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Forget Me Not: part 1
“Some things you never forget… no matter how badly you want to.”
A young girl with Rogue’s face remembers how Riley and she always talked about running away to the city. Now, they are finally going to leave the one-horse town they lived in. But first, Riley wanted to stop for cash. The girl didn’t realize that meant robbing a store. The girl was supposed to honk the horn if she saw anything, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Riley. And the only thing that arriving deputy cared about was his next cup of coffee. Neither of them saw what was coming until it was too late.
The deputy walked into the store. The girl desperately ran after the deputy to warn Riley. Riley panicked and shot the deputy! The girl, Darla, tried to tend to the wound. Riley got angry at her because she was supposed to warn him and didn’t. He points his gun at the storekeeper and wants to kill him as well. Darla has heard enough. Unnoticed by Riley, she takes the deputy’s gun out of his pocket, and kills Riley with it! The guy behind the counter was grateful enough to give Darla a head start. She didn’t know where she would go or how she would pay her way. The only sure thing was that she spent the rest of her days on the run.
Rogue herself sits in a bar and has just accidentally absorbed a passing-by waitress named Darla. Rogue realizes that it were the waitress’ memories she just saw, but doesn’t say anything about it to Darla. Darla herself feels a bit dizzy. Rogue asks Darla if she’s okay. Darla gets a hold on herself and apologizes about how she acted.
Meanwhile on the news, the reporter mentions a scandal involving Japan’s national hero: Sunfire! Three days ago, Tokyo’s leading newspaper printed a story detailing ties between the family of Shiro Yoshida, and the Japanese criminal organization known as the Yakuza. It included evidence that Sunfire’s cousin, Shingen Harada, was a Tokyo crime boss. And the report also mentioned Shingen’s uncle, Tomo Yoshida, and claimed that he was an anti-American terrorist. And there were also allegations of Sunfire’s own involvement in criminal enterprises overseen by another cousin of his, Kenuichio Harada, a.k.a. the Silver Samurai! The reporter says that such rumors have circulated for years, but only now have mob hits, political payoffs, extortion rackets and arson been linked so comprehensively to Sunfire and his family.
Rogue knows that maybe Sunfire’s siblings were so bad, but not Shiro himself. Darla asks Rogue if the man is a friend of hers. Not exactly, Rogue answers. The reporter continues and says that today, the Japanese government suspended Sunfire’s status as national protector, pending their investigation. The news also shows a photograph of Sunfire with the notorious terrorist Mystique. And the photo is as clear as it is incriminating. The reporter explains that Mystique is currently wanted by the Department of Homeland Security for acts of terrorism against the United States.
Also pictured is Rogue herself! The news has found out that the picture was taken when the now-X-Man was then a member of Mystique’s Brotherhood of Mutants. The reporter claims that experts have examined the original photograph and determined that it is not a forgery. Rogue doesn’t understand it. On the picture, both she, Mystique and Sunfire triumphantly stand over killed ninja’s and a destructed landscape.
Rogue doesn’t know what to think of it. Darla easily recognizes Rogue at the photo, but since Rogue has been nothing but nice to her, Darla decides to give her a second chance and helps her escape out of the dinner.
Japan…
A sulking and drinking Sunfire sits in his high office building. The phone rings, but Shiro doesn’t want to answer it. The answering machine answers the call instead. It’s Wolverine, who calls from the Xavier Institute to ask about the truth. Logan has heard that Shiro tore up half the Ginza gang in an effort to clear his name. Logan knows that Sunfire wants to fix things by himself, but offers his and the X-Men’s help. Wolverine believes that Sunfire must not be present and hangs up.
The Silver Samurai appears behind Sunfire. Shiro thanks Kenuichio for coming. The Samurai explains to Shiro that he even would have come even if Sunfire didn’t contact him, because the so-called “news” story sent shock-waves through the Yakuza. The Samurai knows that the gangsters wonder why the reporter focused only on Shiro, when the Samurai was the one who sought control on Clan Yashida. The Silver Samurai wants to pay the liar a visit. Shiro tells him not to, as a threat from the infamous Silver Samurai would only convince him the story is true.
Sunfire also knows that the news isn’t their real enemy. He thinks that someone gave the reporter that evidence. Someone who connected the dots for him. Shiro simply knows that someone provided that photograph to the news, knowing that guilt by association was more than enough to disgrace him. Sunfire is angry, as he hasn’t slept in three days. He has turned up the heat on every street thug, every Sokaiya and Oyabun he has ever heard of, but no one knows who set them up!
And even if Shiro finds them, he realizes that the damage has already been done. The public always believes the worst of mutants like him and Kenuichio. And Shiro believes that in his case, humans have good reason. He remembers that the first time when anyone heard of Sunfire was when he attacked the U.S. Capitol. The Silver Samurai consults his cousin that everyone knows that Shiro’s uncle tricked him in doing that. And besides, he adds, that happened years ago, so why would Shiro bring it up now? Sunfire reveals that’s because he has wasted those years trying to rewrite his past. All the good deeds in the world cannot unmake his mistake, he believes.
Sunfire knows that the Samurai agrees with him. Sarcastically, Shiro asks the Samurai if he has found it easy to atone for his crimes. The Silver Samurai remains silent. But Sunfire had foreseen that. Shiro knows that the Samurai spent the last two years dismantling the Yashida Clan’s illegal holdings, and yet the world still fears him. For his own part, Shiro thinks that perhaps he deserves the same. He has done all he could to avoid accepting responsibility for his family’s sins. But to spend a lifetime in disgrace when there is one sure way to cleanse his stain on their family honor? No. Shiro doesn’t want that. Sunfire tells the Samurai that he has called him there to be his second.
Honored, the Samurai realizes everything Shiro has done for him, so how could he say no? Sunfire takes out a blade, kneels down and prepares to commit suicide. The Samurai takes out his sword, charges it up and prepares to finish Shiro off.
Suddenly, the phone rings. Shiro hates it and at first ignores it. The answering machine picks up again. It’s Rogue. She wants to know if Shiro knows where the snapshot from the news came from, because Rogue doesn’t recall ever meeting him back in those days. So the photo must be a fake.
Sunfire suspects Rogue to be part culprit in this as well and asks her to stop play innocent. Rogue makes it clear to Sunfire that she doesn’t have anything to do with it, as she always hates it when people remind her what a crook she used to be. Sunfire isn’t impressed by the remark and tells Rogue that she and the police can spare themselves the effort, as he will carry out his own sentence. Rogue asks Shiro what he means by that. Sunfire thinks that’s pretty obvious. Rogue hesitates for a while, but then tries to make Sunfire understand that’s the easy way out and won’t settle things.
Sunfire asks Rogue what she knows about his problems. That’s the million-dollar question for them both, Rogue replies. But for starters, Rogue explains that she is in a photograph she doesn’t even remember to ever being taken. Sunfire doesn’t remember that either. Rogue asks Sunfire to send a plane for her so that they can figure things out together. And, Rogue adds, if after that Sunfire still wants to fall onto his sword, she won’t stop him. Sunfire agrees and silently whispers to the Silver Samurai and asks him if he can send a plane for her without official interference. The Silver Samurai bows to his cousin and says that he can, and explains that if he can make a few calls they can pick her up within a few hours.
A few hours later, Rogue has made it to a low-level airport. She knows that she’ll be in Japan within the day. Rogue admits that she admires Sunfire a bit for all the strings he can pull, despite him always being the hothead. To pass the time, Rogue reads a magazine and wears sunglasses to keep a low profile. A young girl enters the room Rogue waits in. She notices the white stripe in Rogue’s hair and tells her that she doesn’t smell so bad, comparing the stripe to that of a skunk. Katey’s dad comes in and asks his daughter to stop annoying Rogue and come back with him. Rogue tells the father that Katey’s no problem. The man thanks Rogue for that and informs that her plane has arrived.
Rogue goes outside, and sees the plane. She wants to step aboard, but then… Lady Deathstrike jumps out of it! Deathstrike is furious at Rogue and attacks her, telling Rogue that she won’t get away for what she did to her father. Rogue doesn’t know what Deathstrike is talking about and tries to stay away from her claws, remembering that they are as strong as Wolverine’s. Rogue at first wants to absorb Deathstrike’s powers, but then remembers that she can’t since they are mechanical.
Rogue goes back into the room she waited in for safety, but forgot that Katey was still there. Deathstrike follows Rogue and jumps into the room through the window, ignoring everything that’s around her. Rogue picks Katey up and tries to bring her into safety. Katey thinks that Rogue will do something bad with her and tries to get away from her, and pushes on her face. As a result, Rogue absorbs Katey’s memories about a time she was impatient while her dad was filling the gas tank, and told her not to bother anyone. The memories quickly stop and Rogue makes it to the hangar, where she locks Katey up.
Lady Deathstrikes uses the advantage she sees and slashes Rogue with her claws. Barely with breath left, Rogue asks Deathstrike what she wants from her. Yuriko reveals that she wants back what Rogue and Mystique stole from her father. Rogue still doesn’t know what the villain is talking about. Lady Deathstrike tells Rogue that she will return to Japan with her, where they shall see exactly how much Rogue really knows. And Deathstrike tells Rogue not to pretend for a moment that poker can harm her. Rogue notices the chimney in the room and puts a stick in it, so that the fire goes out of control. Rogue warns Katey and her dad to run outside. Lady Deathstrike follows, but Deathstrike jumps in front of a truck, which the flames of the fire touch and the tank explodes with her still in front of it.
Rogue makes it to the plane and absorbs the pilot’s memories on how to fly it. Lady Deatsthrike, while on fire, has survived the blast and tries to catch the departing plane, but fails. She shots at Rogue that this isn’t over yet, and that it’s only just beginning!
The Sagacho District, Tokyo, Japan…
A mysterious voice from behind a locked door asks a thinking Silver Samurai if Lady Deathstrike killed Rogue. The Samurai walks over to the door and looks through the small window on it and looks at an even more mysterious woman cloaked in shadows. He reveals to her that Rogue still lives. The woman isn’t surprised, as she remembers Rogue to always be harder to kill than she looked. The Samurai explains that if Lady Deathstrike sought to kill the woman’s friend instead of merely capturing her, they wouldn’t be having this conversation. In any case, the Samurai realizes that Rogue is coming here to Japan, presumably to confront his cousin. And they both know that Rogue will find them both waiting for her.
