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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Cry Uncle!
James Proudstar, more often known simply as X-Force member Warpath, sits in a cheap café in Ireland. On the table before him is a spread of empty glasses, discarded sugar packets, cigarette butts and all manner of diner debris. The cigarettes belong to Kelvin Doneghann, a reporter with connections to the Cassidy family, and the photographs are relics of the past… specifically the past between Theresa Rourke Cassidy -- Siryn -- and her uncle, Black Tom. Warpath looks over the pictures, over a small lifetime captured on scraps of paper. He looks into Siryn’s haunting and piercing eyes in each image, notices how guarded and uncertain they are. Tom Cassidy, he notes wryly, looks as if he’d swallowed a shot of castor oil right before someone said “Cheese” in every photograph.
This coldness, the shattered bond between uncle and niece, is the reason he thinks he’s there. It needs to be mended; this is the help that Siryn needs from him. And even if it means losing her, he’s going to try to provide that help because he loves her. He tries hard not to show how torn up he is over what his friend is going through… but Kelvin Doneghann keenly recognizes the look in Warpath’s eyes, no matter how much he tries to hide it. It’s a look that Kelvin saw every time he looked in the mirror during his teenage days. Theresa always was the kind of girl you could fall head over heels for, muses Kelvin internally, and her guardian was always the reason you were afraid to. Glancing at a picture of Black Tom holding Siryn as a child to punctuate his last thought, Kelvin is interrupted by Warpath, asking if there’s been any word on Tom’s whereabouts.
Kelvin responds that the police are still looking throughout the country, but haven’t found anything yet… but you’d think that a guy looking like Black Tom does now, walking along with a mountain of a friend called the Juggernaut, wouldn’t be too hard to find. You’d think, mutters Warpath, then adds that Terry doesn’t seem to think they’d left Ireland yet… she’s certain they wouldn’t go until Tom got what he came here for. Kelvin wonders what that would be, and Warpath dryly replies that she said they’d know as soon as Tom did. With a hmph, Kelvin changes the subject: he checked with the doctor at the hospital before coming down to meet Warpath, and Flaherty is in stable condition. At least Tom won’t be charged with murder, notes Warpath grimly, then adds that he doesn’t get why Tom would try to kill the lawyer of his estate… what does he gain out of that?
Kelvin can only offer that the Cassidy clan is full of secrets… old grudges, ancient feuds, that have led to more than their fair share of tragedy in the past… but the police think that if Tom truly wanted to kill Flaherty, there’d be nothing left of the old shyster except a pile of ashes. Again, Warpath wonders: then what does Tom Cassidy get out of all this? What Tommy’s always wanted, notes Kelvin: attention… from all of them, but most of all… from her. And, he adds, on that subject… how’s Theresa holding up? Like she always does, replies Warpath. She’s handling the situation… in her own unique way.
And, at that same moment, on the grounds of Cassidy Keep, Siryn tears apart the ground with her sonic scream in a drunken outburst. Her shrill power cuts apart even the howling winds of the northern coast, the sound of the ocean pounding against the high cliffs, and in her anger she rips apart the very object of her confused attentions with that scream: the estate’s garden. It used to be so well kept, and now it’s all fallen apart. Dried up. Withered. A glaring lack of attention to the needs of plants… and it would take so much work to bring it back to life, she thinks, as she reaches again for her bottle of alcohol before passing out in the rain that has begun to drizzle down. She knows, of course, that there’s only so much you can do to save something that’s been this badly neglected.
They can’t do it on their own. The plants depend on someone else’s help. They need the gentle nurturing of a caring soul. And who could do that for her? As she falls asleep in a nauseating swirl of whiskey, she’s vaguely aware that she knows such help has been offered… and she’s been too terrified to accept it. And by the time Warpath picks up her besotted body, she’s long passed into merciful stupor. When she awakens hours later, cleaned up and provided with hot chocolate, her thoughts drift to a new question… why can’t she thank him?
Sitting across from her, frowning, Warpath notes that she isn’t helping him much. Helping him do what? she leers defensively. Helping him help her, he replies. They’ve been in Ireland for two weeks, he’s been working with doctors and police and Kelvin to try to find Black Tom, to deal with his attack on Flaherty, and also deal with whatever problems remain between her and Tom… and all she’s done is hide in the Keep and drink, more than she ever did back in Camp Verde!
Siryn informs Warpath that he has no right to judge her… she can handle her own life, thank you very much. Then why, asks Warpath in exasperation, did she come home to begin with? Why did she ask him to come here with her?! Because, she shoots back, she thought he was her friend -- someone who’d support her, not preach at her like some bloody minister! Siryn pauses, picking up a picture of Black Tom and Sean Cassidy -- the Banshee -- and then mutters that she called him uncle. What? replies Warpath, thrown off by the sudden shift. He was her father’s cousin, explains Siryn, but she always called him ‘uncle.’
Warpath informs her that while he doesn’t pretend to know what her life was like growing up in Cassidy Keep, she doesn’t have a monopoly on hard times… or grief. Try having your parents die and then losing your brother, the only friend you ever had in the world… try feeling that kind of pain, he tells her, and then ask yourself… if you’re so ready to give up on yourself, why should the rest of the world try and help?
Elsewhere, the moon rises in the early evening sky over the small town of Castle Bar. Workers make their way to Kavanaugh’s Pub to wind down before heading home… while others, like Kelvin Doneghann, don’t have much of a home to go to afterwards. For that matter, neither does the man he’s here to meet…
Kelvin enters the bar and announces to the barkeep that he’ll have the usual, Terrence. A coke it is, confirms Terrence, then informs Kelvin that the big one’s been waiting for him… and he’s getting a bit anxious. Is he now? asks Kelvin, then, turning around, follows up with another question: Mr. Marko, he presumes? Cain Marko, sometimes the Juggernaut but at this moment just a man in street clothes, replies with call me Cain, Donneghan. Kelvin says to call him terrified. Marko replies that there’s no need to be… he’s got no beef with him. And neither he with him, Mr. M-- er -- Cain, replies Kelvin. He wants to help Tom Cassidy… and so asks if Cain can tell him where Tom’s hiding himself.
Poking an icy glare out from under his cap, Cain Marko replies with a succinct Nope. Well, replies Kelvin, that was to the point, wasn’t it? He then asks why Tom didn’t come with Cain, who responds by explaining that Tom can’t go out in public anymore… doesn’t like to. His face and body, they’re different now; he’d upset the local populace, if Kelvin knows what Cain means. Kelvin asks if that’s why Tom attacked Flaherty… is he losing control? Cain replies he’s trying to help Tom, trying to get him to stay in touch with himself. They go way back, him and Tom. In his life he never made many friends… and he doesn’t intend to lose the one he found. But, adds Cain, at the rate Tom’s going, it’s a race to see what stops him first… his own body and mind burning out, or a bullet through the head from a cop’s gun.
Kelvin points out that the policemen around there carry no guns… it isn’t America, you know. But enough about that… it’s simply amazing to him that he’s sitting here talking to the Juggernaut about a man Kelvin’s known his whole life. When he was a boy… he and his friends all looked up to Tom Cassidy, always wanted to be like him. Always looking so dapper, always a beautiful girl at his side. A charmer, but always with style. Except he couldn’t charm his way with the one girl he loved for real: Maeve Rourke. Tom stood as best man to his cousin Sean Cassidy as Sean married the girl they both wanted… and everyone in town knew that the scoundrel Tom had rolled the dice and come up sevens.
Cain interrupts to remind Kelvin that he knows the story, kid. And he always knows that’s when it got bad for Tom. That’s when he started trying to prove that Maeve was right in choosing Sean over him. And then, just when he had almost convinced everyone, including himself… Maeve died. Kelvin continues: that was a bad time. Kelvin’s mum told him that no one knew where Sean had gone off to… but Maeve had left a baby girl behind that Sean didn’t even know about, and Tom was left to care for the child: Theresa. They always said the Cassidys were cursed, and here was the proof: tragic love, young death. Ah, but it was a grand tragedy.
