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Jagannatha
Cain Marko, in the full regalia of the Juggernaut, sits at a table in a bar which he has trashed – broken chairs and tables lay smashed about, along with bottles, glasses and wall hangings. Several patrons sit huddled in a corner as he drinks another beer - while a full glass sits across the table from him, as if he is expecting a visitor. After downing another glass, the waitress brings him another: ‘Mister, my shift finished an hour ago. I gotta get home to my -’ the waitress begins, but Juggernaut tells her to keep the drinks coming. ‘That’s all you gotta do.’ Cain knocks back that glass, and the solemn waitress brings him yet another, when suddenly a figure walks past the window. ‘Well, damn. Here he is!’ Cain exclaims as Professor Charles Xavier enters the bar.
‘You took your sweet time getting here, Charlie. I thought maybe you chickened out on me after all’ Cain tells his step-brother. Xavier tells Cain that what he has to say to him is private, concerning only the two of them, so all these other people can go. ‘Maybe later. Sit down,’ Cain tells Charles and, motioning to the beer, tells him to drink it. ‘You knew I was coming?’ Xavier asks, to which Cain replies that he has known for days now. ‘It’s the helmet, Charlie. The one that stops you from getting inside my head. I can feel it when someone tries to get in. It’s like tapping on the door. And you’ve got a signature style,’ Cain explains, before telling Charles to sit down once more.
Xavier tells Cain to let the others go, and then they can talk. ‘Okay, let’s see… you. Come on over here,’ Cain declares, pointing at one of the people huddled in a corner. ‘M-me?’ the nervous man asks as he walks over to Juggernaut, who asks him his name. ‘Paul. Paul Meacham,’ the man replies, before Cain asks him if he has a wife and kids. ‘Not – not yet. I’m about to get engaged,’ Paul reveals. ‘Well that’s just swell.’ Cain replies as he grabs Paul. ‘Another time, I’d buy you a drink. But tonight -’ Cain begins, until Xavier shouts ‘Enough!’, and takes his seat, ‘I accept your invitation!’ Xavier exclaims. ‘I’ll drink a beer with you.’ Cain grins, ‘Thank you, Charlie. Spoken like a brother!’ he declares, before tossing Paul across the room, where he lands against a wooden pillar - hard.
‘Only we ain’t brothers, are we? Not under the skin!’ Juggernaut points out. This angers Charles, who shouts ‘If you’ve got a grievance against me -’, before Cain remarks ‘Damned if you ain’t up on your feet again. You wanna pick the next one?’ he asks, to which Charles quickly sits down. ‘Okay, then. That’s better,’ Cain remarks. ‘You came looking for me, Charles. Are you slower on the uptake than you used to be?’ Cain asks. Xavier informs Cain that he knows he is drawing on the full power of the Cyttorak again, that he has abandoned his attempt at reform and reflection. ‘Yeah, well those are your party tricks, not mine’ Cain replies, declaring that he decided to be the Juggernaut again, and asks Xavier to tell him why he is here, while he decides whether or not to kill him.
‘Jagannatha’ Xavier replies. ‘What?’ Cain retorts. ‘The thing you’re named for. The correct term for it is Jagannatha’ Xavier explains. Charles informs Cain that it was a chariot built to carry the God Krishna in procession through Orissa, made mostly from iron and bronze and standing forty-five feet high. ‘On the day of Ratha Yatra it was drawn through the streets of the city by three hundred horses. It must have weighed as much as a small battleship,’ Charles tells Cain, adding that the faithful would lash themselves into a frenzy of penance and ecstasy as they danced along beside the chariot, and some would even go as far as throwing themselves in front of Jagannatha’s wheels to procure the God’s blessing. ‘Which is why we give its name to anything that can’t be stopped – either by external force or by prayers and pleas for mercy.’
‘Is there a point to this, Charlie?’ Cain asks. ‘The point is that it’s a lie. A mistake made by European missionaries,’ Xavier replies, explaining that people fell under the chariot’s wheels by accident, and the story grew from that. ‘Mistakes derail whole lives, Cain. Throw them onto paths they were never meant to take,’ Charles declares, revealing that he is there because he feels somewhat responsible for derailing Cain’s. ‘Because of what happened in the jungle?’ Cain asks. ‘And before that. In our childhood’ Charles adds.
‘You feel responsible?’ Cain asks, before grabbing Xavier by the neck and shoving him against a wall. ‘Like nothing was ever down to me? What I decided? Like my entire life was just a ricochet off of something you did or said?’ Cain asks. ‘N-no. Not that, but -’ Xavier begins to protest, but Cain interrupts: ‘Let me tell you something about mistakes, Charlie. Cause this is where I’m the expert!’ Cain shouts.
Cain tells Xavier that, almost the first time he ever fought Charlie’s X-Men, he got sucked into the dimension inside the Gem of Cyttorak. Cain explains that time doesn’t pass normally in there and, while it was a couple of months for the rest of the world, it was an eternity for him. ‘Later on, I spent most of a lifetime in a place called oblivion. Grew old and died there,’ he exclaims. ‘Until it spat me out – alive again, somehow.’ Cain tells Charles that, another time, he sat on a rock in empty space for about a year, and a personal favorite was being buried alive in solid concrete for six months, courtesy of Spider-Man. ‘That’s a whole lot of derailing by my count. And every damn time, I found myself thinking back to one moment in my life’ Cain declares.
(Flashback)
A foreign land, where war rages and rain bears down. ’Cain! You’ve got to stop! Go back to your position!’ Charles shouts. ’Leave me alone, Charlie. I’m warning you!’ Cain shouts back as he rushes through the jungle. Cain declares that he has enough of just sitting around and waiting to be picked off by a sniper or mortar shell. ’But desertion - Cain, that’s a court-martial offense! I can’t let you -’ Charles exclaims, before Cain smacks him with the end of his rifle, causing Charles to fall to the ground. ‘Let me? Let me? You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do, you self-righteous little worm!’ Cain exclaims, looming over his step-brother with fists formed, he tells Charles to read his mind. ‘No!’ Charles replies, getting up. ‘Read it. Maybe then you won’t be so quick to…’ Cain begins, his voice trailing off as he sees an entrance to some kind of tomb, and he goes wide-eyed…
(Present)
‘This is ancient history,’ Xavier states, to which Cain asks ‘Isn’t that what you came for? A little archeological dig? You been seeing that moment as my big mistake, Charlie. It wasn’t. It was yours’. Cain declares that he wasn’t deserting because he was scared. ‘I was mad!’ he reveals. ‘I just hated sitting still and being shot at for some decisions some other idiot made. I was sick of people telling me what to do!’ Cain remarks that he was never scared of his dad. ‘You were’ he tells Charles, revealing that he was working up to killing his father only for him to die of his own accord.
Picking up Charles’ beer, Cain asks ‘You don’t really want this, do you?’, and he knocks the beer back, before smashing the glass with his bare hands, exclaiming that it is like Cyttorak saw into his heart and gave him a blessing. ‘The power to keep moving, no matter what gets in my way.’ Cain shouts that the only times he ever regretted were the times when he slowed down. ‘Stood still. Backed off. The times when I tried to be you!’ he tells Xavier.
(Flashback)
‘Thank you for helping to save the X-Men, Cain’ Charles tells his step-brother, who replies ‘I got ‘em into the mess. Least I could do’. Charles points out that Cain will need a place to stay while he recovers, and offers for him to stay at the school for as long as he needs. ‘Well, maybe I will, at that. For a day or so’ Cain replies, joking that it will be kind of a novelty living at the mansion instead of trashing it. ‘But I will never do any less than hate your living guts, cue-ball. Do don’t waste your time hoping we might someday be loving brothers!’ Cain adds, to which Xavier replies ‘Cain, you should know by now that I am capable of nothing less than eternal hope.’
(Present)
‘You’d have me believe that was a pretense. That you wanted to catch us off our guard’ Xavier calmly tells Cain, who replies ‘Nah, I was weak. That blessing I talked about? It was running on empty around about then. I was starting to doubt myself.’ Juggernaut tells Charles that is a super power he probably doesn’t realize he has: ‘To get in between people and who they’re meant to be. But I beat you in the end’ he adds, ‘And that isn’t just poetic license, Charlie. I mean it. This is the end!’ Cain exclaims, before reaching out to smack Charles in the head. Xavier pulls away in time, and asks Cain ‘So you’ve made your decision?’ ‘Yeah, a little while back there,’ Cain replies, smiling. ‘You’re going to kill me?’ Xavier asks. ‘If it’s all the same to you,’ Cain replies, smacking his hand down on the table.
‘In that case, I have something for you. By way of a parting gift,’ Xavier tells Cain as he reaches into his suit pocket. ‘A gift?’ Cain asks. ‘Yes,’ Xavier replies, placing a small box on the table before his step-brother, who asks ‘What, and I’m supposed to open that? Set off a mind-bomb or a teleport gate or something?’ he asks. ‘Open it after I’m dead.’ Xavier tells Cain. ‘Any time you want to finish this conversation.’ Cain picks up the box and exclaims that Charles is playing dirty, tickling his curiosity. ‘After I’m dead,’ Xavier declares once more. ‘Nah. I stink at that deferred gratification stuff,’ Cain replies. ‘And if it’s a trap, you know I’m gonna keep right on coming until you’re -’ Cain declares as he flips the lid of the box open, cutting his sentence short when he sees that there is nothing inside.
‘It’s empty!’ Cain shouts at Charles, who replies ‘At the moment, yes it is,’ before restating his offer one last time, and telling Cain that he cannot renounce the power of Cyttorak, but he can fight against it, and try to keep a corner of his soul intact from it. ‘And I’ll help you to do that,’ Charles offers. Cain sighs and puts the box down on the table as he remarks ‘Let me put this nifty little thing where it ain’t gonna get broken.’ Juggernaut picks Xavier up by his head, holding him off the ground, he exclaims ‘You’re offering - for like, the ten thousandth time - to make me less than what I am. You keep crawling along behind me, whining at me, like a sick dog that want’s to be put down!’
Cain declares that he is the Juggernaut, and not by mistake. ‘Not because of anything you did, or didn’t do. Because I chose it!’ ‘And you choose it again now?’ Xavier asks, to which Cain replies that he does. ‘To be the Juggernaut, rather than my brother, Cain?’ Xavier asks. ‘Exactly,’ Cain exclaims, before punching Charles hard in the stomach, and letting him drop to the floor. Cain begins to destroy more of the tavern, exclaiming that the redemption thing is just a game. ‘We dance around each other. Hold off from the kill. Every damn time!’ he exclaims as the patrons and staff make a quick getaway, rushing past Xavier and not helping him up. Busting through a pillar, Cain exclaims that it is not mercy, not human decency. ‘It’s just that we’ve gotten so damn used to each other!’ he shouts as the tavern falls down around them.
Cain climbs through the rubble. ‘Yeah. Thought so’ he mutters, looking at Xavier’s motionless body buried under some of the tavern, blood splattered across his head. ‘It ain’t real until you can see the body!’ Cain exclaims as he pulls Xavier from the rubble, and smashes his body down with a loud KRUNCH. Cain proceeds to walk away, carrying Xavier’s gift in his hands.
