[Assistant]
The Last Dream of Professor X
“Here’s the thing, Charles…It’s not a dream, if it’s real.”- Moira X
X0: The X-Men, year one. The Dream:A funfair, in Oxford, United Kingdom:A young Charles Xavier, still a student, sits down on a bench enjoying himself. A young, auburn-haired woman, Moira Kinross, wishes him a good afternoon. Politely, he begins some small talk and asks if she is enjoying the fair. She gibes some thought to his question. It seems like the kind of thing she should enjoy, and yet…She looks around at those people and knows it’s just a show for those who need one. A distraction from what’s really going on, if you will.
She sits down and returns the question. He is, Xavier replies. It seems like the kind of thing he shouldn’t enjoy, and yet… a little parting of the clouds, a little shining of the sun and all seems right in the world.
Having a good day then? she asks. Is it that obvious? he grins. You’d have to be blind not to notice… Moira muses, she was just walking though the fair, walking past the caged beasts and the games of chance, past the fortuneteller selling his wares:
“See the Magician, the metal metamorph, the great sword and the girl with a foot in two worlds.See the Tower. The axis, the pillar of collapse and rebirth, the monolith of ascension.See the Devil: the red god and the lost cardinal of the last religion…”
Then, at the far end of the fair, she saw him sitting there and she thought to herself: there he is, what she’s been looking for. The strong man. Xavier begins to demur but she interrupts him. And she wondered why, under the parting sky and the brilliant sun, was this strong man smiling so. He was, wasn’t he? Does she want to know why? he asks. Very much so, she assures him. He was smiling because recently he had the most wonderful dream of a better world and his place in it. Addressing him by his name, she replies it’s not a dream, if it’s real.
Taken aback, he asks if they know each other. With a slight smile, she replies they go back quite a ways. Who is she? She suggests he read her mind. He does and what he sees leaves him speechless.
X1: The X-Men, year ten: The WorldKrakoa:Mystique and Toad returns from their raid to Krakoa via one of the island’s portals. She tells Toad to go play with some other mutants and visits Magneto’s home, the House of M. Magneto welcomes her back and asks if she has noticed the effect this place is having. Almost overnight it seems, Krakoa has become a wellspring of hope – a home of dreamers and true believers. Even he finds himself affected by it. Dare he dream of success?
Mystique states they lost Sabretooth and he did them no favors when he killed several guards, But yes, she has it, referring to the USB drive she holds. Before Magneto can take it, she withdraws her hand and announces she has demands. Does she now? Xavier (who’s been unnoticed till now) states. Is helping her fellow mutants not enough for Raven Darkholme?
She needs more! Xavier probes her mind and sees that. He admits that’s fair, as they have further demands as well. Really? she asks sarcastically. Is helping his fellow mutants not enough for the great Charles Xavier? He sticks the drive into a port and tells her they are building a better world. And everyone who would live in it, owes something.
X2: X-Men year 100: The WarNorthern Territory, the Nexus:Four X-Men are fighting the machines / human alliance. One of them, Perceval, a yellow-skinned young man, lies dying on the ground. “There was a dream,” he mutters. “Our dreams are the same. While you slept, the world changed.”
One of their foes probes his mind to announce he is dying. A tall robot with spindly legs asks if there is something salvageable from its mind. He is told that they are wiping on termination now. Some kind of mnemonic trigger when they start to flatline.
The tall robot asks about the other mutant. He refers to a woman with a transparent upper part of her skull, showing a mechanic brain. Called Cylobel, she was born in the Khennil. Bred as a black brain telepath – a natural Judas – subversion was written into her DNA. The guard announces that normal field protocol is sure to fail – athey have to give her a bath. One of the robots suggests they not give up too easily. Where is that human ingenuity they always go on about? Maybe the current misfortune is making it feel conversational. Another robot asks Cylobel what she and her friends found rifling through the Nexus. And where did they run off to? What friends? Cylobel claims.
Said two friends are watching the proceedings hidden. One of them, Rasputin, a metal-skinned woman with long, black braids, telepathically talks to the other – Cardinal – a red-skinned mutant, who is reminiscent of Nightcrawler.
Rasputin telepathically tells Cylobel to buck up and promises to save her. Cylobel retorts she shouldn’t. She recalls that once she had no name and had blood on her hands… before Rasputin saved her, named her. This was all for nothing, if Rasputin doesn’t make it back.
Cardinal agrees and tells Rasputin they need to go. Rasputin retorts that, just because he was bred to be a coward, doesn’t make hero one. She won’t run!
Cylobel screams as the robots torture her with electricity to make her talk.
Cardinal announces he is planting the black seed of Krakoa and will wait for Rasputin as long as he can, before closing it on the other side. If she doesn’t come, he will see them both when the world is made again. Will he pray for her? she asks Of course, he prays for all living things. She calls that his problem as she springs into action, wielding what looks like the Soulsword. He’s forgotten that machines have no soul and that the humans lost theirs a long time ago!
With a strike, she disables one of the robots. Defending Cylobel, Rasputin asks how long until the gate is grown. As the gate is growing, Cardinal tells her not much longer. Hold them off a bit longer. Rasputin deflects their bullets, remarking she was made for that. The humans find that neither plasma nor metal faze her and call in back-up.
Cardinal announces the gate is open. That moment, a giant Sentinel behind the two women grabs Cylobel and Rasputin can only keep it off herself with a forcefield. Rasputin attacks the machine, while Cylobel telepathically begs her to save herself. Rasputin screams in denial, but is about to be overwhelmed.
The Tower of Nimrod the Lesser, the Human-Machine Monolith:Two hunters bring the imprisoned Cylobel before Nimrod’s throne. He observes to his ally, Omega Sentinel, that her faith in humans has paid off once again. They come bearing gifts.
The two humans kneel down before Nimrod respectfully and ask for his wisdom and counsel. He tells them there is no need for formalities. They are allies – equals of a kind – and they are always welcome. Omega Sentinel asks what they need.
They explain that, earlier today, at least four mutants infiltrated the Nexus and accessed the mainframe. They do not know how they masked their entry, how they gained access and what they found. One died. At least one escaped and they caught this one. She once was… a hound, Omega interrupts. From the SalCen Khennil. The last strain of mutant produced by their breeding program.
Nimrod is intrigued and orders Cylobel to give him her eyes. He wants her to look at him when he says this. He is so sorry for what they did to her. In fact, he is embarrassed and ashamed at what they did in the name of both expediency and annihilation. They bred her not only to be a slave but to betray her own people. How in a good and just world did higher-functioning programs believe that could ever be a good idea? And, speaking personally, he finds it encouraging that her litter failed so miserably. Bad ideas should die a bad death. He finds hope in that. And she should too.
Cylobel glares, then swears that, if it takes a thousand years, they will endure and erase him from existence. That’s the spirit! Nimrod cheers her on and claps his hands. He loves it.
With a smirk, Omega Sentinel points out that will not be that day. Today, Cylobel will tell them what they were looking for. If they found it and what they wanted it for. Cylobel refuses.
Omega asks about standard operation protocols. The hunters reply that they tried. But she was bred to withstand that. It might not work, but he wants to give her a bath, the second hunter adds. See what comes out in the wash. Nimrod agrees enthusiastically. Omega Sentinel considers it. The AI is young. Still learning. Parsing the data comes without a clear window of recovery. They could learn what they need tomorrow or in decades, when the information is useless. Are they sure? What else are they going to do? the female hunter asks. Please, let him, Nimrod pleads and is happy when Omega Sentinel accedes.
Nimrod gives order for preparation and a man-sized tube is erected. Cylobel struggles, asking what they are doing. Nimrod apologizes for what he is about to do to her. He explains he built something… a repository of sorts. A monument to understanding the mutant anomaly. But sometimes innovation has a biological cost. And when you add that to her… unwillingness to let them know the things they need to, necessity limits their options even more.
Tentacles grab Cylobel and lift her above the tube filled with a green fluid.
Soon, all of these chambers will be full of her kind. Their bodies and, more importantly, their minds will be submerged in femtofluid, where they will be suspended and distilled to nothing but data curated by an AI of his own making. Unfortunately, for one of his to flourish, many of hers must perish, including her. So, as she fades away to nothingness, do find it in her heart to forgive him.
Angrily, Cylobel vows she is not afraid to die for what she believes in. Unimpressed, Omega Sentinel replies that causes have long seemed to be fatal for her people. And, while this is a kind of death, it’s not one she can escape from.
Cylobel is dropped into the chamber and soon floats in the fluid.
At the no-pace hub, Cardinal apologizes to Rasputin. He wishes he were made some other way, but he is not capable of violence. If he could trade places with Cylobel, he would. Tight-lipped she replies that Cylobel was gone by the time she was done fighting them. And he watched. Right now, she would take his trade.
They reach Krakoa and the rest of the team who ask what happened. Rasputin announces that Perceval is dead and Cylobel probably too. She is addressing Wolverine, a man in a green Magneto outfit (North), a plant-man (Krakoa) and Kuan-Yin Xorn. Wolverine announces that they were both good soldiers. Did they die for nothing or was it worth it? Cardinal replies they’ve got it. Wolverine orders them to follow him. The old man’s waiting…
X3: X-Men, Year one thousandThe Archive of Nimrod the Greater, The mutant library (Formerly the Tower):In a tube, there is still a corpse that looks like Cylobel’s. An elfin, blue-skinned being announces they are losing them and there is nothing they can do to prevent it. There is too much machinery floating around inside there and not enough soul to save, let alone copy.
The Librarian is addressing a small flying Nimrod, who blames itself. It simply wasn’t built to maintain integrity for a millennium. Holding the Cerebro helmet, the Librarian replies that it’s no one’s fault. It did exactly what it was made to do. Nimrod created a collective consciousness of mutantdom – a living database of Homo superior – in order to provide a tactical advantage in a war. Who could have known how pointless and useless that war would be? Who at the time could have seen the surprising end of the mutant-man-machine war?
