Marauders #6 (2020)

Pyro sends a jet of flame at Hate-Monger, X-Cutioner, and the other armed men trying to board the Marauder. Hate-Monger advances nonetheless and raises his sword to execute Iceman, who is lying unconscious on the deck. Just as the blade slashes down, a hand comes up through the deck and grabs Iceman, making him intangible and phasing him into the hold below. Kate Pryde tells Bobby to rest and leaves Lockheed to guard him. She phases up to the main deck and finds the Marauder on fire. Kate rushes at Hate-Monger, who has Pyro in a chokehold. Kate grabs Pyro’s arm and phases him out of Hate-Monger’s grip, then plunges her dagger into Hate-Monger’s shoulder. She turns and X-Cutioner thrusts his lance at her. Kate phases and the lance passes through her but stabs Pyro, who screams in pain. Little does Pyro know, a microscopic vessel has been injected into his bloodstream by the tip of X-Cutioner’s lance. Inside is Yellowjacket, who radios Homines Verendi that he is inside and heading to Pyro’s optic nerve. Verendi’s leaders - Kade Kilgore, Manuel Enduque, Wilhelmina Kensington, and Maximilian Frankenstein - celebrate their success and the billions of dollars worth of inside information they are bound to receive once Yellowjacket reaches Krakoa. As Bishop provides cover fire from the deck of the Upstart, Shinobi Shaw pulls the hobbled ship out of Madripoor Bay. Shinobi worries that the boat is too damaged to make it very far, but Storm, tending to a bleeding wound on his arm, tells him they only need to get to the Marauder and use that ship’s gate back to Krakoa. On the Marauder, Kate backs towards the ship’s railing as X-Cutioner and Hate-Monger bear down on her. She then leaps off the side and phases through the hull of the Homines Verendi ship anchored alongside. Inside the cargo hold, Kate finds dozens of power-neutralizing suits. She phases up to the top deck, where Donald Pierce and Chen Zhao are waiting for her. Pierce and Zhao claim diplomatic immunity due to Pierce’s status as Madripoor’s U.N. ambassador and order Kate off the boat. Kate refuses, unsheathes her sword, and says she’s going to take the ship from them. She attacks Pierce and knocks the cyborg off his feet, then punches Zhao in the face. Storm appears on the Marauder and shouts to Kate that Shinobi and the mutant refugees are safely aboard. Hate-Monger screams and tosses a satchel full of grenades at Kate. Bishop reacts quickly; he dives on top of the satchel, absorbs the energy from the explosion, and redirects it at Hate-Monger and X-Cutioner, knocking them off the boat and into the water. Storm then picks Donald Pierce up in a gust of wind and kicks him overboard. Kate tosses Chen Zhao into the bay as well. With their enemies dispatched, the Marauders regroup on the Homines Verendi vessel. Iceman tells them the refugees are safe on Krakoa and that Bishop and Pyro are securing the Marauder. Kate decides to take the Verendi ship and the neutralizer suits in the hold to Island M. Storm agrees to meet her there with Beast, Sage, and Forge in tow to examine the tech. Storm tells Iceman to join Kate, but Bobby says he’s due to be a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Kate tells her friends she’ll be fine and Storm and Iceman head back to the Marauder. Yellowjacket sends a missive back to Verendi gushing about the accommodations on the Marauder, which include a cabin for Emma Frost, a salon, and a movie theater. Sebastian Shaw steps out of one of the neutralizer suits in the hold and calmly walks up behind an unsuspecting Kate as she stands at the bow of the Verendi ship, Lockheed on her shoulder. Lockheed growls, but Shaw has come prepared - he aims a shotgun and shoots a net that envelops the dragon. Kate draws her sword as Shaw sprinkles Krakoan seeds at her feet. Suddenly, vines extend and wrap tightly around Kate’s legs and midsection, holding her in place. Kate furiously saws at the vines with her sword, but Shaw kicks the blade out of her hand. He says he will do anything for control of more seats on the Quiet Council. He then picks up the net holding Lockheed and drops the dragon into the bay. Kate pleads with Shaw to save Lockheed, offering to give up her Council seat in exchange. Shaw refuses and, as he crosses a gangplank onto his own yacht, detonates explosive charges that had been planted on the Verendi ship. As the ship begins to sink, Kate shouts that she’ll be resurrected. Shaw expresses his doubts the protocols will work for her, considering Krakoa’s gates have rejected her already. He tells Kate to take comfort in all the wealth he will bring to mutantdom with control of Hellfire, thanks to Shinobi in her seat and soon, a White Queen of his own choosing. He reveals that he arranged everything that has led to this moment - he paid Pierce to attack her ship and manipulated Kate and Emma to vote for the Upstart to go to Madripoor. He gloats that he knew Kate’s pride would separate her from her friends and leave her vulnerable. Kate screams that she will kill Shaw when she is brought back, just before she is pulled underwater. Kate struggles against her bindings, but it isn’t long before she drowns. Shaw basks in his success as his yacht sails out of Madripoor Bay.