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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Savaged
Beneath the permanent cover of the Antarctica continent lay a land lost to time. A real-life jurassic park whose verdant beauty has remained inviolate for millions of years. No one has ever attempted to tame this Savage Land or defile its pristine ecology... until now!
As dinosaurs roam the Savage Land, a large high-tech facility rises like a wound in the virgin flesh of the jungle. It is called Arcadia, a city out of time and out of place here. It is, in fact, like the ancient city Brigadoon, as it transverses dimensions, appearing wherever its master deems it should. And, on its arrival, so too comes the Conqueror. The Conqueror's name is Tyrax, once content to be a foot soldier in an inter-dimensional invading horde. His ambition grew beyond his humble station and he began to use his world's dimension-spanning capabilities to conquer in his own name, building his army on every world he subjugated with the ambition of consolidating them into a force powerful enough to rule his own homeworld. And upon this world, he discovered a weapon that may well provide him with the power to do just that. 'Did you procure the machine?' the gray-skinned, armor-clad, cape-wearing tyrant calls out to several Savage Land Mutates inside the chamber where he stands. 'Here is is, master. The mutagenic machine the great Magneto used to create us!' Brain Child announces, motioning to the machine where two of his fellow Mutates are putting it in place. Brain Child informs Tyrax that it is in sore disrepair, and unusable.
Tyrax declares that his technologies will rpaid it, and turning his attention to the two Mutates, Gaza and Barbarus, he tells them to be careful with it, lest they incur his wrath. 'Yes, master' the four-armed Barbarus replies. Tyrax then calls Sauron to his side, and the dinosaur-looking Sauron appears, warning Tyrax not to attempt to order him around with the same contemptuous tone that he employs on the Mutates. Sauron adds that he has joined forces with him not because he desires to be led by the nose as the Mutates do, but as a peer, so when Tyrax fixes this machine, he can cure him of the malady that curses him to half an existence, the persistence of his human half, Karl Lykos. The Mutates turn to look at Sauron give Tyrax this stern warning, and Lorelei can be seen standing at the back of the chamber. Tyrax tells Sauron that he is well aware of their bargain, and points out it is true that Sauron has fulfilled his obligation in securing the device. 'But I would caution you against ever taking that tone with me again! The next time I will not be so...generous about it!' Tyrax declares.
Angrily, Tyrax turns to the mutagenic machine, 'Now, let us see what we have here' he exclaims, before instructing Lorelei and Brain Child to stay here and assist him, while the others patrol the perimeters of Arcadia. 'I do not wish to be disturbed!' he booms. Sauron flies out one of the windows, 'And so you shan't “master”...but know that as soon as you have divested me of my human brain... Sauron shall feast on you first' Sauron thinks to himself.
Elsewhere in the Savage Land, it is known by the unwieldly name of Gigantasaurus. It may be the most deadly carnivore ever to exist, certainly at an overall length of fifteen meters it is the largest. And, on this day, the giant predator is, himself, being hunted... by a human killing machine! Wolverine a.k.a. Logan peers through some thick leaves at the massive dinosaur ahead of him. 'C'mon, baby, just one more step...don't spook now...' Logan thinks to himself, realizing that Storm was right when she said he needed a vacation, and the Savage Land is just the place for it. 'Now!' Logan tells himself as he pops his claws and leaps from the trees, dropping down towards the dinosaur, who turns toward the unfamiliar sound of the claws unsheathed, its roar loud enough to frighten every living thing within a quarter mile radius. Everything, that is, save the mutant diving for its back! Wolverine is as savage and brutal as any man or beast ever born. He locks within his breast a bestial rage, held in check only by an indomitable will. Yet always just beneath the surface, waiting to be unleashed... as he unleashes it now, landing on the dinosaur's back, Logan shoves his claws into the creature, but the wounded monster thrashes, bellowing its rage and indignation, and throws the mutant X-Man from its back, a blow that would have killed a normal man.
Wolverine is flung into a nearby tree, and with his mutant healing factor, Wolverine is anything but normal. 'All right, baby' Wolverine mutters. He sees the great beast as an opponent in a deadly sport that only one of them can survive. Wolverine composes himself and stares at the dinosaur as it lunges, snapping at thin air with serrated teeth each over six inches long! Logan vaults over the creatures 157cm head, and plunges all six of his deadly claws into the creature's brain. It takes nearly half an hour for the giant creature to fall, bucking and thrashing all the way down. And, finally, when fall he must, the man who defeated him issues a victory cry in honor of his great opponent's nobility. Logan raises his claws overhead. It is a roar that does not go unnoticed – as Sauron flies nearby and sees Wolverine. Sauron wonders if the X-Men are here as well, and whether they know of Tyrax's plan and seek to stop it before it has begun? Sauron wonders if he should fly to warm Tyrax of their incursion, but decides to take care of this matter himself.
Wolverine's adrenaline is still at full throttle, he turns to the sound of leathery wings, 'Sauron!?' Wolverine shouts as he sees his foe swoop towards him, and barely escapes the pterodactyl man's vicious attack. 'I don't know how you discovered our plan, mutant... but I will not see you thwart it!' Sauron exclaims. Wolverine tells Sauron that he doesn't know what plan he is yammering about, nor does he care. 'But if it's a scrap yer looking for, I'm always ready ta oblige!' Wolverine calls out. Sauron continues on, flying away from Wolverine, he realizes that the X-Man doesn't know, and so he dares not risk the possibility of being injured by Wolverine and reverting back to his human form. 'Another day, Wolverine. Some other time' Sauron calls back, and Wolverine watches the villain fly off, deciding that is good, for after battling that gigantosaurus, he is more worn out than he would care to admit. Still, all his years with the X-Men have taught him to be suspicious of any “plan”. Wolverine makes his way through the jungle, following the direction Sauron flew off in, and when he sees the high-tech Arcadia sprawled out across the land before him, Wolverine realizes that he better call for back-up.
Washington DC, 'All right, unit one, we've got a priority red...let's scramble!' Alan Keever of Youngblood calls out. 'Some action, finally! I wuz beginning to think we'd become a sewing circle!' Knight Sabre exclaims as the team gathers together. Shaft tells his teammate to stifle it, as they have a job to do, and will get it done. 'Hey, wait up, guys!' someone calls out as they lumber over to the group. 'You can't leave me here all alone...' the gray-skinned, large male tells them. But he is stopped by Keever who calls him Badrock and tells him that if he doesn't want to be left out of the action, then he had better bring his grades up. 'Now hit those books!' Keever orders. 'It's not fair, Keever' Badrock complains. 'We're not going to let you flunk out of school, Thomas' Keever calls back. Badrock lumbers back to his quarters, 'Who'd a think it? Me, Badrock, wunderkind of the super-hero set, role model to millions... taken out of action by homework!' he mutters, adding that no one else has to do homework and that he is just getting picked on because he is a kid. 'It just isn't fair!' he calls out.
And so, Badrock sits at his desk, 'Calculus, ancient Mesopotamian cultures...who cares about any of this junk? What good will it ever do me? Especially when that new VR game is calling my name...I shouldn't...I really shouldn't' Badock thinks to himself, before going to over to the television and sitting up close to it with the virtual reality glasses over his eyes, he starts to play the game. 'Spaceman Spiffer is surrounded by horrible bug-eyed aliens... they want to eat his entrails and suck out his eyeballs...and other cool stuff!' Badrock exclaims. 'But he's got his zapotronic gun at the ready. Take that and that and some of that you no-good pug-uglies!' Badrock tells the game as he plays it. Suddenly, there is some static feedback, 'Yowtch! What the heck was that? Some kinda weird feedback coming from the headset?' he realizes, as the voice of Wolverine can be heard, trying to contact the X-Men, informing them that there is something going down in the Savage Land, he requests them to get down there pronto. 'Wow! Somehow or another that electrical storm blanketing the East Coast must've got this transmission scrambled' Badrock decides. He announces that he has always wanted to meet the X-Men and go to the Savage Land. 'Wonder if they'd let me go for the ride?' he asks, thinking of Storm, Cyclops, Gambit, Colossus and Rogue, but decides that they are a closed club – mutants only, so they would never let him go. He leaps up off the floor and realizes that the message did come to him, and boasts that he can handle this. 'I mean, what can the X-Men do that I can't?' Badrock comments. 'Plenty of things...but that's not the point! It's my duty as a card-carrying super hero to answer any distress call...well, that settles it. I'm off to the Savage Land!' Badrock decides.
Back in the Savage Land, Wolverine has made his way to the front gates of Arcadia, where he sees Barbarus and Gaza on guard duty. He wonders why the Mutates are guarding this city and decides that something is not right. He suddenly senses low breathing to his right, downwind, so whoever it is, is definitely a tracker. 'Just beyond this bush.. .ain't gonna let 'em get the -' Logan tells himself, when suddenly, there is a roar. 'Did you hear that, Gaza?' Barbarus asks. Gaza replies that of course he did, it was a lion's roar, and that it probably just found its dinner. 'Aye. Wish I had mine' Barbarus complains. The roar actually was that of Zaba, who is crouched before Wolverine, teeth at the ready. 'Zabu! It's me, Wolverine! You know me, boy. Check the scent' Wolverine calls out, offering his hand towards Zabu. 'Attaboy' Wolverine tells Zabu, before asking him what he is doing down here, where is his master – Ka-Zar?
The loin-cloth clad Ka-Zar is chained to a wall in a dark room, which Sauron suddenly enters. Sauron bids the “Jungle Lord” good morning and informs him that he ran afoul of a friend of his, the mutant Wolverine. 'The X-Men are here?' Ka-Zar asks. Sauron announces that it is just Wolverine, who knows nothing of Tyrax's plan, let alone that Ka-Zar is imprisoned here. 'Do not expect him to rescue you' Sauron declares. 'I expect nothing...save the inevitability of death' Ka-Zar replies. Sauron looms in over Ka-Zar, who is pushed back against the wall, and informs Ka-Zar that if his human side had allowed it, he would have killed him already. Sauron boasts that soon, the alien will repair the machine and he will be rid of Karl Lykos and his damnable conscience forever. Sauron moves back away from Ka-Zar, warning him that he will then return for him. 'I'll be waiting, Sauron' Ka-Zar responds. His words are brave, but hollow. The Jungle Lord thinks back to mere days before when he was ambushed by Sauron and the Mutates, held in thrall by the reptile man and taken captive. He had given up all hope of rescue... until now.
