Mutant Empire: Book 1 - Siege, Part III

After a short delay, part three of Siege coverage is here! Sparks fly as the battles between the X-Men in Colorado & on Hala kick off! One team walks away successful. The other? Not so much! 

Transcript

Opening Statements

Chapman 0:25

Hello, and welcome to another episode of SubteXt Men. Today we continue our coverage of the first book in Christopher Golden's Mutant Empire trilogy, Siege. In our previous two episodes, we learned that Magneto and a team of his acolytes, led by Amelia Vogue, have taken over the Colorado Project Wideawake facility, which houses a large amount of Sentinels. We also learn that half of the Star jammers, Corsair and Hepziba, have been captured on the Kree homeworld of Hala, which is now overruled by the new Viceroy, Deathbird, of the Shi'ar Royal House, Neramami. Our roster of X-Men for the novel have split into two different teams, heading to the two aforementioned problems, and while Storm's Colorado team has found themselves face to face with Colonel Tomko's US Army unit, now on orders from Henry Peter Gyrich to fire at will, despite Val Cooper's best intentions to stop it, Cyclops' Hala team has immediately been fired upon by the Shi'ar armada once they entered Kree Space, despite their cloaking technology seemingly functioning.

Chapter 7

Chapman 1:30

From there, we jump into chapter 7, as the pilot Ch'od attempts to keep the X-Men alive and navigate through the massive Shi'ar lasers streaking across the space battlefield. The cloaking technology of the Star jammer, it turns out had a short circuit, which is why the light that Hod was monitoring actually turned on without the cloaking device being activated. To which Raza responds with a "Thou hast got to be kidding me." After some near misses, Cyclops finally calls out with, "Six to beam down, Ch'od!" "Beam down?" "Teleport us down, Ch'od! That's what it means. Teleport us do-" "Okay!"

