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“Arena!”
Led by their captors, the Roman legionnaires, the New Mutants behold an incredible sight – Nova Roma, an ancient first century Rome style city hid in the Andes, just as Roberto’s mother believed. They found it, Dani exclaims. She’s got it backwards, Sam Guthrie replies grimly. The Romans found them. And they don’t seem too pleased about it neither.
The tunnel they just went through seems to be the only way through the mountains. And those clouds hide the valley from the air. They probably don’t get many flights here anyway. The weather around those peaks is supposed to be really nasty. Rahne marvels that the city is beautiful. If only Roberto’s mother could be with them to see it. Roberto grimly reminds her that his mother was pulled from his grasp in the rapids and swept downstream. She could be injured – or worse.
Why do they let those legionnaires herd them like sheep? Their powers make them more than a match for them. Why don’t they escape and search for his mother? Dani advises him that they are in no shape for a fight. These people speak English, so they’ll ask their help. Perhaps they have found her already.
Amara, the strange girl they found in the Amazon and who seemed to be unconscious in Sam’s arms, whispers to him that they mustn’t resist the legionnaires. There is much more here at stake than their lives. They have mistaken her for one of their party. If they betray her, she is doomed.
The mutants are put into a cell and told that their fate will be decided the next day. Rahne checks for eavesdroppers and assures them the coast is clear. An angry Roberto turns to Amara and demands some answers.
She introduces herself with her full name: Amara Juliana Olivia Aquilla. Her father is Lucius Aquilla, first senator of Nova Roma. She apologizes to Roberto for his mother. She prays she is still alive or that her death was quick and painless. Couldn’t she be in the city, Roberto points out. If she were, she would be here, Amara replies. Roberto clenches his fists in helpless rage and fends off Cannonball’s attempts at sympathy.
Dani observes that Amara was disguised as an Indian when they met and seems to be afraid of discovery. Hardly the behavior of a senator’s daughter. Amara begins to explain that they are not all Roman. Much of the city is descended from the Incas who fled here centuries ago when their own land was conquered. Nova Roma is a republic, but the Incas were an absolute monarchy. A faction has arisen, seeking to transform Rome into some kind of imperial state. She is part of the opposition to that party. If her father’s enemies learn of her activities, it could ruin him politically, and the Republican cause with him.
Why her interest in his mother’s expedition, Roberto asks. She retorts that they are wary of strangers. New Rome has survived for so long solely because of its isolation.
The Mutants discuss matters away from her. Rahne and Roberto distrust Amara, whereas Sam defends her. She hasn’t harmed them and, if she hasn’t told them everything yet, it’s probably because she’s scared. Rahne retorts that she is keeping things back. Dani wishes Professor Xavier were there or she were a telepath like him. Suddenly, inexplicably Dani’s psi-power merges her mind with Amara’s, finding the girl’s most terrible nightmare and projecting it for all too see – namely a tall woman shoving Amara into a pit of lava.
Amara breaks down in fear, mumbling about the Black Priestess and her pit of fire. How she is going to kill her like so many others. Angrily, Sam asks Dani why she did that. Dani apologizes. She didn’t mean to. Sam has had enough. Walking to the door, he votes they blow this joint. Sunspot remarks Sam’s power is unfocused. He intends to shatter the door. He ignores Amara’s cry of warning and smashes the door. The next moment, scores of darts automatically fire from projectors hidden in both the cell and the corridor outside. They are tipped with a Curare derivative. Paralysis is virtually instantaneous. Unconsciousness quickly follows.
Meanwhile, in the Senatorial baths, where those august personages go to refresh themselves after a grueling day on the senate floor and where in the process much of the real work of government is accomplished, a tall man walks inside. Another smaller, plumper man who is currently being massaged addresses him as Marcus Domitius and wishes to talk with him. Curtly addressing the other man as Aquilla, Marcus Domitius Gallio tells him he is in a hurry. He has urgent business. Having to do with the outlanders captured this morning? Aquilla asks with a smirk. How could he have known? Gallio’s centurion wonders. Gallio orders him to be quiet.
Aquilla gets up and rattles down what else he knows. The strangers are children. Two boys and three girls, about his daughter Amara’s age. His spies keep him well informed as always, Gallio mocks. He prefers to think of them as patriotic citizens, Aquilla smirks. What are Gallio’s intentions towards the prisoners? The law is quite specific, Gallio replies coldly. It makes no provision for age. The boys go to the arena and if they survive they will join the girls on the auction block to be sold into slavery. With a broad smile, Aquilla remarks he knew the commander of their civic guard wouldn’t fail to do his duty. Aquilla’s faith in him is touching, Gallio remarks stone-faced. Now if he will excuse him…
Aquilla dismissively stares after Gallio, aware that the other man would rather see him in the arena. He’s all that stands between Gallio and his ambition. And if he must sacrifice children to stop Gallio, then he shall.
Gallio returns to his home in a state of rage, demanding wine and cursing Aquilla. He is greeted by his wife, Selene, who coolly comments on this scene by asking if he had a bad day. Gallio explains that Octavian captured some alien children with extraordinary abilities. With them in his service he would have been invincible. But thanks to Lucius Aquilla, he is forced to uphold the law and deliver them to the arena.
Seductively, Selene remarks how often she’s heard Marcus curse Aquilla and wish him dead. She could accomplish that with ease. Gallio refuses. When Aquilla falls, he wants it to be by his hand. He would rather not resort to her black arts. The day will come when her black arts may be his only hope of salvation and victory, she coolly informs him. She leads him down to the catacombs beneath their villa. Since he refuses her arts arcane, she must resort to other means to vanquish his enemies and win him the imperial thrown he craves. After all, is it not a wife’s duty to serve her husband in all things?
With a gesture and a burst of blinding light, a stretch of blank wall transforms into a door. Despite himself, Gallio shivers at this minor demonstration of Selene’s power. At moments like this, though, he loves her fiercely. He also fears her as he does neither man nor gods.
Within the cell is a “barbarian,” the traitor Castro, who explains that he serves a great lord who wishes to exploit the natural wealth of this land. An alliance would benefit both him and Gallio. In return for mining right, he would provide weapons, guns whatever assistance Gallio requires. Gallio decides to consider this proposition and thanks Selene. They will continue their discussion once the barbarian has been bathed.
In the house of women adjacent to the Julian circus, female slaves are housed before their sale. Unaware of the danger they are in, Rahne and Dani – along with the more knowing Amara – enjoy being pampered.
One of the slave girls marvels at Rahne’s hair; she has never seen anything like its color and texture. Rahne complains that her furlike hair never grows except when she cuts it and then only to this length. She envies Dani’s long hair. She never had to wash or comb it, Danit retorts. It can be a real pain when it’s tangled. Could she not cut it then? Rahne suggests. And look like her? Dan retorts playfully to which Rahne splashes her. Another servant serves them wine. Despite Amara’s whispered warning that it’s drugged, the girls swallow it down and immediately become inebriated.
The servant informs the slave mistress, Melantha, that the drug is having its result. Melantha orders her to drug them again at breakfast. That way, they’ll be cheering right along with the rest of the crowd when their companions fight each other to the death.
Amara eavesdropped on the conversation and is horrified but can’t do anything at the moment with too many people about. She can only wait until everybody is asleep. Later, she plans to inform her father. He’ll be shocked to see her, as he set her to the outlands years ago to save her from the Black Priestress and her unholy fire cult. Amara was to stay away until he discovered her true identity and crushed her evil. She chides herself for not telling the mutants before.
She tries to wake the other girls by informing them what horrors await them once they are sold as slaves. They have to escape tonight. But the drugs have dulled the girls’ minds. She wonders why she wasn’t affected despite the drug’s potency.
She decides that she has to leave the girls behind for the moment in order to reach her father. However, she has barely made a few steps before she is brought down by an attack of migraine. Feeling all hot inside, she sinks to her knees. She’s had those attacks before and they come more frequently now. Is she diseased or cursed? she wonders.
