Issue Description

Continued from X-Force #17. Beast completes surgery on Professor X to remove Stryfe's bullet. Moira tells Beast she broke Stryfe's code in the T-O virus but it only says "You are smart but I am smarter" over and over. Apocalypse, detained in the X-Mansion, suggests that he can save Xavier and Archangel vouches for him.

Meanwhile, Stryfe's torture of Cyclops and Jean Grey continues. He presents them with an infant and tells them they if they destroy the child, they will destroy him as well. To Stryfe's amazement, they choose to rescue the child.

Cable uses the Professor to find Stryfe on Earth and comes to the conclusion that he's not on the planet. Story continues in X-Factor #86.

Synopsis

Having escaped their cell, Cyclops and Jean Grey find themselves cornered by a select few of Stryfe's Dark Riders (he stole them from Apocalypse in an earlier issue). Cyclops' visor has been removed and Jean seems out cold. It's a well known fact that Cyclops can't control his plasma blasts without his visor so the Dark Riders advance with no fear. Unfortunately for them, Jean was only faking; her psychic rapport with Cyclops allows her to control his eye beams and he easily blasts the Dark Riders out of the way. He and Jean move on and run into a large room that appears to be a dead end; they are on a balcony in a room that has a huge drop-off with another balcony across the chasm. To make matters more interesting, Mainframe shows up to engage them. Cyclops holds him off while Jean forms a teke-rope. They kiss as they swing across to the other balcony to continue their escape.

Stryfe watches Cyclops and Jean Grey escape. He consoles Zero. He explains that the two mutant captives are far too predictable and he will soon have them trapped and destroyed by his deceptions.

At Professor Xavier's mansion, Beast has successfully removed the slug from Xavier's head. Sadly, this doesn't halt the progress of the techno-organic virus. Moira tells Beast and Polaris that she has finally unlocked the binary code that accompanied the virus. She sounds grave and with good reason. She plays the message: Stryfe appears on the screen and taunts, "You're smart but I'm smarter" over and over. The Beast recognizes the childlike quality to the message. He then hopes that Cable, Wolverine, and Bishop are getting closer to discovering where Stryfe could be. Polaris doubts it when she reflects on each person's propensity for team playing.

On Graymalkin, Bishop and Wolverine have Professor continually playback the assassination attempt and any other relevant factor. The men recap the events, including the framing of Cable, Mr. Sinister's involvement, and the capture of X-Force. Bishop concludes that things must be plainer than they appear. He has Professor group the main pieces to run a diagnostic on what they all have in common. Grouped together are Stryfe, Apocalypse, Cyclops, and Jean Grey. Bishop then adds Cable to the mix.

As Cyclops and Jean Grey continue trying to find a way to escape, they stumble upon a baby hooked to the complex.

At the X-Mansion, Apocalypse awakens from a healing sleep. It seems that this one wasn't voluntary, as he had passed out just after offering to help the X-Men. Storm asks why they should trust him. Surprisingly enough, Archangel sticks up for his former master. He states that Apocalypse is probably the only person who knows more about the techno-organic virus and would probably be the only one who could save Xavier. The X-Men walk Apocalypse to Xavier's room and Apocalypse announces his awe at Archangel for not killing him then and there. Archangel states that he won't kill Apocalypse just because it is convenient - he wants to do it on his own terms. His time, his place. Apocalypse grins.

Back on Graymalkin, Bishop relates how mutants would hide from the Nimrods in his time node - they'd simply go where they were least expected to be, with regular humans. Following the analogy, Stryfe could be hiding among his own enemies. The X-Mansion is invalid because Cerebro would have picked him up, as would Professor is Stryfe were somehow hiding on Graymalkin. Professor does a scan of some of the old haunts of Apocalypse and gets nothing.

Jean looks down at the baby and can't believe how close the infant looks to the son of Cyclops, Nathan. (Cyclops had had to send him to the future to be cured of the techno-organic virus Apocalypse had inflicted him with.) Cyclops is sure that this baby is a ploy, a fake, but Jean is able to sense a thought pattern within the child. He is alive. Stryfe appears by hologram and informs the two that the baby is connected to the life support of the base in which Stryfe is living. Destroy the baby, he says, and Stryfe is also destroyed. He gives them thirty seconds to decide. Cyclops objects to such a notion. Within his observatory, Stryfe tells Zero that Cyclops will have no problem deciding to destroy the child, as he's already made this type of decision once in his life. Contrary to these thoughts, however, Cyclops tries to find a way to save the child. Simply, he does not have enough time. Jean concedes that they must give themselves up to save the life of the child. This is not an option for Stryfe and he sends in the Dark Riders. He shouts that Cyclops and Jean Grey must kill the child in order to save themselves. The Stryfe's horror, Cyclops and Jean refuse to the kill the child. They fight to protect the baby. Every thought he'd had about Cyclops and Jean seems to be a lie and Stryfe doesn't know how to process this new wrinkle in his plan. Cyclops and Jean jump from the platform the baby and Dark Riders are on in hopes of drawing the enemies after them. As they fall, the baby reverts to the techno-organic structure it once was; the life Jean sensed was merely Stryfe's thoughts being channeled through the baby. As they fall, Cyclops blasts a hole into the wall and Jean attempts to mentally move them through the hole. This effort is pointless, however, as they are easily sucked right out.

