Ultimate X-Men: The Most Dangerous Game, Conclusion
Issue: #57
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Pencils: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Wade Von Grawbadger
Colors: Justin Ponsor

Kurt, Piotr, and Ali debate what do about Mojo’s offer to exchange a captive Warren for Longshot. Longshot offers to turn himself in, but Ali points out that there’s no guarantee that Mojo will honor the deal. Piotr suggests storming Mojo’s stronghold; Kurt has enough energy for one final teleport, but warns he will be doing it blind, since he’s never seen the inside of the compound. The odds against him succeeding are very high. Perfect, Longshot tells him.

Elsewhere, Bobby has iced the X-Men’s six-armed prisoner up so Jean can read her mind, searching for evidence that this is Lord Sheele’s murderer. The woman tells them that her mutant name is Spiral, and warns that her mind is the last place anyone wants to be.

Mojo has television cameras set up to film Angel’s execution. At that moment, Nightcrawler and his party teleport in. Unfortunately, Colossus wasn’t included in the teleport. Longshot immediately attacks the guards and briefly holds them at bay, but is captured by Mojo.

Inside Spiral’s mind, Jean sees memories of Longshot and Spiral, who were a couple. Spiral explains that Longshot began taking her for granted, because he was used to always getting what he wanted. Then one night, Lord Sheele walked into a mutants-only club and met Spiral; they began seeing each other, even though she was still dating Longshot and Sheele was married. One of their evenings together was interrupted….

On Krakoa, Mojo has Longshot by the throat, when suddenly the overhead lights explode, courtesy of Ali’s talents. She drops one of the lights on Mojo, but before anyone can make a move, Mojo’s assistant puts a machete point to Warren’s throat. He tells the group that all humans hate mutants, many secretly, and that the show provides them with a chance to see mutants brought to justice. Longshot puts his foot on Mojo’s throat and threatens to kill him if Warren isn’t released. The assistant drops the machete; Longshot springs across the room and begins beating him. At that moment, Piotr bursts into the room; left out of the teleport, he’s had to fight his way through the jungle and into the compound. Ali tells him that Longshot took care of things by pretending to be a cold-blooded killer.

Spiral is still showing Jean her memory of the night Sheele was murdered. Longshot had interrupted them, accusing Spiral of cheating on him with someone who oppressed the mutant population. As Spiral protested, Longshot stabbed Sheele to death. Spiral punched Longshot and knocked him out.

Jean tells Iceman to release Spiral, who admits that she brought Sheele’s body to this spot because it would mean her death if he was found murdered in her apartment. She then made sure Longshot was accused of the crime, and tried to leave Genosha. Seeing the X-Men at the airport, she followed them to prevent them from exposing further details of the crime. The bottom line is that Longshot really was responsible for Sheele’s death and deserves to be killed, she says.

On Krakoa, Longshot and the X-Men part ways. Longshot tells them he’s not a hero, and that his fortune often means others’ misfortunte. Colossus tells him that he can always find sanctuary at Xavier’s school. The group congratulates themselves on having saved an innocent mutant from death.

Back at the school, Xavier angrily informs the rescue team that they have not only broken several international laws, but have set a murderer loose. SHIELD is tracking him, but expects it will take months to find him. Jean explains that Longshot fooled everyone. Xavier suspends the group from active duty, and plans to expel the ringleader. Warren takes the blame for the mission, saying he was certain Longshot was innocent and that he convinced the others to come on the mission. Because Warren was badly injured, Xavier changes his mind about the expulsion, but Warren is literally and figuratively grounded for the next three months.

Out in the hallway, Warren explains that he took the blame because Xavier is looking for an excuse to expel Ali, and this incident would have provided it. Ali kisses him and leads him away down the hall, prompting Nightcrawler to comment that since Jean has Scott and Kitty seems to be favoring Bobby, he and Piotr are running out of eligible young women. He walks away, and we see Piotr left alone, a thoughtful look on his face.

Scott and Jean tell the Professor that both this and the Fenris incident have been failures. Xavier disagrees – the two situations have been learning experiences. Spiral has been safely relocated to the United States, and Mojo’s television show is now permanently off the air. But Xavier is concerned about reality television – it doesn’t show humans and mutants at their worst, it shows them exactly as they are.

Submitted By: Seldes Katne