Meanwhile, an unsuspecting Rogue continues her flight to Japan, but is ready for anything.


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[Assistant]
Forget Me Not: part 2
Rogue shoots tranquilizer darts into Sunfire’s neck and jumps through the window of his office building. Surprised and startled to see Rogue acting like this, Shiro doesn’t know what to do. Rogue is furious at Shiro for sending Lady Deathstrike after her, while she offered to help him out. Rogue informs Shiro about the hard times she had getting to Japan, like absorbing Deathstrike’s pilots memories to learn how to fly, and steal a dogcatcher’s tranquilizer’s gun. Rogue wants to know what Sunfire was up to, so she touches his head and absorbs his memories. Soon afterwards, Rogue finds out that she made a mistake and that Sunfire didn’t have anything to do with Lady Deathstrike’s attack.
Shiro gets angry at Rogue, because she had no right infiltrating his mind like that. Rogue can’t believe that Shiro is innocent and enters his mind once again. She goes back to his childhood, back when he was trained by his Uncle Tomo. She sees everything through his eyes, though keeps her own body.
Rogue learns that Shiro’s father was a diplomat, always away on business, and that Tomo was left to do the child raising. But Tomo filled Shiro’s head with hatred against their “American oppressors,” so that Shiro would one day fight against them. The training was hard, and Shiro often couldn’t handle it. And when he tried to apologize for his failure, Tomo hit him hard with a stick. The training went on, and Shiro mastered several fighting techniques and learned how to fire an arrow with a bow.
Rogue learns that Shiro’s mother hails from Hiroshima and that, when she returned to visit her hometown, she soon afterwards died of cancer. And Tomo even blamed that on the Americans. Rogue witnesses how Sunfire’s mutant powers manifest themselves and he literally becomes Tomo’s response to the A-bomb. Rogue relives these memories in the worst way imaginable, and recalls that Mystique used her too because of her powers. She concludes that Tomo and Mystique have that much in common. Rogue sees how Shiro’s hatred grew ever since, because he believed Tomo’s lies that the Americans killed his mother and that they kept his father away from him.
Rogue sees how Tomo continued to train Shiro. Shiro agreed in Tomo’s plans to attack the State Capitol, and dress in a costume that represented the land of the rising sun so that the Americans would know who attacked them. Shiro desperately wanted to earn his uncle’s respect, so he traveled to America to fulfill the evil plans. But that’s when he had his first run-in with the X-Men, the best folks either Rogue or Sunfire would ever meet. Rogue doesn’t know why, but when she sees Shiro’s father approaching and calling out to him, he stopped the fighting. But Tomo was ready for that and killed Sunfire’s father. Rogue witnesses how Shiro got out of control, and felt so guilty that he even killed his own uncle.
Rogue finally knows why Shiro always acts so hot-headed: deep down, he’s filled with guilt. She withdraws from the memories and stops absorbing. She can’t believe that she still didn’t find a connection to Lady Deathstrike. Rogue tries to apologize to Shiro, but Sunfire is so angry at her that he punches her in the face!
Rogue quickly recovers, but the flames do give her a blue eye. Shiro is still angry at her. He doesn’t see a punishment strong enough for Rogue. Rogue tells Shiro that she never knew that they were so much alike, and recalls to her time in the Brotherhood. Sunfire wants to attack again, but then remembers… did Rogue mention Lady Deathstrike being aboard Kenuichio’s plane?! Rogue confirms it and tells Sunfire that she waited just like he told her to, and after that Lady Deathstrike attacked her.
Rogue tries to apologize to Shiro, but he doesn’t accept. But all this makes no sense to him. Sunfire thought that the Silver Samurai wasn’t the villain he used to be. After all, he recalls, the Samurai spend last year dismantling Clan Yashida’s criminal empire. Sunfire tries to phone his cousin, but he doesn’t answer. Rogue suspects that Lady Deathstrike got to him. Sunfire angrily responds if Rogue thinks that she killed him. Rogue believes rather otherwise, because she knows Lady Deathstrike. If that were the case, Deathstrike would have bragged about it during their battle, and she only told Rogue something about something that was stolen from her father. Sunfire is confused and wants to know if it’s true that the Silver Samurai once more betrayed him. And if so, what could he possibly have gained from it after renouncing the Yakuza?
The Sagacho District:
Kikuchio, the big boss of the Yakuza, welcomes a late guest. Kikuchio suspects that one of his men leaked out the information about the Yashida Clan to the news reporter and wants to know who did it, before this meeting evolves in a mob war. All men present of course claim to have nothing to do with it and are insulted by it. Kikuchio doesn’t believe it, and follows that only a handful of people had access to that information. So one of them had to do it. Again, he offers to the people present to clear their motivations, so that they can solve it in a reasonable matter. There’s a complete silence in the room.
Suddenly, energy flows from a window above and a sword cuts it open. A voice from outside tells Kikuchio that a bigger sacrifice shall be needed. The mobsters open fire, but the Silver Samurai drops in unharmed and fights the gangsters without getting hit! The defeated leaders get up, and mock at the Samurai for betraying both them and his family. Doesn’t he understand who they are? The Silver Samurai looks serious. He channels his sword, and tells the gangsters that they are the heads of the Yakuza clans. And he is here for the heads of the Yakuza clans. He fights again, and this time kills all of them.
Twenty-three minutes later, half a kilometer away:
The Silver Samurai enters his lair carrying a body bag over his shoulder. A female voice from behind a locked door asks the Samurai if no one wondered what was in it. “Nobody who wanted to continue to live,” the Samurai jokes. The woman asks the Samurai if Honjo remembers the Samurai bringing him here two nights ago. Of course not, the Samurai responds. Or, does he asks the woman, does she doubts her own abilities?
The woman denies that. She explains to the Samurai that he trusted her to plant the idea in his head for the big meeting, and then make him forget about it. She only wanted to prove worthy of that trust. The Samurai takes off his helmet. The woman looks at him, and tells Kenuichio that she can do more than what she showed him. She explains that when she takes away memories, she can even put them in someone else’s mind. She asks Kenuichio if he wants to know Honjo’s bank codes and offers to give them to him. The Samurai is on to her. He realizes that in return he would have to let the woman free, and after that she would wipe his mind and when Deathstrike returns she would kill him.
The woman, looking serious at Kenuichio, explains to him that, when Lady Deathstrike first brought him here, it was all kicking and screaming and he really believed that he had gone straight. The woman explains to him that she reset his mind where it was supposed to be. And she gave that reporter everything they needed to ruin both Rogue and Sunfire’s lives. And now, thanks to her, the woman continues, the Samurai is about to control every major mob organization in the world’s greatest city. The Samurai hesitates. The woman asks the Samurai why she would kill him, if instead she could be best friends with the most powerful man on the Earth.
The Samurai opens the door. The woman thanks him for that and, smiling, she says that she knew he could listen to reason. Just then, a furious Lady Deathstrike enters! She knew she couldn’t leave the Samurai alone with the witch. The woman tries to defend herself, but Deathstrike attacks her and slams her against a wall using her claws. Deathstrike warns the woman not to try to use her powers on her, as they won’t work because there isn’t anything organic on Deathstrike’s body from her shoulders on down. The woman tries to make a deal with Deathstrike to make her their partner. Lady Deathstrike isn’t interested, but then the woman offers a “win-win” situation.
Elsewhere, Rogue tries to make Sunfire understand that the Silver Samurai betrayed them, and that he was behind Lady Deathstrike’s attack. Rogue even suspects him to be behind the news report. Sunfire isn’t sure, as he knows that, if the Samurai would want to attack them, he would have used his sword and not the news. Plus, he still finds it odd that they posed on a picture neither of them recall of having taken.
Nonetheless, Sunfire knows that Rogue is correct. In order to learn the truth, they’ll have to find the Silver Samurai. He puts his costume on and, together with Rogue, flies out of his office building.


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[Assistant]
Forget Me Not: part 3
Roppongi Hills, Tokyo:
Rogue and Sunfire fly high over the hills. Rogue talks about how beautiful the city below them is, but Sunfire isn’t interested. She jokes about it, which is something he doesn’t understand. He can’t comprehend how Rogue can be joking at a time like this, when his cousin might be in danger. Rogue tries to make Shiro understand that the Silver Samurai is evil. Shiro gets angry, because he witnessed himself how the Samurai fought against criminals. He truly believes that the Samurai is a changed man. Sunfire believes that Kenuichio has been set up. Rogue isn’t so sure, as when she absorbed the memories from the pilot from the plane that was supposed to bring her to Japan, she learned that the pilot took his orders straight from Lady Deathstrike, who’s apparently working together with the Samurai.
They arrive at the Panchinko arcade, which Sunfire explains is a front for the Sumiyoshi-Kai gang. Shiro knows that the gang runs a private club upstairs the arcade, and will most likely know where to find his cousin. Hearing Sunfire talk like this takes Rogue back to a long time ago, when she had first joined the X-Men. She and Wolverine were also hunting down Yakuza hideouts, in the hope of locating the Samurai. The arcade is closed. Sunfire finds that odd, since it’s a Saturday. But he doesn’t care much, as he’s here to close them down forever!
Inside the arcade, boss Machii is leading his crew, attempting to get boxes of alcohol out. He warns them not to get any ideas and steal them, since they are all inventoried. His partner doesn’t see how they can fail, since the Oyabun’s head has been cut off. Machii gets angry, and threatens the woman with his knife, and tells her not to spread any rumors but to work. A guard warns Machii that they’ve got intruders. But he’s too late, as a burst of fire fills the entire chamber!
Sunfire, speaking in Japanese, demands from the mobster to answer him and tell him where the Silver Samurai is. Instead of answering, they open fire on the heroes. Rogue understands the language perfectly, at least for now, as when they entered she absorbed one of the guard’s memories. Sunfire isn’t impressed by the bullets. He shoots fire on them, and destroys all of the bullets including the guns, but without harming the gangsters. Sunfire again asks his questions, but the gangsters rather die than to squeal.
