#Assassination of Graydon Creed

[sabreclaws]

Okay, here's what I'm reading tonight. I love miniseries. 4 issues is the perfect, approachable number of issues.

Specifically, this is the Sabretooth (1993) mini.

Victor looking fabulous, as always.

I am bemused by Victor's choice of home. Ngl, the idea of him somehow meeting the neighbors in this area and they just call him "Mister Creed" is kind of funny to me.

At least it's pretty. If a tad on the dramatic side.

Plus, this is the series that has Birdy in it. Who Victor apparently pays to do ... something that will be explained in due time?

(She should meet Cable.)

Again, I'm reading this for previous writer takes on the behind-the-scenes life of Victor Creed. In this iteration, apparently he's definitely a well-paid assassin.

Damn, Victor. Been practicing your high kicks? (Did I already mention that the art is a tad dramatic?)

Unapologetic spoilers lie ahead

Apparently Victor is paying Birdy for all sorts of things, including the already-seen bodyguard services, therapeutic massages...

... and digging around inside his head ...

... but he does not seem to be particularly respectful. Shall we say.

Including a muzzled and manacled child version of Victor dug up from his memories.

Again, Victor is not being nice to Birdy here. Punches her, etc.

Victor, I have some series questions about your decor.

But the way he treats Birdy might have something to do with the fact she immediately double-crosses him. While dressed in a towel and nothing else.

I'm not sure if this was the first time the comics went into Victor's childhood trauma, but this sure is a doozy of a take on it, regardless. Pretty sure that's a naked child in a pool of his own filth.

Then there's a little torture, some medical horror, a dramatic asshole who calls himself Tribune...

Oh, the drama.

So they turn Victor loose, and he immediately heads back to his house, where for some reason Birdy didn't hightail it the instant Victor was abducted. I am seriously questioning the writing in this mini.

So he catches her ... and then doesn't kill her. Because that would be bad for whatever the writer has planned and not for any reason I can discern from the plot. I am seriously unimpressed with this writer so far.

We do get a bit more of the worst of Victor's backstory though.

And he tracks down Mystique, which isn't even that interesting, and she says...

oh, the intrigue

oh they wouldn't....

Damn it. They would.

Yes, yes, yes, enjoy your banter boys, because Mystique is about to ruin Victor's day

Aaaaand then they go on a double-date

And apparently this is a tie-required establishment and they whipped out one for Victor to put on over the catsuit? I hate this.

Anyway, there's a bunch of past stuff.

And then Mystique drops the big bombshell.

You know what? Having seen this horror show of a comic, I am now completely unsurprised that this is what created Graydon Creed.

Anyway, Victor goes to track him down.

If I haven't already shown you enough for you to get the idea, trust me that the dialogue in this is atrocious and laughable. I'm at my image limit, or I would should you the panel, but "Sabretooth will never get past a combined battle team of your hungry bankers!" is just ... so bad.

lol, okay, except for this line

And then Birdy pulls up some of Graydon's memories too.

Do you ... just keep making up words? That are stupid? Mr. Writer, have you ever met a bond trader? I mean, sure, this was before the Internet really took off, but that is not a profession I would ever call "feral." And Mystique? Really?? That was the best occupation you could come up with?? Seriously??

And then Birdie conveniently steps too close and Graydon kills her, at which point ... Victor just lets him go? Because this is a man (as written in this book) that would give a shit about blood kin?

So in conclusion:

I am so confused by this entire comic.

Fairly important creation or reinforcement of Victor's terrible childhood.

The writing is bad.

From everything I had heard about Birdy and Victor's relationship in fandom, I had expected something a little ... sweeter? Instead I got bad writing and boss-on-employee violence. (But it definitely explains that one page in Sabretooth (2022).

Actually, reading this comic somehow makes Sabretooth (2022) and Sabretooth & the Exiles have more context.

Did I mention the writing is bad?

I don't just mean the dialogue, although that is atrocious. I mean that cause-and-effect were unbelievable, people knew details they shouldn't be able to know, people make decisions that made no sense for them because the writer needed them to be in a particular place to hold up his house of cards of a plot.

Also, lots of girls lounge around suggestively with very little clothing on. I'm not impressed.

Graydon Creed gets to live (boo).

Victor is a bastard from start to finish (but a very pretty one).

Logan was used as a convenient plot device and then instantly ignored.

Same for Mystique.

I preferred Sabretooth: Mary Shelley Overdrive (2002) about 10 times more than this.

Now, if you like this? Power to you, you do you, enjoy it. But I do not.

[thorias]

Since season 2 looks to be so jam-packed with stuff, I thought it would be fun to try to break down the episodes using the stories continuing from season 1 and the spoilery bits we learned from D23 and... yeah, there's a lot here.

I'm just making educated guesses right now, but I could easily see this happening in the show.

2x01 - Ancient Egypt. 'Rise of Apocalypse' adaptation. The team helps En Sabah Nur defeat Rama-Tut and Rogue makes her Faustian deal with him to get Remy resurrected. Bishop shows up at the end to collect everyone.

2x02 - The Future. 'Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix' adaptation. Scott and Jean spend some time raising teenage Nathan and are warned of the horrors that would be unleashed upon the world if Apocalypse were to ever rise to power. Bishop and the others show up at the end and the X-men return to the present.

2x03 - Present day. Bottle episode focusing on Forge's makeshift team, presumably consisting of some combination of Cable, Havok, Polaris, Iceman, Colossus, Archangel, Shadowcat and Emma Frost. They deal with the continuing fallout of Genosha/Asteroid M/the EMP and the ensuing chaos as Graydon Creed is poised to win the presidential election. Apocalypse begins positioning his chess pieces. The new Four Horsemen (let's say Deathbit, Madelyne/Pestilence, Shaw/War and Dazzler/Famine) make their first appearance and give the team a thrashing. The X-men return from the past/future at the end.

2x04 - The X-men are reunited, get caught up on everything they missed while they were gone and find Jubilee wherever she is. Magneto attempts to mend fences with Lorna, but it goes horribly since he did after all try to wipe out all life on Earth while she was, ya' know, on Earth. She doesn't forgive him, but convinces him to turn himself over to the authorities and answer for his crimes. Mags' second trial goes much worse for him than the first one did and he's thrown in a plastic prison like in X2; the last we see of him for a while (probably wishful thinking on my part, but you never know). Rogue leaves to search for Deathbit.

2x05 - Rogue confronts Deathbit. It goes horribly. She tries to absorb the Death persona out of him like she once did for Archangel, but Apocalypse has accounted for her powers this time and Deathbit is immune to them now. She's forced to fight him, shocked by Deathbit's ferocity and resentment toward her and not yet understanding what she needs to do to break Apocalypse's hold on Remy. The battle ends in a stalemate. Rogue is left confused and heartbroken as Deathbit escapes.

2x06 - Wolverine spotlight. Logan travels to Japan, searching for a way to get his adamantium back (I don't like this happening so soon, but we can assume from the D23 sneak peek that it'll probably go this way). He seeks out Lady Deathstrike since her father created the adamantium bonding process and has to fight Sabretooth for it.