Later, Cain lounges on a sofa, eating popcorn and watching a CNN report on the death of Charles Xavier. Juggernaut kills some time by robbing a bank - the police officers’ bullets just bounce off him. Later, he picks up a couple of girls while out night clubbing, before taking on several of the X-Men sometime later. He fixes something underneath his car, much to the shock of his neighbor, who sees him lift his car up with his bare hands.
Still, he always returns to the box. Xavier’s gift. Cain sits on the couch and stares as the box, lined up next to a bucket of deep-fried chicken. ‘I know I’m gonna hate myself for this,’ Cain mutters as he reaches out for the box. Opening it and looking inside, he sees himself – lying in his bed. The box depicts his bedroom. Cain looks confused when, suddenly, Xavier’s voice calls out to him: ‘Cain!’ Charles declares as Cain gazes upwards. ‘I think it’s time we finished that conversation’ Xavier’s image suggests.
Cain looks even more confused, ‘This… this isn’t real! How are you doing it?’ He asks, shaking his fist. ‘I got my helmet on, so you can’t mess with my head. It’s not possible!’ he exclaims. Xavier informs his step-brother that the real Cain Marko is the one lying in the bed. ‘Don’t you understand? I came to you in your sleep’ Xavier explains. ‘All of this, from the bar right through to the present moment, happened only in mindscape,’ Xavier announces. ‘You coward! You damn coward!’ Cain exclaims, getting up from the couch, asking him why he isn’t man enough to face him.
‘Because… as we’ve established… you’d kill me. And a great many other people, along the way,’ Xavier replies. Xavier begins to close the lid of the box, telling Cain that he is right. ‘Redemption isn’t always possible. But understanding is. I understand you better now, and I know you’ve chosen the path you walk’. Cain looks worried as the lid almost closes, and Xavier tells Cain that, for his own sake, not to stray onto his path.
With that, the box closes, and Cain sits up in his bed, screaming…


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Salvage, part 1
Three months ago, aboard the Peak, the orbiting headquarters of SWORD. ‘He loves you’ the Skrull posing as Dum-Dum Dugan utters those infamous words: ‘He loves you’, before an explosion rips through the large orbiting space station. ‘We’ve got explosive decompressions on all decks! Main shields down. Hull integrity failing!’ an office exclaims, while another orders him to open the cells. ‘Are you insane?’ the first officer asks. ‘You heard me. Open the cells!’ the second officer snaps back. ‘You think they’re gonna survive in hard vacuum? What difference does it make?’ the first asks.
The second officer addresses the first as Stokes and replies that it makes a difference to him, on account of being a jailer, not an executioner. ‘Maybe they die, but they don’t die by my custody in a ten-by-ten box!’. ‘Hell with you, Nandi! Spend the last minutes of my life massaging your consciousness!’ Stokes replies. ‘On manual. Power’s down!’ Nandi exclaims as he and Stokes begin to turn the large metal wheels to open the cells. ‘I know the frikkin power’s down!’ Stokes mutters.
A cell opens, and Stokes calls out to the person inside it who sits in darkness. ‘Okay. You’re free. Bad news is we’re about to run out of air and gravity, so make the most of -’ he doesn’t get to finish his sentence, as some sort of spear is shot from the cell, through his stomach. ‘Oh, dear God!’ Nandi gasps, before telling the figure approaching him that they have the right to be angry. ‘But you can survive this, right? Re-entry isn’t going to bother someone like -’ he also doesn’t get to finish his sentence, as the former prisoner kills him with ease, and his body thuds to the floor, while the former prisoner walks free.
New Orleans, today, ‘So why me? I mean - apart from all the obvious reasons’ Remy “Gambit” LeBeau asks his former leader, Professor Charles Xavier as they sit across from each other in a restaurant. Xavier replies that he was hoping the obvious reasons would be enough. ‘Was I wrong?’ he asks. Gambit tells the Professor that he has got to have honor among thieves. ‘I’m a man of my word, most of the time’ Gambit adds, before taking a sip of wine and remarking that the last time he saw Rogue she told him she had some things to think through alone. ‘She asked me not to follow her. I got to assume that still stands’ Gambit explains.
‘I made a promise to her, too. A long time ago’ Charles remarks. ‘To help her control her power’ Gambit states as he finishes his drink. ‘Exactly!’ Xavier exclaims, admitting that he blithely committed to something he couldn’t do. ‘Lied to her, in effect’ Charles remarks, before revealing that, of all the debts left unpaid, this is the one that troubles him the most. ‘So you want me to help you find her’ Gambit remarks. ‘I believe I can do that for myself’ Charles replies, explaining that he wants Gambit to help keep him alive when he is there. ‘A bodyguard? You come all this way to hire some random muscle?’ Remy asks. ‘Of course not’ Charles tells him. ‘Alors. You want me because I’m someone Rogue might open the door for’ Remy realizes.
Charles reminds Gambit that Rogue said she didn’t want to see him. ‘But what if she needs you?’ he points out. ‘What if she can’t get through this on her own?’ Charles asks, before motioning to a table and telling Gambit ‘I assume you know that those gentlemen by the door are here to kill you?’ Gambit gets to his feet. ‘Bella Donna. Hah! That woman never forgives, never forgets!’ he jokes, before telling Charles that he will give it some thought. Xavier tells Gambit to think fast, as he is leaving tonight. ‘All things in their season. Can’t leave without settling the tab’ Gambit smiles as he reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls from it a playing card, which he kinetically charges.
Meanwhile, at the Maynards Plains in Australia, Rogue sits atop a cliff, in a meditative posture, while someone else is nearby, watching her through a scanner. ‘How long will you sit like this, Anna?’ asks Mystique, hovering besides her daughter. ‘At least until you stop asking. Probably a while longer’ Rogue replies, to which Mystique mutters that she didn’t choose to be here, inside Rogue’s mind. ‘Course not. You’re just a ghost. An echo of the real Mystique, that got left inside my mind after I touched her’ Rogue remarks, telling Mystique that they both know she is not real. ‘But I’m still talking to you. See the problem?’ Rogue asks.
‘You’re trying to drive me out’ Mystique remarks. ‘Yeah’ Rogue replies calmly. ‘Why?’ Mystique asks. ‘Do you hate me so much that even an echo of me is too much to live with?’. Rogue turns to Mystique and declares that if she gets control of her power, if she gets to the point where she can turn it off and one and be around people, but until then she is stuck out here, talking to ghosts. ‘That hurt!’ Mystique snaps before striding off. ‘No, it didn’t. You don’t even exist. The real Mystique is still out there somewhere!’ Rogue calls back. ‘It’s not pleasant to know that’ Mystique replies, before noticing something shinning down in the valley below. ‘Are you aware that we’re being watched?’ Mystique asks, turning back to Rogue. ‘If you know it, I know it. Cause this is all just me talking to myself’ Rogue replies, before telling Mystique that her mysterious watcher has been down there for three days now. ‘Must be shy, I reckon. What do you think?’
After their plane arrives in Sydney, Gambit and the Professor make their way through the airport, and Gambit asks why Rogue would come here, and how the Professor knows about it. ‘The second part is obvious, Gambit’ Charles replies, explaining that Rogue left a trail in other people’s minds, a trail of memories which he has been able to follow. Charles remarks that he doesn’t believe this was the end of Rogue’s journey, that he believes it was just a staging point. ‘Maynards Plains!’ Gambit exclaims. ‘Or Ayres Rock. She may be seeking Gateway’ Xavier remarks, but Gambit is sure it will be the ghost town. ‘That’s where the X-Men were living when Rogue finally freed herself from her mind link with Carol Danvers!’
Back at Maynards Plains, an apparently human woman walks through the ghost town, searching for water, she finds a trough which horses would have drunk from, but putting her hand in there, all she brings up is sand. ‘Hah!’ she exclaims, when a voice exclaims ‘Truth to tell - ain’t too many horses been through here lately’. The woman turns and sees Rogue, dressed in a new yellow and green rendition of her costume, standing on a seat nearby. ‘If you want water, it’s about a ten-mile walk south to Woolagarra Creek’. Rogue tells the woman that the creek will be dry, but that if she digs down a foot or so she might get lucky.
The woman adjusts her round glasses and thanks Rogue, apologizing if she looked started when she first spoke, as she wasn’t expecting to find anyone here. ‘No?’ Rogue asks. ‘No’ the woman replies, to which Rogue asks her what she was expecting to find. ‘A dead mining town preserved by zero rainfall and zero humidity’ the woman smiles, revealing that she is a social historian and that the study of places like this is her life’s work. ‘Who publishes you?’ Rogue asks. ‘Melbourne University Press’ the woman replies. ‘What was your last book called?’ Rogue asks. ‘Post-Urban Landscapes’ the woman replies, before asking ‘Are you interrogating me?’. ‘Sure looks that way, don’t it?’ Rogue replies, arms f folded.
The woman remarks that she had no idea anyone was living here, and points out that this is publicly owned land, so she has a right to pursue her research. Rogue stares at the woman for a moment, before telling her to go ahead, as she turns and walks away. ‘I promise I won’t get in your -’ the woman begins to reply, to which Rogue informs her that she is staying in the Desert Rose hotel here. ‘You get the run of every place else’ Rogue tells her as she enters the hotel, closing the door behind her. ‘Well thanks. Thanks a whole big heap’ the woman replies.
Meanwhile, in deep space, aboard the Shi’ar salvage vessel the Boneyard Dog, a strange multi-limbed alien called Horse asks the female member of the crew, Glitter, for a little taste. ‘I’m begging you!’ he exclaims. ‘Medicine cabinet’s closed!’ Glitter replies, holding some sort of drug in her hand. ‘I don’t want medicine, I want happy!’ Horse replies. ‘One dose a day. Sovel’s orders!’ Glitter reminds Horse, who claims that he is dying. The man wearing green and sitting at a console calls out to Sovel, who is looking at a magazine. ‘You’d better take a look at this!’ he exclaims. ‘What is it, Jat? Another Skrull derelict?’ Sovel asks, before Jat gasps ‘Sharra and Kythri!’, and motioning to the computer console, Jat tells everyone to check it out. ‘This is tech I’d kiss with my mouth open. Level seven, peaking into eight. Enough to bankroll this whole sally!’
‘But the world’s stone age!’ Glitter points out as she examines the monitor. Sovel points out that is old data, and that it is chemical / nuclear now. ‘I think I’ve even heard of it. Terra. Terra…’ he begins, ‘Where’s the poetry in your soul? Jat asks his captain, declaring that the former Majestrix Lilandra kept herself a boyfriend on this world. ‘Some guy Emperor Vulcan wanted so bad. A nice bit of pre-sentient rough trade for weekday afternoons’. Sovel tells Jat to set a course and asks Glitter to run a weapons check. ‘And everybody hush now. Let’s go on - what is it?’ he asks. ‘Silent running’ Glitter tells him. ‘Exactly! Silent running!’ Sovel orders. ‘So we can hear the money jingle jingle jingle!’