They step on a balcony. So good to be done with all that, Nimrod announces. Are they done with the past? the Librarian wonders. That’s what a legacy is. and it’s why they keep dinosaur bones around them. They look at the Preserve, a jungle, in whose shadows a human-looking man and woman are hiding.
A reminder of what the world used to be like and what they overcame. It’s important to keep a record of the great sins of history. Even better to preserve a remnant. Something to point at and hope to God they never have dominion again.
“You’ve forgotten that machines have no soul and that the humans lost theirs a long time ago.”- Rasputin


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

[Assistant]
We Are Together Now, You And I
“There’s a chasm between you and I, Charles. A gap that cannot be crossed. With each passing day, I fear it never will be.”- Magneto
X0: The X-Men year one. Island M, in the Bermuda Triangle:A strange island, previously inhabited by an unfamiliar species and which Magneto recently raised from the bottom of the sea and turned into his new headquarters.
Professor X and Moira MacTaggert have just arrived. Magneto, who expects them, muses that they say it is easy to get lost in this part of the world. That those who set sail in these waters are often never heard from again. But Charles is beyond the superstition of man. And though lost, he knows Charles has never lost his way. Becoming more forceful, he demands what he is doing here!
Calling him “old friend,” Charles announces he is here for him. Magneto replies that it would please him to have Charles at his side in the coming days, but he has learned hard lessons and doubts there is a place in the world for both their dreams. He adds “old friend” as an afterthought.
What if they were both wrong? Xavier suggests that both their dreams were too small and fleeting for the coming days. Magneto doubts he has lost his faith. He addresses Moira, as a specialist of mutant behavior, does she have any keen insight into what ails the professor this day?
Moira replies, she may be the only person on the planet who understands what ails them both, but she has to warn him: her truth is profound and lifechanging. It’s primal and she wonders if he is capable of bearing he weight of it. It really all comes down to one thing: In this world, who determines what is truly good and evil? He does, Magneto announces. He decides.
Xavier asks him to open his mind to them and together they will decide what to do about tomorrow. Magneto is understandably suspicious, fearing a ploy by Xavier - to tamper with his mind. Xavier asks him to trust him this once. Magneto takes off his helmet that protects him from telepathy.
Xavier establishes telepathic contact, and Magneto is brought down by Moira’s memories. Memories that include him, standing as a defendant before the Court in Paris, a prisoner of SHIELD, battling the Shadow King…
She’s a mutant? he weakly asks Moira. All those lives, they were real? As real as it gets, Moira replies, as she hands him his helmet. He asks why she showed him that, all those failures, those falls. Because her truth is profound and life-changing, Xavier repeats. And apart, they always lose. They believe that only if they work together they – that all their people – can survive.
He knows him better than this! Magneto scoffs. He is not interested in survival. Neither is she, Moira replies forcefully. She believes that the one thing she hasn’t tried – all of mutantdom as one – is the one thing that means more than surviving but thriving and assuming their rightful place on Earth.
Xavier adds they have a plan. It is ambitious and long-term. He asks him to join them. Magneto announces he won’t acquiesce to sympathy or doubt. He won’t give an inch. He will check him at every moment of weakness. And if Charles falters, know that he will not. He would expect nothing less, Xavier replies and offers his hand. Magneto takes it.
X1 – the X-Men Year Ten:Krakoa:So what is he looking at here? Cyclops asks as he looks a several displayed holofiles. A waking nightmare, Charles Xavier replies and, unless he is mistaken – the beginning of the end. These are plans for a Mother Mold, a Master Mold that makes other Master Molds – in orbit around the sun.
Cyclops asks him to specify. Plans for something that is scheduled to be built or something that already exists? As far as they can tell, construction has been completed. It’s just been in a dormant phase… waiting for the right catalyst. Let him guess, Cyclops ventures, a mutant whose reach exceeded his grasp.
They call themselves Orchis, Magneto interjects. A collection of human scientists who are normally ideologically opposed to one another but in mutantdom see a threat so great that they have banded together in order to stop them.
Xavier adds that, according to the information Mystique stole, it’s mostly ex-SHIELD and AIM agents with some remnant SWORD and HAMMER operators sprinkled in. Magneto adds if he is wondering about their level of conviction, they’ve also held their noses long enough to Operation Paperclip a few ex-Hydra in as well.
Scott asks about the plan and Xavier stresses they cannot let the Mother Mold come online. Sure, Scott uncharacteristically jokes, because weather is always a sketchy proposition. You never know when it’s gonna start raining Sentinels. Xavier agrees, but they have dealt with that before. Their urgency comes from projections where their stratagem leads. Magneto states they think Orchis’ scale and resources imply a paradigm shift in technology. They think this is where NIMROD becomes operational.
Scott swears softly. Xavier stresses they have to be stopped. Magneto points out this will be a frontal attack on an orbital station, tens of millions of miles away, built by a secret organization whose sole purpose is the extinction of mutants. Can such a thing even be done? Does it need doing? Scott asks. Yes, is the reply Then it will be done, he promises.
X2: X-Men the year hundred:Asteroid K:Wolverine informs their leader that Cardinal and Rasputin succeeded, which is good news. But the bad news is Cylobel and Perceval aren’t making it home. And without Perceval’s blackout abilities, he’s not exactly sure if the information still benefits them. He doesn’t see how they can make it back into the city.
Their leader addresses the younger mutants, asking them to forgive him. War has a way of limiting perspective. It’s a shortcoming of that seed, but the benefits… well, what do they have that is not a product of its spoils? Do they really have it? Cardinal hands him the file.
Apocalypse studies it. Reduced to their essence, the machines are composed of pure information, he states, a repository of knowledge. Which is such a precarious thing in the hands of the living. Too much knowledge and the weak are paralyzed by choice, too little and the foolish jump boldly into the gaping maw of a hungry enemy. But just enough – a little fire from the gods – and it is the great sword of victory and worth everything to have. Give him their eyes, he orders Cardinal and Rasputin. For this, he would have sacrificed all of them. It is worth this much.
The Tower of Nimrod the Lesser:Nimrod informs the two human hunters that the mutants stole an indexing machine. He admits this is disturbing then continues he tells them that because contrary to what their kind believes he hasn’t been programmed for truth. He could lie all day if he wanted to. Just for the pleasure of it. But here he is, denying himself the joy of a half-truth, the bliss of fiction and the pure delight of falsehood, and why? He’ll tell them.
One of the humans mutters nervously, he’d rather Nimrod keep taking to himself.
Nimrod grows silent and studies them. The human stammers an apology. It’s been a costly day… and he’s tired. Nimrod turns to the other man and asks if he is weary as well. He quickly assures Nimrod he is not. Nimrod doesn’t believe him. With an energy blast, he kills them both. Now, where were they? he asks as he takes one of the skulls. Oh yes. Truth. He pretends to be one of the men as he begs Nimrod to give them the truth, so they know the difference between darkness and light. Well, since they ask so nicely, here it is: He reviews the footage of the break-in. The mutants’ very existence was encrypted, invisible to their machine eyes. They came here in secret, looking for something and it seems they found it.
He sees them, he addresses the mutants, though they are not here. He knows their ways. What were they looking for?
On Asteroid K, Krakoa grows a device to play the file. The problem with machine history is the way in which it is collected, one of the mutants states. North (the green-dressed Magneto lookalike) agrees. They archive every moment of everything, so even if they did have access to all their historical records, the machine would still return with a result of billions.
Rasputin summarizes that’s why they broke into the place where that information gets indexed. They didn’t get exactly what they need but, if Krakoa can decrypt it, they will know where to look.
Krakoa explains his body once belonged to a mutant who could communicate with everything. He maintains all that he was, although he has long left this existence. They will find a way.
Xorn states that is all that really matters; that they leave behind something that resonates long after their passing. For most, there is nothing. Just the pointless march toward oblivion. It’s sleep, fight, die, just as it has always been and always will be until the sun swallows them all. With a glare, Rasputin calls him fantastically depressive. The perfect teammate for the end times. Ignoring her sarcasm, he thanks her.
Krakoa announces success. The file is unlocked. They find the node they are looking for. Wolverine grimly warns them there won’t be anyone left to see this. They only came this far because Perceval made them invisible to machines, and now they won’t have that. They’ll have to fight their way in, hold them off and fight their way out again. They understand this is a suicide mission, right?
Xorn opines he has never been more excited for anything in his entire life. Apocalypse muses he knows they are never going to stop the machines. The technology… the future is unavoidable. The question is why is it always aimed at mutants. To test them? To see if they are fit to survive? They will go and take what they need. And then they will return. This is a promise whose guarantee is assured. For he will lead them.
X3: The X-Men year one thousand:The Librarian stands in a crowd of similar blue-skinned humanoids and asks the small flying Nimrod if it worked. Nimrod explains that normal civilizations of their maturity only attract universal predators. The perceived value of this system is found in its Celestial resources and not its living culture. Their system is a place to be mined and not preserved. Now, after hundreds of years of ugly skirmishes and quiet wars, they decided to convert Nimbus into a replicant worldmind and show the universe what they are capable of. And it seems they have snared a giant. So, did it work? It thinks they are about to find out.
The Nimbus is engulfed by something. Three humanoid shapes appear and announce that they (Phalanx) ate their worldmind. They fought for sovereignty and they lost, but the Phalanx saw the whispering gods behind it. The Phalanx have heard their message. Now hear theirs: What do they see? Ascension, an old bues-kinned man replies.


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

[Assistant]
This Is What You Do
“I am immortal, and I have no end.”Apocalypse
X2 –The X-Men: The year one hundred.The Temple of Concordance:The Church of Ascendancy:A priest preaches the gospel of man being the servant of machines, and against the heresy of improving man’s fatal design. He has a baby being turned into a cyborg. Better to serve in heaven than rule in human hell, he tells his worshippers.