No one knew back then, continues Kelvin, that Sean Cassidy was an Interpol agent. No one knew he was a mutant, either. His assignments kept him away from Cassidy Keep for months after Maeve died, and when he came home he discovered what had happened. The poor man was devastated; he’d gone off in the service of his country, and come back to find it all turned to ashes. Tom meant to tell Sean about his daughter, try to cheer him up a bit… y’know? But Sean went and took out all his anger and guilt on Tom, blaming Tom for not having better watched over the woman they loved.
As they both stood over her grave, Sean snapped and let loose a sonic scream at Tom, tore up the ground, sent him flying down a nearby cliff, and then took off to spend his grief elsewhere. That’s how Tom ended up needing a cane for his limp, y’know. Sean’s attack, the ensuing fall… Tom broke his leg pretty bad. And later, adds Kelvin, Tom told him that as he watched Sean leave that day, he knew in his heart of hearts that none of it was truly his fault. But he also knew he’d have to pay for it anyway… and so would Sean. And then and there, to Tom, Sean was dead… and so, in turn, would he be to poor Theresa.
He always looked at Theresa that way, didn’t he? asks Kelvin to Cain. He felt guilty for poor Maeve, for Sean. Guilty that he wasn’t the man he wanted to be. That he wasn’t the noble soul he thought he was. In fact, he was anything but noble, and that ate at him, so instead of trying to swim against the tide… he just went with the flow. All the while, Sean Cassidy immersed himself in Interpol work, staying away from Cassidy Keep for years. By the time he came back to stay, it turned out he was still working undercover… this time to try to nail Tom for all the illegal activities he had gotten involved in. By then Theresa was in a private school, carefully hidden from Sean, so even she never knew the things Tom was up to. And everyone in Castle Bar thought that, at least, was a blessing.
Well, Tom went to jail for all his different scams, mutters Cain, and that’s where the two of them met. They both escaped, adds Kelvin, and came back to Cassidy Keep to get revenge on Sean, blaming him for everything that had gone wrong in Tom’s life. Kelvin pauses to light yet another cigarette, then presses further: And Tom still waited to tell Theresa about her father, didn’t he? She still thought herself an orphan. Nice bit of revenge, that. One problem though… the wrong person got hurt. Did Tom… did either of them, Tom or Cain… ever stop to think about what kind of effect that would have on her? Did either of them stop to think what would happen the day Terry discovered Sean was alive, and her whole life was a lie?!
Yeah, Doneghann, Tom thought about it, replies Cain curtly. Tom thought about it each and every day since he’s known him. But hate’s a funny thing, kid. It does strange things to people. Believe him… he, of all people, knows.
The next morning, the sun rises over Cassidy Keep. Warpath exclaims to Eamon, the butler, that the coffee smells great! Eamon replies that it had better, since Warpath’s the only one willing to drink the stuff. Warpath says that she wasn’t in bed… has he seen her? Eamon replies that the miss is outside. Don’t tell him, quips Warpath, the garden… right? She’s always gone there to think, explains Eamon, ever since she was a girl. He imagines she’s trying to make amends for last night’s outburst…
Warpath sits down on the steps leading to the garden whilst Siryn, clad in jeans and a loose jersey, rakes leaves. Sipping his coffee, he offers her a Morning. She replies with a curt Aye. A pause. Then Warpath inquires whether Siryn thinks, maybe, that she’s carrying this analogy of hers a bit too far? Probably, she’s sure, she replies. It’s just that gardening was a passion for Tom… making something out of the wind-swept nothing that surrounds the Keep. It became a passion for her as well… as much, she guesses now, to have something in common with Tom as anything else. It’s better, she thinks, to be obsessing over an attempt to grow something as opposed to destroying things. Which, adds Warpath wryly, makes her an interesting study in conflict, doesn’t it?
He changes the subject. It must have been lonely for her here, so isolated. No more, she replies as she balances her arms on the handle of the rake, than it was for him growing up in the desert. He had his brother, John, replies Warpath… he had family, and friends. She had Eamon and his family, shoots back Siryn… he’d be amazed if he ever saw them; a more lively bunch he’s never met. Well then, asks Warpath as he approaches her, why did she leave the place? Siryn readily replies that she was forced to.
Tom was getting more deeply involved in illegal activities, and she was shipped off to a boarding school when she was twelve. She knows that he shipped her off as much to protect her as himself… but that wasn’t how she felt then. That’s where she had her first drink. She was thirteen, she was still so angry at Tom for sending her away. She was afraid, too. Afraid she had done something bad and that Tom was angry with her. So she sneaked a few nips to dull the pain… she knew Tom would’ve been furious to see her doing it… but then again, that was the point!
Soon a few nips became quite a bit more. She thought she was being terribly adult… that no one could hurt her again. It eventually scared the other girls… they hated the taste, the way it made them feel sick to their stomach. They gave it up. But her? No matter how sick she got… she wanted to feel worse. She thought she was rebelling, y’know? Even though she was just killing herself. Then one day she got even more incentive. She was fifteen when Tom got arrested by Interpol agents for black marketeering.
She read about the trial in the papers, but she never went. She couldn’t. Tom was sentenced to five years; she never saw him dragged off in chains, never went to visit him in prison. She just shut herself off from everything, pretended it wasn’t happening. Putting his hand on her shoulder, Warpath tells her that when his brother died, he ran off… angry, hating everyone for what went down. The things Tom’s done in her life… they’re not her fault. How does he know that for sure? asks Siryn. What would Tom’s life had been like if he didn’t have to care for her… didn’t have to raise her? And all out of obligation to a woman he loved who didn’t love him back?
That doesn’t excuse what he’s done, replies Warpath with growing anger. He robbed her and her father of a chance to have a real life together! How can he be blameless for what he’s done? Tears welling up, Siryn tells Warpath that he has no right to judge Tom! He can’t blame him for being afraid, and alone… because believe her, those are the worst feelings a person can have. And doesn’t he see? She couldn’t help him… and when she found out he was a criminal, God help her, she didn’t want to.
Elsewhile, at the offices of the Connact Province Weekly Tribune, Kelvin Doneghann’s secretary informs him he has a fax coming through. As he examines the paper feeding out of the machine, she asks him what it is, and he explains it’s a communiqué from a research laboratory in France… the same ones who turned Tom Cassidy into the “plant-man” thing he’s apparently become. He then adds that the information in the fax looks like it corroborates what Cain Marko told him… Tom’s mind and body are deteriorating. The process which saved his life was not completed when the Juggernaut “rescued” Tom from the French and, if he doesn’t get help soon, he’s as good as dead.
As Kelvin rushes out of his office with the sheet of fax paper trailing behind him, his secretary inquires as to what his next step will be. Kelvin explains that he has to arrange a meeting between two people who very much want to help their friends… and the only way for them to do that is if they help each other…
Later, Warpath stands nervously on the stone steps in front of the Church of St. Michael’s. He’s always hated churches. He feels confined when he’s in one. Making his way inside, he approaches Cain Marko sitting in the shadowy, deserted pews and offers a truce. Cain only replies that he wouldn’t fight in a church, Geronimo… he’s got some scruples, y’know. Warpath replies that he does know, or else Cain wouldn’t be here to help his friend. Cain asks how bad it is and, holding up the fax Kelvin received, Warpath says that it’s bad enough.
The fax says that Tom’s mind and body are falling apart, and he’ll be dead in months… maybe weeks. Interpol and S.H.I.E.L.D. both want him bad enough that they’re willing to cut a deal… Warpath asks Marko to listen: if Cassidy turns himself in, he’ll get the medical help he needs to survive. Cain looks over the fax suspiciously before discarding it to the floor and approaching an altar of candles to pray. As he walks, Cain notes that it’s some choice, huh? Tom’ll survive but be behind bars for life.