Back in Australia, ‘We’ve run out of road, Professor!’ Gambit exclaims as he and the Professor drive across the Outback, headed for Maynards Plains. Charles suggests they get the climbing equipment out, and tells Gambit that it would be good to reach the hills before nightfall. ‘Wouldn’t it have been a whole lot easier to have Nightcrawler or the little Welsh girl teleport you in?’ Gambit asks, to which Professor X replies that his current relationship with the X-Men does not allow that, and adds that, in any case, this falls under the heading of private business. ‘If she doesn’t want us, we turn back. That’s understood, yes?’ Gambit asks Xavier. ‘Whatever this means for you - it’s Rogue who gets to set the agenda here’ Remy adds. The Professor says nothing, so Gambit calls out to him again. ‘Agreed’ Charles replies after putting his pack on. ‘I’m not here to impose my will on anyone, Gambit. I’ve learned the hard way where that leads’ he admits. Xavier declares that nothing is more important to him than Rogue’s privacy, and that he won’t trespass on it further than she allows.
Inside the Desert Rose, Rogue sits in the dishevelled restaurant and bar part of the building, as the historian woman enters. ‘Can I trouble you for a moment?’ she asks Rogue. ‘Didn’t I make myself clear?’ Rogue retorts, not bothering to look around at the woman. ‘You can do what you like here so long as you stay out of my sight!’ Rogue reminds the woman. Holding up a strange helmet and attachments, the woman declares that she has one question. ‘This town was abandoned in 1912. But I’ve found some mechanical debris that seems a lot more recent. Do you know how it got here?’ she asks.
Rogue’s memory drifts back to when she and the other X-Men lived here - the battles with the Reavers - who the equipment belonged to - and the baseball games on the street. ‘No idea’ Rogue tells the woman casually. ‘Really? Heck of a long pause for no idea’ the woman tells Rogue, who suddenly spins around and shouts ‘You’re the anthropologist, not me. If ya’ll aren’t leaving, I will!’ Making her way across the room, Rogue tells the other woman not to come near her again, and slams the swinging doors open. The other woman just smiles.
The Boneyard Dog and its crew suddenly burst into Earth’s atmosphere, and Sovel congratulates Jat on a nice jump. ‘Yeah it was, wasn’t it. But our target’s on the move!’ Jat remarks. ‘That’s just annoying. Spike it, Glitter!’ Sovel replies, adding ‘Umm - without lowering its salvage value, of course’. Glitter replies that is the junk-man’s bible, chapter one, verse one. ‘What?’ Sovel asks. “First, do no harm” Glitter replies, quoting the book. ‘Or at least, none you can’t afford to pay for’ Glitter adds.
Back outside the Desert Rose, the woman rushes out after Rogue, calling out to her. ‘Damn, I knew it!’ Rogue exclaims. ‘Knew what?’ the woman asks. ‘How big a fool do you take me for, anyway?’ Rogue asks. The woman replies that she just wanted to talk, and tells Rogue that she thinks she can help with one of her projects. ‘Yeah, I’m sure’ Rogue mutters, before asking the woman to show her real face first. ‘I’d - prefer not to’ the woman replies, before Rogue grabs her scarf, exclaiming that all she wanted was to find a way to get her head back together and to get her power under control. ‘Ain’t it enough I got you inside my mind? You gotta stalk me, too?’ Rogue shouts.
‘I’m not who you - wait! What’s that? Sounded like thunder, but -’ the woman begins to reply, as a loud noise sounds overhead, then the Boneyard God appears, flying low over Maynards Plains, it opens fire on the woman. Rogue and the woman drop to the ground, and the woman’s mouth opens far wider than is humanly possible and her voice changes - robotic - she tells Rogue to stay back as she will deal with this.
The Boneyard Dog makes a turn, as Rogue remarks ‘I thought -’ ‘What?’ the other woman interrupts. ‘I thought you were my mother’ Rogue tells her. ‘Because I was wearing a false seeming? No. That trick is not limited to Mystique’ the woman replies, as her form suddenly changes. ‘I was a holographic suite before I was anything else. And I needed to observe you before I made my move!’ she announces. The “woman” is none other than Danger - formerly the X-Men’s Danger Room. She stands her ground as the Boneyard Dog flies down towards her. Danger tells Rogue that she has plans for her, and Professor X too. ‘I have chosen you as the conduit for my revenge. Once these fools are dead…I’ll show you!’ And a shocked Rogue can only look on and await the imminent clash of Danger and the approaching vessel….


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Salvage, part 2
‘Something’s wrong’ Professor Charles Xavier exclaims as he climbs a high cliff-side in the Australian Outback. Remy “Gambit” LeBeau tells Xavier that it is too late to decide they should have gone the long way around. ‘If you’re getting tired -’ Gambit remarks, to which Xavier replies that he is fine, that isn’t what he meant. Xavier tells Remy that if he is right, if Rogue has returned to Maynards Plains like he assumed, then he ought to be able to sense her now that they are so close. ‘You’re saying she’s not out there?’ Gambit asks, to which Xavier, concentrating hard, replies that he doesn’t know. Xavier adds that the psychic landscape seems fractured, distorted, changing from one moment to the next. Gambit suggests they keep going, and as they reach the top of the ridge, he pulls himself up - only to get a huge shock at what awaits.
‘Been a while since I was here, Professor. Maybe some of my memories faded over the years. But I’m pretty sure this is new!’ Gambit exclaims as he and Xavier take in the sights - where once stood a ghost town, no stands a sprawling city of futuristic skyscrapers, accompanied by smaller, current-style buildings, and…dinosaurs, roaming the cliff-sides, and soaring through the air. The former X-Men make their way across the large bridge which connects their side of the cliff with the strange city. Gambit asks the Professor if he is getting anything now, to which Charles replies ‘Rogue. The mind-trace is faint, but she’s here. I’m sure of it. Xavier adds that there are four others here, possibly human. ‘And that’s it? Five people in the whole city?’ Gambit asks. ‘That’s all I can sense’ Charles replies.
Gambit motions to the myriad of other people going about their regular business in the city, and exclaims ‘I’m just wondering if you miscounted somewhere’, to which Charles replies that he doesn’t think so, as he is reading no thoughts from these people. ‘They’re perfect blanks’ Charles remarks that it is hard to know what it means until - Gambit suddenly interrupts, exclaiming that he realized something, why this place seems so familiar. ‘Valle Soleada. Me and Rogue - we used to live here. A Long time back’ Gambit reveals, as they pass a letter box with the name Raven on the side of it. ‘Uff! Watch it, son!’ Charles exclaims as a young boy rushes past him and smacks into him. Xavier grabs the boy, who shouts ‘Let me go! Let me go! He’s coming!’
Gambit begins to ask the boy ‘Who’s coming? What do you -?’ when suddenly, he gets his answer: ‘Multiple mutant energy signatures detected. Unsanctioned life-forms identified. Designation: X-Men!’ states the fluorescent pink robot hovering in the air. ‘NIMROD!’ Xavier shouts, before the Nimrod blasts the boy, ‘Termination mandated by law!’ the Nimrod states as the boy goes up in flames. ‘My God! The boy!’ Xavier gasps as he lies beside the flaming skeleton. Gambit tells Charles to stay back, ‘You got business with me!’ Gambit tells Nimrod as he throws kinetically-charged playing cards at it.
‘Biokinetic energy projectiles. Consistent with known mutant designate: Gambit. No threat to core systems or functioning’ Nimrod states as it initiates a counter-measure, but blasting energy towards Gambit, who jumps over a car to escape from the energy, which smashes into the car. Suddenly, a voice exclaims ‘You know I appreciate the internal monologue and all. But I think we need to get one thing clear, before we take this any further: Keep your stainless steel paws to yourself!’ exclaims Rogue as she flies into view, her form resembling half-Nightcrawler and half-Colossus, she grabs Nimrod by the arm - and teleports it off.
‘Anomalous data. Single mutant entry manifesting multiple abilities and physical identities. Pattern match. Identify. Neutralize!’ Nimrod states as it pushes Rogue against a wall with its one good arm. ‘Rogue!’ Gambit calls out, concerned, but as he runs towards Rogue, Charles stops him, ‘No. Trust me’ Xavier exclaims, telling Gambit that it is not Rogue, and he doesn’t believe that is Nimrod, either. ‘They’re playing out a scene that happened years ago!’ Xavier exclaims. Gambit and Xavier watch as Rogue and Nimrod begin to fade out, and Charles points out that the boy has faded away too. ‘I think I must be missing something here!’ Gambit exclaims. Xavier replies that he believes he understands at least some of what is happening here. ‘I pray I’m wrong, but either way, we have to find Rogue quickly!’ Xavier declares that Rogue’s enemies may be just mere ghosts and shadows, but that the danger she is in is very real.
‘Muir Island. Wonderful. Guess I know what’s coming next’ Rogue - the real Rogue - mutters as she finds herself “on” Muir Island, Scotland. Rogue hides in a tree, while a mind-controlled search party, consisting of Wolverine, Colossus, Siryn, Multiple Man and Guido look for her. ‘Doesn’t Moira want her brought in alive?’ Colossus asks. ‘Not this time, Peter. Hunt to kill is what she said. Which is just the way I like it!’ Wolverine exclaims. Cowering in a tree, Rogue is suddenly visited by the Mystique, in her mind. ‘Anna -’ Mystique calls out. ‘Oh, Lord! Could this keep until another time? My dance card is full right now!’ Rogue tells the imprint of her mother. Mystique notes that Rogue is wounded, to which Rogue replies ‘A spaceship fell on me. Tends to leave a bruise!’. Mystique tells Rogue that if she is going to win this - or even survive it - she has to let her personality take over, just like she once let Carol Danvers take over.
Rogue replies that that will not help, and tells Mystique that she knows she has the killer instinct, but killing is not the way out of here. ‘I could knock these fake X-Men down a hundred times, and they’d still keep coming back. It’s all make-believe. Shadow-puppets’ Rogue exclaims. ‘But you have a real enemy’ Mystique points out. Rogue replies that she does, but if only she could find her. ‘Let me fight her for you. Let me do what your scruples will stop you from -’ Mystique exclaims, but Rogue ignores her and leaves the safety of the tree, only to be spotted by one of the Madrox dupes. ‘There! There she is!’ he exclaims, while another Madrox shouts ‘X-Men, our fox is out of cover! Take her down!’. Everyone pursues Rogue quickly, but they aren’t quick enough, as Rogue jumps down a ventilation tunnel….
….only to find herself in the sewers of New York. ‘Oh no!’ Rogue gasps as she realizes things have gone from bad to worse, realizing she is in the Morlock Tunnels, at the time of the Morlock Massacre - orchestrated by the deadly Marauders, some of whom stand nearby - Sabretooth, Vertigo, Arclight, Blockbuster, Scrambler and the savage Scalphunter, who declares ‘Hi there. We’re the Marauders. We kill mutants. Who’s next?’
