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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Against the Wind
While attending one of her sister Dazzler’s concerts, Lois London begins feeling ill, and steps outside for some fresh air. A derelict man assaults her outside of an alley. In her terror, Lois fights back and kills the man with some new, mysterious power. The frightened Lois returns to Dazzler’s apartment for advice. Dreading the outcome of the inevitable trial, Dazzler and Lois decide to flee the city instead of going to the authorities. They head to Pittsburgh, where Lois has yet another incident with her newfound powers, this time involving a cat. Again, the terrified sisters flee and board a westward bus. Meanwhile, Henry Peter Gyrich, the head of Project Wideawake, suspects a mutant at hand in the derelict man’s murder and sends his Mutant Hunters to investigate.
Full Description:
There’s no business like show business. Dazzler and her band know it, her enthusiastic audience knows it, and the three armed robbers backstage know it. The trio of gun-toting men holds the theater owner by the hair and demand he give them the box office revenue from the sold-out concert. The owner, Mr. Leland, claims he can’t do it, but the thuggish Bonzo insists there is no such thing as “can’t”.
Fortunately for Mr. Leland, Dazzler catches a glimpse of the hold-up occurring backstage, but does not quite know what action to take. She could halt the concert mid-song and have someone call the police, but that might cause the crowd—or worse, the robbers—to panic. She realizes someone must act quickly and decisively, and once again, that someone is her.
Dazzler instructs her band to play even louder. They comply, but ask if all the extra light she creates might harm the audience. She ignores their misgivings; she needs all the sound energy she can get in order to create an effective arsenal of light. Dazzler suddenly charges backstage on her roller-skates. While her confused band watches, she skates into the cluster of armed robbers and shouts for everyone to freeze. The crooks don’t even see it coming. Dazzler incapacitates all of them—including the innocent Mr. Leland—and skates back to the stage, admittedly proud of her good deed. She tells the audience there was a slight technical difficulty, but the band will return after a brief intermission and give the audience the best show of their lives.
Later, as the police escort the foiled criminals away, Alison takes the opportunity to apologize to the dazzled theater owner, Mr. Leland. She hopes he understands she couldn’t risk taking any chances. While Mr. Leland certainly understands why she acted that way, he doesn’t understand exactly how she did it. Nervously, Alison claims she simply turned up the light-emitting equipment she uses in her act and skated as hard as she could. She hesitates to tell Mr. Leland the truth: that the light is a product of her mutant abilities. Amidst the current anti-mutant hysteria, she prefers as few people as possible know she is, in fact, a mutant. Fortunately, Mr. Leland believes her explanation, and admits the feat was most impressive. Dazzler is quite a woman, he says.
“She is, Mr. Leland—she most assuredly is!” Dazzler turns around and sees the beaming face of her cigar-chomping manager, Harry S. Osgood, as well as her field manager, Lance Steele. Alison’s band members Hunch and Marx join in the round of congratulations. After all, Alison not only saved Mr. Leland’s life, but the evening’s take, from which they get paid! Her singing friend Vanessa Tooks even appears and gives Alison a congratulatory rub on the shoulders. Alison is surprised to see her, but Vanessa reminds her she can be both a friend and a fan. Most surprising of all, however, is the compliment Alison receives from Osgood’s secretary—and her personal nemesis—Cassandra. She tells Alison that in addition to putting on a passable show, the stunt she pulled might even land her a decent write-up in a paper like the National Star. Dazzler smiles and thanks her. Coming from Cassandra, a comment like that qualifies as an unbridled compliment.
Regrettably, one member of Dazzler’s close circle of friends and loved ones cannot share in the excitement. Lois London, Alison’s sister, approaches and informs Alison she needs to get home; she fears the onset of another fainting spell. Taking her ill sister by the hands, Alison tells her she needs someone to take over her while she recovers, and although she wishes she could do it, she must return to the stage in a moment and finish her show. For now, she affectionately kisses Lois on the forehead and suggests she get some fresh air. Unfortunately, her sister’s sympathy does nothing to settle Lois’s anxiety.
Shortly thereafter, Mr. Leland goes onstage, thanks the audience for its patience, and introduces the woman who singlehandedly saved his life earlier that night. Offstage, Dazzler blushes—she wishes Leland had not laid it on so thick. Not only does she find it slightly embarrassing, but it could possibly lead some mutant-haters to discover her secret! That’s not important at the moment, though. Alison Blaire only cares about entertaining the audience and enhancing their rapport for the next few hours. She intends to give them the best show she can muster. The Dazzler is true to her vow. Her sparkling light display runs the visible spectrum from end to end and back again, varying in brightness and hue to best highlight the music she and her band produce. Tonight, Dazzler is positively on fire.
Meanwhile, Lois London walks solemnly through New York’s theater district, pondering the troubles in her otherwise insulated life. Just recently, she learned she had a half-sister in the celebrity Dazzler. More unsettling, however, is the sudden onset of a mysterious malady that occasionally gives her headaches and makes her faint. Lois fears she might have the same genetic trait that makes her sister Alison so different. On the other hand, maybe she simply has a case of mononucleosis—but that possibility does little to reassure her.
Lost in thought, Lois London carelessly wanders into an extremely unsavory neighborhood. As she passes by an alleyway, a grubby vagrant reaches out and asks for a minute of her town. Lois gasps. The homeless man, Ol’ Slimey, asks her to calm down; he insists he won’t hurt her unless he has to. Backing away, Lois pleads with him to leave her alone. If he just wants money, he can have it! “Ol’ Slimey doesn’t want money, gorgeous,” the dirty derelict says. “All he wants is a little kiss!” He grabs Lois by the wrist and pulls her toward his puckered, slobbery lips. Lois recoils in horror. The man stinks like a sewer, and she finds his touch nauseating. She begs him to let her go, but Ol’ Slimey refuses. “You gonna give me a kiss, or do I have to take it?” he asks.
As she begins to scream, Lois notices something unusual happening to her hand. It throbs, the air around it turns black, and it crackles. Before she can consciously stop herself, Lois reaches out and touches her radiant hand to the homeless man’s face. He screams in agony. As he staggers around breathlessly, he clutches his head and calls Lois a witch. Finally, his heart ceases to function. Lois watches in horror as the homeless man collapses in the trash-strewn alleyway and dies. Dead! And somehow I—I did it Lois thinks. She notices her hand returning to normal, but it doesn’t undo her deed. After realizing she is now a murderer, Lois flees to find safety, only she has no idea where she can go.
Hours later, at her apartment, Dazzler wraps up a phone call with the police department. She begs the police to keep searching for her missing sister. Lois never returned to the concert hall, and she clearly never returned to Dazzler’s apartment either. Alison wouldn’t worry so much if the police had not discovered a horribly murdered derelict near the theater. What if the same tragedy befell Lois? Alison casts this horrible thought aside and calls Lois’s dormitory. While talking to one of Lois’s worried neighbors, however, Alison’s door unlocks and swings open. To her surprise, Lois, tear-streaked and clearly upset, enters and closes the door behind her.
Alison asks Lois if she is all right. “No, Ali,” Lois says. “I’m not all right…I’ll never be all right!” Alison takes her troubled sister in her arms and gives her a reassuring hug. Things can’t be that bad, she says. Lois informs her otherwise. After Alison hangs up the phone—and Lois makes sure she hangs it up completely—Lois tearfully admits what happened after she left the concert. Tonight, she killed a man! Alison doesn’t believe it at first, but Lois elaborates. She explains how a derelict pounced on her from the alley, and when she tried to fight him off, her hand began to act strangely, as if it possessed some dark energy. Her hand then somehow killed the man. Lois ran away as fast as she could, and after finally getting ahold of herself, decided to come to Alison’s place.
Trying her best to assuage her sister’s fears, Alison asks Lois if she might not be exaggerating a bit. Maybe she didn’t actually kill the man! Furious, Lois leaps out of her chair, insists she is not exaggerating, and tells Alison to spare her the platitudes. “Don’t you realize what this means, Alison?” she asks through clenched teeth. “I’m not normal anymore…I’m special…different…like you—a mutant!”
After the distraught Lois regains her composure, she asks Alison if she intends to turn her in for murder. If she were like anyone else, she might have an easy time in court. Self-defense against an assault. But she’s a mutant—or something like it, Alison thinks. She recalls the time she used her own mutant powers to thwart a mugging in a subway station. The unappreciative crowd chased after her and hurled anti-mutant slurs her way. Alison also recalls the time she had to go on trial for the murder of the supervillain Klaw. The prosecutors made her feel as if being a mutant was a crime in of itself! Although the judge acquitted her, she just as easily could have received a conviction, simply because of her status as a mutant. With these experiences, Alison could never in good conscience turn her sister over to the authorities. However, she decides to phone a trustworthy friend for advice—the same man who defended her when she went on trial for murder.
Ken Barnett, Alison’s current boyfriend, gets out of bed and answers her four a.m. phone call. After he asks what is wrong, Alison explains that a mutant friend of hers killed someone in self-defense and wants to know if she should hide, or turn herself over to the authorities. The best advice Ken can give is telling Ali that, with current anti-mutant hysteria, he doubts he could convince a jury of any mutant’s innocence. As an agent of the court, he has to legally advise Alison to turn in her friend. As a friend, however, he tells Alison she and her friend must decide for themselves. “Whatever you do, don’t hesitate to come to me for help,” Ken says in conclusion. “And Ali…I love you.”
“I love you, Ken,” Dazzler replies. “Talk to you…soon.” She hangs up the phone and turns to Lois, who currently indulges in a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich. Lois looks so young and innocent, with a promising life ahead of her. As much as Alison would love to take time in deciding what Lois should do, time is the one thing they don’t currently have, especially if the cops come knocking at her door. She decides to take action. “Hurry up and finish your meal, kid,” Alison says as she pulls a red briefcase down from the shelf. “We’re going on a trip!”
Washington D.C., 8 A.M.…
“Mutants! That bum’s murder has all the earmarks of mutant work,” a red-haired government agent shouts out his office window, “—and Peter Gyrich will not let them get away with it!” As the head of Project Wideawake, it is Henry Peter Gyrich’s duty to protect the nation from the so-called mutant menace. Today, he intends to begin that campaign by unleashing their government-sanctioned mutant-hunters. Gyrich’s assistant, eyeing the newspaper article about the mysterious derelict death in New York City, asks if they shouldn’t first consult with Senator Kelly’s committee on mutant affairs. They don’t have time for such diplomatic niceties, Gyrich insists. He orders his aide to draft a carefully worded memo outlining their actions. “I will do what must be done,” Gyrich says.
