We’ve been teased with brief sequences about a guy named Mondo and a woman named Cordelia. This annual is the payoff.
Mondo is a mutant, and a very strong one. Cordelia is Emma Frost’s sister. And she’s a lot like her.
She is “negotiating” with Shinobi Shaw, to get her sibling’s former position as White Queen of the Hellfire Club. She also has her sister’s psychic powers, and so she offers the use of Mondo–who she is mind-controlling–as a bargaining chip.
During the negotiation, they are attacked.
Their attacker, we will learn later, is Black Tom Cassidy–Banshee’s evil brother. For now, he’s going by the name “Barrington.”
Mondo is in play–everyone wants to own him.
Cordelia goes to Emma, hoping for help. I love how now she’s all demure.
Emma’s powers don’t work on her sister.
You see where this is going, right. Mondo is a pawn in all this, and he gets saved and joins the Generation X team. Cordelia is mad about that, and promises to get revenge. So, she’ll be back.
I love how this book plays with the “hostage” role. It’s usually filled by a woman, but in this case, it’s Mondo–and he barely appears in the issue. He’s also dumb and naive.
There’s also more with the mysterious Penance Character. She still won’t talk, but she does play with Jubilee by the pool.
Banshee’s comment about sisters not getting along is obviously ironic given that he doesn’t get along with Black Tom. It’s also prescient, since I’m pretty sure Penance is Monet’s twin sister.
Later, Penance has a seizure and Banshee takes her to see Dr. Moira MacTaggert (why doesn’t he also take Monet, who keeps seizing up during adventures?).
That’s genuinely sad. Scott Lobdell is writing the shit out of this comic. His work isn’t always this good, but here, it’s excellent.
In the shorter, back-up story, Skin reads Monet’s diary and finds autobiographical art.
M catches him and he makes some excuses and backs away, while Money thinks to herself that she hopes he didn’t figure out her “secret.”