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Angels & Demons: part 5 of 6
Colorado Rocky Mountains, Angel’s Aerie:
Warren Worthington stands tense, breathing heavy, angry. The members that comprise the hit squad, X-Force, don’t know what to make of Warren’s surprising reversion to Archangel. Logan tells everyone not to move, hoping Warren might calm him down. It doesn’t look good.
Maybe being brave, but most likely dumb, Josh suggests getting close to Warren to make him go to sleep. Dripping with sarcasm X-23 warns him Angel can make him die from far away. Warren’s heard enough. Through gritted teeth he exclaims, “My wings… I can feel them… THEY TOOK MY WINGS!!!” Then spreading his newly formed techno-organic wings he takes to the air. X-Force takes this as possible sign of aggression and move into action.
With claws popped Wolverine’s the first to leap into the fray. As his stomach is torn open by a razor sharp wing he’s knocked backward and placed momentarily out of commission. Warren shoots a few razor feathers at X-23 scoring in the shoulder and stomach. Josh barely avoids the barrage.
The pain Warren’s feeling distracts him, leaving him vulnerable to a rear assault. Warpath leaps onto Warren’s back, placing one of his blades to Angel’s throat. Get it together, man, James yells, threatening to slice his neck open. Instead, Warren lifts off into the air and rams James into the ceiling, knocking him off his back. When Warpath hits the ground Angel’s right on top of him, punching him in the face.
Warren keeps yelling, “Make it stop!!” referring to the pain. Logan, back on his feet, tells him he can have whatever he wants. Warren changes his focus to Wolverine and soars swiftly toward him. However, instead of attacking he passes right over his head crashing through the large set of windows and taking off into the night sky.
Facility Red Lab, north of the Canada/North Dakota border:
Matthew Risman’s mind wanders, recalling the events that led to him becoming God’s chosen, of his recruitment by William Stryker, a man who showed him visions of the future and helped him save the lives of his wife and child. Following Stryker’s death Risman was to take the reigns of his crusade, having already received instructions on how to ensure Eden’s return to the Lord and the method behind killing Satan’s mutant army.
Risman’s first order was to protect the Oracle, their sole connection to the future. It was through Brother Eli he was able to procure Bastion’s head and give new life to Nimrod. However, there are plenty of doubts racking Risman’s mind on this matter. He fears that instead of providing salvation he’s handed humanity over to a new evil.
Stryker’s second order was to build a Choir of human angels using alien technology hidden within the angelic wings of an unknown mutant. They had discovered two mutants with wings, but it was the second one, called “Angel” that had what they needed. Now the Choir awaits his orders, ready for the coming war.
It is Risman who currently walks the corridors of the Facility, his right-hand man, Eli, and fellow Purifier, Reverend Craig, at his side. Risman admits his disgust with Reverend Stryker’s techno-organic resurrection calling it an assault against their holy crusade. The Oracle must be stopped, he proclaims.
Eli asks what he plans on doing. First, he explains, he’ll put William’s soul to rest then he’ll destroy the techno-organic monster, Magus, after which he’ll kill the Oracle. After thanking Eli for his loyalty and faith Matthew tells Reverend Craig to finish his work and return Wolfsbane to Satan.
Risman heads out to meet up with the Choir leaving the two men to their business. Craig walks off to perform his holy duty, but Eli stays where he is. He calls out for Matthew to stop and then jogs over to catch up with him. Eli wants to go with him, but Risman thinks it’s too risky with Bastion controlling Stryker. The only reason the Choir follows him is because they don’t know of Stryker’s resurrection, Risman points out, and after this mission none of them may be coming back.
Eli insists on going, after all it was he who brought this evil upon them, giving them Bastion’s location. Risman still argues the point, but Eli reminds him that he said they were brothers, and as brothers they should fight together. Placing his hand on Eli’s shoulder Matthew thanks him, resigning the point. The two men then leave toward the hangar, toward their destiny.
What they find waiting for them is the entire delegation of the Choir standing in formation, brother Gabriel in front bearing a staff with a cross at its head. The jet, with Risman and Bard now on board, takes off, dozens of winged warriors following in its wake.
Chicago, Purifier base:
The Purifiers have gathered inside a large auditorium to hear their leader speak of what is to come. Positioned behind a lectern on stage stands their guide, William Stryker. The Purifiers, much like the Choir, stand in formation already in uniform, though armed with energy rifles.
Stryker relays the news that their interim leader, Matthew Risman, has fallen to the dark side, seduced by the devil. He compares Risman to Judas, warning his followers he’s coming to kill them. Stryker tells his men he must be struck down. However, though this charismatic speech is coming from the lips of the resurrected Stryker, they’re actually Bastion’s words, the sermon of Stryker’s puppet master.
Facility Red Lab, north of the Canada/North Dakota border:
The room is dark, its sole occupant fast asleep on the cold concrete floor. Rahne awakens with a startle, the memories of what she did coming back to her in fragments. She tries transforming, but it doesn’t work. She looks down at her hands and finds them handcuffed at the wrists.
Sitting upright Rahne is suddenly hit with powerful flashbacks of the intense brainwashing she went under. Visions of angels flutter through her mind while a verbal barrage of insults hammer her as well. Her eyes were held open with metal clamps. She was forced to watch as the angels turned bloody, as the voice kept telling her to let the beast feast, that she was evil. The visage of her tormentor finally flashes amidst the dark images, her father Reverend Craig.
“Please Lord… please let me wake up…” Rahne cries as she shuffles her way toward the corner. She sees herself attacking Warren and taking his wings. She tries shutting out the images, clenching her eyes tight and balling her fists up to her face, but they keep coming anyway.
Amidst Rahne’s prayers for forgiveness the lights turn on. The door opens with Reverend Craig standing just outside. He calmly tells her there is no forgiveness for demons, just wrath.
over mid-America:
The X-Jet races over the country in hot pursuit of Angel. They’re barely able to keep up with their furious friend. He turns and Jimmy follows. X-23 figures whatever Warren’s target is, it’s moving. Wolverine presumes he’s going after his wings, wherever they are.
Chicago, Purifier base:
The Choir are nearing their target in Chicago. Risman radios a warning to Gabriel that there’ll be eyes in place on the roof that need to be blinded. Gabriel understands and commands Michael and Daniel to join him, breaking rank with the flock.
Four lookouts stand atop the skyscraper, all armed. That really doesn’t do them any good as one second their heads are attached to their necks and the next second they aren’t, courtesy of the techno-organic wings of the Choir scouting party.
Facility Red Lab, north of the Canada/North Dakota border:
Rahne gets to her feet demanding to know why her father made her hurt her friends. Ignoring the question Reverend Craig accuses her of twisting his thoughts and making him believe her evil was in him, but he’s realized the truth, she’s the devil’s daughter.
Craig levels a handgun at Rahne declaring Satan to be her father, himself her executioner. He fires and Rahne swiftly moves her hands in the general direction he was aiming. The bullet connects with her handcuffs before entering the meaty part of her thigh.
Rahne falls to the floor with a thud. She apologizes to Craig, saying all she ever wanted was his love. She looks down at her hands, no longer shackled, and finds them transforming. She turns into the wolf and leaps toward the door, knocking Craig out of the way. Rahne races down the hallway smashing things along the way. Craig finally gets to his feet and follows the path of destruction.
Chicago, Purifier base:
It is absolute carnage. The Purifiers on the floor fire away at the airborne Choir. The Choir does well avoiding the laser blasts, decapitating many a foe. Having the low ground the Purifiers never really stood a chance.
When it’s all said and done the surviving Choir members clear the way for Risman. He and Eli step through the wet puddles of blood, Risman disappointed that it had to come to this. Not only is Bastion a risk to the lives of every god-fearing man, woman and child on the planet, he thinks, but their souls as well.
Bastion stands on the other side of the room, unflinching as Risman and his people advance toward him. “Bastion,” Risman calls out as he approaches the Oracle, “A word, if you will.”


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Angels & Demons: part 6
Chicago, Purifier base
14 hours ago
With the Purifiers all wiped out, their body parts littering the floor, Bastion has the gall to tell Matthew Risman and his Choir to stand down. He reminds Risman they have the same goal, to preserve humanity against the mutant threat. Removing his pistol Risman aims it at Bastion, begging to differ with his statement. Matthew’s point of contention stems from the fact that the Oracle isn’t human, nor is his recently revived league of mutant haters. Staring at said techno-organic crew standing in the background Risman pronounces them unholy abominations that need to be destroyed.
First, however, Risman wants Bastion to face the wrath of his Choir. CRASH Risman turns to see Warren flying straight at them. He lands amidst the Choir and screams at them to give them back. Of course he’s referring to his organic wings, and of course they can’t do that so Angel starts tearing into them with his techno-organic set.
Gabriel rushes to Risman’s side and asks if Warren is one of them. Risman denies this, claiming Satan is playing a trick on them, that Warren is a mutant and needs to be destroyed. Leading the rest of the group Gabriel returns to confront the mutant menace.
Now with a second pistol aimed at Bastion’s head the two Purifier leaders are set to square off. Energy crackles from Bastion’s hands in response. He tells Risman the X-Men are coming for him. Risman replies that he’s ready to die, but insists Bastion goes first.
Claws find their way into Bastion’s head and a bevy of pinkish sparks arc out into the air. <<> goes Bastion, momentarily disabled. The rest of X-Force drops in from the skylight. Warpath takes in his surroundings, a bit bewildered by all the dead bodies and the fact that Bastion’s alive. Quickly assessing the situation X-23 states they have 48 targets, including airborne. Warpath asks for a plan and Wolverine, a fierce grin on his face, says, “Sixteen apiece. Kill ‘em all.”