Interstate 80…
A Greyhound Bus roars through the rain, carrying as its passengers Alison Blaire and Lois London, among others. Alison asks her otherwise-silent sister if she wants to talk about her situation. After thanking Alison for funding her getaway trip, Lois says she is not yet ready to talk about her problem. She may never be ready. Alison implores her to think realistically about it, but Lois scoffs at the idea. How can she think realistically when her current situation feels like something out of a bad science-fiction nightmare?
Alison snaps. “You’re in no position to start feeling sorry for yourself!” she says. Lois may not actually be a mutant, but if she is, she will have a lot of problems and responsibilities to face. In the meantime, they need to confirm this supposed power of hers actually exists—and if she can control it. After that, they can formulate the best way to approach the authorities. Lois hesitates about doing that; she would rather stay in hiding forever. “I don’t think your conscience would let you do that,” Alison says.
“Oh Ali, you’ve been hanging around with those superheroes too much,” Lois replies. “You’re too idealistic.” Alison begins taking issue with this absurd comment, but decides to drop it. She folds her arms and stares straight ahead. Clearly, Lois is too upset to discuss things rationally, and admittedly, Alison is too. The discussion will have to wait.
After an extended, silent journey to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the sisters disembark from the Greyhound Bus and walk to a hotel so seedy Lois conjectures not even cockroaches would stay there. It’s not that bad, Alison assures her as they walk to the front desk. She asks for a room for two. When the clerk asks her name, Alison cautiously introduces herself as Sandy Blossom, and Lois as her sister Rose. “Whatever you say, lady,” the clerk says. He takes them to a dingy room and charges them in advance for the night’s stay.
A short while later, Alison grows annoyed at their mutual moping and insists they need to get out and do something. She suggests catching a movie. Lois reluctantly accepts. They head to a movie theater downtown showing two topical films by Nicholas Ray— On Dangerous Ground and In a Lonely Place. While standing in line, Alison enthusiastically fills in her sister on the merits of director Nicholas Ray, but a group of rude fans who identify her as the Dazzler interrupt her mid-sentence. The word quickly spreads that Dazzler is in line, and a crowd of fans forms, all seeking autographs. Before long, Dazzler grows paranoid, grabs Lois by the hand, and runs away from the mob. They need to remain incognito as much as possible. Fortunately, Alison manages to hail a cab, and the two women head back to their hotel right away.
After they settle down, Alison tells Lois to sit tight in the room while she goes out for a bit. She heads to a nearby department store to find a suitable disguise. Some new make-up, a wig, and a refreshed wardrobe do the job nicely, and she heads to the bathroom in a coffee shop to complete her transformation.
Meanwhile, just a few blocks away, Lois London continues stewing in her grimy hotel room. She gazes out the window at the night sky and wonders why she didn’t simply turn herself in when she had the chance. However, she remembers what Alison said about the anti-mutant hysteria, and can’t help but wonder if the court would go harder on her than normal. She tries to convince herself the incident with the homeless man never happened—that it was all a dream—but accepts her fate. This is her life, and it will never be the same again. How can does one live with this kind of burden?
Lois suddenly hears a scratching noise at the door. After donning her bathrobe, she proceeds to the door and opens it a crack, revealing a friendly cat in the hallway. “Hello, little pussycat,” Lois says. She bends down and rubs the affectionate critter on its back. “You’re the manager’s cat, aren’t you? Well, come on in. I could use some company. And I’m sure Mr. Kroehling wouldn’t mind.” After plopping herself down on the floor, Lois plays with the adorable kitty, taking comfort in its carefree attitude. It has no worries in the world. All it has to do is sit and eat and lick its fur, or find someone with whom to play if it’s bored. Lois’s life used to be much like that. Only recently, she was a wide-eyed college freshman who only recently discovered she had a celebrity as a sister in Alison Blaire. That idyllic world of studies, boys, music and cloths collapsed like a proverbial house of cards the moment she encountered that homeless man in New York.
Lois sits upright and lifts her right hand high over the cat’s head. “Up, kitty, up!” she says while twiddling her fingers. The cat playfully leaps at her fingers—but accidentally scratches her hand. “Owww!” Lois cries, eyeing her bleeding hand. “You drew blood! You hurt me!” Her hand suddenly begins to glow, but Lois, caught up in her anger, doesn’t think about what this entails. Instead, she grabs onto the cat’s neck. “You hurt me!” she shouts. Somehow, she unleashes a surge of energy into the howling cat, illuminating the room for a moment. The terrified feline stiffens in Lois’s shimmering hand, and with a last convulsive shriek, ceases to breathe. The horrified Lois stares at the dead creature in fright. She has killed again.
Downstairs, Alison walks into the hotel lobby dressed in her new disguise. She asks the clerk for directions to Ms. Blossom’s hotel room. The drowsy Mr. Kroehling looks at the woman with the curly black hair and directs her to room 917. As she heads to the elevator, Mr. Kroehling makes a point of mentioning that Ms. Blossom’s friends are every bit as pretty as she is! Alison thanks him for the compliment, but takes more joy in the fact that her disguise worked on a veteran girl-watcher like Mr. Kroehling.
She arrives back in her hotel room only to find Lois completely distraught. Lois, teary-eyed and emotional, directs Alison’s attention to the deceased, horribly contorted kitty cat lying on the floor. Alison begins asking who did it, but Lois cuts her off mid-sentence. “You know I did it! My hand was glowing! I’m a killer! A murderer!” Lois shouts. Alison grabs her sister by the collar and orders her to get ahold of herself!
After Lois calms down, Dazzler begins packing their things. They need to move to another town; Pittsburgh just got a whole lot less comfortable.  As she packs her bag, Alison decides to keep her pocket radio near the top of her things. She has a feeling she might require its use quite soon. However, it scares her to consider against whom she might need to use it.
With their bags packed, Alison Blaire and Lois London sneak out the hotel’s back door, fully intending to mail Mr. Kroehling a teller’s check once they get on the road. Lois London’s only response is silence. She wishes she were somewhere else. She wishes she were dead. If possible, Alison feels even more terrified. I’m traveling with a time-bomb—who also happens to be my sister, she thinks. They need to figure out a definitive plan, but every choice Alison makes seems to be the wrong one. She has no idea where to turn.
The next morning, two armed men in uniforms break into room 917 at the Antlers Hotel in Pittsburgh. The find it empty. However, Marc spots what he considers a mutant calling card resting in the corner—the dead cat. They investigate its lifeless body, and notice that it is frozen stiff, but not cold. It must have undergone some kind of molecular transformation, they deduce. Marc and Richard decide to move quickly, while the trail is still fresh. They begin to set up their residual metabolic pattern scanners around the room and on the cat’s body. Their targets are truly fools if they think they can outrun the Mutant Hunters!
Interstate 80, westbound. An hour later…
Gazing out the window at the beautiful countryside, Alison tells her sister she might as well make the best of things and enjoy the scenery. When Lois doesn’t respond, Alison turns to her and sees she has fallen asleep on her shoulder. Alison lets her sleep. She has a feeling things will not remain this calm for very long.


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

[Assistant]
Fugitive!
Alison Blaire, dressed in a hastily conceived disguise, and her half-sister, Lois London, travel westward through the night on a cross-country bus, fleeing what may be a charge of murder… murder at the hands of Lois, who shares with Alison unwanted mutant powers. Most of the bus passengers sleep as the tires whine along the interstate. Alison, however, cannot sleep, as she cannot take her mind off her fugitive sister’s predicament. She realizes she could be implicated as well for aiding and abetting Lois after the fact. They’re in one heck of a mess!
Alison has no idea how her sister can even sleep at a time like this. However, Lois is new to her power—whatever it is—while Alison has lived with her own for a while. Some nights, she worries she will never fall asleep ever again, considering the events through which she has lived. She remembers all the villains who tried to destroy her, such as Terrax, Dr. Sax and Galactus. Although her powers saved her from each of these life-or-death situations, she would not have been in them in the first place without her unwanted mutant power!
Neither Alison nor Lois want these mutant powers, so why them? As Alison recalls, she and Lois are not the only victims of their unwanted powers. Alison believes her powers caused all of her father’s recent mental-health problems. Additionally, Lois’s powers might make life difficult for her mother, Barbara London. Thankfully, Alison has a support network beyond her family. She has friends in her band—Beefer, Hunch and Marx—as well as her managers, Lance Steele and Harry S. Osgood. She also has the men she has dated: Paul the doctor, Quasar—whom she wishes she had gotten to know better, Ken Barnett, and Warren Worthington III, the Angel. However, it’s performing she loves most of all: the work of the rehearsals, the gut-churning agony before the curtain rises, the fury and sound of the music, the roar of the audience… Alison has to have it all. However, she seems to be running out of time.
Time! Alison suddenly snaps to attention. What time could it be? She must have left her watch back in the hotel in Pittsburgh a few days ago. She wonders how many days ago they left. Two? Three? Deciding she needs to know for sure, Alison asks the woman sitting in front of her if she has the time. “I sure do, honey!” the green-hooded woman says. She turns around and pulls down her hood, revealing a head of white-streaked brown hair. “The time is UP!” she says. “We’re havin’ it out right now!” Dazzler screams at the sight of her old foe, Rogue!
Rogue slaps Dazzler in the face, figuring she wants to warm up with a few soft blows. Dazzler falls out of her seat and into the aisle. She realizes Rogue is pulling her punches; if she lets loose, Alison has no chance. She crawls along the floor while Rogue orders her to stand. Defiant, she searches for a source of sound she can use, and finds one in a boom-box tucked under someone’s seat. Dazzler pulls it out, flips it on, and, amidst the confused cries of everyone else on the bus, begins rechanneling its sound energy. She glows so brightly that her radiant pink light spills out of every window on the bus. She then faces Rogue. Rogue, however, doesn’t flinch; she senses Dazzler’s hesitation, presumably because of the heroine’s caution around the innocent bystanders. Sure enough, by the time Dazzler lines up her shot, Rogue is prepared. She deftly leaps out of the way of Dazzler’s laser.
