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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Day of Wrath part One
Hannah Connover is having a dream. She realizes, however, that this is no ordinary dream. It’s not even an ordinary nightmare. No, this is something worse. Something is speaking to her while she sleeps.
Hannah’s dream:
“We are the Brood and you will obey,” a voice says. It tells her about the Brood, a race of aliens with nests on hundreds of different planets throughout the universe. Each planet has its own Queen, but each of these Queens answers to one mighty Empress. This Empress is the horrible creature that addresses Hannah while she sleeps.
“I am the Empress and you will obey.”
The Empress tells Hannah that she cannot hide her thoughts. The Brood are of one mind and what one knows, all know. She tells Hannah that she is no longer a human. She is a Brood now, and she will obey, or be destroyed. The Empress gives Hannah a vision of the Brood on other worlds, saying that other species do not matter to her until they become Brood. Preservation of their own race is all that matters, and due to their proliferation throughout the universe, they are undefeatable. The Empress urges Hannah to accept the Brood within her.
“You will never be alone and you’ll always know you’re part of something greater! All that is not Brood is chaos! How can you desire that?” the Empress asks. “You have no right to choose for yourself! These thoughts of self, of freedom, of individual choice – these are not acceptable! The very concepts are anathema! Your thoughts proclaim you as a deviant – UNCLEAN!” The Empress then orders Hannah to look upon the Brood, and in her dream, their hideous, gaping faces bear down on her. They stare her down while the Empress tells Hannah her humanity is a lie, disguising the Brood within. If Hannah does not submit, the Empress threatens to send her Firstborn, who serve as her assassins, to hunt her down and slay all of her creations.
“They will keep coming until you are dead!” the Empress finally threatens.
reality:
Hannah screams at the shock of this final threat, a scream which is so powerful it awakens Jean Grey. Jean, who is vacationing with her husband, Scott Summers, at a nearby motel in Sedona, Arizona, wakes up and shouts Scott’s name. Hannah’s dream was so vivid and intense that Jean experienced the entire thing. Visibly disturbed by the psionic echo she experienced, she recounts the entire dream to Scott.
Scott, however, has no idea what she is raving about and asks her to slow down. She clarifies that the Brood Empress is sending something called the “Firstborn” to assassinate a woman, her only crime being that she resists takeover by the Brood. Scott decides that they should contact the professor, while Jean psionically checks on her family, with whom they are vacationing in Arizona. Scott and Jean get ready to depart on their mission, while the Grey family sleeps comfortably. Jean ponders this situation, noting that she is an X-Man so she could protect the peace of innocent people like her family.
At the Xavier Institute in Westchester, NY, Charles Xavier receives Jean’s telepathic signal, and asks her for a situation report. Jean relays the dream, in full psionic detail, while she dresses for the mission. Charles reminds her that she hasn’t encountered the Brood before, and emphasizes their danger. He instructs her to locate the Brood, but tells her not to engage in combat until reinforcements arrive.
Xavier then telepathically calls out to the rest of the team. Storm, Cannonball, Bishop, Wolverine (who is currently going feral) Beast, Iceman, and answer the call. Xavier explains the situation to the team, while noting that half of them have encountered the Brood before. He explains that the Brood lay eggs in the bodies of their hosts to reproduce, and that few have ever resisted this process. Wolverine survived because of his healing factor, and Storm was saved by the alien race Acanti, Xavier explains.
“Freakin’ sleazoids!” Wolverine shouts, obviously bearing a grudge.
	“Say no more, Professor. We will prepare the Blackbird,” Storm says. The team prepares for departure.
 Meanwhile, Jean and Scott begin their search for the Brood nest. Jean tells Scott that, because of the link she established with the Brood Queen earlier, she should have no problem following the psychic emanations back to the Queen.
	Meanwhile, just north of Sedona at the Glory Day Ministry, Reverend William Connover tries to console his tearful wife. Hannah has been able to heal people with her touch for several years now, a gift that some believe came from God, while others blame the Devil. Regardless, Hannah has been in distress all week, waking up screaming at least five times. She refuses to explain her dreams to William.
	“How can I help others if I can’t help my own wife?” William pleads. Hannah turns a cold shoulder and says that she just can’t talk about it right now. She instead turns her thoughts inwards and blames herself for her misfortune.
	“This is all because you wanted to cure my arthritic hands…and couldn’t,” thinks a distraught Hannah. “And I saw it tearing you apart. And the devil, in the form of a medical technician, tempted me.”
Hannah’s memory:
	Hannah then recalls a fateful encounter she had a few years earlier. She is approached by a medical technician named Josey Thomas, who claims she can heal Hannah’s arthritis. The friendly EMT leads Hannah to her ambulance, teasing her about a miracle cure. Once they were move of sight, Josey transforms into a tentacled, hideous alien monster. Josey, now in Brood form, snares Hannah, whose screams go unheard before being stifled. “Now you are one of us!” the Brood says.
	Hannah calmly opens her eyes, and stares back at her attacker. “Yes. Now I am one of us,” she replies.
 From the moment of her infection, she has complete awareness of her Brood nature This is a rarity among Brood hosts, and indicates that she could potentially be a Queen. Because of her transformation, she no longer sees people as humans, but as receptacles for more Brood eggs. She maliciously takes advantage of her position as a traveling pastor’s wife to implant eggs in their followers. Her hands, now “miraculously” healed of their arthritis, serve as the perfect lure for people seeking a miracle cure. Hannah infects them all, creating her own crèche of Brood in the process.
 This devious proliferation of Brood continues unabated until Hannah has a crisis of conscience. She hears a different voice in her head, one that manages to cut through the influence of the Brood. This voice pushes allows Hannah’s true self to resurface.  For the first time since her infection, she hears husband’s sermons again, and listens intently while he preaches about love.
	“In this time of ever-increasing hatred, when the voices of anger and unreason rise up all around us, we must answer in voices of peace. And hope. And love. It has never been easy – the righteous path. If it took no effort, we’d all be saints. But we’re called on to do more – to love and forgive one another – for we are all God’s children,” Reverend William preaches. These words get through to the infected Hannah, who then turns towards a crucifix depicting Jesus on the cross.
	“It is your voice I hear in my head every night, reminding me of what I am, of my soul,” Hannah thinks. At that moment, Hannah experiences a rebirth. Her humanity conquers the influence of the Brood, and she realizes the evil she was committing by infecting William’s devoted followers. She flees.
present:
Hannah wonders if William realizes how much his faith means to her. She realizes that his support is all that keeps the Brood from overwhelming her, and if she tells him of her evil ways, it might destroy them both. She leaves without saying goodbye.
	Meanwhile, at the lip of the Grand Canyon, a present-day Josey Thomas watches the sky expectedly. As she watches, four meteor-like objects crash into the ground, leaving a swath of destruction in their path. Josey calmly approaches the vessels, sarcastically commenting on their subtle arrival. She asks out-loud if anything survived. When she states that she is the Brood’s contact, four sinister-looking, armor-plated Brood emerge and instantly surround her. Their sudden appearance shocks Josey, who remarks at how fast they move. They speak to her as a collective, finishing each other’s sentences.
	“We are here, Josey Thomas. We are the Empress’ Brood. We are the Firstborn. We live, we will destroy the errant queen. Her and her nest,” the Brood say together.
	“Good. Then maybe the Empress will realize I should have been Queen and not Hannah Connover,” Josey replies. The Brood remark that it is of no importance to them who is Queen, as they serve only the Empress. This statement clearly defines their allegiance. Hannah ignores this and instead notices that the Brood’s ships are dissolving. She comments on this to the Firstborn.
	“We do not go back. We come, we kill, we die. That is all,” they remark.
	“Fine,” Josey says. “Switch into your human forms so we can reach our target unhindered.”
	“We do not shift forms,” the Firstborn respond, indicating that they are different from any Brood humans have previously encountered. “If we are seen, we kill.”
	“Fine. Let’s go to work,” Josey says, and she sets out with the Firstborn to hunt down Hannah Connover.
	As Scott and Jean approach the source of the Queen Brood’s thought patterns, Scott realizes that they have arrived at the tent of Reverend William Connover. Scott remembers Storm speaking highly of the Reverend from their last encounter, and can’t believe that this could be the source of the Brood. Jean comments that this is where the trail leads, although it is fading. Scott worries about fighting the Brood right in the middle of the Glory Day Ministry, as it is crowded and civilians are likely to be harmed.
	As they discuss the situation, Hannah tries to leave the camp. She is stopped by her husband, who demands to know where she is going.
	“Out. To town…I don’t know,” Hannah evasively responds.
	“Are you sure about that?” William asks.
	“Oh, don’t make a fuss, William! I can go to town if I want to!” Hannah snaps. Suddenly a couple of elderly church members appear and offer to escort Hannah into town. The couple assures William that they were going to town anyway and they would be happy to take care of Hannah. William wishes her to take care, but doesn’t seem to think that she will.
	“Lord, why won’t Hannah talk to me? Lately, it’s almost as if she were a different person,” William asks himself. Scott and Jean, who observe this scene from a distance, correctly identify William and his wife Hannah. Jean picks up a psionic reading, and realizes that one of them is the Brood Queen. Hannah glances back over her shoulder and makes eye contact with Jean, who sees the Brood within her.
	“Scott, it’s Hannah!”  Jean declares, shocked.  Scott tells Jean to take it easy, and reminds her that if Hannah is indeed a Brood Queen, then Hannah is already dead.
	“No, Scott, you’re wrong! I touched her mind…I could feel her humanity! She’s struggling to suppress her Brood side,” Jean replies. “No human has ever done that. Something different is happening here – something important!”
	Scott skeptically responds that they should change into their uniforms and follow Hannah in case something develops.
 Meanwhile, Reverend William Connover absent-mindedly stares at a cross on the wall. He prays that the Lord will help him understand what is going on with Hannah, and says, “I put my trust, my faith, in you.”