2x07 - Nightcrawler spotlight. With the election looming, Kurt confronts his half-brother Graydon. It goes horribly. Mystique reveals herself, having infiltrated Graydon's campaign months earlier. Kurt tries to make peace with his family, but neither of them are interested in peace. The episode ends with Mystique assassinating Graydon and her continued allegiance to Apocalypse is revealed. She then takes Graydon's form and replaces him, meaning Apocalypse would control the White House if Mystique/Creed wins the election.

2x08, 9 & 10 - On the eve of the election, Apocalypse makes his move, committing acts of terrorism, giving Mystique/Creed more ammunition for the anti-mutant campaign Creed was running on, which Apocalypse has been secretly fomenting in order to provoke a human/mutant war. Xavier aides Rogue as she faces Deathbit again, allowing her to confront Remy on the psychic plane. He recreates the gala scene from 'Remember It' in Deathbit's mind, so Rogue can undue that little blunder by dancing with Remy this time and finally confessing her true feelings. Remy learns that Rogue had chosen him, not Magneto, and that she really does love Remy, which gives him the motivation to fight off the Deathbit persona. Meanwhile, the X-men battle the remaining Horsemen and Apocalypse. They're losing badly until a re-adamantiumed Wolverine, Xavier and Rogue, with Gambit, now free of Apocalypse's influence, arrive to turn the tide. Poccy is defeated, and with his machinations revealed, the public is swayed and President Kelly is re-elected.

Afterward, Gambit is back with the team, though he's left with trauma and PTSD from his death and resurrection. Xavier and the X-men are lauded as heroes in the media, so public perception is back on their side and things are looking up for a change... but unbeknownst to everyone, something is not right with Xavier as we get our first hint of Onslaught for season 3.

I think this accounts for every storyline we've confirmed so far, (or most of them at least) but that's just the stuff we've heard about. Who knows what else they've got in store for us that they haven't revealed yet. I'm crossing my fingers that we get longer episodes in s2 because they're definitely going to need more time to cover all this.

[sneakymystique]

Hi! I’m curious on what you’d say are the must-read or best issues/arcs for Mystique’s character in X-Factor (1986)? I’ve read a lot of her in Claremont’s uncanny, Carey’s x-men, and the krakoa era and I looove her in all of that and how complex she is—but I’ve found that there’s not many perspectives or opinions on her lengthy time in X-Factor and I’d love to know your thoughts.

Thank you for asking Anon! Mystique's time in X-Factor is one of my favourite arcs. Essentially she is captured and forced into being a government agent and the series shows her adapting to that whilst also continuing to pursue her own ends. I'd be happy to recommend a few issues:

X-Factor #114-117 Forge implants a chip in Mystique's head which limits her shapeshifting, much to her disgust. These issues arr her bedding into the team, with all the awkwardness of an ex-terrorist joining a government agency.

X-Factor #129-130 This is the arc where Mystique briefly breaks away from the group in order to make an attempt to assassinate her son Graydon Creed...or does she?? It's a plot with lots of twists and builds the 'is she a hero or villain' vibe that runs through the series.

X-Factor 134-137 This is right at the end of the X-Factor arc where the team and the government come to blows. There's some great interpersonal scenes

X-Factor #139 An issue that focuses solely on Mystique, now posing as Mallory Brickman and gives some snippets of her past activities. I'm not keen on the art but the story is an absolute gem.

Sabretooth & Mystique: This limited series takes place during the X-Factor run. There's lots of Mystique/Destiny in it, not to mention backstory and action packed adventure. Another personal favourite.

For more detailed synopses of her activities, see the Mystique Chronology here.

[acertainfemininemystique]

i didn't explain myself enough my bad. graydon creed is the oldest child we know mystique has had (older than nightcrawler then) back when she was in a relationship with sabretooth, another mutant. yet when you add this new power she apparently always had to pick and manipulate genes from others and her own and know what to do with what she has, him ending up as a mere human without any trace of an x-gene now feels like a weird "choice" on her part. it doesn't help that mystique said she abandoned him at birth yet kept close watch on him... in case he awakened an x-gene (like she didn't know if he had one herself).

so why do i say graydon creed's existence makes even less sense now ? other than him being the only known exception to the kind of kid a mutant couple could have (only non-mutant), graydon creed ends up joining an anti-mutant group, being prolific there, going after both nightcrawler and rogue and would have killed one of destiny's remaining grand children if mystique didn't time travel to assassinate him herself and put a stop to him

i dunno, it feels pointless for her to let this kid exist the way he does if she had both the power and the precognitive help and knowledge to make things different

or not happen at all cuz he has no use to her or destiny at all

i don't think she can manipulate genes. impregnating herself would essentially create an identical twin of herself or a clone essentially. there's nothing to suggest she could manipulate the genes of that child to make it different.

in that same vein, there's nothing to suggest (at least from how i read it) she would have been able to manipulate the genes of graydon while she was pregnant with him.

as for timelines and time travel, that's just your basic comic shenanigan bullshit lol. i genuinely doubt graydon was even factored into the thought process when crafting this new arc.

[omniversecomicsguide]

THE ASSASSINATION OF GRAYDON CREED (1996-1997)

Graydon Creed - the human son of Sabretooth and Mystique - is taking an anti-mutant stance in his bid for the US presidency. Already weakened by their war with Onslaught, can the X-Men or X-Factor prevent Creed’s seemingly inevitable rise to power?

MORE: The Assassination of Graydon Creed

[samasmith23]

Mystique and the Theories of Relativity

A little over half a year ago, I marathoned the entirety of both the 90s X-Men crossover event, Age of Apocalypse, as well as its direct prequel Legionquest in giant-sized hardcover format. One issue from the Legionquest omnibus in particular which greatly stood out to me was Theories of Relativity from X-Men Unlimited (1993) #4 by Scott Lobdell & Richard Bennett, due to how it heavily fleshes out one my personal favorite supervillain in comics, Raven Darkhölme, aka Mystique!

Although the 4-part Wolverine: Get Mystique arc by Jason Aaron & Ron Garney’s still stands as my personal favorite Mystique storyline, Theories of Relativity is easily a very close contender! If you want to hear more about my praise for Get Mystique, here's a link to the essay "The dualistic rivalry of Wolverine & Mystique" which I posted here a few weeks ago:

Theories of Relativity is quite notable in that it not only reveals for the first time in-continuity that the X-Men member Nightcrawler (aka, Kurt Wagner) is indeed the biological son of Mystique, but it also showcases the long-awaited family reunion between Mystique and Kurt along with the latter's adopted sister/fellow X-Man Rogue (aka, Anna Marie), and half-brother/anti-mutant bigot Graydon Creed. The issue's plot centers around Nightcrawler & Rogue investigating the assassination of a US general who sold weapons to the anti-mutant hate-group "the Friends of Humanity" and its leader Graydon Creed. They soon discover that Mystique killed the general in order to send a message that she's out for Graydon Creed’s blood after he hired his father Sabretooth (aka, Victor Creed) to assassinate Raven in a previous miniseries. Nightcrawler & Rogue are then cryptically sent to the latter's old Mississippi hometown where she was adopted by Mystique. However, the two are then intercepted by Creed who reveals that he is not only Nightcrawler's step-brother, but that they are both Mystique's biological sons. She had abandoned Creed when she discovered that he was not born as a mutant, and she threw an infant Nightcrawler off a waterfall whilst fleeing from an angry mob that perceived them both to be demons (Nightcrawler's was born with his blue-fur, while Mystique accidentally reverted back to her true appearance due to the pain of childbirth).