Rogue lands on an empty seat, which she uproots to use as a weapon. While the terrified passengers flee to the back of the bus, Rogue hurls the chair at Dazzler, destroying her radio and knocking her to the floor. She then pulls Lois out of her seat and takes her as a hostage. Dazzler begs Rogue to let her sister go, but Rogue refuses. Although she intends to snap Lois’s neck, she wants to have some fun first!
Once again, Lois’s right hand begins its mysterious transformation into a weapon of deadly power. Dazzler cheers and tells her sister to use her hand on Rogue. Instinctively, Lois squirms free of Rogue’s grip, pivots, and tries to hit her with a right hook. Rogue slips out of the way and redirects Lois’s momentum so her death-fist connects with a chair instead. “Quite a weapon yuh got there! But that aim’s a mite shaky. Mind if I try?” Rogue asks, pulling off her gloves. Lois has no idea what she means by this. As such, she lunges at Rogue, not knowing about her ability to absorb the powers of other mutants. Rogue grabs onto her wrists and begins the absorption. The terrified Dazzler screams as she witnesses Rogue adding this deadly ability to her arsenal.
Once she finishes, Rogue tosses Lois aside and creeps closer and closer to Alison, her hands glowing menacingly. The bus falls completely silent. The frightened passengers just watch in silence as the two superhumans face off. Unfortunately, this silence works against Alison’s chances of survival. Rogue abruptly lurches forward and grabs hold of Dazzler’s wrist. She screams; her hand feels like it’s on fire! “That’s nothin’!” Rogue says. “Now ah’m gonna give yuh a facelift!” She leaps forward once more, this time putting both her hands to Alison’s face. Alison, clutching her head, screams in a mixture of horror and pain. Rogue merely laughs and orders Dazzler to show her face. When Dazzler removes her hands, she reveals a visage of melted flesh in frozen horror.
Meanwhile, the panic-stricken bus driver swerves his vehicle dangerously, unable to stop or pull off the road. A fast-approaching truck driver pulls close and blows his air-horn, hoping to snap the bus driver back to attention. Fortunately for Dazzler, the blaring air-horn provides her with the sound energy she needs to fight. She pushes beyond the pain of her disfigurement and focuses on transducing as much sound as possible. Once again shining like a star, she gets on her feet and channels a high-energy burst of blinding light at Rogue’s face. Rogue falls instantly. Unfortunately, the bus driver catches sight of this attack in his rear-view mirror and finds himself blinded as well. No longer able to control his bus, he veers toward the edge of the road, breaks through the guard rail, and sends the bus plummeting off the edge of a steep canyon road. STOP! STOP! Dazzler and the other terrified passengers scream for their lives. STOP!
  “…stop! Last stop! Los Angeles!” the bus driver says to his passengers. Lois London, meanwhile, shakes her screaming sister by the shoulders, attempting to wake her up from what is obviously a nightmare. Alison wakes up and immediately demands to see a mirror. Lois tells her to relax; she has one in her purse, and hands it over to Alison to placate her. After taking a look at herself in the compact and realizing it was all a bad dream, Alison sits back down, buries her face in her hands, and unravels. Lois tries to cheer her up; three days on a bus has made a mess of both of them, she says! Perhaps it’s time for them to get cleaned up. Alison agrees. She hopes they can get their heads cleaned up as well. She stands up, removes her curly black wig and suggests she and Lois find a place to talk.
Alison Blaire and Lois London check into a motel near the bus stop. After they settle in their room, Alison tells Lois her dream on the bus led her to an epiphany: she thinks they should return to New York and face the authorities. Lois was worried she might say that. After all, Alison didn’t kill anyone; she has nothing at stake! Alison asks if anyone else saw what happened with the derelict. How does Lois even know she killed him? Somehow, Lois is certain of it. She wonders what will happen to her now that she has this power to kill with a touch. It could strike again and again. To demonstrate, she grabs an ashtray and melts it in her hand. How can she ever live a normal life with this power?
Dazzler, deciding to be brutally honest with her sister, tells Lois she can’t live a totally normal life. However, her power will never go away, and living life on the run only increases the chances of her using it dangerously. She thinks this is what her dream taught her. Taking Lois in her arms, she tells her they will go back to New York together. “Everything will be all right! I’m your own sister,” Alison says. “I love you.” Lois just hugs her back and agrees to do whatever she says.
Suddenly, the sisters hear a knock at the door. Alison opens it up without hesitation, but finds the hallway completely empty. However, she sees an envelope pinned to the door. Alison tears it off, walks back inside, and slams the door. Her heart stops when she looks at the photos. Lois asks what’s wrong, so Dazzler shows her the three photos, which clearly show Lois killing the derelict man in New York City. Peek-a-boo, I see you! the note reads. Curious? 555-2645.
Lois cannot believe it; someone saw her kill the homeless man! Maybe they even trailed her on the bus to Los Angeles! She collapses on the bed, feeling alone, afraid and totally naked. Alison tells her not to undress just yet. She picks up the phone and begins dialing. Lois asks if she’s calling the police, but Alison doesn’t think even the police would believe their story. She tells Lois she’s calling the number on the note. After all, it can’t hurt.
The call rings through to a payphone on a country road. A man in a suit answers and immediately asks what the note says. “Peek-a-boo,” Dazzler tells him. With that of the way, the man tells her to listen, but Dazzler interrupts him. “I don’t know who you are or what your game is,” she says before the man tells her to shut up. He asks if she wants him to turn the photos—and Lois’s location—over to the police. Since Dazzler obviously doesn’t want that to happen, she asks the man on the phone what he could possibly want from them, seeing as how they don’t have any money. The man doesn’t want money; he has something far more nefarious in mind. It involves a car, a map, and a sleeping man. It’ll be so simple, he tells Alison. She asks if he’s talking about murder, and he confirms it. If Lois and Alison do what he says, he promises to return the negatives and disappear from their lives forever. He tells Alison she has an hour to think about it, after which she must call him back at 555-7071. He hangs up before she can respond.
The well-dressed man puts a quarter into the payphone and makes a new call. This call goes to a sunny mansion surrounded by palm trees. A rich man in a bathrobe, lounging by his enormous, outdoor swimming pool, casually answers the call. The well-dressed man on the other end tells his boss he is close to locating Lois; he should reach her in a few days. When the rich man asks where he is, he says he’s in Las Vegas. “I’m paying you plenty to find Lois! You’d better come through—fast!” the rich man says. “Otherwise, I can send that Milwaukie file to the F.B.I. They love that kind of reading material!”
Meanwhile, back at the motel, Lois begins freaking out about their developing predicament. She can’t believe someone is blackmailing them! Tears fall from her eyes as she asks Alison what they are going to do. Although she admits she doesn’t have all the answers, Alison suggests they pretend to cooperate with the extortionist in order to get to the bottom of the mystery. Lois reluctantly agrees. “Good girl!” Alison says. Now that they have waited about an hour, Alison picks up the phone and calls the man at the new number.
Seconds later, the mysterious man answers the call from a different payphone. He tells Alison to wait until midnight, at which point she and Lois must walk to a car he parked near their motel. Inside, they will find the keys, a map, and instructions on what to do. They shouldn’t have trouble getting into the grounds; female visitors are quite common at their target’s estate. However, their target will surely be asleep. They must see that he never wakes up! Additionally, the man asks them to steal the million dollars hidden in the wall safe and take it to the drop point—which he’ll tell them about later. For now, he reminds Alison the game ends if she contacts anyone else.
After the call ends, Alison, clearly defying his orders, makes a phone call to a good friend of hers in Colorado. This friend often spends time in both L.A. and New York. Hopefully, he can help them.
At that moment, high above the streets of Los Angeles, Warren Worthington III soars through the air, enjoying the freedom provided by his wings. As much as he enjoys this city, he realizes he must soon head back to New York. It’s not as bad as it sounds; he gets to return to the Plaza Hotel, nights out at the theater, the Met, and most importantly, Alison Blaire. Suddenly, his beeper goes off, interrupting his meditative flight. He can’t even seem to get truly get away, Warren sighs. He decides to head back to his apartment and see who wants to contact him. It might be important, but he assumes it’s just more business nonsense.
Later that night, Alison and Lois, following the instructions on the map, slowly pull into an obviously rich neighborhood. Lois gasps at how luxurious all the houses seem. “Yes,” Alison says. “The parking meters only accept Krugerands!” Moving right along, Lois tells her sister to turn left, after which they arrive at their destination. The car pulls into a long, darkened driveway. As they park, Dazzler tells Lois she hopes Angel got her message; she doesn’t trust answering machines! They’ll soon know, Lois says.
The sisters exit their vehicle and sneak into the house. Alison asks Lois if she’s having second thoughts; Lois tells her she’s had so many second thoughts she’s lost count. They climb the mansion’s stairs in the dark, unknowingly under the scrutiny of a mysterious old man. They finally reach their target’s bedroom door. After Alison opens it up and enters, Lois asks what they should do now. Alison has no idea; she just hopes Angel checks his phone messages often enough. She begins whispering Warren’s name to see if he’s in the room.
Much to her dread, Alison’s whispers tip off their mysterious stalker as to their lack of total compliance. He emerges in the doorway, gun in hand, and tells the two frightened sisters he suspected they might do something stupid. Lois instantly recognizes his voice; he’s the man from the phone! While Dazzler inches her hand toward the power switch on the room’s television set, the gun-wielding man asks which girl wants to get shot first.
“Try me!” a voice shouts from the edge of the room. Alison and Lois turn in time to see the Angel soar through the window and directly toward the gun-toting madman. Unfortunately, the gunman manages to get off a shot, which penetrates the Angel’s right side. Warren falls to the floor in a heap. Alison screams.
 “So much for your freaky friend!” the shooter says. “Hope I didn’t shoot him out of season!” While the gunman has his back turned, Alison turns the volume up on the TV and hits its power switch. It flickers to life, unleashing a deafening barrage of late-night infomercials. Dazzler then sprints toward the gunman, along the way absorbing the sound and transducing it into light. She unleashes a burst of light so bright it dazzles the gunman and causes him to miss his next shot. He stumbles backward, trips, and hits his head when he falls to the floor.
