February 2008

The mystery of Faouk's illness was revealed as the Shadow King, a psychic parasite created from Farouk's subconscious, made its move against a potentially stronger host - Cain Marko. Alerted by Dr. Stephen Strange, the mansion's psis attempted to trap the entity, only to be trapped as the astral plane turned against them. While the school was dealing with comatose or insane psis, X-Force uncovered Farouk's whereabouts and a team was sent to Madripoor to potentially take out Farouk and encountering Jubilation Lee who was stranded there. The occult branch of the team attempted a desperate ploy to drive the Shadow King out of the astral plane with magic, succeeding only in breaking the plane. Fortunately, the human collective subconscious was far more resilient than anticipated, and using a human priest as a focus, the astral plane was 'rebooted', giving Farouk the opportunity to cage the Shadow King in his own mind again. He awoke just in time to find X-Force in his hospital room ready to kill him, Mark having already been shot by Farouk's faithful employee, Esteban. With the Shadow King caged and the astral plane stabilised, the psis returned to their senses, but not without various repercussions to their actions. Dr. Samson reiterated his office hours in response, Amanda went to Muir Island Research Facility for a check up after her exertions, Betsy apologised to the students whose class she had highjacked and Nathan had something of a crisis of confidence regarding his skills as a psi.

In the aftermath of the Shadow King incident, Jane and Tabitha had a very strange series of encounters with a fifth Stepford sister, who turned out to be a psychic projection of the girls' negative emotions. As a result of Nathan and Charles' intervention, it was decided the girls would remain at the school past graduation, for further training.

Jubilee was taken on by X-Force, given her lack of anywhere else to go following a series of bad choices, and she discovered not everyone was glad to see her back. Emma Frost surfaced, beginning to make enquiries into X-Force's spending. Forge and Crystal became a most awkward couple, and Valentine's Day was survived without any major faux pas. Jay approached Tommy and the two began a very careful truce and attempt to settle things between them. Laurie engaged in a series of pranks, not all of which were appreciated, and had her own crisis of confidence when her response to Jennie's accident with another mutant's powers resulted in her earning the ire of most of the school and a cautionary word from Jean about the ethics involved in using her powers. Jennie's predicament was a eye-opener to her as to how she was perceived in the school and she began to try and open up somewhat. Nori discovered a new aspect of her powers - super-speed.

At the end of the month, an anti-mutant religious group began picketing the drop-in center where Angelo's friends from LA, Miguel and Alejandra Torres were volunteering. Alarmed by the similarities of the group to Irene Adler's prophecy of the month before, Amanda researched the group, only to turn up nothing. This conclusion seemed to be proved wrong when Miguel, Alejandra and Professor Lee (sponsor of the center) were attacked and Alejandra and the Professor kidnapped. Miguel raised the alarm; Angelo and a group of the Junior Trenchcoats when down into the Morlock Tunnels where the group were crucifying mutants and subdued them, but not without casualties as Miguel was shot. In an effort to save his life, Amanda drained the life energy of the surviving cultists, killing them all.

Timeline

Feb 1 - Farouk goes into a tirade at Marie about the Iran mission, blaming Garrison, and Marie drops him in the lake. These Earthly Things: Amanda mentions a mutant outreach centre in the Bronx that Alejandra and Miguel have gotten involved with. Red X: Whistler: The Canada trip people return from their disaster relief efforts. Forge and Crystal have their date.

Feb 2 - Marie apologises to Farouk for nearly drowning him, and he apologises for being an ass. Laurie tries to get gossip out of Forge concerning his date.

Feb 3 - Doug emails Crystal to let her know he and Marie-Ange will attend her birthday. Laurie tries to get more gossip out of Crystal about the date, and fails.

Feb 4 - Jane visits Nathan and cheers him up. Jennie has to deal with the bitchy girls in her dance class.