Facility Red Lab, north of the Canada/North Dakota border
A trail of blood marks the path of Wolfsbane as she tries eluding her father and tormentor, Reverend Craig. As he tracks her movement he spouts his religious rhetoric, calling Rahne Satan’s spawn and whatnot.
The trail finally leads Craig to a room. As he opens the door to the darkened area he promises to finish what Moira MacTaggert prevented all those years ago. “Come out, demon!” he calls. Wolfsbane comes out all right, leaping onto his back and pinning the Reverend to the ground. Still in wolfen form Wolfsbane brings her face up to Craig’s telling him he’s taken God’s word and twisted it, using it to justify torture and murder. As she gets off of him she calls him the demon.
Reverting toward her human form Rahne admits the only reason she came after the Purifiers was to save Craig, because part of her still loved him. She looks at him with disgust admitting after what he’s done to her, what he’s made her do, she will never forgive him.
KA-CHAK, a bullet is chambered into the barrel of Reverend Craig’s pistol. He gets to his feet just as Rahne is about to exit the room. She turns around as Craig once again calls her Satan’s daughter, refuting their familial relationship. He levels his gun at her this time hoping to finish the job; however he’s chosen a most unfortunate spot to stand. Warren’s freshly amputated wings hover on either side of his shoulders.
A gasp emits from Rahne’s throat as she suddenly transforms. “Kill the angel.” She growls before leaping into action. Reverend Craig doesn’t stand a chance.
Chicago, Purifier base
Back at the hangar the slicing and dicing continues. Angel does the most damage, being airborne and all. X-23 and Warpath try their best, getting an occasional flyby. However, it’s the scattered bodies/body parts that paint the best picture of the carnage.
X catches a whiff of Risman as he attempts his getaway. She gives chase, catching the eye of Warpath. He tells her to hold up, but she doesn’t listen.
Risman makes his way to Magus’ chamber. Weapons drawn he breaks into the room and threatens Magus with the wrath of God. What Risman sees causes him to stop short, his friend, Eli, his left hand literally in the belly of the beast.
“Eli?” the scarred face of Matthew calls out. Eli looks over his shoulder at Risman. He was hoping Matthew would find him. Still confused Risman yells in God’s name for Eli to get away from the creature. Eli removes his infected hand from the techno-organic mesh stating there is no God, only Death, his queen.
Risman is shocked and outraged, but doesn’t hesitate to put a slug through his friend’s chest. “That wasn’t very nice,” Bard responds, grabbing Risman by the collar and clocking him across the face. “I trusted you. I believed in you!!” Matthew cries out. Eli says that was a mistake on his part, one of many, then explains he was going to make an offer to the Purifiers to sacrifice their souls to his beloved, but after finding Magus he changed his mind. Now, he says simply, they’re just going to die.
Eli opens his techno-mouth wide revealing long, pointed fangs. Before he can feast Laura comes on scene and puts a bullet through Risman’s brain, followed by three more rounds in Bard. It doesn’t stop him and in mere moments he has X-23 in a choke hold.
Bard brings his maw closer, ever closer, to X-23’s neck. He’s angry at her for denying him Risman’s soul, but finds her healing factor very appealing, especially since he’s dining for two now. Before he can infect her James’ knife skewers his back. He reels back in excruciating agony.
With the other knife poised in his right hand James orders Eli to let her go or die. Struggling to his feet Eli informs the young Apache he’s already dead. X cuts through the bravado and tells James to kill him already. Eli doesn’t give him the chance, taking off like a bat out of hell. Before he goes, however, he tells James he’s killed more of his people than smallpox and he’s just made this personal.
James kneels down at Laura’s side and asks if she’s ok. Laura only asks if she completed her mission. Looking down at the bullet entry wound in Risman’s forehead James says she did good and suggests they get out of there.
With most of the Choir dead those remaining begin second guessing their purpose. Their leader, Gabriel, is still alive, but looks lost, defeated. He starts quoting scripture, but his fellow soldiers implore him to lead them out before the angel of death comes for them as well. Gabriel snaps out of it and exits via the skylight with two of his brethren, although he leaves his cross-tipped staff behind.
Wolverine, meanwhile, has his hands full with Bastion. No matter how much he hacks the Oracle doesn’t go down. Instead, he declares mutants have brought this upon themselves, with any one of them containing the potential to destroy humanity. As he charges up his hands and fires Bastion exclaims that’s something they can’t allow.
X-Force’s leader is hit hard and sent flying backward. He struggles back to his feet, his chest shimmering pink and burning. Eyes aglow Bastion admits he wanted the X-Men to kill Risman, but stresses the confrontation is premature. Wolverine doesn’t care of course, but before he can resume his attack a ship lowers itself behind Bastion. The ramp lowers slowly and Wolverine sees them all, all the X-Men’s deadliest enemies gathered together.
Logan’s lost in the moment. “No… No @#$%ing way,” he says in utter disbelief. Bastion seizes the opportunity and fires another energy blast at Logan, this one a constant stream of force. As his skin starts sizzling Logan crosses his hands in front of his face and keeps coming. “You’re dead!!” Logan screams, inching closer and closer.
Bastion runs a risk analysis. “Unacceptable” is the result and he takes to the air landing on the ship’s ramp. Cameron Hodge asks if there’s a problem. Of course, Bastion replies, and orders the evacuation of the base. He tells Stryker to get the ship ready for takeoff.
Wolverine takes a running leap at the ship’s ramp. He almost makes it, but the afterburners on the ship explode with fury. Wolverine is all smoldering and burnt when he lands. Luckily, X-23 and Warpath are there when he does. They both comment on the horrible smell emanating from his flesh. He tells them to shut up and take a good look at what they signed up for. In front of them is a great view of the scattered remains of the Purifiers and Choir.
Wolverine’s next question pertains to the location of the man who led them there, Warren. Warpath points out the way, but says he’s not going to believe it. After what he’s seen today, Wolverine tells him not to be so sure. As they make their way closer they find Warren unconscious, lying amongst the butchery, in human form with newly formed wings.
Facility Red Lab, north of the Canada/North Dakota border
Some time later Wolverine, X-23 and Warpath find Rahne soaked in the blood of her father, praying for forgiveness. Over and over again Rahne repeats, “There is no sin so terrible that God’s love cannot forgive…” It takes a few moments for her to realize her friends have arrived. Time enough for X-Force to take a good look around and notice there’s not much body left of Reverend Craig. Logan worries what will happen to her once the shock wears off and she realizes what she did.
Colorado Rocky Mountains, Angel’s Aerie
present
Both Cyclops and Wolverine are out on the balcony, Logan finishing up with the mission details. He says Worthington didn’t even have a scratch on him, but was concerned he could feel the wings still inside him wanting to come out. As for Sinclair, Logan reports she’s fine physically, but her hurt is deeper than that.
Scott takes it all in and with a grim look of determination states they can’t stop what they started, especially not after what Logan just told him. As Cyke makes his way back inside he asks Wolverine if he has any idea who killed the Technarch or who the man was that X-23 and Warpath saw. “Eli” is the only thing X heard, Logan replies. Then there’s only one question left, Scott responds, who’s next. The two men look up at a large screen with nine mutant hater profiles on display, the one of Risman X’d out.


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Old Ghosts: Part 1 of 4
Kyoto, Japan…
Two men meet in a dimly lit diner. The first man, a Japanese businessman with pierced ears, says he brought everything. The other man, who wears a fedora hap that casts a shadow over his face, asks about Sinister. The first man informs him there has been no activity at the target location for weeks; they say Sinister is dead. “Yeah, sure he is,” the man in the hat says.
Moving on, the businessman says his buyer requested Lot 146, Specimen Five. Once again, the man in the hat casually asks for the identity of the buyer. The businessman deflects the question by telling his agent to first get the item, then call the number on the card—and that is all he needs to know. He reminds the agent he could have brought this job to any number of operatives.
Suddenly, the man in the hat begins to vanish with the phone number in his hand. The business man screams as his client leaves; what about the money?!
San Francisco…
The phone rings. Hepzibah, the Mephistoid ally of the X-Men, answers. “Hello? Hello?” she says into the phone. “You should be speaking now, yes?” Continuing to hear nothing, she shouts at the phone, commanding it to increase its volume. “Phone! I am talking to you!” she yells. “Idiot machine! I am talking to you!”
On the other end of the line, James Proudstar, the X-Man known as Warpath, hangs his head in silence. The call goes on for 43 seconds before Logan, dressed in his full X-Force garb, arrives and interrupts James’s odd ritual. Time to go, Logan says. James hangs up his phone and asks Logan what he wants. Eyeing his duffel bag, Logan asks if James plans on taking a trip or something. As James walks toward the door, he tells Logan he was right; he told him to walk away, and James didn’t listen. Now, he can’t talk to his friends, he can’t talk to the X-Men and he can’t even talk to Hepzibah. So, he’s going to talk to the one person he still can. He asks Logan if he has a problem with that. Nope, Logan tells him. As he takes a sip from his beer, Logan asks James to say hi to his brother for him.
Angel’s Aerie, Colorado…
Elixir knows what is happening. He reveals this to X-23 while at the breakfast table one morning. He has seen and heard enough to figure it out. He also knows that they’re keeping the truth from the other X-Men. So, the question is, what are they going to do with him? He refuses to use his powers to kill. However, they cannot just imprison him in Angel’s Aerie; Alani and the others will notice his absence.
Laura takes a bite of her pancakes. She tells Josh that, given his age and current romantic relationship, there is a 98.2 percent chance he will tell someone what he has seen. The only tactical resource Cyclops has is to kill him, she says.
Elixir sits still for a moment. On the wall behind him hangs “The Scream”, the Norwegian impressionistic painting of a terrified, golden-tinged man. The man in the painting stands on a bridge and clutching his face in utter terror. Suddenly, Elixir’s jaw drops, mimicking the painting behind him. “Seriously?!?” he cries. Laura begins an addendum to her statement, but Logan interrupts. He tells the punks to follow him; they have work to do. Elixir doesn’t drop the issue, however. “But what? Cyclops should kill me but what? Laura? Laura!!”