While X-Men Unlimited #4 is not a perfect issue by any means since some aspects like Mystique's foresight about Nightcrawler & Rogue specifically showing up to prevent her from killing Creed felt rather contrived, overall this was an emotionally powerful narrative which shines a spotlight on one of my favorite characters in not just the X-Men franchise, but in comic books as a whole!

Theories of Relativity effectively illustrates what makes Mystique such a complex and multilayered villain! True to her nature as a shapeshifter, Mystique is a woman of contradictions. On the one hand she's perfectly willing to sacrifice the lives of other people if it either means preserving her own life, or if said-person fails to fulfill her own agendas. But on the other hand Raven is portrayed as being capable of showing genuine love and affection towards individuals that she see parts of herself reflected in.

This dichotomy is most effectively demonstrated through the contrasting relationships between her two biological sons and her adoptive daughter. While Mystique expresses zero regrets regarding her cold mistreatment and abandonment of Graydon Creed & Nightcrawler, she conversely shows legitimate love towards an abandoned and orphaned Rogue, with Raven stating that she could relate to Rogue’s inability to physically touch others due to her own history of utilizing her shape-shifting powers to prevent others from touching her. Raven even goes as far as to claim states that both Rogue and her then-late wife Destiny (aka, Irene Adler) were the only people she ever felt genuine feelings for.

These conflicting aspects of Mystique’s personality are elements of the character which have always made her such a nuanced and compelling villain to me. Elements which have carried over into the modern era, such as with Wolverine: Get Mystique emphasizing Raven's duplicity and willingness to unashamedly sacrifice others in order to fulfill her own interests, while it’s direct prequel X-Men: Messiah Complex emphasized said-villainous traits as simultaneously being derived from Mystique's selective love for individuals like Rogue & Destiny.

In a broad sense, one could interpret Mystique’s hardened exterior and boastful pride of seemingly only caring about for herself as yet just another contradictory facade. A metaphorical form of shape-shifting that Raven's developed over the past century she's been alive for as a self-preservation mechanism which allows her to prevent others from hurting her, consequently hiding elements of her true self from the rest of the world in the process.

This is an interpretation which Theories of Relativity supports through its climax, wherein Mystique surprisingly sacrifices herself so that Rogue can save Nightcrawler from death despite referring to her son as "unwanted" earlier in the issue. Yet another contradiction in Mystique's facade, one which heavily reminded me of the plot twist from the Wolverine Goes To Hell storyline wherein Raven betrayed the Red Right Hand after helping them banish Logan's soul to Hell upon discovering the organization's plans to manipulate Wolverine into unknowingly slaughtering his own children. And Raven did this simply out of respect Logan's friendship for her then-deceased son Nightcrawler, putting aside her own selfish hatred for the sake of someone she genuinely loved.

Overall, X-Men Unlimited #4 is a prime testament to what makes Mystique one of my all-time favorite comic book villains. Additionally, there's a lot of fascinating queer themes which the reader can derive from this issue. These can include themes found-family through Rogue & Mystique's relationship, as well as Graydon Creed's status as a normal human who hates his two mutant parents being reflective of real-life instances of familial rejection occurring between cis-het adults and their queer parents.

The latter example is a theme which transgender YouTuber Vera Wylde from Council of Geeks mentioned in her brilliant "Mystique - Queer Icon!" video:

Plus, the issue also contains some truly hilarious scenes like Mystique shape-shifting into Abraham Lincoln whilst calling out the U.S. general's dishonesty before assassinating him!

And as a fun bit of trivia, I love how the dust-jacket of the Legionquest Omnibus which reprints this issue also refers to Destiny being as Mystique's "lover," even though this story came out in the 90s before it was confirmed that the two were a lesbian couple!

But yeah, overall, Lobdell & Bennett's work on X-Men Unlimited #4 definitely ranks highly among the quintessential Mystique stories IMO!

[bigskydreaming]

Rogue and Kurt really don’t judge Mystique for sleeping with Sabretooth enough. 

Like, not that Kurt’s dad was much better, lolol, but I’m just saying, “hey Mom, remember how your shitty parenting led to our half-brother becoming a genocidal despot who wanted to wipe out our entire race to get back at you and Sabretooth for not hugging him enough as a child” really doesn’t come up as a talking point enough in the comics.

I mean yeah, there’s a lot of ground to cover in the Things To Give Raven Shit For parade, but her A+ handling of Graydon Creed’s entire existence is woefully unaddressed.

Or the fact that her ultimate solution to How To Solve A Problem Like My Hatemonger Human Son was to assassinate him herself. There’s a hell of a card for Kurt and Rogue to play, any time Mystique tries to give them grief for their own life choices. 

Rogue and Kurt: LOL oh come on Mom, we all know that if you were really that disappointed in us, you’d just take us out with a .44 like you did our brother.

[thecomicsnexus]

A Mother's Eyes

X-FACTOR #130 JANUARY 1997 BY HOWARD MACKIE, ERIC BATTLE, AL MILGROM, GLYNIS OLIVER AND GCW

SYNOPSIS (FROM MARVEL DATABASE)

The assassination of Graydon Creed takes place by a mysterious shooter.

REVIEW

When I read this story for the first time, twenty-something years ago, I noticed something was “odd” about the art in this issue. And no, it’s not just the wrong anatomy or exaggerated bodies. It seems like they were experimenting with color and digital enhancements. Whatever it was, it wasn’t done properly. What this looks like, is like inked pages being scanned and re-colored on a non-professional art oriented application. The reason I think this is because there are too many shiny borders in this comic. Everything looks a bit white. If you take a closer look you will see a halo on each line, Not always, though. It could be the case of the comic being done completely on a computer. Whatever the process is, you can notice not all the pixels were corrected around the lines.

The story is not entirely bad, but Mystique could have had more success by not hiding the truth from the others, especially after she was caught.

I give the issue a score of 4.

[commanderterrashock]

Dimension Crisis Characters Photos

Main Antagonist

Alliance of Evil Members

Mercenaries/Bounty Hunters/Assassin

(Graydon Creed Sr./Victor Creed/Sabretooth)

[djinmer4]

Family Ties (Amalgam!verse)

Takes place no more than a month before ‘Fashion Faux-Pas’.

“-die nachricht weitergeben.  Ja, wir sehen uns im Dezember.  Habe dich lieb Mama.“  Kurt hung up the phone and turned to the other members of the New Blood.  “There, you see?  Irene’s perfectly fine.  That letter you received was clearly some sort of prank.”