'...slim chance of finding him...got the ship's sensors trained to hone in on his signal's point of origin... hopefully he's still there' Badrock remarks as the Youngblood Cruiser glides past the Eternity Mountain Range, its sole occupant is, as usual for one of his tender years, preoccupied. 'Oh, wow! This is sooo cool! A herd of Hadrosaurs drinking at the pond!' Badrock exclaims. Video-camera in hand, he aims it out the ship's window, filming the dinosaurs that he sees – a Diplodcus, and some Anklysaurs. 'No wonder Steven Spielberg came down here to film!' Badrock declares. As the cruiser soars over the Savage Land, Badrock exclaims that this place is awesome, although he bets that it stinks. 'Whoa, that don't look right. What the heck is that? I've seen every documentary on this place on the Discovery Channel... and I've never see that before. Maybe I should swing in for a closer look!' Badrock tells himself as he flies towards Arcadia. Down below, Wolverine sees the jet and tells Zabu that it looks like reinforcements, so his signal must have got through. Wolverine can't make out the vessel's markings, but knows it isn't the X-Men. He wonders if it is the Avengers or Stormwatch.
Inside Arcadia, 'A jet, master! It encircles the city!' Lupo reports to Tyrax, who replies 'So? Shoot it down'. Lupo informs his new master that they have no such weapons. Tyrax instructs Lupo to have Sauron follow the jet and kill anyone who emerges from it. 'Now leave me, dolt! My repairs are almost complete!' Tyrax declares, calling out to Brain Child, instructing him to bring the Troodon. Brain Child ushers a small dinosaur towards the mutagenic machine and tells Tyrax that the beast is small but strong, so he doesn't see what purpose it will serve. 'That is because you are an idiot. Place it in position and observe' Tyrax commands. The dinosaur is placed into the device, and as Tyrax poins out, the mutagenic ray will evolve it from raging predator, into something almost human. 'ah, I see! By turning this on larger predators...' Brain Child begins. 'Yes, an army of Tyranno or Velociraptor men will be unstoppable!' Tyrax declares. Brilliant, master!' Brain Child agrees, as the transformed dinosaur emerges from the mutagenic machine, walking upright and with humanoid features. 'Yes, it is, isn't it?' Tyrax remarks.
Just outside the city several, dinosaurs scatter as the Youngblood Cruiser descends. 'Now to see if I can find Wolverine...or he can find me!' Badrock tells himself. Two parties do indeed attempt to find where the jet lands. One friendly – Wolverine. The other not – Sauron! Logan and Zabu rush to the jet, as Sauron descends from above. 'Hurry, you fools!' Sauron calls out to some of the Mutates. Badrock emerges from the jet, 'Got all the equipment I'm gonna need and – huh?' he thinks to himself as he is met by Sauron and the Mutates. 'What is it?' Sauron asks. 'Some inhuman monster' Lupo snarls. 'Hey, I'm not an Inhuman, I'm...' Badrock begins, as Lupo exclaims 'Kill it!', which causes Badrock to move towards the Mutates, 'Kill it?' he asks 'Well, that's not a very nice way to welcome me into the neighborhood. What would Mr Rogers think? If you ask me, I'd say you boys need a refresher course in manners...' Badrock tells them, slamming the ground, he suggests that maybe they could get that etiquette chick down here, 'Oh, what's her name?' he asks, before he punches Sauron's beaked face. 'Ugh!' Sauron responds. 'Ugh? No, that's not it. I'm almost positive'. Some of the Mutates turn and run, but Badrock is confronted by Gaza, who warns him that he will not be so flippant once he has faced the unfettered fury of Gaza. 'Oh really? Tell me when he gets here' Badrock replies, before smashing Gaza backwards, 'You guys're putting me to sleep!' he tells the Mutates as he breaks Gaza's glasses.
Badrock goes after the other Mutates, while Wolverine and Zabu arrive at the scene. 'Sounds like the party's in that clearing up ahead, boy' Wolverine tells Zabu, adding that it sounds like a whole flaming army is going at it. 'Maybe we're too...late?' Wolverine adds, as he arrives to find Badrok standing over the fallen Mutates. 'Huh? Oh, hi!' Badrock calls out to Wolverine. 'I'm Badrock, a big fan... I just love you guys' show!' Badrock tells Wolverine, adding that he is sorry for starting the party without him. 'Cool kitty-kat, though' Badrock remarks, looking at Zabu. 'Uh, yeah, right' Logan replies. Wolverine has seen many things in his time with the X-Men, but never anything quite like this. But nature he is a taciturn man, at this moment, he is, for want of a better term, speechless. The men shake hands, 'Yeah, nice to meet you, too, kid. Bedrock, isn't it?' Wolverine asks. 'Badrock' the younger man replies. 'Right' Logan responds, introducing the cat as Zabu. 'Yours?' Badrock enquires. Logan tells him that it belongs to a friend of his. 'Ka-Zar? Is that his place over there?' Badrock asks. Logan replies that it isn't, and that he doesn't know what is up with that, so he was going to investigate but was waiting for the X-Men to arrive.
Lying on the ground pretending to be out cold, Sauron wonders 'The X-Men are coming here? And perhaps the rest of Youngblood? No! They'll ruin our plans completely!' He realizes that despite his incredible hubris, there is no way Tyrax could ever hope to prevail against the combined might of the X-Men and Youngblood. Badrock explains that there have been these electrical storms for the last couple of days on the East Coast, and that he sort of intercepted Wolverine's call. 'You what?' Logan asks. 'On accident' Badrock claims. 'Well, ya did call 'em, right?' Logan replies. 'Uh, well, that is...' Badrock's voice trails off. 'Of all the stupid, lame-brained, grandstanding...' Wolverine mutters, when suddenly, 'BADROCK!' a voice calls out, and Badrock turns to the sound of his name, 'Huh?' he asks, while Wolverine urgently tells Badrock not to look into his eyes. 'Wha -?' Badrock begins, but too late, as Sauron's hypnotic gaze connects with Badrock, he tells him that the X-Man is his enemy. 'Yeah...' Badrock replies. 'Look upon his face – the face of evil' Sauron urges Badrock, while Wolverine calls out 'Badrock, no!' but realizes that it is too late, for the kid is in Sauron's thrall. 'Strike your enemy down!' Sauron commands Badrock. 'Yeah!' Badrock agrees. 'Kill him!' Sauron shrieks. 'Yeah!' Badrock declares as he moves towards Wolverine. 'Well, if that's the way it's gonna be, let's just get this over with!' Wolverine exclaims as he leaps up and kicks Badrock in the face, while Sauron skulks away, 'Now while these two fools kill one another...I shall make haste for Arcadia' he tells himself, determined to insure his cure before their respective teams arrive.
Wolverine tells Badrock that he has stood toe-to-toe with the Hulk, so taking Badrock down is going to be a piece of cake. But Badrock responds with a punch, sending Wolverine careening backwards. 'Kid packs quite a punch... but I've had worse' Logan tells himself. He gets up and pops his claws, 'Okay, kid, fun n' games time is over. Now yer gonna learn how the big boys do it!' Wolverine warns Badrock. He adds that he always thought the Youngblood guys were only in it for the money. 'Well, here's yer pay-off!' Logan shouts as he knocks Badrock backwards. He positions himself on the fallen Badrock, 'Ain't so much fun now is it -' he begins, before Badrock smacks Wolverine off of him, 'Huh? What's going... on?' Badrock asks as he gets to his feet. 'Hmph. Good one, kid. Ya knocked the wind outta me' Wolverine remarks, adding that it has been a long time since anyone's done that. 'Gonna be a lot longer till anyone does again' Logan boasts, before Badrock tells him too slow down. 'Peace, man, peace! I don't know what Sauron did to me... but it's worn off' he assures Wolverine, adding that they shouldn't be fighting, as they are the good guys. Wolverine agrees, and declares that it is up to them and Zabu to figure out what is going on inside that citadel.
At that moment, Sauron swoops into the citadel and informs Tyrax that the X-Men and Youngblood are on their way. 'Good! Then they will be the first to fall! Behold, Sauron!' Tyrax responds. 'See what this glorious machine has given me! The most powerful and vicious army in all of creation... the Dinosauroids!' Several humanoid-like dinosaurs appear on a platform, transformed by the mutagenic machine, they are the most deadly predators to ever live! 'You fool! What care I for -' Sauron begins, before Tyrax grabs him by his throat, 'I warned you never to address me in that tone again, Sauron!' Tyrax exclaims, tossing Sauron across the chamber, he warns him that next time it will cost him his life, not just this minor humiliation.
Wolverine, Zabu and Badrock have made their way into Arcadia, 'Funny... there ain't no guards' Badrock comments as he holds his gun, pointing it around the corridor. Wolverine tells him that he was just thinking the same thing, and suggests he keep his giant pea-shooter ready, while Zabu suddenly sniffs the air. 'What is it, boy? You gotta scent?' Wolverine asks. Zabu growls, and Badrock asks if they follow him, but Wolverine reports that his nose says Sauron went a different way. Zabu makes his way down one corridor, and Wolverine and Badrock go in a different direction, as Wolverine supposes that Zabu is on a different trail than them. 'Whatever' Badrock mutters as he looks at Zabu leave.
In the other chamber, Sauron has rebelled against Tyrax, 'If your machine is working, Tyrax, then I have no further use for you! Thjere is still enough of Karl Lykos in me to operate this device!' Sauron declares as he places his clawed hands on Tyrax's face. 'Sauron – No!' Tyrax calls out. 'Yes! This is one feast I am going to enjoy!' Sauron exclaims as he absorbs Tyrax's energy. 'Holy...' Badrock gasps as he and Wolverine pass the chamber, and looking in, Wolverine exclaims that it looks like they hit the jackpot. 'We got Sauron, the Savage Land Mutates, some guy that looks like an Atlantean... and a bunch'a pug-uglies down there, too. Whadda ya say, kid. Ya ready ta party?' Wolverine asks. 'I was born ready, Wolvie!' Badrock replies as they rush into the chamber, where the Mutates are watching Sauron absorb Tyrax, and the Dinosauroids stand at the ready. 'Then let's do it!' Wolveirne shouts. 'Ya-hoo!' Badrock exclaims as he follows the X-Man, who tells him that, by the way, his name ain't “Wolvie”.
Meanwhile, his feline senses have led Zabu down into the very bowels of this citadel, where a lone Mutate stands watch over a cell door, it is Amphibius, mutated to take on not only the appearance, but the natural abilities of a frog. Against the might of a 750 pound raging mad saber-toothed tiger... he doesn't stand a chance. Amphibius goes wide-eyed as he sees Zabu lunging towards him, and a voice calls out 'Zabu!' it is Ka'Zar. Zabu breaks the cell door down, and the Jungle King's soul warms to the growl of the giant cat. The two have been brothers since they were cubs, their bond is as strong as any man could have with beast, perhaps stronger. Zabu goes over to Ka-Zar who smiles, as Zabu leaps up at him. In a few moments, Amphibius will regain consciousness, and when he does, Ka-Zar will convince him that it is in his best interest to unlock the Jungle Lord's chains. One look at Zabu's fangs will assure Amphibius that this is, indeed, a wise move.
