Warning: The following contains spoilers for Wolverine #14, on sale now from Marvel.
In the coming months, "Inferno" threatens to tear the island-nation of Krakoa apart. With fire in her heart, it seems that Mystique is determined to slowly burn Krakoa to the ground. Yet in the recent Wolverine #14, by Benjamin Percy, Adam Kubert, Frank Martin and VC's Cory Petit, Sage just showed her potential to stop "Inferno" before it even begins.
Sage essentially boosts her supercomputer mind during this issue when her logbook examines some outstanding queries surrounding the Hellfire Gala. The logbook itself is very well organized, examining three subsections of a larger problem in a very detailed manner, putting together puzzle pieces that no one else in Krakoa can.
First, Sage notes the theft of the Shi'ar Logic Diamonds at the Hellfire Gala, which the Shi'ar claim were requested rather than donated. This is rather odd, since Emma Frost denied this claim. Second, someone cut off the telefloronic feed which kept the Terra Verdeans docile, making them go rogue during the gala.
In a rather clever observation, Sage notes how this could have been a distraction ploy, while the Marauder, containing the Logic Diamonds, was stolen and torched off the shores of Madripoor. Finally, Sage looks at how the Russians were lured to the Marauder with promise of the Shi'ar Logic Diamonds, only to find an Arakki pirate onboard.
Examining all the pieces at play, Sage wonders if this isn't all misdirection for some larger plot. Sage has a point, taking all the knowledge at her disposal and using it to show why she's Krakoa's most invaluable intelligence officer. As "Inferno" rolls in, it seems that Sage's constant influx of information would make her the perfect mutant to see the warning signs of Mystique's plot. It is Sage's mutant power to store and process information, not to mention multitask while doing so.
Ever since the Krakoan era began, Sage has been one of, if not the most important aspect of X-Force's intelligence unit. Sage constantly monitors transit to and from Krakoa, as well as Krakoan activity and the activity of Krakoa's enemies. Given all of her talents and responsibilities, Sage would be able to process some hidden threats to Krakoa rather easily.
With this in mind, it would probably be relatively simple for Sage to see Mystique's attack on Krakoa coming. For one thing, Mystique would likely try to destroy Krakoa rather slowly, manipulating pieces one by one until they all fell into place. In this way, Mystique would make Professor X and Magneto suffer all the more.
This strategy could give Sage more time to process Mystique's tactics and piece them together. Perhaps Mystique will take this into account and actually take Sage off the board for a while. In fact, Mystique could go around impersonating Sage, sabotaging Krakoa's intelligence and transit systems.
As far as tactics go, eliminating Sage first would be the smartest and safest way to go about burning Krakoa to the ground. If Mystique didn't get rid of Sage, she would have to pull some truly devious moves to get past her.
It would be extremely impressive if Mystique could move so fast, pulling so many mysterious stunts, that Sage couldn't keep up with her. Distraction tactics would be very necessary for Mystique to evade Sage. This way, by the time Sage figured out what was happening, it would be too late to stop Mystique. Either way, it will be interesting to see if Mystique will need to get past Sage, and if so, how she manages to do so.