	As the Reverend prays, Hannah heads into town, sitting in-between the elderly couple in their red pickup truck. “Fred, Nancy – you didn’t need to do this,” she tells them. They brush off her apology and tell her that she healed them with the help of God, and that there is nothing they wouldn’t do for her. Hannah looks at Fred while he drives, the guilt evident in her facial expression. She berates herself for what she has done, and wonders how far the consequences will reach.
	As the trio rolls into town, they are spotted by the Firstborn, who lurk in a dark alleyway with Josey. She tells the Firstborn that she’ll call Hannah over to her, at which point they can kidnap her, take her out of town, and dispose of her quietly. The Firstborn reject this plan.
	“No, we will attack her here but not kill her,” they say.
	“That’s insane! It’s a sure way of drawing attention we don’t want!” Josey snaps.
	“Do want. Attack Queen. Her Broodlings come to her and defend. Kill Queen. Kill all touched by Queen,” the Firstborn tell Josey. At this point, Josey finally realizes the true danger of the Firstborn. They want all of Hannah’s crèche destroyed, including Josey herself. Unfortunately, she has this epiphany a little too late and the Firstborn surround her menacingly.
	“No! I am the one that is LOYAL! And I will NOT be taken so easily,” Josey screams, while transforming into her monstrous Brood form. However, the Firstborn overpower her and rip her to shreds, leaving nothing but a bloodied human corpse in the alleyway.
	Hannah walks down a nearby street with Fred and Nancy, and attempts to truly explain what she’s done to them. However, before she can begin, the trio is attacked by the Firstborn, who emerge from the alley. “False Queen!” they declare as they attack. “The Empress sends us! And you and your nest must DIE!”
	Fred and Nancy quickly transform into Brood form and place themselves between Hannah and the Firstborn. They enter the battle, shouting their cries to protect the Queen, as they are slaughtered by the Firstborn. Hannah watches in horror. She subconsciously reaches out to all of her Broodlings.
 However, the police arrive first, and order the Firstborn to remain still. The Firstborn ignore their commands, and respond that their mission directive is to kill the humans. After reading Hannah’s thoughts, Jean learns that the Firstborn are some kind of elite Brood. Cyclops and Jean enter the fray in order to save the overpowered police officers. Cyclops, who is like a firstborn to Xavier, fights valiantly while Jean attempts to clear a path to Hannah and the policemen. She introduces herself to Hannah and explains that she already knows about the Firstborn. Hannah responds by warning Jean that she doesn’t know if she can hold her Brood side at bay.
	“Incoming alien – one o’clock!” one of the officers shouts. Jean turns just in time to put up a telekinetic shield. However, the sheer force of the Firstborn almost overpowers Jean’s telekinesis.
	“X-Men are known to us! You’re the defenders of our enemies!” the assailant declares as it bears down on Jean, who desperately tries to defend herself. Cyclops tries to help her, but he can’t let his guard down against the other three Firstborn. Jean, with a terrified expression on her face, faces the approaching monster. Suddenly, she hears a voice from above.
	“Do not worry, Jean!” it says. “You do not fight alone!”
	As she looks up, she sees Storm, Beast, Bishop, Iceman and Wolverine descending onto the scene, aided by Storm’s winds. Hannah’s believes them to be angels, not knowing that they are merely mortal X-Men (Cannonball has to enter the fight later as he is currently landing the Blackbird).
 Bishop takes the opening move, firing a few rounds at the Firstborn with his rifle. He arrives at the group of surviving humans, offering assistance. One of the officers off-handedly asks if Bishop has an extra rifle he could borrow. Meanwhile, Cyclops, who still battles the Firstborn by himself, loses use of his visor. He falls down, helpless. However, Iceman intervenes at the last second and encases the Firstborn in ice, buying the team a few precious moments. Bobby, not realizing the severity of the situation, cracks a joke about his accomplishment right as the Firstborn bust through the ice and bite onto his arm. Wolverine lunges into battle and frees Iceman, who has a horrible expression of pain on his face as Cyclops pulls him to safety.
	Beast, meanwhile, focuses on crowd control. “Citizens and good people, your curiosity is understandable, but, as with the proverbial feline, it may get you killed! SCAT!”
	Bishop recommends that Storm evacuate Hannah, as the attack seems to be centered on her. The Firstborn bear down on Bishop, telling him that Hannah’s death is required. Wolverine, meanwhile, endures a beating from the assassins, who send knock him out of the battle and crashing into a nearby car. Things look grim for the X-Men, and Iceman doesn’t hesitate to point this out. “Uh, Scott? You got some sure-fire plan to get us out of this?” he asks.
	Meanwhile, Bishop notes how fast and agile these Firstborn Brood move. He comments that he can’t even see them move sometimes because of their speed, and believes his survival thus far to be the product of luck as much as skill. Bishop asks Storm if she can take them out. She takes to the skies, begins brewing a thunderstorm, and tells Bishop to brace himself for an incoming power charge. Wolverine continues his ferocious attack on the Firstborn, desperately searching for a chink in their armor. He is so intent in his feral rage that he ignores Bishop’s order to get out of the way. “Forget about me! Blast away!” shouts Wolverine. Bishop begins channeling Storm’s energy towards the Firstborn, while Wolverine finally finds a weak point when he impales one of them in the jaw.
	Storm tells Bishop that she may overload him with energy if she keeps it up, but Bishop doesn’t seem to care. “If…you do not…the Brood may…kill us all! DO whatever it takes…to achieve…the mission!” Bishop desperately pleads.
	At this moment, an overzealous Cannonball finally arrives, rushing headfirst into the battle. He attempts to carry one of the aliens up into the sky so he can drop it to its doom. However, the Firstborn manages to whack Cannonball with its tail. He drops the monster prematurely, sending it on a direct trajectory to a fully loaded gas tanker below. Beast, perceiving catastrophe, scrambles to get the driver out of the way. Beast lunges to safety, carrying the driver over his shoulder, just as the tanker explodes. The Firstborn screeches as it burns to death in the explosion. Wolverine isn’t fully satisfied.
	“Let’s finish him!” he demands. Storm, however, manages to calm him down.
	“Wait, Logan. It is already finished,” she says, as the Firstborn collapses. After the body vaporizes, Storm asks where the other attackers went.
	“They’re gone,” Jean says. “For now.”
	Hannah, however, fills the team in on the Firstborn’s true motives. “They’ve gotten what they wanted – to alert my ‘children’.”
	As the X-Men leave the scene, taking Hannah with them, Beast nonchalantly comments that the X-Men will probably get blamed for the fracas. “Isn’t that how the tune usually goes?” he asks.
	A short time later, the X-Men rendezvous at the Blackbird out in the desert. The team, now patched up, palaver with Hannah. Cannonball asks what their next move is.
	“I know what we have to do. Kill the Brood. All the Brood. Including the one in front of us,” Wolverine says, while glaring menacingly at Hannah. Scott interjects, saying that the X-Men don’t take human life, and that Wolverine should know that. Wolverine brushes Scott’s orders aside.
	“She only looks human. The human part of her died when the Brood took over. I say we finish the job,” Wolverine says.
	“You’re wrong, Logan! I’ve been inside Hannah’s mind and, somehow, she has retained her elements of humanity! She’s something new, something different – something that the Brood regard as a threat! Why else send these assassins after her?” Jean says.
	“Jean, I got a world of respect for you but she smells like Brood and she is Brood! No human’s ever come back from that and only a few of us have! She’s gonna lose those elements of humanity! What’s gonna happen then?” Wolverine asks, getting in Jean’s face.
 A defensive Scott intervenes.
	“You’ve been losing your own fight for your humanity, Logan. What do we do when you go completely feral? Hunt you down? Kill you?”
	Wolverine gives Scott a defiant glare. “If you think you can,” he coldly says.
	Bishop breaks the tension by saying that he agrees with Jean. He tells the team that in his time, there are several fractions of Brood, some of them benign. He believes Hannah might be the cause of those factions. Hank also offers his opinion, supporting Jean’s argument. He believes that if they discover how Hannah resists infection, then they could maybe use that knowledge to help others. Sam says that he think Hannah’s survival is a miracle.
	“I don’t believe in miracles, Guthrie,” Wolverine rebukes.
	“Why not? We seen lots of ‘em. Heck, some might say what we all can do is miraculous. Ah think it is,” Sam responds, his gaze directed coyly at the ground.
	“There may be something to what you say, Samuel. I look upon nature and I see something miraculous,” Storm says. “Something divine is all around us, is it not?”
	Wolverine takes this opportunity to turn the team’s attention elsewhere. “Something else is all around us, folks – and it smells of Brood!” he yells, unsheathing his bone claws.
	The team turns and is surprised to see a group of six humans, standing in the shadows of a nearby canyon wall. They announce that they have come for their Queen, and will kill all who stand in their way. Storm attempts to be diplomatic about things and states that the X-Men are friends of Hannah and William Connover, and that they also wish to defend her. Hank notes the reason in what Storm says, but whispers to Bobby, “though this is my first encounter with the Brood, I daresay it’s unlikely they’re inclined to reason.” His assumption is validated as the onlookers transform into their Brood forms and prepare to attack the X-Men.
Hannah, however, has had enough of this fighting and commands her followers to stop. “Look at them, X-Men. They are my responsibility – my sin! They were good, God-fearing people before I made them into this! I appreciate what you’re trying to do for me, but you must realize that, even if you can destroy these assassin Brood, the Empress will just keep sending more, until I am dead or have surrendered the tatters of my humanity!
“How many must die to save me from the consequence of my own sin?! There is only one thing you can do, for me and possibly the entire world,” Hannah says. A solemn expression forms on her face.
“You must kill me. In the name of God and humanity, please do it now.”


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Day of Wrath part Two
At the Glory Day Ministry in Sedona, Arizona, two police officers inform Reverend William Connover that an altercation occurred in town involving his wife Hannah, the Brood, and the X-Men. They tell William that a group of large “beasties” attacked Hannah, and Hannah’s two companions transformed into beasties as well, but died defending her. The officers claim they themselves were saved by the sudden appearance of Cyclops and the X-Men, who escaped with Hannah. One of the officers asks William if he can tell them why they did that.