Suddenly, a wall explodes, courtesy of Xorn, North, Rasputin and Cardinal. Xorn muses that, with his nihilist bent, one would think he would have some small affinity for human apocrypha, but look at him, on a sweet suicide mission and sure only of one thing: he had hoped for more from humanity. A little more pride. A little more grace. Yet here they are, Rasputin scoffs, in all their glory!
In Nimrod’s Tower, Omega Sentinel watches the conflagration and remarks that the Church of Ascendancy is on fire. And why should he care? a busy Nimrod replies. He is busy with their recent incursion and can’t be bothered with… man. Dare he say let it burn? He thinks so. It’s been far too long since they’ve made fire and ash of the humans. Omega adds the feed from the human response team says it was the mutants. The city has re-tasked all available Sentinel brigades to intercept. Nimrod wonders why the mutants would attack the church. In the past, they have always sought to free the humans, in the hope that together the might overcome the inevitability of, well… him.
Omega Sentinel doubts there is any common ground left between the two. She spent quite some time among them, observing and analyzing the branches of Homo sapiens. Any hope of cohabitation died long ago. In fact, while they use the same words, they don’t actually speak the same language anymore.
Such a pity, the tragedy Nimrod observes wryly. He wonders how he can sleep at night anymore. Rolling her eyes, Omega reminds him they don’t sleep. In fact, that’s what mutants think is wrong with machines, that they don’t dream.
Nimrod doesn’t see the point of dreams. The mutants’ dream is almost as extinct as they are. Omega doesn’t reply and just glares. What? he finally asks. She replies the mutants’ inconsistence of actions bothers her. The should investigate. Nimrod disagrees. This is either due to their flawed nature or implies another agenda not yet defined. Either way, he won’t be joining her. He cares for neither. She tells him to suit himself, as she flies away. He always does, he states.
Back at the church, Cardinal stabs the priest who asks why they are doing this. Cardinal replies that he is a pacifist who has been pushed to the brink. But even for those like him there comes a time when a point must be made. So today he ate a terminal Apocalypse Seed to overcome his genetic predisposition toward non-violence. But he’d choose this end over the priest’s any time. He betrays his own for what? The favor of those who find contempt in his very existence? He does it for the Great Machine who is their better! the priest replies. He does it for his god.
Suddenly, North is killed with a blast, courtesy of several Sentinels. Smiling, the priest tells Cardinal to see God. She is here right now! He refers to Omega Sentinel.
Finally, sweet annihilation! Xorn grins, He’s been waiting for this! Rasputin reminds Xorn that they need to keep them busy to buy the others time.
The others – Apocalypse, Wolverine and Krakoa – are in the Nexus. How long is it going to take? Wolverine asks Krakoa to find the info they need. Not long, is the reply. Thanks to the earlier sacrifice, he knows where to look in the archives to find out when Nimrod went online.
Nimrod is busy in his tower when he is alerted to what Apocalypse’s group is doing.
In the Nexus, Krakoa is finished and they intend to leave, but Wolverine warns them back. He senses something not quite right. A moment later, he gets blasted by Nimrod, who wonders why they are here. There is nothing in this sector except old data and machine lore. He wonders whatever were they looking for?
In the church, Cardinal lies buried under the rubble and Rasputin warns Omega to stay back. Omega replies she has just received word that Rasputin’s teammates are being dealt with. This distraction will not serve any greater purpose than bringing an end to them and being an inconvenience for her.
Here’s an inconvenience, Rasputin replies, referring to Xorn: he has a singularity in his head. If she removes his mask, all of this will be gone in an instant. She warns her again to stay back. Xorn beckons her closer instead. This is the ending he has always wanted.
Omega considers it a bluff. They care too much about what they got, even if it is nothing. Besides, do they know what lies at the heart of a black hole? She gives them a hint. It’s where they are all headed. Rasputin replies she doesn’t know, so let’s find out! She proves Omega wrong and removes the faceplate. The singularity kills them all and everything around them.
In the Nexus, Apocalypse blasts Nimrod and gives a data crystal to Wolverine, telling him he knows what to do with this. Wolverine refuses, announcing he will stay and Apocalypse should go. Apocalypse scoffs if he knew what he looked like he would know how foolish he sounds. He repeats his order, adding that he will be right behind him.
Krakoa opens the gate. Apocalypse turns to Nimrod who now consists of several units. Wolverine looks around a last time from the gate as they beat on Apocalypse. The mutant immortal they announce, older than the world, the fittest of all.
Wolverine, in the meantime, has reached a sarcophagus.
The Nimrods muse how sad it must be that natural selection has brought him here.
The sarcophagus opens, revealing a transformed but still youthful looking Moira Kinross. Wolverine explains that Apocalypse he created some mechanism to forcefeed the intel into her brain. Tentacles from her armor reach out to grasp the crystal. She screams as the knowledge is imprinted in her brain.
What now? she asks. Logan replies, the old man said to send her on her way because there is nothing left to save here.
He unsheathes his claws and apologizes. She assures him, it’s okay. She has what she needs now, and this is what he does. He impales her.
So ended the ninth life of Moira X.
“And should forever end, let me die in battle surrounded by my fallen enemies and with blood on my sword.”Apocalypse


[Assistant]
Something Sinister
“I fear our needs will far outlast out desires. We have many hard choices ahead of us.”Professor X
X0 – The X-Men: year oneA very unique island: Bar SinisterTwo unexpected visitors – Professor X and Magneto – step through a teleportation gate and are stopped by an armored, helmeted guard. He orders them to state their business and adds (annoyed) to please not ask for help or a handout. Because, while, yes, they have much, they really can’t be bothered with the sad problems of sad people… and oh look, he’s wearing a cape! He refers to Magneto. How. Perfect. Long suffering, he states he doesn’t suppose they have an appointment. Because who wears that having the other?
Xavier stoically replies they do not have an appointment but it is essential that they see Nathaniel Essex.
The guard takes off his helmet, revealing himself to be a clone of Mr. Sinister. Which one? he asks. There are so many of them. They’ll settle for the one in charge, Magneto replies drolly. The guard muses that, while Magneto’s outfit is ridiculous, he does have an air of something about him. The other, however… It just won’t do, he decides. It won’t play well at court. A sad little man in his sad peasant suit stuck in his sad ch… Magneto smashes him into the wall. Xavier mildly points out they need the man. No, Magneto replies. This man needs to decide if he wants to escort them inside or continue thusly and reap the consequences.
Two minutes later, the guard has made the smart choice and led them inside the throne room, filled with people in Victorian clothes. He bows before the Sinister on the throne and introduces the two guests.
Xavier begins talking but Mr. Sinister interrupts imperiously. Before either of them says another word, he must make one thing perfectly clear: He. Loves. That. Cape. Amazing. Why does he not have a cape? How does he not have a cape?
His advisor obsequiously agrees, adding he has always thought he should wear one. In a huff, Sinister asks why he didn’t tell him then. It slipped his mind the other stammers and Sinister shouts an order to have him executed. The guards immediately comply.
With a smile, Mr. Sinister turns to Charles and Magneto. Now, how can he help them? Xavier replies that they were hoping they could help each other, as they know about his original endeavor into the world of genetics. And how would they know about that? Sinister demands. Xavier plays coy. Somewhat flattered, Sinister admits he is not surprised word is getting out. He does amazing work.
Magneto adds they also know about the library he is building. Cataloguing the world’s DNA.
Don’t judge, Sinister orders. He can’t be shamed into changing who he is. Xavier assures him they don’t want him to. What they want to suggest is a small deviation of focus. Continue with his broad indexing if he wants to, but they need him to prioritize making a comprehensive database of all mutant DNA. Safe. Secure. Redundant. They can help him with getting samples he might have trouble procuring, including theirs.
Haughtily, Sinister replies the point of one collecting is found in the value of the collection, so why would he take such a special interest in the mutant gene? Magneto replies he has seen the future and mutantdom’s cause is his. Mr. Sinister scoffs at this. He has played around with introducing that aberrant gene into his superior genetic structure… and let him tell them he did not like the results and he won’t tolerate such a...
Suddenly, a gunshot in his head ends the rant and his life.
“But I will!” the culprit, another Sinister – wearing a glorious cape – announces. Settling himself on the throne, he mock-whispers that he is the Sinister with the mutant gene. And if they must know, his mutant power is overthrowing tyrants and being absolutely fabulous. He can see that, Magneto agrees with a slight smile. So, they are in this together, the new Sinister decides. He loves the ambition. He loves every bit of it. So, tell him, partners, what’s next for their secret sinful confederacy?
Xavier replies first they need him to start the good work and then they need him to forget, why he’s doing this and that they were ever here… until Xavier tells him to remember.
X1 – the X-Men: months agoProfessor X has taken Doug Ramsey aka Cypher to Krakoa. Looking at the tropical paradise, Doug wishes Xavier had told him they were going on vacation. He would have packed a bathing suit and some sunscreen.
Xavier laments that the world doesn’t allow them any respite from the toil of everyday life. He’s sorry to say this is not a vacation. This is Krakoa. Oh cool! Doug snarks. The secret island where mutants come to die. Excellent choice.
Xavier mildly asks whether it’s wrong to expect more than sarcasm from someone whose mutant power is understanding and deciphering the nuances of any language. Doug laughs sheepishly and Xavier assures him the days of Krakoa being their adversary are long in the past. It took some effort to understand the island but eventually he was able to telepathically make a connection. From there, the relationship between mutant island and mutant man has grown. He tells Doug to follow him, he wants the two of them to meet. Unnoticed, Doug touches a flower with his techno-organic arm and it is infected with the Techno-organic Virus.