Feb 5 - Jan and Laurie paint their nails and chat about the potential for paid work with Elpis. Following the Red X mission, Yvette has a productive session with Samson. The Shadow King: In Madripoor at an exclusive private hospice, Farouk undergoes surgery to treat his malady, but during the course of the anaesthetic, something goes very wrong as his 'illness' is revealed to be a psionic entity that has been draining Farouk's powers and those of psis he met; the 'Shadow King' purports to be a part of Farouk's mind, shut off during a childhood trauma to prevent manifesting his powers; Stephen Strange arrives at the brownstone and warns Amanda and Wanda of some kind of danger on the astral plane targeting Cain Marko; Wanda alerts X-Force as well as Scott, Ororo and Charles; the Shadow King attacks Cain, wanting to use him as a new vessel now Farouk's body and powers are almost exhausted, and is fought to a fragile standstill by Cain.

Feb 6 - The Shadow King: Warned by Wanda, in the early hours of the morning the mansion psis, plus Betsy, enter the astral plane to deal with the intruder, but all are defeated; Scott and Ororo realise something has gone wrong and raise the alarm and evacuating the students to the shelters; during the evacuation, Yvette and Jean-Phillipe play canasta; all the psis react in various ways to the disruption to the astral plane caused by the Shadow King's influence: Nathan becomes psychotic and has to be taken down by an X-Man team; Jean believes she is eleven years old again and is found by Dani and Lorna; Haller 'loses' his David persona, and Jack takes over, returning to the convenience store where they manifested in a state of confusion; Jennie and Terry retrieve him, stopping a robbery in the process; Betsy hijacks a classroom and tries to teach etiquette at sword point and Scott has to take her down; Scott and Moira discuss the situation and have no answers; Scott emails Wanda asking her to find out more from Strange; Scott visits Jean and finds she doesn't know who he is and only wants her mother, whom he calls; Scott lets the school know what's going on, the little they know; debate ensues on the X-Men comms on what to do about Cain, sitting unresponsive in the television room; Kyle and Laurie argue about her coping mechanisms; Jean's mother arrives; Lorna tries to calm Jack and discovers Jim is no longer accessible. Forge lets slip that he has a girlfriend, and releases a storm of demands for details; Lorna emails Crystal about her new girlfriend status; Forge emails Crystal to let her know he might miss her birthday with the crisis and she teases him about the 'girlfriend' slip; Jennie emails Forge and does not appear to be amused at the 'girlfriend' situation.

Feb 7 - The Shadow King: Jack and Jeannie, the sanest of the insane psis, run into each other; Nathan wakes up, and Moira manages to calm him marginally; Amanda is sleep deprived from research; X-Force's occult branch works out a way to find further information, by sending Illyana into the astral plane; Illyana discovers a link to Farouk and XF scrambles to go to Madripoor and deal with him; Wanda lets Scott know what is going on; Ororo checks on Jeannie; Nathan and Jack aren't sleeping; Jack posts to the journals letting the school know he's not able to be the counsellor for the time being and Betsy responds in suitably insane fashion. Marius provides food and gossip to the injured Monet, and the siblings apologise for things said in anger.

Feb 8 - Crystal emails those she invited to her birthday party, cancelling due to crisis. The Shadow King: Laurie tries to calm Nathan down, but it goes badly; Yvette encounters Jack and they talk about perceptions and growing up; Jeannie and her mother bond; Wanda and Amanda continue to try and find answers, when Illyana drops the bombshell that Farouk is a victim as well; XF decides to continue their course of action; Jeannie runs into Betsy and it goes badly.

Feb 9 - The Shadow King: Scott updates the team on the situation in Madripoor; Yvette keeps the comatose Cain company; Kyle slips whilst talking to Jeannie and she goes to confront Scott about them being married; Kyle emails Scott about impending Jeannie, but Scott doesn't check his mail; X-Force arrives in Madripoor, and the junior team run into Jubilee, who has been investigating a slavery ring operating with the hospice/clinic; Remy texts Marie-Ange to tell her he and Pete are meeting with bad people and will be out of contact; Rahne goes to see Nathan, but runs into Jack instead and is warned against it; John goes to see Nathan, not realising the situation, and when Angel gets involved, things get scary; Laurie tries to insist Jack eat, going so far as to threaten to use her powers, and Jack very quickly sets her straight with some home truths.