Runaway just curled further in herself.  She muttered in a low voice, “That’s good tah know.  But Ah don’t think the letter was referring to our foster mother.”

Kurt frowned.  “In that case just disregard it.  We certainly owe no care to the woman who abandoned both of us.”

At this point Kokoro broke in.  “Wait, I thought the two of you were only foster siblings.  Are you saying you’re actually related?”

The older man took up the responsibility of answering questions.  Clearly Anne-Marie wasn’t up to participating in long discussions right now.  “Yes, actually.  Irene never told us, but it’s the same name on the birth certificates.  Raven Darkholme.”

“So you have the same mother and foster mother?  That’s an odd coincidence.”

“No foolin’.”  Runaway roused herself to help her brother explain.  “Irene was listed as legal guardian by my parents.  When Dad died, she came tah the States tah adopt me.”

The British ninja turned to the other half of the sibling pair.  Kurt just shrugged.  “I just got dumped on Irene’s doorstep.  I guess since Raven saw she was willing, she felt fine dumping a second kid on her.”

“Irene and Raven are friends.  That’s what Irene says.”

“Mom puts up with way too much shit from this Raven chick.”

“Okay, time out.”  Wraith lifted his hands from where he was massaging his girlfriend’s shoulders.  “We’re getting off topic heah.  The point is-” The pitch-black man turned to the ninja, who only having walked in during Kurt’s phone call had missed some important parts.  “Runaway has received a lettah, stating that if she didn’t come to the-” He took a quick glance at the paper on the table.  “Dworshak Dam, in Clearwater, her mother would be killed.  The question is, do we go or not?”

“I vote no.  We have no proof that letter isn’t a hoax or a prank or a trap.”  Ryder crossed his arms and tactfully didn’t mention the lack of caring on his part.  It was pretty clear that wasn’t a winning argument with his little sister.

“Not your letter, mine.  Therefore my decision.  Ah’m going.”  Anne-Marie was usually fairly easy-going, but on this issue she wasn’t going to budge.

Finally Kurt lowered his eyes.  “Fine.  But not by yourself.  I’ll accompany you as Nightcreeper.”  He looked around.  “Anyone else want to come?”

“Ah’m coming!”  Announced Todd.  “It wouldn’t be right if Ah didn’t come to support my girlfriend in her hour of need.”

“I’m not,” stated Angelhawk.  “Actually I’d prefer if most of us stay here.  Amazon and Dark Claw currently have a lead on Green Skull and are pretty close to tracking him down.  We need to stay here to provide back-up once they find him.”  Runaway looked up with shock, fear and betrayal in her amber eyes.  “A-although I guess we can spare one more person to go on this . . . snipe hunt.”

For a while there was silence.  Kurt wondered if maybe he should back out.  Most of the JLX was uncomfortable dealing with Nightcreeper, perhaps they’d have more volunteers if he didn’t go.  Just as he was about to make the offer, Kokoro spoke up.  “I’ll go.”  She turned a glare on the taller man.  “But just to be clear, I’m doing this for Runaway, not you.”

He rolled his blue eyes.  “Ja, ja.  I’m over your.already.  Stop projecting.”

“Fine.”  The young woman with the bi-colored hair took charge, knowing that the sniping would go on for hours if no one did.  “We’ll leave tahmarrah, in the late afternoon.  That’ll give us enough time to case the joint before we attack.”

“Kokoro, what do you sense?”  Asked Wraith.

“About two dozen cult members, armed and acting as guards.  Not exactly brilliant but we’ll have problems if they gang up together on any of us.”  The ninja’s eyes glow pale white in the dim lighting.  “A couple more inside, probably high ranking members.”  She frowned.  “Several anxious individuals, but no one panicking or despairing the way a hostage would.  If they’ve got her, she’s been knocked out.”

“Can’t rule it as a prank yet then.”  Runaway bit down on her lip nervously.  “Okay, Nightcreeper, Wraith, you’re on distraction duty.  Kokoro and I will sneak it while their attention is focused on you.”

“Hihihi!  As you wish, mein schwester.”  Nightcreeper followed words to actions, teleporting directly in front of one of the spotlights.  While the cult members cried out in surprise and opened fire on the invulnerable mutate, Wraith charged a handful of cards and threw them at the helicopters they could see parked on the tarmac.  Amidst the smoke and confusion Kokoro and Runaway made their way to the wall.  Kokoro cut a hole in and they slipped away from the fighting.

Inside the telepathic ninja guided their way, avoiding the guards rushing out to reinforce their fellows.  Finally the two of them made their way to a large door.  Behind it they could hear a woman calling out for help.  Runaway looked at her co-worker.  Kokoro cast out her psychic senses.  “Only one living signature.  But muted.  I think there’s some shielding in the walls.”

“Okay.” said Runaway, and promptly punched the reinforced steel door in.  The two New Blood burst into the room, but unfortunately no hostage did they see.  Instead it was, “Graydon Quinn!”  The leader of the Pro-Earth movement, anti-alien movement.

“Hah!  I knew that letter would send the JLX running to investigate.  It’s only too bad that the other half of my trap didn’t pan out!  But I can kill the two of you and claim a job well done!”  The madman cackled behind his glass cage, pressing a button that called up a set of reinforced walls and opened up some spray nozzles.

“Gas!  Quick, make a hole before we’re overwhelmed!”  Runaway tried to punch an opening in the wall, but the gas made her dizzy and weak.  Kokoro was no better.  She raised her swords to cut they’re way to freedom, but saw them fizzle and fade away.  Strange, she should have greater resistance to the gas than Runaway but instead her strength was fading even faster.  As she looked at the glowing green mist she realized why.  “Runaway, they’ve got kryptonite mixed in!”

The human woman stopped trying to punch her way through the walls and started trying to block the nozzles.  But there were too many and placed too far apart.  At the going rate they were both doomed.

Then an explosion blasted one of the walls out.  Debris showered over the two women, hammering down on their bodies and cutting into their skin.  But it also brought blessedly fresh air as well so they didn’t care.  As they took a few moments to recover, gunfire cut through the air . . . and the glass walls of the control center Creed had been hiding in.  A pale woman with red hair, dressed in white and wielding a large automatic stepped into the room.  “Anne?  Anne, are you here?” she cried out.  When she saw the two of them, she rushed over.

The woman hesitated when she got there, looking at Kokoro then Runaway.  But when the latter looked up, exposing the starburst in her hair, the red-head rushed over to her with an expression of relief.  “Oh thank the Gods, you’re still alive!  I thought I was too late!”  With that she shoved the automatic off to her back and helped the younger woman stand up.

As the three of them made their way out of the compound, Kokoro got a good look at their rescuer.  “Kantique!” she hissed, summoning her swords again.  They were short and the blades looked brittle, but she dare not go undefended in this creature’s company.  “How dare you show your face here?”

The older woman looked at her coldly, clearly not recognizing her from their first encounter.  “Rescuing my daughter of course.  Who are you?”

