Murder at the Mansion

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Cover to New X-Men #140

Murder at the Mansion was the fifth story arc from Grant Morrison's run on the Marvel Comics title New X-Men, running from issues #139-141. This short interlude between the larger arcs, Riot At Xavier's and Assault on Weapon Plus, explored the plotline of Emma Frost and Scott Summers' relationship, as well as detailing more of Frost's past. In the midst of this, several other Xavier Institute students face tough decisions.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

After finding her husband in a "mental" sexual relationship with Emma Frost, Jean thrusts Cyclops out of the shared mindscape in order to quarrel with Emma. Using the power of the Phoenix, Jean burns through Emma's psychic defenses, ultimately revealing her hidden past: The child of an abusive and powerful father, Emma eschewed her wealthy inheritance to maintain her freedom, leaving behind the shattered remains of her family to start her own life. Through her mental powers, Emma Frost rose through ranks of the Hellfire Club, reinventing herself through style and plastic surgery into "the Ice Queen, the dominatrix from hell..." As Jean is about to discover whether or not Scott was physically unfaithful to his wife during an assignment in Hong Kong, he breaks into the room containing Jean and Emma and demands that Jean search his mind for the answer. As Jean understands that her husband's affair was not physical, Cyclops leaves the mansion. Hours later, Beast discovers Emma Frost's crystalline remains, shattered in a million pieces.

Bishop and Sage are called in to investigate, locking down the campus to examine the scene and question all suspects. Interviewing one of the Omega Skulls in prison after the riot, Bishop learns of a place on the campus grounds where Quentin had gotten his Kick inhalers. Sage examines the area, finding a cottage, with odd, egg-like organisms hanging from the ceiling. Beak "confesses" to having dealt the Kick and having shot Emma Frost with a diamond bullet, but everyone knows that to be impossible.

As Bishop finds the murder weapon in the shack, Professor Xavier begins to piece together the facts of the incident, specifically that Beak is most likely protecting Angel from some involvement, and that someone influenced Angel into believing she would be thrown out of the school for her apparent pregnancy. When Xavier, Xorn, Beak, Sage and Bishop return to the cabin, they find Angel with her newly hatched children. Xavier confronts Angel with the evidence against her, but senses that she did not willingly pull the trigger.

Back in the mansion, Jean Grey uses her Phoenix-enhanced telekinesis to recombine Emma's shattered body, allowing Emma to scream the name of her attacker: Esme. The Cuckoo has already abandoned her sisters and is leaving the mansion when she is stopped by Bishop and Sage. Knowing of her involvement in the attack, they ask why she has done what she has, who is really behind all the bad things happening to the student body, and who she is meeting when she leaves the school. In lieu of response, Esme knocks them both out and flees. Sage and Bishop relate all that they know to the X-Men, and they are left with the disturbing knowledge that someone else was in the cabin when Sage was first investigating and knocked unconscious. More distressing, this person must have been much larger than any young student suspected of the shooting. The only question Bishop has left is where Scott Summers is.