What a pleasant surprise, someone suddenly addresses her. You! Amara shouts in horror as she sees who has discovered her. With an evil smile, Selene remarks how flattering it is that Amara remembers her. She has no idea how glad Selene is that their paths have finally crossed. Amara is a gift from the gods that she shall make very good use of.
At that moment beneath the circus, Sam and Bobby find themselves shackled to the wall watching two gladiators train. Any luck with the chains, Sam whispers to Roberto. The other boy however cannot summon enough strength to break them. The gladiator named Falco turns to them, explaining that the drugs make them weak to keep them out of mischief till the he games. What happens then? Roberto demands. Amused, Falco strokes his chin. Plucky little lad, isn’t he? He’ll fight. Them for starters. If they survive, they’ll have proven themselves worthy to become slaves of Nova Roma. If they’re lucky like them, they’ll maybe get the chance to earn freedom, become citizens.
Hardly seems a fair match with them drugged, Sam, points out. Falco laughs nastily and tells him that, when Lanista’s finished his work, they’ll be ready and willing to take on an army bare-handed.
By noon, the circus is filled to capacity and the plebeians are eagerly anticipating the show to come. The official start of the day’s event is signaled by the arrival of the editor – the sponsor and ceremonial master of the games, Senator Marcus Domitius Gallio, and his wife, the Inca Lady Selene. Accompanying them are Dani and Rahne, both radiantly beautiful looking like young princesses. Only their glazed eyes and languid movements betray the drugs used to keep them compliant. Nothing they see or feel bothers them, because they don’t believe it’s real.
A fanfare of trumpets announces the gladiators, the retarius Falco with net and trident and the secutor Rogier. The gladiators offer the traditional greeting while, inside, Bobby and Sam are forced to drink drugged wine. The lanista explains that in a minute they’ll both be consumed by a berserker rage that’ll give them a madman’s strength, endurance and resistance to pain to compensate for other lack of skill at arms.
They are pushed into the arena facing the gladiators without any weapons. Sam shouts at Roberto to resist the drug. They aren’t killers. Roberto tells him to speak for himself. He changes into his Sunspot form and the gladiators get worried. Does he frighten them? he mocks. He is a mutant, but many who see them call him a monster. Perhaps this day he’ll prove them right! He swats the two men aside easily with a single blow. The crowd becomes excited betting on whether he’ll be able to win all the coming fights.
Sam begins to sweat, fearing that he and Bobby could flatten the place. And why not? They want to make them slaves! He tells himself to maintain control, but then he sees the girls also crying for blood. If they want a show, he’ll give them one, he decides, flying toward the heavy armaments and animals now released into the arena.
With Sam also displaying his powers, most of the gladiators scramble to safety, others are trampled by the panicked horses. The boys take no notice and do not care. When Bobby realizes that chariot intends to run him down he jumps between the two horses – a considerable risk since he isn’t invulnerable, reaches the chariot and severs it from the animals. Then, he takes care of the charioteers. As Bobby eliminates the chariots, Sam turns his attention on the second “tank” with equally devastating results. Unfortunately, that move has him “cannonball” right into Sunspot.
An advisor of Gallio, Agaius, is concerned. Suppose those barbarians turn against them? More composed, Gallio points out that the boys are still only human. Should things get out of hand, five-score crack archers stand ready to send them to their ancestors.
Roberto shouts at Sam, reminding him how, when first they met, Sam struck him down from behind like a coward. He sees now, how easily Sam reverts to type. Does he wanna make something of it? Sam asks and attacks again. Bobby pushes him head on and both of them land on the ground, exhausted and flattened by the impact, but their fight is far from over. Though they have exhausted their powers, they are still consumed by berserker rage and now beat on each other with their bare fists.
Still influenced by the drugs, Rahne refers to one of them as her love and urges him to kill the other. Sam has edge in size and uses it to good advantage until Roberto begins to recover the use of his power and threatens to throttle Sam. Rahne is horrified. Sam must not be harmed! She must save him!
She swats away the legionnaires trying to stop her and turns to her wolf form, jumping into the arena. Her change activates the mindlink between her and Dani, which serves to snap Dani to awareness. She realizes that her three friends have gone crazy. So was she, not long ago, she recalls. She cheered them on. In their frenzy, they’ll murder each other, unless she can stop them. She needs to shock them out of their drugged state. She concentrates and, with her powers, summons a specific image from their minds, that of a stern looking disappointed Professor Xavier.
Dani succeeds in stopping the three of them and she too jumps down. Sam asks if Bobby is okay and apologizes. Later, Bobby tells him, assuming they have that long. The natives are looking very restless. By the way he’s sorry too.
The mood has indeed turned ugly. Citizens are shouting that they are spawn of the Black Priestress – demons - and shout for the archers to kill them. The archers await Gallio’s orders. Surprisingly though, he shouts at them to lay down their bows. The he turns to the crowd explaining this is a time for rejoicing. Their most ancient prophecy has been fulfilled. And as editor of these most sacred games, he bestows upon these children the laurel wreath of triumph. He tells them to behold the one whose hair marks her as a descendant of their divine patron, Gaius Julius Caesar. And whose miraculous transformation reveals her to be of the same blood as the she-wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus, founders of Mother Rome herself. These are not children of men but of the immortal gods and he welcomes them among them!
They’re cheering, Bobby realizes. The mood has turned. Relieved Dani hugs Rahne and promises everything is going to be just fine. Only Sam remains doubtful.


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[Assistant]
Magma
In a hidden cavern on the fringes of Nova Roma, Amara has just been reborn as Magma, controlling the molten lava. She fires lava bolts at the sorceress Selene, intending to kill her.
Selene, however, is unimpressed. She has preyed on humankind since before the dawn of history. Many have tried to destroy her. Their bleached bones are eloquent testament to their success. She uses her power to bring inanimate things to life and creates stone giants around Amara to topple her into the lava.
At her feet, Dani wonders what happened to Amara. The transformation wasn’t Selene’s doing. She looks at the sorceress and gasps in surprise. The woman has become old. Each victory has its cost, Selene explains. Fortunately, though, her condition is easily rectified.
She animates the rocks to throw her disciples into the lava. With their life energy, she rejuvenates once more. She allows Dani a taste and, against her will, Dani enjoys it. Selene predicts that she shall make Dani and the New Mutants hers and rule the world. Dani refuses. She’s no one’s slave.
Suddenly, the lava pool explodes as Amara rises again, having burned through the rock demons. She buries Selene in lava and Dani runs up the slope to escape. She loses her grip and falls in front of the still burning Amara.
How is she doing? Dani asks. Her power reaches out and manifests Amara’s fear, to accidentally kill Dani with her powers. Dani realizes that Amara is as spooked as she was when she first discovered her powers. I Amara a mutant? Dani offers her help while Amara moans that she is a monster. How can she face her father or live a normal life. Better she should die…
That moment, energy tendrils bind her and Selene drains her of her life energy, remarking she’ll grant her wish. Amara’s corpse fall’s into Dani’s arms, as Selene’s promises that soon Dani will be able to do the same and come to love it as much as Selene does.
Meanwhile at Villa Aquilla, the survivors of Amara’s father’s personal guard are led away under the watchful eyes of the troops of Selene’s husband, Gallio. Standing by his side are Dani’s fellow New Mutants. Gallio commends them, but the youngsters are not so happy about that victory.
Roberto asks Gallio about Dani who’s been missing all evening. Gallio orders his centurion to form search parties through the city. He wants the girl found alive and unharmed. The centurion replies in Latin, stuttering that, as she’s a maid, the black priestess most likely has her. Gallio snaps back at him not to give him any excuses. Rahne suggests she could help with her hunting skills as a wolf. That’s the last thing he wants, Gallio thinks and tells her that she is considered a goddess there. She should leave that to him.
Aquilla has witnessed the exchange and shouts that Gallio will betray Rahne as he did Rome. Gallio is the traitor, not he. Gallio tells Rahne that Aquilla is demented. He has proof, Aquilla shouts, only to be silenced by the decurion.
Watching the prisoners led by in the dark, Roberto believes he sees a woman with red hair. Could she be his mother? He asks Sam to cover for him and adds that his suspicions about Gallio may be correct.