Elixir and X-23 follow Wolverine to the Aerie’s racquetball court. As they enter, X-23 offers a warning to Logan: she is highly proficient in racquetball. Good for her, he says in response to her quip. Behind the glass partition stand Rahne Sinclair and Scott Summers. Logan asks Scott if he is ready. Although Scott says they’re ready, Rahne begs them not to go through with this. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone. They have to know the truth, Logan tells her.
With everything in place, Scott gives Angel the signal. Warren Worthington III solemnly emerges from the corridor at the top of the viewing area and trudges down the stairs, his snow-white wings folded behind his back. There’s got to be a better way to do this, he sighs. Logan reminds him X-Force likes the direct approach. He grabs Rahne by the shoulder and orders her to look at Warren. Rahne resists—they don’t know the evil in her, she says—but Wolverine insists they need to see it for sure. “Look at him!” he barks.
Rahne lifts her head and looks as Warren unveils his wings. Rahne makes eye contact and mutters the word “angel” before suddenly shifting into her lupine form. Her irises grow larger, her fangs emerge and she growls at him, while a single tear rolls down her cheek. Wolverine cannot contain her. She breaks free and lunges at Angel, who stands safely behind the glass. Wolfsbane crashes into the glass with an unexpected WHAM! Despite the protection afforded by the glass, Warren gets nervous. “Get back,” he says through clenched teeth. “Everyone…get…” he continues, his skin turning blue. Warren shifts fully into his metal-winged Archangel form. “DIE!” he shouts as he fires a flurry of wing fletchettes at Wolfsbane. The poison-tipped projectiles lodge themselves in the glass.
Wolverine dives at Wolfsbane and tackles her to the ground. While trying to restrain her, he shouts for Cyclops to stop Archangel before he breaks through the glass. He speaks just a moment too late. Archangel shatters the glass wall between himself and Wolfsbane. Without hesitation, Cyclops hits him in the chest with an optic blast that sends Archangel crashing through the window. Wolfsbane, meanwhile, chows down on Wolverine’s arm, repeating her orders to kill the angel and take his wings. Wolverine screams; he tells Elixir to hurry up and stop Rahne.
While Logan grabs her by the jaw, Elixir presses his fingertips to Wolfsbane’s forehead, immediately soothing her rage. She drifts off to sleep. Archangel, however, has not let the fight go yet. He circles around over the Rocky Mountains and charges back at the Aerie with murder in his heart. Cyclops runs to the window, urging Elixir to get Wolfsbane out of the way as he goes. As Archangel dive-bombs through the broken window, Cyclops leaps into the air and wraps his arms around the murderous mutant’s torso. “Warren! Look at me! Warren!” Cyclops shouts in his face. Archangel shouts back that he is not Warren, but Death. “This isn’t you, Warren!” Cyclops says. “This is him talking.” Archangel insists that Rahne must die for taking his wings, but Scott reminds him he is stronger than his master. Finally, Warren yields. He lands on the ground and falls to his knees.
“Anyone else wanna flip out now?” Wolverine asks after they get a handle on the situation. Scott tells him to shut up. He approaches Warren and asks if he can control this. Warren believes so, but he wonders aloud what exactly Apocalypse did to him. Admitting this situation doesn’t exactly fill him with confidence, Logan asks Scott to summon his girlfriend to deprogram their two teammates. Scott refuses; he wants Emma to stay out of this. “Right, ‘cuz this is X-Force. No X-Men allowed. So we’ll just keep Angel-Killer Sinclair and the Fourth Horseman here as ticking time bombs,” Logan says. “Good call.” Scott says he trusts Warren; he will find a way to beat this. In the meantime, they must find a way to help Rahne. Elixir, however, is a problem, Cyclops says; they will have to deal with him somehow. X-23 overhears this and takes his words to heart.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Administrative Offices. Washington, D.C….
Agent Morales knocks on Agent Young’s door. He asks her to have a seat. She apologizes as she enters; have they met? Agent Young, a tough-looking black man with a shaved head, tells her no, they have not yet met. His office deals with unsolved cases, while Agent Morales has never had one—until now, that is. He asks her about the Purifier massacre. Morales lowers her head and glares at him from behind her long, black hair. The Purifier case is not closed yet, she reminds him. Agent Young tells her one of her reports raised a red-flag in his office; he may be able to help her. “Apparently, you and I are after the same target,” Agent Young says while presenting a top-secret field report on X-23 written by none other than Captain America.
Just beyond the shadow of the Rocky Mountains…
Warpath heads down a highway road toward New Mexico in his pickup truck. In the backseat, his hunting knives rest in his duffel bag.
Angel’s Aerie…
The next morning, Logan walks through the mansion in search of his teammates. He finds Cyclops and X-23 in the living room alongside the three Stepford Cuckoos and a vacant-looking Elixir. Elixir lifts his hand, waves at Logan and says good morning—but says it like it’s a question. Although confused at first, Logan immediately figures out what is happening. He grabs Cyclops by his collar and thrusts him up against the wall. This is who he is now? He brings in the Cuckoos to wipe Josh Foley’s mind? This is exactly the kind of thing that caused them to stop trusting Professor X! Killing their enemies and protecting the public is one thing, but how could he do this to one of their own—even a stupid snot-nosed kid like Elixir? Cyclops asks if he is finished yet; Logan tells him to go to hell. “How far are you willing to go? We’re crossing a line, yeah, but how long until we’re no different?” Logan asks. “How long until we don’t even see the line?”
X-23 interrupts and says Cyclops did not call the Cuckoos; she did. She did it to help save Rahne Sinclaire. The Cuckoos are loyal to Cyclops over Emma Frost, X-23 reminds Logan; they won’t talk. To emphasize, the Cuckoos state that while Emma can read their minds individually, together they can block her. If that’s the case, Logan asks, then why are they jacking Foley? Josh steps in and admits he asked them to. He doesn’t want to know about this. If he knows whom they’re going after, he may want to kill again, just like he did with Reverend Stryker. He doesn’t want to be that person. However, he doesn’t want to stop X-Force from doing what needs to be done, either.
“Well, now I wanna keep him,” Logan chuckles. Since Logan is the one keeping them honest and all, Cyclops asks how he knows he didn’t just have the Cuckoos plant that answer inside Josh’s head. Logan folds his arms. What, does he want an apology or something?
“I haven’t gone evil,” Scott Summers says. “I haven’t been taken over, I haven’t been replaced. We’re entering new territory, and it’s dark. But we’re still the good guys.” Warren suddenly enters the room. He tells Cyclops that is great news, because the bad guys are making their move.
On the television screen, X-Force watches as a news reporter introduces a live speech from former Presidential candidate Graydon Creed, who was once believed to be the victim of an assassination plot. The program cuts to Creed’s in-progress speech. He states that because he had once been marked for death by mutant terrorists, the U.S. government and S.H.I.E.L.D. placed him and several other high-risk targets into protective custody and replaced them with decoys. However, they cannot hide anymore, Creed says. They could not sit idly by and watch mankind ignore the greatest threat it has ever known.
“This is bad, right?” Elixir asks.
Creed’s speech continues. Many people believe the danger posed by mutants is a thing of the past, but it is not, he declares.
Meanwhile, in the Department of Defense, Steven Lang and Bolivar Trask meet with high-ranking U.S. government officials.
They believe that because mutants have gone into hiding, that we are safe, Creed says. We are not. The question is not if they will strike again, but when. And we must be ready.
Elsewhere, Donald Pierce holds up three photographs of his next targets: Rockslide, Dust and Wolf Cub.
Genosha destroyed? 16 million mutants dead? Creed asks rhetorically. It takes only one mutant to kill millions of humans.
Reverend William Stryker, standing at his pew, raises his fists as he preaches a fiery sermon. Sister Mary and another Purifier stand at his side and smile.
The mutants have been confined to a government camp? Creed asks. I>Think again. They walk among us.
In an underground meeting area, the Leper Queen meets with an eager crowd of anti-mutant bigots.
They don’t want you to know that Magneto is alive and on the loose. They don’t want you to know that mutant terrorists are creating training camps right here in the United States. They don’t want you to know that a new war is coming.
Elsewhere, Cameron Hodge and his men enter an old storage facility. They pry open the crates inside and reveal the sinister smiley-faces that adorning the body armor of the Right.
“Mutantkind must defend itself. We must be ready,” Graydon Creed says with utmost sincerity. “And if humanity is to survive…”
Bastion’s Control Center…
“…I will need all of your help,” Bastion continues, finishing the sentence he’s feeding to Creed. His arms outstretched, he simultaneously monitors the TV screens that display the visual feeds from his pawns.
Angel’s Aerie…
Cyclops receives an incoming call. The rest of X-Force watches the TV with dread. Logan tells Foley that yes, it is bad indeed. Warren deduces that if Bastion has planted Creed back in Washington, then he must have put the others back in place as well. That means Trask and Lang must be back at the Department of Defense. That means they should expect Sentinels. If that’s the case, Wolverine says, which target do they hit first?
“None of them,” Cyclops says. He closes his phone. “We’ve got a new target. The Vanisher.” Clearly confused, Logan asks him to repeat that. “It’s not him we’re after Logan—it’s what he’s taken.”
Japan. Seven hours earlier…
Inside a darkened lab, a small orb of light appears. A moment later, a man covered in darkness stands in its place. He walks over to a storage freezer and pulls open its doors. Inside, behind the escaping mist and eerie green glow, stands row after row of various test tubes. The Vanisher grabs the first one he sees and pulls out one of the vials. “Well, that was easy,” he says as he eyes the vial clearly labeled LEGACY VIRUS.