Warpath asks him what he expected… they’re both escaped felons. Tom was behind the bombing at the World Trade Center and Cain’s an accessory to that crime. And to top that off, Cain tried hi-jacking a plane a few weeks ago… They want Tom, reiterates Warpath, and believe him: they’re going to get him. Whether it’s standing trial or on a coroner’s slab is up to Cain. Kneeling down, Cain asks what happens to him? If he turns Tom over, replies Warpath, they’re willing to be lenient. Lighting a candle, Cain emphatically states that he’s not going to turn his back on Tom… no way… he told Warpath that. Warpath begs Cain to listen to what he’s saying… Cain gets to walk, Tom gets cured… they’re both alive to live another day, get it?
And, thinks Cain aloud, he’ll be able to spring Tom… eventually. Warpath informs Cain that he did not just hear that… he’s here to help Theresa, that’s all. She needs some sense of closure out of all this, some sense that there’s still a right and wrong in the world. Cain says that he likes Terry… she was always a sweet kid. Then, his face turning to a look of grim acceptance, he asks Warpath -- “Geronimo” -- where they’re going to meet to do this. Warpath asks Cain where’s the one place he can think of that Tom won’t put up a fight, and Cain replies that it’d be the only place he was at peace, he supposes… at the side of the only woman he’s ever loved… at Maeve Rourke’s grave.
That night, Siryn stands at her mother’s grave, noting that it’s been a long time. Then, offering a Cheers, she withdraws a flask of liquor from her coat. From the shadows of the nearby stand of trees, someone asks her if she’s trying to warm herself from the cold. Turning to the figure dressed in hat and coat, Siryn inquires as to what’s wrong with that… uncle? It’s a cold world. Stepping forward, Black Tom whispers that he wishes Siryn could have known her. Things would’ve been so different… the three of them could have been together, like a family… how sweet that would have been. Placing flowers at the base of her mother’s grave, Siryn notes that Tom seems to be forgetting one thing… Sean Cassidy is her father -- not him!
Lunging forward in frustration, scattering the clothing that hid his newfound deformities, Tom shouts that a father isn’t a man who creates a child, it’s a man who raises a child! Where was her father then, all those years she was growing up? Where is he now? Good lord, exclaims Siryn in shock at his appearance, what’s happened to him?! She had heard but… oh, is this what his life has led to? Tom says that he did the best he could, and Siryn shoots back that perhaps it wasn’t good enough. What kind of life did he make for them? Did he ever ask himself that? She has, more times than she can count. He lied to her, her entire life… about her father and more… about himself. He tried to turn her down the same miserable road he was traveling, and then he thought he could redeem himself by telling her she had a father she never knew?
Batting the flask out of her grasp with his own gnarled, swollen, bark-like hand, Tom tells her that it was Sean who ran away… who abandoned her! He’s the one who stayed by Siryn’s side after Maeve died! He’s the one who held her after she scraped her knee or lost a toy. He’s the one who wiped her tears away. Shoving him back in anger, Siryn scowls and retorts that he kept her father from her! He told her that her father didn’t exist… how does he think that makes her feel? She remembers all that he’s said, and she could cry for the two of them, such love and tenderness there was… and then she looks back at him, at Black Tom Cassidy, and wonders if she ever really knew him at all. Exasperated, Tom tells her that it’s not his fault he turned out way he did! Screaming now, Siryn tells Tom to stop it! If it’s not his fault, then whose was it?! He always blamed everyone else but himself! Her father, her mother for dying -- when is he going to stand accountable for his own mistakes?!
Stammering for an answer, Tom finally collapses to the ground, clinging pathetically to Siryn. He blamed her father when Maeve chose him, continues a calming Siryn, and sometimes she thinks he blamed her for holding him back, keeping him tied down… and then she looks in his eyes and sees the uncle who checked her closet each night for the Bogeyman. Quieter now, regretful, she murmurs that there are things she hates about him, about Tom Cassidy… but, heaven help her, she loves him too. Crumpled, emotionally crushed, Tom says he knows… and then offers, if it matters, that there is one thing he does blame himself for… for not having raised her to be happy…
That’s odd, says Siryn, closing her eyes. She doesn’t blame him for that at all… for that one she blames herself. This didn’t have to be their life, y’know, she adds. The once choice Tom made… after her mother died, to not tell Sean about her… was the wrong choice. And like any choice it had its consequences that Tom never could have foreseen. She could have loved them both, her father and her cousin. She could have been the very thing that brought them both together again. Instead, he made her the focal point of their foolish feud… and ever since he made that choice, he’s run and hidden from life and pulled her along with him. She knows he didn’t mean to do it… but she’s not going to hide any more.
As she empties her flask into the soil at her feet, Siryn admits that she doesn’t know if she can help Tom if he doesn’t want to help himself. But she also can’t fault him for the mistakes he’s made, then turn around and repeat them herself. It stops here and now, for both of them. Then, finally, they both notice the silhouettes in the nearby night: Kelvin Doneghann, Warpath, and a host of officers. Kelvin, trailing cigarette wisps behind him, tells Tom Cassidy that it’s time… and Tom says he knows. As Siryn leans on Warpath for support, Tom asks her to tell Sean he’s sorry. She weakly says she will… uncle.
Placing his hands in the air as the officers circle him, Tom notes it’s been a merry show, boys… but it’s over now… and with one final glance at Siryn, adds: isn’t it? Watching them all march Tom away, Warpath says he’ll meet them back in the Keep, then turns into the nearby woods to meet Cain Marko. He offers him a thanks for his help, and Cain tells him not to mention it, Geronimo. Then, adjusting the brim of his cap, Cain calls back to Geron -- Proudstar, and tell him to listen… what he did today, the way he helped Terry out… doesn’t he know that if she starts helping herself, she might not need him any more?
Yeah, Marko, replies Warpath, he knows that. But, continues Cain, that means he might lose her, yeah? Yeah, confirms Warpath, that’s exactly what it means. Maybe, he says over his shoulder as he walks away, maybe that’s the price of friendship.


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

[Assistant]
Child’s Play (First Move): With a Roll of the Dice
Deep in the rainforest of Brazil, a young woman, engulfed in flames and skin pulsing a fiery orange glow, psionically tears apart the ground below her and watches the lava flow forth across the surface. Once, her name was Amara Aquilla. She was a citizen of Nova Roma, a civilization whose residents thought they were descendants of the ancient Roman Empire. They, and she, were wrong – the entire thing was a lie crafted by the powerful and immortal mutant Selene. Instead, this young woman has learned, her name is Allison Crestmere, and she was once the daughter of Great Britain’s ambassador to Brazil.
For weeks, she and her fellow Nova Roman citizens have tried to adjust to these revelations and the changes that have been wrought upon their lives as a result. She, of course, has also had something else to adjust to: the fact she is a mutant, specifically one with the ability to psionically control the movement of tectonic plates and thus call forth flows of lava from beneath the Earth’s crust. Such abilities lent her the codename Magma when she served, for a short time, as a New Mutant and then a Hellion. Of course, her memories of those days are now foggy at best, but they still make her a prime choice on this day to become a very dangerous present…
Watching Magma from the shadowy cover of nearby undergrowth is a pair of blonde siblings, the assassins known as Fenris. The male states that this is the girl, and she’s simply adorable. A little lava would do to warm his toes under the blankets any day, eh? he muses to his sister. Scowling, the sister requests that for once he consider the priorities of their mission over the dictates of his hormones. She then suggests they take their target, which results in Magma immediately finding herself surrounded by a horde of two-bit lackeys with oversized wraparound sunglasses as soon as the words, “Fenris Attack Unit -- Engaged!” are spoken into their headsets.
Announcing that the target has been acquired, the lead thug orders the dampening coils to be put into place. Each lackey’s weapon fires a steel coil toward Magma, ensnaring her from multiple angles as she cries out to ask what is happening, who they are, and why they are doing this. Stepping out from their hiding place, Fenris observes the ambush as the sister speaks to their victim. Noting that Magma is such a curious one, she muses that perhaps such curiosity should be quenched, and explains that they are Andrea and Andreas Strucker of the organization known as Fenris. Andreas adds that Magma is now, quite obviously, their prisoner, courtesy of these mutagenic energy-dampening coils.
