Alt 928, Part 5: X-Men 2099 #14-21

Grade: C-

Xi'an Chi Xan formed the X-Men only to leave them 13 issues later. The team decides to stay together despite his departure, but that seems to be in name only. This post is really a collection of several different story threads about the X-Men (and former X-Men) that weave through each of the issues. It isn't team book, and the stories are actually a bit prosaic. I get a kick out of Halloween Jack's antics, but it isn't enough to recommend the issues in this post. Samantha thought the stories were a little confusing without the team atmosphere that she liked in earlier issues.

[2-Stars] 14 - "All the Glitters" Fitzgerald and La Lunática return to Zhao's ranch with the news that Xi'an Chi Xan left the X-Men to join the Theatre of Pain. Fitzgerald will lead the team, and they will take down the Theatre. Freakshow is holding up in Keewazi Nation where Mama Hurricane is good friends with Dr. Louise Wingfoot. Rosa's prenatal examine reveals that her baby is a boy. She also learns that the baby's father is coming to take their child. He is a ruthless corporate gun for hire called Glitterspike with a violent streak.

[2-Stars] 15 - "Shadows And Light" Glitterspike kidnaps Rosa to take care of her and their child. She manages to escape and finds shelter in a cave. Metalhead, Dr. Wingfoot and Mama Hurricane track Rosa down in the cave just as she finds a strange alien spacecraft and a monster Dr. Wingfoot calls the Shadow Dancer. Their investigation is cut short when the angry Glitterspike reaches the cave.

[3-Stars] 16 - "Scary Monsters" Loki is still in Las Vegas drawing the unwanted attention of the Synge Casino's enforcers -- the Rat Pack. He captured and presented to Desdemona who tortures him in revenge. The painful process interacts with his nanotechnology changing him into Halloween Jack, and he needs the X-Men help.

[3-Stars] 17 - "Strange Daze" Meanstreak and Halloween Jack return to Las Vegas to take over Desdemona Synge's casino. Krystalin travels to Oakland to attend the funeral of her father. Her brother, Zak, now leads the city's street protectors, the Panthers (trained in Wakandan tradition) and tries to convince her to stand by his side. She declines during a dinner that ends in his abduction by the Free Radicals.

[2-Stars] 18 - "Free Radical Chic" With help from some of locals, Krystalin finds the Free Radicals. She is unable to take them on, but they offer her an opportunity to free her brother. They will let him go if she finds a way to release their imprisoned leader, Billy the Kid, from Panther custody. Meanwhile, Xi'an and the Theatre of Pain steal the remains of Master Zhao and the Chosen (still cryogenically stored). In Las Vegas, Halloween Jack and Meanstreak get much closer to taking over the the city as they prepare the volatile and untested Virtual Unreality machine. Desdemona Synge prepares to take the offensive.

[2-Stars] 19 - "Co-Dependent Behavior" Shakti, Fitzgerald and La Lunática get out of their new home just in time before it explodes thanks to a bomb planted by Xi'an and the Theatre of Pain. In Vegas, Desdemona Synge releases her new weapon against Halloween Jack and Meanstreak. She has used her brother chemical addiction to turn him into a monstrous hulk that she can control. Krystalin finds Billy the Kid and must now get him out of the Panther's facilities.

[2-Stars] 20 - "Rust Never Sleeps" Bloodhawk is back from the Savage Lands only to find that a large robot attacking a truck stop is leaking radiation that is destroying the environment. He teams up with a young woman who feels responsible in stopping it. Her name is Jade, and her father was the one who reassembled the metal soldier of the past. He thought it was deactivated when he buried it, but it is now awake with a damaged nuclear engine. Krystalin frees Billy the Kid returning him to the Free Radicals. She learns, however, that they have a much bigger plan that will put the state into a state of anarchy.

NOTE: At the end of X-Men 2099 #20, Doom publicly announces on all broadcasts that he is the new President of the United States. One Nation Under Doom is a 2099 crossover event that touches the X-Men in the next post.

[3-Stars] 21 - "Unreality Bites" Halloween Jack decides proceed with his plan to activate the Virtual Unreality machine. Meanstreak has some reservations, but he goes along with the plan. Lytton Synge is back under his own control, and he wants revenge on Halloween Jack. Krystallin races to Las Vegas after getting a distrubing message from Meanstreak only to arrive in time to see the twisted success of Virtual Unreality, and the arrival of President Doom.