No. of Pages: 32 | Characters: Storm (Ororo Munroe) | Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) | Rogue (Anna Marie Raven) | Creators: Chris Claremont | John Romita Jr. | Steve Leialoha | Key Reason: | Plot: Rachel Summers and the New Mutant known as Magma take some time together to bond and see the sights that New York City has to offer. As they visit that Statue of Liberty, all Rachel can recall is the apocalyptic future she comes from where mutants are hunted down and where she spent a brief time as a "Hound", mutants forced to hunt other mutants by the repressive and anti-mutant government that runs her world. She recalls how one time she was brought out into the bay to track down mutants who were gunned down. When the memory makes her begin to cry, Amara asks her what's wrong and Rachel shrugs it off as being "something" in her eye. Storm bids farewell to her fellow X-Men as she takes a leave of absence to return to her native Africa to determine what to do with her life now that her powers have been taken away. As the group enjoys champaign, they all have a tearful good-bye, Storm tells Nightcrawler to send her love to Kitty. As Rachel and Amara continue their sight seeing, on a dock Miguel Rodriguez continues his daily labors hauling fish. When walks past the change room he spots some of his coworkers snooping in his locker. Miguel swats them away to see that the amulet he found earlier is still there. When it begins talking once more, offering him untold power, he rejects it, feeling that it is evil and slams his locker door shut. As Rachel and Amara exit the New York Metropolitan Museum, Amara spots her old foe from Nova Roma, Seline. At first she is upset when Rachel plucks the thought out of her mind, but agrees to let her new found friend join her in tracking her down. The two track their mutual enemy to the gates of the Hellfire Club. The two sneak in and put on some maids outfits so that hey can snoop around. As it turns out, Selene has come to the Hellfire Club to petition for membership as the new Black Queen. Sebastian Shaw is hardly impressed and tells her that it is a position that must be earned. Selene gives him a show of her powers, animating the ground around him and almost crushing him. Deciding that she will prove to him her worth, even though Shaw realizes that she would likely seize control of the Hellfire Club from him, she teleports away to bring him a present. Left alone, Tessa asks Shaw if he will admit her into the club. Shaw tells her that given the circumstances he may have little choice in the matter. Upstairs, Rachel continues to pose as a maid when she is approached by who she thinks is Seline and lashes out with a psi-blast. It turns out to be an illusion and that she had really attacked Amara. She is then caught from behind by Seline who uses her powers to enslave both Rachel and Amara and bring them to Sebastian Shaw. Upon doing so, Tessa silently remarks how Rachel has a striking resemblance to Jean Grey. Deep inside Rachel's mind, she struggles to free herself, not wishing to become someone's slave and manages to free herself from her control. Establishing a psi-link with Amara she struggles with her to free her from Seline's control as well. Forcing her to use her powers in the psychic plane that has been created causes Amara to snap free from Seline's control. The two X-Men then battle Seline, however are easily over powered. Before things can escalate further, Colossus, Rogue and Nightcrawler arrive. Nightcrawler teleports Seline away and the mental projection of Professor X appears and demands to know what's going on. When Amara insists on getting revenge on Seline, Xavier tells her to stand down. When Shaw tells the X-Men that he has no quarrel with them and that kidnapping Rachel and Amara was not his idea, the X-Men decide to depart without further incident. When Rachel asks if her psychic SOS helped the X-Men locate her, Xavier points her attention to the outside, where damage caused from Magma's powers were visibly evident. While elsewhere, Jamie Rodriguez waits for a subway train after his busy day at work listening to the latest news broadcast regarding Dazzler's outting as a mutant and the continued debate over the Mutant Control Act that is working it's way through Congress. As he listens he doesn't notice a mugger sneak up being him and stab him with a knife from behind. As Jamie collapses to the ground the thief grabs the amulet that has dropped out of his pockets. Upon doing so it releases the forces trapped inside and begins engulfing the entire subway platform with Eldridge fire, the start of some terrible transformation.