Finishing up the answer session, Andrea adds that the why is simple: a bounty has been placed on Magma’s head, and to collect the reward is to gain power, and to gain power… well, does she even need to provide an explanation for that one? The men are then told to activate the coils, and with a sharp electric crackle, Magma’s fiery powers are snuffed out, as she collapses in a crumpled heap to the forest floor.
Andreas notes to his sister that Magma didn’t scream out. Andrea comments that this is impressive; perhaps their assigned targets are made of sterner stuff than they expected. Andreas replies that he sincerely hopes not, as that would make their petition for official membership in the Upstarts competition all the harder to attain. Yes, brother, agrees Andrea, but it also makes their acquisition of the secondary target lurking in the area even more important. Sighing, Andreas says he knows… he just hates trudging through this godforsaken jungle to find the fool.
As if on cue, with a chorus of clicks and locks, Fenris’ hired lackeys suddenly turn their guns upon the pair. While Andrea, in shock, asks if the men have lost their minds, Andreas merely mumbles that the little fool seems to have found them first. As the two leap clear of the bursts of energy emitting from the lackey’s weapons, Andrea asks if that’s it, are the mercenaries being mind-controlled into assaulting them? Andreas only comments that it is a desperate suicidal endeavor if “he” thinks this will save him.
Crouching behind the cloud of clearing smoke a few feet away from the controlled thugs, Andrea announces that they don’t have the time, and she doesn’t have the patience, to be delayed this way. Andreas asks if they should hold hands, dear sister, and show their hiding little puppeteer exactly what it is he is dealing with? One touch then, brother, replies Andrea, to activate their mutant powers. Their hands come into contact, and an electric buzz begins along with a glowing light, which rapidly explodes into a blinding, area-wide burst of energy that sends the lackeys flying in every direction. And show, she finishes, their little hirelings what it means to be on the receiving end of a bioelectric assault from Fenris!
Shouting past the smoldering bodies toward the expanse of the rainforest, Andrea states that this upsets her quite a bit, boy! Does he hear her? She had no desire to incinerate the very beasts of burden who were going to bring him to her! Such a waste, forced to shoot their own mules, as it were. Placing his hand on her shoulder, Andreas tells his sister to chin up: a few of the men survived. With the proper coaxing, he’s certain they could be easily convinced to pick up the pursuit of their manipulative little mutant quarry.
Barely listening, Andrea turns back to the dense foliage to scream that they are coming, Manuel de la Rocha! Does he hear her, she asks, loudly finishing with his codename, Empath? She yells to the man to run while he can, boy! They will capture him! And his head on a pike will serve notice that the Upstarts have been given new assignments for the killing! The Younghunt is on, and Fenris plans to win this game!
The Hellfire Club, Manhattan chapter. Under a moonlit sky, it stands as a testament to the stately elegance and the avaricious decadence that only this society’s wealthy elite have been able to combine into one. Tonight, the Club’s annual gala ball has played host to the venerable members of the upper-crust establishment, as well as to the new generations of movers and shakers among their class. The self-proclaimed valedictorian of this class is Shinobi Shaw, son of the late Hellfire Club member Sebastian Shaw…
Shinobi is speaking to a youthful, chestnut-haired man, both are dressed in the suit and bowtie expected for an upper-class mingling. Shinobi asks Vance what he thinks… pretty impressive or what? The young man replies that he has to tell Shinobi, this a lot more, he doesn’t know, rich than he’s used to! Shinobi replies that he always delights in seeing the middle class move up. Remember though, he adds, he wants Vance to mingle and get a feeling for the mood of the guests to see if anyone has anything to say about the feelers he put out regarding the reestablishment of the elite Inner Circle of the Club. Then, seeing Archangel and Psylocke in the distance, Shinobi excuses himself from Vance, saying he has two very special guests to attend to…
Stuffing his face with hors d’oeuvres from a serving-girl’s tray, Vance mumbles a goodbye to Shinobi, as he is simultaneously approached by a shadowy figure from behind, who notes that there’s quite a lot of interesting things to choose from, aren’t there, Mr. Astrovik? Turning to greet the man, Vance ponders how you can pick just one, Mr. Taylor? By whichever is the most filling, supposes Mr. Taylor.
Moving into more hushed tones, Vance announces that he’s got a good one: things regarding Shinobi Shaw appear to be just as the other man, Dwayne, suspected. Shaw is definitely part of some kind of billionaire-boys-club that gets their jollies by hunting down mutants. It is, continues Vance, some kind of sick treasure hunt with mutants as the prize; he just hasn’t had a chance to find out who else is playing the game yet. Dwayne replies that getting Vance to infiltrate them through Shaw was a dangerous move, but it’s paying off. The question, he continues, is why they do this. The usual reasons, replies Vance: boredom, greed, ego, power. At this point, he doesn’t know if why they’re doing it is as important as who they’re going to go after next. And that is…? asks Dwayne. From what little info he’s been able to piece together, continues Vance, the next targets are any of the surviving members of the old New Mutants and Hellions teams!
Cumberland County, Kentucky. The Guthrie family farm has stood on this land, in one form or another, for over two hundred years. It is a quiet countryside, belying the hard life the people who worked this land have always endured, but the sense of tranquility and the crisp Appalachian mountain air are enough to make two of the young members of the outlaw mutant group called X-Force, Siryn and Warpath, reconsider the choices they’ve made in life.
Standing in a field of tall grass, staring out into the distance from the foot of the grave of Thomas Zebulon Guthrie, Cannonball’s father, Siryn announces to Warpath that it seems that of late, all they end up doing is staring at the gravesites of the loved ones they’ve lost. Warpath’s family in Camp Verde, her mother in Ireland just a week ago, and now Cannonball’s father here in Kentucky… she wonders if this is all they share in common, if this is all that binds them together: the fact they’ve suffered so much pain and tragedy.
Warpath replies that he doesn’t know; ever since his brother, John, shortly after joining the X-Men, was killed, he’s tried not to look back. He’s just kept moving forward. Siryn replies that Warpath lies to himself; he wears a costume patterned after his late brother’s and he lives on the ruins of his murdered tribe and he just says what he does to try to make her feel better. Mollified, Warpath weakly mumbles that, well, yeah… did it work? A bit, replies Siryn. As much as it could, considering everything she’s been through the last month: the drinking, seeing her uncle Black Tom the way he truly was… and it would appear that all that was just a drop in the bucket compared to everything they’re about ready to deal with now. Shifting topics, she wonders aloud if Rictor and Shatterstar have been able to find out what happened to Cannonball and Boomer…?
Elsewhere but nearby, in the woods surrounding the Guthrie farmland, Rictor and Shatterstar stand over a still-smoldering crater. Shatterstar notes that these charred ruts in the land definitely indicate some kind of energy dispersal. A-duh, replies Rictor, but it’s not like Cannonball’s blast effect or Boomer’s plasma discharge, right? Piping up from the background, Josh Guthrie asks if the two X-Force members have any clue what happened to his brother yet. Rictor replies that he’s afraid not… the scanner he’s using is trying to figure out what kind of plasma was used to take them out: if they know what caused the explosion, then maybe they can next take a guess as to who.
Shatterstar, referring to the young man as “Joshua Guthrie” and inspecting the blasted ground, adds that everything they have uncovered so far, at least, is consistent with what his younger sibling stated as having occurred. Josh mutters an incredulous really? and then adds that he’s surprised. Curious, Rictor asks how come, why would she lie about something like this? Josh clarifies that it isn’t so much lie as fantasize; the girl’s head ain’t in the here and now half the time. She doesn’t want to know what’s what in the real world… he guesses she’s just like he was a couple years ago, guitar in hand, thinking he’d be the next Elvis, before life became a trip down to the coal mines every day, breathing in the same black garbage that ended up taking his daddy’s life.
Confused, Shatterstar turns to Josh and asks him to pardon his ignorance, since he is trying quite hard to learn the ways of this world, but in light of Josh’s current unhappiness with his life, what is so wrong with his sister for dreaming of a better one, even if – especially if – she may never attain it?