Feb 10 - The Shadow King: The occult team hatch a desperate plan to flood the astral plane with magic in order to flush the Shadow King out; Betsy knocks out Forge and escapes the medlab; Angelo raises the alarm; Betsy goes after Jack, thinking he is the Shadow King; Terry runs into Jeannie and none of their previous issues count; Forge complains about being knocked out; Scott goes to check on Forge and they discuss the frustration of the situation; Jack and Moira have a similar conversation over Charles' unconscious body; the occult team go ahead with their plan, but something goes wrong and the astral plane rebels; a priest by the name of Paris du Bennett becomes Humanity's representative and heals the astral plane; the psis come back to themselves and Cain awakens; Farouk confronts the Shadow King on the astral plane one last time; X-Force (and Jubilee) lay siege to the clinic, Mark gets shot by Esteban and they narrowly avoid killing the now-cured Farouk; Amanda posts the all-clear; Yvette wonders where Cain has gone; Forge suggests tracking down and checking on Betsy; Scott announces a return to 'normality'; Jean explains things to her mother, and things are tense.

Feb 11 - Angel has insomnia. Kurt returns from Germany. Yvette announces she is going home for a break. Amanda emails Angelo and Kurt before announcing a trip to Muir and then London. Kyle asks Cain about becoming his assistant. The Shadow King: Cain is confused about what has gone on; Jim emails Lorna about desperately needing food; Nathan emails Cain and gets a less-than-friendly response; Jean encounters the wreckage of her wardrobe and is comforted/supported by Scott; Kurt goes to check on Wanda and meets a powerless Dr. Strange; the two men upset Wanda and flee to the pub. Nathan meets with Jane in the Elpis offices and discovers an aversion to telepathy; Rahne is relieved everyone is okay and thanks various people for help in the Elpis office whilst Nathan was incapacitated; Betsy apologises; Charles thanks the students for their level heads.

Feb 12 - Dr. Samson announces his regular office hours, and expresses relief everyone is okay. Angel and Cain make sandwiches. Ororo announces Valentine's Day is coming up and offers flowers for those wanting gifts for their loved ones; Kyle and Forge panic over the day and what to get for their girlfriends; Jay asks Ororo for a plant for Kevin. The Shadow King: Tommy tells Terry what happened in the classroom with Betsy after she demands to know; Scott checks on Haller and finds him slowly recovering. Clarice returns from Muir, weak and sick but much better than before.

Feb 13 - Jay approaches Tommy and something of a truce is established. An injured Mark asks his team for more weed to cope with the pain and Marie-Ange obliges. Jean and Nathan meet in the woods, and it becomes obvious Nathan is having a crisis of faith as a telepath, much to Jean's frustration. Jay collects his plant from Ororo and they talk; Rahne announces she has a date on Valentine's Day; Forge and Kyle wind up in New York on an emergency gift run; Crystal asks Forge out for Valentine's Day; Kyle asks Crystal for help with flowers for Clarice; Jay asks various people for their Valentine's plans and in the course of discussion, Marius explains his perspective on relationships. Jennie is made a full X-Man after her actions in finding Haller; Jennie's status is announced on the team comm, and she's smug at people. Cain and Jan are training in the Danger Room and Jan gets accidentally swallowed. Nori plays soccer with Julio and reveals a new aspect of her powers. Shiro visits Clarice and is surprised to find out about her and Kyle.

Feb 14 - Monet announces her birthday plans for the 16th. Valentine's Day: Forge delivers a large stuffed toy to Crystal and then they are kidnapped by helicopter by Medusa, much to Monet's gossipy glee; Wanda and Kurt plan dinner; Julio gets anonymous chocolates and asks Marius, Forge and Kyle for ideas; Marie emails Lorna and Ororo in a panic about what to wear for her date with Garrison; Jan offers a candy heart drop service; Jean kidnaps Scott for the weekend and he lets their students know classes are cancelled.

Feb 15 - Monet and Nathan talk about what happened when he was psychotic. Rahne returns from her overnight date. Sarah is gleeful about half-price candy day. Twisted Sister: Tabitha encounters two of the Stepford Cuckoos having an argument in the library, and is confused when Nathan calls one "Mindee". Jane asks opinions on her next surname. Marie-Ange plays World of Warcraft with Doug as a Valentine's gift.