Chapman 2:07

I will say, with all the Starjammers using all this earth-based slang, I do wish we got some more weird alien slang from Corsair, but can't teach an old dog new tricks. Raza and the X-Men are then beamed down to Hala's surface, where they find themselves in the outside suburbs of Kree-Lar, the capital city. Before we leave him, however, we do see that Ch'od is hit by a massive explosion on one side of the Starjammer's wings, just as he's left to circle the planet and wait for Cyclops' return call. Unaware of Ch'od's potential status, we return to the Hala team, as they've just arrived in specifically Ryndak, a middle-class suburb on the outskirts of Kree-Lar. Raza mentions that, "Once it did a civilize the quality of life that the Kree Young aspired to, then came the war. The Shi'ar did us choose to destroy Ryndak, but was not for its military significance. They destroyed it for the peace and ideals it did as represent." And looking upon the stragglers that have emerged from the surface of the ruins to witness the new arrivals on the planet, Jean mentions that, "just like on Earth, these are the victims of war, children and the aged, civilians with no interest in battle." Cyclops reaffirms this, but also realizes the need for quick disguises, and soon the team has rummaged through trash piles and found cloaks for this exact purpose. While at this point the team has attempted to stick mostly to alleyways, they have garnered the attention of one particular Kree blacksmith with some heavy scarring on his face. Before confrontation occurs with this particularly hostile-looking Kree, the Shi'ar Royal Guard appear in the marketplace, attempting to track the teleportation signal that brought the team to the planet. The potentially hostile Kree soon pivots his tactics and ushers the X-Men and Raza into some nearby tunnels for cover. From the streets and alleys of Ryndak, we return to Deathbird's aerie, as she is updated on the recent attack from the unknown spacecraft. I can see from your quiver that you bear bad tidings, Captain. My first guess would be that you did not retrieve the rebels who had the audacity to teleport onto Hala in the midst of a battle. However, you'd best be done with it. Give me your report, and I will decide whether or not to let you leave. Viceroy, we searched all the inhabitant sections of Ryndak, but found no trace of the incursion force. We did, however, get full descriptions from several citizens, which were confirmed by our spies in Ryndak. Deathbird's left talon wrapped around his neck, claws biting skin, his eyes bulged in shock. Her right talon drove into his chest, tearing through flesh as she got her grip. The captain shrieked in pain and terror as Deathbird lifted him above her head and carried him to the turret window of her airy. You fool! The X-Men have come to Hala, and you have failed to even locate them. Get me Gladiator. Have the Imperial Guard report to me at once. And in the back room of a small store shop in Ryndak, the X-Men gather together with their newfound ally, Kam -Lor, of the Kree Resistance. They attempt to persuade Kam-Lor to take them to the leaders and the elders of the Kree Resistance. And while he's already reluctant to take strangers to the HQ of the Resistance, to say nothing of the Shi'ar who accompanies you, to whom none of us will speak. Kree have long held a hatred for Terrans. The humans our race has encountered have ever stood in the path of Kree destiny, despite that they are far lesser beings. To which Rogue replies, Hold on there, Sugar. Don't start playing Victor now that you had your butts whooped. You are times long before this latest war, and us Terrans didn't have anything at all to do with that. You go, Cher, chimes in Remy. However, not all of the X-Men are on the same page, as Cyclops internally cringes. He thinks how, quote, all of the X-Men knew the value of diplomacy, but each of them had their own limits to how much crap they were willing to take, even for diplomacy's sake. Which is a great way to dance around the concept of a bullshit meter and the fact that Rogues is pretty impeccable, although this is also a moment where I feel that Rogue is going for the semantic win rather than the reading the room win, where maybe telling the race that is currently subjected in a viceroyship under Deathbird that they also were tyrants previously is is maybe not the wisest tactic whenever you're trying to make allies. And just when things were starting to look grim for this nation partnership, Jean lets it slip that Cyclops is related to the legendary Starjammer Corsair, who of course has been helping the Kree Resistance up to this point. That is more than enough trust and reputation for Kam-Lor to take them to the elders, but just as they begin to depart, the back wall of the shop is blown out, and the Imperial Guard descend upon the Hala team. Once again, it is this final moment that we see depicted in Ron Lim's art for Chapter 7, where Cyclops, Raza, and Jean are all lunging forward into battle while a large explosion frames them in the background. Before

Chapter 8

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taking us to the hills of Colorado, chapter 8 opens us off with an update on Charles. As he sits in his study and awaits updates on his two different teams of X-Men in the field, Charles gets a call from the Lilandra that we get to see on page this time. After cold greetings, Charles thinks to himself how, quote, he had never been very good at relationships. He had, in fact, been accused of having found the perfect lover in the Lilandra, specifically because of her distance. Their responsibilities kept them apart, his to the X-Men and Earth's mutant population, and hers to the entire Shi'ar Empire. When you look at the trajectory of Lilandra and Charles, you can see how their relationship really forms as psychic infatuation, if you will, based on the calls of distress, as well as immediately entering a honeymoon consort phase where, of course, he abandons the new mutants and heads off into space. And the emphasis that we see on Charles' time as a consort is really him functioning as a trophy wife for Lilandra. I think in a lot of ways they are doing this both for each other to some degree. She is able to show, look how I have the most powerful telepaths in the universe as my consort, as essentially my little bitch boy. And Charles likes to say that he's dating the Shi'ar Majestrix, even though if you really look at how their relationship interacts, oftentimes he's not using that as a flex to say, look how powerful I am, but it simply becomes a way for him to voice grievances more directly. You see this culminate in the breakup right around this absorption of the Kree Empire. I think because this emphasizes how much their relationship at this point is based on coming together in times of conflict rather than any sort of mutual respect or admiration for the post or for the power one wields. While he implores her about using the guard to step in in this point, she assures him that, quote, I have done all I can, my love. There is nothing I can do. Deathbird is within her rights. Corsair and the others will be executed at midday to-morrow. I only pray that the X-Men do not share the defeat. Charles, I know that your obligations are as important in their own way as are my own. But you want to know when I might visit the Imperium again as your royal consort, since we both know she our business won't bring you to Earth any time soon. My love, don't I wish I could simply think of it, be at your side. Or just as nicely have real time to take a vacation from all this with the confidence that things wouldn't fall apart in my absence. But you know what happened last time I left Earth for a prolonged period. The problem was multiplied geometrically. If the X Men had been heading to Chandilar instead of Hala, I would have accompanied them no matter the consequences. As it stands, Lilandra, I just don't know when we'll see each other again. I could send the ship at any time, you know. Only say the word, and we could be You know it isn't that easy. Why make it more difficult for both of us? You're correct. Of course, Charles. I apologize. I will let you know if I have news. Everything about this conversation is insane to me. You have Charles fully denying the fact that the X-Men oftentimes do better when he's gone. Uh, you also have Lilandra pivoting from, I'm sorry that my sister is killing your adopted son's biological dad, to hey, you want to get a little horny on me? You coming to visit anytime soon? I did not expect Lilandra to be this frat boy-coded, but here we are. I also hope that you all noticed I tried to infuse a little bit of Gal Gadot in my performance for Lilandra, because, frankly, the level of blasé, I think, is apt. Charles has little time to reflect on this relationship, however, as he is soon called by Val Cooper to announce that the X-Men in Colorado have been attacked by Colonel Tomko, and when Charles tries to reach them, all he gets is static.