“My name is Elizabeth Tatsu Braddock.  You killed my parents.  Prepare to die.”  With that she lunged towards the other two.

Kantique moved her daughter to a sheltered position behind her, using the gun to block Kokoro’s strikes.  “Braddock?  Braddock?  Oh yes, the Kryptonian survivor who went native on this planet.  I knew I should have spent more time cleaning up lose ends.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about that anymore!  This is one loose end intent on cleaning up you!”  Kokoro continued to slash at the alien assassin while Kantique maneuvered her towards the edge of the dam.  Finally the red-head side-stepped a thrust, moving into the ninja’s personal space.  One hand on her shoulder, a well-braced stance and a quick shove were all she needed to knock the other over the guard rail.

As Kokoro screamed, she felt someone grab her, then smelt a familiar puff of sulfur and the usual disorientation that accompanied Nightcreeper’s teleports.  The two of them were back on the edge of the bridge, listening to Kantique answer Runaway’s questions.  “I’ve had many children over the years.  But you’re my only daughter.  You matter more to me than all the rest.”

“Well, that answers some questions about my childhood.” muttered Nightcreeper, wrapping his tail around Kokoro to prevent her from going after Kantique again.  “Mood lighting, action, the reveal after the fight, I give it four stars!”

“If Ah mean so much to you, why did you abandon father and Ah when Ah was only three?”

The older woman sighed.  “I’m an interstellar assassin in the employ of Thanoseid.  I stayed with Mark and you as long as I could.  But Irene warned me that my enemies were catching up to me.  I had to leave you for you to be safe.”

Runaway sank to her knees, shaking her head.  The look on her face was disbelief warring with shock.

The other sighed.  “Just stay away from your brother’s ploys in the future.  Not that he’s going to be having a long one now.”  She turned to where they could hear a helicopter rising.  As it crested the dam they could see Graydon Quinn inside, a look of hate distorting his face.  Upon seeing Runaway, Kantique and Kokoro together, a look of unholy glee came upon him.

“All three alien bitches here together!  Truly a sign from the Lord!”  He tried to open fire, but Kantique was faster.  She managed to clip his rotors with her spray, causing the helicopter to start spiraling down.

Runaway’s mind was still far away.  “Wait, Graydon Quinn’s my brother too?”

“Half-brother.  With some army officer named Creed Quinn.  Don’t worry my dear, I’ll take care of him shortly.”  With that the alien pulled a detonator out of nowhere- “Trouserspace!” crowed Nightcreeper- and pressed it.  Explosions rocked the section of the bridge they were on, and it began to separate from the rest of the damn.

Upon seeing this, the green man grabbed Kokoro and his sister and teleported them back onto dry land.  There they saw that section of the dam, plus thousands of tons of water go crashing down on the helicopter Quinn was on.  After all the rumbling they, plus the exhausted Wraith (”Don’t go skipping out having fun without me, pardner.”  “Ja, ja, es tut mir leid.”) spent time looking for both Graydon Quinn and Kantique.  But they turned up nothing.

Back at the station, Runaway and Wraith were taking time to recover in private.  Nightcreeper had delivered a report of what happened, to the frustrated, irritable Dark Claw.  As he applied the patch and started to shed fur and too sharp teeth and a tail, Kokoro decided to confront him.

“So your Mom’s Kantique.”

“Irene’s my mom,” he corrected forcefully.  “Kantique’s just the glorified egg donor.”

“Runaway doesn’t see it that way.”

“Anne-Marie still idolizes Raven.  It’ll take her a while to recover from the disappointment.”

“And you?”

The last of the fur fell away and dissolved on the breeze.  Kurt shrugged and started putting on his every day clothes (suit, shirt, tie and even matching vest).  “I’ve always known that my mother must not have cared for me.  The feeling’s mutual.”

Kokoro nodded, but seemed distracted.  When he was finally dressed, she sauntered over.  “Stay away from me.”

“Was?”

“I said, stay away from me.  Stay away from my brother and Angelhawk too.  And Gloria Mundi.  Don’t ever go to England if you can help it.”  She leaned up to speak directly into his ear.  “If I ever fucking see you again, I’ll take your head off!”

With that she stomped off.  Wraith, who had slipped in as shadow while they weren’t paying attention turned to watch her go.  Once the door had sealed behind her, he looked back at Ryder.  “Did she mean that for the super-heroing as well?  Because it’ll be hard to be on the same team if she wants to kill you every time she sees you.”

Kurt finished buttoning the vest and shrugged.  “Ah, it’s alright.  Dark Claw says he wants me to help mentor a new team that’s being created.  So I was going to leave the New Bloods anyway.”

Wraith was less sanguine about the matter.  “Hope you get along better with this one.  God knows, you can’t do any worse.”

[live2rise]

Live to Rise - Premise & Plot

It's the day after tomorrow, and yesterday the world was turned upside down. Once upon a time last Tuesday, most of humanity lived in the bliss of ignorance. There was no such thing as monsters. Superheroes and villains lived only in comic books, and aliens were confined to science fiction. Anybody who claimed otherwise could safely be dismissed as a conman or a crackpot. Of course, every now and then there would be a whispered story of something inexplicable or a rumor of someone larger than life, but there was never any solid proof, and you know how people exaggerate. It was probably just some guy with a high-tech prototype. Or weather balloons. Or swamp gas. Then one fine spring day a god ripped a hole in the sky, and everything changed. Hundreds of thousands of people witnessed an alien invasion of one of the largest cities on the planet, and they and millions more watching on tv saw it defeated by a handful of extraordinary individuals. When it was over, Manhattan was littered with alien corpses and pieces of unearthly technology, and formerly comfortable certainties were no longer so assured. Then, there was another alien attack on Greenwich, and suddenly, reality was a whole new ball game.   Afterward, the dust might have settled, but nothing else did. Despite the best efforts of SHIELD, a thriving black market in alien artifacts sprang up, as people from hoodlums to scientists to mercenaries to dilettantes to cultists scrambled to get their hands on some. Other superhumans, inspired or infuriated by the example of the Avengers, grew restive. Politicians the world over sought to manipulate the tragedy to advance their own agendas. And further afield, across the universe and beyond, other forces took notice of a previously unremarkable little blue world ... * -------------------------------------------------------- * Where We Are Now The revelation of Hydra's infiltration of SHIELD happened a little over a week ago, and the fallout is still raining down. SHIELD has been outlawed (at least temporarily) in many countries, including the US, and most agents are either on the run or in hiding. Maria Hill is the acting Director, and is aboard the Helicarrier, which has been granted asylum by the island nation of Genosha. Hydra, however, is in even worse straits, having placed a number of very powerful and ruthless individuals on its Insight List, including several heads of state and crimelords like Wilson Fisk and Giuletta Nefaria. The events of Age of Ultron have not happened, though Wanda and Pietro exist (and we would love to see them in play, be it as villains, heroes, or something in-between). While the Tesseract and the Aether exist, they simply are what they are and aren't Infinity Stones. The gem in Loki's scepter is, as was established in Avengers ("You can't fight yourself") a creation of the Tesseract, though it is sentient in its own right, making for some interesting AU possibilities for Vision. For mutants, things are not going well. In late December, the Brotherhood made an attempt to assassinate Senator Graydon Creed, which failed spectacularly thanks to a motley group of X-Men, Avengers, and Sentinels. Most of the terrorists were either killed or captured, and Magneto himself was badly wounded by Sentinel Prime. Anti-mutant activists were both enraged and emboldened, and Creed is already hard at work on passing Registration laws and expanding the Sentinel program. On the magic side of things, the Tesseract's removal back to Asgard led to an upsurge in magic in the world. With the Convergence destroying the Barrier Odin had put in place to shield Midgard, beings from other Realms are now able to get in. The Convergence also destroyed the Montesi Formula, leading to a return of the curse of vampirism (though most individual vampires destroyed by the Formula remain gone). * -------------------------------------------------------- * Live to Rise is set in the Avengers/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. universe and includes: * Incredible Hulk * Captain America 1 & 2 * Thor 1 & 2 * Iron Man 1-3 * Avengers * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (episodes 1-8)* We also include an AU-ified X-Men 1, but not 2 or 3.     Inclusion of other Marvel comic based movies will be on a case-by-case basis (except X-Men 3, which will never happen). * pretty much all of the events occurring between Episodes 9 and 17 are also included, with the possible exception of Lorelei's visit