Feb 16 - Twisted Sister: Jane is accosted by 'Mindee' and is asked some very disturbing questions about sex before Nathan intervenes in a rather strange fashion. Remy announces Jubilee will be staying at the brownstone for the time being, until they figure out what to do with her.

Feb 17 - Twisted Sister: The Stepford mystery is resolved when it turns out the girls, unable to cope with the damage to the astral plane during The Shadow King (plot), created a fifth 'sister' to hold all their negative energy and thoughts; unfortunately, things didn't stay simple and Mindee developed a life of her own; Nathan confronts Mindee, while the other Stepfords fetch Tabitha and Jane for help; Charles helps the Stepfords with their issues and it is announced on the staff comm that the Stepfords will be needing to remain at the mansion for more intensive training. During the course of a journal thread, Jay and Kevin tease each other, but later in the suite things get more serious as Jay gets unhappy about Kevin keeping things from him. Jean-Phillipe and Scott powers train, and things get a little out of hand.

Feb 18 - Amanda returns from England. Wanda installs Jubilee properly on her couch. Angelo returns to work, and Nathan asks him what happened that had Angelo avoiding him. Laurie writes to her absent roommate.

Feb 19 - Laurie runs amuck with a banana pudding-loaded trebuchet. Cain drops by the Snow Valley offices for information on what happened to him and mistakes Sofia for a prostitute again. Monet and Amanda have lunch and Amanda gives Monet her birthday present.

Feb 20 - Marie-Ange posts a cartoon that sums up Doug. Jubilee goes to the mansion to pick up clothes and has a run-in with Forge. Marie confronts Nathan about his reaction to the Shadow King crisis and it goes badly.

Feb 21 - Yvette writes to Laurie from Kosovo. Amanda goes by Wanda's apartment for books and enlists a hungover Jubilee into working. Yvette emails Scott, Ororo and Charles letting them know she'll be home earlier than usual due to the unrest in Kosovo following it declaring independence.

Feb 22 - Yvette arrives back at the mansion and receives a gift from Forge to apologise for the hologram incident, a pair of headphones she can't damage; Yvette runs into Kevin and gets some answers to some rather personal questions. Aureus Canis: Jennie, sent to approach a girl from her ballet class about potential powers help, finds herself turned into a dog; Jennie flees and runs into Marius and Forge, who rescue her from Animal Control; Forge announces Jennie's condition on the journals and creates an uproar; Jean asks the resident telepaths to help Jennie communicate; Scott clarifies the situation on the team comm. Angel asks Jean for a meeting. These Earthly Things: Forge also mentions an anti-mutant protest outside the mutant drop-in center and Amanda focusses on it as a potential source of the prophecy Angelo had found. Amanda and Ororo share tea and gossip. Mark meets Jubilee at Silver. Angel meets with Jean about her psi issues in the wake of the Shadow King incident.

Feb 23 - Jean asks Laurie to come see her about being insensitive to Jennie's plight and then talks to Scott about her concerns. Rahne also emails Laurie, to explain things. Aureus Canis: Jennie gets long-delayed revenge on Marius, by licking him; Marius then pounces on her in the snow; Rahne teaches Jennie how to manage her new form; Jennie talks to Nathan about the reaction to her predicament; Rahne emails Angelo about his response to Jennie during a journal argument the previous day; Wanda emails Jennie to make sure she's all right. Kyle drops by to visit Forge and ask him to build a spider-car. Farouk makes an unexpected return, winding up on Amanda's doorstep. Tabitha revels in the sunny weather and invites people to join her for a run.