Chapman 10:50

We are thrust into that battlefield as Bishop begins to raise and charge his rifle. Before he can fire, however, Bobby manages to freeze the end of his rifle and forces him to drop it. Bishop calls back, screaming, Are you out of your mind? We've got to get in there, don't you see? The military is probably a part of it themselves, you idiot. Not too paranoid, eh, Bish? Iceman mocked, but Bishop's words stung nonetheless. It was the great burden of Bobby's life that he rarely was sure of his actions. He didn't know for certain that Bishop was wrong, only that firing first and asking questions later wasn't the way the X-Men did business. While I am wont to agree with Bishop in his distrust of the military in general, the fact that this whole shoot first, ask questions later doctrine comes from a future cop is problematic at best. In the midst of this team argument, Colonel Tomko calls out and gives the X-Men a five count to surrender. Storm uses this five count to rally her team in an extremely badass mannerism, essentially quipping between his callouts and gathering her forces of wild cards into the match. Once Colonel Tomko hits one, all hell breaks loose, and fighting starts off between the US Army and the X-Men.

Chapman 12:02

As we saw earlier, Bobby will be our focal character for this scene, and we learn that, quote, Iceman wasn't ready. They'd faced worst odds and come out on top. He had been training for years, honing his skills on this, and three other teams over the years, perfecting the use of his powers. Still, he was just Bobby, the baby of the group, though no longer the youngest X-Men. This is, of course, a re-emphasis of what we talked about a little while ago, with the fact that Bobby's internal life, especially his romantic life, and living in the closet, leads to an infantilization extending into his potential and his power set. It's not just the ways that he treats himself or the ways that he allows himself to be treated by others, but it's also even the very concept that he could possibly extend out of that that is so restricted from him. We see this element, like I said, with the Emma Body Swap, but it's also an element that we see in the 90s-era Rogue and Bobby road trip to some degree. Not specifically the baby role that he puts himself in that case, but more the inability to confront masculinity in a way that he would prefer.

Chapman 13:07

To contrast this, we see that Bishop, quote, on the other hand, simply walked arrogantly into the midst of the troops and dealt with them hand to hand. He staggered under the impact of their plasma blasts, but he kept moving. I love this concept of throwing the US military a whole bunch of plasma weapons so that you can really lean into the badassery of Bishop, where he is simply just taking bullets left and right. I was just recently on the Solving for X-Men podcast, like I talked about, and they similarly use Bishop in that because of the future post-apocalyptic nature of his timeline. He's able to show Charles a way where he's almost Dragon Ball Z style throwing the energy blasts that he catches from the Sentinels, and he's doing a very similar style of combat here.