“No, I can’t,” William responds. “But I’m sure she’s in no danger from the X-Men, officer. I’ve met them before.” William then tells the officers about the time, a year or so earlier, when the X-Men saved his entire congregation from an attack by the Brood. “That’s what they stand for – protecting everyone’s lives. I can’t and won’t believe evil of them.”
“If you say so,” an officer responds “Have you noticed anything different about your wife lately?”
This question hits very close to home for William, who has felt nothing but pain and distance from his wife for some time now. “She’s…been a little distant,” William says. “She’s having nightmares but she won’t tell me what they are…”
William politely finishes his conversation with the policemen. He wanders over to one of the church tents, lost in his own thoughts. “Dear god, what is happening to you, Hannah?” he wonders. He continues over to a large, hanging cross in the tent, and kneels before it. “Lord, I don’t know if I’m being punished or tested or what. I ask only that you give me the strength and wisdom to see it through and accept whatever your will may be,” prays William.
“One other thing, if you don’t mind,” he adds. “Bring Hannah back to me, safe and sound.”
A few miles away, reasserts to the X-Men her belief that her death is the only solution to the Brood problem. She recounts the reasons why she must die. Suppressing the Brood within her is a constant struggle, and her death will serve as a sort of atonement for what she was done to her husband’s followers. She also warns that the Brood Empress will keep sending Firstborn assassins to kill Hannah until the job is complete. “I can’t hide. They can detect every move I make. How many of you will die trying to protect me? I can’t accept that,” Hannah says. “There is only one other choice – I have to die.”
“Sounds right to me,” Wolverine says while unsheathing his claws next to Hannah’s face. She doesn’t seem to be alarmed.
“No, Wolverine! The X-Men are about preserving life,” Cyclops says, restraining Wolverine.
Jean speaks up, agreeing with her husband. “Cyclops is right. She’s the only human we’ve met so far who has managed to resist the Brood influence. She’s holding on to her humanity.”
“For how long? By her own admission, it’s a losing battle,” Wolverine asks.
“Some of us have fought that ‘losing battle’…and won it, Logan,” Jean says.
Beast interjects into the argument, adding that they could learn from Hannah and eventually help others resist the Brood. Iceman points out that the team’s first encounter with the Firstborn was nearly fatal, and a second encounter would play out much the same way. This fuels Hannah’s argument that she needs to be killed. “I don’t want others dying for me!” she pleads.
Cannonball reaches out to Hannah and gently puts his hand on her shoulder. “Miz Connover, ah know you’re a godly woman,” he says to her. “What you’re suggesting is tantamount t’suicide and y’know what the good book says ‘bout that!”
Hannah remains unconvinced. “I also know what it says about laying down one’s life so others may live.”
One of Hannah’s Brood followers misinterprets Cannonball’s gentle gesture towards Hannah, and throws itself between the two. “Back off! Do not touch our Queen, human!” it says with disdain.
“Ah’m not lookin’ for a fight here…” Cannonball says while cautiously backing away.
“Maybe we are,” the creature retorts.
Hannah senses that this altercation may provide her with the diversion she needs to escape. She telepathically instructs her defenders to engage the X-Men in combat so she can escape. Jean also picks up the signal and tells Scott what is about to happen. As the Brood pounce on the X-Men, Hannah runs away, pleading for the X-Men to leave her alone as she escapes.
Before Cannonball can blast off, one of the Brood snares his neck with a tentacle and begins strangling him. Wolverine goes into a frenzy and tries to save Cannonball. His bloodlust does not go unnoticed by Jean, who telepathically restrains Wolverine instead of going after Hannah. “Logan, listen to me! Remember who you are!”
“Don’t hold me back, Jeanie! Brood is Brood, and they’re gonnakill Guthrie!”
“No! I can feel Hannah’s thoughts,” Jean reassures him. “Her Brood are under direct orders not to kill us, but merely to delay us until Hannah can get away. She’s sensed the firstborn nearby! The attack in town earlier was just a ruse to get Hannah and her Brood together so they could be killed at one time. She ran off to save us!”
After Jean says this, the Brood flee, indicating that they received another signal from Hannah. Wolverine takes off, following Hannah’s scent. Jean hurries after him. “I’m not sure whether or not he intends to kill Hannah when he finds her,” she says. “Neither is he.”
The rest of the X-Men split into pairs so they can find Hannah before nightfall. Storm instructs Beast to go with Iceman, Bishop to go with Cyclops, and tells Cannonball to come with her. “We will find Hannah Connover and her Brood, and then deal with the Firstborn,” Storm says.
“Or die trying,” Cyclops adds.
With that, Bishop comments that he will get his bigger gun. As Storm and Cannonball take to the skies, Cyclops asks Bishop whether or not he truly thinks the Brood are capable of changing. “Did you still have problems with the Brood in the future?” Cyclops asks.
“The past is a better guide to the present than the future, Cyclops,” Bishop responds. He does add, however, that there are legends about the Brood in the future, and says that Hannah may be the origin of those legends.
Meanwhile, Jean and Wolverine argue as they follow Hannah’s trail. Wolverine continues to assert that they should just let the Brood kill each other out in the Arizona desert, and then deal with the victors of the battle afterwards. Jean responds that the X-Men have a duty to help save Hannah’s humanity.
Iceman and Beast, who are also pursuing Hannah, have a similar conversation between themselves. After commenting that Wolverine’s feral, unbathed scent is much stronger than Hannah’s, Beast continues to discuss how much they could learn from Hannah. Iceman questions the logistics of saving Hannah from the Firstborn, and asks how much they will have to sacrifice in order to save her.
Storm and Cannonball also argue over whether Hannah is worth saving. Storm, however, reaches a point where she has had enough debate over the issue. “The X-Men have sworn to protect human life and she is, at least in part, still human. I am more disturbed by this debate between us. Do we start establishing parameters? That this life is worth saving but that one is not? In doing that, I fear we will lose what we are,” Storm says. “That ideal – the very essence of the X-Men – is worth fighting for, as much as the life of Hannah Connover.”
The sun begins to set behind the canyon walls as Hannah breathlessly runs away from her pursuers. She trips over a rock and crashes to the ground.
“Dear lord, what have I done that you forsake me this way?” Hannah asks as she lies on the ground. Suddenly, a figure appears before her.
“Best get up, miz Connover,” the figure says. It is a man from William’s church, and he is with a small group of followers. “Ya can’t lie there.” The man reaches down and helps Hannah off the ground. He offers to help her back to the tent. Hannah refuses, telling them that her death will bring them peace. The followers are stubborn, though, and remind Hannah that they owe their lives to her miracle hands.
“It would’ve been better for you all if you had died,” Hannah tells them. “Better to die clean that what I’ve made you.”
Suddenly, the three remaining Firstborn assassins appear and attack Hannah and her crew. Hannah’s friends change into their Brood forms, and defy the Firstborn, despite Hannah’s protests. They switch into their primal, instinctive modes, and attack the Firstborn without reservation. A part of them remembers what Hannah gave them, and they willingly lay down their lives in order to grant her an extension of hers. Hannah uses the opportunity to run, but she feels the deaths of each of her followers as she flees.  “Randy, Edwina, Thomas, Maryanne, Felipe – all of you, all gone, all my fault, all my sin!” Hannah thinks to herself as she escapes. The Firstborn make quick work of Hannah’s Brood, and descend on her as she says her last prayer. She prays that her life ends at this moment, and her husband receives protection from the Firstborn. “Oh, William…I wish I could see you one more time…to tell you how much I love you,” Hannah thinks to herself as the Firstborn surround her.
The Firstborn tell Hannah to prepare herself for death. Hannah remains defiant. “I trust in the Lord and it is His will that will be done today – not yours or your Empress’s! I reject her, I deny her, and I will never give in to her!” she shouts. “So you best kill me now!”
As if an answer to her prayer, Wolverine springs forth just in time and begins slashing at the Firstborn. Jean gives him permission to take their lives, so Wolverine gives into his feral nature and fights the Firstborn with reckless abandon. He takes pleasure in the freedom of such a battle, while simultaneously feeling revolted at his own ferocity. However, his claws, lacking adamantium, fail to penetrate the armor of the assassins.
	Jean, meanwhile defends herself and Hannah telekinetically. Their defense is aided by the battered remains of Hannah’s Brood. Jean telepathically contacts the rest of the team, who gather as quick as they possibly can. Cannonball arrives first, blasting through the Firstborn. Iceman and Beast arrive next, followed by Storm. Storm approaches Wolverine upon her arrival, but one of the Firstborn catch her unawares and opens its mouth as if to kill her. Just then, Bishop and Cyclops arrive, and Bishop shoots the Firstborn before it can take Storm.
	The team once again realizes that their attacks are useless against the Firstborn. Bishop, no longer wanting to use his gun, tells Cyclops to initiate Plan B. “And what’s that?” Cyclops asks.
	“Hit me with your most intense beam, Cyclops! NOW!” Bishop commands. Cyclops obeys, blasting Bishop with a full-powered optic blast. Bishop absorbs the charge, and charges towards one of the Firstborn. The creature turns to face him at the last second, mouth agape. Bishop throws a punch into its mouth. The release of kinetic energy is so intense that it blows the Firstborn’s jaw apart. However, it still lives.
	“It’s still alive?!” Bishop remarks, also noting that he has no energy left. Wolverine springs to his aid, diverting the assassin while Storm hits it with a thunderbolt. Cannonball also charges in, but is slapped aside by another one of the Firstborn.
	Even though this battle takes place miles from the Glory Day Ministry, William Connover and his followers see the exchange of energy taking place in the desert. One of the church-goers comments that it looks like the end of the world. “More like a sign from God,” William thinks to himself as he readies his jeep. He heads out to the battle suspecting Hannah must be there as well.