The fight opens again. Sunfire doesn’t notice that Machii is aiming at him. He fires, but Rogue quickly catches the bullet and throws it against Machii’s head. Sunfire hesitates this time, but then actually thanks Rogue for saving his life. Sunfire picks Machii up. He explains to him that, a day and a half ago, the Samurai send a plane to bring Rogue to Japan, but on it was Yuriko Oyama, who’s better known as Lady Deathstrike. Machii doesn’t see why he should even consider helping Sunfire. Sunfire slaps him, and tells Machii that he should consider helping them, because Shiro has learned that Kenuichio arranged the flight through someone from the Sumiyoshi-Kai who owed him a favor.
And, if Sunfire and the Samurai’s enemy showed up on the plane, Shiro will know for sure that his cousin has been set up. Machii doesn’t care. He still rather dies than to help Sunfire. But he wants to know why Shiro worries so much about the Samurai, like he is a victim. Machii explains to Shiro why he wonders, since he has found out that the Samurai has killed every Oyabun in Tokyo! Sunfire can’t believe it. Rogue’s understanding of Japanese has already faded away, so she asks Shiro for a translation. Shiro does that, telling her that the Silver Samurai has killed all the Godfathers of Japan. Rogue doesn’t want to take Machii’s word for truth. She knows that there’s only one way to discover the truth. She touches Machii’s head and absorbs his memories, and finds out that he really was telling the truth! He really does know nothing.
But Rogue did manage to pick up one thing that might help them. She tells to Shiro that Machii had his goons clearing all the valuables out of the arcade to take advantage of the current confusion, but he didn’t tell his men about the invitation he received this morning. Rogue takes out an envelope from Machii’s vest. She has discovered that the envelope says that a citywide truce will be called, and that every underboss and gang chief in town must report to the Mikado Cabaret by tomorrow night, to pay their respects to the new Oyabun of Tokyo: the Silver Samurai!
Sagacho District, Tokyo. The following evening:
The Silver Samurai finishes his mediation. The black-haired woman comes towards him, and asks the man if he’s ready. The Samurai asks her not to mock his actions, which will be as real as it can get. The woman claims not to mean any disrespect, as she knows like the best what’s going to happen. After all, without her, it wouldn’t even have been possible. The Samurai knows that and thanks the woman for it. The Samurai puts his helmet on and tells the woman that she’ll have the honor of calling the “greatest man of Japan” her friend.
At the back, Lady Deathstrike is training. She mocks to the memory thief that she’ll carve the friendship up to her tombstone. Deathstrike is angry with the woman, because though she has managed to prove her worth to the Samurai, since she did so much for him, the woman has yet to prove herself to Deathstrike. And if she won’t, Deathstrike promises her that she’ll die. The woman claims that she really did do something for Deathstrike, but she claims otherwise. The woman promised her that her plan would destroy Sunfire, and lure both Rogue and Mystique to her. But so far, Deathstrike still hasn’t seen any sign of Mystique and isn’t happy about that.
The woman regrets that, but suspects that Mystique might have suspected that she was involved, so maybe the blue mutant chose to steer clear. But, the woman says, she’s not the one who let Rogue slip through her fingers. Deathstrike gets angry and slashes the woman through her face. The Samurai calms her down, and promises Deathstrike that the woman’s plan will work out just as well for her as it did for him. Deathstrike just has to be patient for a while longer.
Deathstrike can’t believe her ears when the Samurai lectures her about patience. She knows how he always rushed headlong into a battle, heedless of the consequence. The Silver Samurai realizes that reckless anger will not serve him now as Oyabun. He knows that this is a new age, and they must be worthy of it. The Samurai asks Deathstrike to have faith, as her enemies will deliver themselves to her and Deathstrike shall proclaim what they have stolen from her father. The Samurai leaves, but first wants to know the memory thief’s real name. The woman smiles, as she usually doesn’t even let people remember that she exists. But, the woman tells both the Silver Samurai and Deathstrike to call her… Blindspot.
The Asakusa Rokku District:
All of the head bosses of the mafia are gathering in a building. Two of them are talking. One of them wonders if they are at the right place, since the door guards were from the Kanto-Kai, and the men guarding the perimeter were Ichiwa-Kai. He’s impatient and wants to know who organized this event. The other one notices that every small time mobster who wanted to be boss is present, but notices that half of the Wakagashira-Kai stayed home. The tension is thick enough for a knife to cut, and none of them feel comfortable.
Sunfire and Rogue dropped off Machii and his goons at Sunfire’s office building in Meguro and are being guarded by his security staff. Now, they are both under the city in the sewers, heading to the Rokku District. They’ve just got one more turn to make. Sunfire asks Rogue to let him handle things from now on. Rogue smiles, telling Shiro that they have that much in common: they both try to drive people away from them. Sunfire gets serious, and asks Rogue if she still has his memories in her, when she absorbed him. Rogue has. Sunfire tells Rogue that he could actually kill her for that. He explains that he spent a lifetime hiding in shame, and that with a touch Rogue exposes him as a fraud.
Rogue makes Shiro understand that there’s nothing fraud about all the good things he has done in his life. He has saved so many lives in his time as Sunfire. And Rogue is confident that they don’t care about one bit about the one mistake he might have made in the past. Sunfire realizes that the same could be said about Rogue. Rogue smiles, telling Shiro that was the thing she was trying to make him understand in the first place.
Upstairs, the mobsters get even more uncomfortable. Especially when the lights turn out. Everyone takes out their guns and prepare for action. Suddenly, the lights go back on. On the stage in front of them appears a Kabuki actor, who bids them welcome on behalf of the Silver Samurai. The Samurai explains to the bosses that he chose the actor for the same reason he chose to have this meeting in Asakusa.
The Samurai begins his speech. He says that, years ago, before the world war brought them to disgrace, Asakusa was the center of the arts in Tokyo. Here, he follows, Kabuki theaters flourished in the shadow of the Senso-Ji temple. Here, he continues, they took strength from the old ways even as they rebuilt their future. The Samurai says that today, this district has gone to seed. A reflection of Japan’s lost sense of wa. He knows that even the might Yakuza has lost its way and forgotten its roots. The Samurai speaks to his brothers now, and tells them that they must once again look to the past to secure their future. He says that one Oyabun still lives, and that he is that Oyabun.
Someone from the crowd calls the Samurai a liar, as he knows that the Samurai has spent the last couple of years trying to dismantle the Yashida Clan. “Did I,” the Samurai smirks. Or did he just lull his cousin into thinking he did while he prepared his masterstroke? A mobster fires at the Samurai, who blocks the bullet away with his charged up sword. He speaks louder, telling the crowd that they must never again doubt him, and that the age of the Silver Shogun has begun! Everyone cheers for the Samurai.
Rogue and Sunfire enter. Sunfire is furious to see his brother have turned to evil again. He still doesn’t know why he needed to end both his and Rogue’s lives for that, but that’s a concern for later. Right now, Sunfire wants to fight. He shoots flames until they spread across the entire room. All the mobsters run away, and eventually only Rogue, Sunfire and the Silver Samurai are left. Rogue manages to grab the Samurai, but absorbs his memories in the process.
The Samurai quickly recovers and escapes through a hole in the wall. Sunfire wants to follow him, but Rogue asks Shiro to wait. Thanks to the Samurai’s memories, Rogue has learned that he and Lady Deathstrike are hiding in a safe house in the Sagacho District. But, Rogue has also seen someone else with them. A woman. And Rogue could swear to have seen her before!


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Forget Me Not: part 4
(Sagacho District, Tokyo)
Rogue overviews what happened so far. Twenty minutes ago, she and Sunfire crashed a meeting of Tokyo’s top thugs, just as they swore allegiance to their new boss, the Silver Samurai. The crooks cleared out in mere seconds but not before Rogue touched the Samurai and glimpsed the abandoned factory she and Shiro are now about to burst into.
Inside the factory is the hideout the Samurai has been sharing with his current partner-in-crime, Lady Deathstrike. But apparently, they cooperate with someone else, too. Rogue sees the woman through the Samurai’s mind. The woman looks familiar to Rogue, yet she fails to remember where she knows her from. Rogue kicks the door open and Shiro opens fire, literally, on Lady Deathstrike and starts to fight her. Rogue notices Blindspot, and grabs a couple of hand-cannons she took from the Yakuza thugs.
Rogue notices a strange look in Blindspot’s eyes. She looks… relieved? Lady Deathstrike dodges Sunfire’s flames, and attacks Rogue instead. She slashes with her claws, but Rogue uses her cannons to defend herself. Unfortunately, the bullets don’t do any damage on the villain herself. Deathstrike grabs a punching bag and throws it at Rogue. She thinks it’s dangerous and shoots it with the cannon, but on impact it explodes.
Blindspot realized what was going to happen, and jumps at Rogue and makes her duck. They land on the ground, and Blindspot is happy to see Rogue, but she doesn’t even know who Blindspot is. Blindspot smiles and asks Rogue if the answer lies on the tip of her tongue, even after what she took from her. Rogue gets angry, and points her cannon to Blindspot’s chin, and demands to know who she is.
Sunfire opens fire again on Lady Deathstrike, and tells her she can’t run anymore. He proudly says it’s one thing to attack him through his cousin, but it’s an entirely different matter when she has to face him by herself. Deathstrike runs to the exit, and grabs a fire extinguisher. She opens it and tries to put out Shiro’s flames, but the water doesn’t even affect his magnificent powers. Shiro starts to boil the water, and fog appears everywhere.
Rogue warns Shiro not to lose sight of Deathstrike. Blindspot whispers to Rogue that they’ve got to get out of there. Shiro gets confused when he hears Rogue, but can’t see her. Lady Deathstrike suddenly jumps out of the fog, with her claws ready. She jumps at Shiro, and slashes right through his legs!
Rogue sees it happening in slow motion. Her mind refuses to accept what her eyes are trying to tell her. Rogue sadly realizes that Shiro isn’t walking away from this. In fact, she fears that Shiro won’t be walking ever again! Then, everything speeds up again, but way too fast. Lady Deathstrike stretches her arm, and the claws hit both Rogue and Blindspot, who falls down. Deathstrike grabs Rogue by her throat, and tells her there will be no more gun fighting, since she hasn’t brought her here to kill her. At least, not yet.