With the threat neutralized, Alison immediately rushes to Warren’s side to check for signs of life. Thankfully, he wakes up from his stupor. While she tends to his wounds, Lois switches off the TV, but it’s too late; their sleeping target wakes up anyway. Lois asks her sister what they should do. Before she can answer, however, the man wipes his eyes and gets a look at the girls in his room. Much to their mutual surprise, he and Lois instantly recognize one another, and freeze in place as the truth of the situation settles.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Vendetta!
In the sub-basement gymnasium of a fashionable Sutton Place townhouse in New York City, a familiar costumed figure works up a sweat. She is Rogue, of the Sisterhood of Evil Mutants, an organization dedicated to the establishment of mutant supremacy on Earth. But this day, her concern is not the goals of any group; rather, she is obsessed with a personal vendetta.
With a super-powered punch, Rogue obliterates a dangling concrete block painted with the likeness of Dazzler. Next, she presses a semi-truck axle with just one hand. She follows up this exercise with some practice hurling knives at a target painted with Dazzler’s face. After this, she engages in a series of reverse squats in opposition to an enormous spring.
Destiny and Mystique, Rogue’s teammates and mentors, interrupt her workout to express some concerns. Why is she pushing herself so hard? Rogue wonders why they even have to ask; can’t Destiny see the future? Unfortunately, Destiny detects such hatred in Rogue’s mind that it blocks her access to visions of the future. Since the mutant precog has no idea where Rogue’s determination will lead her, Rogue tells her to think back a bit. Perhaps she might recall that there is a woman out there somewhere whom has defeated Rogue each time they have tangled. Rogue has done everything in her power to defeat this foe—including once throwing her off the edge of a cliff—but nothing has worked! Like a bad penny, she keeps coming back, and Rogue can’t figure out how she does it. “All she’s got’s a bunch’a hokey light powers,” Rogue says, clenching her fist. “But ah’m Rogue! Ah got the power’a Ms. Marvel herself!” She vows to find Alison Blaire—the Dazzler—and smash her once and for all!
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Alison Blaire and her half-sister Lois London just received the shock of their lives. They were blackmailed into assassinating and robbing a wealthy man in L.A., and while they never intended to follow through, they had to at least feign compliance. However, they never expected to actually know their target. Alison and Lois stare at the gray-haired man in the bed, recognizing him in different ways: Lois from her childhood, and Alison from the picture in her mother’s locket. It is Nick Brown—Lois’s father!
While Lois reaches out and takes her estranged father’s hand, Alison helps Warren off the ground, explaining to him what exactly happened. Someone blackmailed her and Lois, so she summoned Warren, the only man she trusts in L.A., to help. Unfortunately, he surprised the wrong man and got himself shot.
Napier, the gunman explains his actions. A couple of months ago, Mr. Brown sent him to find his long-lost daughter, Lois. An experienced private detective, he had no trouble finding the girl. However, that night outside of Carnegie Hall, when he witnessed Lois struggling with a derelict man, changed everything. Before he knew it, the derelict was dead, and Lois, a fugitive. The private eye captured the entire thing on his camera. At that point, he decided to turn the job into something far more nefarious.
“And that’s when you figured you could do better in blackmail than detective work—and eliminate your boss in the process!” an enraged Dazzler interrupts. She finishes the rest of the story: he followed them to California, gave them prints of the photos, and sent her to kill Lois’s father instead of reuniting the two! Even if the sisters failed, Napier had a backup plan. He would have killed Mr. Brown on his own, stolen his money and framed the sisters, whom he knew were on the run from the law and at the crime scene! Alison grabs him by the shoulders and hoists him off the ground.
Suddenly, three more men appear in the doorway: two officers from the Los Angeles Police Department, and Ken Barnett, Dazzler’s former lawyer. The cops tell everyone present they can hear the rest of the story downtown. While everyone in the room seems surprised to see the police, Alison gasps at the presence of Ken, her once-and-possibly-current boyfriend!
A few hours later, after their limousine pulls away from the police station, Alison asks Ken to explain exactly how he got involved in this mess. He explains that immediately after Angel received Alison’s frightened phone message, he called Ken, whom he knew was in Los Angeles on a business trip. Angel then followed Alison and Lois to Mr. Brown’s manor. When things started looking suspicious, Warren called Ken, and Ken, the police. Alison now asks about Lois’s predicament back home in New York. Ken reveals that Napier had more photographs of the incident than he showed Alison and Lois. The rest of the photos conclusively show that Lois was acting in self-defense. Additionally, the homeless man’s official cause of death was a heart attack! Ken is confident these findings will result in an acquittal if ever brought before a judge. Ecstatic, Alison thanks Ken for the wonderful news by throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek. Ken smirks like a love-struck schoolboy.
Lois, meanwhile, can’t seem to share her sister’s elation. She knows what she did to the homeless man; she knows it was her fault he died. She saw the aura of energy crackling out of her hand—an aura that, evidently, does not show up in photographs. Although the derelict did attack her, and although she acted in self-defense, Lois still committed murder. She wonders how she will ever live with this guilt.
Ken notices Alison acting strange and asks if something is wrong. She’s fine; she just hears a familiar song playing on the radio. She instantly recognizes the song as the record she cut before leaving New York! Turn it up, she asks the driver! “…and that was a brand-new single—waxed by our newest singing sensation, Alison Blaire,” the radio host says. “It’s climbing the charts and headed for Hits-burgh! Next on the Moon Beam we have some solid gold from the groove yard—but first…”
Alison cannot believe it; her record made it on the air! At this point, Lois explains to her father that Alison is a singer. Nick already figured that out, of course. Leaning closer to Alison, he asks if she would like to meet some show-business contacts while on the West Coast. He can introduce her to Roman Nekoboh, he says. Alison gasps; does he mean the Roman Nekoboh, the biggest singing sensation of their age? How does Nick know him? Nick explains that he doesn’t just know Roman—he owns him! Nick then instructs his driver, Harrison, to radio ahead and let his butler know there will be four people at lunch today. He invites Alison and Lois to stay at his home for as long as they want. He tells Lois he wants to get to know her most of all, and hopefully, make amends for the ugly things he did to her and her mother in the past.
The limousine drives through the wrought-iron gates of Nick Brown’s estate. Unbeknownst to its passengers, a familiar, green-hooded figure perches atop the stone wall, eagerly anticipating its arrival. When it passes, Rogue leaps off the wall and onto the roof of the vehicle. From there, she jumps in front of the limo, plants her feet, and forces it to stop. “Ta-da! Nice ta see y’all!” she announces. She rips Dazzler out of the limousine. Dazzler can’t go anywhere without her knowing, she says—not even to Los Angeles. However, she tells her not to worry; she didn’t come this time to use her to get to Angel or the X-Men. No, she simply came to beat the tar out of Alison, once and for all.
After Rogue tosses Dazzler to the ground, she begins pounding on all of the limousine doors, denting them so much that the rest of the passengers cannot escape. “Ah wasn’t gonna bother with yuh again, babe, but it just kept eatin’ away at me—the way yuh whupped me with yuh fancy light tricks,” Rogue says, adding how Alison’s two bodyguards, Power Man and Iron Fist, only fueled her humiliation. Now, it’s just Rogue and Dazzler; her “heroes for hire” are nowhere in sight. To tip the odds even further in her favor, Rogue rips open the limo’s hood and tears out its horn. She doesn’t intend to let Dazzler defeat her with something as provincial as a car horn!
While Rogue continues tearing the vehicle to shreds, Dazzler decides to make her escape, hoping to lure Rogue away from her friends and family. Rogue merely watches her run. She enjoys seeing her prey hightail it like a jackrabbit, she laughs! As Dazzler darts across Nick Brown’s vast estate, she cannot help but notice its elaborate layout; Nick must be loaded. What legal job could possibly bring in so much money, though? She recalls her mother saying that Nick was always somewhat of a shady character—and that Nick said he owned Roman Nekoboh. While Dazzler initially took this comment as a joke, she now wonders whether Nick meant it literally.
Alison’s escape route brings her to the front of Nick’s triple garage, inside of which she sees three parked cars. This gives her an idea. She darts into the garage, hoping to make use of one of the vehicles, but finds the only one with keys in the ignition is basically a relic: a Packard V-12. Dazzler hops in anyway; after all, beggars can’t be choosers. Thankfully, the car starts when she turns the ignition. As the airborne Rogue bears down on her, Dazzler begins blaring on the horn. “Come and get it, Rogue!” she shouts.
As she tears down the driveway, she blasts Rogue in mid-air with a beam of bright light. The overconfident Rogue fails to elude the attack. However, much to Dazzler’s chagrin, it barely slows her down. Rogue soars to the back of the car, plants her feet on the ground, and grabs onto the bumper as Dazzler tries to drive away. Dazzler hits the gas. The bumper comes off in Rogue’s hands, causing her to tumble backward. While the car’s guts certainly surprise Alison, she doubts it is fast enough to outrun Rogue. She hopes a few more blasts from the horn might do the trick.
Rogue catches up with the runaway vehicle and grabs onto the passenger-side door. Dazzler fires at her, but Rogue ducks down under the door while keeping her feet on the running board—just out of Dazzler’s line of sight. It’s like a cat-and-mouse game to her, Dazzler thinks to herself. Realizing Rogue will rip the jalopy apart in no time, Alison decides to employ some drastic methods. She begins swerving the vehicle back and forth, hoping to shake Rogue off its side, or at the very least, disorient her. Rogue laughs at this pitiful attempt.
Desperate, Alison decides to try a dangerous maneuver before Rogue rips the car door off like a piece of cardboard. With Rogue still hanging from the side of the car, she drives toward a large oak tree on Nick’s property, hoping to graze its side without actually hitting it. Rogue realizes what she’s doing a moment too late. As the car passes by the tree, Rogue is ripped off the side—along with one of the Packard’s ornamental tires. Unfazed, Rogue picks herself up off the ground amidst the scraps of twisted metal. She has played with her target for far too long. Now, she intends to get serious.
Dazzler, meanwhile, realizes Rogue will probably kill her for the stunt she just pulled. She needs to get off of Nick’s estate and find help as soon as possible. Unfortunately, she has trouble finding her way out of the enormous grounds. She finally comes to a chain-link fence and realizes she has reached a border of the property. After making a quick, three-point turn to orient the car in the right direction, she speeds toward the fence with her foot pressed down on the accelerator and busts through, seemingly to freedom. However, she finds herself on yet another portion of Nick Brown’s estate: his private airfield.