Inside the Guthrie residence’s kitchen, Cable asks Cannonball’s younger sister, Paige, what happened next. Paige explains that it was amazing, Mr. Cable… the sky just sorta… exploded! Domino, nonplused, replies that Paige couldn’t be a bit more specific, could she? Paige replies that she’s sorry, Miss Domino. Domino mutters that it’s Mrs., but let’s not get into that right now. Paige’s mother tells her that she knows it’s a bit exciting for her to admit that she’s… special … just like Sam, but this isn’t a game, and these good folk want to help them.
Paige replies that she knows, it’s just… she had dreamed about how exciting it would be, you know, to be like Sam… but to see the kind of life he lives up-close-like, well it’s absolutely incredible! At this, Paige begins to remember back to earlier in the day, as she watched Cannonball and Boomer play in a swimming pond and Cannonball dive into the water accelerated by his blast field. She recounts that it started so normal, too. That’s the most amazing thing: Sam and Boomer were swimming in the pond. It took him days to convince her it was safe to go in there. Boomer’s kind of odd that way, pretending she’s a big city girl or something, thinking she’d get bit by a tadpole, Paige’s sure!
So, continues Paige, she was watching them, spying on them, she guesses you could say, waiting to see if they’d start necking again like they’d been doing practically every day since they got there – Paige’s mother interrupts to tell her to stop talking like that. Apologizing, Paige continues: anyway, that’s when it appeared: some kinda energy bolt, Mr. Cable, like lightning; it cut across the sky – fazzam! – right towards them, almost like it was searching them out! The air started rumbling, that was Sam kicking in his blast field, stretching it out so it protected Boomer too, but it wasn’t enough. Paige explains she thought Sam could do anything, his letters said he’d been in space and to Asgard and all, but he went down like one of old man Angers’ cows when he slaughters them –  wham! –  down and out!
And just as she was going to see if they were okay… that’s when she saw her. A woman, a girl actually, no older than Sam, and the air around her was steaming, and she was holding both Sam and Boomer up, and Paige couldn’t tell if they were dead or alive… and then the woman started laughing, long and loud. She said something about how disappointed she was that ‘Getting these points was sooo easy’ – in those exact words – then some sort of energy haze surrounded them and they all disappeared.
Paige explains she started to run towards the pond, concentrating real hard on changing into something useful: she was going to show the woman what a Guthrie was really made of! But all she got out of that cockiness and anger was a bird. A stupid sparrow! Looking out the window as she finishes her story, Paige asks what good a sparrow can do against a hawk? Paige’s mother hugs her and explains that her gift is going to take time to understand, and time to learn how to use it right, just like it took Samuel. But, protests Paige, she knows she can do great things if she just starts to learn how…
Cable and Domino, having heard enough, exit through the front door. Standing on the front porch of the Guthrie residence, looking out at the sunset dipping into the distant mountains and the rest of X-Force gathered near their transport ship, Domino asks Cable what he thinks. Cable mutters that he thinks he would have loved to have grown up there. Raising his voice, he thinks he’s starting to wonder why he’s let them keep their base in the middle of the “flonqing” desert, when there’s so much more these kids could have! And getting back to the point? asks a typically unmoved Domino. As far as Boomer and Sam are concerned? replies Cable. He has absolutely no clue, he continues; their scanning systems haven’t been able to locate their mutagenic signatures, which means one of three things: they’re being purposefully cloaked, they’re off-planet… or they’re dead!
A twisting psionic mindscape. Amid the swirls of green and yellow float the minds of all those so far defeated in the so-called Younghunt. What Cable doesn’t realize is that the truth regarding the whereabouts of the mutants captured in this game is far worse than any of the situations he has imagined: Boomer, Cannonball, and Magma float in a freefall state through a psi-scape consisting of the errant thoughtwaves of every single sentient being on the planet. All of these minds are simultaneously scanned by a telepathic presence the likes of which, outside that of Charles Xavier, the world has never seen; all minds, swirling in a whirlpool of thoughts and emotions; all minds, funneled towards the filtering presence of the omnipath who serves as arbiter of the game played by the Upstarts, the man known to them as…
Gamesmaster! shouts Graydon Creed, his astral form among those floating in this bizarre mindscape. Demanding to know why he has brought them there – “them” being the others who are also present, namely Siena Blaze (the mysterious woman from Paige’s flashback), Shinobi Shaw, and Trevor Fitzroy. Creed is answered by Siena, who asks him why does he think they’re here? The “big brain” obviously has something to say, right? Ignoring Blaze, the Gamesmaster’s enormous, glowing, psionic-energy visage speaks in a disembodied and listless voice: he has called them all here to make certain that they fully understand the new parameters of the game they all play.
Addressing them one by one, he explains that they are the self-selected few who currently make up the assassination association known as the Upstarts. However, he adds, he must point out that due to their own lack of initiative or accomplishment, they have not been very successful in their purported objective.
Interrupting, Shinobi tells the Gamesmaster to malign these others losers as much as he wants, but remember that Shinobi killed his own father! And so, replies the unimpressed Gamesmaster, the points awarded for Sebastian Shaw still remain on Shinobi’s tally sheet… but what has he accomplished since then? Nothing! Continuing with his original line of thought, the Gamesmaster explains that for this new hunt he has arranged, they will all first be required to capture their prizes and only after they have all been brought to the Upstarts’ pre-arranged location will the captives be “disposed of” and the points awarded. This change of venue, he hopes, will ensure a successful finale to this particular round of competition.
Fitzroy immediately objects, stating that this is ridiculous and that the Gamesmaster is insinuating himself into these proceedings more than he ever has before… and further, there is no artistry to this charade! They are all expected to run about like foxes after simpering rabbits! Silence, replies the Gamesmaster to Fitzroy, proceeding to tell him to consider this: Siena has already captured two of the so-called “rabbits,” and the Strucker siblings, whom Fitzroy illogically spurned from official membership, but who he has allowed to participate in this round as an added incentive to the others, themselves stand rather close to taking the lead in this competition. He suggests, finally, that the clever foxes start chasing their quarry with a little more rabid intensity…
The Brazilian rainforest. Manual de la Rocha knows it is just ahead, just a little bit further and he will be able to get help – there! – the resettlement camp outside Nova Roma, erected by the Brazilian government to help reintegrate the recovering citizens into modern society. He calls out, but they cannot hear him yet. He could manipulate their minds, force them to rush out to his defense, but after the sins he has committed in the past, he is trying his desperate hardest to use his powers in a morally proper way. He will imminently come to regret this choice… as a burst of bioelectric energy sends him careening to the ground in a smoldering heap, signaling the arrival of Fenris.
The workers at the camp rush to his aid, led by Nina DaCosta, who cries out to ask whether he is alright. Barely able to speak, Empath murmurs to her to get the people out of there… they’re coming. Confused, DaCosta tries to get Empath to explain who is coming, but her question is shortly answered for her, as Fenris releases another bioelectric burst, destroying the camp and rendering unconscious most any who it fails to kill completely. One of Fenris’ lackeys informs them that they have the perimeter covered. Excellent, replies Andrea, telling them to take de la Rocha so that they can finally get out of the stifling jungle.
Watching all this transpire from the canopy above is a familiar figure with bow and psionic arrows in hand. Within moments, both of the Fenris twins and all their thugs have been struck down by a hail of psi-arrows accompanied by their characteristic high-pitch screech. Confused, DaCosta asks what that was and who. From the branches above, the red-clad figure muses that her attack was much more effective than conjuring up frightening dream images, wasn’t it? Psionic manifestations used as neurosynaptic paralyzing agents, she adds, speaking of the arrows; continuing, she bids a good day to Mrs. DaCosta, apologizing for what happened to her son. But, she muses further, she guesses in a way he was lucky, huh? Now, Bobby doesn’t have to worry about getting hunted down by these murderers… but then again… Moonstar does!