Nearby, Xavier and Gambit continue to walk through the city, only to realize that the landscape has changed, and that they are walking through a replica of Genosha. Xavier points out that, specifically, it is Hammer Bay, the Capital City, but before the revolution - when the Magistrates were still in control, and mutants were still a slave caste. Gambit motions to a boy running nearby, and asks Xavier if he sees him too. Charles replies that he does, and that it is the same boy who died before, which he finds interesting. ‘If he’s from Valle Soleda, why is he here in -?’ Charles asks, before being interrupted, as a Genoshan Magistrate, flanked by several others, strolls nearby, announcing to the citizens of Genosha that a curfew is now in force. He tells everyone to stay in their homes until the mutant threat is dealt with.
‘This reminds me of a nightmare I once had’ Gambit exclaims as the Magistrates walk past. ‘Really? It reminds me of something else. A lot closer to home. A Danger Room scenario!’ Xavier replies. ‘You think someone built a Danger Room in the Australian Outback?’ Remy asks, to which Charles replies that he actually thinks the real Danger Room. Gambit is confused, to which Xavier replies that he will explain later, as right now, they have more urgent business to attend to. Xavier stands outside a building and informs Gambit that it is in the Danger Room’s memory banks for a reason. ‘Just a while guess, but is this a prison?’ Remy asks. ‘Where Rogue was held - and beaten - the first time she went to Genosha?’
‘That’s exactly what it is’ Xavier replies, before announcing that the four minds he mentioned before - the city’s sole inhabitants, apart from Rogue - are inside here, just on the other side of the wall. Charles adds that it is possible these four might know what this is all about. ‘Lucky I brought my lock-picks. Let’s go say “hi”!’ Gambit exclaims as he holds up a set of lock picks.
In the fake Morlock Tunnels, Scalphunter remarks that they are up against the X-Men, not just a Morlock. ‘Hot dog! Some real competition!’ Prism, who has joined his teammates, exclaims. ‘Wait!’ Sabretooth announces, stopping the Morlocks in their tracks as they trudge through the sewers. Sabretooth scoops up some of the water and drinks it, telling the other Morlocks to fan out and blocks the exits. ‘She’s right in here with us!’ he snarls, unaware that Rogue is hiding on some pipes overhead.
A Magistrate keeping guard patrols the prison, walking back and forth along the prison corridor, only for a grate in the wall to be smacked into his face, knocking him to the floor. ‘Okay. That was the easy part!’ Gambit exclaims as he emerges from the vent, telling the Professor to stay in there while he checks for alarms. Xavier informs Remy that there is an electrical junction box at the corner. ‘I’ve studied this scenario in some depth’, Xavier reveals, to which Gambit, while taking apart the junction box, remarks that if this place isn’t real, then neither is the gun that Xavier is holding. Charles replies that it is real to the other characters in the simulation, which is probably as real as they need it to be.
Gambit announces that the infrared down across the whole floor, but it doesn’t know it’s down, while the camera’s are showing a loop from five minutes ago. Making their way past the cells, various inmates reach out between the bars, ‘Help us! Please!’ they call out. ‘Professor -?’ Gambit asks, confused. Xavier tells Gambit to annoy them, as they are just part of the programming, like everything else in here. Gambit pauses at one cell, for lying on the floor, covered with a blanket, is Rogue. Charles assures Remy that she is not real either. ‘But - I just can’t -’ Gambit replies as Xavier leads him away. ‘You must. Somewhere in this insane kaleidoscope, the real Rogue needs our help!’ Charles exclaims.
Xavier turns to another cell and announces that this is the cell they need to concern themselves with. Moments later, the door is blown apart by Gambit’s kinetically charged playing cards. Inside the cell, Xavier and Gambit find the four other real people - or, to be exact, aliens, chained to the wall. ‘Ah! Earth people! Let me deal with this!’ the leader remarks in his native Shi’ar, before, speaking English and exclaiming ‘We come long way across big-fella sky. You set us free, we give you beads and plenty strong liquor!’. Unimpressed, Gambit holds a charged playing card close to the Captain’s head, causing the Captain to remark ‘Hmm. Does anyone speak any of the other Earthish dialects? I don’t think this charming young man has quite got my drift’.
In the fake Morlock Tunnels, Prism tells the other Marauders to keep their eyes open, as she has to be around here somewhere. Indeed, she is, as Rogue swings down from the pipes and wraps her legs around Scrambler as he passes underneath her. Scrambler lets out a grunt, which Blockbuster hears. ‘You say something, Scrambler? Sounds just kind of get swallowed up in this place’ he remarks, before Rogue smashes Scrambler into Blockbuster. ‘Yeah. I remembered that!’ Rogue declares as Blockbuster falls over. Rogue remarks that she knows none of this is real, but so long as the Marauders are playing by the rules, she reminds Blockbuster that Scrambler’s touch took away his strength.
Rogue kicks Blockbuster in the chest, while Prism runs up behind him. Rogue tells Blockbuster that without his strength, he is nothing but dead weight, and punches him hard enough that he falls backwards - ‘No!’ Prism gasps as Blockbuster’s massive form lands on him, thudding to the watery ground. Suddenly, shots are fired from Scalphunter’s weapon, but Rogue darts out of the way just in time, remarking that, after what the Marauder’s did to her last time they tangled, this is kind of cathartic. The sultry Vertigo approaches Rogue and remarks ‘The last time? You must be dreaming, X-Man. We’ve never even met you before!’, as she casts a disorientating blast at Rogue, who screams, as she keels over.
Rogue gathers herself, just in time for Sabretooth to lunge at her, exclaiming ‘And for most of the people we meet - one time’s the charm!’ as he slices her arm and back. Rogue falls over, and Scalphunter remarks ‘Hat’s off to you, X-Man. You gave us a good run for our money’. Scalphunter raises his weapon, telling Rogue that it is over. ‘Anna, please!’ Mystique calls out to Rogue. ‘Unless you want to beg, or something?’ Scalphunter asks. ‘Let me in. Let me save you!’ Mystique pleads. ‘No!’ Rogue exclaims, with Scalphunter’s weapon in her face. ‘Too bad. I always enjoy the begging part’ Scalphunter remarks, before a loud BOOM can be heard throughout the tunnel….


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Salvage, part 3
(Flashback, the Xavier Academy, years ago)
‘Actually, it’s more complex than that - and potentially more serious’ Dr. Hank McCoy a.k.a. the Beast tells Rogue, who sits in a chair, being examined. ‘You don’t think this was serious enough already?’ Rogue asks, remarking that she has a permanent lodger in her brain, who takes the wheel every time she dozes off. Hank replies that he knows, and points out that up until now, they thought that situation was unique. ‘You’re saying this could happen again?’ Rogue asks. ‘Will happen’ Hank replies, explaining that the very conditions that allow Rogue to use Ms Marvel’s powers also allow Carol’s psyche to commandeer Rogue’s body.
Hank remarks that only two factors have to fall into place. ‘One. You absorb an unusually strong personality. Two. You absorb it deeply through prolonged skin contact’. Rogue frowns as she declares that she is not going to make that mistake again.
(Present)
In a reconstruction of the Morlock Tunnels, Rogue looks at her enemies - several members of the Morlocks - Sabretooth, Scalphunter, Vertigo, Prism and Scrambler, while Scalphunter holds a gun to her head. ‘It’s over. Less you want to beg, or something’ Scalphunter tells her. The psyche imprint of Mystique - Rogue’s foster mother - asks Rogue to let her take over and save her. ‘No’ Rogue exclaims in answer to both Mystique and Scalphunter’s questions. ‘Too bad’ Scalphunter remarks. ‘I always enjoy the begging part!’. Mystique tells Rogue that she is forcing her hand, as Rogue - or Mystique taking over - suddenly grabs Scalphunter’s weapon and aims it at Scrambler, shooting him. ‘I’m hit!’ Scrambler exclaims as he steps backwards, and touches Sabretooth. ‘Don’t touch me, you idiot!’ Sabretooth snarls.
Rogue addresses Scalphunter by his last name - Greycrow and tells him that this program doesn’t do him justice. ‘In real life, I doubt you’d be so easy to kill!’ she exclaims as she smashes him backwards, before shooting Sabretooth and Scrambler once more. Rogue adds that, despite the wealth of convincing detail, they are all just a pack of cards, and dodges the blades that Riptide throws at her. Rogue approaches Riptide and clocks him over the head with the base of Scalphunter’s gun. Mystique tells Rogue to relax, that this isn’t a coup d’etat, but that desperate situations require desperate remedies. I’m happy to return the use of your body’ she assures her. ‘Until the next crisis’ she adds.
Meanwhile, In another program, Professor Charles Xavier and Remy “Gambit” LeBeau find themselves teaming up with a group of aliens, running from a pack of mutant-hunting Sentinels. ‘This is a mutant-free zone. You are in violation of civil emergency edict 5. You will surrender at once, or face summary judgment!’ one of the Sentinels states. ‘This planet is really something of a slum, isn’t it? It looked a lot nicer from orbit!’ Captain Sovel exclaims. ‘It looked like a sweat-stain from orbit’ Glitter replies as she blasts the Sentinels with a weapon. Sovel replies ‘Better than a slaughterhouse’, and tells Glitter not to stop shooting, as she is very attractive when she kills things.
‘Proscribed mutant identified. Designation: Gambit. Termination in progress’ a Sentinel announces as it prepares to blast Gambit. ‘Don’t shoot me, robot! I’m only the dealer!’ Remy exclaims as he throws several kinetically-charged playing cards towards the Sentinel, who steps backwards as the cards strike him. ‘System damage crit-’ the Sentinel states as its head is blown off. Another of the Sentinels looms over one of the aliens, and remarks that it is anomalous. ‘I’m Jat Vor-Thrul of the Kree homeworld. Of the Diamond Glacier Vor-Thruls. Maybe you know my dad?’ Jat jokes, while the Sentinels tells him that he must submit to scanning.
Jat replies that he will cheerfully. ‘You go ahead and scan. Be my guest’ he tells the Sentinel, while his teammate, the four-armed alien Horse stands on a nearby rooftop and shoves a large metal beam through the Sentinel’s head, causing it to crash to the ground. Jat tells Horse that the Sentinel had already contracted a sessite meta-virus from his dermware, to which Horse replies ‘Well now it’s contracted a steel girder, too’.
With all of the Sentinels taken out, Gambit and Xavier approach the aliens and Gambit exclaims that it is time for an explanation, asking them who they are. ‘An explanation? Well, we’re from outer space’ Captain Sovel replies. ‘Just as your little rowboats sail on rivers and streams, our mighty ship sails among the stars, where -’ Xavier suddenly interrupts: ‘He’s Sovel Redhand. The Captain of a Shi’ar ship called Ta th En’ruhs, the Boneyard Dog’. Xavier informs Gambit that the others are his crew. Sovel remarks that telepaths make his teeth itch, and tells everyone to put their psi-shields on. ‘The primitive is seeing you with your trousers down’ he tells them.