(Three hours later)
Rogue wakes up, chained on a bed. She recognizes the building she’s in. It used to be a working factory before things got wrong. Unfortunately for Rogue, nobody comes near the abandoned factory anymore, and her screams would only be heard by her captives. Rogue notices that they converted the room she’s in used to be a storage cell, which Lady Deathstrike and Blindspot transformed into a regular cell. It’s like they expected Rogue to come.
Rogue looks around, and notices an unconscious Sunfire lying next to her. His feet and a part of his legs are gone, and the rest is covered in bandages. He’s hooked onto a medical monitoring machine, accompanied by an IV and feedinging tube. Rogue thinks that, from the looks of it, the cyber-enhancements Lady Deathstrike had must have involved some serious medical training, since the woman managed to stop Sunfire’s bleeding. Rogue doesn’t know what they’ve planned for Shiro, but she’s certain that, if the guy ever wakes up, he’ll wish that they had just let him die.
Suddenly, the door opens. It’s Blindspot. Rogue demands to know what she wants. Blindspot explains that she lied to Lady Deathstrike that Rogue stole something from Deathstrike’s father, Lord Dark Wind. Deathstrike ordered Blindspot to come into Rogue’s room and find out what she did with it before Yuriko kills her. Rogue is confused, since, according to her, she never stole anything from Deathstrike. Blindspot says that’s true, but mentions that at least, they tried to.
Rogue shouts to Blindspot and wants to know who she is, and why she thinks she knows something about her, when Rogue thinks they have never met before. Blindspot thinks that Rogue knows that isn’t true. She saw recognition in Rogue’s eyes, even though the memory itself isn’t there when her mind reaches for it. Blindspot knows that when Rogue’s mind looks for the memory, the only thing it’s find is a blind spot, which is what Rogue called her back when they were best friends. Rogue doesn’t buy that, since she can’t even remember the woman.
Blindspot tells Rogue that she will remember. She shows Rogue a tiny, pink colored ball-like item, which glows. Blindspot has got something of Rogue, which she has been carrying around for years, and thinks it’s now high time she gave it back to her. Blindspot goes towards Rogue’s mind and, suddenly, her vision turns black. Rogue remembers… a time long past.
(flashback)
Rogue sits in her old house, which she shared together with Mystique and Destiny. She’s young again, and shows her foster mother her new hairdo: instead of one streak through her hair, she now has two, but Mystique doesn’t like it at all. Rogue thinks it’s cool, and asks Mystique to give her at least some credit, since she didn’t get a tattoo like most other girls. Mystique knows that, but thinks that the two streaks make Rogue look old. She asks her best friend, Destiny, for help. Irene apologizes, and says she knows everything about getting old, but can’t help her with Rogue’ looks, since she’s blind.
Rogue says that’s okay, since she knows that’s not the real point: she realizes that Mystique just doesn’t want her precious girl to grow up. Destiny remembers what “little girl” Rogue did to the security staff at the FBI headquarters last month, and she shudders to think what she’ll grow up into. Mystique asks Irene if she doesn’t already know that. Destiny knows a lot, but not every detail of the future makes itself plain to her. Sometimes, she only has vague notions about what’s coming around to bend. Like the trip to Japan they are about to take. She can’t tell Rogue and Mystique why, but Irene wishes that they would rather cancel it.
Mystique can’t, because her client is already expecting them, the flight is already booked and Blindspot will meet them at the airport. Destiny doesn’t like Blindspot. Rogue says she’s all right. Mystique finds Blindspot to be useful. She kisses Destiny on her forehead and explains that, once Rogue gets her memory-absorbing abilities under control, she promises to stop working with Blindspot. Destiny smiles, and wishes that her friends just come home in one piece.
-Interlude-
Rogue remembers it all now. She recalls that before the Brotherhood of Mutants, Mystique made a fortune by providing her services to the highest bidder. Her shapeshifting talents allowed her to infiltrate almost any location and steal anyone’s secrets, but even she had her limits. Sometimes, tricks and torture weren’t enough to loosen the tongue of a stubborn victim. That’s why Mystique needed Blindspot.
-End interlude-
Rogue and a transformed-into-a-man Mystique meet a happy Blindspot at the airport. Blindspot and Rogue hug, and Blindspot tells Rogue she loves her new hair. Mystique asks Blindspot why she brought the camera. Blindspot just wanted to make sure that the plan works, and that they really look like a family on vacation. Rogue and Mystique pose in front of a window, and Blindspot takes a picture. They go onto the plane, where Rogue and Blindspot talk all the trip long, but Mystique is bored.
-Interlude-
Rogue remembers that Blindspot is, like her, a mutant. She can selectively remove a piece of her victim’s memory. It doesn’t matter the memory is just a certain hour, month or whole year, after Blindspot did her job, you never know what you have been missing, until you tried to recall that moment and came up with nothing. Blindspot stole codes, passwords, industrial secrets and even military plans. She made millions for Rogue and Mystique, but Raven never trusted her. Not like Rogue and Destiny.
Rogue’s own powers were similar enough that Mystique wanted her to fill her role one day. That being the case, one would think Blindspot would resent Rogue. But there was a powerful reason why - instead of becoming rivals, they were more like kindred spirits. Ever since Rogue’s disastrous first kiss, she has been scared of her abilities, but Blindspot’s powers were so close in nature to hers that she was actually immune to Rogue’s touch. She was the only person who could hold Rogue’s hand. Rogue remembered that they were working together with Blindspot for about five months when Mystique accepted an assignment in Tokyo.
-End interlude-
An old man named Tomo Yoshida welcomes them in his temple. He wanted the trio to steal something for him that would let him whip America into a rematch of World War II. Mystique wants to settle a few details straight before they start the mission. Tomo likes how Mystique always goes straight to the point, and takes them to his working room, where he shows them some blueprints. Tomo wants them to familiarize with the layout of Lord Dark Wind’s research facility in Yokohama, but Mystique mentions that they’ve already studied satellite photos and construction blueprints. She thinks they’ll need some additional firepower to get in. Her questions have more to do with what exactly Tomo wants them to retrieve.
Tomo didn’t dare discuss that over the phone. He explains that Dark Wind has developed a process that could produce an army of indestructible samurai to fight his Gaijin enemies. Tomo asks Rogue and Mystique if they ever heard of the term “adamantium.” Blindspot heard that it’s supposed to be some kind of metal that’s harder than diamond, but she thought that it was only a myth.
Tomo smiles, and assures them that it’s very real, though very few have succeeded in actually synthesizing it. He shows them a picture of Lord Dark Wind, who is one of those rare geniuses who possesses the secret of adamantium. He adds that in fact, a few years ago, Dark Wind refined that science to reform a feat Tomo never thought was possible: he invented a process whereby the hardest substance known to man can be bonded to a human skeleton system. Imagine it: a man with such bones and sufficient protection for his organs would be unstoppable. An army of such men would never know defeat in battle! Tomo wants Mystique and her crew to bring him a formula for this process. And he promises to pay her for the amount they agreed upon, plus a percentage of any future wealth captured by the army he shall raise.
Blindspot wants to know how they’ll know Tomo will keep to his word. Mystique has checked on his background before entering negotiations with him, and she has learned that money is no problem for him. Tomo claims to only seek to redeem his land of the rising sun, and to punish its enemies. Tomo has one more thing to offer Mystique before they leave. He calls his cousin, Shiro, to them.
-Interlude-
Rogue remembers that was the first time she ever laid eyes on Sunfire. It was shortly before his uncle sent him to attack the United States of America, and this caper would be the trial run.
-End interlude-
A costumed Shiro enters the room. Rogue is unimpressed and wants to know what he is supposed to do. Tomo smiles and recalls that, a few seconds ago, Mystique mentioned that they needed firepower, and he thinks Shiro can make sure they get it. Shiro smiles as well and demonstrates from the palm of his hand, that he has the power to create fire.
-Interlude-
Rogue recalls that they snuck into Lord Dark Wind’s research facility that night. It was in an ugly little stretch of warehouse on Tokyo base. Shiro made himself useful before they ever ran into trouble. He manipulated his fire skills and burned the security fence in front of them, so that they could get in. However, they were soon attacked by ninjas, and Rogue didn’t had the powers of Ms. Marvel at the time, so she had to find a way to defend herself.
-End interlude-
Blindspot told Rogue and Sunfire to fight the guards, while she and Mystique hit the databanks. Shiro quickly defeats some ninja’s with his powers. Rogue decides to absorb one of them, and gets all of the ninjas skills. She uses them, and helps Shiro defeat the leftovers. However, Shiro gets surprised from behind, and falls down unconscious. Rogue notices, and also absorbs his powers. She flies up and laughs, throwing the flames around and, at the same time, defeats her enemies. At the same time, she also puts the factory on fire.
Ten minutes later, Mystique, Rogue, Sunfire and Blindspot stole a boat and escaped from the place. Blindspot and Mystique failed at their task, since Dark Wind had already “cut and run” with his hard disks before they reached him. It looked like if Tomo wanted a secret agent, he’d had to do with Sunfire, who did okay on his first mission. However, it looked like Mystique was rather angry at the way Rogue handled things. Luckily, Mystique could laugh at the matter, and is glad that they at least managed to escape, and congratulates Rogue on her quick thinking. They share a laugh, and Shiro stands triumphantly. Blindspot thinks this is a moment worth of a picture, so she takes one.
-Interlude-
Rogue remembers that Blindspot confiscated the camera on the flight home, but thinks that Blindspot must have secretly backed up the memory card first.
-End interlude-
Rogue smiles and can’t understand she ever forgot Blindspot. Though she gets angry again since Blindspot betrayed her now, and wants to know the reason. Blindspot whispers and apologizes, but mentions that if she hadn’t offered to help Lady Deathstrike, she would have killed her weeks ago. Honestly, she thought that Rogue would save them both. Rogue can’t believe it, since they never stole anything from Lady Deathstrike’s father. However, Deathstrike herself doesn’t know that, and Blindspot says it was the only hope she had to stay alive.
