X-Calibre #3

We get a quick shot of Callisto's dead body floating in the water before we cut to Mystique doting on her son.  She shows the same care for him here that she's known to show Rogue in the main universe, and it's a striking difference from the way she tends to feel about him in the main reality.


The mother and son are being tailed by Damask and Dead Man Wade.  Mystique and Nightcrawler bicker with each other a bit while they make their way to the passage that leads to Avalon.  Nightcrawler confronts his mother about the rumors that she robs the refugees blind before leading them here.  She tries to justify it, but he's not interested.  He says that must be why she won't enter Avalon, because she's not worthy.  She yells at him to shut up, and says that some people simply don't deserve peace, and that it is not her fault.

Regardless, Kurt tells her she has to come with him.  They meet Cain at the gates and he guides them the rest of the way.  He talks about how he used to be an awful person, and while he walked away from that life, he's still haunted by the people he killed.  He guides them to Destiny, and they find her with her adopted son, Doug Ramsey (aka Cypher).

Unfortunately, Damask and Wade have also made it to Avalon.  They are both surprised to find how lush, green, and beautiful this place is.  But while Damask sees this as a source of hope, a reason to not be the awful person she has been up until now, Wade just wants to destroy it all.

Raven tells Destiny all about Magneto's plan, but Destiny is hesitant to leave because she fears her departure could bring destruction to Avalon.  But they don't have to wait that long, because Wade is already attacking.  He launches a grenade that goes off in the middle of where they are standing.  Kurt begs Cain to join the fight, but he says he won't.  Kurt pleads further, telling him that everyone he cares about will burn, and apparently the stress of the decision is enough to make Cain have an aneurism.  He falls over suddenly and whispers "Charles" before he dies.

Lucky for our heroes, Raven snuck a whole lot of firepower in with them, so the fight isn't over yet.  Also to their advantage, Damask turns on Wade, because she's suddenly found something worth fighting for.  Her defection is enough to distract Wade for Kurt to teleport in, grab his head, and then teleport away.  Apparently even Wade can't heal from that.  With Switchback also on their side, this team is going to escort Destiny out of Avalon to try to right the timeline and take down Apocalypse.

While this issue is pretty dialogue heavy, there's also a lot of action going on, so there's a pretty good balance here.  The characters are so different from their mainstream counterparts, but for the most part the way they are acting makes sense given the circumstances.  It's also nice to see an almost entirely female team, with Nightcrawler being the only exception to that.