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[Assistant]
Old Ghosts: Part 2 of 4
The American Southwest…
On a desolate highway, James Proudstar drives alone. The music of Trent Reznor’s “Hurt” fills the silence not occupied by the roar of his truck’s engine. What have I become? My sweetest friend, everyone I know goes away in the end, the voice on the radio sings. James turns up the volume. You could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, James stares straight ahead, looking at the road through half-open eyes. I will make you—
Before Warpath hears the final lyric, something slices laterally across the hood of his truck. The front half of the engine separates and falls to the side. The tires disintegrate as the forward momentum of the vehicle grinds them to dust. The frame of the truck hits the road, filling the night sky with a shower of sparks. James loses control of the crippled truck, and it explodes a hundred meters beyond scar now cut across the highway.
Tokyo, Japan…
It’s a rainy day in Tokyo. The rain doesn’t bother Wolverine or X-23, who stake out a crowded city street from an empty apartment over the market. Warren Worthington III, however, stands outside, waiting in the rain for their target to arrive.
A mutant named Scalphunter contacted Cyclops about the theft, Warren thinks while he waits. Scalphunter had connections with Mr. Sinister right up until he died. When someone broke into one of Sinister’s labs, Scalphunter was the first to know about it. He also knew exactly what the perpetrator had stolen—and it scared him. Instead of telling the rest of Sinister’s followers what happened, however, Scalphunter turned to the X-Men for help. However, Scalphunter is a Marauder, and a Marauder put two spikes through Warren’s wings. He shouldn’t come looking for my help when he’s scared, Warren says. He should be scared of me.
Up above, X-23 monitors the street through the scope of a sniper rifle, its barrel just poking out a crack in the window. She tells Wolverine the mission is a mistake. Wolverine reminds her X-Force is down two men; they need Warren’s help. X-23 doesn’t believe he can be trusted. Upon hearing this for the fiftieth time, Wolverine grits his teeth. He gets it; Laura doesn’t like the plan. Their conversation ends when Wolverine gives the signal that their mission has begun.
Down below, the Vanisher exits a building, donning his leather jacket as he walks into the rain. Warren watches intently. Scott had asked him if he could handle a mission like this so soon after his attack. Warren told him he was fine. Warren lied. He had to go on this mission regardless of his condition; he has a history with the man who broke into Sinister’s lab. He knows the Vanisher. The Vanisher, however, doesn’t know Warren—at least not anymore.
As the Vanisher walks through the crowd, Warren steps out from hiding and stands in his way. “Telford,” he says. The Vanisher is stunned to hear someone use his first name. He immediately recognizes Warren, however, and asks what he is doing in Tokyo. “You know what I’m here for, Telford,” Warren says. “Give me the virus. Now.” Secretly, Warren wants Telford to run, or to fight. Every fiber of his being screams at him to reach out and take off the man’s head.
Above, the sniper zooms in on Vanisher’s head. She watches as he turns away from Warren.
The Vanisher begins walking away, telling Warren he has no idea what he’s talking about. Warren grabs him by the arm. He tells him this is not a game, and that he is in way over his head. This is his only chance to come clean. Warren gives him an ultimatum: give him the virus, or else. He continues hoping the Vanisher refuses, however. He wants a fight more than anything.
Fortunately for Warren, Telford gives him his wish in the form of a backhanded slap across the face. “Or what, pretty boy? You’ll wing me?” the Vanisher asks. “Last time we met, you cost me a fortune. And if you touch me again, I’ll teleport your arm off.” Warren smiles. This is perfect; he know he could count on Telford to behave this way. His skin suddenly begins to turn blue. The transformation has begun. Now, he can finally stop pretending. Now, he can do get what he came here to get.
The sniper watches as Vanisher walks away. Immediately behind the Vanisher’s back, Warren Worthington III completes his transformation into Archangel, Apocalypse’s Angel of Death. His metal wings erupt from his back, ripping through his street clothes. Up above, X-23 deems it time to spring into action. She crashes through the window and leaps to the streets. “Not a damn word, Laura!” Wolverine shouts at her as she falls. He tells her to cover Warren and make sure he doesn’t kill anyone. He’ll grab the Vanisher.
As the Vanisher runs through the crowded city streets, his cap falls off his head, revealing the thick, dark tribal tattoos that adorn his face. He has no idea that behind him, the pretty boy has transformed into Death. It matters not. Wolverine suddenly appears in front of him, leaping toward Telford with his claws extended. Telford gasps. However, a bullet strikes Logan in the head mid-leap, knocking him to the ground. X-23 directs Archangel’s attention upward; she sees a sniper on the tenth story. Forcing Laura aside, Archangel soars to the sniper’s position, saying he has the situation under control. Meanwhile, Telford Porter, true to his supervillain name, vanishes.
Wolverine wakes up a moment later. Via radio, he asks X-23 for an update. She tells him the Vanisher escaped. However, she caught the scent of the rifle of the sniper, whom Archangel is also pursuing.
As X-23 scales the exterior of the building, using her claws as hand and footholds, she speaks to Archangel over the radio. He doesn’t respond. X-23 tells Wolverine they should not have brought him. Wolverine barks back at her; he gets it already.
Elsewhere, Archangel pursues the sniper. He loses control of himself. His mind is consumed with killing: killing for Apocalypse. Archangel’s mission—his sole purpose—is to find those fit to survive. He is the bringer of the Apocalypse. He is the crucible. He comes crashing through the wall, stopping the sniper in her tracks. “You’re dead! Do you hear me?!” he screams.
The sniper nonchalantly pulls a handgun out of its holster and shoves it into Archangel’s open mouth. She hears him all right, she says. The question is, does he hear her? She pulls back the hammer of the gun. Archangel regains his composure upon seeing the sniper up close. To the best of his ability while he has a gun in his mouth, he says the name of this familiar woman: Domino? “Hi,” the smiling Domino says.
Colorado. Night…
Rahne Sinclaire sleeps alone. Tormented by her nightmares, she calls out for Moira MacTaggert, or Dani Moonstar, or anyone who can help her. She begs God for forgiveness for what she did. The memory of her father’s death flashes through her mind. She remembers losing control and biting into his neck. Again, Rahne begs forgiveness. She snaps awake with tears in her eyes. Immediately, she transforms into her lupine form and howls.
The American Southwest…
Warpath picks himself up from the flaming wreckage of his truck. He sees one of his hunting knives sticking up out of the dirt. Struggling to his feet, he pulls the knife from the ground and walks away from the fire. “I’m coming for you, Gotál,” he says.
Tokyo…
Wolverine is understandably angry at Domino. He asks again why she shot him in the head. He put his head between her and the Vanisher, she says over the radio. It’s not her fault. Besides, he was wearing a fancy new costume; she never would have recognized him.
Elsewhere, Archangel stares intently at his own reflection. X-23, meanwhile, reprimands Wolverine and Domino for breaking radio silence. They continue talking anyway. Domino asks Wolverine if he intends to let a little thing like a head wound get in the way of a good time. By the way, she tells him the gold kid looks nervous. Wolverine reassures Elixir by telling him not to screw up this mission. “Wow, that was motivational,” Elixir says with his arms folded. “I told him I didn’t want to do this.” Wolverine tells Domino her intel had better be accurate. She’s been on his case for a week; she knows his routine, Domino says. The Vanisher has four safehouses in Japan, and sooner or later, he will show up at one of them. When he does, X-Force will be waiting.
Sure enough, the Vanisher teleports inside one of his darkened safehouses. Wolverine emerges from the shadows behind him. The Vanisher has no idea he’s there until he hears the sound of Wolverine unsheathing his claws. Before he can escape, Wolverine plunges one set of claws through his torso. The Vanisher screams and teleports away. After he leaves, Wolverine tells his teammates to be ready; their target just fled safehouse number two.
Clutching the wound in his side, the Vanisher arrives at another one of his hideouts, unknowingly arriving immediately in front of Archangel. He plunges his razor-sharp wings through the teleporter, once again reminding him he is not Worthington, but Death. Telford screams. He escapes after sustaining even more life-threatening injuries.
His next safehouse doesn’t prove any safer, however, as X-23 ambushes him and slices off his jaw and the fingers on his hands. With no functioning mouth, the Vanisher cannot even scream. He crumples to the floor in a pool of blood, teleporting to his final safehouse.
He arrives at the feet of yet another member of X-Force. This member merely touches his finger to Telford’s forehead—and apologizes. Suddenly, Telford’s wounds heal themselves. Still on his knees, he looks up at the solemn face of Elixir. “I’m okay? Oh, god,” the Vanisher mutters. “What did you do to me?”
Elixir sits on the office desk and folds his arms. “I killed you,” he says. Domino, meanwhile, leans back in her chair and stretches. The Vanisher is incredulous. He asks to know who Josh is and what he means.
Domino introduces her associate. “His name is Elixir and he’s telling the truth. We just killed you,” she laughs. “Buuut…you may want to get a second opinion on that.” The Vanisher teleports away without saying another word. Domino twirls her handgun on her fingertip and tells Elixir how much fun she’s having.
Sometime later, a bored Telford Porter sits at the end of an examination bed in a doctor’s office, dressed in nothing but a hospital gown. Suddenly, his doctor returns and throws an X-ray image up on the light table. Telford asks if everything is all right, but the doctor doesn’t answer. He grows worried as other medical staff begins filing into the room to look at the X-ray. No one says a word. They ignore the Vanisher’s repeated cries for answers. Doesn’t someone want to talk to him? Finally, a few of the medical staff turn around and look at him—but still say nothing. “Should I be worried?!” Telford shouts.
Elsewhere, Domino pours another round of tequila shots for herself and Logan while finishing up her story about the Punisher. Once she wraps it up, she compliments Logan on finally forming his own little kill crew. Logan tells her it’s complicated. Domino’s eyes wander over to Laura, who stands at attention in the center of the room. Domino asks Logan why she’s standing like that. “She likes to be prepared,” Logan answers.