Back in the main chamber, 'Use yer gun, kid! Kill the dino-men!' Wolverine calls out as one of the large Dinosauroids tosses him into the air. Sauron continues to absorb Tyrax, while Badrock calls back 'I can't do that! The All-American boy does not kill!' Sauron glances back and sees Wolverine. 'Afraid so, Bub. And as soon as we're done here, yer next' Wolverine warns his foe. With Sauron distracted, Tyrax uses this opportunity to knock the pterodactyl-man off him, 'Sauron, you are a fool. You should never have let them distract you' Tyrax points out, before calling out to Lorelei and Equilibrius who are standing at the back of the room, and instructs them to attack the rock-man. Both Mutates use their powers against Badrock, causing him to clutch his head and exclaim that the whole world is spinning. Unable to concentrate, he cannot stand, and tumbles backwards. 'Hey, would you quit goofing with the Mutates, Rock? I could use some help here!' Wolverine tells Bedrock, as another Dinosauroid closes in on him. 'Then, my friend, you shall have it!' a voice calls out. 'Wha? I was wondering when you'd show up' Wolverine calls back as he turns to see Ka-Zar and Zabu enter the chamber.
'Sorry it took so long, old friend. I got a little tied up' Ka-Zar jokes, before he leaps forward and kicks Lorelei in the face, 'That should end Lorelei's song!' he exclaims, while announcing that Zabu will take care of Wolverine's large friend, there. Zabu lunges at the Dinosauroid, and Ka-Zar kicks Equilibrius in the face, before the Mutate can use his powers on him. Tyrax gets to his feet, 'No! They've ruined everything! How could three men destroy all my plans? I should kill them all!' he thinks to himself, before deciding that he must be above such petty conceits if he is to rule – and rule he must! Tyrax moves towards the portal and announces that he has conquered so many worlds and have yet even more to be conquered. 'If I shall not rule here, than I shall rule elsewhere -'. Brain Child sees Tyrax approach the portal, 'Stop, Master!' he calls out. 'Take me with you, sire! My intellect will serve you well. It is of no use here!' Brain Child pleads. 'Sorry, Brain Child! But where Tyrax goes – he goes alone!' the tyrant declares as he enters the portal, and pushes Brain Child out of it as the Mutate attempts to follow.
Suddenly, Sauron can feel the change start to happen. It grips him, mutating him back into his human form. 'Oh, thank God!' Karl Lykos exclaims as he appears in place of Sauron. One of the larger Dinosauroids has backed Wolverine up against a wall. 'Go on then, get it over with!' Wolverine tells it, but Badrock punches the creature in the face, knocking it over. 'Hey, Wolvie... heard you could use a hand' Badrock smiles as he extends his hand to his new ally. 'Never thought I'd be glad ta see your ugly mug, Cement' Wolverine replies. 'Aw, you say the sweetest things' Badrock exclaims, bedfore they, Ka-Zar and Zabu turn to see another giant Dinosauroid in the room. 'Yeah? Well he sure doesn't. Looks like we got the biggest, meanest one of all – a gigantasaur-man!' Wolverine declares. Ka-Zar informs Wolverine and Badrock that he and Zabu are ready to fight by their sides. 'Yeah, well let's hope ya don't die by our sides!' Badrock jokes. Karl Lykos then tells Wolverine and Badrock to move away from the beast, as he is going to turn the de-evolving ray on him. 'Now!' Lykos exclaims as he fires the de-evolving ray, which strikes the monster. The creature has no comprehension of what just happened to it, it simply bellows its rage and frustration.
'This is an improvement?' Badrock asks, 'No. But this is' Karl Lykos declares as he holds another gun, and prepares to fire it. Wolverine tries to stop him, pointing out that the creature is only doing what comes naturally. 'So am I' Lykos replies as he fires the gun at the wall, which opens a massive hole in the Arcadia fortress. The gigantasaurous turns uncomprehendingly toward the small creature with thev lightning, then at the hole in the wall the lightning made, and does what any creature would do as another bolt of lightning is fired over its head – it runs though the large hole. 'Wow! That was intense. Now what?' Badrock asks. Wolverine declares that they will de-evolve the rest of these animals to their natural state. 'And destroy that infernal machine once and for all' Ka-Zar declares, asking Lykos if he would like to do the honors. 'With pleasure, my friend. With pleasure' Lykos replies. 'So you're just gonna let them go?' Badrock asks. 'What would you suggest we do with them, Badrock?' Ka-Zar enquires. 'I dunno, lock 'em up, maybe?' Badrock suggests. 'For what? They've broken no law of the jungle!' Ka-Zar points out, as Wolverine tells Badrock that he is thinking like a civilian.
Wolverine explains that law of the jungle is all about predator and prey, they are predators, tried to make them their prey, stakes are life and death, there are no prisons here. 'Well, maybe there ought ta be' Badrock remarks. Ka-Zar adds that their prison is their own failure, and points out that they have been banished from this land, they have lost their home. 'Yeah, but -' Badrock starts to protest, to which Ka-Zar tells him that their laws are different than his, that is all. Wolverine asks Ka-Zar what he is going to do next, and Ka-Zar informs his ally that it has been too long since he has seen his wife, so he is anxious to return home. 'Gotcha. Yer aces in my book, Bub' Wolverine tells him. 'And you in mine' Ka-Zar responds. Wolverine turns to Lykos and tells him to take care of himself, too. Lykos tells Wolverine that he will, but, as he knows, it is hard to keep the monster locked inside. 'Yeah, I know' Wolverine replies, before asking Badrock what his plans are. Badrock announces that he is off to the land of shopping malls and hip hop, fast cars, faster babes and diet cola. 'What can I say? I'm a city boy!' he grins, before remarking that there is one little favour he would like Wolverine to do for him. 'Name it' Logan replies.
Shortly, 'These Polaroids are so cool!' Badrock exclaims as he holds up photos of himself, Ka-Zar and Zabu, and one of Wolverine and Zabu. He adds that he is going to be the envy of his block, not that he isn't already. Inside the Youngblood Cruiser, Wolverine shakes Badrock's hand and tells him that he done good, a lot better than he would have given him credit for. 'So does this mean we're gonna be friends now?' Badrock asks. 'Well, I wouldn't go that far...but you can give me a ride back to civilization' Wolverine replies. The Youngblood jet pierces the sky, past the Eternity Mountains, and out of the Savage Land. Wolverine asks Badrock if he has any brewskis on board, to which Badrock suggests Wolverine look in Knight Sabre's locker. 'So, where to?' Badrock asks. 'Westchester' Wolverine informs him. 'Where the X-Men live?' Badrock asks. 'Yup' Wolverine confirms. Badrock exclaims that he always wanted to meet those guys. 'Maybe we could team up or something? What's Jubilee doing these days?'


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

[Assistant]
Bad Karma
Somewhere in the Australian Outback, they mysterious mutant called Gateway sits at his fire. He looks up as though noticing something, takes his bullroar from his bag and begins to whirl it. A teleportation portal appears as a result and out of it steps the villainess Viper, who has found the experience exhilarating. Turning to Gateway, she comments that the experience was quite sensual. Is this generally the case when he teleports someone around half the world or did he throw in a little extra for her? She plays with his hair as she comments that she is not above…  rewarding those whose services curry her favor. As he continues to ignore her, her tone becomes more threatening and she points out that she does not hesitate to strike down those who would greet her with contempt.
A newcomer sharply tells her it is enough. The mysterious Spiral explains that Gateway has rendered his service, albeit reluctantly. They can expect nothing more. Viper sarcastically greets the other woman and comments on her lateness. Spiral informs her that the Body Shop sets her priorities. Need she remind Viper that certain procedures can be extremely delicate requiring strict monitoring? In order to ensure the desired result these procedures must be allowed to proceed at their own pace. How is it Viper’s species puts it? Do you wish it done quickly, or done right? She wishes it done! Viper sulks. As contracted. As the women step away from Gateway, Spiral promises Viper she won’t be disappointed.
Harry’s Hideaway, a small pub in Salem Center, NY, which is exited by an extraordinary man wearing a hat and trenchcoat. Hank McCoy aka the Beast remarks that this was disappointing. Not the lunch or the drinks but the discourse that accompanied them. One would think that his stint with the Avengers was the sum total of his life’s achievements. He can’t believe the reprobate still kept on addressing him as Mr. Beast. But coming here served its purpose, namely to relax.
Suddenly, Hank moans, finding himself under a psychic attack. The struggle is brief and Hank succumbs to the will of a young woman who profusely apologizes. Recognizing his attacker momentarily as the former New Mutant Karma, Hank tries to ask her what she is doing, but Karma’s will prevails and Hank is under her control. While Hank has been trained by Xavier to shield his mind from psychic penetration, Karma too has been trained by Xavier in circumventing such barriers to possess the minds of others. So, God help her, she has him now.
A little later at the Hellfire Club, the possessed Beast makes short work of the club’s mercenaries. Karma asks him to hold one for questioning and Hank complies, holding the guard down o the ground. Xi’an asks the man where her siblings, Coy Leong and Nga, are. The guard replies he has no idea what she is talking about. Selective amnesia? Karma mocks. Fine, she has just the treatment for that. As she is about to start the torture, she suddenly finds the Beast touching her shoulder. Sternly, he tells her “no”.
Later at the Xavier Institute, Xi’an’s former teammate and new X-Man, Sam Guthrie, reprimands his old friend for what she did: taking control of Hank to launch an unprovoked attack on the Hellfire Club? What was she thinking? Holding her head in her hands, Xi’an shouts that she wasn’t thinking, she was reacting! It’s been years! She thought she had them this time. She was so close, she had to act first! She was desperate, she admits in a small voice. Her little brother and sister were there. The Hellfire Club had them, but she was too late. The Club already passed them on to Viper! The woman who nearly killed Xi’an when she first joined the New Mutants. And now they’ve been bartered like cattle.
Which they found out by hacking into the Hellfire Club’s computer records, Beast adds. A more civilized method of getting information than the one Xi’an was about to employ.
How many more times does she have to apologize? Shan sighs defensively. Hank reminds her that, if her concentration hadn’t slipped… if he hadn’t stopped her… He breaks off. If she needed help why didn’t she just ask?
Angrily, she repeats the word. The X-Men have known of her hunt since she first began it. None of them ever offered any help. They would have, Hank retorts, but she never gave them the opportunity. Holding Shan by the shoulders, Sam remarks that she is now.