Chapman 13:52

In the midst of this moment, one of the officers pulls out a traditional pistol and points it towards Lucas's head, but Bobby manages to catch this from across the battlefield and freezes the entire officer's arm in a block of ice. From there he calls out, Back off, Jarheads! We're on your side! It began as a mental screen, but it built in his chest, adrenaline pumping until it burst from his mouth like a savage war cry. The air around them became almost unbreathable as the Iceman ripped every ounce of moisture from it. This is a frequent pattern that we're seeing in the story, where characters are channeling their anger and channeling their rage into specific actions in order to accomplish goals. I want everyone to pay attention to who succeeds in those goals and who does not, and especially the target of that ire of each of these characters. In this moment, we're seeing Bobby's anger come forth at an extremely hyper-masculine target in the US military, and how he's able to channel that anger and channel that frustration at their lack of understanding, at their lack of adjusting methodology to the situation and to try to work through common ground.

Chapman 15:01

But Colonel Tomko is having none of it. He's given the opportunity to surrender when he's lifted above his battle tank by the beast, but instead chose to scream out, saying, Listen closely, troops, none of these muties leave here alive. This is our first instance in our show, at this point, of having the mutie as slur element of X-Men present in our reading. This is a tricky conversation topic, because anytime you are equating a real-life slur that you can't publish in comics to a faux slur that you can, obviously there are some pretty intense differences there, culturally as well as how that word functions. I think it's when you try to overanalyze either within the text or as a fan the similarities and the differences between that word and an actual slur, I think you'll see very quickly that it falls flat, but I don't think that negates the usefulness within a story context. As we've talked about, comics is a medium that traffics in stereotypes, and its usefulness mainly lives in that teaching device space.

Chapman 16:07

As the X-Men begin to thin out the battle, we get a moment where Bobby thinks about how, quote, it would have gone a lot easier if they weren't so concerned with the health of their opponents. But that was all part of wearing the white hats. As opposed to these guys, who more often than not wore grey ones. We get a continuation of this more radical Bobby and his ideas towards the military, which I did not expect at first until I realized that this team consists of him, Storm, Wolverine, Beast, and Bishop, which does make me realize that he is on the more radical end of relationships to the military despite his centrist Long Island upbringing. But with less and less collateral damage on the field, the US Army positions the plasma tank to take out the X-Men, at which point Bobby whispers, We're in serious ca-ca. Just in case you thought that Introspective Bobby had replaced 90s Bobby. Bishop calmly walks over to square up with the tank, and we do have a moment that, quote, reminded Bobby of the unforgettable confrontation between a tank and a student in China's Tiananmen Square, with one major difference. I was reminded in this moment of a tweet from a few years ago that likened Americans' responses to seeing fascism within their country as simply looking at it and going, huh, what is this? China? Mostly as a means of deflecting from our own society, as well as pivoting towards the current scapegoat, or boogeyman. That to me would also be a continuation of that centrist Bobby idea, which can then double as a way to get some of these ideas past editorial, without looking as if you're coming down on one side of the aisle harder than the other.