He attacks a legionnaire to get his uniform as a disguise, sighing that he would have to be a giant. He follows the prisoners to a dungeon where he does find his mother as a prisoner, talking to Castro.
Angrily, she shouts that Castro is lying. He is not in her husband’s employ. Technically, he serves the Hellfire Club, he agrees. But Senhor DaCosta wishes to exploit the natural wealth of the hidden land. His job is to ensure that his wish is granted. The Senhor loves her. He would never order her death, but this is a dangerous country. Accidents happen… With his help, Gallio will become Nova Roma’s first emperor. He will then grant her husband the mining concessions. A pity she won’t be here to see it.
Sunspot confronts them and easily takes out Castro. Relieved, the two of them hug. He recalls how he saw her swept away by the river currents and believed she had drowned. She explains that she was saved by Amazons. They’re all from the city. Girls sent out in the jungle to save them from the Black Priestess. Both the priestess and her cult of fire are incredibly ancient. Her victims are rumored to be sacrificed in unspeakably demonic rites.
That reminds Roberto of Dani’s disappearance. Not even Rahne could reach her through their mindlink. Gallio never mentioned this Cult to them. He’s probably glad to see Dani out of the way, now that he’s won. For all they know, he could be a member. He doesn’t really need any of them, aside from Rahne.
Leading her outside, he asks her to contact the Amazons. They’ll free everyone they can here. Then link up Aquilla’s men with the Amazons. They plus the New Mutants ought to toss a pretty big monkey wrench into Gallio’s plans. And Danielle? Nina asks. Bobby hopes she can take care of herself. He wishes it was daylight. He’s already used up a lot of his stored power. What Casto said about his father being glad… is it true? Nina hesitantly replies that Emmanuel has dreams, ambitions… is it true? he repeats. Yes.
In Gallio’s villa, Gallio is celebrating while Senator Aquilla having been beaten is forced to witness this as a prisoner after having been whipped. Both Rahne and Sam are disgusted and Rahne feels guilty abut her earlier faith in Gallio.
Gallio whispers to his Decurion to poison Sam’s wine and to add the slave drug to Rahne’s cup.
He tells Sam to cheer up. This is a night of celebration. Sam apologizes, claiming he’s worrying about Dani. Gallio is aware that Sam is suspicious of him, but it is too late. He assures Sam Dani will show up and proposes the next toast to her. He asks the two of them to drink deep.
That moment, Amara, in her lava form, breaks through the ground, crying for her father. Despite her changed looks, Aquilla recognizes the voice of his daughter. She begs him to help her.
Gallio uses the moment, shouting that Aquilla’s daughter is a demon. He orders his guards to slay them both. Aquilla orders Amara to flee and save herself but she’s too weak.
Luckily that moment Sunspot enters in a dramatic Errol Flynn-like fashion and disarms a guard, wondering what happened to Amara. He is joined by Aquilla’s troops and the Amazons, led by Nina. Sunspot ironically asks Sam and Rahne if they are going to lend a hand. He tells Sam they were on the wrong side before. Now it’s time to make amends.
With a cry of inarticulate rage, Rahne enters the fray, transforming from girl to wolf, determined to atone for her earlier misjudgments by defending Amara and Aquilla’s lives with her own.
Cannonball mows down the entering reinforcements. Roberto manages to transform into his Sunspot form to take on an armed Decurion, only to have his powers flash out on him. He chides himself. He should have used his judo training and saved up his strength. His shoulder hurts where he was shot. Has he reopened the wound? He is unaware of another legionnaire behind him but Sam cannonballs him down.
Roberto thanks Sam and informs him that according to his mother most of the army is staying neutral. If they defeat Gallio’s household troops, that should do the trick.
Sam warns Rahne of a legionnaire about to skewer her. She turns to her transitional form, stating she that may be neither pretty nor smart, but she can look after herself, and proves it by using the spear and its momentum to take out her foe.
Gallio crashes a vase over her head and decides to slay her, only to be stopped by Aquilla. He’s often boasted of killing him, Aquilla states, here’s his chance. Aquilla tells Roberto to back off, this fight is his and so the two men begin their sword fight.
They’re the same age, but Gallio is taller, leaner, presumably stronger. He is fresh, whereas his opponent has suffered beatings and torture. Their duel would seem to be no contest. Surprisingly Aquilla wins and stabs Galllio in the gut. Looking down upon his foe, he states that Gallio’s flaw was always seeing things as he wanted them to be, not as they truly were. He never dreamed a fat old sybarite like Aquilla might know how to fight or possess the strength and skill to do it well. More fool he.
He next turns to his daughter, asking how she is. Sam has covered the shivering girl with a blanket. She was dying, she states shaking. The black priestess had drained her life away. But somehow the touch of the Earth restored her. She recalls that Selene is a psychic vampire and she plans to make Dani a creature like herself.
Gallio’s wife? Sam exclaims. That figures. Roberto reasons that the tunnel Amara created must lead back to Selene’s hideout. He asks Rahne if she can track Dani from there.
Soon the mutant teens follow Rahne through the tunnels. Amara presumes that Selene made them and Roberto asks if that is the full extent of her amities. Amara doesn’t know and Roberto notes to himself to conserve what strength he has left.
Rahne charges ahead through an opening and immediately the opening closes off behind her, cutting the others off. Roberto orders Sam to blast through there, but that moment rock tentacles spring from the ground and capture them, burying them. But not for long. Cannonball smashes his prison to powder and Amara melts hers, almost as terrified by what she’s just done as she is of dying. If this is her effect on stone, she wonders, what might she do to people?
Sam frees Roberto who admits he couldn’t turn to Sunspot. He has no reserves left. Sam blasts through the doorway with them and they stand opposite Selene who has Dani – dressed in a robe like her – tied to a stone slab while Wolfsbane is busy fighting an animated stone demon of Selene’s.
Amara blasts the rock monster and Dani and Selene are surprised to see her still alive. How delicious to feast once more on her life, Selene remarks. Rahne wants to go for Selene’s throat, egged on by Amara. Sam shouts that killing is not their way. Not that Rahne has a chance, as Selene blasts her into the other three mutants, boasting that she is not to be trifled with nor can she perish by mortal means.
Dani begs Selene to stop, promising she will become her slave if she spares them. Selene laughs. Dani is bargaining from a position of absolute weakness. Why give up anything when soon enough she’ll have them all?
Sunspot surprisingly has found some reserves of strength. He tells Dani not to beg as he tries to attack Selene, only to be repelled again. Nevertheless, Roberto goads her. Angrily, Dani thinks now he really made her mad, but then considers maybe this was a good idea. Selene’s powers must have limits too. She’s concentrating so much on Bobby she’s weakening her hold on Dani.
Dani catches her by surprise and manifests the image of Selene’s fear, an image of her true death. Perhaps this will speed her on the way to the grim reaper’s embrace, Roberto shouts as he buries his sword in her chest.
Had she a heart, perhaps so, she retorts as she grabs him by the throat and begins draining his lifeforce. Bobby sees a bit of sky above, realizing it must be near sunrise. He orders Sam to blast a hole though the eastern wall – fast. Sam complies. The sun is rising and Sunspot instantly powers up. The sudden inflow of energy stuns Selene for a moment. Roberto orders Amara to burn a fissure into the Earth as deep as she can.
Amara does so, sensing the lava beneath. Over Dani’s protests, Roberto tosses Selene into the abyss and then buries her by sealing the hole.
He killed her, Sam states accusingly. No less than she deserved, comes the reply. They’re supposed to be better than that, Sam insists. An easy rule for Professor Xavier to follow, Bobby replies bitterly, safe in New York. However, he fears he merely put Selene out of action for a while. If there’s a way to destroy her, none of them know it.
And what of her Amara asks, worried. Is her power a blessing or a curse? Will she become like the New Mutants, or like Selene?


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The Cosmic Cannonball Caper
Cannonball goes through a test of his powers in the Danger Room, under the eyes of Xavier, Mirage and Magik. Using his biothermic reaction, he has to lift a ram, that's pushing downwards, as far up as possible. He's doing fine until Xavier orders Dani to create an illusion of one of Sam's fears. An image of a Brood Queen appears before Sam and, as expected, he loses concentration and reverts to normal.