A little later, Hank sits in the Cerebro device, warning the two young people that this is a long shot. There is little concrete evidence after all that Leong and Nga harbor any latent mutant abilities and locating mutants is what Cerebro does best. Or at least it does when the professor or Jean are manning it. It’s been known to be a little “temperamental” with anyone else. Still, any haven in inclement weather…
Sam notices that Shan looks sick. She tells him she’s fine, just a little exhausted. Just as Hank admits he has had no success, Shan screams in pain and faints. Awaking a little later, she announces that she knows where they are. She saw what’s happening to them. She felt their pain! They’re being transmutated at Spiral’s Body Shop.
Sam drops his glass of water on Shan’s clothes and Hank admonishes him. He then asks if he has anything on his agenda, to which Sam replies nothing that won’t keep. His sentiments exactly, Hank agrees, as he looks at the desperate Karma. Sam announces he’ll gather up all information they have on the Body Shop. They’ll need it.
Meanwhile, slightly to the left of reality within said Body Shop, Spiral announces in satisfaction that she got her. Nailed the little mutie witch with a full scale psionic blast. Karma now knows where the children are. That’s nice, Viper remarks off-handedly, as she looks at one of the twins in a cocoon. Families should stay in touch, even if it is to share the agony of sub-cellular reconfiguration. Speaking of which… The process nears completion, Spiral replies.
They recline to a more comfortable part of the Body Shop. Impatiently, Viper asks if it always takes this long. Spiral warns her not to try her patience. She will find the end result well worth the wait. Referring to the twins, she adds both of them were prime material. Young enough to be infinitely malleable. Viper’s vendetta against Karma springs from past confrontations she gathers. Viper curtly replies that her motives are hers to know. She looks up as a gnome-like little being comes hopping, carrying a tray with a drink.
From enhancing Lady Deathstrike to a cyborg to making creatures like this? Does Spiral have too much time on her hands? Stroking the creature, Spiral explains that the Body Shop is not in constant use. During the lull periods, she likes to amuse herself by running lower life forms through various procedures, familiarize herself with the working of some of the more obscure traits. This used to be a squirrel.
Back at Xavier’s, Beast and Cannonball urge a reluctant Karma to go through her and the twins’ history and share it with them to see if they can pick up any clues. Most of it they know, Xi’an replies.
Karma’s story:
She was born in Communist Vietnam. Eventually, her mutant powers of psi-control manifested. Her parents died while they were fleeing to the United States, after which she promised to take care of her younger siblings Leong and Nga forever.
When her uncle, the late, unlamented crimelord General Coy discovered what she was able of… he saw all kinds of possibilities none of which interested her in the least. That was when he abducted the children, playing kindly uncle while threatening to kill them if Xi’an refused to do his bidding. With Spider-man’s help, she freed the twins. She thought that was the end of that. She set the twins up in what she hoped was a stable environment, then joined the New Mutants to bring some stability into her life.
They know the rest. Leong and Nga were once again abducted and used as pawns to strike at the X-Men. After they saved them… they disappeared a few months later. She has been searching for them ever since.
present:
And blaming herself, Beast guesses. How can she not? Shan wonders. They were her responsibility. Sometimes she wonders… are they being made to pay for her wrong-doings?
Taking her hands, Sam tells her enough of that. Thinking that way ain’t doing anyone good. She isn’t alone anymore. He hugs her and promises they’ll get the twins back.
At the Body Shop, Spiral checks on the children and announces that it shouldn’t be much longer. The transmutaion process accelerates dramatically from this point. Staring at the boy, Viper admits she’d been looking forward to hearing them scream. She’s somewhat disappointed. Spiral replies that the novelty wears off after the first dozen or so subjects. Before she sound-proofed the units, she could barely hear herself think. Another five minutes should do it. Viper suggests Spiral fetch their guest of honor. It just wouldn’t be a party without her… while drinking in the sight of Nga screaming.
Back at Xavier’s, the men have just explained to Shan that the Body Shop cannot be reached by conventional means. Beast adds that it might be in another dimension or alternative reality. Nobody knows for sure.  Suddenly, the alarm goes off – a perimeter breach. Sam carries the outside two outside in his Cannonball mode. All this fuss over her? asks Spiral, waiting for them outside.
Karma snarls at her to take her to the twins. She tries to possess the other woman, who deflects he power. As Shan sinks down to her knees, Spiral tells the two X-Men that the little party is invitation only. Sam flies at her, quipping it won’t be the first party he’s crashed. Spiral, however, penetrates his forcefield with her magic and tosses him away.
Beast attacks while she is busy with Sam, hitting her across the jaw and dodging her sword blows. He takes her in a wrestling grip, but she teleports away towards the unconscious Shan and Sam. She begins to teleport away with them, figuring Cannonball is just the icing upon the cake. Beast does the only thing he can: he jumps into her teleportation gate. A moment later, things are calm again outside Xavier’s and quite empty.


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Body Shopping
Cannonball and Beast are preparing to defend themselves while Karma slowly awakes, realizing they are… in Spiral’s Body Shop, her porta-dimensional laboratory. Xi’an becomes wide awake, as she realizes her younger siblings are somewhere in there at the witch’s mercy. It is at this moment that Spiral’s mutated monster suddenly attacks them.
Beast notes that they seem conspicuously harmless so far. So long as they are merely herding them towards the shop, he suggests to Cannonball that they play along. Cannonball agrees but Xi’an flips and attacks. On to plan B, Sam sighs, as he and Beast join the battle.
Karma uses her possession power to work up the creatures to a frenzy and her friends realize she wants blood and the creatures can taste it. They gotta get to her before...
As Xi’an is about to be overwhelmed by the creatures, Sam loses it and comes to her aid, Beast realizes that the monster outnumber them by far. They cannot possibly stop them without stopping Karma. But Xi’an is unwilling to give up. She is no longer one of Xavier’s army. But if the twins are truly in the creatures’ clutches, then it won’t do any good to get all riled up, will it? Sam points out. A moot point, Beast remarks. The cavalry has arrived. Their foes’ cavalry. Xi’an wants to attack again and Beast keeps her from doing it, reminding her that they work together here to get in.
As they arrive at the Body Shop, a disappointed Viper remarks that her invite was for Karma. A bonus, Spiral calls the others. Sam politely asks what this trouble is about anyway. Viper points accusingly at Karma and tells them to ask the snake in their midst.
Coldly, Xi’an demands Viper return her siblings to her now. Of course, Viper replies, but she cautions Karma against any more attempt to use that ugly little mutant power here unless she enjoys the psionic feedback of a shielded perimeter. Xi’an threatens that she will tear Viper apart with her bare hands if she has hurt the kids. Mockingly, Viper admonishes the young hero. Violence can have such a detrimental effect on young minds… as fragile as they are and all that.
The altered twins step out, Leong now a half naked young man, Nga also grown and dressed in a strange metal suit crouching next to him. Xi’an screams in horror which quickly turns to rage, as she jumps at Viper, vowing that she will kill the other woman.
Leong jumps to Viper’s defense and fells his elder sister. When Xi’an asks what he is doing, Leong orders her away. Suddenly, his chest opens and wirelike tentacles spring from it to snare Karma. Watching this, Viper laughs, remarking this is better than advertised. Spiral’s Body Shop does fine work indeed.
Beast observes the nanites in action and explains to Cannonball that they are techno-mites, burrowing up from within Leong’s body, spinning new layers of dermal tissue while the skin he sheds encases Karma, keeping her from Viper.
Viper suggestively touches Leong as she tells Karma that they have grow so close. Isn’t it just the sweetest… thing?
Hank has had enough. He snarls at Viper that they were happy healthy, normal children with years of games and toys ahead of them… And now they are no more, Spiral replies with a smirk. She would have expected a molecular bio-chemist of his reputation to appreciate what she’s accomplished here, even if she has never been quite… desperate enough to experiment on herself. Hank stays silent as his thoughts wander back.
Beast’s flashback:
Young Hank McCoy’s physical mutation had been minimal to the eyes of others. Nothing more than a slight disproportion of his extremities. He wanted to be normal. And he thought he had the skills to tamper with nature. To correct what he perceived as her mistake, but she laughed in his face. As he swallowed the potion instead he turned to his current furry state.
Present:
He’s come a long way since then. No mutant wears the X more proudly now. Interesting choice of words, Spiral observes. Happy, healthy, normal? Viper laughs and observes that Spiral offended him.
Get on with it, Spiral orders her servants and one of them breaks Sam’s leg. He falls. Viper explains to Beast that Sam isn’t going anywhere. And the mutates will make sure that he pays in pieces for every move Beast makes against Viper and Spiral. Sam weakly asks Hank not to listen. Viper announces that Beast wanted games… It’s his move.
Beast warns Sam to brace himself, grabs him and jumps atop the building, parks Sam there and drops down again. While Spiral threatens him, Viper orders Leong to walk Karma over to her. The legs that hold Xi’an captive move as if of their own accord. She motions to Nga. It’s her turn to play.
Xi’an asks Nga if she is still in there, somewhere under all that pain. Yes, the young girl replies. Yes! she cries and the load on her back explodes and another version of Nga emerges… and no. A version of Nga that also incorporates a lot of Xi’an.
Viper smirks, anticipating the fun to come. Cannonball attacks her, warning her that in Kentucky they don’t play with snakes, they stomp them. No doubt, Viper replies calmly and remarks that Nga has now also tapped into Karma’s powers and with that she now controls Cannonball’s mind and body.
Nga forces Sam to attack Beast. Desperately, he asks Hank to do something, to please help him… to stop him ’fore he kills Hank. Beast however refuses to fight Sam when his forcefield is inactive.
Xi’an watches, horrified at witnessing what her power does to others, as she realizes that she is using other  people like combat suits of armor, forcing innocents and guilty alike to see and hear and feel every terrifying moment, all the while hiding safely along the sidelines.
Viper caresses Leong suggestively, telling him it will be over all too soon. Hank, in the meantime, urges Sam to fight the possession. He’s trying, Sam shouts, but he’s losing!
Hank reminds Sam of his psi-training. His continued ability to speak his mind suggests that Nga’s hold hasn’t quite solidified. Spiral interrupts him by sneaking up on him and delivering a blow to his jaw.
Viper is furious at Spiral. She paid top dollar for this. She has the right to every drop of blood she can get from it. Spiral just informs her that the Body Shop isn’t Viper’s personal playground. If she still intends to expose Karma to the extensive array of procedures they subjected her siblings to… No, Viper smirks, that’s just where she intends to start…
Cannonball finally falls under Nga’s mental onslaught. Both the X-Men are beaten.