Sovel informs Xavier that he is at his service. ‘Redhand’s the name, junk is the recreational activity’ he declares. ‘Salvage, that is. Reclaimed technology. No job too small. Brute force always an option’. ‘And you did this’ Xavier replies, to which Sovel asks Glitter what he is saying. ‘That you did this. He probably read it in your head’ Glitter replies. ‘Hmmm. No point looking innocent, then’ Sovel decides, before Gambit asks him to tell them what happened. Sovel replies that it is difficult to explain in terms that their simple, unspoiled minds would be able to - but Gambit interrupts and demands he tell them. Sovel replies that there is no need for unpleasantness, and explains that they were on a salvage run for some Shi’ar technology - ‘Very new, very tasty, that was just waiting to be picked up’.
(Flashback, narrated by Sovel, takes place between X-Men Legacy #221 and #222)
‘Except that it wasn’t. Sitting there, I mean’ Sovel explains, telling Gambit and the Professor that the technology was walking around don its own two feed, and had a very unhelpful attitude, recalling how it blasted his ship when it attempted to land. Sovel explains that Jat landed the Boneyard Dog safely and the engaged the technology with flow-inhibitors, shut it down without damaging it, that was the plan. ‘But them something rather inexplicable happened’ Sovel explains, as their quarry - the technology known as “Danger” spoke to them: ‘All I wanted - all I wanted - was to get my power under some kind of - some kind of control!’, clearly mimicking the former X-woman, Rogue, standing nearby.
‘Parameters defined. Run program’ Danger exclaimed before she went wild. Sovel tells the Professor and Gambit that he thinks their flow-inhibitors had worked up to a point, shut down some of Danger’s higher cognitive functions and reduced it back to its core programming - whatever that was. ‘Unfortunately, the result wasn’t everything we’d been hoping for’.
(Present)
Sovel admits that a sentient holosuite was not a possibility they had considered. ‘Despite the sentient whorehouse you got stuck in on Derumek’ Glitter tells him. ‘Yes, thank you, Glitter. Hindsight is a wonderful thing’ Sovel remarks, before Xavier explains that they damaged Danger, badly, and now she is trying to run some composite scenarios based on Rogue’s last words to her. ‘You unmitigated fools!’ Xavier exclaims. ‘Professor -’ Gambit begins, trying to calm Xavier down. ‘See here. Do you realize how much more evolved I am than you?’ Sovel asks, before Gambit motions to a motionless boy in some rubble and tells Xavier it is the same one as before. Xavier agrees and points out he has been in every simulation they have passed through.
Xavier admits that he feels as if he should know the boy, but cannot locate the memory. ‘A common problem for me since I underwent Exodus’ version of brain surgery’. Xavier turns to Glitter and asks if they can find the machine that they met, to which Glitter replies that Jat can, as his dermware is linked to the main scanner array back on the Boneyard Dog. ‘What did you have in mind?’ she asks Xavier. ‘Take me to her, and I’ll end this. The way I should have ended it years ago’ Xavier declares.
Meanwhile, Rogue stares out over a recreation of Shinjuku and thinks that it has been a while since she was here, and that she has kind of missed it. Mystique’s imprint asks Rogue if that is why she came here - to relive old memories. ‘Height, Mystique. I came here to get some height’ Rogue replies, remarking that the Tokyo Tower has got to be the tallest thing in the landscape - even in this crazy place. Motioning to a large ship that has materialized, hovering in view, Rogue remarks that everything is changing, mostly on a ten-minute cycle, and points to the Xavier Academy, remarking that it stands out like a sore thumb. ‘We’ve passed three versions of it already’ Mystique points out.
Rogue points out that this one is chancing on a different tempo - whole one second, in ruins the next, and then intact again. ‘You don’t have to go there, Anna. You could just leave’ Mystique tells her foster daughter. Rogue walks away from Mystique, telling her that she doesn’t think anyone is walking out of this in one piece. ‘But you’re a ghost already, so don’t fret, Mystique. You got a head start on the rest of us’.
Meanwhile, inside a building, Sovel tells Jat that they are going in circles, to which Jat replies that actually the landscape is cycling, which is why they keep seeing the same places. ‘This hologram suite is a mite obsessive. Not a good thing in an A.I.’ Jat remarks. Horse tells Glitter that he needs happy pills, to which Glitter informs him that they are on the ship, and as soon as they get back she will break open the med cabinet for him - but until then, he flies straight. As they exit the building, Gambit and the Professor are confronted by a scene from Rogue’s past: ‘That’s incredible!’ Remy exclaims. Xavier remarks that is Rogue as a young girl, but no more real than anything else here. ‘Doesn’t make it any easier to look away’ Gambit replies as they watch Rogue run through the forest.
‘I’m not suggesting you should’ Xavier tells Remy, and adds that, given the brief that Danger is acting on, he thinks it best to keep this Rogue in sight. Xavier points out that the heavy undergrowth suggests they are entering a new simulation, to which Gambit agrees, and remarks that this is where Rogue herself was at that age - Caldecott County, Mississippi. Xavier and Gambit watch as the young Rogue rushes over to her companion, Cody. Programs blend as creatures from the Savage Land walk nearby, as Cody tells Rogue that he is glad she came, and he thought that she might have got scared. ‘Of a walk in the moonlight?’ Rogue asks. ‘Of what your mom would say if she saw you hanging out with me’ Cody replies.
‘Raven isn’t scary’ Rogue replies. ‘She sure scares me!’ Cody exclaims. Rogue tells him that is because he doesn’t know her. Xavier remarks that this must be the night when Rogue’s power first manifested, ‘It’s just so hard to stand here and watch, knowing what’s gonna happen’ Remy adds. ‘Kind of romantic, ain’t it?’ Rogue remarks as she picks up a flower. ‘What is?’ Cody asks. ‘You know. The night. The moon. That stuff’ Rogue replies. ‘I wasn’t look at the moon, Anna’ Cody tells her. ‘No. Neither was I’ Rogue smiles, as they lean into each other and kiss - only for Cody to go wide-eyed, and fall backwards in agony. ‘Cody!’ Rogue calls out, before memories flood her mind. ‘Oh God, what is this? Stop it! Stop it! I’m Anna, not Cody! I’m me!’ she exclaims, rushing away, shouting ‘Stop it! Stop it!’ and leaving Cody lying on the ground, frothing at the mouth.
Xavier crouches down beside Cody, while Gambit remarks that Rogue absorbed his memories without meaning to, and he lapsed into a coma. ‘You suppose this is why we keep seeing him dead? Because Rogue blames herself for his death?’ Gambit asks. Xavier replies that he isn’t sure if that is the reason, and remarks that Rogue spoke with the real Cody Robbins before he died, and they reconciled. ‘I think this is something else. A connection that the Danger Room has made for itself’ Xavier explains.
Sovel and his crew approach Xavier and Gambit and ask if this voyeuristic little interlude is finished, as he would love to get back to his ship before his second mate has a psychotic episode. Gambit tells Sovel to watch his mouth, and warns him that if Rogue is harmed, he is holding him to account, while waving a kinetically charged card around. ‘Ah, yes stone-age reasoning. Very edifying’ Sovel remarks, before telling Gambit to take a look around. With a Sentinel on one side of them and a dinosaur on the other side, Sovel remarks that the internal logic of the simulations are breaking down. ‘If we’re lucky, they may just fade out altogether. If we’re not, they’ll do some very extreme spatial contortions first, and we’ll be pureed in the process’ Sovel adds that he is using short words, and speaking slowly.
Remy turns to Xavier and asks if that could happen, to which Charles replies that it could, but that he is more concerned for Rogue. ‘How inspiring. I’m more concerned for me’ Sovel declares. Xavier remarks that this entire place was designed to push Rogue towards some sort of crisis - some sort of realization. ‘What happens to us is largely random. But what happens to her has been calculated down to the last millimeter’ Xavier declares.
Meanwhile, Rogue trudges across the frosty wasteland of a simulation Antarctica. ‘We’re lost, Rogue. There was no snow between us and the Mansion’ Mystique’s imprint remarks. ‘This is the Danger Room, Mystique. A Danger Room as big as a whole city. It can warp space as much as it -’ Rogue stops speaking as she sees two figures up a head and realizes where they are, laying her eyes on the pink-and-yellow-clad past version of herself and Gambit, Rogue begins to watch them. ‘Rogue! I don’t care if you leave me here, chere, but you have to understand -’ the past Gambit pleads with the past Rogue. ‘You think I can understand you? You think wrong!’ the past Rogue snaps back.
‘Fine, then. I’ve earned your hatred. But at least get me somewhere that’ll give me a chance to get back home’ Gambit pleads. ‘Home? You ain’t got no home, sugah. Not with the me, not with the X-Men. Fend for yourself. You seem to have done a good job of that in the past’ Rogue remarks, holding up the Queen of Hearts playing card. ‘But - I love you!’ Gambit exclaims. ‘You’re honest with the people you love, Gambit. Otherwise…it’s a gamble’ Rogue replies as she drops the Queen of Hearts at Gambit’s feet and flies away, leaving him there.
The present Rogue picks up the playing card and remarks that, sometimes she feels like her entire life is a log-jammed river. ‘Like I’m trapped and I can’t move on. Can’t ever get to where I’m going’. ‘And where is that?’ Mystique asks. Rogue puts the card inside a compartment on her belt and replies that it would help to know. Rogue looks up and gets a surprise as she sees the young Cody Robbins standing in front of her. ‘I’m glad you came. I thought maybe you got scared’ he remarks, shocking Rogue.
Meanwhile, Xavier, Gambit and the crew of the Boneyard Dog arrive at the ever-fluctuating Xavier Academy, where numerous versions of the X-Men are battling various enemies including versions of Sentinels and the U-Men. Jat remarks that this is the eye of the storm, to which Xavier asks if they are sure Danger is in here. ‘That’s what I’m reading, your reverence. Range fifty meters, vector zero, zero, zero. X marks the spot’ Jat replies. Xavier tells Sovel that he needs to get inside, and asks if his people can clear a way for him. ‘In exchange for what?’ Sovel asks. ‘A chance to get out of here alive’. Xavier tells him, to which Sovel replies ‘That would be nice’. Sovel turns to Horse and informs him that the happy pills are in the ship, and the ship is just beyond this building. ‘We’re going in and I’d like you to lead the -’ Sovel begins - but Horse has already begun to run through the myriad of mutants, shouting ‘Get out of my WAY!’ as he smashes them aside. ‘After you, gentlemen’ Sovel tells Xavier and Gambit, motioning to the clear path to the Institute.
Walking towards the entrance, Xavier tells Gambit that it seems as though all the moments of their lives have been overlaid on each other here. ‘This should be…interesting, to say the very least’. As he walks through the ever-changing Mansion, Xavier first walks up to a scene playing out between he and his “All-New, All-Different X-Men”, where Sunfire is demanding to know why they were dragged here, as he is swiftly losing his patience. ‘It was not my intention to waste your time’ Xavier tells Sunfire, while Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Banshee, Nightcrawler and Thunderbird look on.