Xavier leads Cypher to a clearing and they see a humanoid face in a giant tree. Xavier tells him to say ‘hello.’ Doug greets the face and it answers. He begins analyzing its language and asks Xavier to have Krakoa say some more. Xavier asks Krakoa how it is feeling today and it answers. He tells Douglas Krakoa says it’s sad. Doug ventures it’s more empathic than actual language. They are talking but not at a complex nuanced level. “Xavier, friend. Island, friend. Friends happy. Friends, many years.” That kind of thing, yeah? Is he saying Krakoa isn’t sad? Xavier asks. No, he is, Doug replies, but it goes deeper than that. Xavier asks what the island said.
Doug narrates Krakoa’s story:They were Okkara, the one land. The Twilight Sword tore them asunder and what was one became two. Arakko and Krakoa. And from the chasms between them the enemy poured into the world. If not for the first mutant – the warrior god in blue (he refers to Apocalypse) the world would have fallen to them. But using all his power, he pushed Arakko though the gap, set his Four to be guardians to that land and sealed the gap shut. It had to happen, but now Krakoa is alone, now and forever.
Present:Doug admits it’s beautiful here. Xavier asks him if he wouldn’t mind spending some time here on his own. When Doug chuckles that Professor X has plans, Xavier decides to show him and telepathically does so. Cypher is shocked, then he admits that’s ambitious. Xavier asks how long it will take. Months, maybe a year if he is terrible at this. How does that sound? Like he’s got quite a bit of work ahead of him, Xavier replies and throws him his bag from the X-jet. Best get to it.
X3 – the X-Men one thousand:The old, blue man introduces himself as an elder to the messengers of the Phalanx and tells them they hope for ascension. They have to try, don’t they? Isn’t that what’s next? The idea of the Phalanx’s great union existing just beyond their reach is something they cannot tolerate. The Phalanx take the flying robot and convert it into dust. A mysterious exchange between him and the leader follows.
The Librarian asks what just happened and is told by a female the Phalanx are the forerunners of a galactic empire that they believe has dominion over the entire known universe. The Phalanx have the ability to convert any machine intelligence into their collective – which after an amount of time if the intelligence has been found worthy will eventually ascend and become part of the greater collective.
The Librarian remarks that the Phalanx find them useful. Clearly, that should be celebrated. But she isn’t celebrating.
She replies it always comes down to cost and the method doesn’t work with biological entities. So, the elder made a host machine, an empty vessel, and copied himself over to it before the Phalanx absorbed it. They just confirmed that he was in there somewhere.
Nimrod the Greater remarks to the Librarian that it is foreboding that the Phalanx want machines and not them. So, they are trying to trick the Phalanx? the Librarian asks. The woman replies they are just trying to find a way around the problem. Now they wait to see if the Phalanx find it acceptable.
“I’m not afraid of what I’ve done, but I do fear what it will one day cost.”Professor X


[Assistant]
For the Children
“They will think we are doing one thing. But the truth is we are doing something altogether different.”- Professor X
X0, the X-Men year one:Dallas Texas,Forge’s HQ Eagle Plaza:
Surrounded by a three-dimensional hologram of an exotic underwater landscape, Forge and Professor X drink whiskey and discuss business. Showing him the Cerebro helmet, Xavier asks if it can be done. Forge replies it’s a question of feasibility. For example, what if the energy cost of the improvements he wants means they’d need access to a fusion reactor… would that really be a workable solution? Taking the glass Xavier replies, let’s say it would be, hypothetically. He is on his what, third generation of Cerebro? Fourth, Xavier corrects. But only the first was solely his design. Most of the improvements regarding range and sensibility have been Henry McCoy’s doing.
Forge spells out Xavier’s wishes. Now in addition to finding mutants Cerebro is also supposed to copy the mutant’s mind. To make up back-up of a sentient being. Xavier agrees and reveals that, when he gently broached the subject with Henry, he insisted it couldn’t be done. Forge points out that, despite Beast’s intellect, this kind of machine-building is beyond his expertise.
Forge sees two problems: Firstly, volume. There are a lot of mutant minds out there, and the number is growing every year. Then there is redundancy. In the micro he is talking about a database of all mutant minds. That is going to have to account for updated versions of each mind. For example, the difference between who you were last year and who you are this year… And in the macro, he is going to need duplicate versions of the entire system. Because they cannot afford to ever lose the data. You’d need at least one back-up. He would prefer five, is Xavier’s surprising reply. One main unit, three back-ups and one for unforeseen surprises.
Sure, why not, Forge shrugs. As far as he can see, all that’s stopping them is access to an unlimited power source and unlimited storage. Unfortunately, nothing like this currently exists on this planet. Not on this planet, Xavier agrees with a crooked smile.
Forge admits he should have seen that coming. It’s easy to forget Xavier has access to a higher power. There is a cloaked, antimatter engine of imperial design currently in Earth’s orbit, Xavier reveals, and he believes Shi’ar logic diamonds might be suitable for data storage. He’s not sure. Forge would have to tell him. Forge asks if he wants him to design a new system or integrate this into the existing one. Xavier stresses Forge is the only one qualified to make that call. The only question is, is he or is he not going to build this for him? Forge grins.
X1 – the X-Men year ten: the Louvre, Paris:Emma Frost telepathically orders everyone out of the room, so she can look at the Winged Victory statue in peace. Without turning around, she orders Charles Xavier to come out and stop skulking. It’s unbecoming. Charles wearing the Cerebro helmet complies. Emma informs him she felt him looking for her at the Canova, but this seemed more appropriate. Why is he here? For the same reason he is, Magneto replies, stepping up from the other side. To see her.
So, they are together again, she observes. This is either going to be incredibly heroic or terrifyingly reckless. Dare she ask which? Xavier jokingly asks where her faith is. Can’t it be both?
Emma is getting impatient and remarks she is quite busy of late. Charles replies he has noticed. And because he knows her Hellfire Corporation is an international prime mover, he was wondering if she’s heard rumblings of a certain company being on the verge of delivering miracle drugs to markets? She neutrally replies she is aware of rumors. And is she aware that he is behind that company? Xavier continues. He was listening earlier when she pointed out his lack of subtlety, right? Is Emma’s tart reply. Fair enough, Xavier admits. But the move behind that move is they are going to use the need for those drugs as leverage for the establishment of a mutant nation state. Krakoa.
So not heroic at all, Emma replies horrified, just reckless. Let’s put all the mutants on an island again. Gather them in one place. Put a giant target on it. He should know better! She snaps at Magneto. And they think she’ll actually help them with this?
Looking at the Winged Victory statue, Xavier replies, not so much this… as help them to form a mutant government. Emma scoffs. For a nation that doesn’t exist, based on economic ramifications of an imaginary drug, in a world that would historically rather kill them than trust them? Aren’t they getting a little ahead of themselves?
Magneto calmly informs her that in one month the population of Krakoa will expand seemingly overnight from several mutants to well over 100,000. And by this time next year it could be as high as two million. They are not ahead of themselves. They are woefully behind.
They are serious, she sighs. Xavier tells her is the day she’s been waiting for. To make right all the things that went wrong, Magneto continues. What’s going to make it different this time? Emma demands. Magneto holds a flower and offers to show her.
Sometime later on Krakoa:Emma sighs dramatically. Once more. For the children. All right, she’s in. Tell her what they need.
Xavier explains that the companies he created to crate and manufacture the drugs are operating at a scale and structure in a manner that makes intellectual theft almost impossible. Add the fact that the flowers only grow where Krakoa wills and any argument against them having a monopoly evaporates. Which is where she comes in, Magneto adds.
Emma realizes they cannot entrust the distribution to humans, and the Hellfire Corporation already has the international reach to do so. They want her to become the East India Company of mutantdom. She muses that she likes the taste of it. Magneto adds, they were thinking of a twenty year…
Emma harumphs. Magneto corrects himself that they were thinking of a fifty year exclusive contract with her as sole distributor. Better, she concedes.
Charles adds they are offering her two seats on the twelve-person council that will act as the first government of Krakoa. Emma agrees, but why two seats? Xavier and Magneto share a look then Xavier admits they want her to bring Sebastian Shaw back to Hellfire. She just got rid of him! She bursts out annoyed. Xavier explains they need her to be the legitimate face of trade. The consummate politician for the countries who they have relations with. And for those who don’t… they want a Black King to run the black book operations, she spells out. For operations in countries which reject their sovereignty. Get the drugs in, get the mutant out, Magneto agrees. Emma agrees but demands three seats.
X1, the X-Men, year ten: A summoningUsing his Cerebro helmet, Xavier on Krakoa calls all mutants as brothers and sisters to Krakoa. He wants to set aside all difference and extends an invitation. He invites the Acolytes, led by Exodus. As he does Mr. Sinister (who just got rid of some of his clones) as he does Omega Red and his offspring, to Gorgon and finally to King Namor… who is less than impressed.
Namor points out that Xavier’s seen reason, namely that he figured out that they are not humans, and humans will never accept or love them, not because they don’t deserve it, but because humans envy them. It’s good Xavier’s finally figured that out, but does he think Namor looks like someone who just realized he is better than anyone else? And does he actually think Namor believes Xavier feels that way, too? Go away, little man, he tells Xavier and don’t come back until he really means it.
X3 the X-Men – year 1000The Phalanx have an answer for the citizens of Earth. Their envoy announces their terms met, then dissolves the Elder.
Later, the Librarian wonders why the Phalanx destroyed the Elder if they agreed. Nimrod the Greater points out it hasn’t enough data for an error-free projection The Librarian asks for its best guess then.
Nimrod explains that as humanity evolved, so did its machines, modeled as they were after humanity. Together man and machine harnessed the power of Earth and the solar system which is promethean, but not mighty in the Phalanx’ terms.