Predictably, Rogue catches up with Dazzler while the singer speeds down the airstrip. Dazzler tries to focus only on outrunning Rogue, but can’t help but notice her quickly approaching figure in the rearview mirror. She realizes reaching one of the unmanned airplanes might be her only chance at survival. Dazzler presses down on the accelerator, pushing the car up to 100 miles per hour, before finally slamming on the brakes and leaning on the horn. During her lateral drift, Dazzler absorbs all the sound energy she can—both from the screeching brakes and the blaring horn—and hits Rogue with a high-powered blast of light. This time, her attack puts the villainess out… for now.
Realizing her skillful maneuver will only buy her a few moments, Dazzler scrambles up the side of one of the private jets, opens the cockpit windshield, and climbs inside to access the controls, neglecting to actually consider how foreign the controls of an airplane are. Nevertheless, she attempts to make sense of all the unfamiliar gadgets and dials. Rogue, meanwhile, picks herself up off the ground and bares her teeth at Dazzler, now angrier than ever.
Dazzler keeps fiddling with the jet’s controls. She hits a promising switch, and to her delight, the engines begin to whirr. Rogue scoffs at this pitiful attempt to get away. “Ah don’t know where yuh think yuh goin’ honey, but unless yuh know how to fly one ‘a them birdies—yuh stayin’ parked,” she says. When she sees the turbine begin to spin, however, Rogue realizes she made a grave miscalculation. Dazzler isn’t trying to fly the plane at all; she just wants to start it!
The plane roars to life. Rogue hastily flies up to the cockpit window and tries to open the canopy. Before she can get inside, however, Dazzler absorbs the thunderous sound energy coming from the engine and rechannels it into a truly blinding flare of light. Its almost-physical force knocks Rogue backward, despite her immense durability. As the villainess falls off the wing, Dazzler, glowing like a star, vows to make Rogue pay for how she tormented her, and humiliated the ones she loves. Rogue’s insane grudge has caused her countless nights of terrified restlessness and given her nightmares she will never forget. It all ends now! “How does it feel, Rogue?” Dazzler asks as she bombards the stunned villainess with a steady stream of radiant energy. “How does it feel to take punishment instead of give it?”
Rogue refuses to admit defeat. While she struggles to her feet, she tells Dazzler she just got lucky and took her by surprise. She still intends to get Dazzler back; after all, she took a vow. “Then get up and show me,” Dazzler says. “I’m waiting. I’m not afraid of you anymore, Rogue.” Good thing, Rogue tells her; that should make it much easier to take her by surprise! She lunges at Dazzler’s midsection and forces her to the ground, but Dazzler skillfully recovers. She rolls with the blow, grabs hold of Rogue, and flips her over with her legs. She then stands up and pelts her staggered assailant with yet another stream of jet-powered light energy. “End of the line, lady!” Dazzler says. “I’m putting you under—now!”
Dazzler hits Rogue with pulse after pulse of potent incandescence, staggering the malevolent mutant’s mind. A barely conscious Rogue stumbles backward, inadvertently stepping right in the way of the jet’s air-intake. Dazzler screams in horror; she doesn’t want Rogue to die! With only seconds to act, she leaps forward and pushes Rogue out of the way of the air-intake. No matter how much grief Rogue has caused her, Dazzler could not in good conscience let her die. Doing so would make her no better than Rogue.
Alison shuts down the jet and drags the unconscious Rogue back to the car. She simply cannot wait to see the look on everyone’s face when she turns Rogue over to the authorities. For some reason, she cannot believe this ordeal has finally ended. Rogue has made her life miserable for so long, but now, she’s defeated her on her own, and convincingly at that. She just can’t seem to figure out why she now feels weak and exhausted instead of elated. I guess that’s why I’m not really a super-heroine, she thinks. I’m just plain old Alison Blaire at heart. But that’s fine with me. As she drives the beat-up buggy back toward her frightened friends, Alison ponders what the future has in store. She has a sister to help, a career to pursue, and a record to promote. If the money starts rolling in, she may even ask Nick Brown if she can buy the car she damaged. It would be quite a treat for the girl who has everything.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Fame!
Vibrant images of fame fill Dazzler’s head: her name topping the headline story of Variety magazine, her likeness adorning the cover of national magazines like Time, People, and Life, her performance picture on the cover of her very own Greatest Hits record, and the word “DAZZLER” spelled out in lights on a theater marquis. In her manager’s office, Harry S. Osgood irons out the details of a performance contract for his starlet, the Dazzler. She is to receive half a million dollars a week, plus work and travel expenses. Further, Osgood insists Dazzler get to take the night of the tenth off, as she intends to perform for a March of Dimes benefit that evening. Osgood is delighted to learn the party on the phone already knows of this performance—and wants to make a donation! He smiles while his secretary Cassandra files his nails with an emery board. Dazzler, wearing a silky black dress and beautiful fur coat, smiles at her success.
Sometime later, Dazzler orders her driver to drop her off at home so she can pack for her world tour. She instructs him and her entire staff to take a vacation in Bermuda while she is gone—all on her dime, of course! Alison, reveling in her success, later stars opposite Robert Redford in a film called Passionate Pines. She has to insist on paying for luxury fur coats from merchants who want her to wear their product for free. She even stars in a commercial for the International Express Card, declaring that even she, the most famous woman in the world, never leaves home without it!
“Alison!” someone yells, rousing Dazzler from her pool-side slumber. It is her half-sister, Lois London. “Are you going to lie there all day doing nothing?” Alison’s dream fades to reality. Opening her eyes, she insists she’s exactly not doing nothing; she was dreaming. Lois walks over and sits by her sister, dangling her feet in the pool. Everything feels like a dream lately, Lois says. At times, she wonders if it might even be a nightmare. Dazzler insists today has not been so bad.
Tilting her head back, Alison looks up at the sun and has a thought. “Lois, do you know that I can stare right at the sun without it hurting my eyes? It was only a year ago that I noticed that ordinary humans couldn’t do that!” This makes sense, Lois says, considering Dazzler’s immunity to her own light power. However, she resents that her sister seems to enjoy having her mutant abilities. Lois, after all, hates her own power—and hates being different. “Lois, everybody is different! No two people are exactly the same!” Alison declares. “I think you just have to be what you are and do the best you can!”
This does nothing to comfort Lois. She cannot stop thinking about that night back in New York, when she killed a derelict man with her mere touch. Days later, that same touch killed an innocent cat in Pittsburgh. Lois considers her powers a curse! To the best of her ability, Dazzler concurs. After all, if it were not for her own mutant powers, she would not have gotten in even a fraction of the trouble she’s experienced recently, including having the maniacal mutant Rogue out for her blood. On the other hand, without her light powers, Dazzler would not have been able to defeat Rogue either—something she accomplished just yesterday. “It isn’t easy,” she tells Lois, “but you’ve got to learn to live with being a mutant!”
Lois takes these words to heart. Perhaps she will be okay after all. Admittedly, staying at the residence of her estranged father, Nick Brown, makes her a little nervous. She can barely even fathom that Nick is her father! Alison empathizes. Lois has not seen her father since she was a toddler, after all. Nick is practically a stranger to her. Lois tells Alison she and Nick have talked a bit since settling in, and that Nick claims to have missed her all these years, even apologizing for his actions in the past. Lois cannot help but trust him; he sounds so nice and sincere. She has a hard time in her mind associating Nick with the horrible man from her childhood memories. She remembers how he used to book her mother in sleazy nightclubs, where she would sing in hopes of someday getting her big break. She remembers how Nick would get drunk and occasionally even hit Katherine. She remembers the fateful winter day—Christmas, in fact—on which she and her mother fled Nick Brown forever.
Tears form in Lois’s eyes. Until two days ago, she had not seen her father since that Christmas morning from her childhood. Nick claims he cleaned up, quit drinking, and became respectable. He now represents major singing talents like Roman Nekoboh. However, the pain from the past is too powerful for Lois to ignore. She turns to Alison and cries in her arms. She cannot bring herself to accept Nick Brown as her father after everything that happened! Worse, she even feels afraid of him!
Dazzler admits she has similar reservations. Sure, Nick has treated her well. He even arranged for her to meet Roman Nekoboh, a connection that will surely help her career! Something worries her, however, which she chalks up to not knowing yet if she can fully trust Nick. On the other hand, what could Nick—or Mr. Nekoboh, for that matter—possibly want from her?
At that moment, in an enormous mansion not too far away from Nick’s place, Roman Nekoboh’s butler knocks on his master’s door. He informs Roman that his business manager is already waiting downstairs for their noon appointment. Grumbling and groggy, Roman drags himself out of his king-sized bed. A balding, paunchy, withered old man, he forces himself to stand up and get moving. He puts on his eyeglasses, which make his face resemble a mole’s. He then takes a shower, puts in his dentures, straps on a girdle to conceal his gut, shaves, and puts in his contact lenses. After donning his purple crushed-velvet suit, Roman gently slips on his jet-black wig. He sizes himself up in the mirror once he completes this daily transformation—and likes what he sees. “Roman, baby, you’re dynamite!” he tells his reflection. “God’s gift to women! Irresistible in the extreme!”
Roman bounds down the stairs, emanating youthful vitality. He greets his straight-laced manager Benson by jokingly asking if he got drunk the night before and revealed all his financial secrets. Benson smiles, but assures Roman he came on serious business. Roman continues joking. He asks Benson if he got in trouble again with some young girl. Not to worry; he promises to hold off the girl’s father while Benson runs for the border! He offers him a drink to forget his sordid past, but then retracts the offer, instead preferring to get drunk while Benson stays sober. That way, Benson won’t seem so dull! Again, Benson assures Roman he came to talk about matters of great importance.
Benson informs his client that he has a very serious deficit, as well as a cash-flow problem. Roman merely smiles and asks his butler, Ziggy, for a cigarette and a martini. Benson demands he pay attention. His records have stopped selling, he has backed four movie flops in a row, his TV royalties have ceased, and his former wives want alimony. Basically, Roman Nekoboh is broke—yet he still pays someone to light his cigarettes! Benson throws his arms up in frustration. Surprisingly, Roman tells Benson he is right. To amend the situation, he proposes that he now have Ziggy light his cigarettes with matches instead of a lighter!