Xavier explains to the rather angry Sam that the test was also supposed to demonstrate the necessity of never letting down his guard as he turns vulnerable when his powers is off. Sam especially, Xavier urges, needs to set an example as the oldest New Mutant. Sam apologizes for his outburst and Xavier assures him that he did well and will no doubt improve with time.
In New York City, a strange alien warrior appears out of nothing. He sees a poster of the rockstar Lila Cheney and angrily tears it down.
Back at the mansion, with the help of ballet teacher and physical instructor Stevie Hunter, Dani undergoes her daily exercise and therapy session in order to recover from her recent injuries. Dani gets a painful cramp from the exercise, so painful in fact, that it drives her to tears. Stevie assures her that, she knows how she feels, as she went through the same when she had too recover from her broken knee. It's perfectly normal to cry and be angry. She urges Dani not to bottle up her emotions and to rely on her friends. The two ladies are interrupted by the ecstatic Sunspot who bursts in excitedly, telling them he got the team tickets for the final concert of Lila Cheney's world tour on Saturday.
(days later)
So on Saturday the eight New Mutants - including the newest members Cypher, aka Doug Ramsey, and the alien Warlock (in human shape) - attend the Manhattan concert. The Starlite Ballroom is packed and the kids marvel at all the strange people. However, they also fear that given the length of the queue, it'll take hours for them to get in. Turns out though, Roberto got them tickets to the sound check as well as the concert - the advantage of coming from a billionaire household. The kids admire the band members, not even bothered by a rather rude one, until Doug excitedly points them to Lila Cheney's entrance. Bobby declares he's in love, but then Sam points out that he says that about every girl.
Lila and the band practice a number and the kids - Sam especially - have to admit she's fantastic. However, due to the noise, the band doesn't notice a speaker tower collapsing. Sunspot charges up and, with the help of Warlock, catches the speakers, except for the top one - but Cannonball quickly saves Lila from it. Lila gives Sam a long kiss as a thank-you for saving her life and invites the kids for the after-concert party at her place. Sam is utterly entranced and Bobby can hardly hide his jealousy.
Their banter is interrupted by Warlock, who points out that the chain holding the speaker tower was disintegrated. This was no accident. Rahne shifts to her wolf-form and notices an awful stink, unlike anything she has ever smelled before. But it comes from a living being. She follows the trail up the railing above the stage (where the concert has already started). The other Mutants, with the exception of Doug and the injured Dani, follow. They hit paydirt, as Rahne is attacked by another of the alien green creatures (possibly the same one that tore down Lila's poster). The alien introduces itself as a Vrakanin warrior and assures the kids that they will not deter him from his prey. Sam and Bobby attack the would-be-assassin - in vain and while Illyana still wonders what to do, he stuns her. Each of the mutants attacks him on their own and each one fails. Sam attacks while the Vrakanin aims at Lila, who notices, keeps on playing and starts glowing - which causes both Vrakanin and Warlock pain. The Vrakanin falls and is consumed by an energy sphere.
Lila glows until she, the band, and Sam, who is dangling from the railing disappear from stage. The crowd, who think this is part of Lila's act, goes wild. Warlock, in the meantime, has absorbed Lila's stargate energy pulse, for that is what the energy was, but it is too much for him - he has to drain the excess or die. Dani asks him to use the energy to activate the stargate and teleport them, presumably to the place Lila took Sam to. Unfortunately, she's wrong as the unprotected Mutants rematerialize in outer space.
Lila teleported her band and Sam to "her place". She apologizes that they had to leave sooner and couldn't take his friends along. Sam is suspicious of Lila's motives, but flabbergasted when he gets a good look around. Not only are they on another planet, but within a Dyson Sphere - the inner side of an artificial shell, enclosing a star. Sam, the avid science-fiction reader, is amazed that such a concept is real. He asks Lila about the origins of this place. She is rather evasive and starts nibbling his ears instead. She then sends him inside and asks her band members, Conal and Neal, to find him some more appropriate clothes. Alone, Lila is contacted by the hologram of another member of the Vrakanin race called Charasulla. He warns her (rather too late) of an attempt at her life. He then asks her why she actually wants to sell Earth at an auction instead of dealing straightly with the Vrakanin. Lila answers that the theft and sale of the Earth will proceed as she planned. No discussion.
Elsewhere, Dani awakes, amazed to still be alive. She sees her still unconscious friends next to her and realizes that Warlock (with his surplus energy) has shifted himself into a space ship. Warlock informs her that he figured out that the transmit settings of the stargate shifted fractionally after its prior use - basically Lila was making sure nobody would follow her. Warlock explains that he cannot get them home, but a life-sustaining star-body is close and he presumes that it is Lila's hideout.
In the Dyson Sphere, Sam, dressed in an improbable leather-and-spike ensemble (and feeling like an idiot), presents himself to Lila, who passionately kisses him. The band member Phil Hovannes, in the meantime, contacts Charasulla, intending to double-cross Lila. He informs the Vrakanin that he has beamed him the coordinates and opened a channel through the defensive parameters for the Vrakanin fleet to strike. Once Lila's dealt with, he expects to be paid for Earth.
(the next day)
The kids have arrived at another point of the Dyson Sphere. Doug is entranced with deciphering the hieroglyphs on a wall, until Illyana gets him. He worries what the Professor will tell his parents as they walk across a bridge ten miles high. Doug gets vertigo and asks the amused Illyana to please hold him. At that moment, the kids are attacked by the Vrakanin fleet. Magma shifts to her lava form and blasts them in response. Rahne tries to save Dani from some debris, but they both end up falling. While Sunspot is busy organizing a skysled from one of the Vrakanin, Warlock has already transformed into a flier and saves the girls. Unfortunately, at that moment they are caught and knocked out by an electro-net. Berto, in the meantime, is incapable of steering the skysled and flies far away without any control.
Dani, Rahne and Warlock are brought before Charasulla, whose forces have already captured Sam and Lila, who are in chains. The girls cannot believe the way Sam is dressed. Charasulla tells the Mutants that he will sell them along their world, and makes some cryptic threats concerning Lila's fate before killing the traitor Hovannes. He then explains to the kids that once he throws a certain switch, the stargate web, Lila knit across their world will activate and Earth will be teleported into the Dyson Sphere, with its people in stasis and ready to be sold into slavery.
Before Charasulla can throw the switch, they are diverted by an earthquake shaking the building - an impossible thing, since a Dyson Sphere doesn't have geologic plates. Dani surmises that it is Magma burning herself a way to them. Indeed, Magma  and Illyana reveal themselves. Illyana attacks, bluffing the Vrakanin with her soulsword. Before the warrior notices that the sword cannot harm him, Doug Ramsey jumps at him, allowing Illyana to grab his gun and shoot him, much to Doug's shock. Illyana uses the blaster to free Sam of his shackles, though not without some pithy comments regarding his new look, and Sam and the other freed Mutants angrily join the fight. They are joined by Sunspot, who, finally, learned to work the skysled control. Of course by that time, the Vrakanin are already beaten.
While Sam rejoices, Lila replies that Earth is doomed. When Amara destroyed the stargate console during the battle, she triggered the self-destruct-circuits - now the web will disintegrate Earth. When Sam asks whether she can't stop the process, she admits that she doesn't know enough about the technology of the sphere. Doug, in the meantime, has discovered another set of hieroglyphs on the wall and realizes that they are an instruction manual. However, a bit of the wall is missing. While the glow grows stronger and Illyana wonders how many on Earth she could save with her stepping disks, Doug finally hits one switch. Thankfully, it's the right one and things return to normal. Doug has just saved Earth.
Dani brusquely asks Lila for an explanation. The singer responds that she's a thief. Stealing Earth would have made her rep. But since she owes the kids her life, she won't do it again. As Doug wonders how they get home without a stargate, Lila ports them home. She's a teleporter herself and can take along a limited number of people. Almost home as she actually teleports them to her townhouse in London. As her power only works over stellar distances, she cannot get them from London to New York. Dani, in a pissy mood, saunters off to call the professor. Doug asks Illyana, why she won't teleport them. Illyana explains it's not safe, since she shifts people in time as well.
