing It

Summary

  Note: this is a Decimation issue.

  Xavier's: Lorna looks in the mirror, in shock. What happens when you take away a mutant's powers? Nothing left but an empty reflection. Bobby, no longer Iceman, runs in, warning her there's trouble outside. She finds the X-Men facing off against Sentinels (see House of M: The Day After); Scott tells everyone to stay in defensive formation till they know what this means, but Logan lunges, followed by Hank, Remy, Rogue, Rockslide, and Hellion. A Sentinel orders them to stand down; Alex wonders if the rest of them should run for it, but Scott says they should stay calm since they haven't been attacked.

  They are attacked: a Sentinel blasts, but just with smoke bombs, and with nets that nab Logan and Hank. Logan rips through, unwilling to wait to be killed, and he and Hank start climbing a Sentinel. Hank gets smacked down; while Rogue blasts the Sentinel with fire, Remy rushes to Hank, who thinks he's dying. Alex tells Lorna to use her powers, but she hesitates. Then she advances, wondering why she doesn't just tell them, if she's hoping it'll pass, or if she's afraid of losing the X-Men, which is all she has.

  Emma in Cerebra has detected something inside the Sentinels, and she tells Scott to pull back, but the battle is already engaged. A Sentinel again orders them to stand down, that they're not here to fight; when they continue to attack, it swipes Hellion out of the sky.

  Bobby rushes in next to Lorna, insisting being powerless doesn't stop him from being an X-Man; Lorna questions that. Bobby dares a Sentinel to attack and has to leap aside when throws a smoke bomb; he suggests Lorna show what she can do.

  In the woods, the Sapien League observes the battle, happy to see the mutants outmatched. Grady is creeped out by their teammate the Leper Queen and wonders if she's a mutant herself; Sam assures him she hates mutants, and he saw her hunt and kill four of them. Grady wonders why she wears a mask and uses that name; Sam says she has her reasons, and the only one who saw her face didn't live five minutes.

  Bobby and Lorna run for it; he asks why she isn't fighting; she suggests the Sentinels really don't want to hurt them; Bobby says that's just because they want to do something worse, later. A Sentinel smashes the tree they're hiding behind and prepares to stomp them; Logan impales its head, electrocuting himself but short-circuiting it, and it falls, smashing the mansion. Bobby thinks Lorna did it, and she's happy not to correct him.

  Alex points out it took five minutes for the Sentinels to defeat them and smash the mansion. Scott insists although they don't know why the Sentinels are here, they're going to get them off their land. Emma alerts him she's contacted their minds: there are humans driving them.

  Lorna approaches one, hoping her powers will kick in if she's really in danger. The Sentinel grabs her and tosses her into the woods. Soldiers there note that was dumb, and she's lucky they were there to help her. Val is there, leading them, and she warmly greets Lorna (see X-Factor I:71).