X-Factor#92(1993)

In Wauntaugh, Virginia, a hospital has been attacked by the Acolytes. X-Factor members Havok, Quicksilver and Dr. Valerie Cooper are interviewing Leslie Murray, a nurse who was on duty during the attack. Leslie, still bearing marks inflicted on her by being choked with Senyaka’s psionic whip, relays to them the death and destruction caused by the Mutant villains in the name of Magneto, simply because their victims were Human. Valerie decides they should leave Leslie to rest. After Valerie and Havok leave the room, Leslie asks Quicksilver what kind of man Magneto can be to inspire such violence in his followers. Quicksilver revisits his own thoughts on the subject of his father. Suddenly, Leslie starts to flatline. Quicksilver leaves while doctors race to save her. Unbeknownst to Quicksilver his departure is observed by the holographic form of another of the Acolytes, Scanner. Scanner’s holographic form then flies back to the location of her physical body, in the Leningrad submarine which was once sunk by Magneto, located somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. She delivers her report to Fabian Cortez and questions whether they really needed to harm the people at the hospital, since they weren’t a threat to the Acolytes. He insists that all Humans are a threat to all Mutants, something that Magneto would want Scanner to understand. She mentions Quicksilver, which causes a savage reprimand from Cortez, who tells her that Quicksilver will join their side by nightfall. To that end, one of the Acolytes, Spoor, allowed himself to be captured while his comrades escaped. At the Pentagon he is being held in custody and questioned by X-Factor. During questioning, Spoor mocks the laws he and his fellow Acolytes broke as “Flatscan” laws. Both Strong Guy and Havok come close to losing control and attacking Spoor, despite warnings from Dr. Cooper. Quicksilver enters the room and rejoins the team, which causes Spoor to drop to his knees and venerate him as the son of Magneto. This almost religious devotion surprises X-Factor. One hour later, Val Cooper prepares to take Quicksilver by helicopter to investigate the findings of their interrogation. Spoor confessed, because of Quicksilver’s presence, that the Acolytes are planning to attack Camp Hayden. Havok objects, suggesting that the whole team should go. Valerie refuses, hoping that the reaction to Quicksilver by Spoor will be the same of the rest of the Acolytes. If the rest of X-Factor doesn’t go to Camp Hayden then maybe the situation can be ended peacefully. It turns out Random has also been recruited by Cooper in case she needs backup. As the helicopter flies away, Havok communicates with Polaris and asks her to get the transport that Forge had created for them airborne. Polaris uses her power to manipulate magnetism to fly the craft and follow the helicopter. Guido suffers no small amount of airsickness along the way. Havok can’t understand why the Acolytes would target a random area like a low priority military base like Camp Hayden. Multiple Man suggests that they’ll attack anywhere as long as it involves killing Humans. Wolfsbane checks on Madrox, but he insists he’s okay. Suddenly X-Factor’s craft is stopped mid-flight. The cause turns out to be a flying man, unknown to the team. He seems to be deciding whether to speak to the team, but instead flies off. X-Factor gets going again. Meanwhile Cooper, Quicksilver and Random have arrived at Camp Hayden in Kentucky. Quicksilver suggests that Cooper has been lying to X-Factor about the insignificance of Camp Hayden as a target. If the Acolytes were planning to attack a military base, Pietro insists, then there must be something there they want. Suddenly, troops in Mandroid Armor surround them. They order Quicksilver and Random to step away from Cooper, seeking to protect her, as a Human, from Mutants. Quicksilver rapidly disarms the troops. Senator Robert Kelly makes an appearance, indicating that there really is more to Camp Hayden than X-Factor was told. Kelly insists that Cooper doesn’t have clearance to bring Quicksilver and Random to Camp Hayden, but she overrules him and they make their way inside. Cooper comes clean with her entourage and tells them that the United States Senate held a meeting months ago about how to deal with the problem of Mutants. Project: Wideawake was their solution which involves Sentinels being kept at Camp Hayden. Cooper goes on to explain that these Sentinels are a combination of classic Sentinels and Nimrod types. They’re suddenly joined by the rest of X-Factor, who are shocked that Cooper has kept this information from them. Cooper tries to justify the need for Project: Wideawake, telling the team that evil Mutants like the Acolytes are the reason the public fears Mutants. X-Factor plans to destroy these Sentinels, but Quicksilver tells them he knows how the Acolytes think, and that their actions make it necessary for Humans to protect themselves in this way. As if to illustrate his point, the Acolytes suddenly smash through a wall. Cortez tells his team that he wants the son of Magnus. X-Factor engages the Acolytes in battle. Cortez admits that he has slight admiration for the X-Men, but he despises X-Factor because they work for the Human Government. Whilst the battle rages on, Senator Kelly tells the security team to initiate Operation: Vanish. Seamus Mellencamp tries to blind Madrox. Madrox shoves his right fist into Mellencamp’s mouth, slams his left fist against the ground and causes one of his duplicates to form inside Mellencamp, which causes Mellencamp to burst into pieces, killing him. As the Sentinels are programmed to fly away from Camp Hayden, Frenzy goes after Senator Kelly. Kelly goads Frenzy by telling her that if she kills him she’ll make him a martyr for his anti-Mutant cause. Wolfsbane saves Kelly and points out that, despite his feelings about Mutants, he was just saved by one. She hopes that will help change his mind over time. During the battle, Quicksilver has an encounter with Fabian Cortez, which is observed by Scanner in her holographic form. Cortez tries to convince Quicksilver that it’s his fate to carry on his father’s cause. He tells Quicksilver that if he will join the Acolytes as their leader then Cortez will end the battle now. Quicksilver refuses. Cortez maintains that Quicksilver will eventually join the cause started by his father. Cortez then instructs Amelia Voght to teleport the Acolytes away. Havok questions why they’re leaving now without the Sentinels or doing any major damage. Amelia suggests to X-Factor, as she departs, that maybe this attack was all about planting a seed that would one day grow. Upon finding that the Sentinels have gone, the team wonders if the Acolytes did manage to teleport them away. Cooper tells them that it was Kelly who was behind the Sentinels disappearance. Cooper then vomits out something that the Acolytes had implanted in her. Through this they had been able to control Cooper and make her bring Quicksilver to them in order for Cortez to try and sway Pietro to their side. The team questions whether lying to them about Project: Wideawake was something she’d been forced to do as well. She says it was not, but that it had been put in place in case X-Factor as Government operatives didn’t work out. She tells Quicksilver that she was only following orders. He points out that her words are the same ones Nazi troops had used for why they had killed Jewish people at Nuremberg. Cooper tearfully appeals to the team to forgive her for not being honest with them about Project: Wideawake and tells them that she sees them as friends. Unmoved by her words the team leaves.