July 2019

Cul's plans to regain all of the Worthy hammers and attack Asgard continued, with the mutants doing their best to prevent him finding the final three Worthies. X-Force's heist on an auction house in Tokyo seemed it would succeed... until the ravens of Marie-Ange Colbert's visions interfered, resulting in the team deciding to leave the hammer, where it was claimed by the son of the antiques dealer, turning him into Greithoth. Two days later, Daniel Drumm appeared with information on who and what they were facing.

The X-Men also had a lead on a hammer - a local mutant fight club was offering "the power of a god" as the prize for the champion, but their attempt to claim the hammer first ran into trouble, with the appearance of Skadi and D'Spayre in the crowd and the revival of Angrir. As the team was preparing to leave, they were recruited by The Avengers into coming to help guard the final hammer, which was in a vault in the Triskelion but was under attack by Cul, The Dweller in the Dark and their combined forces. Former rivals became allies fighting alongside each other, but the Hulk was drawn by the hammer's call and became Nul, last of the Worthies. They were successful in overpowering and taking the Dweller - still possessing Tandy Bowen - back to the mansion where Amanda Sefton and Jean Grey combined magic and psionics to help Tandy continue to fight the Dweller and keep it trapped in her mind. The next day Thor finally showed up, with a reforged Odinsword, the only weapon which would destroy Cul. Captain America and Iron Man also turned up and plans were made to locate and take down the rogue Asgardians. Cul made locating him simple, however, by enacting the final part of his plan. The Worthies were scattered to major cities across the globe, tasked with causing as much fear in the populations as they could, which would fuel Cul and give him the power to ascend to Asgard. Cul himself was in Norway, on the same island he had been imprisoned for eons, preparing to ascend to Asgard. Mixed teams of Avengers and mutants took on the Worthies, in some cases subduing them but in most only managing to stall them; another team, including Thor battled Cul with the Odinsword. Just when all hope seemed lost, Tandy, tricking Cul into thinking the Dweller was still in control, blasted him with every ounce of power she had, allowing Doug Ramsey to take up the fallen Odinsword and behead Cul. At his death, the various hammers disintegrated into dust, releasing the various hosts from their possessions and leaving SHIELD to pick up the pieces. Tandy herself remained in a coma until Jean and Amanda led a group of her nearest and dearest into her mind to help her lock down the Dweller more permanently. She was paroled to the mansion by SHIELD with a number of conditions to ensure her safety - and to preserve the Dweller's prison.

Meanwhile, strange things were happening at Denver International Airport and a a missing persons case for X-Factor took them to the Church of Humanity chapter in Salem Center. The case ended badly, with their missing girl and her mother both killed, but they did retrieve enough evidence of the chapter's violence to have them arrested and disbanded.

Warren Worthington, being offered a chance to redeem himself with his father offering him a position in Switzerland, decided not only to go, but possibly also proposed to Barbara Morse. Cecilia Reyes, after helping a mutant patient at a New York hospital, decided to leave and follow her vocation there. And with interest from Alani Ryan and Theresa Cassidy, Sooraya Qadir and Angelo discussed the possibly resurrection of X-Corps.

Timeline

Jul 1 - Fear in the Dark: X-Force puts their plan to motion; The second part of the heist, getting in, goes off without a hitch; the heist almost goes according to plan, until the ravens interfere; Wanda and Clea are waiting nearby as lookouts when they see two men teleporting out.

Jul 2 - Topaz makes a journal entry offering her soul to the first person who brings her an energy drink.

Jul 3 -

Jul 4 - Fear in the Dark: A break finally arrives as Daniel Drumm turns up unexpectedly, complete with a large book and some answers to the questions about the hammers that have been plaguing the mansion.

Jul 5 - Fear in the Dark: Amanda posts to x_teams to give everyone a better idea of who they’re fighting. Case File: Take Me to Church: Alani and Angelo meet to talk about the Church of Humanity and what they can do against them.

Jul 6 -

Jul 7 - Gabriel makes a journal entry about his drunk time at Pride and the crazy nonsense in the background.

Jul 8 -

Jul 9 - Out of rehab, Warren has news for Bobbi - his father wants him to work in Switzerland.

Jul 10 - While leaving the library, Alani runs into Kurt and gains some knowledge about mutant genetics.

Jul 11 - Fear in the Dark: Kyle reports to xp_teams that a local fight club is offering “the power of a god” as the prize for a special round of fights on Saturday.