Rogue hopes that the time Blindspot bought was worth it, since she promised Deathstrike something Rogue can’t deliver and, if Yuriko will find that out, Rogue fears that she’ll pull the plug on all of them. They take another look at Sunfire, who still lies unconscious on his bed.


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Forget Me Not: part 5
Blindspot continues her story. After the Tokyo debacle, Mystique made it clear to her that her services were no longer needed. Blindspot begged the shapeshifter to let her continue her work, but Raven just wanted to destroy the friendship she and Rogue had. When Blindspot tries to find an explanation for it today, she thinks that Mystique was just trying to make certain that she could keep Rogue under control. Blindspot remembers the day her partnership with Rogue and Mystique ended.
Since she always erases tracks once a contract ends, Blindspot always makes sure her associates don’t remember her by using her powers on them and making her victims forget she exists. That’s also the reason what kept her out of jail for all these years. Blindspot managed to knock Mystique out and erase her memories and was happy to do it, but doing the same thing with Rogue was, she admits, the hardest thing she ever did, since they were so close. Blindspot recalls how Destiny approached her, holding a crossbow. She remembers the words the old woman said to her that night. Irene was aware that she would come tonight, and do what she just did. Destiny just didn’t do anything about it, because she would have erased the knowledge of Blindspot’s existence out of her friend’s minds by herself, if she could. Destiny told her to just get out, as she knew they would never meet again.
A few weeks later, Blindspot heard on the grapevine that Lord Dark Wind wanted them all dead for trying to steel his adamantium recipe. Blindspot knew the man would never succeed in tracking her down, but also that Rogue and Mystique now didn’t remember the caper. They’d be sitting ducks once Dark Wind would have send his ninja’s to New York. So, she decided to come out of hiding, and booked a flight to Japan. First, she paid Sunfire and his uncle a visit and removed any memory they had on the Dark Wind job. That left her to the hard part: sneaking into Dark Wind’s hideout. However, Blindspot succeeded, but once she got there, she found the man already dead.
As Blindspot talks, neither she nor Rogue realize that Lady Deathstrike is observing them from a monitor. Blindspot adds that she heard a rumor that Dark Wind wanted revenge because his daughter, Yuriko, was asking about Blindspot and the others. She wanted to carry on the old man’s legacy, and somehow got the idea that they actually succeeded in stealing her father’s experiment that day. Blindspot mentions that they weren’t dealing with the Lady Deathstrike of today at the time. No, back then, she was plain old Yuriko Oyama, a seriously mixed-up girl who killed her dad and went nuts trying to make up for it. Blindspot took Deathstrike by surprise and cleared her mind of hers, Mystique’s and Rogue’s existence. She thought it would be over doing that. She was wrong when she found out what Deathstrike had become. Blindspot apologizes for being the reason Rogue is here. She admits that she sent the photo to the newspaper to frame her and Sunfire.
Lady Deathstrike stands up, and sharpens her claws. Rogue hates the idea of how Blindspot treats her best friends. Blindspot admits she was desperate, and that Deathstrike would have killed her, wouldn’t it that Blindspot proved to be useful. During the conversation, nobody seems to notice that Sunfire is waking up, and mumbles something. Blindspot adds that, though she set up the trap, she kind of hoped that Rogue and Mystique would have come to save the day. Rogue is confused. She wants to know how, if Blindspot erased her existence from Lady Dee back when she was seventeen, she would know to come after her.
The door opens. An angry Deathstrike answers the question by saying that science finally overcame Blindspot’s powers. Deathstrike mentions that her last upgrade included diagnostic wetware that detected a gap in her long-term memory engrams. Her C.P.U. reconstructed them the same way Blindspot would recover lost data from a bad hard drive. Though Yuriko admits she was surprised when she found out what her three enemies had done to her father. Sunfire’s situation goes better unnoticed, and he still tries to say something, but can only mumble.
Yuriko wanted to disgrace Sunfire before killing him. And she needed to lure Rogue away from the protection of her fellow X-Men, and Blindspot was more than eager to make that happen. She even enlisted the Silver Samurai by making him forget he had abandoned his criminal live. He now thinks that Sunfire brainwashed him into destroying the criminal empire he inherited. But, Yuriko adds, the Samurai is making up for lost time even as they speak. Unfortunately, she continues, Blindspot was only buying time for herself. As it turned out, none of Yuriko’s enemies possessed her father’s secrets. She sees this situation as a wasted effort. Lady Deathstrike prepares herself, and thinks it’s now up to just erase all evidence from her crimes, and kill her foes.
She opens her claws, but gets attacked by a full blast of fire, and blasts her outside the room! Sunfire is partly awake, and wants Rogue to come closer to him. Rogue tries to get up, but is still tied to the bed. She orders Blindspot to release her before Deathstrike returns, but Blindspot doesn’t have the keys. Sunfire asks Rogue to absorb his powers, because he doesn’t want to live on in his current state, as he can’t even move at the moment. Plus, they’ll all die if Rogue refuses. Shiro sees this as a better way to die. Rogue still fears she might kill Sunfire if she absorbs his powers, and doesn’t want to do that. But, she agrees to absorb just a little bit, just to get her cuffs loose. Blindspot hears Deathstrike yelling and coming back. She doesn’t want to waste any more time, and pushes Rogue against Shiro’s face, and makes her absorb him!
Deathstrike runs back to her monitor room, and observes on her screens the status of Sunfire’s monitoring machine, and it looks like he’s dead. Yuriko is confident that she can win now, and goes back to her adversaries. But as she opens the door, Yuriko once again gets attacked by fire! Rogue triumphantly steps forward, and, talking in Sunfire’s voice and, in Japanese, and threats that nothing will spare Deathstrike for what she did.
Deathstrike runs outside of the building, with a rampaging and literally on fire Rogue following her. Blindspot is left behind. She asks Sunfire if he’s still awake, but he’s unconscious again. So, she runs outside. Deathstrike runs to the public streets, and by trying to make her way through, slams her head against a car. Rogue, still acting and talking like Sunfire, sees this as the perfect way for Deathstrike to end her life and that her execution should be public.
At the same time, the X-Men are trying to reach Japan in their plane. Gambit finds the situation ridiculous, as Rogue turned off her cell phone for days and, now that they’ve finally located her, she’s in the other half of the world! He thinks trouble is a brewing. Alex telepathically contacts Emma, and asks for an update since they are above Tokyo. Emma admits she just lost Rogue a few seconds ago, but mentions that something strange has happened to her mind: one moment it was there, the other, it was gone! Though, Emma is certain that Rogue isn’t dead, Emma just lost her fix on her. Alex doesn’t see a fast way to find Rogue, since there are twelve thousand people living below them.
Lady Deathstrike is prepared to fight for her live. Rogue smiles, and throws yet another big ball of fire against her. The X-Men notice it, and land. Blindspot arrives as well, and panics as she sees all the fire. Deathstrike is still alive, but her legs are on fire! Rogue refuses to stop, and tells Yuriko that since they are warriors of the Bushido code, death shouldn’t fear her. Rogue once again throws fire at Deathstrike and hits her hands.
Blindspot asks Rogue to stop and to remember who she truly is. Rogue thinks she knows perfectly who she is, and hasn’t forgotten about Blindspot: she will make her skin burn up first! The X-Men finally find Rogue, and ask her what’s wrong. Rogue gets a headache, and tells the mutants to stop calling her that. Blindspot panics and fears that the X-Men might take her. She wants her best friend back, and gives Rogue her proper memories back, but burns her hand in the process. Gambit rushes to her, and asks his love if she’s alright. But… Rogue doesn’t even know who the X-Men are!
Gambit explains to her that they are the X-Men. Rogue gets an angry expression on her face, and shouts that she hates the X-Men, and absorbs Havok! She uses Alex’s powers to make a path between the X-Men, her and Blindspot, and asks her where Mystique and the others are. Blindspot tells her that they’re alone, and asks Rogue how old she is. Rogue gets confused, and replies that she’s… seventeen years old! She wants to know why Blindspot asked it. She smiles, and answers that she was just checking.


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Forget Me Not: Conclusion
Rogue thinks she still evil, like she has been in her past, and doesn’t hesitate at all in attacking the other X-Men! Iceman is confused and asks Rogue why she is doing this. She attacks him with the plasma blasts she absorbed from Havok, and smiles that she is just doing what comes natural! With Bobby down, Rogue fires Havok’s blasts against Polaris, but she defends herself using her magnetic powers. Lorna has had enough of the fighting, and uses her powers to wrap up a nearby car, and traps Rogue inside it!
Blindspot panics. Lorna notices the memory thief and flies towards her, demanding that she get away from Havok or else she’ll make her pay! Rogue frees herself using the combined powers of Sunfire’s flames and Havok’s blasts, and yells at Polaris not to threaten her friend like that. Rogue attacks Polaris with her flame powers, and knocks Lorna out. After checking and concluding that Blindspot is okay, she absorbs Lorna’s powers. However, doing this, she doesn’t notice the sneaky Wolverine, who tackles Rogue down.
He wants to fish her off with his claws, but Gambit warns him not to do it. Logan calms down a bit, and shouts that Rogue has to give him one good reason why he shouldn’t. Rogue sarcastically smiles, and can give Logan about two hundred reasons why he shouldn’t: his bones! She uses the magnetic powers she absorbed from Polaris, and lifts Logan up in the sky, and throws him away! Gambit jumps to safety, but Logan instead falls against Iceman, whose body once again breaks into tiny ice cubes, except for his head, torso and part of his arms.
Gambit tries to talk some sense into Rogue, and asks Marie why she is doing this. Rogue gets confused, and wants to know how the Cajun knows her real name. Blindspot realizes that this could be trouble. In the heat of the battle, nobody notices that a heavily damaged Lady Deathstrike, with one of her arms and legs torn off, tries to escape.
Rogue moves closer to Gambit, who keeps talking to her. He tells her that he is the man she loves, and that she has told and shared so many things with him, including telling him her real name. Gambit tosses his bo-staff on the ground, to prove that he won’t fight Rogue, as he never wants to hurt her. Rogue hesitates, and thinks that this is some kind of trick, as she thinks they’ve never met before. But, she has to admit that Gambit makes her feel things. Gambit explains that he is a mutant like Rogue is, but thinks it’s her heart she is feeling. Maybe it remembers what her mind has lost?