Feb 24 - Aureus Canis: Illyana emails Jennie to console her about her predicament and Laurie and Amanda's responses; Angel meets Jennie in her new form and puts her foot in it a little; Jean, Marius and Kyle go to North Carolina to fetch back Mariah, and Kyle falls victim to her powers; Mariah is brought back to the mansion and manages to restore everyone, with some help; Marius emails Kyle about the fact he's apparently a fox-llike feral; Jennie posts her recovery; Laurie emails Jennie, wanting to apologise. Nathan encounters Emma Frost, who is seeing Charles about some financial issues; Nathan emails Pete and Remy to warn them. Rahne emails Nathan, wondering if she's being too grumpy, and winds up with a dinner invitation. Yvette is confused about something said on the journals, and asks Angel what eating someone's bone might mean. Jean and Laurie have that talk about Laurie's attitude towards people, and Laurie freaks out; Yvette encounters her roommate in a state, and manages to calm her down somewhat, suggesting she talk to Samson. Clarice is released from medlab. Jane watches the Oscars and is confused.

Feb 25 - Jay's car is vandalised at the mall, and Terry tries to calm him down. Aureus Canis: Jennie returns to dance class, realising she might need to change some of her attitudes. Jennie emails Rahne to thank her, and Shiro to apologise to him for her reaction to his Kick addiction; Rahne is responsive, Shiro less so. Yvette posts about finding the courage to direct some people to the Professor's office; Kevin wants to set someone on fire and Angel is suggested. Haller seeks out Kevin to suggest some more training. Mark tries to practice his new powers trick in the office, and Amanda points out magnetopathy and computers don't mix. In Clarice's journal, Kevin makes more dog boy jokes and Kyle explains why it's not on.

Feb 26 - Forge emails Garrison, wanting hand-to-hand training; Forge gets his ass rather comprehensively handed to him by Garrison, but there's hope there; Forge goes to seek comfort from Crystal and things are initially awkward. Sofia is cranky about the journals. Jay runs into Forge and discuss meaning and relationships. Kevin asks Nathan for an Elpis job and is hired on; Kevin announces his new job. Remy and Jubilee have lunch and decide her future. Crystal emails Kyle about Kevin's comments the day before. These Earthly Things: Wanda manages to convince Amanda to take a break from her research. Jennie declares a pantless dance party as a cure for angst.

Feb 27 - Nate reflects on the Elpis work ahead and feels a bit overwhelmed. Jubilee complains about her physical training program. Amanda is going crazy trying to teach Farouk about magic; escaping, Amanda calls Cain and exacts her revenge on Farouk by telling Cain where Farouk is. Jennie and Laurie finally talk about the joke that wasn't. These Earthly Things: Angelo goes to pick up Alejandra from the drop-in center, and she offers her on particular brand of relationship advice.

Feb 28 - Crystal points out the leap year. Victor emails Ororo, asking for a meeting about powers training. These Earthly Things: Miguel, Alejandra and Professor Lee are attacked after leaving the drop in center, and Alejandra and Professor Lee are taken; Angelo comes by Amanda's apartment to patch things up and they are interrupted by a bloodied Miguel; Amanda gathers a response group together while Angelo alerts the X-Men; the group tracks the kidnappers to the Morlock Tunnels and they find Alejandra has been crucified; Miguel charges in and gets shot, Angelo reacts and kills people getting to Alejandra, and things get bloody; the zealots defeated, X-Force leaves with the Professor while Amanda saves Miguel's life by using the surviving cultists to fuel her healing spell; the X-Men arrive to find Angelo with Miguel and Alejandra, and a room full of dead zealots; Amanda goes to see Sofia upon returning to the brownstone. Monet and Jennie help Jay practice for his bar tender's exam.

Feb 29 - Jay and Kevin disagree on music tastes, or possibly something else - neither is sure. Yvette and Jay talk about various things, including goals in life. Crystal seeks out Jennie to ask about how she is, but things turn uncomfortable when the subject of Crystal's new boyfriend comes up. Following the incident with the Stepfords, Jane is wondering about her sexuality and winds up talking to Monet about it. These Earthly Things - Scott debriefs Angelo and benches him for a period to get his head back together; Amanda and Mark talk about ethics; Amanda emails Angelo about everyone's status; Forge asks Angelo about the events of the night before and things get heated; Amanda makes her report about the previous night's incident.

Plots

The Shadow King (plot)

Twisted Sister

Aureus Canis

These Earthly Things

External Links

February 2008