Spiral informs Viper that she will begin with the necessary preparations… run the acid bath, sharpen the silverware. Finally, Viper tells a horrified Xi’an, she’ll be coming with them. Leong will be coming with them, sharing Viper’s pleasure in Karma’s long-overdue pain. Nga unfortunately has to stay behind to deal with the sleeping strays Karma dragged along. Off-handedly, Viper orders Nga to kill Beast and Cannonball. Karma begs for their lives. Nga is still a child, too young to have blood on her hands. As Nga grabs a knife and against her will prepares to slit Beast’s throat, Viper decides that Xi’an should have to watch the show after all.


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Closing Shop
Barely conscious, Hank McCoy dimly recalls what led to this nightmarish situation. Something about innocent children kidnapped by an other-dimensional witch, spirited to her bizarre laboratory in the middle of nowhere. Karma’s little siblings, he recalls. The brother and sister of Xi’an Coy Manh, first of Xavier’s third generation X-Men, one of the original New Mutants.
Then Karma herself was captured, if he remembers right. Even Cannonball, young Samuel Guthrie, and finally Doctor Henry McCoy (he’s pretty sure that’s him). Mutants trying to help mutants, all of them. But the dream of living life peacefully took some bizarre turn somewhere as even the best of them seem to do… And the reality is even worse! Leong Coy Man is nobody’s little brother anymore. Artificially aged and cybernetically altered into an independent ectomorph with the power to control his living skin he is his sister Karma’s captor now… under the spell of the venomous Viper, a rogue terrorist on the very threshold of the unfathomable Body Shop.
While Nga Coy Manh, equally altered and answerable to the bloodthirsty woman in green, crouches at the throat of the barely conscious Beast, desperately trying to resist the order to kill and failing. Cannonball too is already down.
Woozy, he tries to get up, wondering what to do, as Nga can’t hold out much longer. Suddenly, he notices a familiar look on Xian’s face. Karma may not be able to possess her sister, but nothing stops her from taking over Hank McCoy’s body. Just as Nga gets ready to slit the Beast’s throat, his leg comes up to kick her away. As the Beast is barely conscious, Karma has no problem pushing past his psi-barrier and controlling his body to take out Nga. Holding the young girl down, Karma announces out of Henry’s mouth that she will not allow her precious sister to suffer this travesty a moment longer.
Cannonball finally can use his power to free Karma from Leong’s hold and advises her to let the Beast go and let him handle Nga his own way. He’s got her now. On the contrary, comes Viper’s voice. They’ve got them now. The doors to the Body Shop close and Beast is himself once more. The noise of something shredding at his feet snaps him awake and he sees Nga, now having partially taken on his form.
Sam wakes up inside the Body Shop with Spiral’s knives at his throat. New customer without an appointment? she asks. A dealbreaker, she’s afraid.
Outside, the transformed Nga attacks Beast savagely, but she is still a child, screaming for comfort from her lost twin. Hank is aware that he mustn’t harm the real Nga, so he limits himself to pressure points and nerve centers to keep the damage minimal. Nga may be stronger than he, but he counts on his greater experience, to no avail. Nga soon has the upper hand.
Inside, Xi’an is strapped into some device. Addressing Viper, she asks why Viper is doing this to her siblings, her family. Honor, comes the reply. Spiral’s overgrown trolls here may prevent her from personally delivering the pain Karma’s depraved clan deserves, but she will still see Karma suffer for her uncle’s sins. She wills savor the fear in her eyes at least as their host begins to work her magic instead and Karma starts to understand what she is losing and to whom. And her friends? Xi’an asks. Spoils of war, Viper replies, a war her uncle, General Coy, started a few years back.
Viper’s narration:
Coy was working his way through the New York underworld. A maverick with money and some other source of power that seemed difficult to define but impossible to deny. They were HYDRA, dedicated to global dominion. It was business as usual, until she took careful aim at the general’s black hole of a heart and then shot her unsuspecting partner dead instead. Mindlocked by a monster named Tran Coy Manh.
The present:
Her brother, not her, Xi’an points out calmly. Twin brother, Viper stresses. Does she have any idea what it was like for her, forced to serve in Coy’s twisted little harem for weeks? Yes, Karma replies. That’s why she finally stopped it, stopped Tran forever, smothering his psyche in hers. Viper slaps her. Allowing her to escape, she snarls, literally adding insult to injury. Leaving her to vent her vengeance on striplings and…
Spiral warns her not to handle the merchandise. The mind-jumper and her foolish friend are hers now, as renegotiated to cover the additional costs incurred. She will not remind her again. No need, Viper replies, as long as Spiral makes sure it hurts.
Outside, Hank is still pinned by Nga with no room to maneuver and Nga is getting ready for the killing strike. Getting a fist free, he punches her and then keeps her off-balance by juggling her with his feet.
Inside, the process has begun and Xi’an screams in pain. Cannonball asks Spiral to shut it down. She’s killing Karma. Purging, Spiral corrects him. Upgrading. Out with the old Karma, in with the… Odd, she sounds surprised. There’s something else… woven directly into and through her psi-signature, almost indiscernible from her own bio-signature… someone else… someone close… inside. Tran… Karma states.
That moment, Nga throws Beast inside. Spiral is surprised at Nga taking out an X-Man, but is proud of her work. Viper tells her to keep Nga then, She wants Karma back. He’s in her somewhere. That psycho Tran is actually in Karma. Spiral can take the Beast  but… Spiral orders her not to presume. She intends to take them all.
A moment later Nga screams, as she sheds her duplicate form of the Beast, allowing the real Beast, who had been faking a diversion with the help of Nga, to come forward. As he frees Cannonball, Viper furiously orders Leong to kill Nga for this. Nga begs her brother not to.
Cannoball follows Beast’s order, flies to Leong and attaches his communicator-patch set to subsonic-4 at the base of Leon’s neck, in the hope that this will jam the control signal from the Body Shop. As Beast fights the creatures, he adds that it took a lot of trial and error with Nga and way too much blood, sweat and tears to find the correct frequency site, but the children are finally free.
Spiral decides on vengeance, pressing a button that is meant to disassemble Karma molecule by molecule before they can reach her. Beast agrees. Cannonball is hightailing the youngsters out of there and he is busy with Spiral’s creatures, but it’s not just about them anymore. There’s one other who has a vested interest in Karma’s survival now. One who must realize that, if she allows Spiral to kill Xi’an Coy Manh, she’s also allowing Spiral to kill her last chance for real revenge, her last shot at Tran Coy Man himself.
Viper realizes he’s right. Therefore, she can’t let Karma die now. She fires at Spiral and her machinery. Spiral is horrified: with so many aberrant energies and forces in flux, this will destroy everything, just as the Beast intended, unless she first destroy Viper.
While the chain reaction begins, Karma gets out of her restraints and Cannonball lifts the two kids to get them out. Karma suddenly orders him to stop and leave the children. These mutates, tainted by the touch of this wicked, place are her brother and sister no longer. She commands him to drop those two and then continue on to safety and not to return.
Spiral spins out with Viper and her trolls threatening vengeance on Viper. Beast suggests they hightail it as well. Not yet, Karma decides and possesses him. Not until he uses what’s left of this abattoir to reverse the twins’ mutations, to regress Leong and Nga into children again. Beast replies that he cannot. Not the way she wants them. Not the way they were. He’s seen enough of Spiral’s omni-dimensional technology to know what’s beyond even his capabilities. And he studied Nga outside.
The ceiling comes crashing down and Nga shouts a warning. Beast keeps the large piece of debris off them with his strength, as he continues that he studied Nga closely. Spiral’s effects changed their body on a genetic-field level. There is no external agent, no actualized virus or foreign substances to be removed from the organism. This is what the twins are now. Forever. What they, what any of them make of such changes is what ultimately defines them, he tells Xi’an and asks her to trust them.
Xi’an drags the twins out and orders them to head for the hole in the wall and to not stop running until they are out the other side. Cannonball intends to run back to save Beast but he has just managed to save himself, seconds before the body shop implodes.
Later Xi’an thanks them, but Gateway is still waiting up on the hill to teleport them their separate way. Unless she’s reconsidered, Hank offers. She can always bring the twins home with them to Westchester instead. Family is always welcome. Their youth is lost, true, and their so-called normal appearance but not their humanity. As she walks away with the twins, Xi’an thanks Hank for making her see that so clearly before it was too late, but its her humanity she’s come to fear for now…


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Beauty and the Beast: Part One
Dr. Doom’s castle, Latveria…
It is easy to forget that underneath his ruthless exterior, Victor von Doom is a human being just like everyone else. One of his few revelations is his appreciation of the fine arts. To indulge in this hobby, Doom has a personal art gallery in his palace. There, he retreats to find some much-needed peace. On this particular afternoon, he admires a modest sculpture of a man wrangling with a wild stallion. As he ponders the statue’s meaning – man’s struggle to contain the beast within – Doom ruminates that some men have more discipline than others. Therefore, he concludes all men are not created equal, and scoffs at the United States for embracing such a concept.
Doom’s messenger chime rings and disturbs his meditation. The irate dictator exits his gallery and meets his butler in the hall, who comes bearing important news: reports have surfaced about Doom’s alleged son in the States. Doom, while crumpling the message in his hand, reprimands the butler for interrupting him with such trivial information. He refuses to believe he has a son and blames this misunderstanding on the boy’s mother, whom he knew earlier in his life.
Doom recalls standing in the rain on a cobblestone street while a desperate woman begged for him to acknowledge their child. She couldn’t inform him of their son’s existence while he was away, he remembers her saying while sheltering her boy from the rain. Doom firmly directed her into a carriage, and told her it was only by his boundless mercy that she would leave Latveria with her life. As Doom watched the carriage disappear into the storm, he told himself that he must lead his nation alone. He can have no son.
Nevertheless, after reviewing this memory, Doom decides he should monitor the young man, who currently lives in California. Whether the boy is his son or not is irrelevant, as he may attempt to claim Doom’s throne either way.
Meanwhile, in California…
From atop the iconic “Hollywood” sign in the hills of Los Angeles, the blue-furred Defender Beast can see the entire valley. He wonders how Hollywood will treat him; after all, it is reportedly receptive to eclectic personalities. He fears, however, that due to the recent anti-mutant hysteria surrounding Dazzler’s outing as a mutant, he may not be treated to the kindest of welcomes. Like all things in life, however, he will not know until he tries. Beast heads into town.