Chapman 17:41

Leonardi's picture for chapter 8 depicts Bishop, rifle in hand, as he walks in front of the tank, in the midst of the battle. After charging up with a blast from it, Bishop manages to take out the tank in one fiery explosion, and the rest of the army is routed. In the aftermath, the team begins to congratulate Bobby as Logan names him the evident MVP of the fight. Bobby, quote, was glad to be in his Iceman form at the moment. If he'd been pure flesh and blood, his friends would have seen him blush. If there are any Bobby Logan shippers out there, here's your moment. I also think there's a moment here where, especially if you are someone with the headcanon of a trans Wolverine, that the recognition of his of his righteous anger against the hyper-masculine institution that we talked about with the military, is something that he recognizes a struggle with, especially as someone who has also been victimized by that same institution. But he's also one to cut off the cheering, saying, Okay, now we're getting downright mushy. The kid was good, but let's not get carried away with ourselves. The day ain't over yet. As the team patches their wounds and marches towards the force field, Magneto has set upon the base. Bobby thinks about how he didn't feel all that triumphant, now that he thought of it. After all, as self-defeating as his particular neurotic tendencies were, he was convinced that his friends wouldn't have been so complimentary if they didn't expect less from him to begin with. But then, just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out of get you. Bobby here is self-sabotaging back into that same role, back into that same pattern we've seen, even if he's covering it with humor for himself. But he also reflects on the fact that Bishop gave him compliments, and he thinks, quote, Bishop had no vested interest in coddling Bobby Drake. Quite the opposite. He found every opportunity to point out weaknesses, both in the team and in individuals. That was his way to make the X-Men function better. But it wasn't a really effective way to make friends. Bishop had thanked him, complimented him. Bishop didn't care about him except in the context of his field performance. Hence, Bishop meant what he said. Though he'd known Hank and Storm and Wolverine for a long time, Iceman began to feel a little better about himself because of Bishop's words. Maybe that's what it took, he thought. Someone with no motivation.

Chapman 19:49

I talked previously about how one of the characters that really helped me understand Bishop and unlock him as a character was Captain Holt from Booklet 9-9, in the way that he and also Gladiator in the story function as sort of model minorities within their position, as well as people who have been disillusioned by their achievement of the top, though they handle it in vastly different ways, as we'll see. But to me, this was the moment where I saw the autistic side that a lot of people see in Captain Holt. I think a lot of that is because, like I talked about earlier, Bishop is very much subsumed by his PTSD. But I think people often overlook that, and even myself did in this case, that the symptoms of PTSD and the symptoms of autism show a lot of overlap in terms of how they present. And if you pair that concept with the changes that we see in Bishop, right around the time with Bishop the Last X-Men, and especially around the time where the Twelve happens, and he shunted back and forth rapidly by Apocalypse for a plan that Apocalypse had in place thousands of years before, I think you kind of see his brain break a bit, and you see him go, okay, all of the institutions and the concepts of the sanctity of time and my journey into the past have kind of gone out the window at this point, and I realize that time is just gonna throw me back and forth because. Which then opens him up for new opportunities in District X and in later the Hope debacle to have those different hyperfocuses on other tasks and other objectives for himself.

Chapman 21:14

The team finally make it across the clearing to the face of this force field, and on Storm's orders, Bishop attempts to siphon enough energy for them to create a gateway and get inside. Bobby remarks how, in terms of commands, quote, it was different with Wolverine and Bishop, though. They didn't just do what needed to be done, they did it without batting an eyelash. Bishop had no idea what effect the force field might have on him, but if it meant the success of the mission, he would try to siphon its energies, even if it might fry him on the spot. In a chapter that has had so many condemnations of the military outright, I think this is one that, upon reflection, acts a bit more subtle, but is just as biting. The conditioning that the two characters he describes going through, Wolverine and Bishop, is military conditioning. It is Either through the Weapon X program, through his time in multiple militaries, or in Bishop's case, his time in the XSE, it is the thing that has broken them down into tools to be used by their superiors, which certainly makes them useful soldiers. But I think it definitely puts a strain on the ways that we have to essentially dehumanize people in order for them to achieve these heroic acts and these sacrifices. And it's not something that I think is necessary for those sacrifices to be made or to push someone to that limit. But I think it's something that is a shortcut for these large institutions to have on hand a staff that is fully devoted to the cause.

Chapman 22:43

However, in this moment, Bishop is successful and they manage to make their way past the force field. On the opposite side of the second clearing, they must cross, the X-Men spy a group of figures in red and purple outfits. Amelia Vote calls out, Welcome, X-Men! And farewell. Storm asks for the bright lady to preserve the team, and questions what Magneto would want with sentinels. To which Logan replies, Darlin, I'd say it's high time we found out. Both teams begin to charge at each other, and Iceman thinks how, quote, perhaps he had performed well earlier, as his friends had insisted. But now, it moved up to the big leagues. If he struck out now, he was dead. And thus ends Chapter 8.

