X-Men Vol. 2 #094

Can Rogue withstand the raging fury of Sunfire, when he appears looking for vengeance?

Hidden Lives, Part 2 of 2: Pandora’s Box

Sunfire attacks Rogue with the full effect of his powers at the apartment of Mystique’s supermodel alter-ego, believing her to be Mystique in disguise. Rogue tries to evade him at first but – after being provoked – happily takes out her recent frustrations on Sunfire.

Rogue easily defeats Sunfire, and he surrenders rather than have her prove that she isn’t Mystique by absorbing his powers. He reveals that he was hunting Mystique because a metamorph had infiltrated Yakiba’s operation and killed a quartet of their agents.

Sunfire cuts short his explanation, having noticed that they are being surveilled from across the river. In their hidden base, Mesmero curses Mastermind, saying his “arrogant plans and schemes to pit potential enemy factions against each other” will lead to their master killing them both!

Kitty peruses the memorabilia in Mystique’s safehouse, eager to find embarrassing photos of a young Rogue. Instead, she finds a cryptic message on the back of a picture frame, CAT SHADOW REACH IN D. Kitty phases her hand into the back of the frame and withdraws Destiny’s journal. It’s full of rambling text – a jumble of words and drawings, with cryptic phrases like “Death kills the one who is become Death” and “The Twelve will gather in the darkest hour.”

Elsewhere in Manhattan, Nightcrawler checks the perimeter of Lorna’s apartment twice, but can locate no hidden assailants. Kurt is sure her instincts are correct, but he’s less convinced by her claims that Havok is still alive. “He has a that weird symbiotic relationship with The Living Monolith, remember? … If Alex were really dead,” she reasons, “the Monolith would live again.”

Rogue and Sunfire whiz across the river and burst into their enemies’ bunker. They’re puzzled to find Mesmero and a presumed-dead Mastermind. Sunfire exposes them as shapeshifers as a squad of armored AIM troops burst into the room. Mesmero berates Mastermind for endangering “the boy,” guns him down as he tries to flee, and authorizes the base to self-destruct.

Rogue and Sunfire are blown free by the blast, safe due to their respective invulnerabilites. However, everyone and everything else seem to be obliterated. Rogue surmises the mission of their adversaries intersected with Mystique by pure chance, and saw her as a convenient way to put Sunfire off their trail.

Having stayed up through the night with a distressed Polaris, Kurt engages his image inducer and leaves at dawn. Lorna magnetically seals her apartment and opens a trunk to reveal Havok’s costume – it’s headpiece glowing and alive. From across the street, a shadowy figure spies on her.

Rogue, Kitty, and a veiled Mystique walk through Central Park the next morning. Rogue recaps her adventure with Sunfire to Mystique, who thanks Rogue and disappears into the crowd of morning joggers. With Mystique gone, Kitty reveals Destiny’s diary to Rogue.