X DEATHS OF WOLVERINE #1 Review *spoilers*

[Mercury]

Prologue: X Deaths of Wolverine #1 picks up where Inferno #4 left off, with Moira fleeing Krakoa through the gate Cypher offered her, which leads to her home: Scotland. "I can practically feel Mystique's hot breath at the back of my neck," she thinks, before stopping a passerby, swiftly stealing his truck, and taking off. "I need to buy myself some time," she notes. "I need to make sure she can't follow." Later, Moira coughs up blood before admitting, "[W]hat I feel growing inside me now is more like...a hot rage."

Days Later. Krakoa. Green Lagoon: Black Tom is having a drink at the Lagoon when he realizes there "is something wrong" with his drink. He leaves the bar and heads towards the Krakoan wilderness. "There's something wrong with the Veg!" he exclaims. He notes that "Krakoa [is] always changing," but that "[t]his is different. Black Tom can feel it in his roots and nerves. A change. An intruder. But nothing fell from above or came from below..." Suddenly, an egg violently emerges from the ground, leaving Tom perplexed.

New York. McCarthy Medical Institute. Moira meets with Dr. Foster regarding blood work. She reveals that Moira has Stage Four cancer, which "has metastasized." Moira requests Krakoan petals, to which Dr. Foster responds, "There's a waiting list a mile long for Krakoan medicine. And you know petals can't cure cancer." She asks Moira why she didn't seek help from "them" (i.e., Krakoa and mutants), but Moira refuses to reveal what's happened. There's a knock at the door, and a nurse informs Dr. Foster that she is "needed back in the morgue."

As the doctor leaves, the nurse is revealed to be Mystique, who enters the examining room and hurls a bed at Moira. Moira screams at her, "I created all of this. Your disgustingly perfect Krakoan society only exists because of me. My work--my lives--built this world. And this is how you thank me?!" Moira throws several syringes at Mystique, one of which notably pricks her. Suddenly, Valkyrie bursts into the room and instructs Moira to "Go!," and Moira jumps out of the hospital window.

Krakoa: Black Tom examines the "egg," or "tumor," that previously emerged from the ground. Gradually, a Transmode Virus-infected Wolverine emerges from the pod and swiftly beheads Black Tom.

C.I.A. X-Desk: Through a surveillance video feed, we see Moira back on the street and running through traffic. She is identified by the surveillance, which notes: "Mutant Database System Scan: Positive Identification - Moira MacTaggert." One of the CIA agents theorizes, "If she's been off the grid this long...there's a good chance she's a defector or an escaped prisoner," before noting, "Either way, she's got intel the X-Desk will no doubt find valuable." She orders, "Send out an extraction team."

Newark, N.J.: Moira ruminates about not having "much time" and, considering how quickly she was found at the hospital, being a target. "My face is a bullseye," she notes. She enters a department store, grabs a box of hair dye, and heads to the bathroom, where she proceeds to cut her hair and dye it blonde.

Moira's No Place. A man, presumably Transmode Wolverine or a CIA Agent, enters Moira's place and sniffs her notebook.

Streets of Newark. Moira makes her way through the streets, thinking about her next course of action when she is stopped by a CIA Agent, who asks, "Mind taking a walk with us." Moira fights a pair of agents, grabbing one of their guns and shooting them both. She runs, steals a motorcycle from a man, and flees, noting: "The CIA wants me in a cell. The mutants want me in a grave. Between them and the cancer eating its way through me, my chances aren't great. But if there's one thing I've learned from all my lives...it's that dying doesn't agree with me."

Data Page: "Search Queries: Arnab Chaklader"

Krakoa. The Cradle. Jean and Xavier are hovering over Wolverine, who has had his psyche transported to the past when suddenly Jean senses something. "That's impossible," she says. Transmode Wolverine enters the Cradle. "But you're...Logan? I don't understand...Is that you?" Jean asks. Transmode Wolverine responds, "I'm no one. I was never here."





Phew!