Chapter 9

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Chapter 9 begins as the battle on Hala kicks off in the marketplace. Rogue and Warren take to the skies against Gladiator and Starbolt, respectively, while the rest of the team fights on the ground. Jean quickly realizes that they were discovered due to Oracle's telepathy, and sets out to confront her. Scott begins helping Kree civilians, which leaves Gambit to face off against Warstar, aka Benny and Cecil. We see this moment depicted by Ron Lim as Remy leaps forward, cards flying in the air, just after his bo staff has stricken the larger Bunny in the dome. Once Remy discovers that Warstar is actually a bionic creature, rather than a living sentient, he infuses one of Cecil's legs with kinetic energy and causes the lower half of him to explode. B'Nee is obviously connected through a symbiotic link, and the two of them were taken out for the moment. Gambit does offer them a "Sorry 'bout dis mes ami, it don't seem like a hearts in this fight, but there's no other way. But as B'Nee calls out here, he lets off one final Oh that's just wonderful before running off.

Chapman 24:30

In a small shack nearby, Scott sets the leg of a little girl after it's been broken in the shuffle. He catches up with Jean, and the two realize that they have to take out Oracle completely before they can make their escape. They're interrupted by Imperial Guard member Titan, who quickly grows multiple stories in height in order to cut them off. He soon picks up Cyclops and begins to choke the life out of him before Jean escapes. In the air, Rogue squares off against Gladiator, trading blow for blow, until she realizes that by taking Starbolt out of the fight, she can free up Archangel to help her. She maneuvers Gladiator over to the fight near Angel and calls out for him to, quote, take out the big guy with your wing knives! before slamming into Starbolt. She then, quote, watched, as Archangel's wings curled up behind him, reacting to her words seemingly before Warren could consciously command them. So for folks at home, we are at the point where the wings are showing their own sort of sentience. It seems to phase out towards the end of the 90s, and maybe the whole time it's just psychosomatic from Warren, but it's definitely going to come up a lot in this run.

Chapman 25:30

Warren's flechettes from his wings are able to stun Gladiator for some amount of time, and during that scuffle, Rogue manages to grab, hold of Starbolt, and knock him out with her absorption powers. Rogue then, quote, let go of Starbolt. She hadn't siphoned all his power, and she knew from his memories that the fall wouldn't do him too much harm. So fuck Starbolt, I guess. With his powers and Warren's wing knives, the two of them then attack Titan, causing him to drop Cyclops, all in time for Gladiator to recover and attack once more. As he watches Rogue get pummeled by Gladiator from the ground below, Remy tries to rally Warren to get him up there. Saying that he'd only slow him down though, Warren attempts to fly into the scuffle, but not before Titan plucks him from the air. Gambit then attempts to taunt Gladiator down to the ground, but Scott stops him, ordering Gambit to find Jean and Raza and make a tactical retreat. With only minimal pushback from the Cajun, Cyclops then begins to take on Warstar, who is also recovered, as well as the incoming Titan.

Chapman 26:28

As Gambit looked back, he saw, quote, Cyclops let loose with a wide-beamed blast of red glowing energy that was so powerful it knocked Titan off his feet and forced him to let Archangel go. Remy winced, thinking about the creed that might be trapped when his enormous body fell on already weakened structures. I am having trouble following Scott's approach to collateral damage in this fight, where he is stopping to help civilians, but then at the same time dropping a three-story man onto them. Warren begins the retreat alongside Gambit and Raza, and they finally stumble upon Jean, who's engaged in battle with Oracle. We see that, quote, Jean Grey had seemed to struggle with Oracle, but as Gambit, Raza, and Archangel approached, a look of desperation left her face. She raised her hands in a commanding gesture. Oracle cried out in pain, clutched her head, and crumbled to the ground. The Shi'ar woman groaned in pain, and moved slowly trying to rise. Jean ignored her and turned to face the other X-Men. Lest we forget, Jean does have all of the Phoenix memories, so a little revenge here for the blue area of the moon fight is not unsurprising.