Nimrod, along with all thinking machines on the planet, is composed of smaller, self-replicating machines. The Phalanx operate in a similar manner. This is almost certainly not true for their masters. They are most likely machines made of fundamental matter. These theoretical constructs would be dense machine brains that would dwarf anything they can imagine. If they are dense enough, they could collapse space and time around them and become a singularity.
The Librarian is aware of the Titan Theory, which states that at the heart of every Black Hole there is actually a supermassive machine brain, each one containing the knowledge of a society so advanced it collapsed on itself.
Nimrod agrees but it’s more than that. What is a Black Hole? It’s a wormhole, a bridge from one singularity to the next. They have to consider the possibility each black hole isn’t a separate machine. It’s all a single machine that stretches its tendrils across the entire universe one giant intelligence so far beyond them it might as well be the god mankind sought.
The Librarian returns to his question. Nimrod explains they reached beyond themselves to build a Worldmind and attract a galactic suitor. The Phalanx are built to consume worthy societies and add them to their and by extension to their master’s. But this is taking work and the energy cost is high. They must eat to survive. They’ve accepted their overture. Converting matter to energy is how they thrive in service to their masters. Tomorrow they will absorb their collective intelligence, and the history and consciousness of this planet will live on forever. But in doing so they will feed on the entire planet and leave no living thing behind.


[Assistant]
House of X
“And Now We Build”- Professor X
X0: The X-Men Year OneA funfair, in Oxford, United Kingdom:A young Charles Xavier, still a student, sits down on a bench, enjoying himself. A young auburn-haired woman, Moira Kinross, wishes him a good afternoon. Politely, he begins some small talk and asks if she is enjoying the fair. She gibes some thought to his question. It seems like the kind of thing she should enjoy, and yet…She looks around at those people and knows it’s just a show for those who need one. A distraction from what’s really going on, if you will.
She sits down and returns the question. He is, Xavier replies. It seems like the kind of thing he shouldn’t enjoy, and yet… a little parting of the clouds, a little shining of the sun and all seems right in the world.
Having a good day then? she asks. Is it that obvious? he grins. You’d have to be blind not to notice… Moira muses, she was just walking though the fair, walking past the caged beasts and the games of chance, past the fortuneteller selling his wares:
“See the Magician, the meal metamorph, the great sword and the girl with a foot in two worlds.See thee Tower. The axis, the pillar of collapse and rebirth, the monolith of ascension.See the Devil: the red god and the lost cardinal of the last religion…”
Then, at the far end of the fair, she saw him sitting there and she thought to herself: there he is, what she’s been looking for. The strong man. Xavier begins to demur but she interrupts him. And she wondered why under the parting sky and the brilliant sun was this strong man smiling so. He was, wasn’t he? Does she want to know why? He asks. Very much so, she assures him. He was smiling because recently he had the most wonderful dream of a better world and his place in it. Addressing him by his name, she replies it’s not a dream, if it’s real.
Taken aback, he asks if they know each other. With a slight smile, she replies they go back quite a ways. Who is she? She suggests he read her mind. He does and what he sees leaves him speechless.
X3 year 1000: The PreserveA locked garden atmosphere which includes extinguished species. The Librarian enters, walks a bit then sighs as one of the prisoners jump at him. The Librarian holds him off with a forcefield and informs him this aggression is pointless. His augmented brain is faster. By the time the other’s brain has told him to move, his brain has already devised countermeasures. Do they have any idea how much faster they would have to be to actually touch him? he asks. Chastened, they leave except for some still hidden.
The Librarian turns to them and assures them he means no harm. The person he addresses replies that he understands it though. They just want to be free, not locked up in this zoo. The Librarian scoffs they don’t know what ‘free’ is. He thinks this is simply their nature.
Nah, they want to be free, Logan insists. They know what it is. He makes sure to fill their heads each day with stories of revolution. Of them rising up to throw down their masters. They’ll see. Give it time.
But he has no more time, Logan Howlett James, the Librarian addresses him, suddenly using the old English language. Logan is impressed. He’s the Librarian the other man replies. Dead languages fascinate him. He downloaded it in the hope that they might one day have an honest conversation. Logan asks him what he is waiting for. He is waiting for her, the Librarian replies referring to Moira Kinross, who joins them also surprised at his ability to speak English.
That’s a problem she decides. It means he’s likely been listening to them for quite some time. Eavesdropping. Observation is one of the primary functions of habitats such as these. Preservation is of course the reason they hid behind. After all, they wouldn’t want the last group of mutants on this planet go extinct. But if he’s being truthful, the real get for him was them reacting to several stimuli he introduced over time. What’s the ancient phrase: he wanted to see what makes them tick.
And how’s that working out for him? Logan demands. Conclusions have yet to be drawn, the Librarian admits, but they are nearing them – one way or another. They’ve done well, surviving... Fortunately, they have the same blood type, but still – the idea of it. A millennium of depending on another to survive… it’s impressive. Unfortunately, it’s likely all surviving is about to come to an end. Tomorrow is Ascension.
He describes how the Phalanx will descend and absorb all of their post-human society. They will become one with the Collective and exist as self-aware intelligences in the great hive of the Phalanx. Then the Phalanx will begin their journey to the next black hole where the collective intelligence will merge with a god intellect – a Dominion. One that lives outside of space and time, and what was once their post-human society will exist forever inside that godhead.
Moira and Logan are shocked. The world will end tomorrow? The Librarian concurs than adds that possibly they will not die. He has arranged to send them off-planet. Why? Moira demands. He replies he thinks they know. If she should die, before their Phalanx makes it to the nearest black hole, then all that he knows will not become part of the Dominion. And when Moira has annihilated this timeline or reality she will be back right to where she started, knowing what she does without his people knowing anything. But if Moira lives past his becoming a god then - existing beyond time and space – the Dominion will know her forever. And he thinks it very likely they would not tolerate something like her having power over something like them…
Logan is about to attack and replies it doesn’t make sense his telling them that. Moira holds him back. She wants to hear the rest.
The Librarian admits Logan’s question is fair. Why would he be conflicted. He admits he questions the wisdom of this. Becoming something that’s really just an idea of existence. Something immaterial. Never touch anything again. So he is faced with a question: Does he let Moira die and perhaps in her next life she can prevent them becoming part of the universal machine state… something he suspects to be a fake existence. Or does he send her away and find out for himself?
Does he want her to convince him? Moira asks disbelievingly. Yes, he replies. With all that she has learned in her many lives, how would she stop them from losing their post-humanity and surrender to the machines?
Wolverine shouts he can answer that. Maybe they start the revolution a little sooner. Stop post-humanity at the humanity part.
The Librarian remarks the scientific term is Homo Novissima, the end of the evolutionary line… the last man that will ever be. The mutants never saw it coming. The idea was that mutants were what was next. Evolutionarily inevitable. They were, Moira shoots back. They are, Logan adds.
The Librarian tells them to look around and see the cage. That’s what’s inevitable. Not them being outside it. Mutants are an evolutionary response to the environment. They are naturally occurring. But what happens when humanity stops being beholden to its environment? When man controls the building blocks of biology and technology? Evolution is no match for genetic engineering. What good was one mutant adapting to its environment when humans could make ten supermen? Mutants thought it was the machines that would defeat them, but humanity just used them to buy itself time. Sentinels bought them years. Nimrods bought them decades.
She never saw! Moira mumbles horrified. And he guesses, now she never will, the Librarian muses, losing interest in her. After all, if she isn’t capable of recognizing the enemy she faces, how will she ever defeat them? Maybe this is just how it ends for them. And if they have no alternative to offer, this is his fate as well, to become a small part of God.
Faster than the eye can follow, Logan stabs him through the head, killing him instantly. Dear Lord in robot heaven, was that fast enough for him? he asks. All this time they wanted to find out, Moira babbles. And now they know, he cuts her off. So, she gonna do something about it? Yes, Moira replies forcefully and orders him to send her on her way. He tells her to close her eyes. Her eyes are open and they are going to remain that way, Moira replies. Just make it quick.
Logan kills Moira.
And so ended the sixth life of Moira X.
Years ago, Oxford:Xavier reads Moira’s mind then begins to scream before he tumbles to the ground. What was…? How? He splutters. Moira muses, it’s a bit much, she agrees. That it cuts at everything he believes even more so. Still, hard truths are what’s called for when dealing with radical realignments to old ways of thinking.
They… they lose? Xavier asks simply. It’s much worse than that, Moira replies, eyes downcast. They always lose.
Perhaps… perhaps if he were more selective with his future students, Charles ventures. Or if he makes a broader appeal to their human allies… Surely there is some way to… Irritated, he asks why Moira is smiling at him like that.
Moira kisses him gently. She explains she opened her mind to him so he knows that she knows him. She has loved him, she has hated him and all the emotional complexities in between. Not once in all her lives has he changed. Charles thanks her. Moira tells him it was not a compliment. He is a good man who believes in the goodness of others… and it breaks her heart that she has to break that part of him. But she will break it because that’s what has to happen now. She knows he will fight her… just as his shade Erik will fight her. But this time, she means for all of them to be together. She offers her hand. All of them, she stresses. He’s been dreaming the wrong dream and it’s long past time he wake up.
Yesterday, Krakoa, Moira’s No-Space:Xavier and Magneto enter offering tea. Unimpressed, Moira reminds them that one of the two ways to her home leads to one of mankind’s greatest culinary cities. So, she really doesn’t need them to bring her tea. She has other means and they have greater concerns. Only cynics refuse the common kindness of others, Magneto gently chides her. They say it comes from assuming there is always another shoe to drop. So, it’s tea and other things, Moira smirks. Can she assume they now have a government?
Charles agrees. The first meeting of the Quiet Council will be the next day. They have eleven of the twelve seats filed. Why not all of them? Moira demands. Xavier replies, Emma Frost still has to choose a Red King.
