X-Force #9, by Geoffrey Thorne and Marcus To, deals with the team battling their new foe La Diabla. However, that’s not all that happens in this issue. It’s also a tie-in to “X-Manhunt”, the X-Men crossover that has seen Xavier escape from Graymalkin Prison, smack around Rogue’s X-Men, and then get to Storm to bring him to San Francisco’s Utopia, all because his daughter Shi’Ar Empress Xandra is attacked. X-Factor #8 showed why Xavier was in San Francisco — to retrieve the last Krakoan resurrection egg. Xavier, pursued by Cyclops’s X-Men and X-Factor, turns to a member of X-Force for help — his longtime ally Sage. Sage is X-Force’s tech support, and she decides to help Xavier instead of keeping an eye on her team.
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Sage and Xavier’s history goes back to even before the X-Men even existed. Sage has always trusted and respected Xavier, and the two of them have worked together in the shadows before. Sage betraying X-Force for Xavier is a huge deal, but it definitely plays into Xavier and Sage’s history together.
Sage Was Xavier’s Secret Agent in the Hellfire Club for Years as Tessa
Sage was born Teresia Karisik, living in the Balkans. She would be forced to flee her home village after years of invasions and war, when her mutant powers manifested. Sage’s powers basically made her mind into a computer. She had perfect recall of everything she’s seen or heard in her life and her mind analyzes information like a computer, allowing her to survive the war-torn areas she found herself traveling through. Eventually, like many mutants, Sage found Charles Xavier, although the circumstances of their meeting were quite unique. Sage found Xavier in the Hindu Kush mountain rage, after his legs were crushed in battle with the alien Lucifer. Sage was able to save him and Xavier decided to take Teresia in, training her in the use of her mutant powers.
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This was around the time that the original X-Men formed. The X-Men and Sage were two different sides of Xavier’s dream. The X-Men were the public face of the dream, fighting against threats to humanity and mutantkind, and meant to make humans think that mutants weren’t monsters. Sage was the dark side of Xavier’s dream, working from the shadows with her powers to do what needed to be done. Xavier decided that Sage would be best used as a spy, and sent her into the Hellfire Club, where she became known as Tessa. Tessa became Sebastian Shaw’s assistant, her mutant powers making her indispensable to Shaw, all while feeding information to Xavier. Sage acted as Tessa for years, but eventually joined the X-Men and has since worked with the mutants to protect her people.
Sage and Xavier’s Bond Has Proven Unbreakable
Sage has proved herself many times over the years, including her stint with X-Force in the Krakoa Era, eventually rising to the head of the mutant CIA. The whole time, she was loyal to the team, despite developing a drinking problem, and constantly worked to make Xavier’s plans a reality. Xavier and Sage’s bond comes from the fact that they saved each other; Sage would have died in the mountains eventually if she never left with Xavier and Xavier would have died with his legs crushed if Sage never came along. The two of them have a life debt to each other, which is why Sage drops everything in order to help Xavier.
Sage recruits a powerful teleporter for the job — John Wraith, a former ally and enemy of Wolverine — sending him to San Francisco to grab Xavier and the final Krakoan egg. Sage dropped everything in order to save Xavier, betraying X-Force for the first time since she joined the group back in the Krakoa Era. Xavier knew that she would help him no matter what, and Sage felt that by helping him this time, it paid off all the debts he owed her. Sage and Xavier’s bond has always been as strong as adamantium, and it will be interesting to see how this betrayal affects Sage’s place with X-Force.
X-Force #9 is on sale where ever comics are sold.