Join us today at live2rise.jcink.net

[amusewithaview]

blood tells (a tale all its own)

Darcy looks a lot like her mother.

Most of that is by nature, some of that is by choice.

With a name like “Current Events,” she thought she’d be safe taking the class.  News and stuff, right?  She could handle that.  Darcy really should have known better.  She should have considered that ‘current’ could have variable definitions depending on perspective.  Unluckily for her, the professor took a long view encompassing most of the past fifty years.  The syllabus was the only warning she had, the outline told her that on week six they’d focus on assassinations that shaped society.

She clicked on the corresponding link to find the assigned reading and felt her stomach do a dip and roll.  “The President Who Wasn’t - Friend or Foe of Humanity?” was the title that jumped out at her.  She debated dropping the class, but eventually settled on skipping week six.

It had been five years.  It was still too soon.

She knows she’s lucky.  She knows.

1.  Her mutation is easily hidden.  She can pass. 2.  Her family loves her.

But she still wonders about the other side of her family.  Her father was a foundling, albeit an oddly well-funded one from what her grandparents’ investigators could turn up.  They never found anything on his family though, in spite of the money they poured into the endeavor.  It’s a mystery, but they’re almost certainly the ones she got her x-gene from.

She knows that her father hated what she was.  She knows.  There are entire youtube channels devoted to his fiery speeches, preaching hate against her and others like her.  Sometimes she can’t help but wonder what if.  Would he have changed his mind if he knew about her?  Probably not.  She’ll never know for sure, but she wonders.  She tries not to let it eat at her.

Sometimes she succeeds.

When Darcy was twelve years old, she woke up with buttery-gold eyes and blue freckles scattered like a thick coat of midnight stars on her otherwise fair skin.  Her first thought was cool and then can I keep them?  It didn’t occur to her to be scared until she smelled the fear on her mother.

Of course, she didn’t realize what she was smelling until Heather Lewis was well into the throes of a panic attack.

Her mother kept patting her hair and crying.  “Oh baby, baby, it’ll be okay, we’ll be okay, we’ll figure something out,” she kept whispering it, over and over like a mantra.  “It’ll be okay, we’ll figure something out.”  Heather’s hands were shaking and tears were pouring down her face unacknowledged.

Darcy was terrified.

That was how her grandparents found them: Heather clutching Darcy close to her, shaking so hard she was near to swaying back and forth.  Darcy holding her mother just as fiercely, crying just as hard in confusion and fear.

Grandpa took Darcy and grandma took her mom, in two hours they reconvened in the parlor.  Darcy learned three things that day:

1.  Her father’s name was Graydon Creed. 2.  She was a mutant. 3.  If either of the first two became well-known, she could be in danger.  If both of the first two became known, she could die.

They danced around the ‘death’ thing, but even as a child she could read between the lines.  Her father had been making a name for himself over the past few years, making waves in the political sphere with his group, “The Friends of Humanity.”  He was making a campaign off of anti-mutant paranoia and if it ever got out that he had a daughter, out of wedlock, who was a mutant...the damage to his image would be catastrophic.

It was nothing but old money snobbery that had kept Graydon out of her life up to that point.  Her grandparents had given her mother an ultimatum: keep her boyfriend or keep the child.  If she’d chosen the former, they would have quietly arranged for her to have an abortion but allowed her to continue at her elite boarding school in much the same way she had, considering it a ‘warning’ of sorts.  Heather chose the latter and allowed her parents to withdraw her from school and squirrel her away to a more remote estate where they could pretend that Darcy was her little sister.

That was the story they told.  One of those polite society fictions that stood up as well as a tower of cards, remaining intact only as long as others were kind enough not to blow on it.  It helped that Darcy’s grandmother was a society dame, the kind who could make or break reputations with a single word because she knew all the dirt and wouldn’t hesitate to use it.  It helped even more that Darcy’s mother was quiet about her indiscretion, didn’t flaunt it or step out of the line her parents had drawn in the sand.

Heather chose her battles carefully and, nine times out of ten, she fought for Darcy rather than herself.

Darcy had been home-schooled by her mother’s choice up till the age of twelve.  After the manifestation of her x-gene it became a necessity.  She learned to metamorph away her more outlandish outward traits (the blue freckles and yellow eyes she got at twelve; the pointed canines and elongated ears she grew at thirteen; the retractible claws on hands and feet she sprouted at fifteen; the tail which she never told anyone about at seventeen) enough to go to high school.

All the while she watched her father’s support grow.  She tracked his progress through papers and tv adverts, through her grandfather’s blustery remarks about his dim prospects to the very real fear behind her mother and grandmother’s eyes.  If Graydon Creed won, the mutants, as a whole, would lose.

Her father’s success would be her people’s downfall.

It fucked her up.

Then, days after formally announcing his candidacy for president, Graydon Creed was assassinated at a rally in Ohio.

It fucked her up worse.

In college, Darcy meets her first out-and-proud mutant.

There had been none at the fancy private boarding school she’d attended.  Even if there had been, she wouldn’t have been allowed to associate with them.  Creed’s death might have made the world safer for mutants and, in a very specific sort of way, Darcy, but there were plenty ready to pick up his banner of hate and intolerance.  The very last thing the Lewises wanted was for Darcy to come out of the closet and be hurt.

Darcy knows that that rule comes from a place of caring.  She can literally smell it on them.  That doesn’t make their active and aggressive denial of a very real part of her hurt any less.

So when she meets the girl called Lorna, it’s a revelation.

Lorna has green hair, and not just on her head: all of her visible body hair is green.  She lives on Darcy’s floor and by the end of the first week of freshman year, they’ve swapped assigned roommates so they can live together.  Lorna doesn’t say if her x-gene does more than give her awesome hair and Darcy never asks.