Ignoring this latest comment, Benson informs his client he had better put out some hot records—and fast. Roman treats this suggestion with condescension. Music isn’t the future of entertainment; swashbuckling pirate films starring Roman Nekoboh are! To demonstrate, he wields an imaginary cutlass and fences with several imaginary foes. “Ten against one, eh? Just the odds I like!” Roman says. He lunges forward with his imaginary blade outstretched. “I leap the castle wall! Swim the vast moat! And confronting the last of the infidels who stand between me and the fair Guinnivere—I thrust home! Thrust!” Roman parries, sidesteps, strikes, and lunges forward in an animated display. When he finishes, he leans against the wall and clutches his heart, gasping to catch his breath.
Benson asks if he feels okay. “Never better,” Roman tells him. He limps over to the drink table and grabs his glass. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, Benson, I’m on my way to meet my movie co-star! And get this, Benson,” Roman says, picking up a magazine with Dazzler’s face on its cover, “…she’s one I haven’t married… yet! That should narrow down your speculation!” As Roman leaves, he lets Benson know that if he wishes to return to his office in a hurry, he can take his private chopper! Benson throws up his arms in disbelief.
Shortly thereafter, Dazzler, wearing a blue, one-piece bikini, poses in front of a desert backdrop depicting the pyramids of Egypt. She smiles for the camera. Her photographer Jimmy snaps his final shots and assures Alison the photos are great. Alison hopes so; her career may depend on these pictures. Jimmy tells her that as soon as the shots for the posters and album covers are ready, he will send them to Alison and Nick for approval. Alison asks if he meant to say Harry, referring to her manager, Harry S. Osgood. “Well, you can show him too, if you want,” Jimmy says, “but Nick Brown is the guy who’s going to make you a star, sweetie!” Jimmy reminds her that it was Nick who set up this photo shoot, and arranged for her to meet Roman Nekoboh. That meeting, Jimmy says, is quite the opportunity—and that if Dazzler were smart, she would take his advice and drop Harry S. Osgood.
Meanwhile, on the street below, a limousine pulls up to the front door of the record company building and is met with a dense crowd of onlookers waiting to steal a glimpse of its occupant, Roman Nekoboh. Roman steps out and walks through the barricaded crowd to the front door, escorted, of course, by two burly bodyguards. When he opens the lobby doors, the first thing he sees is the beautiful Alison Blaire. She’s just as breathtaking as Nick Brown said—which is a good thing for Nick’s sake, he jokes. Alison, flattered and star-struck, thanks Roman for his kind words. He tells her not to move. He lurches forward and gently takes her hands in his. “Say not another word,” Roman says. “Let me look deep into those magnificent eyes and take your trembling hands in mine! We must forever preserve this—this, our first moment together on this planet!”
Alison stutters; she has no idea how to respond. Continuing, Roman suggests they ditch his two bodyguards and sneak out the back, far away from his adoring fans out front who long to tear the clothes from his bronze, rippling body. Meekly, Alison agrees. Roman smiles and says he knows of a thousand places they can go to be alone; they have a lot to talk about, he says. “About my career?” Alison asks, adding she would appreciate any advice he has for her.
A few moments later, in an alleyway outside, Roman asks Alison to wait a minute while he puts on his sunglasses. It must be difficult for him to walk the streets, she says; he must be the most recognizable celebrity in the country! Roman assures her he can avoid the mobs… when he wants to. After all, he’s been doing it for a long time! He omits saying exactly how long.
Changing the subject, he says they should drive to their destination instead of walking. Alison asks if his car is nearby. “You might say that,” he says, putting his arm around her waist. They walk into a car dealership, at which point the salesman greets them and asks if they need assistance. Roman, eyeing a futuristic convertible sports car, asks if it’s gassed up and ready to go. The stunned salesman asks him to clarify. Roman reasserts himself: he wants the car, and he wants it right now. The flustered salesman informs him that this particular vehicle is Limited Edition, fuel-injected, turbo-charged Ferrante X-12 with double-overhead cams, racing suspensions and self-emptying ashtrays. It boasts a price tag of $79,990. “Give me the keys! I’ll take it!” Roman squeals. The salesman can hardly believe it, but after Roman removes his sunglasses and reveals his identity, the salesman eagerly complies. He puts it on Mr. Nekoboh’s bill.
After he and Alison hop in the pricey car, Roman drives it straight out the dealership’s front door—much to the shock of everyone else in the store. Even though he has done this plenty of times before, Roman still loves the feeling. Dazzler asks what he means; does he pull this stunt often? Sure, Roman says. He explains how, as a kid, he always fantasized about strolling into an automobile showroom, pointing at the car he wanted, and driving out with it! Now, as an adult, he buys all his cars this way.
Changing the subject, Roman decides to ask Alison something about herself: how much did she love his last album? In response, Alison asks if he shouldn’t slow down a bit. Driving on the winding highway roads overlooking the ocean at this speed honestly worries her. Nonsense, Roman tells her; he lives at one speed and one speed only. In fact, he admits the car is already beginning to bore him. Does it bore Alison as much as it bores him? He suggests they take his plane instead. However, he assures Alison that it is the car, and not her company, he finds boring. He compliments her silken hair, her azure eyes, and her voluptuous figure, all of which is perfect for her big-screen debut at his side! Alison gasps at this comment; she knew nothing of an acting gig! Roman laughs at her naivety. Of course he wants her on the big screen, he says.
Now, as they tear through the streets of Hollywood, Roman once again changes the subject by asking Alison if she wants to see him take corner on just two wheels. Alison pleads with him to slow down. He finally complies with her request—once they reach his private airplane.
As he pulls the car to a stop, he asks his flight attendant, Hack, if he has the martinis ready. Hack answers affirmatively, and Roman and Alison board the plane. “Hack, bow low to the next love goddess of the silver screen—Alison Blaire!” Roman announces as he enters the plane with his companion. He then introduces Alison to the blond-haired man in a baseball cap and college sweater. “Ali, this juvenile delinquent is Harvey ‘Hack’ Hathaway, adolescent of the airways!” Alison and Hack smile and wave at each other. Roman orders Hack to stop gaping, put on some appropriately romantic jazz music, and take them for three loops around the desert—promising a thousand-dollar bonus if Hack makes the trip last forever.
Roman offers Alison a martini. She asks for a club soda with a twist instead. “That’s it, Ali! Go on and live!” Roman jokes. Alison admits she is having a good time. Even legends have their moments, Roman says as he lifts his glass for a toast. He tells Alison she will look positively lovely at his side in Cinemascope, Technicolor and Dolby Sound, and suggests they start discussing their love scenes together. Averting her gaze, Alison looks out the window and comments on the color of the sunlight-bathed mountains. Roman claims he had them painted that way for Alison that very morning. As she deflects this most recent, overly flirty compliment, Roman leans in a bit too close for her comfort. She resists. He tells her to just melt in his arms and relax; she can consider this her screen test. Alison keeps rebuffing his advances, but Roman continues with the invasive theatrics. Finally, Alison tells him to cut it out; she means it!
Nearby, a fighter jet tailing Roman Nekoboh’s airplane reports back to its commander. The pilot has visual contact with the target Learjet and will close in for confirmation. Base tells him to proceed.
Inside Roman’s plane, the frightened Alison Blaire looks out the window and sees the fighter jet closing the distance. Roman brushes off the threat, claiming his adoring public follows him everywhere.
The fighter jet makes a couple of quick loops around Nekoboh’s plane. Hack grows frightened; the other pilot must be either drunk or crazy! To Hack’s dismay, the fighter jet suddenly faces his plane and fires a round of bullets at its hull. Hack activates some evasive maneuvers. After warning Alison and Roman to grab hold of something, he pulls the plane upward, flipping it over completely. The sudden movement knocks Alison and Roman around the cabin, and while Alison deftly rolls with the movements, Roman hits his head and falls unconscious. Alison checks on him then asks Hack what happened. He admits that what he is about to say sounds like it came from the script for a TV show—but someone is firing at them!
Who? And why? Is it Roman they’re after, Alison asks herself, or me? She peeks out the window and gets a look at the enemy plane. Realizing they have no place to run or hide, she decides to fight. She turns up the cabin’s stereo as loud as it can go. It’s enough sound to get started, but once she blasts open the window, the rushing wind and engine noise will provide her with more than enough sound energy to complete her task.
Meanwhile, in the cockpit, Hack asks why Alison turned up the music. She doesn’t answer. He assumes Roman just happened to choose a crazy woman for his current fling. Suddenly, the fighter jet pulls alongside—again.
After receiving permission to shoot, the enemy plane opens fire once more on Nekoboh’s plane. This time, however, Dazzler is ready. Her body aglow, she fires her own weapon—a high-intensity beam of light energy—back at the enemy plane, creating a hole in her own plane in the process. The awesome sound pouring in through the hole sends a tidal wave of seething power surging through the body of Alison Blaire. It wells up within her, barely contained as she takes aim. Then, with a bolt of searing brilliance—a hammering spike of naked force—Dazzler strikes back!
Her beam hits the enemy plane, ripping its exterior to shreds. Unfortunately, Dazzler hit him a little harder than she intended, and watches in horror as the flaming, crumbled jet veers into the mountainside. Thankfully, the pilot ejects in time and parachutes to safety. The relieved Alison Blaire walks to the cockpit to report the good news to Hack. To her dismay, she finds Hack slumped over the controls, clearly unconscious. She pulls him back and sees he has been shot. “He’s hurt bad… and I can’t fly a plane!” Alison gasps. She looks out over the rocky horizon and comes up with a plan: maybe she’ll just turn the stereo up so it drowns out the sound of the inevitable plane crash.


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

[Assistant]
The Debt!
On a luxury Learjet, high above the California desert, Alison Blaire desperately tries to wake up Harvey “Hack” Hathaway. The injured pilot doesn’t respond. Because she cannot fly a plane, Alison Blaire is suddenly quite scared. She feels empty, queasy, and weak—all the cliché symptoms of fear. Cold sweat dots her brow, her breath comes in shuddering gasps, and tears well up in her eyes. Alison, however, refuses to panic. While repeating a calming mantra to herself, she moves to the cabin of the plane to elicit help from the unconscious Roman Nekoboh.