Chapman 27:28

At this point, being informed of the tactical retreat, Jean starts to put together that Cyclops is not going to be retreating with the rest of the team. Of course, being left behind against an entire five-member squad of Imperial Guard, including Gladiator the Praetor, means that Scott's chances of survival in the fight are slim to none. As Remy tries to prep her for this reality, we see that he, quote, studied Jean's face. She seemed colder than he'd ever known her, hardened the bleak reality of the situation. As he watched her, Jean's brow furrowed, and she bit her lip. It was a look Gambit had seen on the faces of too many people, too many women. It was a look of regret. Jean didn't respond, nor did she look his way. But even in profile, Gambit could see the fear in her eyes. The extent to which Jean has a dilemma about this initially rubbed me the wrong way until I realized that Jean is always going to trust herself more than she trusts Scott, and therefore she is going to fear for him more because a lot of people focus in on Apocalypse's effect on Scott due to the possession and him leaving for the search for Cyclops moment towards the end of the 90s as a really key turning point in their relationship. But you also can't underestimate the effect that that would have on Jean in terms of her level of concern for Scott, the ways in which she thinks he could handle things. When Jean comes back post-Phoenix in the beginning of X Factor, she gets the advantage of having come from Jamaica Bay, having not been a part of that entity, and so the actual possession aspect of the Dark Phoenix saga is somewhat negated upon her re-entry into the story. Whereas Cyclops is plagued by these thoughts of apocalypse, he's plagued by the impact that having him inside of his brain had on his psyche. And so it doesn't surprise me that an element of almost superiority begins to creep into Jean in those years, and that superiority then leads her to rekindle that connection to the Phoenix Force, and to strive for that power again because she realizes she has to become the more powerful one. She has to be the rock of the relationship.

Chapman 29:30

At this point, she accepts the plan that has been set out before her and gets a mental fix on Rogue in order for them to fully retreat without Scott. And in that final stand moment we see that, quote, the air was humming with the energy of Scott's optic blasts, and Gladiator's superheated vision. They all turned toward the spot where Cyclops was making a stand against the Imperial Guard, completely alone. Warstar had completed its repairs and was approaching from behind. A newly recovered Starbolt and the infuriated Gladiator were blasting him from the sky. Titan was holding back for the moment, but was just looking for an opportunity to snatch Cyclops up again. Starbolt fired a solid ball of energy, which Cyclops easily dispersed with one of his own optic blasts, but the barrage from Starbolt and Gladiator together was too much for him. While he was deflecting another attack from Starbolt, a blast from Gladiator's heat vision knocked him down. In an eye blink, Gladiator stood on the ground in front of him. The guardsmen hit Cyclops hard enough to leave him unconscious in the dust. The waiting Titan finally scooped their leader off the ground. And despite some arguing between the X-Men watching, they end up evacuating into the tunnels with Kam-Lor. And so ends Chapter 9.

Chapter 10

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Chapter 10, our final chapter for this episode, begins with Gladiator and the rest of the Imperial Guard entering into Deathbird's aerie. She heavily chastises the group for not capturing all of the X-Men, and while Gladiator attempts to defend their honor, Starbolt eventually pops off with an insult. Deathbird begins to threaten the Imperial Guard with charges of treason, but Gladiator calls her Bluff, knowing that his title as Praetor and his connection to Lilandra outweighs any freedom Deathbird may have as Viceroy. While she certainly has the power to accuse them of anything, the actual power of execution lies with her sister, which Gladiator reminds Deathbird of. Throughout their flexing of power, we learn that Cyclops has been awake, feigning unconsciousness, but that, quote, with his arms bound and his optic blasts reined in, he couldn't have hoped to defeat one of them, never mind all five of the Imperial Guard, even if he wanted to, which he didn't. What he wanted was simply to see his father. And see him he soon shall.