Less attention is paid to Archangel, who stands at the back of the room, leaning against the wall with his arms folded. His thoughts are on the new arrival, but just barely. Wolverine says they can trust Domino; Archangel finds himself not caring. He believes the others should know about the existence of X-Force. In fact, the world should know that mutantkind will one day rule… Oh, god. I can’t get it out of my head, Warren thinks. Scott knows… he’s been there. But what if I can’t control it? How long can I keep up the act? When he looks at the others in the room—and it pains him to admit this even to himself—Warren wants to kill them. He wants to see if they’re strong enough.
Domino, meanwhile, jokingly asks if X-23 is a Boy Scout. Laura turns toward her. She tells Domino she should not have missed her shot; her powers should have ensured a kill. “You’re a creepy little girl, has anyone ever told you that?” Domino asks.
Warren watches all this, and fakes his reaction. He smiles and makes jokes. He pretends to be Warren; he has to be Warren.
Elixir, meanwhile, begins wondering if they were wrong about the Vanisher. What if he never returns?  Before long, however, the Vanisher teleports into the middle of the room, screaming bloody murder. What the hell did they do to him?!
Archangel looks at the Vanisher as he returns. He would have no problem killing this one.
The Vanisher slams an X-ray image of his brain onto the desk. He asks what the hell it is. Smiling, Logan picks up the X-ray and holds it up to the light. It looks like a tumor, he says, referring to the clearly visible, X-shaped mass of cancerous cells growing within the Vanisher’s brain. Logan turns to Elixir and commends him on incorporating the team’s logo into the assignment. “Thanks! I thought about making it a happy face at first but I didn’t know how long I had,” Josh says. “…plus the fact that I needed to make sure it—”
Logan cuts him off and asks him not to ruin the surprise. The Vanisher, meanwhile, looks horrified. Wolverine pins him to the wall by the neck, sticks his claws in his face and tells him to listen. He has an inoperable brain tumor, and he’ll die unless he helps X-Force. The only choice he has to make is how bad X-Force hurts him before he decides to do what they say. Wolverine holds the tip of a claw to the Vanisher’s eyeball. Where is the virus?! Screaming, the Vanisher says he doesn’t have it. Wolverine and X-Force glare at him, their eyes filled with malice. “Wrong answer, Bub,” Logan says.
Arizona…
With the sun looming on the bright-red horizon, James Proudstar approaches the Camp Verde burial site. He pulls his hunting knives out of their holsters on his back. “Bring it on, you son of a $%$#,” he says as he approaches the hulking, green-eyed, roaring Demon Bear standing over the gravesite of Warpath’s tribesmen.


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Old Ghosts: Part 3 of 4
The Vanisher’s Safehouse. Japan…
Telford Porter screams as one of Wolverine’s claws slices through his right nostril. Wrong answer, Wolverine tells the Vanisher. Stunned at his leader’s brutality, Elixir asks Logan why he did such a thing and reaches out his healing hand to fix the gash in the Vanisher’s nose. X-23 stops him. Vanisher asks what the hell is wrong with Logan. He’s telling the truth, Telford says while putting pressure on his bleeding nose; he doesn’t have the Legacy Virus. Logan asks who has it, then. The Vanisher says if he tells him, he’ll think he’s crazy. Wolverine says to try him.
“Alright! Alright!” the Vanisher pleads. He explains how when he got to the lab, everything seemed to go just fine. Once he had a sample of the virus in his hands, however, he heard a guttural noise coming from the back of the lab. He turned around and found himself face-to-face with the Marauders. He recognized Sabretooth, Harpoon, Vertigo and Scrambler, and saw several others whose identities he couldn’t discern. Their eyes seemed gray and lifeless, with dark-blue veins running through their bodies. He didn’t know where they came from or how they found him, but he knew they were out for blood. Sabretooth took a swipe at him. As he teleported to safety, he dropped the vial.
“Sure, why the hell not? Everyone else is coming back from the dead, why not Sabretooth?” Logan asks. “It’s not like I cut off his head or anything.”
Archangel interrupts, however, and states the Vanisher didn’t actually encounter Sabretooth; he encountered a clone. He reminds his teammates they have seen this sort of thing with Mr. Sinister in the past; he has entire clone farms for his Marauders. Warren presumes this batch must have hatched after Sinister died. “They’re not real,” he says.
Warren’s words wound Laura, but she tries not to let it show. Josh cannot help but notice the hurt expression on her face.
Domino, meanwhile, takes a moment to absorb the strange nature of this scene. She never thought she would see the day an X-Man would slice open a guy’s nose to make him talk. Apparently she’s missed a few meetings. Logan told her he would fill her in on everything later, but the one thing he can tell her right now—that they’re going to make the crybaby teleport them into Sinister’s lab so they can destroy the virus and burn the lab to the ground—makes her pretty happy. Vanisher, still clutching his bleeding nose, winces. Wolverine isn’t talking about him, is he?
Outside Camp Verde, Arizona…
Warpath lunges at a paw of the colossal Demon Bear with his hunting knives extended. The paw seems to vanish. Warpath’s knives instead plunge into the ground, and he stares at them in confusion. Before he has the chance to comprehend what just happened, the Demon Bear bats him aside. He soars through the air and crashes into a canyon wall. James looks up in horror; for some reason, he can’t touch the bear—but it can touch him. Great. The Demon Bear, its eyes glowing green, comes over to the ledge and roars in Warpath’s face.
Ninety-seven miles away…
A man speeds down the highway on his motorcycle. He hears the roar of the Demon Bear reverberating across the desert. He slams on his brakes. As he cranes his neck to face the direction of the noise, his head ignites, revealing the flaming skull of the Ghost Rider.
Angel’s Aerie, Colorado…
Inside the mostly empty mansion, a newscaster warns nearby residents of several reported wolf sightings in the Rocky Mountains. The broadcaster urges anyone who spots a wolf to call animal control immediately. The weatherman takes over and comments on the recent cold snap that just won’t let up. It’s been an unusually strong and sudden winter storm—even for the Rocky Mountains, the weatherman says. They had over four feet of snow in some areas since the previous night, and the storm shows no signs of stopping. They’re currently witnessing record low temperatures in the higher altitudes and heavy ice on several mountain roads. He advises all motorists to get chains on their tires. Kate the newscaster thanks Jim the weatherman for his report, and moves on to a news item about the cleanup following the recent invasion.
Elsewhere in the mansion, Rahne Sinclair, dressed in a nightshirt and shorts, sits alone in a nook by a window. She looks solemnly out into the snowstorm. On her seat rests an open copy of the Bible. In her left hand, she loosely holds a rosary. Suddenly, a strange noise from outside catches her attention. Rahne perks up and looks out into the storm. To her surprise, she finds two glowing, yellow eyes staring back at her.
The Kitakyushu Smelting Plant. Japan…
X-Force always went after the bad guys, Domino says to herself. They were proactive; that was their thing. It’s what they did. But the safety is off now, Logan tells her. This X-Force doesn’t hold back. Domino didn’t ask questions. She remembers the way Archangel came after her in Tokyo. He was playing for keeps.
Wolverine, Archangel, X-23, Elixir, Domino and the Vanisher materialize on a catwalk in the smelting plant, courtesy of Vanisher’s powers. Thinking his job done, he tells X-Force they are now on their own. Logan tells him this place doesn’t look like a science lab. Archangel asks Vanisher what this place is. He tells them it’s some factory. His agent just gave him the blueprints, not a lecture on how Mr. Sinister picks his real estate. The lab, he tells them, is at the center of the factory. Wolverine shoves him. “You can go first,” he says. Vanisher doesn’t think Professor Xavier would approve of this. “Tell me about it,” Logan says.
As they travel to the lab, Domino sizes up her new teammates. Elixir is a scared kid, but she can tell he isn’t scared for himself. X-23, meanwhile, has the killer instinct. Domino can see it in her eyes. And Logan…well, he’s Logan, Domino believes. Up is down. Black is white. Something tells me I should be worried… but then again, I’ve got luck on my side. Still, she must admit this is the grimmest bunch of mutants she has ever seen. Even Cable smiled more than this team.
X-Force wanders down a long corridor presumably leading to the laboratory. Elixir grows nervous; he doesn’t think he should be there. He told Logan he didn’t want to come. “Don’t worry, kiddo. I’m sure everything will be fine,” Domino assures him. “So… who thinks we’re all about to die? I only mention it because Vanisher did say he dropped the vial with the virus in it. What if it broke?” If that’s the case, Logan supposes, then they’re all about to have a bad day.
X-23 catches a whiff of a familiar scent in the air. Wolverine asks how many there are. Fourteen targets—but some identical scents are present, she says. There could be more than fourteen. Wolverine asks Domino to open the doors. As Domino lifts her grenade launcher, she tells Wolverine he always says the most romantic things to her. The noise and heat from the explosion reverberate down the corridor. Neither Wolverine nor X-23 flinches. Vanisher turns and shields his head. Domino, on the other hand, just smiles as the air rushes past her face. You know what I love about Wolverine? she asks herself rhetorically. He really knows how to release tension.  She asks Wolverine for any inspirational words as they face their emerging foes. Yeah, he says to Domino as an army of Marauder clones charge down the hallway; if she dies, take one of them with her.
Arizona…
Warpath, lying in the shadow of the Demon Bear, picks himself up off the ground. He tells the mangy piece of crap that if this is how he dies, then he will die like an Apache. He will die like a Proudstar. Warpath launches himself off the ground and flies at the Demon Bear’s roaring face with his knives extended. Again, the bear swats him away, sending him crashing onto the packed deserve floor. It pins him to the ground with a monstrous claw. As he looks up from underneath its talons, Warpath spies an evil-looking dagger protruding from the bear’s neck. The Demon Bear presses down on him.