Darcy doesn’t tell her the truth, but it’s a near thing.  The fear is just too deeply ingrained.  She regrets it when the X-Men come for Lorna, halfway through sophomore year.  She doesn’t even get a chance to say goodbye properly, stuck in class when Lorna up and leaves.

They still exchange emails though.

“Did you love him, mom?” Darcy asked, once, in that brief, awful period between finding out who her father was and seeing him shot on national tv.

Heather had shrugged, pulling her daughter closer to tuck under her arm.  “Part of me still loves him,” she admitted quietly.  “He gave me you.”

“But without me, you could still be with him,” she said, soft like a secret.

Her mother tilted her head to the side, thinking very carefully about Darcy’s not-quite-a-question.  “I don’t know,” she said finally.  “I’d like to think that I would have left him when I saw how deep the hate ran, but...”  She smiled a little wistfully, “Your father was - is a very charismatic man.  You’ve got a little of that spark.  No, really.”  Her lips pressed together and a wrinkle formed between her eyes, “I’m sorry I can’t give you a better answer.  I don’t know what would have happened without you, but honey?”

“Yeah?”

“I chose you over him.  I will always choose you.”

Her mother is a librarian and her father was a politician and Darcy...

Darcy is a perpetual student of life, or at least that’s how she tries to sell it to her grandparents.  She manages six years at Culver, ends up with a double major in political science and biology, one minor in social justice.  It’s unfortunate for her that Culver requires more diversity in certain fields.  She still has six credits of science requirement to kill and two options:

1.  Take Rocks for Jocks. 2.  Intern with a crazy astrophysicist.

Darcy takes the internship and never looks back.

She learned control out of necessity.  It was learn control or be confined to the estate.  Her mother did most of the real work, teaching her to meditate, helping her figure out how to associate scents with emotions and physiological tells.  But sometimes Darcy just felt so pent-up, so caged.

She learned to escape into her own head.

She fell into music and let it express all the emotions she couldn’t.  All the things she wanted to say and ways she wanted to react and had to hold back every moment of every single day.  Her body, the one natural to her, had claws and a tail and fangs and elongated pupils and heightened senses -

Sometimes she wondered, didn’t her family realize those manifestations were more than just cosmetic?

Sometimes she wondered, did they care?

Darcy knew, on some level, that her instincts weren’t wrong just different.

It didn’t always help.

Jane is the second person Darcy wants to tell.

Not so much because she epically trusts her on sight or anything, but, well, Jane has a tendency to get a little too caught up in science and forget things like showering or cleaning.  It’s a problem.  Darcy grew up in a house kept clean by a weekly service.  Darcy has always kept her dorm room as clean as possible because her nose demands it.

Living and working with Jane is...an adjustment.

The Thor thing?  That’s enough to send Darcy’s entire world out of alignment.

CAST LIST - 

Darcy Lewis (Creed)

Heather Lewis

Josephine Lewis

Abernathy Lewis

Graydon Creed

Mystique

Victor Creed

BONUS

Lorna Dane

[thisiswhatwereupagainst]

Little Known Brotherhood Members- PYRO!

Perhaps not “little known” due to his movie incarnation, but his comics counterpart definitely doesn't get as much recognition. 616 Pyro is a fellow from Australia named St. John Allerydyce (St. John is pronounced “sinjin”) who is actually a pretty laidback dude when not serving in Mystique's Brotherhood of Mutants (and later in Toad's Brotherhood as well). In addition to his career as a supervillain, he also published a great many Gothic romance novels (of which fellow super-villain Frenzy was a fan) He also considers himself “the brains” of the Brotherhood, and he seems to have enjoyed getting to be a hero as a member of Freedom Force, such as when he saved a pair of children from a time-displaced T-rex (Mystique and her Brotherhood agreed to serve the US government as “Freedom Force” in order to be pardoned for their crimes---man, I bet other mutants sure think they’re sell-outs!) After learning he was dying of the Legacy Virus, Pyro sacrificed his life saving Senator Kelly, the anti-mutant politician that his team had ironically tried to assassinate in the past. His death was not in vain, since this caused Kelly to change his stance on mutantkind. Pyro was best friends with fellow Brotherhood member Avalanche, and I read them as a metaphor for a same-sex couple in the issue wherein Pyro is revealed to be dying of the Legacy Virus (a metaphor for AIDS) Whether this means they were actually romantically involved is up for debate; I don’t personally think they were, I think the writers just wanted to evoke that symbolically for this specific issue because of what the Legacy Virus was meant to represent, but obviously other readers can read it differently (I’d ship it though) That said, prior to their reunion in this issue, Avalanche had abandoned both him and Pyro to die in Kuwait in order to save the life of their Freedom Force teammate, Crimson Commando, and even said “they’re not worth it” so...yeah, there was some friction between Dom and Pyro when they met back up. Still though, they’re bros, they’re like my favorite villain bros. TV Tropes lists him as having killed Graydon Creed and Post, both villains themselves, but I believe this is incorrect; the mutant-hating Graydon Creed was killed by his mother Mystique, while Post is actually still alive as far as I know. Also, according to Blob, Pyro always gets the girls on the missions :p Part of the “Little Known Brotherhood Members” series on this blog! See previous and pending entries listed HERE!

[ejsponge61]

Episode 5: The Grip of Cthulhu, Fallout 76, and Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Episode 5: The Grip of Cthulhu, Fallout 76, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

The usual Emmett Watkins Jr and Allan Muir are returning with fellow Los Harrow contributors Lou Gonzalez and Graydon Webb.

In this extra long episode, we’re talking about our impressions with a bunch of games this week. The epic Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, the creepy Call of Cthulhu, the high -octane GRIP: Combat Racing, and the unique Fallout 76, and a few other games get discussed today.

After…

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Because I’m in the mood, here is more obsessive analysis about Pyro, this time concerning him and Mystique.

I think Pyro and Mystique have a very interesting relationship.  Sometimes, she seems to regard him as a dumb lackey, especially the story when they fight ROM while trying to break out of prison, and completely bungle the whole thing.  She’s certainly willing to leave him in prison if he screws up.  But sometimes, she seems affectionate towards him, or at least appears to regard him as a trusted team-mate and friend, more so than she does with Blob or Avalanche.  Pyro certainly appears to consider her a friend in this moment on Muir island.

Pyro also seems to respect Mystique as a leader, and to stick up for her.  In fact, the first time he gets pissy with Blob is right after Blob disparages Mystique.  It could also just be Pyro doing some dick-measuring with Blob about who’s the biggest, baddest mutant.  But he reacts right after Blob says he doesn’t “take orders from a broad.”

I also note him snarking on Val Cooper when Mystique is annoyed with her.  Maybe that’s just his own opinion (Pyro likes to snark on people…a lot), but it feels like he’s chiming in to support Mystique, and maybe as a way of bonding with her.  Or assuring his own position as a friend.  “Look at us, we sure are chums, right Mystique?  We do fun things together like gang up on Val and the new recruits.”