Dazzler kneels behind Roman’s shoulders and rests his head in her lap. “Where are we? What happened? Fix me a drink,” Roman says as he regains consciousness. Alison informs him they are in their plane, and Roman hit his head and passed out after an enemy plane attacked them. “Oh,” Roman says, “…in that case, make my drink a double!” With sweat dripping down her forehead, the straight-faced Alison asks Roman if he can pilot the airplane. Regrettably, he informs her he cannot. “And now, my succulent beauty,” he says to her, “uh… which one are you?” Dazzler is beyond insult at this point. She tells him her name: Alison Blaire. Roman pretends to remember. He asks Alison to give in to her passion and melt into his powerful arms. She begs him to not start that again—not now, at least. “Okay, later. Then it’s a date!” he says. Astoundingly, Alison has to inform him there might not be any later, as they are about to crash.
At this point, the barely comprehensible Roman Nekoboh informs Alison they can use some of the parachutes on board. She gasps; there are parachutes on board?!? “Two of them!” Roman answers. “Used to be six, but I wanted to expand the liquor cabinet!” Alison sighs as she unpacks the doomed airplane’s only two parachutes. Sometimes, she just doesn’t know about Roman Nekoboh. Moving on, she straps one of the parachutes to the drunken Nekoboh’s back, opens the airplane’s door, and stands Roman up at the exit. As she nudges him toward the drop, she asks him to promise to please pull the ripcord as he falls. He tells her not to worry; he has done this type of thing before; didn’t Alison every see his movie Blazing Skies? Even so, he hesitates before jumping, wishing he had a stand-in. Alison pushes him out the door and into the night sky.
With just one parachute left, she heads to the cockpit, grabs the unconscious Hack by the shoulders, and drags him back to the exit. She straps the parachute onto his back and hopes she can hold on to him as they fall. Although he’s unconscious, she asks him a question: has he ever been beyond fear? Has he ever been so scared that he somehow came back around to calm? That’s how Alison feels right now, she says. More than anything, though, she just feels tired. She wants nothing more than for this ordeal to be over soon, no matter how. With her arms wrapped around Hack, she throws their bodies out the door into the rushing air and hangs on for dear life as they plummet toward the ground. Alison pulls the chute.
Miraculously, she maintains her grip. They slowly drift toward the desert floor. Alison now notes that Hack lost a lot of blood; perhaps he’s in shock, or even dying. If they land safely, a doctor will need to treat Hack immediately. To attract attention, Dazzler unleashes a bright burst of sustained light, essentially acting as a human flare as she floats to the ground. Thankfully, a pair of highway patrolmen spots the bright light. Even though they assume it’s a flying saucer, they decide to investigate anyway.
Soon, Alison and the two police officers arrive at Admiral Hospital, just minutes behind the ambulance that carried Hack. One of the officers tells her Hack might already be in surgery. Additionally, if anyone happened to find Mr. Nekoboh, he would be here too. Sure enough, when Alison enters the hospital’s double doors, the first thing she sees is Roman Nekoboh sitting in a recliner with his shoes off and an iced tea in his hand. The adoring hospital staff surrounds him and tends to his every whim. “Wow! A real superstar right here—and he’s so sexy!” one of the nurses says. Another nurse holds a phone to Roman’s ear while he speaks with his royalty friends in London. He tells his friend Bianca that he practically landed on top of a hospital, that he’s perfectly fine, and that she should tell Princess Di and Prince Charles not to worry. Once he sees Dazzler walk in the door, he asks Bianca to hold on for a moment. He tells her the doctors said Hack should survive, and that although he will be tied up at the hospital for a while signing autographs and talking to the media, Alison is free to go home if she wants. Perhaps the police officers can take her home! The officers agree—but first, they want Mr. Nekoboh’s autograph.
Later, as the highway troopers arrive with Alison at Nick Brown’s mansion, they ask if it is her home. She explains the home belongs to her stepsister’s father, Nick Brown—a big Hollywood agent who manages stars such as Roman Nekoboh. She is only staying with him for a while. The officers can’t blame her!
As soon as Alison walks in the door, Nick not only tells her he heard what happened, but berates her for not sticking around at the hospital longer to talk with reporters! If she had used her head and played her cards right, she could have milked a ton of publicity out if it. As it stands, she has probably blown the opportunity. Alison hangs her head. “I—I have?” she asks.
Pouring himself a drink, Nick suggests she think about the possible headline: “Heroic Singer Clings to Life!” Alison reminds him that she is perfectly fine. Nick scowls at her. She is not fine, he says; she’s a nobody. For a performer, that’s anything but fine! Besides, it is not every day that someone shoots at her; she cannot let these opportunities slip away. “No doubt they were gunning for Roman—they probably hated his last album—but you should have hinted that you’ve got secret enemies, too!” Nick says. “That’s a real hot publicity angle ever since Lennon was killed!” Alison gasps; she cannot believe what she’s hearing. Nick seems to think it’s wonderful that someone tried to kill her!  To further her horror, Nick adds that he would have even paid someone to perform this stunt—had he thought of it first!
Dazzler jerks at him with her thumb outstretched. “I don’t think like you, Nick!” she shouts. Of course not, Nick responds; that’s why she needs him to do the thinking for her. Alison reminds him she has an agent already: Harry S. Osgood! Nick laughs, calls Osgood a fat buffoon, and informs Alison that Osgood is a joke in this business. Alison doesn’t care; Osgood is both her agent and her friend!
After taking a deep breath, Nick asks Alison to face the facts. She has the looks and the talent, but she needs a good manager. His current star, Roman, is getting old. Nick wants to make Dazzler his next big winner, bigger than Roman Nekoboh ever was—for his usual percentage, of course. Alison, with her hands on her hips in a gesture of defiance, tells Nick Brown he can get another meal-ticket. Nick asks what it will take to win her over: a big car? Drugs? A good-looking stud-muffin? Whatever she wants, he can provide! “Just like you ‘provided’ me for Roman?” Alison asks. Mr. Brown doesn’t deny it.
Just then, Lois London enters the room, having heard Alison and Nick arguing. She really hoped they would get along! Alison tells her that could never happen after what Nick just said to her. If only Lois had heard, she adds. Surprisingly, Lois admits she did hear the argument. She has had a few talks with her father since arriving at his place, and although he’s no saint… she pauses to laugh at that pairing of words: “Saint Nick”.
Annoyed, Alison asks how she can even defend her father if she heard the horrible things he said. Didn’t his words bother her? Although Lois admits they do, she reminds Alison that both she and Nick are in a rough business. Sometimes show business requires people to do dirty, nasty, sleazy things. Nick only does what he has to do. Lois begs Alison to let her father help her, but Ali cannot believe what she is hearing. After all she and Lois have experienced together, she thought her sister would defend her. Lois, giving her father a teary-eyed hug, admits she is not as strong as Alison. She clung to Alison for protection all along, and now, she can get that same assurance from her father. “Oh! I see!” Alison sneers. “Rich-and-powerful Nick is better ‘protection’ for little Lois, who’s afraid of everything including herself! So I’m not needed anymore! Is that it?” Lois claims that isn’t the case—she does not want to lose Alison—but her emotions betray her. Alison gives her sister a hug and tells her not to worry; she will never lose Alison completely. However, Ali now knows she cannot stay at Nick’s place any longer. As she turns to walk out the door, she ignores both Lois’s pleas for her to stay, and Nick’s smug insistence that she’ll eventually return.
Dazzler steps out into the night air with her small bag of possessions, walks off Nick’s estate, and continues walking toward the city. It begins to rain as she marches along the highway. After a while, a man in a green car pulls over and asks if she wants a ride. Although he looks innocent enough, Alison turns him down. He assures her it would be no trouble, and that while he knows everyone insists accepting rides from strangers is a bad idea—as bad an idea as offering rides to strangers—he refuses to let her walk in the rain. Besides, she doesn’t look like a mugger, the man says. Since he doesn’t look like one either, Alison accepts and hops into the passenger seat.
He asks where she wants to go. She tells him any place far away from Los Angeles will suffice. The man smiles; it sounds like she had a rough time in L.A. Fortunately for her, he is heading to San Diego for a comic convention. Alison breathes a sigh of relief. As they depart, the man introduces himself as Ralph and says he edits comic books. In turn, Ali tells him her name and that she sings for a living.
Two and a half hours later, they arrive at the city limits of San Diego, California. Ralph asks where Alison would like to part ways. Anywhere is fine, she says. As she prepares to step out of the car, Ralph, knowing she left Los Angeles in a hurry, asks if she needs any money. He even offers her a twenty dollar bill. Although Alison tries to refuse his gift, Ralph insists, practically stuffing it into her hand. If she wants, she can repay it later, he says.
Meanwhile, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, a rescue team returns with the pilot of a certain unmarked fighter plane to a hidden, underground base. It was weird, the pilot says as they walk him to the meeting room. He explains how one minute, he was closing in for the kill, and the next, there was a flash of bright light and his plane was suddenly shredded metal! One of the rescue workers supposes that means Alison Blaire is definitely a mutant. The downed pilot supposes—but wonders how one person could emit so much power.
They enter a meeting room filled with high-ranking military officials. Captain Smith, the downed pilot, salutes and addresses his superiors, who then scorn him for failing his top-secret mission. He had the Blaire girl, potentially the most dangerous mutant in existence, in his sights, yet he squandered it—and lost an aircraft! They remind him their high-ranking government friends went out of their way to provide them a base for their covert anti-mutant operations, but they hate when they lose aircrafts. Excusing himself, the commander says he wants a full report of the incident when he gets back from his week of meetings at the Pentagon. He puts his subordinate Crespi in charge while he’s gone, and asks him not to do anything stupid.
As soon as the commander leaves, however, Crespi unveils his secret, experimental plan to his men. They initially object; the commander did specifically state not to do anything stupid! Besides, they want to go into town to pick up girls. Crespi insists he has a plan that involves a new experimental gadget. His plan will not only get Captain Smith off the hook, but will end the mutant menace forever—starting with Alison Blaire!