	Meanwhile, back at the battle, another of Hannah’s Broodlings emerges and attacks on of the Firstborn. It is quickly defeated, and falls to the ground, dying. Iceman approaches him in his dying moments, and tries to lower the dying man’s body temperature in order to preserve his life. However, the man quickly passes away.
	“We have to spirit Hannah away somewhere,” Jean says. “It should cause the Firstborn to withdraw…give us time to figure out what to do.” With that, she pushes the Firstborn away with a telekinetic burst, and then lifts Hannah out of the battle. Cannonball catches his subtle cue, grabs Hannah, and blasts off. The Firstborn watch for a moment, perplexed, but then disappear in the blink of an eye. The X-Men take this brief respite to gather themselves. While Wolverine’s body heals, Iceman berates himself for letting the man die.
	“I couldn’t save him, Hank. He just died right there, practically in my hands,” Iceman says. Beast assures him that he gave it his best shot.
Jean observes this conversation and comes up with an idea. “Hank, what would happen if we froze Hannah – deliberately placed her in cryogenic stasis?” she asks. Beast ponders then, noting that while it might kill Hannah, it would definitely shut down all of her brain activity, making her undetectable to the collective consciousness of the Brood. While the team discusses the logistics of this plan, Wolverine grows infuriated.
“It doesn’t work that way! You’re kidding yourself if you think otherwise,” he shouts. “Hannah Connover as you might have known her is dead. The best thing you can do for her is bury the body!” Beast and Storm remain optimistic despite Wolverine’s outburst, noting that a success with Hannah could be immensely valuable in future conflict with the Brood.
“We’ve never taken the easy path before,” Cyclops interjects, echoing Reverend William’s speech from earlier. “We have always been governed by what’s right.” Wolverine finally concedes to spare Hannah’s life, but adds the condition that he gets to kill the Firstborn ‘super-sleazoids’ without objections from the X-Men. They agree and set out to find Hannah.
William Connover continues on his journey to the site of the battle, but is ambushed by the Firstborn. They capture him, noting that he can be used to lure Hannah into surrender.
Meanwhile, Hannah and Cannonball watch the sun go down from a cliff side. Hannah senses her husband’s capture and is stricken by grief. Cannonball opens his mind to Jean, who begins tracking them down. However, because he ignores Hannah, Cannonball doesn’t notice her grief, or her sudden transformation into her Brood form. She knocks him unconscious, then deliberates infecting. Her scream fills that valley as she cries for her captive husband.
Jean loses her mental contact with Cannonball, and senses Hannah’s transformation into Brood. The team quickly realizes what has happened, and Wolverine comments that since Hannah is now Brood, he may get his way after all. The team heads out, noting that they may be attacked along the way.
William wakes up in a dark cave, surrounded by the remaining Firstborn. “What manner of creatures are you?” he asks. They reply that they are the Firstborn of the Brood Empress, and that they seek the death of William’s mate, Hannah. When William says he doesn’t understand, they assure him that he doesn’t need to understand.
“You are only the bait to draw her in,” they tell him.
Just then, Hannah appears in the entryway of the cave, in her fully armored Brood form. “I am here!” she announces. “Let my husband go free and I will surrender myself to you.” William witnessing the full extent of his wife’s infection for the first time, is horrified, and can barely utter her name. A tear forms in Hannah’s inhuman eyeball.
“Do you see what I’ve become, William? What a Devil I am? Do you understand now why I couldn’t tell you?” she asks.
“I don’t understand how this happened to you, Hannah – but didn’t you know I would stand by you, no matter what?” William responds. “We took vows to love and cherish each other, in sickness and in health! Do you think I made them lightly? Do you have no faith in me?”
The Firstborn interrupt this exchange and attempt to kill William. Hannah jumps between them and sinks her teeth into one of the Firstborn’s necks. It violently throws her off, and she lands in a heap. William runs over and embraces his wife. “Too late for me. Far too late. Oh, William, how deep was my sin that God punishes me so?” Hannah asks. For the first time, she explains to her husband how she came to be in this state. “I thought the woman was going to give me something for my arthritis. Instead, she made me one of them! And, God forgive me, I infected others!”
William responds to something deeper in her figure-of-speech. “God does forgive you, Hannah! You know you’re forgiven if you ask to be! Now you must forgive yourself.” Hannah, however, believes herself to be beyond redemption. William refuses to accept this. “You are not to blame for what has happened. The sin of Judas was not the betrayal, but the despair, the suicide! He set his justice above God’s,” he says. “Don’t you do that, Hannah!”
Hannah remarks that she has brought them both to their dooms. William assures her that he would never want to live without his wife, and then reminds her that they are never beyond the protection of God, who could send a legion of angels to save them. Once again, as if an answer to their prayers, the X-Men arrive and save the Connovers from the Firstborn.
Bishop and Cyclops provide cover fire while Jean dashes towards the Connovers. She psionically informs William of the X-Men’s plan to put Hannah in a cryogenic stasis. However, the plan she cannot let Hannah know of their plan, as the Brood share all of her knowledge.
One of the Firstborn interrupts Jean and William’s conversation and threatens to kill them. Beast springs forward and grabs the assassin by the neck, tilting its head upward. Iceman then impales the creature on a large ice dagger. “Finally nailed one,” he comments. He then readies himself to freeze Hannah’s body. William agrees to the plan and gives his consent for it to proceed. She establishes a mind-link between Iceman and Beast, so Beast can relay the medical instructions to Iceman. The remaining members of the team protect the operation, while Jean numbs Hannah’s senses in preparation. William consoles his wife as her consciousness fades.
“This is the end, isn’t it?” Hannah asks, believing that she is about to die.
“I’m here with you, honey,” William says. “Don’t be afraid. Be strong, Hannah. I will always, always love you.”
	Hannah’s consciousness slips away while she recites some verses from the Bible. Iceman informs William that Hannah has fully entered cryogenic stasis. William begins a prayer.
“ ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…’ ”
	The Firstborn sense the passing of Hannah.
“ ‘Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies…’ ”
They announce their mission is nearly complete.
“ ‘Thou annointest my head with oil…’ ”
An uneasy expression remains on Hannah’s face, visible beneath a thick layer of ice.
“ ‘…my cup runneth over.”
“Glory to the Empress!” the Firstborn shout, while ripping each other to shreds.
“They’ve killed each other!” Cyclops points out.
“ ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
William cries over the frozen body of his wife. The X-Men, exhausted from battle, observe this scene silently.
Later, the X-Men load the frozen body of Hannah into the Blackbird while Cyclops and Jean assure William that they will take care of her. They promise they will find a way to cure Hannah.
“I trust you all,” William assures her. As the Blackbird departs, William challenges himself to accept God’s will, whatever it may be. “God speed, X-Men.”
Back at the mansion, the X-Men discuss the mission with Xavier. Hannah’s body has been transferred to a stasis chamber. Xavier congratulates the X-Men for accomplishing a very difficult mission. Hank proposes sending Hannah to Moira MacTaggart on Muir Island. Xavier supports the idea, commenting that Hannah is the literal embodiment of hope for understanding the Brood better. “In that, she represents part of my dream – part of the very reason I formed you, my X-Men.”
Back in Arizona, the morning service begins at the Glory Day Ministry. Reverend William Connover reminds his congregation that when people ask God for help, he answers their calls. “Faith may be tested, but it is always rewarded. I know this because my faith was tested recently – and I received a sign,” William says. “We are, all of us, God’s children – and I don’t care if you’re black or white, male or female, young or old, mutant or human, you are a child of God!
“Since we are all God’s children, it is necessary, as the apostle John told us, that we love one another! In that love, however tested, is our hope for today and for tomorrow! However tempted, we must not lose faith – we must not deny love – we must not lose hope.”
As William concludes his sermon, beautiful, bright lights flood the stage and illuminate the crucifix above William. The faint outline of a crucified man appears on the cross.
“Let us pray…”


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[Assistant]
To Russia with love
(The Tomsk region of Siberia)
In a forgotten community, struggling to get by since the communist era state subsidies were stopped, two locals watch a limousine approaching. A tall man wearing a black robe steps out and, before he can ask where the healer lives, the locals point him in the right direction. They wonder about the man’s mask. Maybe he has burns, or some disgusting skin disease?
The man is met by the healer’s stepmother at the door and, after inviting him inside, she asks her husband to serve the man some vodka. He replies that he needs no refreshment; he just wishes to see Yuri. He enters Yuri’s bedroom, where Yuri’s listening to music. He removes his earphones to ask the stranger if he wishes to be healed. The man removes his glove, and replies no. He is there to heal Yuri.
Outside the door, Yuri’s stepmother ushers her husband towards the room to ask the man about the fee but, as they get to the slightly open door, a flash of energy from inside brings them to a halt. As the stranger departs, the couple is left with the horrific sight of Yuri, burned beyond recognition.
(St. Petersburg, Russia)
At the offices of the Petersburg Gazeta, reporter Larisa Mishchenko is speaking with her editor about a story she’s working on. Her editor feels it’s too risky, but Larissa is persuasive. Despite having the FSB watching her, she wants to meet a woman that evening who has evidence that her son was beaten to death by his own commanding officer in a drunken rage. Larisa feels her editor is always ranting and raving about corruption in the Russian army. Well, here’s the proof.
She wonders if her editor has the guts to publish the piece. He stands and motions to the photographs of three men on his wall. They are three former editors who had the guts to publish. Now, they’re all dead. Larisa folds her arms and replies that he’d look good up there. He finally gives in and tells her that, if she gets the story, he’ll publish it. “Just be careful.”
(later, at Larisa’s apartment)
Larisa is looking out the window at an agent of the FSB. Her friend, Tanya, is with her and dressed just like Larissa. She puts a black wig on to make her transformation complete. Tanya is going to get the guy off Larisa’s trail by catching the metro to Nevisky Prospekt. There’s a movie she wants to see at the Aurora. With her costume in place, she wishes Larisa good luck with the story and heads off, pursued at a distance by the FSB agent.