The kids head inside Lila's townhouse, with the exception of Sam. When Sam asks why she did it, she cryptically replies that Earth sold her once and refuses to add any more except that she'd never sell Sam. Sam can't believe she's serious, as she can have any guy. But, she assures him, she likes him. When he asks whether he'll see her again, she replies he need only call and kisses him.
Observing from within the house, Bobby no longer understands the world. How is it possible any woman could prefer Sam to him, he wonders, while enduring the taunts and catcalls of the girls. To make matters worse, three months later, Lila writes a lovesong called "Sam".


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Sunstroke
Towering over the heart of Rio de Janeiro is one of its newest, most strikingly impressive skyscrapers – corporate headquarters of daCosta International S.A., the worldwide industrial empire forged by Emmanuel daCosta. Emmanuel enters the building and chitchats with his doorman for a bit, before heading for his office. He is wealthy almost beyond imagination, but it was not always so. His parents and were little better than slaves. And he still wears the scars of his master’s whip. The happiest day of his life – before his son was born – was when he finally drove that man, heir to one of the noblest families in Brazil, to ruin. All his life, if daCosta wanted something, he went out and got it, and Heaven help anyone foolish enough to get in his way. He never dreamed that opposition might one day include his son.
Sitting in Emmanuel’s own office chair, Roberto greets his father haughtily, remarking he wanted his arrival to be a surprise. Much as he and his mother and his friends’ survival at the hands of his father’s assassin, he adds bitterly.
Roberto is sitting in his chair, Emmanuel remarks. Roberto swings around, looking outside the huge window. He remembers Emmanuel perching him on his knee upon Corcovado beneath the Christ statue and waving his hand across the city, telling Roberto how one day all they beheld would be his. He believed him then, even though Emmanuel laughed like it was no more than a joke and Roberto thought it was wonderful that his father could start with nothing and rise so far, achieve so much. Everything Roberto did was to make his father proud of him, to make him worthy of his legacy. Now he finds he no longer cares. Whatever his father has to offer, he no longer wants.
Emmanuel turns his back on him and pours himself some coffee. He warns his son that he’s never been poor nor known hunger. He’s never had to work like a dog to stay alive. He should think before casting himself into the abyss. He has much to lose.
Nowhere near as much as he already has, Roberto spits back. And he doesn’t consider that he’s leaping off the edge so much as being pushed… by him.
To gain the riches of the fabled Maderia – the lost land of the Andes – he tried to have Roberto and his mother killed, he accuses his father. That was never his intent, Emmanuel still replies calmly. Things got out of hand, is that it? Roberto mocks. Castro simply exceeded his authority. What was it for? Wealth? Power? Don’t they have sufficient already?
His reasons are his own, comes the cold reply. And he desires to know them, Roberto angrily insists. Suppose Castro had succeeded, would he have been sorry, would he even have cared?! Emmanuel turns around, finally angry, warning him not to take that tone with him. He is his father!
Who loves him? And mother too no doubt! Roberto mocks. He looks for the man he remembers. He wants… he needs to find him only he’s gone. A stranger stands in his place.
He presumes to judge him? Emmanuel snarls, ready to strike him. Roberto turns to his Sunspot form and warns him not to raise his hand to him. Some consider him a monster because of his mutant powers. But looking at his father, he wonders which of them more fully deserves that name. He orders his father to forget the Maderia. Find some other land to exploit. If he makes a move into that hidden valley, Roberto will know and the New Mutants will stop him. Farewell.
Fist raised, Emmanuel warns him if he leaves now, he will no longer be his son. Then, Sir, Roberto replies as he enters the private elevator, he is now half an orphan.
The door closes. ‘Berto, Emmanuel voices softly. Then crushes his cup in anger.
Composed again, he calls his assistant to send someone to clean up the spilled coffee and to place a call to the special number in New York. A little later, the call to Sebastian Shaw is established and Emmanuel informs him that he has decided to accept Shaw’s offer of joining the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle.
In the elevator, Roberto berates himself for losing his temper while getting rid of his tie. He wanted to understand, to let his father show him that Roberto was wrong with his suspicions about him. Instead, he made matters worse. He should have listened to his mother when they parted a fortnight ago, and left well enough alone.
Flashback:
Two weeks ago near Nova Roma, Roberto asks Nina to come with him. She tells him she can’t. Her place, her work is in the Maderia. She won’t stand with him against father? he asks. Nina simply replies that she loves him. After all he’s done? Her son asks incredulously. Hugging him, she explains that Emmanuel has fought so hard for so long that the gentle decent man he once was has gotten lost. If those who love him, abandon him, however will he find his true self again?
Present:
Holding back his tears, Roberto steps out of the elevator, wondering what if this is his father’s true self.
At the famous beach of Ipanema are Dani Moonstar and the team’s newest companion, Amara Aquilla. Amara marvels at the material and daring cut of her bathing suit. And all these people and buildings! Compared to this, Nova Roma is little more than a village. As for the ocean… she never dreamed so much water existed in the entire world.
What she doesn’t say but think is that she is bothered by the hot sun. The jungle outside the valley of Nova Roma was hot, but not like this. Even with her sunglasses the sky is so bright it hurts her eyes. Glumly, she thinks she doesn’t belong here and wishes she were home.
Flashback:
Back in Nova Roma. Angrily, Amara asks her father Senator Aquilla why she has to leave. It is for the best, he replies. Easy for him to say, she scoffs. It is not! he insists and reminds her that she is his only child. He doesn’t want to send her to the other side of the world. But sometimes a father, especially the first senator of Nova Roma, must deny the entreaties of his heart. He will miss her terribly. Then why send her away? she sulks.Present:
While Amara is still musing, some young men address her, trying to flirt with her. Dani tries to get rid of them, but instead one of them grabs Amara and kisses her. Furious, Amara hits him and, reflecting her anger, lava bursts out next to them. Dani shouts out a warning at her but it comes too late as Amara’s rage creates an entire volcano on the beach and unleashes it skyward.
Nearby, Rahne Sinclair steps hesitantly into a church, believing her foster father reverend Craig would be furious seeing her in a Catholic church. But, she thinks to herself they all believe in God and read the same Bible. And she can’t find a Presbyterian church in the city and she needs to pray. Surely, the Lord won’t mind which house she prays in, so long as it’s to him.
She kneels down and wonders whether God will listen. She’s only a wee girl and for all she’s done her soul is probably sentenced to hell. She fears she is damned, But it not her fault she is what she is. Why must she be punished for it? Why has she become a wicked spiteful person, hurting those who never did her any harm? Because of her, Amara and her Dad were nearly killed and their city enslaved. She loves Sam Guthrie but he does not love her. He cares for Amara. She saw it in his eyes the moment they met and has hated Amara for it. Now her best friend Dani spends most of her time with Amara and has forgotten her. She wonders if her friends really care for her as a person or only appreciate her as a teammate.
Sam comes running in, shouting they need her fast. They’ve got big trouble! Amara has disappeared and Dani figures they’ll need Rahne’s wolf powers to find her.
Elsewhere, Amara has been carried along with the crowd as it panicked, separated from Dani and swept far away from the hotel or any part of the city she finds familiar. Confused, she stands on the street, surrounded by angrily honking cars. Impatient drivers shout at her to move. Amara panics at the sight of the cars and doesn’t know which way to run in traffic. Confused and horrified by the noise and stench and heat, she just freezes in the middle of the road, wishing the Black Priestess had killed her.
A policeman joins her, asking what’s going on. He order the drivers to quit honking, they are scaring the girl. Gently, he leads Amara aside, asking if she is well and telling her this is no way to dress if you aren’t used to the sun. He asks her her name. In English, she replies she doesn’t understand. Believing her to be an American tourist, he changes his tune, believing her condition might be caused by drugs. He grabs her wrist roughly and orders her to accompany him to the police station.
When his grip hurts her arm, she instinctively uses her power to cause the road to quake. Afraid of killing people, Amara screams.