Blindspot interferes. She promises Rogue to explain everything once they have escaped, and claims that the X-Men are not her friends. Gambit realizes that Blindspot has got something to do with Rogue, and wants to take her back to Xavier’s. Blindspot asks Rogue if that sounds like something she wants to do. Gambit begs Marie to listen to her heart. Rogue hesitates, and remains silent.
Rogue thinks she knows best. She admits she has met some mighty smooth talkers in her day, and hates to see Gambit fighting on the wrong side. She magnetically lifts up his bo-staff, and wraps it around his body, trapping the Cajun. Gambit doesn’t give up, and tries to tell Rogue that she isn’t acting like herself. Blindspot moves closer to Rogue and, smiling, responds that Remy must think that Rogue isn’t acting like the X-Men have turned her into. Gambit shouts to Rogue that, if she doesn’t believe him, she can touch him and absorb the truth. Blindspot lies that Gambit is only buying time so that Wolverine can recover, and that they have to escape to her place before that happens. Rogue agrees, and uses her new flame powers to fly up and escape, but wants Blindspot to tell her the truth once they are safe.
The Ginza District, three minutes later…
Rogue and Blindspot land in the middle of the street, not even caring about the people looking at them. Blindspot laughs that this has been the most fun she has had in years, and admits that she can’t stand the X-Men. This surprises Rogue, and wants to know why Blindspot wanted to escape instead of letting her finish the do-gooders off. Blindspot understands, but mentions that the situation is a more complicated than it seems. She explains to Rogue that if she’d let her do something irrevocable like that, Rogue might hate her later for it, once she understood what’s happened, and Blindspot doesn’t like to see that happen.
Rogue understands, but now wants Blindspot to start explaining things, as she has a lot of questions. For example: why are they in Japan and why are they here without Mystique, and what the heck is going on?! Plus, Rogue wants to know about the half destroyed robot-lady on the ground, referring to Lady Deathstrike. Plus, she also wants to know why she suddenly has flame powers, which seem to be permanent, as she has noticed that the powers she borrowed from the X-Men are already gone again.
Blindspot tells her to calm down, and they arrive at an apartment block. The owner, Mr. Ishii, is glad to finally see Blindspot again, as she was beginning to fear that she might have been dead! She apologizes, and Ishii hands her over her room keys. A short while later, they enter Blindspot’s room. She explains that she isn’t in Japan that often, but keeps the room year-round, just in case. She also mentions to have others in Paris, Moscow, Milan, Rio and so on. She promises Rogue to show them all, as she has planned a lot of capers in mind for them, and looks forward to finally see things as the way they should have been.
Rogue isn’t much interested and just wants Blindspot to tell her the truth. The last thing she remembers is flying home after burning half the Yokohama waterfront with the powers she borrowed from Sunfire. Suddenly, she finds herself back in Tokyo, with Mystique’s worst enemies acting like they are her long-lost friends. And, Rogue admits, she learned that it wasn’t an act, since when she touched them, she could tell they really thought her as one of them.
Blindspot seeks something under a bed, and opens a suitcase. She explains to Rogue that’s the reason why she didn’t want her to kill the X-Men yet. Rogue just wants to know what happened between her and them, as she guesses she has amnesia or something, except Blindspot is there. Rogue wants to know how much Blindspot really took from her, and how old she really is.
Blindspot takes a mirror from the suitcase, and… Rogue is stunned! She looks like she is thirty years old or something! Blindspot asks Rogue if she believes that she is her friend. Rogue isn’t sure. Blindspot thinks that Rogue does know, and asks the question again. Rogue hesitates for a while, before eventually confirming. Blindspot tells Rogue she can bet her life that she is her friend. And what she did, Blindspot adds, is because she loves Rogue. Because she is maybe the only person in the world she can say that about, the only one like her.
Rogue wants to know what Blindspot did. She lies that she rescued Rogue from years of brainwashing at the Xavier Institute. That they made Rogue believe in Xavier’s dream of mutants and humans living as equals, which Blindspot admits would be great if they lived in an alternate reality, but the truth Rogue asked her for is that everybody is not equal. She thinks that God doesn’t work that way. She thinks that some of them are born to give and some to take. There’s no shame in that, it’s just the way it is.
Blindspot explains that she knew the real Rogue, before Mystique turned her into her “attack dog.” Blindspot knew when she and Rogue met, when she found that she was immune to Rogue’s touch, that they were one and the same. Blindspot sees them as wolves, as their mutant talents say it all: they steal memories, bits of people’s lives. Though Rogue goes even further: she steals people’s skills, abilities and power! Rogue turns away from Blindspot, and silently asks her not to call her a “taker.”
Blindspot smirks, and thinks the only crime is denying it, which is what she says Xavier and his X-Men spent years forcing Rogue to do. Blindspot has one other thing to show Rogue: her original costume! Blindspot explains she has kept this little souvenir since the good old days. It even smelled like Rogue for the longest time. Rogue takes it, and notices how curled it looks. She asks Blindspot if she lied against it at nights, or something. Blindspot doesn’t answer the question, but looks sad.
She tells Rogue that she doesn’t know what it’s been like for her. She is always on the move, knocking off museums, financial firms, palaces and fortresses around the world. There isn’t a security system or police department in the world that can stop her. She must have stolen a billion dollars, and… Blindspot cries. Rogue understands: Blindspot never had anyone to share it with. Blindspot still cries, but laughs and confirms it. She adds that when she part ways someone, she takes all of their memories about her. Standard operating procedure to Blindspot. It keeps her out of jail, and off any “wanted” lists, but the price is… nobody knows she exists!
Rogue remembers that the guy at the front desk was worried about Blindspot. She explains that by the time they fly to Hong Kong, he won’t remember her, either. But she admits she can’t keep living like this. She feels like a ghost! Rogue is glad to finally have heard the truth. She realizes that Blindspot didn’t steal her memories to save her from Xavier; she did it because she was lonely. Blindspot doesn’t see the error in that, and asks Rogue if what she is going to leave is so much better than what she is offering. Does protecting people who hate her sound like fun?
Rogue can’t say. Maybe it is. She wonders how she could know unless Blindspot gives her back what she took. She wants to know if what the Cajun told her was true, and if she really loves him. She can’t let Blindspot make her forget that as well. Blindspot lies that Remy LeBeau is a professional thief, a taker. Just like they are. Realizing this, Blindspot isn’t surprised that Rogue was drawn to him. She is confused about how this got turned around, as Rogue is making it sound like she wants to hurt her.
All Rogue is saying is that, no matter how bad Blindspot wants to change the past, she can’t just erase it. She can’t just hit the reset button on someone’s life. Whoever she has become, Rogue demands that Blindspot lets her deal with it honestly. Blindspot doesn’t want to do that, and tells Rogue she doesn’t know what she’s asking her. Rogue is aware that Blindspot thinks she is doing her a favor, but it really is for herself to decide. Rogue fires up and wants her life back.
However, Blindspot would rather die than to give Rogue back to Xavier. She just wants to pack their things and catch their plane. Rogue and Blindspot look at each other for a while. Blindspot leaves the room with her suitcase, leaving Rogue’s old costume behind. Rogue powers down, and looks seriously. At the same time, Blindspot walks through the hallways alone, and starts to cry again. Suddenly, she trips. Blindspot turns around to her room, and realizes what has to be done.
Meanwhile, the X-Men have recovered from their battle with Rogue. Gambit and Wolverine are trying to piece Iceman’s broken body back together. After that, Havok wants to dust off and start the search for Rogue again. Wolverine explains he has caught Rogue’s scent, and mentions that he has friends in low places of this town. She thinks it might be best if Gambit and he track Rogue quietly. Rogue, in full fire power, lands in front of the X-Men, wearing her old costume and tells them that she’s back. Wolverine recognizes the costume and remembers what it represented, and snikts his claws open, just in case.
Rogue tells Logan he can calm down, and explains that there was a woman who made her believe that she was back in her old Brotherhood of Mutants days. Gambit doesn’t understand, but Rogue promises to explain things later. She first wants to know what the X-Men did to Lady Deathstrike. But… they didn’t even know she was here!
The Sagacho District…
Rogue takes the X-Men to the house where she and the dying Sunfire were prisoners. But now, Shiro’s body is gone! Rogue thinks that Deathstrike must have come back for him, but wonders what she could do with a corpse? Gambit thinks that Shiro isn’t as dead as Rogue might think. Wolverine isn’t sure, as the stink of death is all over the place. Rogue however wants to find out for sure. She explains that Shiro sacrificed himself to save her life, and now she is afraid she has permanently absorbed him like she did with Carol Danvers.
Wolverine doesn’t understand, and wants to know how Rogue could have ever let something like that happen again. Rogue is ashamed, but she doesn’t know. She didn’t even want to risk it, but Shiro was stubborn. But, Rogue doesn’t want to make excuses. She thinks that Blindspot might have been right about her. Maybe no matter how much she fights it, this is who she is: a taker. Gambit wants to know if this woman made Rogue turn on the X-Men, what Rogue eventually did to her.
Rogue explains that she let Blindspot go. She destroyed Sunfire’s life, and pretty well wrecked hers. But, in the end, Rogue did the only thing that seemed right. She thinks Blindspot realized she couldn’t really make her seventeen again. Maybe what she has learned as an X-Man runs deeper than memory. So, Blindspot let her free and Rogue returned the favor. Blindspot gave Rogue her past back, so Rogue gave her a piece of her present: her new costume. And if they really are one of a kind, Rogue thinks that maybe her costume will remind Blindspot that she can change, and stop living in a hell of her own making.
At the same time, elsewhere, Blindspot lies sleeping in her bed, with Rogue’s costume next to her, and she hugs her X-badge.


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Hybrid!