As they stroll along the sidewalk, the limousine pulls up and the tall, robed stranger emerges between Tanya and the agent. The agent doesn’t even manage to remove his weapon from its holster before he is fried. The stranger then catches up with Tanya. “Larisa Mishchenko,” he says, causing Tanya to turn around. She takes one look at his mask before he fries her, just the same as he did Yuri and the agent.
(meanwhile, in Westchester)
Piotr Rasputin is dreaming. He is lost and looking for a way out of a dark forest. Every time he sleeps, he has the same dream. He transforms into Colossus and sees himself pummeling the walls of the room he was locked inside for all those months. In reality, he pounds on the exterior wall of the Xavier Institute, before crashing through it and into the gardens.
Kitty Pryde is first on the scene, followed quickly by Cyclops, Emma Frost and Wolverine. She asks what happened. Colossus reverts to his human form and tells her he thought he was back there. She hugs him and tells him it’s all right. He was only dreaming. Some dream, remarks Logan, looking at the hole in the wall.
Scott asks Emma if she has any ideas. Emma isn’t sure. Something strange, she thinks. For a moment, she had the impression of something or someone trapped. Scott feels it’s not surprising, considering all the time Piotr was kept prisoner. Emma doesn’t think that’s it. It’s something else. Piotr can feel Emma prying into his thoughts and Kitty orders her out of his head. “Just trying to help,” insists Emma. “Don’t,” warns Kitty.
(later)
Piotr is in his room, working on a painting. His frustrations and anger are directed toward the piece. Kitty knocks at his door but he doesn’t respond. She warns him that she’s coming through, and then slowly phases herself into his room. By the time she’s inside, he is in his armored form and has covered the painting with a large sheet. Kitty apologizes, and Piotr tells her he just wanted to be alone. Kitty asks if that’s the reason for the armor. Does he want her to leave? He turns to her and holds his hand out, asking her not to go. He then changes back into his flesh form and asks if that’s better. Kitty says she much prefers flesh and blood to metal.
Piotr tries to explain that something happened to him while he was locked away. He points at his head and says it feels like there’s something inside trying to break out. It sounds crazy, but it feels like this is not his body. Kitty asks if that’s why he’s painting himself. She saw it briefly in the mirror. She asks to see it, but Piotr isn’t ready to reveal it just yet.
Emma knocks at the door and is let in by Piotr. She hopes she’s not disturbing anything. She wanders over to the painting and is about to remove the cover when Piotr grabs her arm. “Not a nude?” Emma enquires. Piotr says no, and Emma glances at Kitty and says he’s right - some people are more interesting with their clothes on. She informs Piotr that they’ve received an urgent communication for him from someone called Larisa Mishchenko in St. Petersburg. It sounds serious. Piotr knows Larisa. It’s his cousin.
(sometime later)
Piotr arrives at St. Petersburg airport alone, and is met by a guy with a Mohawk named Kirill. He explains that Larisa sent him. As he drives Piotr through the city streets, he tells Piotr he saw him fighting a monster in New York on TV. “Cool moves.”
They soon reach their destination, which is a large building surrounded by trees. “Larisa lives here?” asks Piotr, surprised. Kirill explains that she’s just living there while she’s hiding from the police. She didn’t tell you? he asks. He takes Piotr inside and they are greeted by Larisa, who hugs him. Piotr hasn’t seen her since she was thirteen and wanted to write the great modern novel. She reminds him he wanted to be a painter. Piotr says he got distracted, and Larisa smiles, adding that her novel is sitting in a suitcase under her bed.
Kirill adds that Larisa is writing, and more important things than a novel. Piotr asks if this is what got her into trouble; her journalism. Larisa turns away and replies that it’s worse than that. Her good friend Tanya was killed last week, and was pretending to be her when it happened. At first she thought it was the secret service, but the FSB agent who was following her was also killed. She clicks on a laptop computer and shows Piotr some photographs that she received from a police contact.
Images appear on the screen of badly burned bodies. They look more like paranormal deaths than unusual ones. They reminded Larisa of the reports of the healer’s death near Tomsk. She asked her contact in the police force to look for similar deaths, and he came up with more than two dozen over the past three months. She explains that some were put down to electrical storms, faulty electrical appliances and even spontaneous combustion.
Piotr asks if there is anything to link the victims. Larisa informs him that they don’t have a large family. Most of their relatives have died over the years; Illyana, Piotr’s parents and her own. Then there was Uncle Vladimir. “Mad Uncle Vlad,” replies Piotr. Larissa says he had three children. She brings up three more bodies on the computer. They are Konstantin, Klara and Dimitriy; all burnt in similar ways to the healer.
Piotr clearly picks up that their family is being targeted, and he asks why he hasn’t already heard this. Larisa replies that she thought he was dead. Piotr asks if there is any link with the other victims, and Larisa tells him that the report on the healer, Yuri, mentioned rumors about his ancestry. She then found out that if one goes far enough back, all the victims are linked to one person. When her parents died, she was left a trunk containing the possessions of their great-grandmother Elena. Letters, photographs, some jewelry.
She pulls out a black and white photo, featuring two sour-faced individuals. Elena is on the right with long white/grey hair, and next to her is her tall twin brother, Ivan. Larissa explains that Elena was born in Siberia, but went to St. Petersburg with Ivan. She returned without Ivan, but carrying an illegitimate child; their grandfather. She shows Piotr a photo of Elena holding a small child in her arms. Elena gave the child his father’s name.
Piotr isn’t too keen on where this is going. Larisa holds up copies of documents, which turned up in an auction at Sotheby’s after going missing for over seventy years. In them, it explains that in 1917, after the February revolution, the provisional government formed an extraordinary commission to investigate the affairs of the deposed Tsarist regime. Section thirteen of that commission concentrated on one man who was considered to be an enemy of the state. She holds out the photograph and Piotr is shocked at who is shown on it.
Larisa concludes by informing him that the man had many lovers, and they included their great-grandmother, Elena. All of these victims were descended from the same man, their great-grandfather; the holy devil, the dark one, the doom of old Russia - Grigory Efimovich Rasputin.
(the Xavier Institute)
Kitty Pryde sneaks back into Piotr’s room and uncovers the painting. She is horrified to see a self-portrait of Piotr, only showing him as a disfigured hunchback, with long claws and covered in blood.


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Untitled
(Lake Baikhal region of Siberia )
A rabbit hops around the snow-covered forest, pursued at a distance by a deranged-looking man with a shaggy beard and tattered clothing. As the rabbit steps over a trap, the man pulls on a rope and snares his victim. He sings Boney M’s Rasputin as he takes a look at his catch. It’s a little on the scrawny side, but it will do. He looks around and sees that there is no one there yet; but there soon will be. He sets off home singing the song, barefoot and seemingly oblivious to the cold.
(St. Petersburg)
Piotr Rasputin is shocked at Larisa’s revelation that their great-grandfather is the infamous Grigory Rasputin. He asks if she’s certain of the facts. Rasputin is hardly an uncommon name in Russia. Larisa is certain and asks whether, even without the documentary evidence, if he can feel it. Piotr remains staring at the photograph of Grigory with Elena and wonders what this all means. Why have his descendents become targets?
Larisa asks Piotr how much he really knows about Rasputin. Piotr says he knows that he was a mystic and a holy man who supposedly had supernatural powers. He wonders if he may have actually been a mutant. Larisa admits that he did have an extraordinary effect on people.
(flashback)
Rasputin was known in his home village as Grishka the Fool; a lazy, drunken womanizer. He began wandering the monasteries and forests of Siberia and often experienced visions. On one occasion, he claimed the mother of God appeared to him. She told him that she was weeping for his sins, and asked him to go and cleanse the people of theirs.
He arrived in St. Petersburg in 1903; a filthy, semi-literate peasant with the face of a madman. Yet, within a few years, he had become one of the most influential men in Russia. It was rumored that he had hypnotic control over the imperial family, and even that he had seduced the empress herself. What is known for sure is that the Tsar’s son, Alexei, was a hemophiliac. In 1912, following a fall, Alexei began bleeding. The doctors could do nothing for him, yet Rasputin slowed the flow of his blood with a wave of his hands.
Larisa explains that the investigation reports that, in 1915, Rasputin met with someone referred to only as ‘the pale man.’ After that, he took a number of lovers, including their great-grandmother, Elena. According to witnesses, these women took part in sacred rituals. Rasputin was linked to the Khlyst Sect, who used dancing and self-flagellation to purify themselves. Once in this holy state, there was no sin. Any children conceived during the rituals would be new ‘christs’ or ‘mothers of God.’ Whatever went on in the cellar, what is known is that it left the young women carrying Rasputin’s children. The pale man was witness to all these proceedings.
(present)
Only Larisa, Piotr and their uncle, Vladimir, remain after all the other descendents were murdered. Piotr asks if she knows where Vlad is. The last Larisa heard, he was living as a hermit in the forest near Baikal. Piotr wishes to go visit him, and Larisa says she’s already booked tickets on the Trans-Siberian Express. They leave tonight. With luck, they’ll reach him before whoever is killing their family does.
Soon, Kirill sees them off but, before Larisa can get into the car, she is grabbed by a couple of strange men. Piotr immediately transforms into the powerful Colossus and charges at them, grabbing one by his throat and knocking the other with force against a lamppost. As he prepares to strike, Larisa desperately calls him off, and informs him that they’re just policemen.
Piotr releases the man. He thought they were something more sinister. Larisa realizes Piotr has crushed the man’s ribs, but he’s alive. Larisa calls an ambulance, as Piotr looks at his hands and wonders what’s happening to him. They leave the men for the ambulance to collect and depart, as the robed stranger and his companion watch from above. There is no need for them to make their move right away. They know where they’re going.
(the next day)
As Larisa and Piotr board the train, she advises Kirill to lay low for a bit. As the train streak through Russia’s vast open spaces, Piotr admits he had forgotten just how big their country is. Larisa asks where he was, for all the time people thought he was dead. Piotr clenches his fist, as he explains that they buried him in a room without windows, a few hundred feet underground. He then apologizes for his reaction to the police officers last night. It wasn’t him. It’s not who he is. Larisa knows it’s not his fault. It’s in all of them; Rasputin’s bloodline.