The town proves to be slightly less welcoming than Beast had anticipated. Instead of receiving a star’s welcome, he is treated to sneers, snubs, and shrieks. One insensitive photographer takes his picture with hopes of selling it to a horror magazine. And here I thought everyone loved a ‘star,’ Beast says, referring to his popularity as both an Avenger and a Defender. He decides to head toward the Hollywood Walk of fame, along the way passing by several wax figures of famous silver-screen legends. Like the city itself, the Hollywood Walk of Fame fails to live up to Beast’s expectations; he grimly notes that several of the stars are no longer famous. Guess a lot of stars are more like comets -- they shoot through the sky for one night, and they’re gone the next, Hank thinks. Hank wonders if now is not the best time visit Los Angeles. He wants to see his good friend Wonder Man, though, and also notes that the recent, national wave of anti-mutant hysteria certainly would not have passed over his home in New Mexico.
Walking by an abandoned antique theater, Hank notices anti-mutant slurs scrawled on the walls in spray-paint. At first, he does not understand why this particular theater was tagged, but then he sees the target: a poster displaying an advertisement for a Dazzler concert. The word “MUTANT” is scrawled across the torn banner. Yeah, this town sure does love a star – to death, he thinks.
 Hank recalls the first time he met Dazzler. Her beauty was stunning, a feature overshadowed only by her singing voice and her mutant ability to transmute sound waves into stunning displays of light. Unfortunately, the world now hates her, as they do all mutants. Hank does not know who to blame. Is it simply human jealousy and fear of the unknown? Why did the media decide to make Dazzler into a scapegoat? How could the world treat someone so beautiful in such an ugly way? he asks.
As the sun goes down over Southern California, Hollywood’s true culture emerges. The city has its own way of doing things; to outsiders it may appear anarchistic, but those who live there understand the rules: Thou shalt stay out all night; thou shalt never be bored; thou shalt pursue the pleasure principle before all else. One raucous mansion hosts a slew of people doing their best to follow these rules, with only one exception. Alison Blaire, the former superstar known as the Dazzler, stands in a corner by herself without even a drink in her hand. One gentleman named Alexander Flynn decides to right this wrong.
Flynn approaches Alison under the pretense of offering her a glass of champagne. She politely refuses, asking for a ginger ale instead. Flynn immediately breaks down and confesses he knows exactly who Alison is; he recognized “The Dazzler” as soon as she walked in the door.
Hearing someone confess to being a fan of hers surprises Alison, as she believed the entire world now hated her for being a mutant! Flynn probes these feelings a bit, and Alison soon spills her heart. She confesses to becoming a hermit since her career ended, with this party being her first true outing in recent memory. She hoped to blend in, have a good time, and maybe begin her career anew.
 Funny thing, Flynn tells her; he knows a producer in search of true talent who is not afraid of garnering negative media attention! Flynn adds that while the show itself is somewhat of an underground production, he refuses to take “no” for an answer.
The next day, Alison auditions in front of sleazy talent producer Hugo Longride. While Alison pours her soul into her performance, Hugo chats idly with one of his buddies. He does not even notice when she has finished. Alison makes sure to ask him what he thought of her music, and Hugo turns to her, seemingly having forgotten she was even in the room. “Huh? Oh, you were great, honey!” he says with a cigar clenched between his teeth. “Yeah, ya got what it takes, honey. Yer gushin’ wit’ talent!” He walks her to his office, the entire time raving about her potential stardom.
Dazzler tells him to cut it out. She knows of the baggage that accompanies her name, and figures he could probably make a toad into a star if he packaged it right. All she wants is one more chance. Hugo mutters something in agreement and whips a contract out of his pocket. As Dazzler scrutinizes the contract, Hugo stands behind her and points out with his greasy finger every line she needs to sign. He interrupts every one of her attempts at humility and caution. Dazzler is now his act, and she begins performing in two weeks.
Now under the contract of Mr. Longride, Alison embarks on a whirlwind week of clubbing, networking, and drinking. On Friday night, her assigned escort Alexander Flynn pressures her into going to a party. On Saturday night, he pressures her into doing something much more intimate. To soothe her nerves over this tumultuous week, Alison begins drinking. Her powers also begin to leak out of her control. A formal backyard party on Sunday turns into a staged photo op as Alison is pushed into the swimming pool. Monday…Tuesday…Wednesday…with each passing day, Alison’s life grows more wild, and her powers less stable. By Thursday, she has already made the front page of the tabloids. She shows a copy of the paper to Alexander, pointing out its gross misrepresentation of her character. The Alison Blaire in the tabloids is unrecognizable to the real thing. However, she believes this life with Hugo’s Theater, as well as the accompanying celebrity, may be her last chance to make it as a star in this life. She vows to make it work.
Friday comes, and Alison attends a wrap party for a film in Hollywood. She stands alone near the buffet table with a glass of champagne in her hand. A beautiful woman can never drink alone for long in Hollywood, however. She is soon approached by an aggressive, horse-faced mutant. “So, you’re the new mutie for the mutant theater?” he asks. Dazzler is shocked; she had no idea she was being sold as a mutant act. This revelation, coupled with the effects of the drink in her hand, causes her powers to slip out of control. Alison insists everything is fine, but curses under her breath as light spills from her fingertips.
Also attending the party, and totally unaware of Dazzler’s presence, are Beast and Wonder Man. From across the room, these two guests notice the beautiful blond woman’s sudden change in temperament. Hank grows especially irritated by the pushiness of the horse-man, and decides to intervene. He grabs the mutant by the arm, tells him to take off his ugly mask, and adds that the lady wants to be left alone. “I got news for you, buddy,” the horse-faced man says, “…this ain’t no mask, an’ with a mug like yours, I wouldn’t go around callin’ anyone else ugly!” He bares his horse teeth and tells Hank to go pick up some other woman; this one is taken. Alison recognizes her defender, finally, and reintroduces herself. Hank immediately recognizes Alison. They were once friends, and Hank admits he has trouble seeing his friends treated with such disrespect.
When the horse-man proposes they take the fight outside, Hugo intervenes. He tells Rocker, the horse-faced man, to get lost. As Rocker turns to leave, Hugo pulls him close and whispers in his ear. “I trust you took care of that little job I gave you, right?” Rocker responds in the affirmative; the valuable property is primed and ready. Hugo shakes his hand, discretely slipping him a wad of bills. Then, he turns to Hank and Alison. “So, who’s your new friend, Daz?” he asks. “How about we use him in your first show? We could bill you as beauty…and the beast!” Raucous laughter from the spectators ensues.
 Enraged, Beast grabs the sleazy producer by the collar and hoists him into the air. A plea for Hank to calm down comes from the most unlikely person of all: Dazzler. She calls Hank a maniac, and adds that if he does not like being called a “beast,” he needs to not act like one. Hank is shocked to hear an attack coming from one of the only allies he has in the room, but realizes Alison has already made her choice in friends. As Hugo grabs Alison and leaves, Wonder Man offers Hank some grim insight on the situation. If Alison is already hanging around with scum like Hugo, it may be too late for her; any self-respect or values she once had are probably gone.
As Hugo and Dazzler exit the party, her powers spiral out of control. She sneaks away. Hugo, rambling about the importance of Dazzler sticking with him as an agent, hardly notices her disappearance. When he does finally notice, he feels no concern for her safety. Alison’s escape actually reinforces his sinister plan to break her will. He finds one of his spies and orders him to follow Dazzler; when she turns up, he will need to reel his valuable property back in.
Alison runs frantically through the studio back lot, growing increasingly alarmed with each step. Her light powers pour out of every cell of her body while the haunting images of the cackling party guests play in her mind. She grabs the cloak off of a bystander and drapes herself with it, hoping to subdue her radiance. It hardly helps. The studio sets bear down on her, warped by her hallucinating mind. What’s happening to me? she silently screams.
Wonder Man’s apartment, the next day…
Simon Williams rests his feet on his coffee table and tries to enjoy a cup of tea. His houseguest, the excitable Hank McCoy, makes relaxation a bit difficult. Hank, crouching on the coffee table with a newspaper in his hand, points his hairy finger at the headline “DAZZLER DISAPPEARS!” She wandered away right after their encounter at the party and has not been seen since. Hank suspects foul play. Simon bluntly asks why Hank is getting so worked up over someone who did not seem to care about him at all. Hank shrugs. “I don’t know. Since I saw her at that party, so out of place, so…alone…I can’t stop thinking about her,” Beast says. For some reason he feels the need to rescue her, but does not know where to begin. Wonder Man does. He tells Hank he has seen the horse-mutant Rocker plenty of times at the Village Arms. Simon suggests starting there.
Beast departs right away and heads to Rocker’s residence. Meanwhile, inside Rocker’s swanky apartment, the horse-faced mutant nurses a brutal hangover by admiring his private sculpture collection. The bounding, blue-furred Beast puts an abrupt stop to this serenity. He swings into the doorway, clutches Rocker with his feet, and demands to know where Dazzler is.
 Rocker barely flinches; he actually takes the opportunity to rub in Dazzler’s rejection a little further. With Beast caught off guard by this insult, Rocker drops to the ground and bucks Hank with his hooves. Beast soars across the room and lands on the ground in a daze. By the time he recovers, Rocker has already cleared the distance between them in preparation for his next attack. “Ya come here picking a fight?” he asks, casting aside his bathrobe. “Well, guess what? I’m a professional fighter! I do this every day!” He kicks Beast across the face once more. Beast lies on the ground on the verge of unconsciousness. Rocker, leaping into the air and positioning his hooves directly over Hank’s skull, prepares the coup de grâce.
Elsewhere, frightened Dazzler screams from within a binding cocoon of light. Not even her own voice escapes from the grip of her raging powers.
Back in the apartment, Beast regains consciousness moments before Rocker’s hooves connect with his face. With only a fraction of time to spare, he instinctively reaches out with his feet and grabs Rocker by the hooves. In one swift motion, he hurls the dangerous mutant across the room into some of his cherished horse sculptures. Rocker, apparently, forgot Beast is an accomplished fighter himself.
From a distance, Hugo’s spy Ralph observes the luminous Alison Blaire as she wanders through on a near-empty stretch of beach. Disheveled and delusional, Alison embraces her own shoulders. Her tattered dress ripples in the wind and her hair falls in her eyes. “My own power… is destroying me,” Alison mumbles. “I am this all-consuming light.”
Beast and Rocker continue to wreck Rocker’s apartment with their fighting. Beast stands over the fallen mutant and grabs him by his mane of hair. Tell me where Dazzler is and what you’re hiding, he demands. Rocker manages to squirm free and kick Beast off. “Go beat your chest, King Kong!” Rocker says. “I wouldn’t tell you anything even if I knew something! Besides, that chick can take care of herself!”