Not too far away, the mutants feel the tremor and notice the buildings shake. They reach the epicenter, where a minor volcano stands in the middle of the road. Sam feels responsible for the mess as Amara is their responsibility and suggests they help the authorities. Dani decides against it. Amara is their responsibility. She wouldn’t do this deliberately. Something must be wrong with her. They need to find her!
Rahne shifts to wolf form to get Amara’s scent, but can’t due to the sulfur in the air from all the volcanic activity. How will they find Amara now? Dani wonders. It isn’t as if they don’t know where she’s been, Sunspot jokes. Just follow the volcano! Dani notices that Roberto cracked a joke and figures the confrontation between he and his father can’t have been to bad then.
Meanwhile, Amara, suffering from sunstroke, stumbles through a derelict area. Hallucinating, she calls for Helios, lord of the sun and asks for her inner fire to be joined with his celestial glory. Her humanity is instantly consumed and around her she lays waste to Rio. A pit suddenly gaps wide within her mind. At the bottom stands Selene, the black priestess, a mutant like Amara who slew Amara’s mother and tried to do the same to her.
Amara falls. The hallucination is over. She won’t become like her, she shouts. Exhausted, she finally faints and is found by someone else.
Later, led by Wolfsbane, the New Mutants have reached that point. Rahne informs them there are a lot of scents mingled with Amara’s. She thinks some people carried her to a car or truck and drove off. Sam strokes her head, much to Rahne’s annoyance, as he announces she can probably follow that car easily. Annoyed, she shouts at him not to do that. She isn’t his bloody pet! Sam apologizes. He didn’t mean nothin’ like that. She grumbles at him that he should keep his hands and thoughts to himself from now on.
She addresses Dani, announcing there is a very odd taste to the air. It makes her want to run like blazes for the open country. Roberto recalls that, years ago in Peru, he and his parents were in an earthquake. Right before the main shock, the sky had the same quality, the same unearthly stillness. Dani realizes that Amara’s been triggering baby volcanoes and quakes all afternoon. Could she be building to a big one? Let’s not find out! she decides and orders the team to find her first!
Elsewhere, in one of the shantytown houses in one of the favelas, a feverish Amara lies on a bed. A young woman puts a wet cloth on her forehead, while chiding the children who found Amara that they should have taken her to a hospital. One of the boys, Vadinio, asks Flor not to be mad. They couldn’t think of anything else to do. Flor chides him that Amara is not one of them. If she dies there, they will be blamed for it. She asks him to take some money and phone an ambulance.
Behind you, the door! her brother shouts. Sunspot slams it open, demanding his friend. The kids believe he is a demon. Bobby realizes they are only kids and powers down. He tries to calm them and Flor reasonably tells her brother to listen.
The other mutants join them while Roberto talks to Flor and the kids. Dani examines Amara and announces it’s got to be sunstroke. They have to lower her body temperature with some ice. Not in this neighborhood, Flor replies.
Dani recalls how in the Amazonas he was able to cool Rahne down a little by manifesting an illusion of a snowstorm. Dani tries the same, attempting to manifest an image of Amara’s heart’s desire. Unfortunately it is death for herself and all the New Mutants.
On cue, there is another tremor, announcing a big quake to come. Dani orders the boys to get some ice… now! A second later, Sam flies the two of them outside. Bobby knows of a warehouse. Outside they find an icetruck. Sunspot lifts it while Sam carries both him and the truck. Sam has never carried so much weight and is nervous about landing. That’s their least problem, Bobby replies grimly and points toward the bay where the water is already boiling. Most likely a fissure opened on the floor and molten magma is pouring into the ocean. Amara’s creating a volcano in the middle of Rio harbor!
Her initial awareness is a longing for blessed oblivion, then flames consuming body and soul, quickly transformed into glittering crystalline ice sculptures of unearthly beauty before they too shatter and Amara’s eyes at last open. She finds herself lying on a slab of ice. Dani examines her and finds her fever has broken. They’d still better take her to a doctor, but the worst is over. She asks Bobby to take care of making amends to Flor.
Is the city destroyed? Amara asks fearfully. Hardly even scratched, Roberto calms her, apart from some messed-up streets and a brand new island in the bay.
Amara admits her father was right. She has much to learn about herself, as girl and mutant. She sees now she cannot do so by herself. Like it or not, she needs their Professor Xavier. She is afraid, for better or worse, they are stuck with her. Taking her hand, Rahne assures her that suits them just fine!


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
School Dayze
With the New Mutants finally having returned to Xavier’s School again, Danielle Moonstar formally introduces their newest member, Amara Juliana Olivia Aquilla of the lost city of Nova Roma, to their teacher Professor Xavier. The professor welcomes Amara both to the school and the New Mutants.
Amara formally and graciously thanks him, before shyly asking whether Xavier is also a mutant. Xavier explains yes and that is the reason her father placed Amara in his charge. He asks her to walk with him a while, so they can get to know each other better.
As the other New Mutants watch them leave, Dani muses that it can’t be easy for Amara. In one leap, she is jumping from the first century to the twentieth. Sam states that if she needs help they’ll give it to her.
Amara asks the obvious question. What is a mutant? Someone born with extra-human powers and abilities, Xavier replies. In Amara’s case, it involves manipulation of tectonic forces. He continues, this time using his mental powers to reveal that he is a telepath. Amara is shocked to have heard his words in her head. Xavier continues to explain that he can project his thoughts and read those of others. He shows her a door, telling her this is her room. Amara exclaims Minerva in surprise, as the room is a perfect copy of her room in Nova Roma.
Xavier explains that some of the more personal items Amara brought with her. The rest was reproduced from a memory image he took from her mind. He felt those familiar surroundings might ease her transition to her new life and make her feel more comfortable… more at home. Are none of her thoughts to be secret or sacred, she almost protests. Xavier cuts in that PSIs like him prize privacy above all else. Her mind is her own. He will not pry. With that, he leaves Amara to her thoughts.
Amara feels reminded of her father. Xavier is also stern and proper, but fair and just as well. He would never harm her or lie to her, but the room makes her anxious. She has this mad notion that, if she calls out, her maid Dione will bring wine and cakes. But Dione is half a world away.  She steps to the windows. Her room in her father’s villa had a view of the mountains and no magic lamp to turn night to day with the touch of a lever. She remembers that Dani referred to this as “electricity.” She has so much to learn, she realizes. Her ignorance of all these things make her feel like a savage.
Amara’s anxiousness is reflected by the ground, as there is a slight rumble. Amara immediately prays, hoping this wasn’t her doing. Is she so powerful, that her slightest emotions provoke a response within the Earth? She urges herself to master her fear.
Xavier outside sensed Amara’s panic and the tremor but now feels both her fear and the micro-quake subsiding. He is grateful that he won’t have to use his psi-talent to calm the girl. Until he‘s established, the parameters of her ability he’d best maintain a constant light rapport with her, he decides. That way he can monitor her emotional state and prevent any accidental tectonic disasters.
In the evening, the kids along with the professor and Stevie Hunter are preparing a “welcome barbecue” for Amara. With Dani busy at the grill, Bobby sighs that he’d rather send out for Pizza or Chinese food. Dani icily remarks to Stevie that those who suggested this party are also the first to use their ignorance of the culinary arts to get themselves excused from the chores. He’s willing to cook, Roberto retorts, if Dani is willing to risk food poisoning. He’s a bright lad, Dani teases, so learn!
Amara, shows up, dressed in an elegant silk evening gown. Stevie introduces herself as the dance teacher. Amara greets her formally. Stevie quietly asks the others if none of them informed her this was an informal picnic. She’s dressed for a royal banquet.
Amara feels foolish, fearing the others think her a snob or a fool to don her loveliest gown when they wear casual clothes. Roberto tries to save the situation by bowing and telling Amara the fault is theirs alone. But well worth for the privilege of beholding such loveliness as her. Dani grimly thinks that given half a chance, Bobby could probably charm any woman alive. The riff is working on Amara, who’s actually smiling, Dani just wishes he’d use it on her once.