Larisa has seen the background reports on Rasputin’s descendents, and they all follow the same pattern of uncontrolled violence, paranoia, manic depression, self-hatred and suicide. Piotr recalls time he thought he was losing his sanity. He fought against friends like Bishop, and other times he’s killed in anger, as was the case with Riptide. He asks Larisa if she thinks he might be insane. Larisa tells him it’s the legacy of Rasputin. Somehow, his madness has lived on in them. It affected Piotr’s brother and sister too.
Piotr recalls how Illyana appeared to be possessed when she became Darkchylde. Larisa understands his brother, Mikhail, was plagued by insanity as well. Until the end, his life was a constant battle for power. Piotr informs her that it was the influence of an alien parasite that caused his madness, but admits he can’t be sure that was entirely the case.
Larisa then admits the sickness has affected her too. She shows him scars on her wrists from numerous failed suicide attempts. This revelation upsets Piotr. She says she tries so hard to find reasons to live, but it never stops. The poisonous whisper in her head telling her there is no point to it all. All the good things in life seem to get swallowed up, only to end in the grave. She can feel it out there; the darkness rushing towards them.
Elsewhere, a long black limousine screeches to a halt, as the robed stranger’s companion holds his head in pain. The voice in there feels like a spider, skittering around behind his eyes. He and the stranger exit the car, and he explains to his companion that the voices will soon be silent once Peter Rasputin is dead.
(Lake Baikhal region of Siberia)
After exiting the train, Piotr and Larisa take a vehicle more suitable to the snow-covered forest and drive to Vladimir’s home. What surprises them as he opens the door is that he’s been expecting them, and has made soup. He invites them inside. His walls are covered with posters - of Grigory Rasputin, religious images and posters of bands like ABBA and the Beatles. He slips on an ABBA tape as he explains that he knew they were coming as Grigory Rasputin has been calling them there.
(meanwhile)
The robed stranger’s limousine is unable to travel through the snow, and their red-skulled chauffeur pulls up. However, they don’t need a car, as they’re now close enough for a little teleportation.
Back at the shack, Larisa asks her uncle if he knows who’s been killing their family. “Oh yes,” he replies, “It was them!” He points behind them as the robed stranger and his companion, shadowed in darkness, appear from nowhere. Piotr steps forward and asks who they are. The robed stranger, or the pale man as Larisa correctly identifies him as being, removes his mask to reveal his true identity; Sinister.


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Untitled
(Lake Baikhal region of Siberia)
In Uncle Vlad’s shack, Mister Sinister has revealed his true identity, causing Piotr Rasputin to transform into his armored steel form. He expects Sinister to casually slaughter innocent helpless human beings, but of Sinister’s companion, he expected more.
From the shadows emerges Piotr’s older brother, Mikhail. Piotr asks how he could do this to his own family. Mikhail replies coldly that slaughtering innocents is his speciality; hasn’t Piotr learned that by now? Piotr doesn’t respond, but Larisa gasps at seeing her cousin act so callously. Sinister says that he believes the hard-bitten journalist is shocked. “Shameful isn’t it,” he adds, as Vladimir takes out a knife, “These days you can’t trust anyone…”
With that, Vladimir grabs Larissa, twisting her arm behind her back and holding the knife to her throat. She cries for Piotr’s help, but he cannot react in case Vlad does the unspeakable. Sinister warns Vlad that, if he kills her, Colossus will go into a rage and start hitting people. He wishes to stop this nonsense and have a civilized chat first. Piotr asks him to say what he has to say. P>
Sinister tells him that there isn’t any need for hostility. The four of them want the same thing. Piotr doubts that. Vladimir says he should listen to the voice in his head; he does. He then informs Larisa that she isn’t Larisa, and he isn’t her
Uncle Vlad. Sinister wishes to enlighten them, and to explain the full portent of what they are doing there.
(flashback)
The story begins in England in the year 1859. He was a respected scientist known as Nathaniel Essex. The great minds of the age, such as Charles Darwin, were set alight by the possibilities science presented. Darwin was distrustful of Essex and told him as much. He feared Essex’s intellectual curiosity was leading him to moral destruction. Essex replied that this is the reason why Darwin would never achieve true greatness. He would always be constrained by the shackles of tradition and the curse of Christian morality.
Essex continued to carry out his own experiments, attempting, through careful breeding, to induce huge leaps in evolutionary development. He told the mutated forms in his cages that some day their offspring would rule the world. However, his experiments cost him dearly, and he was shunned by the scientific community. Essex wished to prove Darwin wrong. Evolution didn’t have to take place in small amounts over thousands of years. A flask he held contained the secrets of hereditary mutation; The Essex Factor!
After the death of his young son and the rejection that followed from his wife, he met Apocalypse; a being that would take away the last vestiges of his humanity. He recognized in Essex a kindred spirit, and using ancient wisdom and long-forgotten technologies, he tore apart Essex’s genetic structure and remade him, cell by cell. By the time he was finished, Essex was dead and Sinister was born.
Apocalypse wished for the planet to become their laboratory upon which they would conduct the ultimate experiment. From the ashes of war would spring a new race, unfettered by the frailties of human love, compassion and tolerance - the race of Homo superior!
Over time, Sinister realized that Apocalypse’s methods were crude, barbaric and unscientific. They would have resulted in a mongrel race, and not the pure bloodline he dreamt of creating. Sinister turned against his creator and continued his experiments right across the globe, all the while searching for those with the Essex Factor. All he found were congenital idiots and cripples.
He heard rumors of a mystic named Grigory Rasputin and headed towards Czarist Russia, where he was directed to the Restaurant Yar. Sinister arrived and found the bearded Rasputin holding court. He showed a young woman a knife wound that had almost healed. “God healed me,” he told her. “He preserves me for greater things, my dear.”
During the long hours of drunken revelry, Sinister observed two young gypsies that were called upon by Rasputin to entertain the Yar’s customers. The young blond man, Ivan, appeared to be able to lift objects, including his own sister Elena, using unknown powers. Sinister knew that this was a manifestation of what he called the Essex Factor. Rasputin, meanwhile, decided to take in both Elena and Ivan to lodge with him.
(Gorokhovaya Street)
Upon leaving the restaurant, Sinister confronted Rasputin and asked him to prove himself to him. Rasputin wasn’t impressed and he asked Sinister who sent him. Ilioror maybe, or Khostov, his paymaster? Sensing trouble, Elena told Rasputin that she and her brother would defend him, but Rasputin felt he didn’t need the help of children. He lunged at Sinister, forcing him backwards to the ground. They landed in the settling snow, and Sinister appeared surprised that Rasputin attacked him without weapons. “Did you think you could kill me with your bare hands?” he exclaimed.
Rasputin wanted to see if he had any blood under his corpse skin. Sinister replied that the Essex Factor was strong in him, but he was no match for someone as powerful as he. Sinister blasted Rasputin with a charge of energy, which tossed Rasputin across the street. Ivan rushed towards Sinister but received the same treatment. Rasputin gasped, “W-what are you?” Sinister grinned and asked him to go upstairs where they could talk about the future.
Continuing his explanation to Colossus and Larisa, Sinister then told them how they talked through the night, of the Essex Factor, and how they could create a race of superhumans. Sinister told Rasputin that, from his loins, a great bloodline would flow. Rasputin appeared pleased with this development; thinking this was the greater calling he sensed within himself. “I will make Mother Russia into a new Eden, and men will walk as giants again…” He held Elena’s face in his hands. “… as angels!”
Sinister informed him that he would have to take as many partners as he could, and only to choose the healthiest of women. Ideally, his partners would also carry the Essex Factor, but women like Elena were rare indeed. Rasputin promised he would care for Elena above all others, but this remark seemed to concern the taciturn Ivan.
Rasputin proceeded to impregnate his ‘celestial brides’ one by one, but it was in Sinister’s laboratory that the new race would truly be conceived. He laid Rasputin on a bed and began to take blood samples from him. Using the knowledge he had gleaned from Apocalypse, he worked day and night to distil the nuclein from the blood of Rasputin, and also from Ivan and Elena. He then transfused this artificially boosted Essex Factor into his unborn children whilst still in the womb. From these base materials, he told Rasputin, he would create something far more precious than gold.
Of course, there were some failures, and several babies didn’t make it much past their birth. One day, Elena approached Rasputin and informed him that she was carrying his child. Rasputin smiled, and told her that of all the women he knew, she was the only one that truly set his heart on fire. “I would die for you,” replied Elena. Rasputin asked Ivan if he would do the same, but Ivan replied simply that he would die for his sister. Rasputin touched his shoulder, and told him that soon he would be the uncle of his child, and that made them as close as brothers.
(later)
Ivan accused Elena of being a whore, and tried to get through to her how Rasputin and Sinister poisoned everything they touched. He wished to take her to Siberia, where she could raise her child away from all this madness. Elena asked him not to make her choose. Sinister overheard the entire conversation from behind a curtain.
While he waited for the pregnant women to near their due date, unknown to Sinister, Rasputin and Elena, Ivan was meeting with Rasputin’s enemies. He told them that Rasputin was privy to the secrets of the royal family, and was revealing everything to German agents. He told them he had seen this with his own eyes. A plan was hatched to get rid of Rasputin.
On the 16th December 1916, Ivan persuaded Rasputin to go secretly to the palace of Prince Felix Yusapov. Rasputin arrogantly believed that the prince’s wife, Irina, was willing to become one of his celestial brides. Ivan let him run with that thought as he watched Rasputin drink poisoned wine. When the cyanide had no effect, he left the room to meet with his co-conspirators, Prince Felix Yusapov, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and Vladimir Purishkevich. The prince handed him a pistol, and Ivan returned to the room where he shot Rasputin in the face, point blank. The others then entered and began battering Rasputin with clubs and fists.