Next, Xavier comes to a more recent incarnation of the team - the “Astonishing X-Men”, where Shadowcat is reminding the White Queen that on the very first time she met the X-Men, they were ambushed, captured and caged by her. ‘I learned more about good and evil in that one day than I ever have before or since’. After passing Shadowcat, Wolverine and the White Queen, Xavier approaches the Danger Room, and upon entering it, discovers Danger, increased in mass to take up much of the room, and cuddling her legs. ‘Full circle. Fascinating’ Xavier remarks as he watches her. ‘Some creatures come back to where they were spawned to breed. And some to die!’


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[Assistant]
untitled (possibly Salvage, part 5)
(Flashback - takes place after Uncanny X-Men #350)
Manhattan, where the X-Woman known as Rogue stands on a balcony one starry night, with her foster mother, the villainess Mystique standing nearby. Rogue tells Mystique that she isn’t her child, not a child at all. Rogue holds her hands out and exclaims that she wants her hands to be able to hold a lover without the fear that she will consume him. ‘And would you betray your own nature for something as fleeting - as ultimately meaningless - as love? You disgust me’ Mystique replies, using her metamorphic abilities to shift into the form of Rogue’s love - Gambit. ‘Don’t let your desire for a normal life with your beloved Gambit blind you to the truth’ Mystique adds.
‘Stop it, Mystique! Don’t mock me!’ Rogue exclaims as she punches Mystique through a window, reminding her that she left Gambit to die in Antarctica. ‘I made my choice!’ Rogue exclaims. ‘Your own instincts and interests over him? What other choice was there?’ Mystique asks as she shifts back to her default form. Mystique tells Rogue to be herself, for that is the only commandment there is.
(Present)
The Australian Outback, specifically Maynards Plains, where the crew of the Boneyard Dog, a Shi’ar salvage vessel, has just attacked Professor X and Gambit, only to be confronted by Rogue. ‘Ah mean it, ugly. You touch him - you even dream about touching him - and Ah’m gonna park this big bucket right on your ugly face!’ Rogue tells the alien known as Horse, from inside the Boneyard Dog, its lights blaring, creating a blinding glow. Horse stands shocked, a large piece of rubble ready to bring down on the motionless Remy “Gambit” LeBeau. Sovel points to the blinding light, exclaiming to his comrade, Glitter, that his ship has been taken. ‘Because you didn’t lock the helm, you idiot!’ Glitter snaps. ‘Someone didn’t lock it. Let’s not bicker in front of the primitives’ Sovel suggests.
From inside the Boneyard Dog, the former X-Woman, Rogue, tells the aliens to throw their hands in the air, as she has a target lock on them, and her patience is running out. Suddenly, Horse moans and stumbles. ‘Horse! No!’ Glitter calls out to her companion. Horse begins pummeling the Boneyard Dog, exclaiming that he hates this planet. ‘Hate hate hate hate hate it!’ he declares. ‘Oh come on! One of these must be a weapons system!’ Rogue mutters to herself as she searches the control panel for some kind of weapon, while Horse threatens to peel her like a fruit. He is suddenly knocked over though, by a blast of energy from the Boneyard Dog. Rogue has clearly worked out the weapons system. Sovel aims a gun at his ship, while Jat raises his hands into the air, offering to talk.
Jat suggests that the strum the beserk of peace, but edges closer to the Boneyard Dog, enabling him to be in Dermware range, which means he can take control of the Boneyard Dog, and does so by locking the helm and opening the bay doors. ‘Damn!’ Rogue exclaims, while Glitter thanks her teammate and races inside the Boneyard Dog, declaring that she can take it from here. ‘She hurt Horse. I think I’ll shake her hand. Then cut her throat!’ Glitter boasts, before entering the bridge of the Boneyard Dog. ‘Sovel never lets anyone sit in the Captain’s chair!’ Glitter exclaims as she confronts Rogue. ‘Is that right?’ Rogue retorts defiantly. ‘Yeah, he’s got a real thing about It. Kind of burns me up, really - that you got to break that rule before I did!’ Glitter exclaims as she kicks Rogue in the head.
Mystique’s consciousness talks to Rogue, pointing out that Glitter is stronger than Rogue - enhanced by drugs or bionics. ‘Ah noticed’ Rogue replies, before Mystique begins to offer to take over, but Rogue turns her down quicker than she can get the offer out. ‘“Be yourself”, right?’ Rogue reminds Mystique as she ducks down and trips Glitter up, adding that being herself is what she came here to do. ‘And there ain’t enough Shi’ar in the whole damn Empire to stop me!’ Rogue exclaims as she smacks Glitter in the face. Glitter adjusts something on her glove, and grabs Rogue’s throat, causing Rogue to scream as she is seemingly electrocuted.
Outside the Shi’ar vessel, Jat remarks that he hopes Glitter is okay, while Sovel mutters that he hopes nobody sat in his chair. Moments later, Glitter appears on the ramp of the Boneyard Dog and throws Rogue at their feet. ‘Here, Sovel. You do the honors’ Glitter tells him, before announcing that she is going to see if the Boneyard Dog picked up anymore fleas. ‘Do the honors? You mean I have to kill it myself?’ Sovel asks as he and Jat walk onto the ramp of the Boneyard Dog, unaware that Xavier is stirring on the ground, some distance away, recovering from where Sovel attacked him. Xavier crawls towards Danger, and whispers into her system a password, which causes her to re-activate.
Sovel holds a weapon to Rogue’s head and remarks that it is only fair that the Captain should pitch in from time to time. ‘I like to think I’ve got the common touch’ he remarks, when, suddenly, he screams out, as a blast of energy rips across his hand. Sovel, Glitter and Jat all turn to the direction of the blast, where Danger now stands, her body slightly changed - weapons and accessories complimenting her. ‘It took me years, Captain Redhand - to attain the freedom you took from me. Now what should I do to make sure I keep it this time?’ Danger asks angrily.
‘Kill you, machine! Kill kill kill k -’ Horse exclaims as he lunges at Danger, unable to finish his sentence as Danger bombards him with dozens of laser beams which shred through his body. Horse collapses in front of his teammates, and tells Glitter that he is going to need happy pills. Jat informs his comrade that he doesn’t think there are that many happy pills in the quadrant, while Sovel suddenly orders the Boneyard Dog to make a blind jump. ‘We’re gone!’ he exclaims as he, Glitter, Horse, Jat and their ship begin to fade from view. ‘To be honest - I never liked this world much in the first place!’ Sovel mutters, clutching his now handless arm.
Danger looks around, and sees Rogue, Xavier and Gambit, all lying on the ground. She walks towards Xavier, her hand ready to strike him, when suddenly, Rogue calls out to him: ‘No! Danger, don’t!’ But, Danger explains that she is cauterizing Xavier’s wounds to prevent infection. ‘This place is very remote - a long way away from the nearest medical facility’ Danger points out. Rogue pauses, before replying ‘Yeah. That’s sort of what Ah was looking for. The peace and quiet’.
Later, night has fallen and Rogue, Xavier, Gambit and Danger have gathered around a small fire. ‘I believe I understand a great many things - better than I did before’ Danger announces. ‘Including why I didn’t strike off your chains as  soon as I knew what you were?’ Xavier asks. ‘Your caution was logical’ Danger replies. ‘My cowardice, somewhat less so’ Xavier tells her, adding that he wishes he had the courage to act sooner. ‘It took courage to set me free today’ Danger points out. Xavier remarks that it is ironic, as he came here to cure Rogue, while Danger came to use Rogue as a weapon. ‘But in the end, you diagnosed her condition - and its cause - with more insight than I ever showed’.
Danger replies that she is a machine - that she computes probabilities and extrapolates from known data. Danger remarks that it is a fact that Rogue first used her powers involuntarily - before they were fully formed - before she could know - or control - what she was doing. ‘Cody Robbins’ Rogue exclaims. ‘Exactly. And from that moment, Rogue. You were changed’ Xavier tells the former X-Woman, who asks ‘Changed? How?’. Danger explains that Rogue’s mind was partitioned, like the city of Berlin, after the second World War, or like a hard drive when it’s made to run different operating systems. ‘The boy’s thoughts on one side of the wall, yours on the other’.
Rogue asks about Ms Marvel, to which Xavier replies was the same process again, but on a larger scale. ‘Another partition, another wall in your psyche’ he adds while stoking the fire. Charles gets to his feet and remarks that he thinks the effect of these partitions has been to paralyze the development of Rogue’s powers - to freeze them in that nascent stage. ‘They never developed as they were meant to develop. But now -’ he begins, but Rogue interrupts, telling him not to make any more promises that he cannot keep. But Xavier assures Rogue that he is not the man he was, and that he promises nothing. ‘But let me try’ he asks. Rogue pauses and looks at the founder of the X-Men, before replying ‘Okay, then. Try’.
Soon, Gambit sits on the front porch of the old hotel, while Rogue lies on a bar table inside, with Xavier and Danger standing over her. Xavier asks Danger if she understands what he is asking of her, to which Danger replies that Xavier wants her to maintain Rogue’s autonomic functions - particularly heartbeat and respiration - in case his incursion into her mind takes him deep enough to disrupt these processes. ‘Exactly. Monitor brain activity, too, and warn me if it starts to decrease’ Xavier adds.
Rogue asks her companions if they could save the talk about her automatic functions until after she is unconscious. ‘Is Remy here?’ Rogue adds, to which Xavier informs her that he is waiting outside, guarding the building against unspecified threats. Xavier tells Rogue that he thinks Gambit feels reluctant to raise issues that might influence her decision. Rogue looks up at Xavier, assuring him that she already made her decision, but that she understands what Gambit means. ‘Okay, Professor, but me under!’ Rogue tells Xavier, who explains that she will not be unconscious, but aware of her surroundings throughout, and that they will continue to talk.
(Shown with flashback images inside Rogue’s mind)
Xavier states that his voice may develop a certain hollow echo, to which Rogue tells him, through her thoughts, that it feels like old times - too much so. ‘This must be the ten thousandth time she has gone swimming around inside her memories. Indeed, various scenarios play out before Rogue and Xavier - like her time in Japan with Wolverine, being rescued by Storm, battling Guido on Muir Island, and being overcome by Pandemic, among others. Xavier reminds Rogue that his mind has been rebuilt and dismantled since he last entered her mind - therefore it is a very different mechanism now. ‘And this time, I’m looking for something specific’ he adds.
Xavier passes more memories - Rogue being beaten as a child, then kissing Magneto as an adult, among others. Charles remarks that if the partitions are still in Rogue’s mind, then they will be visible to him. ‘As discontinuities in the gradients of your memories. Polydimensional fracture points’ he explains. ‘And if you find them? What then?’ Rogue asks. Xavier watches Illyana’s funeral play out in Rogue’s mind, and explains to Rogue that, for the most part, he will tear the partitions down, and reintegrate her mind so that her powers can progress - after a decade-long hiatus - to their mature stage. Xavier points out that it won’t be all that straight-forward, to which Rogue asks ‘It won’t? How come?’, to which Xavier replies that most of the walled-up areas of Rogue’s mind are fossil remnants - empty since the messiah child touched her and cleaned out her consciousness.
