Issue
Synopsis:
Issue #26:
Spectre
wakes up in a bedroom that seems oddly familiar.
He discovers that it is Monica’s bedroom, but in a different
apartment as Monica walks into the bedroom with a bowl of chicken noodle
soup. She
explains that when Orion commanded her to kill him, she fought off his
control and shot herself with her own light blast.
However, she is immune to her own powers and her body
instinctively turned to light and rode with the momentum of the blast.
By the time she was far enough to be outside of Orion’s
influence, she returned to see Orion merging with a strange creature
(Brick).
She began to search for Spectre when the ship exploded.
She flew down into the atmosphere in hopes that he had made it
out alive.
That’s when she saw him freefalling and caught him.
Since then, Spectre had been at Monica’s for the past four
days, in a trance-like sleep, his wounds healing oddly faster than they
should.
Spectre had lost his job before, but now he had lost his
apartment and most of his personal belongings (those that the landlord
sold before Monica could buy them).
She also told him that she would never be a hero or villain
again, that she wanted a fairly normal life now.
After a few awkward silences and gestures, she assured him that
he could live with her for the time being.
Spectre, remembering her past, knew that she loved him, but
realized that she must be afraid to show it.
Not pressing the matter, Spectre began watching TV and noticed
that the news was covering a live battle between four X-Men and their
enemies Black Tom and the Juggernaut.
After being cautioned by Monica not to assist them, Spectre left
to fight alongside the outlaw X-Men.
However, before he left, Spectre decided he would be the first to
admit it, and told Monica that he loved her, leaving the stunned Strobe
speechless as he left.
He arrived at the scene to see Wolverine, Shadowcat, and
Nightcrawler knocked out.
Colossus was battling Juggernaut when Black Tom attacked him from
behind, allowing Juggernaut to crush him beneath his tremendous
strength.
Spectre quickly made himself Psionically Invisible to Black Tom
and Juggernaut, and approached Black Tom with his Psi-Sword, ready to
attack the villain.
Unfortunately, Spectre did not know about the Juggernaut’s
psionic resistance and imagine his surprise when the Juggernaut wrapped
his gargantuan hand around his head and lifted him off his feet....
Issue
#27:
The
Juggernaut throws Spectre to the ground, but his flight kicks in just
before impact.
Spectre begins to battle the duo, but is afraid to use his
devastating Mind Blow attack due to the fact that he might affect the
crowd and the fallen X-Men.
After discovering that Juggernaut is immune to all his psychic
attacks and that Black Tom’s cane can somehow parry his Psi-Sword,
Wolverine jumps back up at the Juggernaut and attempts to slice the
bolts from his head armor.
Juggernaut swats him away and Spectre continues to battle the
deadly duo.
Shadowcat and Nightcrawler awaken, and Shadowcat tries to phase
the helmet away from the main armor while Nightcrawler finds a steel bar
and begins to battle Black Tom.
Shadowcat manages to remove the helmet before the Juggernaut
takes her down again, unfortunately, that leaves his skullcap, which is
the real source of his psionic resistance.
During the battle, Wolverine repeatedly got back up and tried to
remove Juggernauts skullcap, to no avail.
However, while Wolverine lay unconscious, Spectre telekinetically
lifted his body and got a successful slash against the skullcap with
Wolvie’s adamantium claws.
After a Psychic Blast failed to take the Juggernaut down
completely (but it worked just fine on the already thrashed Black Tom),
Spectre managed to finish him off with his Psi-Sword.
As soon as the battle was over, federal agents moved onto the
scene to capture both the X-Men and the villains they faced.
Henry Peter Gyrich introduced himself to Spectre and told Spectre
that he should leave while he still can, unless he wants to be captured
too. Spectre,
pushing his power to its limits, makes himself and the four X-Men
Psionically Invisible to the crowd and feds, and telekinetically moves
them all to safety.
After the X-Men recover, they thank Spectre for his help and both
Spectre and the X-Men head their separate ways.
After Spectre had left, Wolverine confided to his teammates that
Spectre’s scent seemed strangely familiar...