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters:
The sound of the mutant detecting computer, Cerebro, wails through the halls and the uncanny X-Men hurry towards the room that houses the device They are expected by their mentor, Charles Xavier. Kitty Pryde, the newest and youngest member, asks what Cerebro is anyway and what this all means. Professor Xavier explains that a power of incredible proportions has just manifested itself on Earth but whether it is a force for good or bad is for the X-Men to discover. The five mutants gather around their wheelchair-bound mentor, who explains that part of the X-Men’s reason for being is making contact with new mutants. Yeah, Wolverine agrees enthusiastically, unsheathing his claws and annoying the professor in the process. Xavier continues that they have no way of knowing whether the new mutant is a potential menace or ally. You can bet Magneto is already trying to turn him into the former, Wolverine interrupts.
Storm notices from the professor’s tone that there seems to be more to this particular mutant. Xavier commends her astuteness. Cerebro’s signal is strong but diffuse, perhaps owing to the fact that it comes from the vicinity of faraway Clayton, West Virginia. But, perhaps, this mutant is also different from any they have encountered, perhaps… not even human…
Determining that is up to the X-Men, Storm decides, and thrashing them is the other part Wolverine quips as the team departs. Xavier looks after them proud, but also worried, wishing he could aid his children.
At that moment, hundreds of kilometers south in the very county in question, Dr. John Stennis, an elderly old school family doctor is snow-mobiling through the snow, approaching the farm of Jacob Marks. Marks had called Stennis, urging him it was a matter of life or death; something about his wife. Having arrived, the doctor looks around to find the farm in disarray: no smoke from the chimney, barn in disrepair, the livestock dead. He hopes that Marks didn’t call him because of that. He’s a general practitioner, not a vet. Stennis enters the farmhouse, the door being wide open. He has answered house calls for 35 years, but this time, he feels, is different. He calls out for Jacob and Marjorie Marks, until finally a feeble, trembling voice calls out his name.
Stennis’ eyes adjust to the dim light and he cries out in horror. He recognizes the weak woman lying in the bed before him as Marjorie Marks, but this is a wizened crone and Marjorie shouldn’t even be 40. For the love of heaven, he cries out, horrified. Not heaven, a voice behind him bleakly announces. The creature who did that to his wife is as close to purgatory as any living being can get, Jacob Marks states. The doctor is too late and the horror has already taken her. Nobody can help her now.
Doc Stennis demands an explanation: what happened to Marjorie? The same thing as the livestock? And then why wasn’t Jacob affected? The gaunt farmer gives him a grim look. “Because the horror wanted him to suffer.” With these words, Jacob transforms. Too weak to hold onto his human form he becomes what he truly is: a male, white Dire Wraith. He points to an open door, telling Stennis that this way maybe he’ll understand the horror…
Stennis realizes that Jacob isn’t human. But what about his wife and his son, Jimmy? Stennis has seen his wife, the creature that was Jacob Marks replies. Now he can see his son. Horrified and confused, Doc Stennis forces himself to enter the room, despite the charnel stench. 15 years ago he had brought Jimmy Marks into the world in this room. A mocking voice greets him, asking him if he has come to play. The horror greeting him with the distorted child’s voice is too much even for the doctor. He turns around and flees for his life.
Jacob Marks, human once more, addresses the creature in the shadows – his son: angrily he tells him that he could have allowed the doctor to take his mother into a hospital at least. His son replies that he had to keep her here, so his father could see what he does to her. So that he knows how bad he was for ever having loved that smooth-skinned Earthling sow. In despair, Marks realizes what horror he has wrought. His son only laughs.
A short distance away, Clairton’s county coroner, Silas Lane, just back from Washington, is the last guest to arrive at the home of Jonathan and Sarah Clark. Jonathan greets him, explaining that several friends and neighbors have gathered. Lane mentions that he’s been going trough birth and death certificates of town people dating back five decades and came upon some interesting stuff. So have they, Jonathan replies. But there’s someone especially he’d like to introduce him to – Rom Spaceknight. Lane is shocked to see the “robot” that’s been killing so many town folk sitting peacefully in the living room, surrounded by his neighbors. Has he got them all in his power? Lane panics, wanting to call the state police, before more people are killed. Jonathan holds him back, pointing out that no humans have been killed. Those “men” Rom banished were never men at all. Clark explains how they all shared Lane’s ideas about Rom. He had discounted his daughter Brandy’s tales of aliens disguised as humans as nonsense, but last week at Brandy’s wedding two bridegrooms showed up. One, the real Steve Jackson, shot the other, who in death was revealed to be an alien Dire Wraith, who upon its death crumbled to ash, just like all the others Rom “killed”.
It sounds like some insane TV movie plot. But it’s true, Steve Jackson insists. The Wraiths want to conquer Earth and use it as a base to launch an attack on Rom’s world. Rom came here to stop them, Brandy adds, but the Wraiths are shapeshifters. Only Rom’s energy analyzer can reveal them to Rom’s eyes. Jonathan adds that in the last few days more than a dozen Clairton families have disappeared. They believe that they were actually Wraiths disguised as humans, infiltrating their community. Silas Lane reaches into his case and takes out several index cards. Are those the names of the vanished? Jonathan agrees, they are – except for Jacob Marks, a farmer who lives in the hills near Clairton.
Silas Lane explains that the data on some of these cards impossibly records dozens of these people born on the same day – November 9,1945. Other cards seem to have been altered or removed. Jonathan points out that he only sees Jacob Marks name on one card, but he has a family. Sarah Clark protests that Marjorie Marks cant’ be a Wraith. They’ve known her since childhood. She even helped Doc Stennis deliver her child. Rom interrupts for the first time: the Wraiths arrived here on Earth in 1945 when they’d fled from the spaceknights. They disguised themselves as human of all ages and forged birth records showing them all to have been born on a day chosen at random. In the wake of the confusion of Word War II, they managed to move in unsuspected. But when Rom arrived and began banishing them to Limbo, they realized that the deaths of some of their number would cause their records to be examined. Thus the records were altered, presumably by a Wraith in the government. Marks’ name apparently was overlooked. What concerns him more, though, is the idea of a Wraith having married a human and sired a child with her.
The blizzard is still raging as Rom flies towards the Marks’ farm, followed by Brandy Clark and Steve Jackson on snowmobiles. Rom sees two humans outside the farm, lands and asks his friends to stay back. Brandy recognizes the woman as Marjorie, but realizes that something must have happened to her. Steve holds her back, warning her of Wraith deception. There will be no deception this time, a stern Jacob tells them and admits to being a Dire Wraith. But his wife is human and needs immediate medical care. Without a word, Rom summons his energy analyzer from subspace and trains it on Marjorie Marks. The examination indeed proves her to be human. He asks Brandy to get to the woman, adding that her life-energies are dangerously low. Steve and Brandy take the woman to the snowmobile, intending to get her to a hospital. Rom stays back with Jacob who tells him not to train his analyzer on him. He is what he said he is, with those words he turns into his Wraith shape.
Turning back, Steve is disgusted. He’s seen Wraiths up close when they held him prisoner and sent his double to marry Brandy but he’ll never get used to them. If he hadn’t escaped, Brandy realizes, she might be married to one of them now, like Marjorie.
Rom angrily announces that banishment to Limbo is too good a punishment for what Marks has done to that woman. The Wraith protests, revealing that he truly loved the woman. He didn’t harm her. Does Rom disbelieve that a Wraith can know love? He asks the spaceknight to listen to his tale.
Jacob’s tale:
He had arrived on Earth in 1940, with his fighter craft too damaged to be repaired or even to communicate with the main fleet. Alone and tired of the two hundred war years with the Galadorians, the Wraith imitated the human form. Not to infiltrate or spy upon, but simply to dwell among an alien people in peace. War had just ended, soldiers were returning, displaced persons were looking for new homes. It was easy for the Wraith to walk among the humans unnoticed. Soon, he had established his identity as Jacob Marks, the farmer. He felt secure enough to follow a human custom and take a wife, first only to further his disguise, but later he found surprisingly that he actually started to love Marjorie. Their marriage was happy, though Jacob was set against having children, despite Marjorie’s wishes. Finally certain of his adopted humanity, Jacob agreed to try and, fifteen years ago, they had a son, Jimmy.
Years later, Jacob’s Wraith heritage resurfaced with a vengeance as other Wraiths found him. They were not fooled by his faking innocence. They wanted his son, the first Wraith-human hybrid. Marks should have resisted, but centuries of utter obedience took their toll. He led the “men” to his family, telling his wife only that it was their right to see his son.
Behind locked doors, Jimmy was initiated into the secrets of his arcane ancestry. He proved a receptive pupil. As his parents, Marjorie and Jacob were suffered to live, but Marjorie was unwilling to leave their son in the Wraiths’ hands. She wanted to take her son and leave with him, but the child had already changed too much. He mocked his mother’s efforts, telling her he had still too much to learn. Demonstrating already telepathic and telekinetic powers to her, he rudely ordered her to get out. Jimmy became callous, cruel, powerful beyond measure, easily killing the farm’s livestock with his thoughts on a whim.
Marjorie tried to reclaim the boy. He tolerated her as long as the Wraith elders came to teach him. One week ago, they stopped coming and Jimmy started to properly terrorize his parents. Calling him a monster, Jacob intended to attack him. His son coldly told him that he was a monster, a forbidden crossbreeding of two races diametrically opposed, but unlike his father he had no doubt where his loyalty lay. With a gesture, he levitated his father and threw him out, announcing that he wished to be alone to await the return of the elders. In the meantime, his father should take care of his wife, whom Jimmy mentally aged 50 years in seconds.
The Present:
Jacob grimly informs Rom that Jimmy still awaits the Wraiths’ return in his room. He wonders who will be the master when his tutoring is done. That time won’t come, Rom explains and tells him that he has already banished those elders to Limbo. Jacob warns him that his son will be furious at Rom and that his evil is far greater. Rom tells him it is time he met his son and steps inside the farmhouse. Hs circuitry instantly registers intense cold, as the entire interior of the building is frozen. Light emerges from a room, as does a child’s voice, which chides him for having been a very naughty Spaceknight. He’s going to have to punish him for that. Rom follows the voice and enters the room to find Jimmy Marks, a fifteen year old, sitting cross-legged in the air and glowing.
Using his analyzer, Rom realizes that, while Jimmy may sound and look human, he is actually something else altogether. Even he is unprepared for the horror that reveals itself to him, though. A strangely emaciated, twisted, entirely unnatural creature that tells Rom that soon the entire world will know… Hybrid.