As the life slips out of the body of James Proudstar, he hears the roar of a motorcycle and the snap of a whip. Ghost Rider appears and snaps his chain across the Demon Bear’s maw. It howls, lifting its paw in pain. Ghost Rider swoops in, grabs the unconscious Warpath by the hand, and rides to safety. The Demon Bear growls at its victim as he disappears over the horizon.
Japan…
As X-Force rips through the squad of Marauder clones, Domino contemplates the brutality of the situation. After all, it’s easy to forget just how deadly mutants can be—especially when they dress in colorful costumes and play hero all of the time. She takes a moment to observe her team.
While using one of his metallic wings to deflect a flurry of shuriken sent his way by a clone of Riptide, Archangel stabs a Vertigo clone through the torso with his other wing. Nearby, Wolverine pierces an Arclight clone through the shoulder while shaking off one of her energy attacks. Behind him, X-23 cuts through a Scrambler. Domino considers Wolverine one of the most dangerous men on the planet. He can be an X-Man one moment and a savage beast the next. As much as she likes him, Domino always makes sure she has her guns loaded when she is in his presence. She flips over one of Harpoon’s projectile attacks and fires a few rounds from her sub-machineguns through a different Scrambler.
Across the corridor, another Harpoon clone stabs Archangel in the back. He groans, but perseveres. He’s so good looking and charming when he’s the Angel, Domino thinks, that when he becomes this other form—when he becomes Death—she’s never quite ready for it. As Archangel, he simultaneously embodies both beauty and horror.
X-23, meanwhile, finds herself fighting off two Sabretooth clones at once. One of them takes her arm from behind, but she reaches back and stabs him in the cheek, while slicing another across the face with the adamantium claw on her foot. Domino thinks X-23 is like a machine; she’s never seen anything like her. The girl is so small—there are moments when Domino looks at her and just wants to laugh—but right now, Domino isn’t laughing. Right now, Domino is just glad they’re all on the same team.
Nearby, Elixir and Vanisher cower behind a corner. Telford asks Josh what he’s doing hiding; with his powers, he could be out there tearing up the bad guys. Josh looks out at the horror of the battlefield. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone, he tells Vanisher. “Are you %*@$ing kidding me? You gave me a %*^@ing tumor!” Vanisher reminds him. Josh tells him he didn’t want to do that. “Whatever, Mother Theresa. Look, you heard what bird-boy said,” Telford continues. “They’re clones! They’re not real!”
X-23 overhears this comment as she cuts the throat of a Harpoon. While facing off with a Sabretooth, she turns to Elixir and shouts “Vanisher is right! Do not hold back!”
S.H.I.E.L.D. Division C…
“This girl is not human,” Agent Morales says to Agent Young. He tells Morales S.H.I.E.L.D. had been after X-23 for some time before the case went cold. Morales reminds him the girl has been killing people since she was nine. X-23 has killed politicians, dictators, drug lords, mob bosses, members of AIM, HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D.—and those are merely the targets they can identify. Who knows how many others she has killed? Plus, she’s wanted in over a dozen countries and has troubling ties with radical groups. On Agent Young’s desk, a photograph of a Dr. Sarah Kinney is circled in red pen alongside a large, red question-mark. Agent Morales lifts a different photo from the array on the desk and holds it toward Young. Unfortunately, the only known person with firsthand knowledge of the target is dead, she says, referring to the photograph of the recently deceased Captain America. As much as it pains her to disappoint Agent Young, he must accept that until X-23 makes another move, they have no leads to follow.
Arizona…
James Proudstar wakes up from a dream, muttering his dead brother’s name as he returns to the realm of the conscious. His eyes snap open and he jerks awake. How is he alive? Why is he alive? “Because you have not tasted vengeance… yet,” an eerie voice tells him. James looks across the campfire at his savior, Ghost Rider, who sits patiently on a fallen log. James asks if he can scratch his last question, and instead ask another: why is he in Hell? Ghost Rider tells James he knows nothing of Hell. He then orders him to gather his strength, because tonight, he intends to show the mutant how to kill a demon.
Japan…
In the middle of all the murder, blood and chaos is the vial of the Legacy Virus. Domino can hardly believe that one tiny drop of it could make mutants extinct. To her surprise, she spots the vial lying not too far from her position. I’m closest to it. Lucky me, she thinks as she leaps toward it. She fires a few rounds from her pistol over her shoulder as she makes the grab, hitting a nearby Sabretooth in the face. With the vial safely in her hand, she tells her team that it’s time to leave.
Suddenly, the concrete of a nearby wall crumbles into debris, revealing yet another squad of enemies—this one outfitted in heavy, mechanical suits with machineguns mounted on the back. Creepy smiles and eyes that seem to come from a children’s cartoon adorn the faces of the armored units. They set their laser sights on X-Force, but mainly on Domino, their nearest target. The leader of the Right orders his squad to take the virus—and let no mutant out alive.
Ever since Domino hooked up with the X-Men, she’s held back because the X-Men don’t kill. It didn’t make a lot of sense to her—but she respected it. And now, finally, when mutants are up against the wall as a species and it’s kill or be killed, Domino thinks, …that’s when my luck runs out. Great.


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Old Ghosts: Part 4 of 4
Seven miles outside Camp Verde…
According to Ghost Rider, the natives of these lands were among the first to walk within the spirit plane, a single, shared existence between the worlds of the dead and the living. Warpath’s people have long known about the threat he and Ghost Rider now face. However, for all of Warpath’s power, he may as well try to kill the wind. His blood and birthright connect him to these forces, but he is not a shaman and does not know how to access his latent, mystical abilities. Ghost Rider intends to teach him how.
He will show him the path lost by the deaths of his ancestors. He will open James up to the spirit plane and give him the tools he needs to touch the dead, just as the dead have touched him. The Demon Bear, he says, reeks of darkness: black magic so thick, even Ghost Rider does not understand it. He knows they can kill it, however. Warpath will become the killer of enemies and the slayer of monsters. Other tribes had a name for this ritual; it was their religion. Pressing his fiery, skeletal fingers to Warpath’s ashen forehead, Ghost Rider calls it “The Ghost Dance”.
Warpath looks his newfound spiritual mentor in the cavities of his skull. His name is James Proudstar. He is Apache, he is a mutant, and until recently, he was an X-Man. He has not led an ordinary life.
Japan…
The soldiers of the Right storm in and spray X-Force in a hail of bullets. While X-23 and Domino leap out of the way, Wolverine uses one of the remaining Sabretooth clones as a human shield. He shouts at the Vanisher to get them out of there immediately. “Sure thing,” Vanisher says as he disappears, leaving behind X-Force. Wolverine screams as their best means of escape leaves. He swears he’ll kill him next time they meet. X-23, still dodging bullets, tells Wolverine they should never have trusted someone like Telford Porter, but he asks her to cram it.
Meanwhile, Archangel shields Elixir with one of his metallic wings. Glancing over his shoulder, he recognizes the soldiers of the Right, an organization led by his longtime nemesis, Cameron Hodge. “Hodge is mine,” he states. Domino, hiding nearby, asks everyone to focus; not all of them can get shot and then crap out the bullets. As she speaks, a bullet grazes her shoulder.
One of the soldiers of the Right gets a visual on their target, the Legacy Virus, and  reaches for it. Just as his hand nears the wayward vial, however, something slices diagonally across it, severing his fingers from the palm. He screams. His attacker, X-23, stands triumphant with the vial in her right hand. She doesn’t see the other soldier of the Right approaching behind her with his drill-hand outstretched.
Elixir sees it coming. He screams at Laura to watch behind her. Before she can react, however, the armored Right-soldier plunges his drill toward X-23’s torso. Incidentally, at that moment, she lowers her hand with which she clutches the Legacy Virus right in front of the drill’s trajectory. It plunges through her hand and into her midsection, forcing the virus sample into her body. “What the hell just happened?” the smiling Right-soldier asks.
“Oh, god,” Domino says. “The virus.”
“It’s… it’s,” a stunned Elixir mutters.
Logan rips off his mask. “It’s inside her.” Laura looks up, her blood-spattered face conveying nothing but dismay. Her eyes widen as she realizes what was just released into her body.
Arizona…
From a distance, Warpath and Ghost Rider size up the huge, red, lumbering Demon Bear. Thanks to the training provided by Ghost Rider, Warpath can now see the creature as it truly is: as patterns of spiritual energy. Warpath has dealt with Demon Bears before, but never any like this. He has no connection to this creature. That’s about to change.
Ghost Rider asks if he is ready. “Hell, yeah,” Warpath says. Gray ash covers his skin. He holds a bowie knife firmly in one hand and twirls the other. When Ghost Rider gives the signal, he propels himself forward, soaring through the air and toward the snarling muzzle of the Demon Bear. Ghost Rider follows closely behind on his motorcycle. Ghost Rider smells like burning flesh and I can feel the heat of his flames inside me, Warpath thinks. It’s disturbing. What’s more disturbing… is that I’m glad he’s here. I don’t truck with magic. Never liked it. Show me what to hit, give me something I can bury a knife in. That, I can do.
Warpath slashes at one side of the Demon Bear’s chest, while Ghost Rider lashes the other side with his mystical chain. Their attacks damage it—much to Warpath’s surprise. The bear quickly recovers and bats away both Ghost Rider and Warpath. For as big as it is, it’s awfully fast. As he crashes into the ground, Warpath wonders if it has come to punish him for all the blood on his hands. If so, maybe it’s a good day to die.
Ghost Rider, landing nearby, comments that this creature is more than evil; it fights as if it were insane, or something worse. Warpath screams at him to save the analysis for after they kill the monster. At the moment, the Demon Bear closes in on Warpath with its gaping maw, prepared to swallow him whole. Warpath looks his imminent death in the face and recants what he said earlier about it being a good day to die; he hates dying.