Sam comes flying in with a crate of sodas. Seeing Amara in her gown, he’s utterly surprised and wants to impress her with a looping. The professor tries to warn him but too late. The crash landing doesn’t hurt Sam, but the bottles break and the soda drenches Amara and her gown. Furious, she shouts that this was her mother’s, one of the few things she left her and he’s ruined it!
Dani tries to calm her. There might be a way to clean it. She tries to tell Amara it was an accident… and almost falls into a gap in the ground that opens under her. Lava pours out of the fissure, setting an oak ablaze. Sunspot gets rid of the tree whereas Rahne turns into a wolf to track Amara, who has run away.
Amara hasn’t run far. She’s broken down nearby and cries. Dani telepathically asks Rahne to not to let her know they are there. She needs some time alone. They’ll keep an eye on her.
Amara’s mostly upset as she lost control of her powers again. Will she ever be able to live a normal life? Suppose someone is harmed and killed because of her? She tells herself not to despair. Xavier is helping the New Mutants. He can do the same with her. He must, for if he fails she cannot allow herself to live.
To the headquarters complex of the Federal Government’s Project Wideawake, this evening have come its director, Henry Peter Gyrich, Dr. Valerie Cooper (Aide to the presidential national security advisor, Judge Richard Petrie) and billionaire industrialist Sebastian Shaw, whose companies are prime contractors for the latest line of mutant-hunting Sentinels. The irony is that Shaw is a mutant himself, leader of the Hellfire Club’s secret Inner Circle, a cabal dedicated to the conquest of the world.
Valerie Cooper is quite impressed with the Sentinels, whereas Gyrich remarks that where Sentinels are concerned appearances are deceiving. They have yet to produce one capable of holding its own against any mutant foe. He orders a technician to run a test sequence. Shaw points out that they learn from failure as much as success. Eventually, they’ll get it right. Eventually, might be too late, Val states.
Something goes wrong with the test. The Sentinel malfunctions and goes wild. The technician shouts that a rogue operator penetrated the command computer system and has taken over the Sentinel. Gyrich orders him to do something before it brings down the installation around their ears. They’re trying, but the rogue’s locked them out. All their command programs are being bypassed and neutralized.
That’s impossible! Gyrich shouts. He orders them to cut all outside access to their computer. Shut down the entire system but they have to sever the rogue’s link with the Sentinel. It doesn’t work, though. Gyrich has no choice but to resort to initiating the Sentinel’s destruction. Furious, he states that this is more than a five million dollar Sentinel down the drain. It’s an attack on the federal government. He wants the people responsible for that outrage. He orders his people to trace the computer any way they can. When he gets his hands on these jokers, he’ll make them wish they had never been born!
Far removed from the chaos of Project Wideawake at the Ramseys’ home in Salem Center are Doug Ramsey and Kitty Pryde at their computers. Scowling, Doug remarks that whatever system they accessed tonight just went off-line with a bang. Its operators are going to be really mad. Can they trace them? Kitty asks worried. Doug doubts it. They came in through a back door and caught them by surprise. She can bet this won’t happen again. What was she looking for anyway? Curiosity mainly, Kitty answers evasively about a bigshot tycoon named Sebastian Shaw and that kinky club he belongs to.
She wishes she could tell Doug the truth, but that would mean having to come clear about being an X-Men and that Shaw is one of their deadliest foes. At the risk of being obvious, Doug jokes, curiosity killed the cat. Which is why they have nine lives, Kitty retorts.
Doug muses that this is very weird. A contact of his on the hacker network got him the entry code to Shaw Industries computer system. From there they made their way into the Hellfire Club. Doug thought he deciphered Shaw’s private executive code but, the first time they tried to, they didn’t access the club or Shaw’s corporation but some kind of government system. Kitty wonders whether that means the Hellfire Club and the government are working together and what the government knows about Shaw, but she can’t tell Doug so she tries to diver him by claiming she’s famished.
As they walk to the kitchen, he gushes about the improvements Kitty has made to his hardware. She gives ‘em the voice, Kitty jokes, but he makes them sing. She Stradivarius, he Itzhak Perlman. She grabs a bag of chips. The team supreme? Doug wonders as he gets out a soft drink.
At the table, they soon talk about other things. Doug learns that Kitty’s parents divorced last spring. Everyone’s very prickly. Her parents don’t know whether to be having second thoughts or not. Doug points out that Kitty seems to be handling it well.
Kitty looks at her watch and blanches. She didn’t realize it was that late. She says good-bye and they decide to meet the next day after dance class. She’s barely outside the house when a stern Xavier’s projection appears, ordering her to return at once.
Kitty cuts cross-country to save time. While she does so, she muses that she shouldn’t involve Doug in X-Men business even peripherally, but she doesn’t have anywhere near his skill with computers. Suddenly, she notices the sound of crying. She finds Amara and recognizes her as the new girl from Brazil.
Kitty greets her and introduces herself and asks if Amara is OK.  Amara politely assures her that she needs no assistance and asks her to leave her alone. Kitty remembers how homesick she was the first months at Xavier’s and figures it has to be worse for Amara. Trying to be nice, she asks if there is nothing she can do. Almost shifting to her lava form, Amara shouts at her to leave. Angrily, Kitty apologizes and leaves, wondering why she always screws up with kids her own age (except for Doug).
But that thought leads her to wonder if her close friendship with Doug will have any effect on her relationship with Peter Rasputin. She loves Peter. Suppose she starts to love Doug too?
Her reverie is broken as she faces the rest of the New Mutants, none of them looking at her too kindly. She asks what they are doing out there. Looking after their own, comes a stony reply from Roberto. From what she saw of Amara, she replies as coldly, she can take pretty god care of herself. She adds that they are acting awfully touchy. Is she surprised? Dani asks. Kitty’s made no secret of her dislike for the “X-babies.” It sort’a makes tonight’s sudden solicitude ring a little hollow. She can take a hint, Kitty states. Do better than that, Dani retorts, take a hike.
Xavier’s projection appears. Impatiently, he informs Kitty that he will brook no further delay. She is to report to his office. Kitty stalks off and the New Mutants, while they dislike Kitty, wouldn’t want to be in her shoes at the moment.
In Xavier’s office the professor sternly reminds Kitty that she had a training session scheduled for this evening. It isn’t the first she’s missed. For all that she’s an X-Man, they still know very little about the nature and extent of her phasing power. Kitty defends herself that she didn’t do it on purpose. When Doug and she are working, they tend to lose track of everything else. Xavier replies that he is pleased she is making friends outside the school and exercising her intellect to its fullest capacity, but when she joined the X-Men she chose to accept certain responsibilities. Her teammates’ lives depend on her as hers does on them. She must decide whether or not she is prepared to honor those obligations.
Furthermore, this idiotic feud between her and the New Mutants has gone one far enough. Novices they may be, but hardly “X-babies,” especially when two of them are older than Kitty. Turning away, Kitty asks if that’s all. Xavier asks her to think back on how she first felt when she realized who and what she was, the excitement, the terror. He asks her to help the New Mutants. In doing so, perhaps she’ll be able to better come to terms with herself. She promises to try and phases out of the room.
Alone with his thoughts, Xavier muses that Kitty wanted so badly to be an X-Man. She doesn’t understand why she’s having second thoughts. Her roommate Illyana is upstairs. He hopes Kitty talks things out with her. He wishes Amatra had someone to confide in. As soon as she’s asleep, he’ll have the mutants put her to bed.
That reminds him that he must schedule medical examinations for Roberto and Rahne. Mobsters injected them with a teratogenetic drug – a synthetic mutagen – designed to replicate the process that crated Cloak and Dagger. The chemical was supposedly burned out of their systems by those selfsame mystery beings, but he has to be certain there are no long term effects. His task would be easier if he knew precisely what it did to Cloak and Dagger. Should he or the X-Men attempt to contact them? Or should he leave well enough alone? They refused Cannonball’s invitation to join the school. He wishes he had Lilandra’s advice. Or just her presence.
