These Earthly Things
Part 2 of the Chthon Arc.
| These Earthly Things | |
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| Dates run: | February 22-28, 2008 |
| Run By: | Kate (with assistance of Rossi) |
| Read the logs: | These Earthly Things |
The things they had done – oh God, most looked so… children. They were all children.
When a fundamentalist hate group pickets the mutant drop-in center Alejandra has been volunteering at, things take a violent - and horrifying - turn and a prophecy is realised.
Contents
Cast
Angelo Espinosa, Amanda Sefton, Mark Sheppard, Sarah Morlocke, Marie-Ange Colbert, Jubilation Lee, Wanda Maximoff
Alejandra Torres, Miguel Torres, Professor Christopher Lee
Timing
Plot Summary
During her time in Kick rehab, Alejandra met with a couple of follow mutant junkies, who told her of a drop-in/support center set up in the Bronx area of New York, aimed at young mutants. Isolated from her old life and bored of just her brother's paranoid company (not to mention Juanita's mothering), when she came out Alejandra started hanging around down there. Miguel, ever watchful, ended up going with her to make sure she wasn't not getting involved in another Kick gang.
The center was low-budget, struggling, but doing it's best to do some good. Over time, Alejandra and Miguel both got involved in helping out - they both needed structure and purpose in their lives, and here was something they can both contribute to. Gradually, over time the center was a success, and drew media publicity, with articles on its work and progress. As this developed, a sociology professor from Columbia, Professor Christopher Lee, got involved, acting as the centre's patron.
Of course, the publicity also drew attention of the unwanted sort. A religious group calling itself the Church of Humanity started protesting. At first they just seemed to be another group of harmless zealots, but one evening the center was attacked and vandalised. There was no proof it was the CoH, and the center cleaned up and reopened, Miguel and Alejandra among the more stubborn (and vocal) of the helpers remaining. They paid for it - several nights later, as they're at the center having stayed late for a visit by Professor Lee, they were ambushed by mystery assailants (assumed to be the CoH) and Alejandra and the Professor taken. Miguel was injured and left behind for dead; tougher than the cult anticipated, he managed to get to Amanda's apartment, hoping to find Angelo. Angelo was there, and using Amanda's location spell, they realised Alejandra had been taken underground. Sarah was called in, that being her territory, as well as Mark, Jubilee and Marie-Ange. Angelo alerted the X-Men, but because of the need for immediate action and confidence in their ability to deal with a bunch of human religious zealots, the group set off without waiting.
The cult had set up in the old Morlock Tunnels, in the great hall, using the bones of the dead still remaining there to construct their altar. There were several crosses set up, with the bodies of several obvious mutants strung up, having been there for various amounts of time - the oldest is maybe several months old, the most recent only a few days and the mutant only barely alive. The professor was unconscious and under guard in a corner, having been brought to serve as a scapegoat for the murders, thereby bringing down the shelter he supports. The rescue team arrived as the cult were in the middle of setting Alejandra up. Miguel charged into the scene and was shot in the chest (heart's blood, from Destiny's prophecy) while the others dealt with a lot of angry religious nutters. Angelo, on the upper level, glided down and landed draped over Alejandra as per the vision. The cultists were defeated, and Amanda remained behind with Angelo caring for the injured whilst the rest of the group departed with the traumatised Professor. In order to save Miguel, Amanda drained the lives of the surviving cultists, repairing the damage to his heart enough for him to live, and slipped away as the X-Men arrived.
As a result of his actions in taking lives, Angelo was benched from the team, and returned to seeing Jack Leary once a week. Amanda for her part began extra sessions with Sofia.
Related Links
External Links
Amanda's research into the Church of Humanity
Trivia and Meta
Trivia
Forge pieced together some of what had happened, and was not in any way happy about the situation, fearing that one day he would find himself equally hardened.
This was Jubilee's first outing with X-Force members since she was discovered in Madripoor, and the experience was an eye-opener.
Meta
Plotrunner: Kate (with assistance of Rossi)
The plot was developed in the aftermath of the 'false' prophecy storyline, and Marvel's pointless death for Angelo.
Professor Christopher Lee was socked by Jen
The events of this plot still occurred in Phase 2, but specifics, such as which characters were involved, remain fuzzy for the purposes of not breaking the world. ;)