At that moment, both the parties of Cable and Cyclops realize where Stryfe has been hiding. Wolverine explains that Stryfe is in the last hideout Apocalypse had. Cyclops and Jean have just been sucked out onto the surface of the moon.

The Uncanny X-Men (1981)

Publisher

Marvel

Volume Description

This is a continuation of Stan Lee's and Jack Kirby's original The X-Men (Vol. 1). Beginning with issue #114 the descriptive "Uncanny" was added to the cover treatment but it wasn't until issue #142 that the volume's official name was permanently changed to Uncanny X-Men.

The title has had many creative influences over the years but Chris Claremont was probably the force that drove the title through many it its historic changes, truly bringing it from "the world strangest teens" into their new status a team of mutants fight in a "world that fears and hates them". During his legendary 15 year run he gave us character and stories such as Phoenix/Dark Phoenix, the Hellfire Club, the New Mutants, X-Factor, the Mutant Massacre, Inferno and Jubilee and numerous other historic heroes and events. This epic run ended after editorial disputes in 1991.

For the Uncanny X-Men Post-Schism, see Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2).

Collected EditionsIssues #142-143 are collected in X-Men: Days of the Future PastUncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume 3 (#154-175)Issues #168-176 are collected in From the AshesIssues #199-209 are collected in GhostsIssues #210-213 are collected in Mutant MassacreIssues #225-227 are collected in Fall of the MutantsX-Men: Inferno Prologue (#228-238)Issues #239-243 are collected in InfernoX-Men: Inferno Volume 1 (#239-240)Issues #248 and 256-258 are collected in X-Men Visionaries: Jim LeeIssues #265-267 are collected in Gambit ClassicIssues #268-269 are collected in X-Men Visionaries: Jim LeeIssues #270-272 are collected in X-Tinction AgendaX-Tinction Agenda: Warzones! (#270)Issues #273-277 are collected in Crossroads and in X-Men Visionaries: Jim LeeIssues # 281-293 are collected in Bishop's CrossingIssues #294-297 are collected in X-Cutioner's Song (Hardcover)Issue #298-305 are collected in Fatal Attractions (Hardcover)Issues #308-310 are collected in X-Men: The Wedding of Cyclops and Phoenix #1 - TPBIssues #316-318 are collected in Generation XIssues #320-321 are collected in LegionquestIssues #322-326 are collected in X-Men: Road To Onslaught #1 - Volume 1Issues #327-328 are collected in X-Men: Road To Onslaught #2 - Volume 2Issues #329-332 are collected in X-Men: Road To Onslaught #3 - Volume 3Issues #334-335 are collected in The Complete Onslaught Epic, Book 1X-Men: Operation Zero Tolerance (#346)X-Men: The Hunt For Professor X (#360-365)Deathlok: Rage Against the Machine (#371)Issues #372-375 are collected in X-Men: The ShatteringIssues #376-377 are collected in X-Men Vs. Apocalypse: The TwelveIssue #378 is collected in X-Men vs. Apocalypse: Ages of ApocalypseIssues #379-380 are collected in X-Men: Powerless!Issues #388-390 are collected in X-Men: Dream's EndIssues #391-393 are collected in X-Men: Eve of DestructionIssues #394-409 are collected in X-Men: X-CorpsIssues #410-415 are collected in Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1: HopeIssues #416-420 are collected in Uncanny X-Men Vol. 2: Dominant SpeciesIssues #421-427 are collected in Uncanny X-Men Vol. 3: Holy WarIssues #428-436 are collected in Uncanny X-Men Vol. 4: The DracoIssues #437-441 are collected in Uncanny X-Men Vol. 5: She Lies with AngelsIssues #442-443 are collected in Uncanny X-Men Vol. 6: Bright New MourningIssues #444-449 are collected in Uncanny X-Men - The New Age: The End of HistoryIssues #450-454 are collected in Uncanny X-Men - The New Age: The Cruelest CutIssues #455-461 are collected in Uncanny X-Men - The New Age: On IceIssues #466-471 are collected in Uncanny X-Men - The New Age: End of GreysIssues #472-474 are collected in Uncanny X-Men - The New Age: First FoursakenIssues #475-486 are collected in Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar EmpireIssues #487-491 are collected in Uncanny X-men: ExtremistsIssues #492-494 are collected in X-Men: Messiah CompleXIssues #495-499 are collected in Uncanny X-Men: Divided We StandIssues #500-503 are collected in Uncanny X-Men: Manifest DestinyIssues #504-507 are collected in Uncanny X-Men: LovelornIssues #508-512 are collected in Uncanny X-Men: SisterhoodIssues #513-514 are collected in Avengers/X-Men: UtopiaIssues #515-522 are collected in X-Men: Nation XIssues #523-525 are collected in X-Men: Second ComingIssues #526-529 are collected in Uncanny X-Men: The Birth of Generation HopeIssues #530-534 are collected in Uncanny X-Men: QuarantineIssues #535-539 are collected in Uncanny X-Men: Breaking PointIssues #540-544 are collected in Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Men

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