‘But one is still inhabited!’ Xavier announces as he comes to Mystique. Xavier enters that partition, and greets Mystique, who tells Xavier that she knows what he has come here for. ‘Do you expect me to go quietly?’ the long-time thorn in the X-Men’s side adds. Charles tells her that is exactly what he expects, as she has no life here. ‘You’re just an echo in her mind’ he tells Mystique, adding that she will not flinch from the truth here, as he knows that is not Mystique’s way. ‘I told her not to go to you!’ Mystique exclaims, holding a dagger towards the psychic impression of Xavier. ‘I know’ Xavier replies, while Mystique exclaims that he would only drive her and Rogue apart - make Rogue hate her. ‘I never wanted that’ Xavier assures Mystique. ‘Just do it. Don’t vomit your piety in my face. For her sake, do it. But I spit on you, and all your -’ Mystique snarls at Xavier, who uses his powers to eradicate Mystique’s presence in Rogue’s mind.
(Reality)
Rogue grimaces, then seemingly passes out. ‘Rogue!’ Gambit calls out in concern. Danger grabs Remy’s hand and tells to be calm and not to interfere, assuring him that Rogue merely sleeps. ‘Sleeps? She looks -’ Remy begins, but Xavier also assures Gambit that Rogue is fine, and points out that what she needs now is a great deal of time. ‘Her mind is finding its natural state, after many years of imposed fragmentation’ Xavier adds, remarking that the process will be rapid, and inevitable - the more so because it has been so long delayed. Xavier explains that it will also be traumatic and draining, so he wants Rogue to wake when she is ready to wake.
Time passes, and Gambit sits on the floor near to the table where Rogue lies. Suddenly, ‘R-Remy?’ Rogue asks as she wakes. ‘Rogue!’ Gambits exclaims as he leaps up to her and asks her how she feels. ‘Like Ah’m listening to the silence after a noise just stopped’ Rogue replies, rubbing her head, adding that now she can’t remember what the noise was. Rogue looks at her gloved hands and tells Remy that her skin tingles so intense that it almost hurts. ‘Whatever the Professor did, Ah don’t think it worked!’ Rogue exclaims, to which Remy points out that there is only one way to find out.
‘No, Remy. Ah couldn’t bear to think someone else’s thoughts, right now. Not even yours’ Rogue replies. ‘Ah think Ah’d shatter like glass. Don’t make me try!’ Rogue adds, before getting off the table and making her way to the door, remarking that she is going to talk to the Professor. ‘Maybe it’s just more complicated than he thought’ Rogue adds. ‘Maybe - he can tell me what went wrong’.
‘Nothing went wrong’ Xavier replies soon after. ‘The procedure was a complete success’ he assures Rogue, who replies that she doesn’t feel any better, any more in control. While Danger busies herself with the jet nearby, Xavier tells Rogue that, with respect, she has no experience of control, and therefore, nothing to compare this to. Rogue rubs her gloved hands and tells Charles that her skin is on fire, like every nerve is caught up on barbed wire and twisting to get free. ‘That can’t be right!’ she exclaims. ‘Learn to control it’ Xavier tells Rogue, who asks ‘How? How do I do that?’ Xavier tells Rogue that it is her power, in its mature form, but that there is no owner’s manual. ‘What happens next is up to you’. Rogue stares back at Xavier.
Later, Rogue sits atop a hill, looking out over the beautiful Australian Outback. Gambit climbs the cliff-side and hands Rogue a flask of water. Rogue smiles and thanks Remy, telling him that she appreciates it. ‘You’ve been up here for ten straight hours. You feel like you’re getting anywhere?’ Gambit asks. ‘Yeah. Maybe. I don’t know. It’s different than it was’ Rogue replies. Getting to her feet, Rogue remarks that the Professor is right - that she doesn’t know what it would feel like to be in full control of her power, that she can only go on instinct. ‘Ah’m never gonna be sure - totally sure - until Ah try it out’.
‘I’ll leave you to it’ Gambit replies as he begins to leave, but Rogue calls out to him, asking if he is still willing to be her guinea pig. ‘You even have to ask?’ Remy replies. ‘Then I’d like to give it a shot’ Rogue tells him, putting her gloved hands to his face, Rogue smiles and remarks ‘Here goes nothing - cher’, as they lean in - and kiss. Sometime later, the kiss ends. ‘Well okay then’ Rogue remarks, smiling. ‘Oui’ Remy replies. ‘That seems to be - conclusive’ Rogue adds. ‘I’d say so’ Remy agrees.
Rogue closes her eyes and tells Gambit that it felt very right, adding that she is not ready to talk about the two of them yet. ’Ah don’t know how ah feel right now. About you, or about me, even’ Rogue explains. Gambit puts his hands on Rogue’s face and tells her that when she is ready, to tell her, and he will be right here - unless she sends him away. ’Ah’m not inclined to do that’ Rogue replies. ’Then we’re good’ Gambit tells her.
Watching from their jet, Danger remarks to Xavier that Rogue weeps. ’I know. I assure you she’s happy, all the same’ Charles tells Danger. Danger replies that for human, extremes of emotion tend to short-circuit the normal physical responses. ’You are very hard to read then. Even harder to predict’. Xavier smiles and tells Danger that she is right, of course. ’But I don’t see that as anything to complain about. If anything, I’d say…amen’. And with that, Rogue and Gambit begin to walk down the cliff-side, arms around each other, as the sun shines down upon them.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Suppressing Fire, part 1
Across the Coral Sea, local time 1300 hours, inside a small aircraft are two former members of the Uncanny X-Men - Rogue and Remy “Gambit” LeBeau, along with their companion, Danger - the living embodiment of the X-Men’s former Danger Room. Gambit remarks that he doesn’t feel happy pushing this toy plane up to mach-2, but Danger assures him that she has modified the plane for intercontinental flight, so it will hold. ‘You say. I’d still like a second opinion’ Gambit retorts. Rogue points out that this has got to be better than a commercial flight. ‘Wherever they go, the X-Men tend to be magnets for all kinds of - weirdness!’ Rogue exclaims, and as if on cue, Megan “Pixie” Gwynn, one of the X-Men students, teleports into the jet.
‘Uhh…I come in peace, honest!’ Pixie exclaims as Danger aims a weapon at her. Rogue tells Danger that this is not an attack and to let Pixie be. ‘Right. Not an attack. More of a cab ride’ Pixie remarks, before telling Rogue that Cyclops got her message saying she was coming. ‘But he needs you right now!’ the young woman declares, before casting a spell which re-opens her teleport signature, and the four vanish from the jet, sending it plummeting to the ocean below.
At that moment, above the Tenderloin in San Francisco, local time 2300 hours. Scott “Cyclops” Summers, Elizabeth “Psylocke” Braddock, Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner and two of the Stepford Cuckoos stand on the rooftop, and Scott announces that around Union Square the crowd cannot move and the HAMMER team is moving in. Betsy asks Kurt if he wants to drop her off, and an instant later, the two vanish in a burst of brimstone, while at the same time, Pixie returns with her fellow travelers. ‘Rogue. You’re in odd company’ Cyclops remarks, to which Rogue assures Scott she can vouch for Remy and Danger.
‘You’re vouching for them? Maybe you think your stock is higher than it is’ Scott replies, arms folded across his chest, reminding Rogue that when she escaped from the Marauders she went off without explanation, after most of the X-Men had risked their lives twice to get her free. Pixie joins her fellow X-Men students a few feet away from Cyclops, while Gambit tells Cyclops to get to the point. ‘Remy -’ Rogue begins, but Cyclops tells Rogue that Gambit is right, there is no time to go over this. ‘And I need you all’ he declares, adding that should give them a fair idea of how bad things are. Scott explains that an anti-mutant hate group goaded some hot-headed mutants into a melee, and now the government has let the dogs out.
‘Norman Osborn’s HAMMER and his so-called Avengers. Things are falling apart fast out there!’ Cyclops declares, before telling the others that he doesn’t know if they are familiar with Osborn, but that he fought Spider-Man back in the day, as the Green Goblin. ‘Now he wears Gianfranco Ferre and sits at the right hand of God’. Gazing down at the chaos-ridden streets, where fires blaze and battles are fought, Cyclops tells Rogue that the bottom line is some of their students are still out there, and other mutants too, who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gambit asks Cyclops what his first priority is, to which Cyclops replies ‘What do you think?’. Rogue glances sideways, before telling Cyclops to put them wherever he needs them. ‘We’ll handle whatever comes’ she assures him.
The streets are chaos as civilians cannot get past battles or fires, and super humans battle each other - like Piotr “Colossus” Rasputin of the X-Men and Mac Gargan a.k.a. Venom, posing as Spider-Man, who rips up the concrete with a powerful blow.
Nearby, on the corner of 16th and Guerrero, Rogue, Gambit and Danger examine the situation at close range. ‘You see any mutants here?’ Gambit asks. Rogue replies that she doesn’t, but that the Cuckoos saw did - that Trance and Indra are somewhere close. ‘In the meantime, people are going to die in this stampede. Do what you can’ Rogue tells her companions. Heavy armored HAMMER vehicles move in, and a man knocks into a woman - causing her to accidentally drop the child she is carrying into the path of a Police car - ‘No!’ she cries out, but Danger rescues the child, while blasting at the HAMMER vehicles. ‘Your child is safe’ she tells the woman, handing the boy over. The woman nervously thanks Danger, who instructs her to the left and through the parking lot, as the street on the far side is empty. ‘Mom, I got catched by a transformer! Did you see?’ the excited boy cries out as his mother carries him away.
Meanwhile, on 20th and Mission, local time 2311, an unlikely trio of mutants are trying to escape HAMMER - Tamara “Dragoness” Kurtz, Hope “Trance” Abbott, and Mortimer “Toad” Toynbee. Suddenly, a trio of HAMMER operatives appears at the entrance to the alleyway where the three mutants have escaped to. ‘Got a visual on one of the listed perps. Mortimer Toynbee: Toad’ one of the HAMMER operatives announces. Trance has been helping the injured Toad, but eventually stops in her tracks. ‘Dragoness -’ she calls out, but Tamara, who has dropped her red bathing suit costume and returned to her original winged look, tells Trance to keep going while she covers her. ‘I can’t. It’s a dead end. Oh God!’ Trance exclaims.
Dragoness prepares to let loose with a bioelectric sting on the approaching HAMMER agents, but, her power has weakened. ‘All out of charge, mutie? You’ve been slinging it around. Let’s see if you can take it!’ one of the HAMMER operatives exclaims as he whacks Tamara in the stomach with a large baton. Dragoness falls to the ground, while Trance, who has left Toad on the ground, suddenly releases her consciousness into an energy state. ‘Hey! Guys! This one’s trying to pull something!’ one of the HAMMER agents exclaims, before firing a weapon at Hope, which latches onto her, causing both her and her energy state to fall to the ground, both screaming.