Jul 12 -

Jul 13 - Fear in the Dark: Two teams of X-Men go to the fight club; Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Marvel Girl Wolverine, Blink and Dust are inside and see the trademark Asgardian hammer box in the main ring; Nightcrawler tries to teleport it out but is unable to and winds up fighting the champion, Craig Hollis; Wolverine and Blink see Skadi and D'Spayre in the crowd and overhear their plan to use the fight as a way to find the Worthy for the hammer; before anyone can act, the hammer box is broken and Hollis revealed to be the newest Worthy, Angrir; Scott’s team try to subdue Angrir and evacuate the crowd while Marvel Girl stops the roof collapsing, but lose the three bad guys in the crush; outside, Dominion, Xavin and Spectrum are also on crowd control when they are confronted by Skadi, D’Spayre and Angrir; they fight, but Skadi and Angrir combine their hammer forces and escape; as the X-Men are leaving, Iron Man, Hawkeye and Black Widow approach them wanting to combine knowledge, but an emergency call forces them to all go to the Triskelion, which is under attack by all of the Worthy, plus the Dweller, who are after the last hammer; Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Dust and Spectrum join Iron Man against Nerkkod and Mokk; Dominion, Marvel Girl, Xavin and Captain America face Angrir and Griethoth and in the vault room, Cyclops, Hellion, Blink and the Hulk try to stop Kuurth, Skadi and the Dweller from getting to the hammer; during the course of the fight in the vault room, the Dweller is knocked out by Cyclops and teleported to the mansion, but the hammer box is broken and the Hulk becomes Nul; the bad guys teleport away and the X-Men head home; Jean and Amanda successfully combine forces to try and lock down the Dweller enough for Tandy to resurface.

Jul 14 - Fear in the Dark: Marie-Ange goes into a precognitive state and starts texting Fourteen with various drawings, who then shares them with Doug; in the morning, Thor arrives at the mansion with explanations and something to help Tandy with the Dweller; Thor and Tandy explain the situation to the leaders of the various teams, plus Iron Man and Captain America, and a collaboration is made; Clea posts to her journal about calamities across the world, while Cyclops posts an all-call to the mansion for help; the eight Worthy are in various cities across the world generating panic and fear for Cul to feed on and eight teams of mutants and Avengers take them on; a ninth team goes to Norway to confront Cul, who tries to free the Dweller; Marie-Ange and Doug help Tandy fight the Dweller for control while Cyclops, Hellion, Wolverine and Skin back up Thor who confronts his uncle with a new Odinsword; Cul knocks the sword away from Thor and it lands in front of Doug; Tandy approaches Cul and hits him with an enormous light burst and Doug beheads him with the sword; all over the world, the Worthies’ hammers turn to dust and the possessed bodies are released; Doug posts about needing an Odinsleep.

Jul 15 - Wanda offers her credit card towards feeding anyone who needs it. An Eye For An Eye: Strange happenings continue at DIA with reports of a plane vanishing - and then reappearing.

Jul 16 -

Jul 17 - Fear in the Dark: Amanda texts those closest to Tandy to join her and Jean in the medlab; the group journeys into Tandy's mind to bring her back and take care of her pest of a passenger.

Jul 18 - Warren finally meets with Lorna and is able to make amends. Jean announces that she'll be away in South America for Underground business. An Eye For An Eye: Topaz texts Clea to ask her to look into the strange occurrences in Denver while she recuperates.

Jul 19 - Artie shares the news of "methgators" with the mansion. Quentin finds Cecilia while looking for Jean and requests that she join him for some outside doctoring. The duo is able to successfully sneak into the hospital and come face to face with the treatment of visible mutants. Sooraya and Alani discuss what can be done to tackle the ever rising anti-mutant stance. Fear in the Dark: Tandy reaches out over text to thank those who helped bring her back.

Jul 20 -

Jul 21 -

Jul 22 - Sooraya and Angelo talk about the possibility of X-Corps being revived.

Jul 23 - Following recent events, Molly's attempt to relax by the pool are put on hold by Alani.

Jul 24 -

Jul 25 - Cecilia tells Quentin that she’s decided to leave the mansion and go back to working as a surgeon in New York.

Jul 26 - Hope A. talks to Warren about her plan for rebuilding his reputation and how it continues even when he leaves for Switzerland.

Jul 27 - Fear in the Dark: Jean announces her return from South America and posts the mission debrief about the Worthies. Cecilia says goodbye to Jean; Cecilia announces her departure. Case File: Take Me to Church: A father approaches Bobbi and Lorna about his missing daughter and it’s revealed his anti-mutant estranged wife was connected to the Church of Humanity; Lorna emails the rest of X-Factor to let them know they have a case; Quentin, Lorna and Maya research the missing girl and the Church of Humanity on the internet, while Sue and Bobbi look into the mother; Alex posts to xp_teams asking about others’ experiences with the CoH and Angelo responds.

Jul 28 - Fear in the Dark: Charles emails Tandy about the conditions SHIELD has insisted on for her to remain at the mansion, for her own protection. Case File: Take Me to Church: Alex, Hope A. and Arthur have staked out the Church of Humanity and notice there are a lot of people going in but no-one leaving and Hope A. discovers their missing girl is being held prisoner; a rescue is launched, but both the girl and her mother are killed by a gunshot; while searching the office of the priest in charge, Hope A. and Alex find evidence that he has been involved in the torture and murder of mutants, including the two Mutant Underground workers who were lynched two years ago; Alex lets the rest of X-Factor know the mission didn’t go well; Quentin receives the news of the pictures found and alerts Sooraya.

Jul 29 - Julian finds Tandy on the rooftop and they talk about the Dweller and what comes next.

Jul 30 - Megan breathes in her own dust and gets a bit randomly philosophical about the nature of self and time.

Jul 31 -

Plots

Fear in the Dark

An Eye for an Eye

Case File: Take Me to Church

External Links

July 2019