I remember years ago when there was more of a fandom for the old-school comics Brotherhood, before they got over-shadowed by the movie and Evolution versions (and before like half the comic Brotherhood died), I saw fics shipping Pyro and Mystique as a friends with benefits thing, or writing Pyro as having a one-sided crush Mystique.  And as much as I head-canon gay Pyro, I could totally see it (and of course, he could always be bi).  Like, if Duggan writes Pyro as being in love with Mystique as part of his characterization (that would require Duggan to actually give Pyro some characterization, LOL), I wouldn’t consider it out of character.  Personally, I imagine Pyro having a strong sense of admiration and loyalty towards her.  Duggan does seem to write Pyro being in awe of powerful women like Storm and Emma, and I think that fits perfectly well with his previous relationship with Mystique.

I think we especially see Pyro’s loyalty towards Mystique in the X-Factor Graydon Creed assassination story.  He was mostly there so that Mystique could discuss her plans using extremely ambiguous phrasing and mislead readers into thinking she was the assassin, when she and Pyro were actually attempting to save Creed’s life.  (And then it turned out that Mystique actually was the assassin via time-travel shenanigans….but Pyro didn’t know that at the time).  But I thought his few panels had some good character moments.  

 Despite his protests, he’s clearly in no condition to be running around getting into fights.  And he doesn’t even fully agree with what they’re doing, but Mystique has asked for his help, so he’s giving it.  To some extent, I think this is partially about Pyro wanting to do something important before his death, rather than just fade away.  I also think that his insistence that he is still well enough to carry out the mission is a kind of denial about his own condition.  Like, if he’s well enough to do this, then the disease isn’t that far advanced, and he still has time, right? (Actually he has a lot of time, because the editors weren’t ready to kill him off for a while).  

But taking all that into account, I still think it’s very significant that, when Pyro is arguably in a vulnerable state, when he’s sick and weak and admits himself that it’s difficult to think clearly, he turns to Mystique to tell him what to do.  Also, there is something weirdly cute about how he keeps calling her “Boss.” 

I head-canon that Pyro sees the relationship as a little bit more than it really is, like he thinks he is “special” compared to Avalanche and Blob.  Like he’s not just her lackey, he’s her friend/trusted right-hand man.  And he is wrong.  I think Mystique is probably fond of him as a useful follower, and maybe even something of a friend.  I think she was sorry to see him waste away from Legacy.  But he’s certainly not in the top three of “Important People that Mystique Cares About,” (that would be Destiny, Rogue and Nightcrawler), maybe not even in the top five….or ten.  I think Pyro would claim he has no illusions about his role in the Brotherhood, but if Mystique threw him under the bus, he’d be both surprised and hurt.  

And this isn’t meant to paint a picture of poor, innocent Pyro used by evil Mystique.  Pyro took to crime and terrorism like a duck to water, he’s clearly having a great time setting fires and burning people, and he continues to participate in the Brotherhood under other leaders like Toad (and Joseph, but that was resurrected zombie-Pyro, so I like to ignore it).  He’s not a particularly good guy.  And Mystique has shown that she is capable of caring about others, but only a limited few.  And even the few people she cares for fall victim to Mystique’s chronic back-stabbing syndrome (except maybe Destiny?).  She would absolutely sacrifice Pyro if it was part of some greater plan, although she might feel bad about it.  But she also probably doesn’t want to see him killed or hurt, as long as he’s not getting in her way.

Further head-canon, mostly because I’ve been frustrated by the complete disconnect between Pyro and Mystique (and Pyro and other Brotherhood members) in Marauders: I think after Pyro came back, Mystique kind of “cut him loose.”  But not in a cruel way.  I can imagine him being all, “What’s the plan, boss?” and her telling him that there is no plan, there isn’t really a Brotherhood any more, and he can find his own place on Krakoa.  Partially because getting Destiny resurrected is the most important thing to her, and she can’t trust anyone with her plans for that.  And partially because Pyro joining the Brotherhood eventually led to his death, and she doesn’t want to immediately take him down that same path.  I think Mystique wants to offer him the chance to start over and find his own way. I don’t think she’s mad about his last-minute turnaround saving Kelly.  She’s done plenty of back-stabbing in her time, and she wasn’t even there at the Brotherhood’s attempted assassination, so it wasn’t going directly against her. Plus, he’s been dead for years, so I think she’s had time to get over it.    

Of course, if she does decide to burn Krakoa to the ground, she’ll probably come around to recruit him, anyway.  I’ll be very interested to see which Brotherhood members Mystique asks for help when she inevitably turns on the Council.  Will Pyro go to help her, or does he have some newly developed loyalty to the Marauders?  Or will he just be completely ignored in that story, because writers haven’t been paying much attention to old character relationships at all?  We’ll see.  

TL,DR: I think Pyro sees Mystique as a friend and admires her as a leader.  She may or may not consider him a friend, but I think she somewhat cares about him.

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

For my random mostly Pyro Brotherhood content posting today, let’s get sad with Pyro’s death in Cable 87:

Damn, Pyro looks rough.  But at this point he’s been terminally ill for like ten years in real time, and idk how long in Marvel time (probably a year, at least).

I really like how Cable seems to be catching Pyro and holding him up in the 4th page down, then trying offer him some kind of medical help right after he kills Post.  That’s very nice of you, Cable.  Pyro is just like, LOL, nope, I’m on my way out and I know it.

Pyro’s last word gets to be “mate,” just in case anyone forgot how very, very Australian he is.

That last page is honestly funny to me because it looks so posed.  “Okay, everyone, now gather around the dead body and look somber.  Perfect!”

I heard that Pyro was originally supposed to die in Uncanny X-Men 351, and I’m really glad he went out this way instead.  Uncanny X-Men 351, aside from being kind of badly written, wasn’t really about Pyro as a character at all.  It was about the beginning of the Hunt for Xavier, and the rogue Cerebro storyline.  Pyro was just there, running around acting crazy, while the X-Men completely missed the fact that he was being chased down by a robot.  This kind of “heroic” death was a much more appropriate way to send off the character.  Have the man who once tried to assassinate Senator Kelly have a change of heart and save his life instead - and actually manage to change Kelly’s mind for the better.  It was a death that he chose for himself.  And it wasn’t completely out of left field.  In some of Pyro’s earlier appearances while suffering from Legacy, he seemed to show regret for his past actions and a desire to make up for it (especially when he was attempting to help Mystique save the life of Graydon Creed.) 

I still wish we could see some fallout from this in Marauders.  How does Pyro feel about what he did - does he even remember it?  How does he feel about the fact that Kelly got assassinated anyway shortly after Pyro changed his mind?  Is he on the outs with the other Brotherhood members after betraying them (which might explain why he’s hanging out with the Marauders instead of Blob or Toad), or is that all water under the bridge on Krakoa?  (My personal headcanon is still that Marauders Pyro has gone into “drink and party” mode because he really, really doesn’t want to think about everything that’s happened to him, and he especially doesn’t want to think about how Kelly’s death made his sacrifice pointless.)