The Guthrie farm. Inspecting and preparing a massive firearm, Cable explains to Mrs. Guthrie that he respects what she’s asking of him, he just doesn’t know if he can do it. Mrs. Guthrie explains that Paige is just a child, Mr., uhm, Cable, and he doesn’t know her like she does. Cable replies that Paige is as old as Sam was when he first left home, ma’am, and she’s old enough to make these kinds of decisions on her own. Crossing her arms, the Guthrie matriarch tersely replies that she’s already seen her eldest boy “drafted” into this horrible “war” that the mutants and humans are fighting. She watched her husband die from black lung disease. She’s tired of seeing her loved ones leave her and she just doesn’t want to lose Paige too!
Cable replies that he knows what it’s like to lose your loved ones, to lose them forever… but if the girl decides she wants to leave, then she knows as well as he does that in the long run there’s nothing he or she can do to stop Paige. Tears welling in her eyes, Paige’s mother can only whisper that she knows. Just like she also knows her daughter well enough to know that if she does let her go, Paige’s the kind to try and win this “war” all on her own! Truth to tell, replies Cable, the cause could use a few more like that if they…
Suddenly, Domino urgently interrupts into Cable’s headset that he needs to get over to the IPAC, now! Can’t it wait just a minute? asks Cable, which is met only be Domino insisting that they need him fast! Sensing the urgency of the situation, Cable notes that he’s on his way. Rushing around the side of the house to where the IPAC is landed, Cable begins to loudly ask what’s going… on… when the answer presents itself before the sentence can finish. Standing in a garish suit of futuristic body armor is Trevor Fitzroy, prepped for battle.
Announcing, appropriately enough, that his name is Trevor Fitzroy, he states that he would just as soon handle this situation without having to kill them all! Elaborating, he explains that the mutants of this day and age seem to have a nasty habit of fracturing facial features that he’s rather partial to, so he’s only here for two things: the Indian and the Mexican. Let him have them, and he shall be quite content to be on his way as quickly tied with Siena for the lead in the Younghunt as he was lagging behind but a moment ago. What say you, old chap, he asks Cable, to such a sporting proposition? Unsurprisingly, the only response Fitzroy earns is the sound of X-Force’s weapons being drawn and Cable’s rhetorical What do you think?
The Gamesmaster. He sits in a complicated-looking chair inside a metallic chamber, but this is not his body, it is just a state of mind. He is not where he appears to be, yet he is everywhere. He searches, seeing his playing pieces strewn about the field, wondering which one will be the first to move without the aid of the strings the he so tactfully pulls. Who will be the first to act of their own volition? Ah, an image begins to form in the psionic swirls… and it as he suspected. The ambitious one acts: Shinobi.
Shinobi Shaw’s penthouse suite. Shaw explains that he knows how Vance feels about her, but the targets have been presented, and of all the Upstarts, Shinobi has the best chance of acquiring her, and Justice has the best chance of doing it without causing her – or her or his friends – undue harm. Vance stands, in full uniform as Justice, arms crossed and silent. Sipping a glass of champagne, Shinobi explains that Vance’s choice is pretty simple: either he brings her to him, or her lets one of the other Upstarts have a crack at her, and who knows what will happen to his girlfriend then?
Justice pauses for a moment, staring at the photograph in his hand, and then lets it drop to the floor. He leaves through the window without a word, flying off into the night. He knows that he’s about to make one of the hardest decisions he’s ever had to make in what has already been a very hard life. He is going to have to fight against his teammates, the New Warriors, and he is going to have to fight against the woman he loves: Angelica Jones, the former Hellion known as Firestar!


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

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Child’s Play (Third Move): Rules Were Made to be Broken
Cumberland County, Kentucky, at the Guthrie farm. Cable and his outlaw mutant band known as X-Force came to the Guthrie home in order to try to learn who had kidnapped their vacationing teammates, Cannonball and Boomer. What they have learned, due to the green-haired fellow standing before them in a suit of high-tech battle armor, is that a rich club of greed-mongers known as the Upstarts have chosen to continue their twisted competition of wealth and power by targeting all the surviving members of the New Mutants and the Hellions.
Weapons drawn, Cable informs Fitzroy that this is going to hurt him a lot more than it will them – a lot more. Fitzroy replies that he would rather not do battle against Cable and his crew. He only wants Rictor and Warpath. Surely Cable could sacrifice the few to spare the lives of the many? Narrowing his eyes, Cable ponders why they should bother doing that, when they can just sacrifice Fitzroy instead? Opening fire, Cable tells X-Force to make like can openers and just leave enough of the green-haired Spam inside the armor standing so that it can answer some questions afterwards!
Immediately, X-Force springs into battle against Fitzroy: Siryn unleashes a sonic scream and Rictor his vibratory blasts, Domino and Cable release “automatic strafing plasma charges,” and Shatterstar, as per his usual, takes a very direct approach. Amidst the unfolding chaos, a small, bald, yellow man in a purple suit scrambles to get out of the way of the conflict: his name is Bantam, he is Fitzroy’s mutant slave, and he soon finds himself running headlong into the mutant equivalent of solid rock as he collides with Warpath’s right leg!
As Warpath hefts Bantam into the air by his collar so as to better examine him, Bantam mumbles that this is probably going to hurt quite a bit, isn’t it? Only if you want it to, “Danny DeVito,” replies Warpath. Completely failing to catch Warpath’s culturally topical witticism, the small yellow man attempts to clarify that uhm, the name is Bantam, sir. Warpath replies that his name is Jimmy, Mr. Bantamsir, and then asks Bantamsir to tell him a little bit about the goofy green-haired guy in the armor. Then, thinking he’s on to something, Warpath asks if, by any chance, the green-haired guy is of any relation to a friend of X-Force’s named Gideon? Sweating profusely, Bantam replies that he believes any resemblance is purely coincidental. Sure, replies Warpath, because you know what a fashion trend that green hair is. Losing patience, he orders Bantam to talk, which Bantam proceeds to attempt to do whilst Warpath tucks him under one arm and gives him a noogie.
Master Fitzroy is a refugee from the future (another one? interrupts Warpath) trapped in this time and determined to make the most of it (by killing mutants? Good plan! interrupts Warpath again) explains Bantam. And what do you do, queries Warpath, finally interrupting Bantam completely, besides sweating a lot? Bantam replies that he is a chronal anchor, capable of identifying Master Fitzroy’s time-portals, which are spread throughout this temporal node. Of course you are, mumbles Warpath, before elucidating that Bantam is basically a glorified doorman, right? Putting all the pieces together, Warpath immediately shouts at the top of his lungs to Cable to stop wasting ammo and get over here!
Looking over his shoulder, Cable dryly replies that they’re kind of busy here, James. Warpath insists that he can end this stupid fight with one round of midget bowling. Hurm, mutters Cable, and then asks who Warpath is holding. Warpath explains that his name is Bantam, sir, and that he’s Fitzroy’s teleportation bloodhound: if they let him find one of Jolly Green Niblet’s portals, open it up, and then toss the little dude through and knock Fitzroy in after him, it’ll be the end of the fight. Cable inquires as to how Fitzroy opens up these portals –  mechanical relays? Uhm, actually, clarifies Bantam, Fitzroy must drain the life force from someone in order to power the portals up. Yeah, mutters Cable, that was my second guess.
Okay, continues Cable, assuming that he’s still following all of this, Bantam can choose the portal he opens, right? So he can lead X-Force back to wherever Fitzroy and he were at right before they came here, so X-Force can backtrack their steps and start uncovering more of these Upstarts, right? Uhm, replies an increasingly soiled and sweating Bantam, right… but… uhm… the life force energy the Master needs to drain… Cable interrupts, telling Bantam not to worry about that part of the plan… but maybe Bantam should count on not having to call anyone “master” for that much longer…
Meanwhile, the rest of X-Force has continued to clash with Fitzroy in his robo-suit. Shatterstar announces with frustration that nothing seems capable of piercing the force field this dog’s armor emits, but Cable returns just in time to reply to Shatterstar that all energy transmits on one form of wavelength or another, so all they have to do is find out which one and disrupt it! Cable then orders Siryn and Rictor to keep modulating their power releases until they match the frequency Fitzroy’s armor operates from – and then we can split apart his force field like a ripe watermelon? Cool! finishes Rictor. No! screams Fitzroy, but it is obviously a “no” of anguish, not a “no” that they are incorrect in their logic, because in short order Fitzroy’s force field is indeed split apart!
