The Land That Mind Control Never Forgot Part III: Savage Send Offs

The X-treme X-men are still in the Savage Land, which would explain why this particular four part mini series is called X-treme X-men: Savage Land.
Issue # 4 opens with the Black Bird landing in the village square, piloted by Bishop and Sage, and filled with the Saurid children believed lost when the plane crashed. Fortunately, Sage had been able to restore the plane's flight capabilities and now the X-men and Saurids were reunited once again. All seemed right in the world until the Savage Land Mutates attacked the village... led by Storm.

Luckily, there was still some additional mind control to be had...

Losing the spikes around her slave collar for some reason, Leash mind controlled Thunderbird, forcing him to kill Bishop... and while the future X-man did indeed seem to perish, trying to wound an energy absorbing mutant with plasma isn't exactly lethal.

In the end, Rogue took the fight to Brain Child himself who was more than ready for her...

Unfortunately, Brain Child was aware of Rogue's inner turmoil and used his powers to cause a shooting war inside her head between herself and everyone she ever took over. By the by, Rogue never imprinted comedienne Roseanne Barr but sheesh... the visual similarities between Roseanne and Rogue in this mini are striking...

Instead, Rogue literally had to fight everyone she ever touched, which made for an interesting splash panel to say the least...

While Rogue is busy struggling against her inner demons, Beast finally managed to break free from Lupa's mind control... right in time to save the helpless Rogue from the still feral and blood thirsty Storm who now acted as Brain Child's bodyguard. Rogue only managed to free herself when Storm throws Beast on top of her and she took over his form and abilities...

Speaking of people taking over other people... Let's see what the supervillain Leash is up to...

Leash had the misfortune of running into the X-men's mentat Sage... A cold and calculating woman who knew exactly what the mind controlling mutate was planning: win the day by forcing the captives in Brain Child's slave pens to help out. Still, Leash merely considered Sage a temporary inconvenience.

"Before Leash is even aware of what's happening her attack is reflected back on her. Instead of being the mistress... she finds herself the slave."

Leash was now under someone else's control and the sly Sage cleverly used her new slave to take over Brain Child, thus ending all the hostilities... However, the aftermath proved rather intense for Storm who remained in her feral form for quite some time afterwards. Luckily the Beast had some choice advice.

"And I have no answers. I wish to hell I did. I'm sorry."

That is some status quo shake up. Not only did Brain Child revert her to a murderous, savage state... he also  made it stick. Even when she regained control of her faculties, Storm still longed for the urges provided by the inner demon she had willingly embraced under Brain Child's thrall.

Yet, the final panels provided a hopeful message.

"But you're not alone in this, Ororo. We are FAMILY.
And with that on your side... EVERYTHING... becomes possible!"

Everything becomes possible indeed... such as Storm abruptly forgetting this mind and life altering event altogether when the X-treme X-men series continued. Hey, Henry *DID* say that éverything was possible.

Speaking of impossible dreams, this concludes the 150th Chris Claremont: Mind Control Central post. It's been a bumpy ride, but let's continue on to # 200 and see where it ends up... Should be fun!