As the bear clamps down on Warpath, Ghost Rider suddenly realizes the creature is in pain. He asks James if he can feel it. He directs his attention to the demon blade lodged in its fur. Warpath, currently struggling to hold the bear’s mouth open so it doesn’t crush him in its teeth, asks for clarification on the blade: what the hell is that thing? Ghost Rider explains it is a demon blade, and it is poisoning the Demon Bear with dark magic. “Okay, fine!” Warpath shouts at Ghost Rider. “You want to do something now?!”
Japan…
X-23 plunges her claws into the armored face of the Right soldier. Barely able to stand, she collapses to her knees and coughs up a mouthful of blood. Wolverine, Archangel and Elixir watch her from across the corridor, but can’t get to her due to the constant stream of gunfire. Logan asks her to hang on, but Laura denies his order. Their mission is to destroy the virus, she says. She takes off running down the hallway.
The remaining soldiers of the Right decide to kill the mutant girl and take her body back to Hodge. They begin firing at her. Archangel positions himself between the Right and X-23, shielding her from the gunfire with his wings, while Elixir takes off running after her. He pleads with her to wait—but Laura’s mind is set.
Arizona…
Warpath seemingly floats alongside the snarling snout of the Demon Bear while Ghost Rider snares it with his chain. The bear roars in frustration. With its head subdued, James flies in toward its neck and grabs hold of the demon blade’s hilt. It feels cold to the touch. For an instant, he contemplates driving it in even further to kill the beast. However, that is not the person he is. He doesn’t want to be the killer. He instead rips the demon blade free, unleashing a blinding surge of pure, white light.
Ghost Rider asks him to behold what he has done. James drifts backward and watches as the soft white light overtakes the body of the Demon Bear and transforms it into a stampede of pure animal totems. The bear roars once more, but this time, it howls in relief. “This was no demon,” Ghost Rider says to Warpath. “These are spirit guides. They are your gods.” He presumes the knife corrupted them, driving them mad with old magic until they lashed out in the form of the monstrous bear. James can barely believe it; someone did this to them?
As he watches, the stampede of horses, stags, wolvers, wildcats and other animals overtakes him, taking him up in their wake. Warpath screams, but the divine voices of the animal gods ask him to listen. They ask him to feel their pain, witness their suffering—and see the face of their enemy. They bestow upon James Proudstar a vision of someone desecrating the graves of Camp Verde and hauling out a corpse by the collar. James recognizes the corpse as that of his late brother, John Proudstar.
Japan…
In the smelting area of the factory, X-23 stands on a catwalk overlooking a large vat of molten steel. She slices through the catwalk’s safety chain with her claws. The chain links tumble down into the vat and immediately disappear into the molten metal. She prepares to jump.
Just then, Elixir comes running down the catwalk behind her, begging her to stop. Josh demands to know what she is doing. Laura turns to him and tells him she is going to destroy the virus. Josh asks how; by killing herself? “Yes,” Laura says. She takes a single step backward and over the edge of the catwalk. With her arms outstretched, she begins to plunge toward the red-hot smelting container.
Miraculously, Josh reaches the ledge in time and grabs onto the falling Laura’s hand. Laura looks up and tells him he risks the lives of every mutant on the planet. She orders him to let her go. “What about your life, Laura?!” he asks. If he does not let her go, she will cut off his arm, Laura tells him. Again, she repeats her orders to Josh: let her go. Josh refuses to let her die. He knows why she is doing this, but he doesn’t care what anyone says. Clone or not, Laura is a real person. “Listen to me. I—I didn’t want to be involved in this, I didn’t want to know, or even come. But now I know why I’m here,” Elixir says. “To save you. I will never let another friend of mine die again. Please, Laura,” he begs, “…let me try.”
Laura looks up at him, her green eyes giving her consent despite the blood and bruises on her face. Josh begins to work his power. A soothing, golden glow—emanating from his body—envelops Laura. Elixir can feel the virus in her body. It’s not the original one, he says; in fact, it’s worse in some ways. He can sense her body fighting the virus. He thinks he can help; together, they can burn it out of her system. The golden glow reaches its climax, and at that moment, the combination of Josh’s healing power and Laura’s regenerative factor purges the Legacy Virus from her body. She looks up at him gratefully. The virus is gone; he did it.
Unfortunately, the exertion of using his powers weakens Josh. He can barely remain conscious, much less retain his grip on Laura’s hand as she dangles over the vat of smelted steel. He begs for her to hold on as he drifts out of consciousness. It’s too late. He lets go of Laura before she can get a better grip, and as she falls toward the vat, she looks up at her savior with a surprised expression on her face.
Elsewhere in the lab, Archangel, Domino and Wolverine finish up with the remaining soldiers of the Right. Logan tells them to make sure the rest are dead while he goes after Josh and Laura. Before he can leave, however, their two young teammates return and announce the destruction of the Legacy Virus. X-Force looks over and is stunned to see X-23, bald-headed and pink with burns all over her body, dragging the limp Elixir over her shoulder. Elixir looks up and tells the rest of the team that X-23 was going to jump into a vat of molten metal. He saved her!
“She doesn’t look saved, kid,” Domino says. Logan asks why she has all the burns. X-23 explains that after Elixir dropped her, she hit the edge of the tank and caught fire. Once again, Elixir says he’s sorry!
Archangel asks what they do now. “Now we’re gonna blow this place to hell,” Wolverine says, unsheathing his middle claw. “And then I’m gonna find Vanisher and cut off his @#$%ing head.”
Epilogue One: The Colorado Rocky Mountains…
Rahne Sinclair, fully in her lupine form as Wolfsbane, runs through the snow-covered forests outside Angel’s Aerie. She pants as she follows the scent of her stalker. Suddenly, a gray wolf crashes into her side and knocks her to the ground. Shifting into her transitional form, she looks up at her attacker and tells whoever it is to run; she doesn’t want to kill him. Her assailant, a gray-furred, half-human, half-wolf upright man, reaches out his hand to Wolfsbane in a gesture of truce. “If I must die, my love, let it be looking upon your beauty,” he says. “Long have I been searching for you, Rahne Sinclair.” Rahne can barely believe it; the creature standing before her is her old love, Hrimhari.
Epilogue Two: Washington, D.C.…
Bastion asks Cameron Hodge to report. Hodge tells his master his team failed to acquire Lot 146, Specimen Number Five; the X-Men got there before they did and destroyed the sample. Bastion finds that unfortunate. Hodge agrees, but reminds his master that the three remaining samples taken from Sinister’s labs in Ecuador, New York and Perth are still in their possession. Plus, he reports, the Ecuador sample is already showing great promise. Bastion orders him to replicate the sample and see that it reaches the Leper Queen.
Angel’s Aerie…
X-Force materialize in their base of operations with a bound and gagged Vanisher in tow. Laura’s skin has already healed, and her hair has begun to return. After the teleportation, Wolverine rips the duct tape off of Vanisher’s mouth and threatens to do something awful to him if he ever does that again. Domino, meanwhile, looks across the room and sees Warpath sitting in a chair, his skin still caked with dried mud. What the hell happened to him? “He dug up Johnny,” James mutters. “He took my entire tribe.”
“Who did?” Logan asks.
My name is James Proudstar, Warpath tells himself. I don’t want to be a killer. But now I have no choice.
“Eli Bard,” he tells Logan.


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

[Assistant]
Who the Hell is Eli Bard?
At Angel’s aerie, now, the members of the latest incarnation of X-Force are gathered. They include Domino, Vanisher, Archangel, Elixir, X-23, Wolverine, and Warpath. To all present, Wolverine asks Warpath… “Who the hell is Eli Bard?”
Warpath informs him that he’s the man that was with Risman, the man that almost killed Laura. He’s the bastard that dug up the graves of his tribe and desecrated their bodies. Ghost Rider showed him, he showed him who did it. That’s what made the Demon Bear manifest. It was Bard. The spirits showed him everything. They showed him his whole life. Domino quips and she thought they were busy. Vanisher adds that he has no idea what the hell he just said. What’s a “Ghost Bear?”
At that moment, X-23 realizes that something is wrong and that Wolfsbane isn’t there. As she heads off to go and find her, Elixir follows her. Wolverine then tells Jimmy that if he’s got a story to tell, then tell it.
Warpath reveals that it started almost two thousand years ago in Rome. His name was different then but it was Eli. He was a high-ranking politician and respected by the military. He was wealthy beyond measure, a member of the elite and loved by one of the most powerful women in all of Rome. He had everything but it was all a lie.
(past)
When he goes to see his wife, a beautiful blonde, she throws her drink in his face and calls him an imbecile. She tells him that he’s a stupid, pathetic excuse for a man. His little “speech” to the Senate about supporting Mascius while the Emperor is away almost ruined everything. Eli pleads to his wife, Aurelia, but she cuts him off. She tells him to be silent. He humiliated Mascius in front of everyone. Had he not been there to control things, he would have been ruined. Eli begins to state that he meant no… but he is cut off again by Aurelia, who tells him to get out of her sight.
Eli asks his house, no, he will not leave his own house. Removing her jewelry, Aurelia says his house? She tells him not to forget whose house this really is. Do not forget who pays for his life. When she found him, he was a starving poet. If not for her, he would be begging for food at the marketplace. Tossing her jewelry to Eli, she tells him to have the slaves polish them on his way out. Eli again begins to protest but Aurelia tells him to be gone. Her and Mascius have… business… to attend to. As the two engage in a passionate embrace, Aurelia tells Eli that if he interrupts them, she’ll make him fan them while they work.
(present)
Warpath adds that Bard was a pathetic little man, put into power by people who wanted nothing more than to use him.