Crouching amid his smoldering armor, Fitzroy releases a “gaak” and a “Well played,” but then continues that taking out his force field does not take him out of the fight! No, replies Cable, but it does mean he gets to do this! Cable’s metallic left arm then rapidly shifts and churns until it is coated in what appears to be flesh, at which point he leaps forward and punches Fitzroy. To this, Fitzroy replies that Cable has made the mistake of engaging him in hand-to-hand combat, a grave mistake when you take into account that his mutant ability to drain life forces requires him to touch flesh! With this, Fitzroy pounces forward and snatches Cable’s left arm, which Cable replies was actually kind of what he was counting on…
Fitzroy’s eyes begin to spark and his face develops a very consternated expression as he quietly asks what is happening. Cable notes that his arm is made of living matter, yes, but it’s not human flesh, it’s techno-organic fiber… something time-travelers from a measly hundred years in the future such as Fitzroy wouldn’t know about! Fitzroy releases an agonized scream and begins to spark quite a bit as Cable continues to lecture him, explaining that since he couldn’t drain Cable’s life force through the techno-organic mesh, Fitzroy’s body resorted to draining the next closest energy source available to it… his own!
As Fitzroy’s smoldering corpse drops to the ground, a glowing portal appears. Cable notes that the portal’s powered up and tells the team to reload and pack any gear they may need, and then informs Mrs. Guthrie and Paige that they’re going to try to save Sam. Paige insists that she wants to go with Cable, prompting her mother’s eyes to bug out as she insists that Paige has no idea what X-Force is about to get into! Paige, however, continues to insist, stating that Sam’s her brother and she has to try and help him, doesn’t she?
Nooo, she doesn’t, replies Cable, flinging Bantam into the portal, because she doesn’t have enough experience with her mutant powers to be coming with them. As the rest of X-Force files into the portal, Cable continues: they don’t have the luxury of spending their time worrying about protecting her. If Sam is alive, he promises they’ll get him back. And, Cable replies from halfway through the portal, he promises that these Upstarts won’t be setting foot on the Guthrie property and threatening their lives ever again!
As the portal begins closing, Paige inches toward it, prompting her mother to tell her daughter not to dare follow him! Paige states that she has to, momma, she has to start using these stupid powers to do some good! Part of having power is using it right, using it responsibly, she continues, her eyes flaring up; that’s what her mother always said to Sam, even when it meant he had to leave home! With a sickening, wet shredding sound, Paige activates her mutant powers and states that she’ll be okay, and she’ll make sure Sam is too! Her mother, aghast, can only quietly whisper Dear Lord in heaven as Paige leaps through the portal just before it closes. As the light disappears, Mrs. Guthrie wonders aloud of her daughter, What have you become?
The mindstream. Mrs. Guthrie’s question echoes out among the billions of other thoughts streaming through the Gamesmaster’s mind, prompting him to think that this is a good question, but it’s not one he can answer right now. The battle between X-Force and Fitzroy provided a brief respite, but now he returns to the thoughts of those mutants already captured in the Younghunt: Magma, Cannonball, Empath, Boomer, Karma, and Moonstar. No matter how much it pains him to probe their minds, no matter how hard it is to accept that their strengths are his weaknesses, that their ability to triumph over the adversity and tragedy they have faced is the very thing he was incapable of doing. That one, Danielle Moonstar, he notes, approaching her free-floating astral form, is a perfect example. How could she have survived what she endured on that world so far away? Yes, he senses, she was damaged, but still: she has shown such courage in the face of emotional tragedy.
Turning his thoughts to the others, the Gamesmaster notes that they all have. The thought-image of Justice is plucked from the swirling horde of minds and faces, as the Gamesmaster notes that perhaps this one, most of all, has endured. This one’s father beat him simply because he was a mutant, and thus Justice was a boy forced to become a man through a terrible rite of passage: by accidentally taking the life of his own father. Yes, they all have their stories to tell, their – Gamesmaster suddenly turns his attention to Karma’s form – secrets they try to keep hidden from even the most prying of eyes…
And abruptly, the Gamesmaster’s thoughts are interrupted by the presence of Justice’s physical person in the tangible world; he has arrived in the mysterious location where those captured in the Younghunt are deposited. Calling out a tentative Hello, he explains his name is Justice and that he’s here representing Shinobi Shaw… and he’s there to turn over one of the targets of the Younghunt. Gamesmaster? he calls out. Receiving no reply, he asks if anyone is there…? In a way, Vance, replies the Gamesmaster, if he may be coy… everyone is there. With these words, the Gamesmaster’s astral projection glows into being behind Justice.
Justice asks if this is Gamesmaster, and the Gamesmaster confirms it, then adds that he must say, Justice has played his part, as difficult as it’s been, to absolute perfection. Confused, Justice asks what part that is? to which the Gamesmaster replies the part of Judas, young man. Go ahead, he continues, and betray him the same way Justice plans to betray Shinobi. Smirking, the Gamesmaster continues: the two of them, thinking that any kind of telepathic shields around Shinobi’s penthouse could have kept the Gamesmaster from reading their minds… if he had any pride or ego left, he’d be insulted. Go ahead Vance, he goads Justice, if he wants to give it a try: try and take him down. Just be aware of one little thing.
All of the other captured targets in the Younghunt, he says, revealing a large chamber where the physical bodies of all those hunted down are lying on metal beds hooked into a central metallic spire, are inextricably linked to him. So if Justice hurts him, he continues, as Justice’s eyes go wide with fear, he’d also be responsible for killing all of them!
Manhattan, at the offices of GC Investment Bankers, the very legitimate business front of a very illegitimate man. Graydon Creed is the son of Sabretooth and Mystique, a reluctant member of the Upstarts, and the leader of the anti-mutant organization known as the Friends of Humanity. Additionally, though he is currently unaware of this fact, his decision to target the New Warrior Firestar for capture using his Tribunal armored mercenaries was a very big mistake.
Standing on the roof of the GC offices, Nova asks the other New Warriors if they should even bother being quiet about this. Night Thrasher replies that there is something to be said for downgrading Creed’s security system one step at a time. Rage merely replies with a yeah, right, then proceeds to rip an enormous air conditioning system off the roof with the help of Nova. As he flings it back down into the roof, creating an enormous hole, he adds that there’s also something to be said for knocking on Creed’s door the way he knocked on theirs! Peering in through the hole they created, Night Thrasher looks down on Graydon Creed at his desk and says that someone said he must have a hole in his head to get the New Warriors mad at him; guess they were right.
That was cute, replies Creed, thanks so much. Then, smirking, he says that he takes it his Tribune guards were less than successful? Leaping on to his desk, Kymaera states that Creed’s attacked two of their friends now and, stupid as that was, it’s not why they’re so angry: it’s his reasons for doing it that make them want to shove that smug grin of his down his throat! And what reasons would those be, Namorita, asks Creed… or should he call her Kymaera now? Is it that he simply refuses to accept the right of mutant genetic trash like her friends to dominate his kind? Or is it that his role in the Upstarts, which was simply a means to accomplish that task, has come into conflict with her own interests? Grabbing him by his necktie, Kymaera shouts that it’s both!
Stepping forward and slicing Creed’s tie off, Night Thrasher tells him to listen up, you bigoted piece of trash: his little Upstart friends are going down one at a time! Does he want to join them now, or would he rather they give him the chance to spread his sick views another day? Adjusting the remaining stub of his tie, Creed tells “Mr. Thrash” not to threaten him, because the truth is, they don’t have any evidence of his involvement in any of this.
