X-Men #180

Publisher
Marvel
Year
2006
Month
2
LastChanged
8/19/2006 10:14:00 PM
What Lorna Saw

Sign of the Times
Summary

  Scott stands in Alex's way, ordering him not to leave, saying the X-Men need him now, that he needs him, and he's being irresponsible, doing this just to get back at him. Alex glowers and says it's not about him. Scott says he doesn't understand this; Alex says he doesn't either, but he's doing it anyway. That's the difference between them. He leaves with Lorna.

  Bobby is packed and ready to leave; Scott goes through the same routine with him, but Bobby doesn't want to let Alex get a "clear run" at Lorna, and Scott's orders doesn't carry the same weight they used to. But then Scott and Emma point out Bobby isn't really in control of his powers right now, so he's forced to concede and stay.

  Puerto Benito, Costa Rica, 3 weeks later: Lorna and Alex walk down the beach, while she makes up an odd and complicated cover story for them. Alex just wants to know what they're supposed to be; she suggests brother and sister, grossing him out, so she suggests they're divorced but he's dying of a brain disease, so she's there to nurse him. She points out he likes nurses (iss. 164); annoyed, he says she should take this seriously and suggests they just go home; she says the Institute isn't her home since she lost her powers, and she's no longer a whole person. She doesn't know what she's looking for, but she'll know it when she sees it.

  Gazer's satellite goes through a solar storm; Torso warns him of the radiation, saying he could still live if he contacts NASA right away, but he'll never have kids. Gazer is still focused on the thing in the telescope; he sees it's shifting position.

  Alex and Lorna eat dinner with another couple and are unable to keep their story straight, not sure if they're supposed to be married. Men arrive in a truck and plan to search the place. Next morning, Lorna says she feels cosmic particles moving through her; Alex says it's the wine, but she insist the thing she saw in space will arrive soon; he says she said that in Nebraska and in Acapulco. She knows he hates this; he says he hates skulking like criminals.

  Thugs attack the couple, demanding to know where the young Americans are; they deny all, and the thugs threaten to slit the man's throat. Lorna suggests running for it, which shocks Alex; instead, he powers up, blasting the men and their weapons.

  Later, the couple thanks Alex and sees them off; Lorna apologizes to Alex for suggesting they abandon them, and she's ready to go home now. Just then Alex sees a meteor; in space, Gazer sees his only hope disappear, and even Torso has stopped talking. The thugs call their leader, the Leper Queen, saying they're taking their wounded back to an American hospital. She's at her daughter's gravesite: Lucie Page, age 2, killed by mutants; she orders them not to lose Alex and Lorna; she'll be there soon.

  Alex and Lorna search through the charred jungle; Lorna's shaking with excitement, and when she finds it, she says it looked bigger in space. It's a globular alien life form (much like Doop, see X-Statix).