Rasputin would not die, and so he was dragged outside where he was shot again and again. After they finally thought he was finished, they tied him up in a sack and dropped him through a hole in the ice into the Malay Nevka River. The assassins then dispersed, and no one was present when, thirty minutes later, Rasputin emerged from the water. Despite his resurrection, Rasputin was weak, and he barely made it back to Sinister’s abode. Opening the door, he asked Sinister to summon his brides.
What happened next was beyond Sinister’s mortal comprehension. There was more of the mystic than of science in the ritual that took place. The celestial brides gathered around a table where the dying Rasputin lay. They motioned their hands towards him as he asked them not to weep for him. His body would die but he would live on through them. He asked if they could feel it; feel his spirit passing into them? They would preserve the sacred bloodline, and when the world was ready for him, Rasputin would return. Sinister watched the light fade from his eyes as Elena wept upon his passing.
(present)
Mister Sinister finishes his explanation, only for Vladimir to suddenly begin acting even more strangely than usual. He dances around, singing, “I will return… I will return,” as Sinister looks at him with concern. Vlad then picks up a gasoline canister and begins pouring it over himself. Piotr’s eyes widen as he sees his uncle cover himself with the flammable liquid. Larisa’s eyes widen too, “Vladimir! No!”
Vlad takes a cigarette lighter and flicks it open. “I am he, as you are he, as you are me… and we are all… together.” His body is engulfed in bright orange flames as he continues to dance around, cackling manically.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Untitled
(Lake Baikhal region of Siberia, Uncle Vlad’s shack)
Colossus and his cousin, Larisa, are confronted by the nefarious Mister Sinister and Piotr’s older brother, Mikhail. Their uncle Vlad has just set himself on fire, so Piotr grabs a hold of him and rushes outside. He rolls Vlad in the deep snow, which extinguishes the flames, but he is fatally wounded. Piotr pleads with him not to die, but in his death throes, Vlad whispers, “He’s leaving me.” He adds that, for all of his life, Grigory has tormented him. He could never sleep. He used to lie awake all night with those stupid songs going round in his head. He always hated ABBA.
As Vlad takes his last breath, a vision of Grigory Rasputin tears through the souls of the remaining Rasputin’s; Colossus, Larisa, Mikhail and Piotr’s son, Peter, who feels the effects as far away as the Savage Land. Watching from the shack, Sinister sees yet another Rasputin pass away. “And then there were three.”
Piotr returns to the shack and informs everyone that Vlad is dead. Larisa already knows. She felt it; like something slithering around in her head, something cold. How can the inside of her head feel cold? she wonders. Mikhail says he felt it too. Grigory’s stronger now, much stronger.
Piotr asks Sinister what’s happening here. Why did Vlad kill himself? Sinister replies that Vlad’s been waiting all his life for this, though his exit was a little… theatrical perhaps. Larisa tells him to spare them the critique of his performance. They want to know why. Sinister takes her head in his hands and says he does so enjoy her enquiring mind. They have that in common - the scientist and the journalist, both hungry for the truth. “The hell with your science,” replies Larisa. Piotr asks her not to provoke him, and Sinister informs her that her cousin is right. She should be careful. He’s been known to kill on a whim.
Sinister asks Larisa to take a seat, and suggests that Piotr stand across the room from him. He warns Piotr not to make any sudden movements if he cares for his cousin’s health. He explains that it was many years after Rasputin’s death before he realized what he had accomplished. When he said that he would return, he assumed Grigory was talking about his genetic legacy. He assumed he meant a symbolic return through his children of many lovers.
Over the course of the twentieth century, he followed the progress of Rasputin’s offspring with great interest. He knew that the genetic modifications he had made to Rasputin’s Essex Factor would manifest themselves eventually. The descendents of Elena were the most notable successes - the late Illyana, Mikhail, and Piotr, the Colossus.
Sinister explains that others fell prey to insanity, and it was among these apparent madmen that he found the truth. He had wrongly dismissed their uncle Vlad as a feeble-minded simpleton with no mutant abilities. Yet, he still visited him from time to time in the wild country. He finds the company of lunatics relaxing.
(flashback)
On one such visit, as Sinister appeared nearby wearing a long black cloak with a hood covering his pale features, Vlad looked over and said, “Ah, Nathaniel. It’s been a long time since your last visit…” Sinister asked how he knew that name. Vlad replied that he couldn’t forget his old friend Nathaniel Essex. Sinister thought it wasn’t possible, but believed the man he was talking to was essentially Grigory Rasputin. He asked if it was the case, and Vlad opened his arms. “As large as life,” he replied.
Sinister took him by the shoulders, and asked why he didn’t tell him on any of the other occasions he had visited him. Vlad replied that he didn’t tell him because he didn’t know. He explained that, as long as he could remember, he’d heard Grigory’s voice whispering inside his head. He tried shutting it out, as many people thought he’d gone mad, but over the years the whisper grew louder. Gradually, the memories came back. He recalled their plans for a new race of supermen, the Essex Factor and the coming of Apocalypse. When he spoke about it, his own children mocked him, but he knew that they heard the whisper, too. Grigory was in all of them; every living descendent of the sacred brides.
Sinister told him that, when he died, he said he would live on through his offspring. “The bloodline, yes,” replied Vlad. When Grigory died, the essence of his being entered the brides and into the children they carried. As the descendents bred and multiplied, Grigory’s essence became divided and weaker. Now, he wasn’t truly Rasputin, but only a small part of him.
Sinister asked if the others knew this. Did they know what they were? Vlad replied that, the weaker the mind, the stronger the presence of Rasputin. Sinister wondered if he could only speak through an addle-brained imbecile. Vlad was affronted by the remark, and said he may have been touched in the head, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew what must be done if Rasputin was to be born again. The bloodline must be eliminated!
This idea intrigued Sinister. Vlad continued to explain that, each time a member of the bloodline died, the essence of Rasputin left that body and rejoined the others. The bloodline was smaller now, and the time was approaching when Rasputin was influencing them to end their lives. So, Sinister surmised, when only one member of the bloodline remained, Rasputin would be born again. Vlad added that the last survivor must be the strongest. He must be the one with whom the Essex Factor had reached its highest level. All the others must die!
Sinister asked if this meant his own children, too. Vlad explained that he tried it himself. He poisoned their soup. They were sick for days, but they didn’t die. Now, they wouldn’t go near him. But, he added, Sinister could find them - the whole bloodline. He could kill them all. “Including you?” enquired Sinister. The insane Vlad told him that this was the case, and asked how he’d like to do it. He could slit his throat, or strangle him. There was a ravine nearby. Maybe he could throw him onto the rocks? Then, Vlad had an epiphany. He decided that self-immolation was the way to go. That is how a holy man like himself should end his life. Sinister agreed, and told him that fire it would be. First, however, he had to verify that these were not just the fanciful ravings of a madman.
Over the years, Sinister proceeded to slaughter Rasputin’s offspring and, with each death, it brought Rasputin one step closer to resurrection. As the surviving members of the bloodline grew fewer, Sinister had to decide who would be the vessel to receive Grigory’s reborn soul.
On a more recent visit with Vlad, he informed the madman that he must find Mikhail Rasputin if he still lived. Vlad confirmed that he was alive, but he was in a place where Sinister could not reach him. Sinister asked Vlad to call him and bring Mikhail to him.
(present)
Sinister explains to his audience that Mikhail’s last act in this world was to save Piotr and his fellow X-Men from Apocalypse’s horsemen, using his mutant abilities to transport them to a distant dimension. Then, tormented with guilt over the death and suffering he had caused, he wandered the cosmos in self-imposed exile. When Vladimir’s call came to him, awakening the spirit of Rasputin in his mind, he was standing at the entrance to the Dark Zone - a dread place which may be entered, but from which there was no return. He was surprised to hear the voice, which told him that his destiny was yet to be fulfilled.
Colossus confronts his brother, and asks him how he could join Sinister just like that. How could he kill his own family? Mikhail responds with questions of his own. He asks if that isn’t that what he’s always done; kill the people he cared for? He admits that he tried to find excuses for his actions. He blamed it on the years he spent alone, wandering through alien dimensions. Every time he tried to make amends, he made things worse. He’s tired of fighting his fate, so now he’s embracing it. Soon, he will become what he’s destined to be.
“Grigory Rasputin?” replies Piotr, incredulously. He reminds Mikhail that he will become Grigory Rasputin. Mikhail will no longer exist. Mikhail replies that he is an illusion. He was a man called Mikhail, but the dream became a nightmare. Larisa looks up at him, and tells him that she remembers him. She explains that, when she was a little girl, he and Piotr visited her. That was no dream. She tells him that the brothers were so close then. Mikhail was Piotr’s big brother and he cared for him. Doesn’t he remember when Piotr was lost and how they searched all day for him? When it grew dark and they were giving up hope, it was Mikhail who made them keep looking. Her words bring back Mikhail’s memories of the day he pulled Piotr out of a covered hole in the ground.
As she speaks, Sinister places his hands on her shoulders, but she doesn’t appear to notice. She implores him to fight whatever is causing him to act like this. Mikhail’s head drops as he ponders her words. At that moment, Sinister raises one of his hands to her head and energy shoots from his fingers. Larisa falls forwards to the floor, and Colossus rushes to her assistance. As he reaches her, she whispers to him, “The darkness… It’s leaving me…” She asks Piotr not to give up. He should live for her; live for all of them.
As she passes away, Piotr becomes enraged. He stands and grabs Sinister by the throat in his powerful grip, and tells him she was worth a thousand of him. He puts his other hand around Sinister’s throat and forces him to his knees. Mikhail asks him to let the man go, but Piotr replies that he won’t, not while there is breath in his body. Mikhail then utilizes his own powers, and tells Piotr that it is he that they must battle, to the death.