Kymaera leans forward with a look of pure poison in her eyes: how sure of that is he? Does he know that their teammate, Justice, has been working as a plant with Shinobi Shaw for the last few weeks? How much did Shaw talk in one of his drunken stupors, she wonders? How much info could Vance have gotten out of Shaw’s computer systems in that time? Starts to make him sweat juuust a little, doesn’t it? In fact, how much support could he get from the Friends of Humanity if they found out he was actively associated with the very mutants he claims to hate… much less the fact that he’s the offspring of two such beings!
A pause. Consideration. Then Creed quietly tells them to name their terms. Night Thrasher wants the location of the people who have been captured in the Younghunt. Creed hands them a file folder and a pile of photographs, and explains that it’s there, in this Swiss chalet that Shaw recently had rebuilt.
Tokyo, inside Shinobi Shaw’s penthouse apartment. As Shinobi relaxes in his bath with a glass of champagne, a glowing portal suddenly slides open in midair and ejects a terrified and babbling Bantam, who mumbles that he does so hope that Shinobi is wearing bathing trunks. As Bantam crashes into his bath, Shinobi shouts out in confusion, requesting to know what the meaning of this is… then quiets down with an “oh” as X-Force emerges from the same portal. Why is it, he asks, that these X-groups seem so bent on breaking in to his home every time he is in the bath?
Lunging forward, Siryn says she guesses you could say that they’re always up for a little laugh! As she passes harmlessly through Shinobi, due to him phasing his form out, he replies that this was very funny, yes, ha, very funny. In response to Siryn’s confusion, Shaw tells her to do her homework, her father most certainly would. He explains he’s a mutant, just like his dearly departed daddy, and that his particular gift allows him to control his molecular density. Getting out of the bath and donning a robe, Shinobi continues that, as hard it may be for them to understand, none of them can hit what they can’t touch.
Hefting Bantam out of his bath, Shinobi chides him that he’s leaving a ring around the tub, and then asks what happened to his master, Fitzroy. Domino, wielding one of X-Force’s characteristically nebulous and futuristic guns, quietly notes to Cable that she has Shaw’s energy signature locked. Cable then explains that Fitzroy is gone, and that Shaw will be joining him if they don’t get what they came for. The lovely Domino, elaborates Cable, is now holding a wavelength scrambler, and Shaw doesn’t need an advanced PhD. in Physics to figure this one out, does he?
If he dematerializes, Domino presses a button, and he goes the way of eight-tracks and vinyl records, guesses Shaw. Exactly, replies Rictor, who then demands that Shaw tell them whether Cannonball and Boomer are still alive, and also which other friends of theirs the Upstarts have gone after. First, replies Shinobi, he is sorry to say that they are still alive. Second, they went after all of them; pick your favorite useless mutant here: Fenris captured Magma, Siena Blaze nabbed Cannonball and Boomer… then the little witch also got Empath, the mysterious Moonstar, and Karma, too... and all he got was a rock. And Firestar.
Cable asks where they’re being held. Shinobi replies that he may act like an idiot, but does he look like one? Some assurances please, he requests of Cable. Oooh, a grim nod, he continues after a short pause: he is spared Cable’s mighty wrath. Shinobi thus continues: they are being kept at the home he had rebuilt over his poor padre’s ashes. Cable immediately speaks the command of Bodyslide -- open portal by seven -- coordinates to come in transit and flings Bantam into the opening portal. Bantam demands to know why he’s being thrown in first and Shinobi supplies the answer: in case, moron, he’s sending them into a trap!
Well, continues Shinobi as they disappear, he was getting kind of bored with this whole Upstarts thing anyway. He guesses it’s time to concentrate a bit more on his other endeavors, of kings and queens, knights and… pawns… A flitting wasp abruptly interrupts Shinobi’s thoughts, prompting him to cringe back and exclaim in shock that there are bugs? In his apartment? He’ll have to remember to complain to his housekeeper! Dad was right, he mutters, good help is hard to find…
The Shaw chalet, in the Berner Alpen range. Strapped into the Gamesmaster’s technological construct along with her other captured friends, Xi’an Coy Manh looks through the eyes of her mind-locked puppet and sees that the coast is clear. The uncertainty and the tension which permeate through the Gamesmaster’s ambient thoughts in this house tell Karma that if they have any hope of surviving this, the time to make their move is now. She moves from captive to captive, freeing them from their confinements; the stasis chambers serve as mutagenic power dampeners, and though she never was quite comfortable with the technology that Charles Xavier introduced to her when she first agreed to follow him, that doesn’t mean she ignored the need to better understand it. Accordingly, she rapidly has everyone freed and active again.
As Cannonball wakes up to Xi’an’s smiling face, she tells him that it’s funny finding him here. Embracing her, Cannonball says that it’s good to see her again. You as well, Mr. Guthrie, she replies, but she would have preferred it had been under less trying circumstances. Then he never would have got to see her again, interjects Boomer, proceeding to mutter that this is the famous Karma… big deal. Finally, Boomer tells “Mason-Dixon” to take a look at who else joined the party, pointing Cannonball’s attention toward Moonstar.
Cannonball’s temper immediately flares, and, grabbing Moonstar’s wrist, he tells her she has a lot of explaining to do. He asks if she is Danielle Moonstar, and then adds that they never did quite get the chance to talk on that island in Bermuda, considering that her and her new pals with the Mutant Liberation Front were too busy trying to kill him! He begs Dani to talk to him; what she’s doing doesn’t make sense!
Sammy-boy, retorts Moonstar, she thinks that she preferred the old, shy, geeky version of Cannonball to this tough, buff macho-guy. Besides, she doesn’t have to answer any of his questions… yet. Karma interrupts, noting that she understands Sam’s concerns regarding Moonstar, but she’d also like to suggest that now is not really the time to address them. No, replies Cannonball, he guesses it isn’t. But, he says to Moonstar, she better believe that, after they get out of this mess, they’re going to have themselves a little chat. Are they indeed, Sam? Moonstar replies caustically, are they indeed? Ignoring her, Cannonball asks Karma what’s happening outside the room. Karma explains, struggling noticeably to keep control over her psychic thrall, that with all the telepathic energy being bandied about… inside … the house… it’s hard … to keep control of her target…
Siena Blaze suddenly bursts into the room, speaking both aloud and into their heads at the same time in the Gamesmaster’s ethereal, bored voice. Boomer exclaims that this is the girl who took her and Sam out! Moonstar replies that her name is Siena Blaze. Karma adds that Blaze has been under her mental control since she tried to attack her, Dani, and Manuel back in Madripoor. Their plan was to use Siena to infiltrate this Younghunt operation and dismantle it from the inside, but something about her has changed…
Indeed, speaks Siena, again with the Gamesmaster’s unsettling thought-and-speech combination, it was an interesting enough maneuver, Xi’an. Interesting enough, in fact, that he allowed her to play it through. And with that, the Gamesmaster unleashes one of Blaze’s deadly electromagnetic bursts, instantly defeating all of the just-freed captives and leaving them a smoldering, unconscious heap. And maybe, continues the Gamesmaster, it would even have worked, too, if they hadn’t neglected to take one little thing into account: the fact he would see through the ruse and subvert her control over this puppet.
Standing over their fallen bodies inside Siena’s triumphantly-grinning one, the Gamesmaster states that the subtle conceit and arrogance that all of these young mutants bring to the playing board never ceases to amaze him. Even through all their insecurities, there is an underlying abject confidence in their ability to wield these gifts of theirs.
Unfortunately, Siena/Gamesmaster continues, that very recklessness on their part, though very admirable, ultimately proved to be their undoing, for they never seemed to consider the possibility that someone might be able to wield his own powers better than any of them can theirs! The endgame draws near, he thought-shouts, while back inside the mindstream his astral form encloses inside his giant psionic hands the defeated, captured Younghunt victims.
But before you die, he telepathically screams, projecting images of Cable, Night Thrasher, and Paige Guthrie, I’ll need to use my powers on all of you one last time, so that in turn, you may use your powers again those who come to save you!