Moira fears she’s up to something, to which Magneto replies they are all up to something while pouring tea. But she understands the scale of all this, so she won’t be a deterrent to their broader plans. Xavier names all the members of the council. Magneto states they seated all the problem mutants – save for himself – at the Winter Table. Xavier explains they put Sinister there because they can’t do without him but they cannot trust him, so keep him close. Exodus has an unyielding code and they all know all too well the trouble an unflinching ideology brings.
And Mystique would not agree without certain guarantees. They promised to bring Destiny back. Moira stresses they cannot do that. There can be no precogs on Krakoa. They cannot tolerate mutants who see the future. Xavier agrees. Moira insists that they don’t understand, Destiny can see her… see that she is a weakness. That with her death all this ends. Xavier again agrees. Moira challenges, what happens if they bring Destiny back and she tells everyone the truth?
Charles again stresses that they know and they will put her off as long as they can. Tomorrow, tomorrow, not today, all the mutant leaders say, Magneto sing-songs mockingly.
Xavier continues, they will continue to put them off, but one day they all deserve to know the truth. Just like Charles and he did, Magneto agrees. They really want them to know that mutantkind always loses? Moira states sharply. Chares replies that until now they’ve always lost, but this time is going to be different. Because they are different, Magneto adds. And that is all because of her. There is no denying what she has done. She shaped them into this. They are the perfect tools for an imperfect age. She should celebrate what she has done, for she has done it well. But now it is time for her to step aside and let them do the good work for which they were created.
The two leave Moira’s home and join the ongoing celebration on Krakoa. Just look at what they have made, Magneto marvels. And yet the thought lingers, is it enough? This is only the start, Xavier replies, but they have to hope so. And if it is not? Magneto asks. Then they do… more, Charles decides. Whatever the cost. This is all there is. They live and die with this. Then he will die for it, Magneto states, and if he falls, then Charles will raise him up. He will show the world what a real mutant is.
Keep talking like that and he is sure to elicit a response, Charles smiles. He is not ashamed of what he is, Magneto insists. “Let them try to stop us this time.” Yes, Charles agrees, let them try.
“I am not ashamed of what I am”- Magneto


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

[Assistant]
Mystery School
At dawn, on the bank of the River Thames at ebb tide, something hisses to itself. A skeleton lies there.
Morning in London, cracked open by the Midnight Runner, the hypersonic transport owned by the European mutant group Excalibur. As it reaches a patch of wasteground on the Southbank, two people fall out of it. The woman takes hold of the man’s hand, and floats them both to the shore, where the first thing Pete Wisdom does is light a cigarette and tell Kitty Pryde to quit her moaning. Undeterred, Kitty points to the car waiting for them, telling her lover he can put another nail in his coffin and rest his horrible old bones.
The driver tells them he works for Mr. Jardine and was sent to bring them to his office. Can they stop at a pub? Pete asks hopefully. No, Kitty decides. But he’s thirsty Pete complains while they drive off. Turning to the driver, Kitty asks him not to mind Pete. When you get to his age, things get difficult. She’s his nurse.
Getting more serious, Kitty asks Pete how he thinks Mr. Jardine is holding up. Sending a car from criminal intelligence is a bit much… Pete explains that Jardine’s daughter has gone missing again. He’ll be a basketcase by know. She’s the only family he’s got, and she’s nothing but trouble.
Suddenly, the driver turns hard and Pete complains. Is Jardine hiring bleeding rally drivers now? Kitty points at the reason for that behind them. They are being shot at from another car. “No, really?” Pete deadpans as the back window breaks apart from the fire. The driver jumps out, shouting he ain’t paid for this. He works for criminal intelligence, Pete shouts after him. What else does he think he’s paid for?
He tells Kitty to get to the front of the car with him; he’s driving. His plan is to pick up speed and get noticed by the police. Looking behind them, Kitty wonders aloud who they are and who Pete managed to annoy this time. Why does it always have to be his fault? he retorts. Kitty points out that this car has one foot in the grave. She could outrun it if she were outside and hopping. Pete decides to even things out by tossing his hot knives at their pursuers.
That moment, the car phone rings. Kitty gets it and is informed that there is a bomb in the car. The timer started when the engine was started to take them to London. It could go off any second now. The voice apologizes.
Pete decides to risk a minute more, so he can find an open space to dump the car, then they’ll take their chances on foot. The next moment he swears. They are on their way to Tower Bridge. Kitty doesn’t see the problem. Pete explains that their luck couldn’t be much worse. In front of them, the bridge is rising to let high-mast river traffic through. Kitty shouts at him to accelerate, go straight ahead as fast as they can.
The car breaks through. As it flies into the air above the river, Pete inquires whether her plan had a second part or should he just give her a kiss now? Kitty tells him to shut up, take her hand and jump. As she makes herself and a complaining Pete intangible and lighter than air, they walk away on air, as the car falls into the Thames and explodes.
Having reached the other side of the raised bridge, Kitty makes them solid again and they slide down. He gets the feeling they are no longer popular, Pete complains. For all she knows, it was a present from another of his weird friends, Kitty retorts. His weird friends? asks Pete. Look who’s talking. Besides, most of his friends are dead. She can see why, Kitty remarks once they’ve arrived. What have they wandered into this time? Pete calls out for a taxi. “C’mon… don’t be afraid… we’re with the Dangerous Sports Club…”
A little later, the two have indeed made it to Jardine’s office. Jardine seems very grateful and promises to look into the bomb thing. Then he announces to Pete that Amanda has done it again, like China. What’s she up to this time? Pete asks. Jardine explains that there is a serial slayer operating in London. They’ve tried to keep it out of the papers but Pete knows Amanda.
Jardine explains to Kitty that Amanda is a photojournalist, a very good one. She’s gone undercover to try and root the killer out before they or the rival papers get anything. He doesn’t want to imagine what will happen if she finds him. He figured if anyone could turn her up it would be them. He knows Pete and Kitty is so intelligent. The two promise to help and Jardine tells them to turn to his secretary for the paperwork they have.
A little later at the hotel suite Jardine got them, Kitty admires the view and suggests they go down to that park later. Pete doesn’t like fresh air. Calling him a creep, she looks at his cigarettes and bottle of alcohol and asks if room service brought him enough forms of poisons, then. He told her, cigarettes and scotch are his food. Sometimes she wonders what she saw in him, he sighs. Simple, his feet are warm in bed, hers are plates of ice, he retorts.
Getting back to business, he remarks he can see why Jardine wanted this quiet. His killer is fossilizing people. Six times, Kitty adds. Apparently, he has a mutant serial killer on his hands. No way of telling, Pete muses. Britain never had a Charles Xavier who wanted to locate and log mutants nor a government competent enough to hunt them down. Over here, mutants have always lived in the dark… Which means it could be a mutant nobody ever met, Kitty finishes his line of thought. Both of them are caught in the moment, almost admitting their love for each other. The mood is spoiled when Pete sees that the Metropolitan police had no idea so they handed the case to some minor department. From Jardine, he learns what Department F.66 is.
Jardine gives them directions and, a little later, a car takes them to a rundown building, the Mystery School. There, they are expected by a friendly blond young man who introduces himself as John Gideon. He wishes he could chat but excuses himself by remarking he is on medical leave, but they are shorthanded. He had to deliver something for the River Police. He tells them goodbye. Pete remarks that the bloke seemed pretty nice as they enter. Jardine had told him those people are weird. Kitty remarks that weird is relative. He is talking to someone who’s been regarded as dinner by space aliens more often than Pete had fresh air in his lungs.
A moustached elderly gentleman, Chief Inspector Eccles, cheerfully waves at them and greets them. They get so few visitors at the Mystery School. Last one got eaten by invisible stoats. Dreadful business. Mr. Jardine requested they be given full access to their investigation. They are glad to be of help. He explains that F.66 is the department of unusual death and introduces the team: A chain-smoking blonde is introduced as Constance Johanssen. Excellent occult detective. Has a habit of getting her friends killed. Two hundred at last count. Terrible shame; can’t stand the woman himself, Eccles adds.
A haughty-looking middle-aged man is introduced as Inspector Strangefoot. Taught everything he knows by a Tibetan ancient one who lived in a YMCA shelter in Clapham. Prefers to be called Doctor Strangefoot.
Finally, a bespectacled slightly overweight man with long hair is Bob, accredited exorcist, forensic scientist and self-proclaimed greatest power in the universe. Lovely chap, quite mad, Eccles adds. “Space monsters cringe at my thread,” Bob provides helpfully.
“Eyes off the chain-smoking blonde” Kitty hisses at her boyfriend before asking how Eccles’ department got the case. Eccles explains that F-66 was formed early in the century after one police commissioner who was a bobby during the Jack the Ripper murders saw occult connections in it that weren’t acted upon. For instance, the initials of the murdered women spell Manac es cem Jk. What is that telling us? “Mania is come. Jack.” Coincidence? Look at the Moore murders, eighty years later; the victims’ initials spell JK Ladee. “Jack, Laddie?” Or “Jack, Lady” as the killers were a couple? They’re here to make sure those things don’t get missed again.
And there’s plenty not to miss on this case. What do they know so far? Kitty announces that the killer is doing something to the bodies. Like fossilization…
Bob chimes in, agreeing. They discounted spontaneous decrepitude and demonic possession early on.  Best bet is that their man is a … whatchamacallit… American thing… mutant. Constance adds that he’s hitting priests theologicans, anyone with a religions background. So far, all of the unlucky are men and all her friends are dead and they bloody haunt her! Eccles interrupts her rant and Constance continues that their man is cutting symbols into the torsos of the corpses. No set of symbols are alike. It’s a game.