Chapman 31:32

As Deathbird soon releases the Imperial Guard, and demands that Gladiator take Cyclops down to the prison. It's taken a few meetings of Scott and Corsair, but I always love this moment that we get, especially mid-90s and onwards, where every time they connect one another, Scott has a least small part of himself that can't help but revert back to his twelve-year-old self falling out of the plane. Once they arrive at the cell, we learn that, quote, but as long as Scott lived, he would not believe it was as big a shock as finding his father alive, and in the arms of a feline alien warrior. Maybe he just didn't like cats. Maybe it was the spectre of his childhood, the memory of his mother. Whatever it was, Cyclops and Hepziba had never been able to really connect. You do have to cut him a bit of slack, a new stepmom is already hard, and whenever that new stepmom is an alien, I'm sure that makes it a bit harder. Although I do think comparing her to cats on Earth is probably not the best way to go about this, my guy. And while Scott is extremely happy to see his father, as we already stated, Corsair is a little less happy to see his son in the scenario, as we learn with the quotes I'm gonna kill Had and Raza when we get out of here. Nice to see you too, Dad, Scott says, before turning to Hepziba Mademoiselle. Before he leaves the captives alone to reconnect, Gladiator does lean in and let Scott know that, quote, There is little evidence against you. The others will still die, but if the Majestrix comes to Hala, she may find a diplomatic way to save you. If not, you'll be executed in the morning. I'll try to see that it is as swift as possible. Once the room is clear, Corsair begins introductions, saying, Scott, this is Candide. I'm sure you heard a lot about her from the other Starjammers, perhaps from the Kree themselves. You never told me you had a son, Candide says. When you and I were working the trade passages together, I thought my whole family was dead. Obviously I learned otherwise. It's a real blow to the ego to be forced to acknowledge your age, but it's worth it when your son has become such an honorable, formidable man. Scott replies with a Gee, thanks, Dad. But you know, I'd be more flattered if you said such nice things about me when we weren't about to be killed. When we get out of here, I really am going to knock some sense into Raza and Ch'od for bringing the X-Men into this. I hate for you to be put in jeopardy on my account. And finally, Hepziba chimes in with a You or I would have done the same, as would any of the X-Men. I do appreciate the concern, Dad. But I can take care of myself, thank you. As we can now see by how well you managed to get yourself captured. And so quickly, too. I imagine it's some kind of record. Hey, don't worry. Scotty's the tactician in the family. I'm sure he's got a plan to get us all out of here. You do have a plan, don't you, Scott? And throughout the chapter, it has been revealed that Scott's plan was mostly to see his father. And the art for our final chapter today is of Scott and Corsair bound to the wall of Deathbird's prison with some tense looks on their faces.

Closing Statements

Chapman 34:27

And that ends today's episode of SubteXtMen. The Colorado team is about to face off against the Acolytes. The Hala team is fully split up and quite honestly worst for wear, although allies are supposedly on the way. Scott is captured, Charles is calling people, Val Cooper is presumably still being a boss bitch up in Washington, DC, and to find out more, you'll either have to read the book yourself or tune in next week. Or both. Sorry for the delay on this episode. As I said in my Instagram post, we had some AC troubles here over at SubteXtMen HQ. But now that it's all been sorted out, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming. We should have two more episodes of solo coverage on this here book before we end it all off with a book club. Thank you for joining me for another episode, and we'll see you next time.

End Credits

Chapman 35:14

Thank you for listening to another episode of the SubteXtMen Podcast. I'm your host and producer, Chapman Blake, with graphic design by Seth Christian Martel. You can connect to the podcast on social media @ SubteXtMen Podcast. Don't forget to rate and review wherever you're listening. If you'd like to read along with the show, be sure to utilize your local library, book exchange, or use code scope first

Closing Theme

Chapman 35:39

and foremost.