Little does Rocker know, “that chick” lies unconscious on the beach, face down in a tide pool. Light continues to emanate from her body. The luminescence finally draws the attention of a nearby group of people, who approach the sleeping woman. Dazzler stirs. The leader of the group, a haggard old woman, assures her they mean no harm. The mysterious people lift Dazzler out of the water and gently set her on a cart. While Ralph observes from his cover in the rocks, the vagrants wheel Dazzler away to some place called “heartbreak.”
Beast’s battle prowess finally affords him the advantage in his brawl with Rocker. He kicks the mutant into the air and sends him crashing back down onto his coffee table. Like everything else in the apartment, it breaks. Beast pounces on his defeated foe and wraps a telephone cord around Rocker’s neck. Rocker denies knowing any useful information. Hank, shoving the phone to Rocker’s mouth, calls his bluff. “Maybe your boss can help jog your memory! Dial! And act cool! First wrong word gets sliced off – along with your throat.” Rocker submits and dials Hugo. From their end of the conversation, Hank picks up enough clues to establish his next lead in the case: Dazzler was followed, and presently resides at 26 Ocean Circle. After threatening to end Rocker’s life if he is followed, Hank departs for the coast.
Hank soon arrives at his destination. The building, an old, Victorian-style house overlooking the ocean, bears the sign “Heartbreak Hotel.” In his manic quest for Dazzler, Beast kicks the door down. Instead of a room full of goons, however, he sees an old woman with tattered clothing sweeping the floor, and a suspicious young boy crouching in the corner. Hank awkwardly apologizes; he must be the wrong place, he says. He adds he is looking for a certain young woman. The woman’s overeager denial of seeing any young women, as well as the young boy’s move to cover the crack beneath a door, furthers Beast’s suspicions. He asks what is behind the door; the boy says it is nothing. Spying the light seeping under the door, Hank then asks the boy if he always glows like the Dazzler. Having had enough with the obvious attempts at a cover-up, he hoists the lad out of the way and enters the forbidden room.
The vibrant light that pours out of the room almost blinds him. Its source: Dazzler. “Daz! Oh lord, what have they done to you?” Hank asks. He feels his way over to poor, frightened Alison. She cries that she cannot stop the light, and apologizes for her wretched appearance.
“Funny, huh?” Alison says, her miserable facial expression contradicting her words. “She sings, she dances, she’ll dazzle your senses…it’s Dazzler, the greatest show in town!” Hank wraps his virile arms around the frightened woman and whispers words of comfort into her ear. He tells Alison not to worry; some mysterious force has drawn him to her, and he promises to do his duty and protect her. He only asks her to trust him.


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

[Assistant]
Heartbreak Hotel
Society disdains the misfits it has birthed. Alison Blaire quickly became the most notable of these misfits when she revealed to the world that, as the Dazzler, she was indeed a mutant. She has been on the receiving end of this disdain ever since. She has, however, found temporary respite at the Heartbreak Hotel.
Beast crouches on a chair in Dazzler’s makeshift bedroom. Alison, drained both emotionally and physically, still emits massive amounts of light energy beyond her control. This impotence weakens her already fragile emotional state even further. She tries to hide under the blankets, but Beast tells her to knock it off. “No more hiding. No more secrets,” he says. Her glow is beautiful, he says. She looks like a star from the heavens.
Dazzler chuckles. She is finally a star…only not the kind she set out to be. She tells Hank her condition is improving with the help of everyone at Heartbreak Hotel. “The people are so sweet here,” she says, pulling a teddy bear out from under the covers. “Look what someone left me while I was sleeping.” Hank comments the ratty teddy bear looks a bit like him. Recalling her recent behavior toward Hank, Dazzler is struck with pangs of guilt. She apologizes to Hank for being so stuck-up when they met at the party, and wonders why he still tried to help her after she acted like such an ice queen.
“I…had to,” Hank says. Dazzler laments that she has somehow failed in life; she let her guard down for a minute, and hordes of malignant forces swarmed in and brought her down. Clutching her teddy bear as she speaks, her nervous fingers unconsciously play with one of the stuffed animal’s eyes. Beast sympathizes with her feelings about the world. “Sometimes just getting up in the morning is like getting hit with a shovel full of dirt,” he says. He predicts she will be okay, however, now that she has friends.
A tear rolls down Alison’s cheek as she listens to Hank’s kind words. Sensing a sympathetic ear, she unloads her story on him: hitting rock bottom after her outing as a mutant, meeting Hugo Longride and Alexander Flynn, the drinking, clubbing, and tabloid attention, her powers spiraling out of control. “I don’t understand what’s happened to me,” she sobs. “But if the world couldn’t accept me when I was in control, what would they think of me now?”
Hank notices she is shaking uncontrollably. He reaches out to comfort her, but she nervously withdraws from his touch. He can tell she is still afraid of other people, even someone as gentle as Hank. You have to learn to trust people again, he tells her. “Look at what you’ve done to this doll,” he says, motioning toward the teddy bear she has mangled during their conversation. “Your actions tell me what you can’t.”
Later, along the beachfront near Heartbreak Hotel…
Dazzler goes for a walk with Kate, the Heartbreak Hotel’s operator, and the shy teenager Lucy. Alison thanks Kate for being so kind as to take in misfits, but Kate objects to the use of the term. “It’s the world that’s the misfit, Alison, not those that don’t fit in,” she says. “In some ways, the only sane act in this crazy world is to not fit in.” Alison asks if everyone at Heartbreak Hotel is a mutant, and Kate responds affirmatively. She is even a mutant herself, but decided to stop using her powers as she grew into old age. It saddens her to no longer use her abilities, and while Dazzler may wish she were normal like everyone else, she too would miss her powers if they left.
As they walk, Kate’s flower basket begins to shake uncontrollably. The sudden tremor startles Alison, but Kate knows it is only a result of Poltergeist’s presence; the more emotional young Michael Silk gets, the crazier his surroundings become. Sure enough, the lanky lad comes running to meet up with the ladies. He greets Dazzler with enthusiasm; this is the first time he has seen her up and about. Dazzler immediately asks Poltergeist big question on her mind: does he control a poltergeist, or is he the poltergeist? Michael, revealing insecurity about his powers, responds that he does not know. Dazzler immediately cheers him up. “Boy, we’re two of a kind, you and me,” she says to the star-struck boy. “Two folks with powers that have gone crazy.” Mickey enthusiastically agrees, perking up at the comparison.
Dazzler then formally introduces herself to Lucy. She vaguely recognizes the girl from her time at Westchester. Lucy admits she flunked out. Mickey, however, prompts her to show Alison her mutant ability, so Lucy reluctantly complies. She reaches into Kate’s flower basket, plucks out a blue flower, and compels it to change color from blue to white to pink. Is that it? Alison asks. “Yeah,” Lucy says. “Dumb, huh?”
A voice calls out from the porch of the hotel. “Hey! I saw that,” it says. “That’s great, kid! What a nifty power!” They turn and see Hank McCoy crouching on the banister. The agile mutant somersaults and lands next to the dawdlers standing in the rain. He tells Lucy he envies her talent and encourages her to be a performance painter. He keeps his true analysis of Lucy’s powers to himself, however. Hmm…makes sense that nature would have scattered a few lesser powers among all us big-time mutants, he thinks.
The group, sensing the chemistry brewing between Alison and Hank, decide to leave them alone. Hank tells Alison she is looking much better; Alison returns the compliment, and comments she cannot get over Hank’s blue fur. “Strange, huh?” he laughs. Dazzler giggles and runs her fingertips along his hairy chest. It is strange, she admits, but not on him. Alison notices the pouring rain is matting down Hank’s fur. She asks if he even noticed it was raining. “Nope,” he says, his eyes locked on the beautiful starlet.
Over the course of several relaxing days, Dazzler’s powers fall back under her control. One lazy afternoon, she enjoys the sunshine by lounging in a hammock while Hank keeps her company from a nearby tree branch.
 Their rest is interrupted by the arrival of the clownish Link, one of Heartbreak’s young mutants. He tells them of his most recent excursion into street performance; the crowd loved his act, until the time came to make a donation into his tip hat. No matter, he says. He has no need for money, as everything he would ever need is here at Heartbreak. “This place is so blessed, even Romeo and Juliet would have made it here,” he says, sticking a dramatic theater mask in front of his face. “Orpheus would never have looked back and lost Eurydice! Beauty would have loved the Beast, had they a haven like Heartbreak!”
While Beast applauds Link’s soliloquy, his latest analogy makes Dazzler uncomfortable. She sits up in the hammock and tells Link to stop his chatter. Walking away, she asks what Link was implying about her and Hank. Link, however, meant nothing by it. He tries to apologize but Dazzler will not listen. After she leaves, Hank pats him on the back and assures him it was not his fault. Alison just needs some time to think.
More time passes. Beast and Dazzler, continuing to spend time together, lounge around in the arboretum one afternoon. Neither person speaks, but each of their minds race. I still hardly know her. I have no right to think she wants me. I wish I knew the right words…maybe I should just go away, Hank thinks to himself while casting his eyes toward the floor.
Dazzler looks in his direction. A short while ago I had no time for him, she says to herself. Now I hope he never leaves. In many ways he’s still a stranger. However, she sees familiarity and trust in his eyes. Beast feels the same way. He finally works up the courage and embraces the singer, telling himself he sees things in her he has spent a lifetime searching for.
Unbeknownst to the lovebirds, Mickey Silk enters the arboretum and observes their tender embrace. He keeps quiet and witnesses their first, passionate kiss. Crouching out of sight in the corner, he bottles up his true feelings about the situation. He wishes he could feel emotions, but such things only fuel his poltergeist; he has to restrain himself for the safety of himself and others. This time around, unfortunately, he fails. The greenhouse begins rumbling and cracking in response to Poltergeist’s emotional unrest. By the time he notices, it is too late. The greenhouse windows shatter inward, and it is only because of Hank’s quick reflexes that he and Alison avoid the shrapnel.
 Mickey rushes forward, realizing what he has done, and apologizes to Beast and Dazzler. Dazzler expresses nothing but sympathy for his plight; she, too, has powers that rage out of control, and believes both of them will overcome them. Mickey’s perspective is not so optimistic. “If I feel anything, I hurt someone!” he cries. “Did you ever hurt anyone with your power?!” Alison replies she has, but only in self-defense. She would never want to harm anyone with her abilities. Never.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in the small Balkan country of Latveria…
From one of his castle’s towers, Dr. Doom observes a shepherd tending to his sheep in a meadow. “As the peasants care for their sheep, so do I care for my subjects, as they plod through their aimless, insignificant lives,” he says. His servant interrupts him with an important telegram. Doom scolds him for the interruption, but the messenger claims the telegram is too important to wait. Apparently, Doom’s alleged son has been seen in the company of Dazzler! “Do not speak of that impudent whelp and his sordid affairs,” Doom says, carelessly tossing the scroll over his shoulder. “What care have I for that heretic and some tawdry nightclub singer?” He looks his servant directly in the eyes, and once again asserts he has no son; there is no other man in the world whose veins course with blood as rich as Victor von Doom’s.