Bob shows them a fossilized skeleton Gideon brought in. The river police found it this morning. He may be omnipotent and everything, but it’s still got him mildly confused. This definitely means something. Kitty and Pete stare at the symbols carved into the very bones and Kitty asks if Pete brought her notepad. She wanted to get sketches of the markings. He is her dutiful packhorse, Pete replies. Any idea what it is? It’s a dead guy. The symbols a re different that the others. Not as raw…
A little later, driving away in the car Eccles loaned them, Pete seems upset. Does Kitty know what those symbols are? Does she know anyone who does? No, Kitty admits. Well, he does, but he tries to avoid them. They’re trouble. They’re a bit eccentric. Well… they’re crazier than F.66. Is she ready to meet his family? Kitty is at a loss for words.
She notices a car on the opposite road speeding up. A hand from the car reaches for them, just missing Wisdom’s face. As the hand touches their car’s side, it turns to stone. It’s their killer, they realize. Pete kicks out the fossilized door and throws hotknives at the other man’s car. It collides with a lamppost. However, when they reach it, there’s no sign of the mystery killer. Kitty decides that from now one they’ll walk everywhere. Two murder attempts before lunch…
Can they get a taxi? Pete suggests hopefully. They walk, Kitty replies sternly. Can he get a taxi? he changes his tack. Only if she can go shopping, Kitty decides. They walk, he concedes.
Secretly watching them is a woman with black-hair, through which a single red streak runs. She comments on Kitty being American and decides she is going to have to kill them both. She is not happy at the prospect.
In a dark corner, the killer sits amongst his fetishes and souvenirs. He can’t believe he tried to kill the mutant specialists from Excalibur. It was someone else who reached out for Wisdom’s head. Not his thing at all. His thing is writing letters.
And in Kitty and Pete’s hotel room, men in black are leaving their own kind of message.


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

[Assistant]
Mystery Walk
An old man with wild hair, dressed only in a short striped nightshirt steps outside the house. What do you want? Are you the bath woman? he demands. You’re late! I’ve been waiting since 1968! Do you fancy me?
Kitty Pryde, having accompanied her lover, Pete Wisdom, there, looks very confused. Pete addresses the old man as Dad and asks him if he remembers. Me, Pete Wisdom, you Harold Wisdom. Is it coming back to you, you evil, senile, old--
Oh, she’s with him, his father realizes. Calling his son a useless toerag, he asks what he wants before asking Kitty her name. Kitty introduces herself and politely trying to make conversation, she remarks how nice the house is. She’s a little nervous.
Said house is in a state of disrepair, and displays various spray messages like Trust no one, JFK died for you and Stay Away  --Die.
Harold leads them inside the dank dark house, telling his son to bring the corrupt Amerikan freemason pagan witch girlfriend with him. American pagan what? Kitty asks slightly disturbed. Harold lectures her that America is run by Freemasons who worship the A-bomb and killed JFK according to ancient pagan ritual. Riiiight, Kitty mutters.
Pete remarks that they could use his help. London’s got a serial killer again and his friend’s daughter has gone to ground somewhere in London to find the killer and get a story on him. They have to get an idea of the killer’s M.O. in order to work out where she is.
Harold lectures Kitty that he was a police specialist in serial killing from when before they had the phrase “serial killer.” Did Pete tell her that? No, Kitty trails off. It’s ok, Pete remarks sourly. He knew he would. Which is a little ironic, Harold continues, as his ex-wife, Pete’s mother, was murdered by a “spree” killer who walked through their town one day, shooting everything he could see. Everything…
Pulling himself together, he asks what they’ve got to show him. Pete hands over the case reports from the metropolitan police’s F.66 Harold recognizes them as the old department of unusual death. This must be a juicy one. Skimming over the material, he already realizes it must be a religious killer. He’s only knocking off priests and theologians…. No fury in the killings, despite him using some mutant power to fossilize the victims. It’s a calm… punishment. It’s because they’re saying something wrong, maybe, or saying a truth that he doesn’t like. There’s a message there. Not a complete looney, which makes him worse. As for the symbols, though, he’d have to call Pete’s sister. That’s her line of evil.
Oh God, Pete moans. He gives his father their hotel address and room number and suggests he doesn’t come visit. Outside, Kitty is grateful to breathe fresh air again. She thought the stench of antique pizza and prehistoric underwear was going to kill her. She notices her lover’s dejected behavior.
A tear in his eye, he admits that he never told this to anybody. The reason his mum was waiting by the front window of her little house that day was that she was waiting for him to visit. But they’d argued on the phone earlier in the week and he had no intention of going. Couldn’t be bothered to call and tell her. She was right by the window, looking out. Waiting for him and… Kitty hugs him and asks him to tell her about his mum.
Elsewhere, the killer fancies a drink and enters the Drones Club. His heart jumps when he sees a young woman. He doesn’t like her or anything  like that. He’s not allowed to enjoy himself like that. But he sees what she’s reading reflected in the wall mirror. A book called “Angels.”
He chats her up, telling her that’s a good book. Can he buy her a drink? He hasn’t done this often, has he? she asks amused. When he reacts confused she tells him it doesn’t matter. She’ll have a drink with him.
Back at the hotel, outside their room, Kitty informs Pete she wants room service to bring a bucket of Scotch and an entire cow while he fumbles with the door. Suddenly, she orders him not to move. The keyslot clicked three times. It only clicked once last. She phases through the door and sees a bomb attached to the doorknob on the other side. If he’d pulled the key out of the slot, they’d be strawberry jelly. Jam, Strawberry jam Pete corrects her. Whatever, Kitty replies annoyed. But it’s an electrical device, so by phasing through it she can kill it.
Suddenly, men in dark suits and sunglasses come out of the other room. Plan B. What? Kitty asks incredulously, “If the bomb doesn’t go off, jump out of hiding and shoot them?” Did they think that up on their own? The men fire and Kitty warns Pete those are inhibitor guns. If they hit you, they temporarily shut off you mutant talent. This really isn’t her day. She’s in a bad mood. Pete suggests she take it out on them for God’s sake…
Kitty disarms one of the attackers with a well-placed kick and another by breaking his arm. Amazing, Pete sighs in admiration, then knocks another man out.
Kitty kicks another guy in the stomach and tells him to get off her foot. Pete takes his guy’s gun. Dear–oh–dear, a real-life raygun he remarks derisively. You people are very sad. Kitty agrees as she elbows yet another guy. She’s seen better reflexes on turtles. What is he doing with that gun? Hitting people with it, Pete replies and proceeds to do so. He never claimed to be role model, right?
Another one makes a run for it. Would she please stop mucking about and catch him? Pete asks. Still fighting, Kitty retorts that she is busy. Did his legs drop off or something? Gordon Bennet, he has to do everything, he moans. Ruddy household drudge he is.
The runner has reached the elevator, but a barrage of hotknives cuts off that escape route. Talk to me, Pete orders, with a maniacal grin. “Or I will do terrible things to you. On purpose.” The man holds his gun to his head, as does Kitty’s and they shoot themselves. With guns that were only intended to hurt mutants? Pete wonders. This is too weird, Kitty sighs.
Once the police have been and gone, the two are on the couch in the hotel room. Kitty’s confused as hell. Pete thinks they are being led up the garden path. Not even Black Air attacked mutants, except near the end. This “Men in Black” thing is a blind. How is she feeling now anyway? Much better, she replies and they begin to kiss.
Their embrace becomes so passionate. They manage to throw down the couch, not that either is bothered by this, at least not until there is a polite faux cough. Kitty looks surprised at the newcomer, a woman with long black hair and glasses, whereas Pete asks annoyed if she didn’t ever learn to ruddy well knock. And is she still breaking and entering? She told him she was giving up burglary.
The woman whom he called Romany replies that the reception gave their room number and she wanted to surprise him. Critically, she adds that she doesn’t like the room. Feng Shui’s a mess. Just like her little brother. Pete tells her to shut it. This, Kitty? she asks. Yes, this Kitty, Kitty replies. Is she Pete’s sister? She’s not what she expected. Helping Kitty up, Romany replies that she’s taking that as a compliment. And Kitty seems much too nice to be hanging around with her evil brother. She is far too nice, Kitty agrees. She hasn’t been well lately. Romany decides that she likes Kitty much better than that contract killer woman from Peckham. Where are those symbols Pete wanted her to go over then?
Kitty shows her the sketches she made. Pete warns Romany that if she tries channelling that bloody Atlantean priest and do her spinning and vomiting thing, he’s going to have her legs off. She gave him up, Romany replies. People stopped inviting her out. She muses that she doesn’t like these symbols. At all. Could she see the things those markings were on?
A little later at the Mystery School, Romany has examined the skeleton and explains that the symbols on it are alchemical. Alchemy means both “evolution” and “transmutation.” It is the transformation of an article into a higher, purer form. Lead into gold is the famous one. It can be done with anything. And that transformed substance will have paranormal properties. What they have here is an alchemical man stone. To make an alchemical stone you separate its three basic elements – soul, body and spirit – and recombine them. The electricity extracted, the soul, drain off the blood, the spirit, burn what’s left, leaving you with a warped skeleton, the body. And then combine it all back together with a little magic and a lot of insanity…
And you’ve got a “man stone” Kitty completes her sentence. But what does it do?
Romany points out this is supposedly the highest form of man attainable. She’s guessing the alchemist wanted to access the mind’s higher functions. Psychic stuff. As she takes out a knife she remarks to the police that doing this to a human is close enough to murder for their purposes.
As to what it does, one of the symbols is partially scrubbed out. She re-cuts the symbols, which acts like switching the man stone on. The heart of the skeleton begins to glow as it moves, saying it feels so good. What do they wish to find? Divination, Romany explains. The alchemist made this stone as a tool to locate something. Ask it something, Bob, Dr Strangefoot suggests. Why can’t he get a girlfriend? Bob asks.