He holds his brother, and chooses the battleground. It is not on Earth. Sinister rubs his head and insists it must take place there, but he’s too late. Mikhail then teleports Piotr away to another dimension, to a cave that he says he’s visited before. He informs his brother that there is no way out of there. All that exists is the cave, and beyond it there is nothing but rock; billions of miles of dense, impenetrable rock.
Mikhail then teleports himself to a rock overlooking the dark cave’s entrance. He tells Piotr that he doesn’t need to fight him. He only has to leave him there. He doesn’t know how long he would survive without food; a week or two maybe, but it doesn’t matter. No one will find him, and sooner or later he will die. And, when Piotr does die, he will be reborn as a true Rasputin. There’ll be no more guilt and no more soul searching. Together with Sinister, he shall prepare for the return of Apocalypse. Together they shall lay waste to the world of men.
Piotr takes the opportunity whilst his brother is ranting away to grab a stone, which he hurls at Mikhail. His strength means the stone hits Mikhail hard, and Piotr runs to grab him as he falls unconscious. He offers another scenario. If Mikhail dies, then he himself will be the last of the bloodline. Rasputin will be born in him. What a triumphant return that will be - trapped there in this god-forsaken corner of the cosmos with no way out. He lifts a large rock above his head, and says to his brother that he doesn’t want to do this, but he will not allow this evil to be let loose on humanity. He’s left him no choice. “I must kill you!”


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Untitled
(another dimension)
As Colossus stands over his brother, holding a boulder with which he intends to kill, he feels Grigory Rasputin’s insidious tugging at his thoughts. He must end this curse but, as he prepares to strike, he recalls how Mikhail once pulled him out of a well he had fallen down. Piotr turns his head and drops the boulder harmlessly to his right. Mikhail looks up at his younger brother and thanks him, before unleashing a burst of energy from his hand that sends Piotr flying backwards.
Mikhail stands and tells Piotr that he was always too soft under that metal skin. This world belongs to those with the will to power. Piotr lies on his back, with smoke rising from his body. “For the love of God,” he whispers. Mikhail is unmoved, and says goodbye to Piotr before teleporting away, leaving Piotr to his fate. Piotr looks up forlornly. “Don’t leave me here.”
(Lake Baikhal region of Siberia)
Mikhail arrives back in Vlad’s shack in the snow-covered Siberian forest. Sinister asks if his brother is dead. Mikhail replies he’s as good as. He left him buried in a cave with no exits. It will be his tomb. He may live a few days or a few weeks, but he will die. Sinister places his hand on Mikhail’s shoulder and says he’s waited nine decades for this moment - he can wait a little longer. He asks if maybe he should be calling Mikhail, Grigory?!
Mikhail doesn’t seem entirely pleased with how things have gone down. Sinister, however, is more interested in setting up a new laboratory. It will be simple obtaining raw materials, he feels. There are many places in the new Europe where human beings are more readily trafficked than animals. Life has not been valued so cheaply since the golden age of the Third Reich.
Sinister wishes to leave, but Mikhail bends down over his cousin’s body. He says he wants to bury her. “Why?” asks Sinister. Mikhail replies that he always liked her. Sinister is angry at this evidence of weakness. Does he still believe in the love of family and friends after all he’s seen? Sinister tells him that his great-grandmother was stronger than him. He should learn from her example. Mikhail carries Larisa’s body out into the snow and lays her down beside Vlad’s burnt body.
Sinister stands over them and informs Mikhail that, when Elena discovered that her brother had betrayed Grigory, she begged him to let her kill him. What a night that was, he recalls.
(flashback, St. Petersburg)
Sinister explains that they feared that Rasputin’s assassins would seek them out, and that the sacred wives would be arrested; even killed. He and Elena took Grigory’s body back to the river and laid him to rest in its dark waters for a second time. He was found three days later on the bank. They say the citizens of St. Petersburg swarmed to the river to drink, believing that the waters were blessed.
Afterwards, the wives dispersed and Elena returned to her lodgings. There, she found her brother waiting for her. He was packing his bags, and told Elena that the city was no longer safe for friends of Rasputin. Elena, heavily pregnant, told him that she knew what he had done. He murdered the father of her child. Sinister told him he wouldn’t be going anywhere, but Ivan replies that he did it for her. Could she not see how insane their plans were? Elena replied that she loved him. “I loved him!” She summoned energy to her right hand and used it to hurl Ivan hard against the wall.
She motioned to a pistol lying on the bed, and asked Ivan if that was the pistol he used on her beloved Grigory. She picked it up and asked Sinister to leave. She wished to be alone with her brother. Even Sinister was chilled by the hatred in her voice. As he departed, Elena aimed the pistol at her brother’s head and told him to make peace with his God. Perhaps he would forgive him. A shot rang out. When she rejoined Sinister outside, her clothes were stained with her brother’s blood. “It’s done,” she had said.
(present)
Sinister sprouts some more of his cold wisdom, saying that to kill what you love most, that is strength; that is will-power. Mikhail ignores him and notices a pendant that Larisa is wearing. His great-grandmother always wore it. He removes it from around her neck and holds it up to Sinister. He calls him a fool for believing that Elena killed Ivan. There were two pendants. Sinister replies that her brother also wore one. What of it?
(flashback)
Mikhail remembers peering in through the window one midsummer’s day when he was a young boy. His great-grandmother, Elena, was on her deathbed. A man came to see her and Mikhail was curious, so he watched them through an open window. It struck him how much the man resembled her. As they spoke, the man’s shirt fell open and Mikhail saw the pendant around his neck.
(present)
“A pendant identical to this!” Mikhail feels that his great-grandmother didn’t kill her brother. The blood on her clothes must have come from a pig, or perhaps even herself. She was a strong woman, and capable of spilling her own blood to fool Sinister. Sinister replies that this is of no consequence. “No consequence!” cries Mikhail. He reminds Sinister that Elena was the first of Rasputin’s lovers. She worshipped him, but she let his murderer go. She couldn’t kill her own brother.
Sinister is disappointed and walks away. He suggests that Mikhail bury the corpse, or leave it for the wolves. Mikhail begins to questions Sinister’s grip on humanity. He knows he lost it a long time ago, but he reckons that Sinister thinks it makes him strong, whereas Mikhail knows it to be his weakness. He asks what he will do in this brave new world under Apocalypse. Did he never have family or friends or anyone who loved him? Sinister doesn’t respond to the question, but replies that they have no choice. They have a destiny to fulfill. Mikhail says he has a choice.
(in another dimension)
Colossus is smashing his way through the never-ending rock, determined that he will not die there. Before long, he drops to his knees and places his head in his hands. Suddenly, he hears Mikhail’s voice above him and, in a scene reminiscent of his youth, Mikhail reaches his hand out to him, and asks if he thought he would leave his little brother all alone in the dark. Piotr’s face light up and he gives his brother a hug.
They sit down facing each other, and Mikhail explains that Sinister has the power to influence minds. He believes his judgment has been clouded since Sinister found him three months ago. Being separated for that short time broke his hold on him and allowed him to think clearly. Piotr asks if he believes his story. “Is Grigory Rasputin present in our minds?” Mikhail fears the answer is yes. However, he thinks they can fight it with willpower. As long as they both stay alive, there is hope. He grabs Piotr’s hand, and teleports them back to Siberia.
(Siberia)
As they appear in the snow-covered valley, they see Mister Sinister running away down the hill. Piotr asks to be taken down there. Mikhail transports them both into Sinister’s path, and Mikhail asks Sinister if he’s going somewhere. He’s finally realized why he was so desperate to resurrect Rasputin. It’s because he’s losing his powers. He should have been able to alter his features, but instead he used a mask. He can barely teleport, which is why Sinister needed him to travel more than the shortest of distances. All he could do was murder ordinary harmless human beings like Larisa.
Sinister looks up at him and replies that he’s wrong. He still has enough power to deal with him. He blasts Mikhail, who falls, but Colossus retaliates by smashing Sinister in the face, leaving an arc of blood trailing through the air. Sinister crashes against a tree, and Mikhail calls for his brother to kill him. He owes it to Larisa. Piotr replies that he knows what he owes her. He will never kill in anger again.
Sinister stands up and tells Piotr that Mikhail was right; he is weak, but he will recover. When he does, he’ll make him regret not finishing him when he had the chance. As Sinister teleports away, Piotr is already beginning to regret it. He questions himself as to whether he did the right thing. He knows Sinister will keep coming until one of them is dead. Mikhail thinks not. He informs Piotr that he’s going into the dark zone. Piotr places his hands on his brother’s shoulders and says he can’t.
Mikhail tells him that it’s the only way. The legends say that, once inside, you can never return, but you will never die. It’s the doorway to eternal life. This means that Piotr will be safe. Sinister cannot kill him. If he does, then Rasputin will be resurrected in Mikhail, wandering the dark zone for all eternity.
Piotr says he won’t let his brother do this, but Mikhail asks him not to torment himself. He would have done this anyway. With or without Rasputin’s life force, there is one thing that is beyond doubt. “I am insane. It’s a terrible thing to know that you are mad.”
Mikhail creates a portal to a world known as Kaplan. It’s a world with a single life-form, which lives only a few minutes before it burns itself out. But, for that short time it is very beautiful. He tells Larisa she will never be forgotten and wishes his brother farewell. He also asks him to have lots of children. They’ll be strong like he is and, with every generation thereafter, the curse of Rasputin will grow weaker. Then, perhaps, he concludes, some day he can be at peace.
(Kaplan)
Time has no meaning here. Mikhail has no way of knowing how long he stands on the edge of the void. The voice in his head whispers, begs and cajoles him with empty promises. When he finally steps from the rock he was standing on, the voice screams with rage, and Mikhail laughs.
(later, at the Xavier Institute)
Kitty Pryde welcomes Piotr back to the Institute, but he doesn’t respond to her welcome. She asks what happened to him, but Piotr replies that he can’t tell her right now. He excuses himself and walks solemnly to his room. He removes the sheet from the grotesque painting he did before venturing to Siberia, and takes out the pendant. Alone, he silently thinks about everything that’s happened, and considers what the future holds.