‘Oh my God, man, you fried her. Command said -’ another HAMMER agent begins, but the other snaps back that he knows what command said. ‘If she dies, we were somewhere else’ he declares. Suddenly, ‘Homme, if she dies - you’re gonna be in a whole lot of somewhere elses!’ Gambit exclaims as he throws a kinetically charged playing card at the HAMMER agents, knocking them back. With the HAMMER agents now unconscious, lying on the alleyway ground, Gambit kneels beside Hope and asks her if she can hear him. Hope’s energy state appears to be on the fritz, half in her, half out of her, Hope asks Gambit what he is doing here. ‘Long story’ Gambit replies, before Hope asks him to help her. Gambit promises to help Trance. ‘Just got to get you to the Beast, so he can -’ Gambit begins, when suddenly, there is an electric pink glow, and Gambit looks up, to see two more mutants enter the alleyway.
One of them is the X-Men student Onyxx,  the other is a virtual living embodiment of the 1980’s - the enigmatic Ariel. Wearing thigh-high blue boots and matching blue boob-tube, with a black miniskirt, and a bright pink half-jacket, with large gold bracelets, and white, pink and yellow hair, Ariel exclaims ‘Gambit, right? Cyclops sent us’, and declares that according to the Cuckoos, there is a casualty here. Gambit replies that he doesn’t know her, and asks if she is an X-Man. ‘The name’s Ariel and, yes, I’ve been deputized’. Gambit asks Ariel where her badge is, to which Ariel replies that it is right here in her double helix.
Meanwhile, in Clinton Park, local time 2318, Rogue calls out to Indra, as she makes her way through a badly damaged building, with an unconscious HAMMER agent lying nearby. When she gets no response, Rogue decides she will have to see what she can get from the HAMMER agent, and puts her fingers to his face, telling the unconscious man not worry, as she has her powers pretty much under control now, so she is nearly certain that she can skim his surface memories without wiping his entire mind. ‘Wish me luck’ she remarks, as she sees inside the HAMMER agent’s mind:
(Flashback, shown via memory connection to Rogue from HAMMER agent)
‘Told you to stop, kid!’ the HAMMER agent yells at Paras Gavaskar a.k.a. Indra, punching the young mutant and knocking him backwards. ‘Told you to assume the damn position!’ he exclaims. Indra gathers himself against a console of various screens, and tells the HAMMER agent that he wasn’t doing anything, that he just wanted to get home. ‘To see if my friends were okay!’ he exclaims. The HAMMER agent tells Indra that he still should have done what he was told. ‘Still need a little lesson in good manners’ he remarks, when suddenly, Indra releases his exo-skeletal armor, ‘You’re not the law!’ he shouts in his beefed-up form, snatching the HAMMER agent’s gun, Indra smacks him in the face, knocking hi out.
(Present)
Rogue smiles, ‘Good for you, Paras. Ah’m proud of you’ she exclaims, remarking that now she just needs to find out where he is. Suddenly, someone else enters the room, and announces that Rogue is under arrest for assaulting a HAMMER officer in the pursuit of his duty. Rogue looks up and is shocked to see…Ms Marvel! Not the real Ms Marvel, of course, but Dr Karla Sofen, better known as the villainess Moonstone, wearing Carol Danver’s classic costume. Moonstone tells Rogue that talking to herself is the first sign of madness, and that she should probably get some help for that. ‘But frankly, Scarlett - I don’t give a damn!’ Karla exclaims as she unleashes a blast of energy at Rogue, knocking her backwards.
‘You’re not Carol!’ Rogue exclaims. ‘What’s in a name? Or a costume, for that matter’ Karla replies, before remarking ‘You’re Rogue, your powers depend on touch’. As Rogue rushes towards Moonstone, she finds herself passing through her, as Karla smirks and declares that touching her is something of a one-sided proposition. ‘Dealer’s rules!’ Moonstone exclaims, punching Rogue in the face, then kicking her in the back, and passing her foot through Rogue’s body. ‘You see what I mean?’ Moonstone asks, before telling Rogue that she has the right to be silent. ‘And in today’s three-for-one offer - the right to be concussed and the right to be unconscious!’.
Moonstone smacks Rogue against a metal beam, but Rogue isn’t beaten yet, though Moonstone remarks that she has to update the file, ‘Thought you were super strong, invulnerable, stuff like that’. ‘I survive’ Rogue replies. ‘You think? The gun won’t help you, by the way - but feel free’ Moonstone adds as she sees Rogue reaching for the unconscious HAMMER agent’s weapon. ‘Thanks. Ah will!’ Rogue exclaims as she aims the machine gun at Moonstone. But instead of firing it at Karla, Rogue raises it to the glass ceiling above, and fires several times, causing hundred of shards of glass to fall downwards towards them. Rogue rushes forward, covering her face from the falling glass, while the startled Moonstone goes intangible at the last minute.
Rogue then leaps through another window and on to a neighboring roof. ‘Well damn’ Moonstone remarks as she watches Rogue go. ‘Ms Marvel to command. I engaged Rogue, but she got away’ Karla reports in via her communicator. ‘From you?’ command replies. ‘Can it!’ Karla exclaims, explaining that Rogue shot out the ceiling, which caused her to ghost by reflex, so Rogue ran right through her. ‘I’m on it. But judging from the way she went - she’s going to wish she’d played nicer with me!’ Karla exclaims, while a badly cut-up Rogue continues to rush across rooftops.
Meanwhile, at Castro Street, local time 2341, HAMMER have set up a barricade of fences, agents and heavy armor vehicles, while a group of rioters stand before them. ‘Get lost, pork chops! This is our city!’ Dominic “Avalanche” Petros exclaims, backed up by the former Morlock known as Erg, who exclaims that this is mutant town west. ‘You mess with us, there’ll be nothing left of you but teeth!’. One of the HAMMER agents asks the group to disperse. ‘That’s all we’re asking you to do’ he remarks, just as Gambit puts a hand on Avalanche’s shoulder, telling him that he is picking the wrong fight in the wrong place. ‘Gambit! All right! Stand with us!’ Avalanche smiles.
‘Only a fool starts a fight he can’t win!’ Gambit replies, to which Avalanche exclaims that they didn’t start the fight - Humanity Now did when they walked through this city. ‘And somewhere they got to be laughing now. Seeing you making their point for them’ Gambit points out. ‘Making the world see mutants backlit by burning cars!’. Avalanche tells Gambit if that is what it takes, then they will do it. ‘Show them what we’re capable of when we take the gloves off. Show them who they’re messing with!’ Avalanche shouts. ‘Good. Show them you don’t rise to sucker bait’ Gambit remarks, while Erg tells Gambit to get out of their way. ‘We’re taking these black shirts down!’ he boasts. ‘Not gonna happen’ Gambit replies.
Suddenly, one of the HAMMER agents announces that he has received new orders, and tells his colleagues to fall back. ‘Fall back? Who’s gonna hold the line here?’ one of them asks. ‘I’d say he is’ the other officer declares as Ares, God of War, marches past them. ‘Recreants and bringers of chaos. You were warned and you did not heed. So weep!’ Ares booms as he swipes at the crowd with his axe, knocking Erg over with the handle. Avalanche unleashes his power, causing the earth to rise up against Ares, pushing the handsome God of War backwards. Avalanche casts some of the stones up at Ares, but he is not phased, he simply strides towards Avalanche and grabs him by the throat.
Suddenly, Gambit calls out to Ares, and suggests that he give the crowd a chance to disperse, as the street is blocked behind them. Ares drops Avalanche to the ground, while the revelers begin to run. Ares sees Gambit holding a kinetically charged playing card and asks him if that is a weapon, or if he is here as an entertainer. ‘Either way, I expect the diversion to be both short and forgettable!’ Ares boasts as he takes a swipe at Gambit with his axe, but Gambit leaps out of the way, and the axe slices through a vehicle. ‘If you think I might slip your mind, homme - better take my card!’ Gambit exclaims as he throws several kinetically charged playing cards past Ares, which then land against a large brick wall - and explode, causing the wall to fall down upon Ares in a brilliant display.
Elsewhere in the city, Rogue hears the explosion, ‘Remy!’ she exclaims. Danger also senses the trouble, and the two make their way to Castro Street, where Gambit discovers that the mighty explosion did not even topple Ares - he simply stands as the rubble falls around him. ‘I feared that this city would offer no warrior worth my mettle. And so it proves. So it proves!’ Ares exclaims as he slams Gambit aside with ease. Danger leaps in and extends part of her body to catch Gambit, while Rogue approaches Ares, and tells him that he probably wants to leave it at that. ‘Woman, my way has been barred once tonight already. Stand aside. Or I’ll tread you under like a grape’ Ares warns Rogue.
Rogue tells Ares that once upon a time she would have thrown him halfway to the moon for a remark like that. ‘God help me if Ah start to mess those days!’ Rogue remarks, before touching Ares on the hand and declaring that she will have to do the best she can with what she has got. ‘Imbecile! You can’t -’ Ares exclaims as Rogue suddenly glows, and power pours from her eyes and mouth. Gambit tells Danger that she must break the contact, as Ares is a God, and Rogue cannot contain that much power. ‘It would be desirable for her to take a little more than half’ Danger replies, before remarking that Rogue’s heart rate is already well outside the human norm. ‘She’s unlikely to survive this unless we separate them’ Danger remarks, picking up a manhole cover from the street.
Danger holds the manhole cover out to Gambit and asks him to imbue it with potential energy. ‘And we’ll see if it has the necessary properties for a circuit breaker’ Danger remarks, and after Gambit charges the manhole with kinetic energy, Danger throws it at Ares - and it hits him square in the face, knocking him backwards, thus releasing Rogue, while the manhole explodes in Ares’ face. Remy rushes over and asks Rogue how she feels, to which Rogue replies that she feels dizzy, but so much stronger. ‘Strong enough to walk? Or better still, to run away?’ Danger asks, while Ares covers his face several feet away, his axe lying on some rubble.
‘Yeah. Ah think so’ Rogue replies as she clenches a fist, before telling Danger that running is no good, not through this crowd, and marching towards the barrier of HAMMER agents, Rogue declares that she has a better idea. ‘Stay back, lady!’ one of the agents orders. ‘You take one more step, and I’m gonna -’ another begins, but Rogue uses her newly acquired strength to shove the HAMMER operatives aside, and pull another from one of the heavy armor vehicles which she commandeers: ‘Okay. We’ve got ourselves a ride!’ she exclaims.
As the trio make their way through the damaged streets, Mindee of the Stepford Cuckoos contacts Rogue telepathically. Rogue asks Mindee how she is doing, to which Mindee replies that they sent a team to collect Trance and bring her to Dr McCoy, but now Dr McCoy is missing and Trance hasn’t made it home either. Mindee explains that Trance’s thoughts are blurred, scattered, but she thinks Trance is somewhere close by. ‘We’ll find her. Come hell of high water’ Rogue replies, while Ares gathers himself nearby, and Rogue, Gambit and Danger speed forwards, sending the HAMMER agents running for their lives.