In the opening scene of this arc, Adrienne Frost murders a guy she slept with and then decides to return to the Massachusetts Academy. We then see the kids making out, getting into fights with the non-mutant members of the Academy, and generally acting much more grown up than they did under previous writers.
The normal kids at the school are figuring out that some of the other kids are mutants, and Adrienne is also threatening to expose them.
She’s basically blackmailing Banshee and Emma into letting her stay at the Academy.
The anti-mutant activities escalate, as Jubilee’s room is set on fire, which is obviously upsetting.
Things get REALLY creepy when Adrienne starts sleeping with the kids in the school.
It becomes clear that Adrienne is behind all the violence at the Academy, and she’s also put bombs all over the school–all to get revenge against White Queen for not helping her be part of the Hellfire Club. Emma and Adrienne fight, and Emma kills Adrienne–but it happens offscreen so I’m not sure it’s real.
The kids disarm most of the bombs, but Synch is caught by the last one…
In the aftermath, Banshee and White Queen decide that they will let the kids run the Academy, however they want.
Meanwhile, the wards Penance, Leech and Artie are sent to Morocco to be cared for by Ambassador St. Croix.
This is Ellis’ final issue–next time, Brian Wood writes solo. Also, the “Shockwave” event runs across other X-titles, but it’s listed in this arc as 1 of 4, 2 of 4, etc., and these issues don’t tie directly into the other ones listed as part of the “event.” Shockwave just refers to stories filling in the 6-month gap created by Chris Claremont when he returned to X-Men.