latter abandoned the X-Men, a result of Zhao's psychic assault returning Xi'an to his base, amoral persona. While searching for The Driver, on information from Mama Hurricane, they encounter La Lunatica again and she and Tim begin a relationship that would last for the remainder of the comic's run. Tim agrees to help her escape the pursuit of the Theatre of Pain, though he is mostly ineffective against their leader, Brimstone Love, when Love attacks them at the Driver's garage. They are granted reprieve however, when Brimstone leaves instead with Xi'an, who joins the Theatre. Disillusioned by his mentor's defection, Tim returns to the other X-Men, with Luna, to reform the team and lead them against the Theatre of Pain. Together they storm the Theatre's Floodgate facility in California, fighting to a stalemate and forcing Brimstone Love to retreat. As Floodgate empties, Doom, self-imposed U.S. President, arrives and hires the X-Men as the protectorate of Halo City, a new city-state in the southwest, built to be a safe-haven for mutants, degens and other victims of genetic oppression. The peace was short-lived, however, as the city is almost immediately put under siege by a villain known as the Graverobber, a mutant with the ability to revive the dead as his own zombie army. In order to find the man responsible for disfiguring him, the Graverobber sends the reanimated Serpentina to kill Fitz. She succeeds and Tim is revived by Graverobber, who uses him to control the city's power. The Graverobber is subdued by the X-Men, however this severs his neural connection to his zombies, killing them again. Inexplicably, Fitz is left alive and continues as a member of the X-Men. On their next mission to liberate the mutant Book, Tim finds out that he is now able to not just absorb ambient electrical energy, but mystical energies as well. As the city begins to flood due to the encroaching Phalanx, a new villain, Vulcann, arrives to take possession of Joaquim, newborn child of Freakshow member Rosa and adopted son of Metalhead. Vulcann is a bloodsmith, with the power to alter body structure and control growth. With his power he destroys Tim's body, apparently killing him once again. However, this triggers a final mutation, reverting him to a being of pure energy. He is approached by another energy being, taking the familiar form of his former girlfriend Reiko. It invites him to