Meanwhile, in New York City, at the Park Avenue offices of a major publishing house, a young man stares at his silent phone. He keeps muttering to himself that he can’t believe it. His coworkers look at him with worry. “Hey, what’s with Bob?” asks a tall, bald man named Eliot. His dark-haired female coworker informs him that it’s 9:30 AM and Ralph has yet to call. This is highly unusual, since Ralph has called at 9:30 every morning since he left for his trip to the comic convention in San Diego—and every five minutes thereafter. Ann, the dark-haired woman, walks over to Bob and tells him he looks worried. Bob admits he is worried; Ralph has not called in yet! “Relax, Bob!” Eliot says. “It probably just means that ol’ Ralphie got run over by a truck!” A short-haired man in glasses laughs and supposes it could also mean all the editors were swallowed by an earthquake. Why, if that were to happen, the assistant editors would take over for good; they might even inherit the universe! Ann and Louise tell Bob not to worry; they are certain Ralph and the other editors are just fine. Bob hopes so.
Another artist pokes his head out of his office and asks why Bob is so worried. Having the editors away en masse is a lot of fun, he says! As Louise walks away, she smiles and calls Bob a wimp. Another coworker with wild hair peeks in Bob’s door and asks Bob about a rumor he heard; is it true he won’t make a move until Ralph gives him the okay? “Ralph always tells me exactly what he wants done! He’s so worried that something will go wrong with one of his titles while he’s away,” Bob says. The wild-haired man laughs. It is true after all! This gang of laughing guys then walks away and heads out to lunch, even though they have already been once today. Ann, meanwhile, stays behind and gives Bob a tongue-lashing. Since Ralph is gone, Bob needs to get it together, as he is in charge. She reminds him that he needs to do what he wants. Smiling, Bob tells Ann she is right, and thanks her for her words. Of course she is right, Ann says. She excuses herself so she can go to lunch—again. As she leaves, a maniacal look overtakes Bob’s face and he begins rubbing his hands together deviously. With Ralph gone, he can finally do what he wants…
At that moment, in the San Diego YWCA, Alison Blaire awakens to her small, cramped, dingy rented room. She complains that even the mice must feel hunched, but it’s safe and warm, and at only fifteen dollars a night, well worth it. She heads to the cafeteria for breakfast, where she endures the cook’s inane conversation while she eats. She worries she might not have enough money left for a long-distance phone call. Fortunately she does, and uses it to call her manager in New York, Harry S. Osgood. Harry is delighted to hear from her; he had heard rumors she was abandoning his agency! He agrees to wire her a cash advance; after all, she has a hit record on the charts. Overhearing this conversation, Lance Steele smiles at Cassie and says that once Harry Osgood signs an act, they stay signed! “Yes,” Cassie says while nonchalantly applying her lipstick. “Too bad!” Lance asks what she means; Cassie loves Alison! Cassandra tells Lance to be a dear and go soak his head.
Meanwhile, in San Diego, Ralph, having overslept, frantically hails a taxi outside his hotel. He arrives at the San Diego Convention Center a few moments later and is immediately greeted by a crowd of fans. “Hey! It’s one of the Marvel Comics editors!” they shout. “It’s Ralph Macchio! I want his autograph on my copy of US 1!” As Ralph worms his way inside, various fans approach him with requests for autographs and portfolio reviews. Although he complies, Ralph suddenly grows worried as he remembers he has not yet phoned Bob at the office in New York. He just hopes nothing goes wrong with any of the titles!
At that very moment, however, Bob Harras marches around the office in a craze. With Ralph gone, he is now in charge, and his first order of business is to make the upcoming changes clear to his freelance artists and writers! Frank Springer speaks up and says they all like things the way they are. “Too bad, Frank! Incidentally, those pin-up girl shots you like drawing?” Bob says. “Forget ‘em! There’ll be no more of that!”
Back in San Diego, a car full of military officers spies on Alison Blaire as she exits the Western Union office. They continue to follow her. Luckily for them, she walks into the crowded San Diego Comic-Con.
As Alison enters the convention center, she finds herself overwhelmed by the packed crowd. You’d think Paul McCartney was playing here today or something, she thinks.
Just outside the door, Crespi ferociously orders his men to hurry and unpack their vehicle. They comply, but secretly wish their actual commander had never left them.
Inside, Alison searches for Ralph, but has no luck finding him. She supposes he might be in the middle of a nearby mob.
The military guys begin assembling their strange machine. Because of all the people dressed up in science-fiction costumes, no one pays their operation any attention at all. While they discuss the various costumes they have seen, such as Spider-Man and Darth Vader, Crespi barks at them to hurry.
Ralph, meanwhile, finds himself overwhelmed by fans. They berate him questions: is Jim Starlin still drawing Dreadstar? Are they planning more painted covers? Is the editor-in-chief really a monster? Louise Jones isn’t really called ‘Weezie’, is she? Ralph does his best to provide responses—answering yes, yes, no and yes, respectively—but wishes he could get to a phone.
Nearby, the military guys finally finish assembling their secret weapon. Crespi hits the activation switch. Instantly, Dazzler feels something strange happening. Although Crespi cannot see her directly, he smiles at the knowledge that his machine is surely causing her serious problems. The best part, he says, is that the device only effects mutant; humans feel nothing! Sure enough, Dazzler’s forehead begins dripping sweat. She feels as if every cell in her body is overflowing with power. She tries her hardest to keep it from spilling out in the form of uncontrollable laser blasts—which would surely injure the innocent people nearby—but fears she can’t hold it in!
Crespi, grinning while he amps up the weapon, informs his men that although Alison Blaire is likely the only mutant in the crowd, if there are others, this machine will find them and intensify their powers until they spin out of control! His soldier Zalme begins feeling funny, but Crespi and the other men do not notice. Instead, Crespi continues ranting about his master plan to drive mutants to the point where they cause senseless destruction. They won’t have to worry about sanctioning mutants at that point because regular citizens will form their own lynch mobs!
Meanwhile, Dazzler struggles to contain her power long enough to get outside. The impenetrable crowd makes it difficult for her to reach the exit.
Finally, Zalme’s peers notice him acting strange, but by then it is too late. Zalme falls to his knees, clutches his head, and begins to scream. His flesh turns a scaly purple and his body expands, ripping out of his fatigues. Suddenly, Zalme transforms into a giant, roaring, purple dinosaur. His friends cannot believe their eyes: Zalme is a mutant!
Dino-Zalme begins thrashing around, sending his fellow officers flying around the convention. The terrified civilians run for their lives. In the mad panic to escape, Ralph Macchio falls to the ground and becomes the victim of the stampede. The military officers, meanwhile, fight to neutralize Zalme before anyone gets hurt. They hope turning off the machine will calm his uncontrollable rage. Crespi commands his men to shoot the monster and kill it, even though it’s their former friend. Suddenly, Zalme whips around and pulverizes the men with his brawny tail.
The crowd disperses, leaving only Dazzler and the mutated Zalme. Looking at the monster before her, Alison realizes he may have killed those men—and may kill more in his raging fury. She also realizes he, too, must be a mutant. Thankfully, since Zalme scared everyone else away, Dazzler can now unleash the pent-up power within her. She fires a high-intensity laser at the machine, which she deduces to be the cause of her current troubles. The machine disintegrates. Accordingly, the throbbing pain in Alison’s body disappears as well. The purple dinosaur, however, does not calm down. It turns to Alison and roars in her face. She backs away, asking him to leave her alone, but he doesn’t comply. Strangely, Dazzler does not feel as scared as she thinks she should be. She supposes she feels a certain kinship with the monster because just like her, he is a mutant.
Zalme lunges at her. Dazzler fires back with a flash-burst. Her attack abates Zalme momentarily, but Dazzler winces at the thought of causing the poor man such pain. He strikes at her again, and while dodging his attack, she begs him to leave her alone. She means him no harm! Zalme claws at her once again, forcing Dazzler to dive out of the way. She realizes her words have no effect; if Zalme has any humanity left within him, it’s surely submerged. Fortunately for her, all the crashing around provides her with the sound energy she needs to fight back.
“Please try to understand,” Dazzler tells the dinosaur, “—if I don’t stop you here, now—you’ll be hunted down and killed!” Her eyes glow with menacing energy, and she unleashes a multi-faceted attack on Zalme, knocking him backward. She follows this up with another burst of light focused on the monster’s face, accompanied by another apology. Not too sorry, though, she thinks. His hide’s so tough, my mild laser-blasts don’t seem to hurt him much! There’s more than one way to pin a Saurian, though! Dazzler fires a pair of lasers at two nearby support-pillars. With their connection to the ground severed, they collapse on top of Zalme, bringing much of the ceiling down with them. Zalme finally rests, buried under piles of rubble he helped bring down himself.
With the threat defeated, Dazzler finally spots Ralph Macchio, the man whom she came to find. However, she notices that he’s resting directly beneath a perilously swaying pillar—one that begins to fall! Dazzler shouts for him to watch out, but in his groggy state, he fails to respond. Without any further hesitation, she darts toward Ralph, dives at him, and knocks him out of the way just as the thick column crashes down on his former resting place. She asks if he feels okay. Ralph thanks her for saving his life in response. Brushing this off, Alison supposes he probably would have gotten out of the way on his own anyway. She gives him back the twenty dollars he loaned her.
After Ralph thanks her for the repayment, Alison tells him she has to run and check on the dinosaur man. However, she finds no sign of him at all. She supposes he reverted back to his human form and crawled away. She can’t blame him; he must be the most frightened human on the planet right now. Alison considers herself a close second, however.
Ralph, meanwhile, picks himself up, dusts off his clothing, and walks to a payphone attached to a solitary piece of the remaining wall. “Now’s my chance to call Bob!” he says. He dials his office and asks the switchboard operator Darlene to put him through to Bob Harras.
At that very moment, back in New York, Bob Harras is standing on his desk, spelling out his bold new editorial changes. From now on, all dialogue boxes will be colored red, he says! He also demands a photo of himself in the trademark box on the cover of every comic! Suddenly, the phone rings, which Bob gleefully answers. His disposition slowly shifts from maniacal tyranny to solemn subservience as he speaks with his boss, Ralph Macchio, who, as he learns, is not dead after all. Bob sits down on the edge of his desk and hangs up the phone. “Uh…guys? About what I was saying,” he says to his staff, “…never mind!”
And, a little later in San Diego, Dazzler boards a bus headed for Los Angeles. She vows to stop running away from her problems. This time, when she returns to L.A., she intends to make it!