Examining the symbols, Romany remarks that they are in Enochian. The language of Heaven, they say. Interesting. Suddenly, she adds that they have a problem. She’s just put all the Enochian phrases written on the victims together. Apart they are phrases, fragments. Together, their killer is writing a letter to God. He’s writing a letter in Enochian, to his father’ father. The killer believes his father to be Adam, the first and – and his father’s father to be God. He’s asking forgiveness, asking to be allowed back into his family. Apologizing for killing his brother because the killer honestly believes himself to be Cain, son of Adam, killer of Abel and therefore the first murderer.
Exasperated, Pete states that he needs a drink. Where’s that Gideon bloke? He said he’d have a drink with them sometime. The other members of F.66 silently look at each other, then one of them orders they run to the pub and they do. Kitty and Pete look at each other, then follow. Do they get an explanation, Pete asks, when they reach the pub? Eccles orders them to fan out. Bob suggests Constance put away the gun. She refuses. Bob knows what he’s like. He’s not there, Bob replies, the toerag is gone.
Kitty and Pete demand an explanation. Suddenly a newcomer announces she will give them an explanation. A reason why they must not catch the killer. She points a gun at them and warns them that if they disobey, she will have no choice other than to kill their friends, destroy their powers and have them beaten to death.


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

[Assistant]
Mystery Train
The strange woman points her gun at Pete Wisdom. Her name isn’t important. What she is, is. She is an alchemist and a mutant. She cannot let them prosecute the killer they are hunting. For he is a mutant, too.
She’s older than she looks, she continues. She has studied mutants in this country for years. She could have been England’s Charles Xavier, if she wanted, gathering them all together… but look at the X-Men. Do they need that here? No. They’re all safer in private.
They cannot arrest him. She must kill him very quietly. Their killer is a bad boy, she cannot deny. She paints a bloody line on her gun. He planted the bomb, she continues in their car. She confesses that everything else was her doing. “The men in black” were of her devising, transmuted from humans waste, used as an attempt to throw them off the scent or remove them, or whatever… these inhibitor guns are also chemical creations derived from mutant skin cells. The manstone they recovered from the river is hers, too. She used it to divine the killer’s identity.
Everyone knows what’s going on except him, Pete protests. Couldn’t she at least tell him who the killer is before she uses her raygun on them? Yes, he’s a mutant, they got that. But they don’t have a name.
Chief Inspector Eccles interrupts, somewhat embarrassed. They only just worked that out themselves. They think Kitty and Pete met him earlier. It’s John Gideon. John’s a bit of a complete psychopath. The powers that be attached him to F.66 because they couldn’t think of anything else to do with him. Couldn’t fire him, due to his father’s connections. Can’t keep him on the regular force. He’s the undisputed king of excessive force. He spends much of the year not working.” on medical leave.”
He thinks he’s Cain, Dr. Strangefeet adds. That’s how they finagled him into F.66, Bob adds. He understood esoterica. Even been writing letters to God. Asking forgiveness for killing Abel. Constance Johansson finally tells Pete that his sister translated the Enochian script in the victims. He’d phoned the mystery school from this pub, crowing that he’d met a girl there and that he wouldn’t be coming back to work today.
Pointing her gun at Wisdom, the strange woman remarks that he is writing a letter of apology to God that he’ll finally understand because it is in his language. A public capture and trial of a man like that… and a mutant will turn them into a mirror of America. British mutants will be driven into the open and persecuted, maybe even worse than in America. She orders Wisdom and Kitty to back off and stay that way. She knows where Gideon lives. She’s leaving now to kill him. She wants them not to get in her way.
Does she think she is faster than him? Wisdom suddenly asks. Can she shoot him faster than he can shoot her? She could shoot him now, she threatens. Maybe, Pete agrees but could she take first pressure on the trigger before he drives a hotknife through the gun or through her? He wouldn’t, she states. Wouldn’t he? Pete asks. He’s killed before, he quite likes it.
While he diverts the stranger Kitty snuck up on her and kicks her, complaining whether there wasn’t another way. She doesn’t like it when people point guns at him. Well, he could have done a striptease, Pete suggests… But F.66 would have arrested him, Kitty finishes his sentence. She orders the police to get them to Gideon’s place. He’s got a woman with him.
A little later, an apologetic Eccles guides them there, claiming that while they knew Gideon was violent, they didn’t know he was a killer. They arrive at Gideon’s home, aptly in the shadow of a church. Pete orders Eccles to remain in the car until the rest of F.66 catch up. Kitty phases the two of them through the front door, asking what they will do? The usual, Pete replies. Make it up as they go along.
Inside, they are expected by a very relieved Amanda Jardine, the woman Gideon picked up in the pub. She quickly explains that she laid herself out as a target, reading books on theology in public places. He’s a religious freak… there’s someone else in there with him.
Someone is Harold Wisdom, Pete’s father, who’s holding Gideon at gunpoint. He explains that he memorized Pete’s paperwork on him and worked up a psychological profile. Gideon asks him not to shoot. He’s a police officer. So was he once, Harold replies. Detective Sergeant Harold Wisdom, New Scotland Yard. Once he realized the killer felt threatened by Christian religion, working out options for where he lived was easy. Living in the shadow of God’s house. This was only the third place he checked.
Pete orders his father away, warning him that Gideon is a mutant. He’ll turn him into an even bigger fossil if he touches him. Harold orders him to shut it. What does he care? He thinks Harold doesn’t know what he did to his poor mother? He let her die. So why does Pete give a hoot about him?
Standing there like an embarrassed little boy, Pete stammers that it wasn’t like that… just back away from him. Kitty interjects, asking Harold if he knows why Pete didn’t visit his mother that day. Yeah, he replies. She phoned him after Pete had finished with her on the phone. Told Harold all the horrible things Pete had said to her.
Can he put his hands down? Gideon asks. Harold tells him to shut it. She always called when the kids gave her grief.
Kitty continues: Did he know that Pete’s mother told him on the phone that she never loved Harold and never wanted Pete and that’s why they argued? Harold is silent.
Gideon jumps at Harold. If he has to listen to any more of this, he’ll be sick! Pete tries to drag Harold away. But too late. Gideon touches and fossilizes his left arm. Furious, Pete shouts that was his father, as he begins hitting Gideon. He might be stupid. He might be evil. He might stink. He might be insane. But you do not touch his father.
Suddenly, he screams in pain as he is hit by an inhibitor gun. The odd woman has arrived. She orders Gideon to get to the floor, but that moment Harold shoots her. That got your attention, didn’t it? I don’t fancy you a bit. Leave my boy alone.
You’re all nuts, Gideon decides as he floors it out of the window. Look who’s talking, Kitty mutters. She orders Harold to look after Pete and runs after Gideon shouting at him that he has nowhere to go. F.66 are coming in.
He runs down an underground station. Does he think she’s going to let him catch a subway train? Kitty shouts. She means the Tube, he corrects her. Whatever, she retorts.
He bypasses the security check shouting Move Police! Shift it or I’ll arrest everybody. Move! Not the police! Kitty shouts seconds later. She figures if she phases and jumps, floats down the escalator well she might catch up. Might.
Unfortunately, a train has just arrived and Gideon orders everybody out of the end carriage. Kitty manages to phase and jump into the moving carriage. It’s just her and Gideon in there, which suits her fine.
Gideon in panic turns everything he touches to stone as he screams that he hasn’t finished his letter. She can’t stop him now. He’s on his last paragraph. He’s on his last chance, Kitty shouts. Give up, take psychiatric help or it’s prison for life and then some.
He’s making a mess of the carriage, she states before realizing that he has weakened the carriage’s structure. They’ve broken loose from the rest of the train. Gideon isn’t listening. Kitty warns him that he isn’t fit enough to fight her. He retorts that he only has to touch her once. Hasn’t she ever wanted to be forgiven? he rants. Oh, sure. Did she ever turn people into big rocks and write on them? No. She doesn’t understand, he states.
Suddenly, she hears another train coming down the track and realizes when it hits the petrified carriage it’ll go like glass under a truck. Not him, he rants. He lives forever. Adam’s son.
Kitty bites her lip. She’s facing a moral quandary. If she touches him to phase him, she could lose an arm or worse. If she doesn’t, he dies here. She decides to risk it and runs towards him.
The trains collide but Gideon refuses to take her hand. Kitty phases out of the carriage at the last second. Gone, she states. She guesses he can ask God for forgiveness in person now.
Later, back at F.66’s HQ a doctor informs Harold Wisdom that he’ll lose his arm but he’ll live. Never liked that arm much anyway. It had warts, Harold replies. “Dad,” states Pete. “Son,” replies Harold in what passes for a tender moment between the Wisdom men.
The odd alchemist woman walks past them in handcuffs, ranting that she has no problem with being arrested. She got what she wanted.
Jardine thanks Pete and Kitty profusely. Pete interrupts him, just telling him it needed doing, okay?
Romany Wisdom tells her brother she loves him and asks him to take care of himself. Pete surprisingly tells her he loves her too and asks her to see that evil old git of a father of theirs off to a hospital, will she? See if she can get him to take poison or something.
With Pete gone, Kitty sighs that she thought he might start being civil about his dad. Romany tells her not to be fooled. Pete doesn’t know that she knows, but she knows that Pete’s secretly been paying the rent on their dad’s house without his knowledge since their mother died. She asks Kitty to take care of Pete.
Later at their hotel room, Kitty asks Pete to put out that cigarette already. Moan, moan, bleedin’ moan, he sighs. She’s been thinking, Kitty informs him. It worries him when she does that, he interrupts her. Kitty continues that maybe he ought to meet her family now. Of course they’d have to hunt her dad down and her mom would probably shoot him on sight, but it wouldn’t be so bad. Pete reaches for her throat, informing here that he has to punish her now. Okay, okay, she didn’t mean it, she amends. And so it goes…