Back at Heartbreak Hotel…
The days continue to pass unnoticed. One evening, Beast and Dazzler are exercising together in the studio before dinner when they hear the doorbell ring. Dazzler wonders who it might be, but Hank tells her to be silent while he answers the door. The door swings open, and standing before Hank is a large, canine mutant in gladiator armor. He and his two guard dogs have come to collect the Dazzler for his boss, Hugo Longride. Beast tells him that contract is broken. “Yeah? When?” the gladiator asks. Beast responds with a punch. The gladiator falls to the floor, but immediately pounces back on his feet and begins emitting a guttural, growling noise. Beast begins to feel a ringing pain inside his head; the awful growl is attuned to just the right frequency to incapacitate Hank. He has only a moment to act before defeated, and he uses it well. Planting his hands on the floor, he swings his legs in an arc and kicks the mutant directly in the face.
Dazzler, at this point, has had enough. She releases a brilliant flash of light and stuns both Beast and his opponent. “There’s no reason to fight!” she says. Beast thanks her for the effort, but assures her he had things under control. Alison pauses for a moment, and explains to Beast that he misunderstood. With her powers out of control, she needs to seek help, and perhaps returning to the stage is the best treatment. At this moment, Alexander Flynn appears in the doorway and tells his starlet he can help her. Hank is merely shocked to see Dazzler cozy up to the man without any hesitation, but becomes furious when she declares she will be returning to fulfill her contract. She asks Hank to come with her; Flynn tells Hank he should attend Dazzler’s first show, which will be that very night.
“Get out of here. Both of you,” Hank says in response. Flynn has some mysterious control over Alison, and Hank intends to find out exactly what it is.
Later…
The featureless exterior of a warehouse in Los Angeles starkly contrasts the wonders and horrors that lie inside. It is at this warehouse that the jaded elite of Hollywood convene to observe the last form of entertainment that actually excites them.
Hank McCoy, however, attends simply to rescue the Dazzler. He wades through the swanky crowd and finds a seat overlooking the arena, his thoughts totally focused on Alison’s strange behavior earlier that afternoon. Below, Rocker and the other gladiators prepare to perform. Alexander Flynn comments on the strange fascination the rich audience seems to have with the bizarre; Rocker says the fascination stems from the fact that the audience will never feel so alive themselves. Hugo laughs and agrees. “Yeah, what they really want is to be down there themselves killin’ each other, instead of just gettin’ their kicks watchin’,” he says. He adds they will certainly get their money’s worth tonight, as his newest star, Dazzler, will be entering the fray.
Back in the stands, Hank takes a moment to take in the decadent scenery, but finds it gaudy and distasteful. Large statues of monsters and demons surround the coliseum while an enormous model of the solar system sits overhead. He watches some of the warm-up acts and realizes the performers are actually fighting each other! It still might be an act, but Alison could be hurt. As the opening act dies down, one of the performers announces the next act: the debut of the Dazzler!
Alison, standing nervously in the entryway, wraps up her conversation with Hugo, Alexander, and Rocker. She tells Hugo she is excited to be back onstage, but expresses reservation about the fighting aspect. The performers appeared to be battling for real! Hugo assures her it was just a warm-up, and instructs her to get out there and sing. As soon as she steps into the arena, Dazzler’s fears melt away. She missed performing for crowds more than anything. She begins belting out one of her familiar songs amidst her usual synthesis of light and perfectly coordinated dance. The awestruck crowd loves it…at first. Then, one drunken Hollywood high-roller stands up in his seats and yells at Dazzler to shut up and fight! The crowd quickly follows his cue, and begins pumping their fists, booing, and demanding some action.
Dazzler does not take the rejection well; she has never been told to shut up by her audience. She runs out of the arena. Hugo stops her at the exit and instructs her to get back out there and fight, but Dazzler will have none of it. “It’s humiliating!” she says. Hugo explains that staged fights are this theater’s specialty, and it is her duty as an actress and a performer to give the crowd what it wants. “The whole idea is repulsive,” she replies. Hugo grabs Alison by her shoulders and makes himself very clear: without this venue, Dazzler’s career would be over. She has no choice but to get out there and give the audience the thrill it came to see. When she refuses to fight once more, Flynn interjects. He assures Alison the whole thing is staged. This crowd needs more than her singing and dancing; they need a show. If Alison can give this to them, they will love her forever.
A sucker for this sort of attention, Alison agrees and takes to the stage once more. The crowd roars with excitement. Dazzler looks across the arena and sees her opponent emerging from behind his gate; it is a large, burly mutant with the features of a rhinoceros named Horns. He snarls at Alison. “Good thing this isn’t for real,” she says to herself at the sight of her ferocious opponent. He charges at Alison, horn-first. Dazzler barely avoids this first attack. She tries to remind her opponent there is no need to take a fake fight so seriously.
The roar of the crowd quickly erases any hesitation Dazzler had. “I never got cheers like that for singing! They do love me,” she realizes. She decides to give them what they want. Dazzler turns toward her opponent and blasts him with a soft beam of light, knocking him to the ground. The crowd eats it up, but Beast has a hard time understanding what has overtaken Alison.
 In the arena, Horns picks himself up and tells Dazzler to take a dive; he wants to win this fight. He lunges forward and punches Dazzler in her torso. After falling to her knees, she clutches her side and asks what the hell her opponent is thinking; he could have killed her! Enraged, Dazzler gets up off the ground and hits the man with a high-powered beam of light. “You asked for it!” she yells. “You want to fight? Compete? Vie for cheers? I’ll fight – like you’ve never seen before!” The audience goes wild. Their roars of enthusiasm fuel Dazzler, both physically and emotionally. Riding the wave of energy, she lashes out at Horns with another light beam. “I’ll kill you!” she shouts. She pauses after speaking these words, however, and takes a moment to consider what she has become. Dazzler is many things, but she is not a killer. Startled by this epiphany of what she is becoming, she flees the battlefield.
The audience refuses to stand for this. They came to see a bloody fight, and Hugo intends to give it to them. He orders all of his gladiators to take the floor, with Rocker leading the surge of mutant fighters as they head to battle. These mutants fight only for the glory and attention that comes from battle. They use their powers to entertain the rich instead of to help the downtrodden. They measure success by the scars they accumulate, not by the causes they uphold. They have no interest in heroics.
Beast springs out of his seat and enters the battlefield to defend Dazzler, but she has already left the arena. Offstage, she scolds Hugo for lying to her about the show, as it was no performance. Her opponent actually tried to attack her! Hugo brushes off her complaints. Based on what he saw, Dazzler was the one who made the battle real. It was she who almost killed someone, not her opponent.
Meanwhile, things escalate in the arena. Horns makes up for his humiliating defeat by fully unleashing his inner beast. He charges head-first at another gladiator at a terrifying speed. His horn buries itself in the man’s gut, and Horns vaults the gladiator over his head. The man hits the ground with a lifeless thud. Horns walks over to his fallen opponent and hoists his corpse into the air for the audience to see. They go nuts; they come to these shows to see blood, and Horns has given them exactly that. Their morbid curiosity does not come without its own price, however; they will leave the arena tonight in shame, making sure to avoid eye contact with their fellow voyeurs.
Out of everyone at the arena that night, only Beast and Dazzler express disgust at the use of a human’s death for entertainment. Beast sees now that he must get Alison as far away from this wicked place as possible. Alison, meanwhile, is horrified at what she has just seen. She accuses Hugo of being an accomplice to murder, but he once again defends his establishment. “When a boxer dies in the ring, who killed him? The boxing commission for condoning such a sport? The manager of the boxer? Society for birthing such fighters? Nature for giving us such desires? How about the audience for cheering, for revving the fighters up – it’s the crowd that supplies the juice,” Hugo says. “No one is responsible. People need violence, and they’d rather see it out being aired than lurking in the shadows. This event vents their own violence.”
Hugo’s words haunt Alison as she tries to relax in the dressing room. She sees through his rationalizations, as there is no defending what happened tonight. This, unfortunately, forces her to recognize her own contribution to the atrocity. Suddenly, her fellow gladiator Ivich returns to dressing room. Alison gets up and rushes to the green-skinned woman and frantically asks her to make sense of what happened. Ivich tells her not to get worked up; this sort of thing happens in the real world too. “You know what it’s like. Look what they did to you,” Ivich says to Alison. The arena may be brutal, but Ivich refuses to dismiss it entirely. “This is the only place I don’t feel like the freak that I am. The only sane stance to take on this planet is to not fit in.” To Dazzler, none of these explanations matter. Murder is always wrong.
Flynn and Rocker enter the break room, interrupting the conversation between the two women. Rocker commends Alison’s performance. Flynn, however, tries to ease her unrest. He explains that the fighter’s death was merely an accident, an unfortunate by-product of Hugo’s desire to please his audience. Horns violated the gladiator code, he assures her, and will be punished accordingly. Rocker walks over the bar and prepares Alison a drink. With her back turned, he slips in a few mysterious capsules. Give it up, Flynn, Rocker says to himself. This will convince her, while all your arguments might not. He offers this freshly prepared drink to Alison, who at this point will gladly accept anything that might clam her nerves.
Hank bursts in. He tells Dazzler it is time to leave. She hesitates, regurgitating some of Alexander and Hugo’s pro-arena propaganda as justification. Hank holds her in his arms and asks again, but she tells him that in this community, they can finally be accepted. “Daz, we have nothing to hide. If the world doesn’t like or kind, that’s their problem,” Beast says. Dazzler almost agrees to leave with him, but when she puts her hand on his shoulder her light powers once again flare out of control. Recoiling in horror, she insists she must stay.
 Hank finally loses it. “Does being a star mean that much to you? Have you lost sight of everything but some vain quest for the limelight?” he shouts. He understands she lost her fame, control of her powers, everything. However, these losses do not excuse her descent into moral decay. She and Hank are heroes; they should be better than that. She responds only with silence. “Ah, forget it! You’re all just sick. You and the rest of the world can just rot away. Do what you want, Dazzler,” Hank yells as he walks out the door. “I’ll be seeing you…in the headlines and the gossip columns. I’m through chasing after you.” As he leaves, Dazzler turns away to hide the tears in her eyes.
Later, Hank sheds tears of his own he sits alone on the hotel’s porch. How could this have happened to Alison Blaire? She was the sweetest, most reasonable girl. Why did it have to be her? He stares off into the distance in contemplation, sitting appropriately under a sign that bears the words “Heartbreak Hotel.”