X-Men The Hellfire Club #2 Feb 2000
"Toll the Bell Liberty"
Irene Merryweather is in Philadelphia to meet a Professor Thornton Fieldish.
Instead, she meets Archangel, who offers her a story about the Hellfire Club in the 1780’s, off the record.
His tale begins in 1780.
Lady Grey wants a protégé to acquire military secrets from Major-General Wallace Worthington.
She finds a young girl called Elizabeth Shaw and, in her, she sees the ambitions and desires necessary for the job.
She takes her in and offers her the privileges that the Hellfire Club can offer to its loyal servants.
At a glamorous party, Elizabeth introduces herself to Wallace Worthington, who is there with his good friend, Captain Rogers.
They dance together and their romance begins to blossom.
Before long, they are married, but Elizabeth makes the mistake of forgetting
her duties to Lady Grey and, instead, falls in love with her husband.
Lady Grey isn’t best pleased and takes matters into her own hands.
She has two of her men grab Worthington and beat the information out of him.
They then torch his house, with him inside it.
Captain Rogers arrives to meet him and sees the burning building.
Revealing himself to be
Captain America,
he rescues his friend from the house, but Worthington’s injuries are severe.
His wife arrives and apologizes for betraying him, but he dies in her arms.
Archangel ends his story by likening Elizabeth’s blind ambition to Irene’s.
She thanks him for the story and asks him to pass on her thanks to the professor.
Warren replies that he can’t.
The professor is dead, as is anyone who gets too close.
He asks if her story is really worth dying for.
To Irene, it probably is.
Writer Ben Raab.
Artist Charlie Adlard.