The monster informs Rom that he hates maintaining his human disguise ever since his Wraith tutors had made him aware of who and what he truly was. They opened his eyes to his power, which he is perhaps the most powerful being on Earth. Rom will pay for driving them away. With just a gesture the creature tears apart the room and has the wood shards attack Rom.
Suddenly, Jacob enters, trying to appeal to his son. He tells him that the Wraiths appealed to his immaturity to turn him into a creature like them – but they are gone and he is now free to control his destiny. He shouldn’t disavow his human heritage. Pretty funny, his son shoots back, considering his father spent the last decades fervently denying his own heritage. He is neither Wraith nor human, he continues. He is beyond both. His father tried to hide his power and for that—with a gesture he telekinetically levitates the pitchfork and aims it through his father’s stomach. Skewered Marks dies instantly and crumbles to dust, as dead Wraiths do.
Rom, still fighting against the localized whirlwind around him, curses the monster. Though born a Wraith, Jacob Marks had learned to become human and loved his son. He is a child of the Dark Nebula, Hybrid spits back – he cannot love. A lie which until now even Rom believed, the Spaceknight replies. He had never suspected that Wraiths were made, not born. Isolated from the Wraiths, Marks learned love and compassion. Had not the Wraiths interfered, Hybrid could have lived as a human child, unaware of his birthright.. But he is aware, Hybrid shoots back, and being aware he finds he prefers Wraith evil to simpering human goodness.
Fending off Rom’s attack, Hybrid gloats that he is quite unique, but once Rom has been disposed of, he can seek out other Wraith Elders, force them to mate with humans and thus create a cross-breed he’ll rule. Hybrid hurls Rom back towards the wall with superhuman strength, while at the same time telekinetically strangling him with the curtains.
Rom had held back, though. Convinced that Hybrid is irredeemable, Rom summons his Neutralizer and trains it on the creature to banish him to Limbo. However, the monster still stands. Rom realizes that the Neutralizer was set to banish a Wraith bio-structure. Perhaps a higher setting will accomplish the task. Hybrid gloats that all Rom’s power will not be enough, laughing in the face of Rom’s attack. The Neutralizer’s assault tears apart the farmhouse around them, but Hybrid remains standing. Rom finds he has no choice. Banishment isn’t an option. So, he announces that he has to slay Hybrid.
A great speech, a rough voice announces. That’ll look swell carved on his tombstone. Rom turns around to find himself face to face with a very angry group of X-Men, who believe him to be the aggressor here. Why else would he destroy a farmhouse and threaten a helpless boy? Hybrid has taken on human shape again and sits to the back, listening to Sprite’s attempt to calm him with a nasty smile.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
And a child shall deceive them!
A case of mistaken identity is taking place. The newly arrived X-Men try to protect young Jimmy Marks from the space knight, Rom, whom they believe to be a villain, unaware that Jimmy is a monstrously evil mutant named Hybrid. They believe Rom to be the mutant. The grown-up X-Men attack, while Kitty Pryde holds Jimmy Marks in her arms, trying to calm him. Rom is aware that Hybrid is hiding his true identity from the newly arrived heroes.
Flashback:
Only this morning, Clairton physician, Dr. Stennis, had visited the Marks farm to find the livestock dead and young Marjorie Marks aged fifty years in a day. Her husband, Jacob Marks, showed Stennis their son. The doctor fled in terror. Soon after, acting on information gleaned from the bureau of records, Rom led his friends, Brandy Clark and Steve Jackson, to the Marks farm. Jacob Marks was a Dire Wraith in disguise; the first Wraith Rom met who had learned compassion making him unique. Unfortunately, so was his mutant son, Hybrid, who had been corrupted by the Wraith elders. Showing his true, disgusting form, Jimmy Marks displayed vast powers, greater than either of his parents’ races, as he attacked Rom and slew his father. Rom attempted to banish Hybrid to Limbo. But his Neutralizer – on its Wraith setting – had no effect. At that point, the X-Men showed up, interpreting the situation the way Hybrid wished them to.
The present:
Nightcrawler, Colossus and Wolverine attack without warning, while Storm becomes aware of an elemental disturbance - that the blizzard that appears around them is unnatural. She focuses on it, while her male teammates fight. Nightcrawler teleports away from Rom, leaving the savage Wolverine room to strike with his claws, causing Rom quite some pain.
Still holding onto Jimmy, Kitty watches in fear, realizing that Wolverine means to kill his foe, while Hybrid secretly gloats. Exercising a part of his vast mental powers, Hybrid analyzes Storm’s power and activates it undetected, magnifying the blizzard into a full-force gale. Colossus orders Kitty to take the boy away, while Nightcrawler realizes that the blizzard is driving them apart. Storm assures them that it is none of her doing and worries that she cannot control the storm.
Rom, in the meantime, struggles against Colossus, remembering the first time he has fought a Terran superbeing. Must he always stand in opposition to them? Wolverine intends to strike again but, uncharacteristically, he hesitates. He senses evil and his gut tells him that the space-knight is not the source.
While Storm senses another, unseen force at work, that force acts levitating common farm implements, hurling them at Rom as the X-Men jump aside.
Storm focuses all her will on at least containing the gale, leaving her teammates to struggle on without her. Rom, who now has some breathing space, intends to locate Hybrid in the blizzard, which practically leaves all of them almost blind. Finally, he sees him in his true form and Kitty, standing in front of Hybrid and not realizing what he is, cries out for her teammates.
Rom shouts a warning at Kitty, but she cannot hear him over the wind. She worries how to protect Jimmy and turns around, only to come face to face with Hybrid. She screams in horror and instinctively phases straight through Rom, who has come to aid her. Unfortunately, this leaves Rom’s circuits scrambled and, wracked with incredible nausea, he tries to get his bearings as Hybrid closes in on him.
Colossus, in the meantime, tells his friends that he cannot find Sprite and the other two realize that Storm isn’t behind the blizzard. Something is very wrong here. They decide to split up to find Kitty and the boy.
Hybrid, in the meantime, gloatingly asks Rom how he wishes to die. Asphyxiating? Or shall Hybrid age him to dust? Rom bravely replies that he is going to go out fighting, as he trains his Neutralizer on the monster. However, he can barely stand, as Hybrid well knows. Rom puts his Neutralizer to the fullest setting and shoots.
At that moment, the whirling wall of white parts to give Colossus a partial view of the struggle, even as he hears the shriek of the Neutralizer. He fears that Rom has trained the weapon on Kitty and blindly attacks, wrestling Hybrid, who in turn uses his power to change Colossus back to his human form. Then, Hybrid announces he will let him die fighting for air, as his expanding throat muscles cut off his oxygen. Colossus falls, while Hybrid goes looking for Rom, whom he has lost sight of. Luckily, Nightcrawler finds Piotr and starts administering CPR.
A short distance away, Wolverine senses something but it is not the stench of evil, it is cold steel and flesh combined. Wolverine unsheathes his claws. He admonishes himself that he should stop holding back. That’s no way to win a fight. He attacks Rom wildly, even though Rom protests, trying to talk to him.
A short distance away, Sprite vaguely sees the two of them fighting. She struggles to get up – she has to warn the others about the monster. She realizes that Wolverine is battling her savior and gets up. At that moment, her warning cry dies in her throat. She turns around to find Hybrid behind her, gloating that she would be a fitting receptacle for his first experiment in crossbreeding. Kitty shouts in horror and dives away from his outstretched clawed hand.
Kitty sternly admonishes herself that she is an X-Man, not a scared schoolgirl. She has to act, if she can stop shivering long enough to use her powers and her brains. She finds the snow mobile left behind Dr. Stennis. She activates the ignition and then sends it racing towards Hybrid. Unfortunately, the horror easily turns it away with his powers, then mentally dissolves it into its components and sends them hurtling back at Sprite.
Kitty tries to phase, but the cold is making it hard for her to focus. She’s afraid that the cold would make her lose control of her powers. Inadvertently, she bumps into Wolverine, who complains that he was just about to gouge the tin-man’s heart out. Kitty quickly explains that he isn’t the bad guy but the kid is. Both of them wonder where Rom is. The answer is: not far away but in deadly danger, as Hybrid once more attacks, this time swatting the Neutralize out of Rom’s hands. Wolverine sees this and reasons that Hybrid is afraid of the weapon. He points it at Hybrid and tries to pull the trigger but the Neutralizer’s built-in failsafe sends a bone-shattering feedback lashing through the X-Man’s body.
Hybrid gloats. Rom is disarmed and the humans are unable to use his weapon. Kitty runs to the weapon on the ground, knowing she is the only one left capable of turning the tide. She also knows what the gun has done to Wolverine, but it seems to be the only thing Hybrid’s afraid of. Frightened, she turns it on Hybrid and fires, momentarily stunning the creature, giving Rom some space. Rom is surprised that Kitty seems to be able to wield the weapon, apparently thanks to the same aspect of her phasing power that scrambled his electrical systems before.
 Kitty keeps the weapon trained on Hybrid but he comes closer to her and Rom realizes that the gun isn’t on its full setting. It has to be set on both banishing and destroying energies at once. Rom flies at Hybrid, stopping him, and shouts at Sprite that the weapon can be reset by electrical impulses. Kitty manages to manipulate the weapon’s atoms and hits Hybrid with a full blast. The monster is shredded apart, while, at the same time, a dimensional rift opens through which the helpless spaceknight Rom falls.
Kitty’s control over the weapon finally falters and sends the weapon flying from her hands.
At the same moment, the storm caused by Hybrid ends and Storm joins her teammates.
Colossus finally awakes and Wolverine finds that he can neither smell Hybrid nor Rom. Storm finds a dejected Kitty kneeling in the snow, with burned hands, but she doesn’t care about her injuries. Rom tried to save them and she destroyed him with his own weapon. Ororo tries to comfort the girl by pointing out that a great evil has been eradicated and the armored man, whoever he was, obviously wished that. She believes he sacrificed himself. They can only pray that their unknown ally whom the gravely wronged is at peace.
The X-Men walk away, while the Neutralizer lies undiscovered in the snow. Elsewhere, in a realm between time and space, its master drifts… helpless without it…