(past)
Sitting outside his house, Eli hears his name, Eliphas repeated over and over again. Looking up, he asks if someone is there but only finds a small child. Asking her name, the girl informs him that it is Claudia. Standing up, Eli tells her that she looks like she could use a meal and gives her some bread. Taking it, Claudia tells him that her parents are hungry too and asks if she can bring it back to them. Eli tells her of course and gives her Aurelia’s jewels to take back too. Claudia is speechless but Eli says to her that she’s most welcome and tells her to head off before her masters discover that she’s gone missing. As Claudia heads off, Eli hears the sounds of Aurelia moaning at the touch of Mascius.
(present)
Warpath states that Eli wasn’t an evil man. He wasn’t man enough to even make the choice. It was going to be made for him.
Wolverine then tells Warpath that for the love of God, tell him this is going somewhere. Her interest piqued, Domino says not to be so hasty, he wants to hear more about this “Mascius” guy. She likes his style. Warpath tells him this is where it’s going. And trust him, they’re not going to like it. So Eli hits bottom. His entire life is a sham and he knows they all know it. They’re all laughing at him. And that’s when it happens.
(past)
As he walks through the streets of Rome, he hears his name Eliphas again. Turning the corner, he finds a beautiful raven-haired lady who greets him by his name. Eli asks the lady if he knows her. She responds no, but she wants him to. Showing him her carriage, she asks him if he will honor her with his company. Eli again asks her who she is. The lady replies that she has many names but he may call her Selene.
(present)
Tossing a glass against the window, Wolverine exasperates that he’s got to be kidding him. When Vanisher inquires as to who the hell Selene is, Archangel tells him that she’s an immortal mutant, Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, bad news. Warpath states that he wishes that this was a joke, believe him, he has no idea how bad this story gets.
(past)
Inside Selene’s carriage, Eli tells Selene that he’s never seen a carriage like this before. Selene informs him that it’s not from Rome and neither is she. Eli says that if he may ask, what business brings her to their fine city? Selene tells him that she has come there for him. Eli says he sees, and asks if there is some way that the Senate can help her. Putting her hand on his leg, she tells him no, only he can help her. But she does not seek the man that sits before her.
Eli tells her that he’s afraid he doesn’t understand. Selene says to him that he was once a good man before this wicked city corrupted him. He was a great soldier before politics softened him. And not so long ago, he had the ability to love deeply and passionately before his heart was broken. This man, this is who she has come for. Surprised, Eli asks her how she knows all this. Selene informs him because she was there. She was there the day he was born. The day he first took a man’s life as a soldier and the day when a spear broke his body, ending his years on the battlefield. She was there when he fell in love, and there again when she broke his heart. She has been waiting for him since before there was a Rome. She has always been there and now it is time for them to begin their journey together.
Eli tells her no, what she says is impossible. Pulling a candle off the wall, Selene tells him that she has lived for thousands of years and she offers him the same. She can make him young, healthy and stronger than he can imagine. She can make him impervious to the ills and suffering of mortals and that is just the beginning. In time, he will have the power to control the beasts of the night and the elements themselves. To prove herself, she makes the flames move at her control. She adds that he will live a life eternal and have her love for all time. An ageless love that will be as beautiful and passionate today as it will be 10,000 years from now. Eli asks her what she would ask of him in return. Touching his face, Selene tells him that she wants every soul in Rome.
(present)
Eli knew what was happening. He was a worm but he knew true evil when he saw it and it scared him. Maybe he would have done the right thing, maybe he would have even made the right choice but fate made that choice for him.
(past)
As he makes his way for a session of the Senate, Eli is surprised to see Mascius standing with the other Senate members. One of them says to him, Eli, that they were surprised to hear he was stepping down, the people of Rome shall miss his service. But they are glad that he chose Mascius to take his seat. Eli asks his seat and begins to ask Mascius about it but he is cut off. Mascius tells him that he, Eli, is stepping down and needs him to take over his duties immediately. Those were his words to him. Eli stammers of course and asks for forgiveness. Mascius tells him that he is forgiven and tells him Aurelia has some exciting news for him. When Eli makes his way over to his old house, he sees a bonfire in front with his possessions ablaze. Standing on the balcony, she tells him that he may die now and that he can burn along with his possessions for all she cares. She has need of him no longer. Enraged, Eli stares at her with great disdain.
(present)
Warpath points out that they say a man with nothing left to lose is the most dangerous man of all.
With Selene, Eli tells her, his queen, that he will do whatever she requires. Selene tells him she requires only godhood. Tomorrow the arena will host the largest battle the city has ever seen. Thousands of souls at once, and they are only the beginning. Giving him a kiss, she tells him that she’s shown him the sigils, the runes. Take her blade, he knows what to do. Together they will live forever.
The next day, Eli makes his way to the arena. As he does so, he repeats to himself five points of a pentagram, all of Rome will burn. They will pay for what… they will all pay…. Just then, Eli sees Claudia off in the distance begging for food. Warpath recants that, in this time, Eli wasn’t evil, just weak. But one moment of kindness changed everything. Eli then made his way over to Claudia and tells her what is about to happen. He tells her to tell no one but her family and that she must go now.
In short time, Claudia’s father made his way up to Mascius and tries to tell him that something terrible is about to happen. At first he doesn’t want to listen but when he mentions Eliphas’ name, Mascius stops to listen. Claudia’s father then tells Claudia to tell her what she knows. When she tells him she can’t, her father yells at her to tell him now.
(present)
Warpath indicates that Selene chose her pawn well. He was well known enough to get where he needed to go but at the same time no one cared enough to ask why he was going there.
(past)
In the bowels of the arena, Eli uses his own blood to draw four pentagrams and drops bones at the base of each one. As he does so, he says every soul, every soul in Rome and she will be reborn a goddess, and she will love him forever. Selene’s plan was simple. Use Eli to help cast a spell that would allow her to devour tens of thousands of souls, all at once. One life gives Selene power, they’ve seen it happen. Taking that many lives would make her a god. As he finishes drawing the fifth and final pentagram, Eli says out loud that they will live forever. Before he can drop the bones, he is punched out by Mascius who asks him live forever? He won’t survive the night.
(present)
Warpath tells his fellow X-Force members that this was Eli’s last day as a human. No one knows where Selene came from, who she is, what she is. She claims she’s older than mankind. Maybe she’s a mutant, an external, one of the first like Apocalypse. Maybe, he doesn’t know. But whatever she is, she wants to be more. She wants power, she wants to be worshipped as a goddess. Maybe she could have done it, but she made one mistake. When she attempts to conjure her spell, it doesn’t work. When she asks what is happening, her body is riddled with arrows which knock her to the ground.
(past)
Looking up, she sees that Eli has been captured and hears Mascius say that one would think a witch could do better than he. Charging them, Selene asks that if they think they believe they could kill her? She can never die and she will have their… Before she can reach Mascius, he stabs her in the head with his sword. He then orders his men to bind her body, take them outside the city, and burn them both at the stake. As Eli is carried off, he calls out no, no, no.
If only it were that easy. Outside the city, Eli and Selene are tied to stakes. Eli proceeds to beg for mercy over and over. When the guards make their way over to toss the flames at them, Selene uses her powers to burn and kill the guards instead and then free herself. All the while, Eli continues to call out to the gods to help him. Once free, Selene hisses to Eli that no god can help him now. Putting her hand on Eli’s chest, she tells him to look at her and what he’s done to her. Looking at her deformed face, Eli apologizes to her. Selene tells him that she offered him everything and he betrayed her. Eli tells her that he did not want this, he only wanted a life eternal with her by his…
Selene tells him that he will have life eternal, a life of eternal torment. With that, she pulls some of Eli’s life-force out of him, giving herself life. She then informs him that he will live forever and forever she will deny death to him. She will deny her presence to him. Pray he never sees her again. As she leaves, Eli calls out NOOO!
Seven hundred years later, a farmer is digging in his garden when Eli reaches out of the ground and kills the man, drinking his blood. Upon exiting the ground, Eli calls out Selene’s name.
(present)
Warpath then says that for hundreds of years, he walked the earth, looking for Selene. After everything she did to him, he still loved her. And everywhere he went, he brought death. Eventually he left the old world, following Selene’s trail to the new. There he found Warpath’s people, who recognized him for what he was. They were unable to defeat him and their deaths were blamed on the diseases brought to their lands by the colonists. He was getting closer and closer to her, tracking her all the way to the present day. He found her in Nova Roma but he was too afraid to approach her, too scared of her wrath. He needed something to appease her, an offering. And finally, he found one. A sacrifice that even Selene couldn’t ignore – the Purifiers, thousands of them. Holding up a blade, he tells Wolverine and the others that Eli was going to use the blade again and cast the same spell. He planned to sacrifice the Purifier’s black souls to Selene, every last one of them. He wanted to make her a goddess. He wanted her to love him again. That’s all he cares about now.
Domino remarks that it’s romantic, messed up, but romantic. Vanisher tells them to screw them, he’ll take his chances with the tumor. Archangel then asks Warpath what this has to do with the Technarch or his tribe. Warpath informs him everything.
In New Orleans, now, Eli Bard makes his way to a house where Selene is staying. Flanked by a number of techno-organic infected Apache corpses, he tells her that he has missed his queen. Surrounded by her people, Selene tells Eli that he’s made a terrible mistake coming back to her and orders her children to kill him. Eli informs her that he has an offering for her. Selene informs him that she does not know what foul science has given him these slaves, but she has no need of them.
Eli replies that she misunderstands. They are not his offering and introduces to her a revived, techno-organic infected Caliban. He tells her that the dead mutant before her in life could track any mutant on the planet. But in death, he can find all those lost to the world. Once found, he will resurrect those mutants just as he did this Apache and his tribe. It is those mutants, their power, and their souls that he offers her. Smiling, Selene looks at Eli with great intrigue.