Suddenly, he screams in pain. The scanning wave he sensed before erupts from nowhere and disappears again. The contact was more intense and painful. And he’s no closer to learning its origin or purpose. He should devote all his energies to solving this mystery but if he does who will look after his students? His obligations bind him as tightly as Kitty. Until he’s certain this represents a threat, he will keep on as before.
On the next day, Xavier’s giving the New Mutants a computer lesson. Dani notices that he doesn’t look well. A headache, Xavier claims. Sam remarks that this machine is doing its best to give him one, while Bobby boasts there’s nothing to working with computers. Dani laughs. He was weaned on those monsters. Merely one of his many talents, he replies smoothly. Xavier telepathically tells a frustrated Sam to cheer up. Things aren’t that bad. Sam admits he feels outclassed and Xavier offers to cue him telepathically step-by-step through the lesson.
Sitting at her computer, Amara marvels that this is magic. She presses this square and a letter appears on the glass before her. Would Xavier explain? Gladly, Xavier tells her. Amara makes amazing progress, much to the chagrin of Rahne, who thinks to herself that, despite being a heathen savage, Amara is getting the hang of these gadgets faster than her. She tells herself that she is as stupid as she is ugly. Xavier mentally overhears Rahne berating herself and wonders how he can give the girl some much needed self-confidence.
Their academic training over, the kids along with Kitty hike into Salem Center for a two hour session at Stevie Hunter’s dance studio. Stevie praises Amara, asking her if she had training. When he was very young, Amara explains. But for all her fancy schooling can she do this? Rahne boasts as she makes a high elegant jump, turning into her transitional form. The others are not amused. Sam angrily asks her if she is crazy, showing off her powers in public. Suppose someone saw her! Amara curiously asks if they must forever hide what they are. Is being a mutant something to be ashamed of or forbidden? Dejected, Rahne replies, “Aye.”
Kitty intervenes, surprisingly telling Sam to cool it. It’s only natural to want to show off every once in a while. She does that by just breathing, remarks Doug Ramsey who just entered. Oh brother! exclaims Kitty, clearly not unhappy at the compliment. While Doug drags her out for a visit at the mall, Kitty quickly tells Rahne that, not too long ago, she got yelled at by Ororo for the same kind of stunt. Some of them have to learn the hard way, but they all survive.
With Doug and Kitty gone, Rahne admits that she of all people should know the danger they face as mutants. Her fellow villagers in Scotland believed her to be a demon. They hunted her like an animal. They’d have killed her too, if not for her godmother, Lady Moira. You’d think she wouldn’t forget a lesson like that, but she did. She apologizes to Stevie and promises it won’t happen again.
Later, Amara, decked out in a New Mutants uniform, enters the Danger Room for the first time. Xavier is expecting her in the room, while Stevie Hunter is upstairs in the observation booth. Stevie muses that Kitty and Rahne are flipside of the same coin. Each jealous because they see their place threatened by new arrivals – each of them so insecure – and the terrible irony is they’ve no reason to be. She informs Charles that the monitors are set.
Xavier explains to Amara that this is where she will undergo the bulk of her training as Magma. The code-name is to protect both her real identity and the school’s true function, should she need to use her powers in public. Since her talent involves the manipulation of lava and tectonic forces, “Magma” seemed most appropriate. He points at a block of steel. He’d like to see her burn through this, a basic demonstration of her power. Unsure, she replies that she’s lost control of her powers before. He tries to calm her, promising he will be monitoring the situation telepathically.
Agitated, she asks whether he will be in her mind? But he said he’d never do that. It’s for her protection, he points out. He cannot teach her until he knows precisely what she can do and the physical or psionic mechanism that allows it. If she herself is worried about things getting out of hand… Angrily, she shouts that she never imagined he’d come into her mind. She runs away shouting, “Is this what his word is worth?” She will not be lied to! She’s not a slave to be paraded about and made to perform on command. She’s a freeborn citizen of Nova Roma and she demands to be treated as one! He shouts after her to wait… to no avail.
Later still in her bed, Amara, tears in her eyes, recalls that he kept calling but she refused to listen either with her ears or her mind. He could have forced her to his side, but he didn’t. That counts for something. He is not an evil man, far from it, she realizes as she puts on a dressing gown. She admits that he has treated her with courtesy and kindness, why can she not repay him in kind?
She leaves her room, wondering why she is so afraid. Partly it is the professor. His power makes him hardly seem human. Partly it is herself… not simply because of what she can do with her power. She walks down stairway. She is afraid of what he can see by accident in the secret chambers of her heart and soul. Not realizing Amara spoke English, Rahne poured out her heart and soul to Amara; spoke of things she’d never dare tell anyone else, secure in the knowledge Amara wouldn’t understand. Only she did understand. She’s never forgiven Amara for that.
She feels so vulnerable, so alien. She likes the New Mutants but does not fit in with them. Not anymore than they would in Nova Roma. She just doesn’t belong. She stops, seeing lights in the professor’s study. She wonders why is he up so late, because of her? Sarcastically she chides herself. His life doesn’t revolve around her.
She peeks inside and gasps, seeing the professor talk to a projection of his love Lilandra. She tells him that the reception is weakening and fears this may be their last conversation. Until her return, Xavier states. Fates willing, yes. How do you put into words what she could ay so much better with a caress or kiss, she sighs. Now he knows how Moira MacTaggert felt the day he went to war and left her behind. When he returned everything had changed. They love they once felt no longer existed. That may yet happen to them Lilandra fears, reaching out to him.
Reaching back, he tells her she’ll have to come back to find out. He has her word. He knows. “If need be from the gates of hell itself”. He’ll be waiting. They wish each other farewell.
Amara is ashamed and embarrassed at having witnessed this private moment. She wishes to get away but the professor has been aware of her presence. What’s done is done, he tells her. Hiding or running away changes nothing, makes nothing better. He invites her closer, suggesting they are long overdue for a chat.
Politely, Amara asks who that woman was. Xavier replies that Lilandra is the ruler of a vast empire far across the cosmos. As he takes Amara’s hand, she asks why she left him. Her sister seized the throne. Lilandra fights to win it back if she can. Does he miss her? Yes. Why didn’t he go with her? Because like her he has responsibilities that transcend personal desire. Each day more and more young mutants come into the world. If someone doesn’t help them to learn to properly and safely use their gifts, incalculable harm could happen.
They way she nearly destroyed Roberto’s city? Amara asks. Yes, is that the fear she lives with? She admits that she wants to be home with her father and her people. But her being there is the same thing as with him and Lilandra. It’s duty. Responsibility, obligation, he continues. Growing up, becoming an adult. It’s hard but a reality they must all face. Taking both his hands, she asks if he has ever failed with a student. Oh yes, but that will never stop him trying. She admits that in that he is much like her father. She was going to tell him she was going home. Now she thinks it’s best she stay. She’ll do her best to learn and be worthy of his trust.


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

[Assistant]
Do You Believe In -- Magik ?
A bluff above Xavier’s School. A young girl stares at an amulet, containing a pentagram adorned with three red stones in her hand. She recalls words said to her long ago by a demon: When you are grown into a woman and have learned in full measure the arts arcane, when at last the five bloodstones are in their proper places within this medallion… then, Illyana Rasputin, you will ascend to the most glorious of destinies!
His name was Belasco and what he meant was that she’d become the mystic living gateway through which his dread masters, the Dark Ones, would emerge to lay waste to the Earth and conquer their universe. She thought it was wonderful! She was younger then. Seven. A baby. Today, barely a year later, she’s fifteen. Half her life was spent in Limbo, Belasco’s magical domain where the normal rules of time don’t apply. For her there years passed while on Earth only seconds. She saw friends die, two of them by her own hand. She survived and escaped. Sometimes she wishes she hadn’t.
She’s a mutant like her older brother, Peter. He came to Xavier’s school to learn the proper use of his fantastic power and also to join the professor’s group of mutant superheroes, the X-Men. Now that her own special abilities have appeared, she can follow in his footsteps. Or she can return to Russia to her parents. But how will she explain her transformation from child to young adult?
Suddenly furious, she consider for a moment to throw away her amulet. How can she tell her parents their daughter has become a demon sorceress? Calmer again, she keeps it, musing sadly that she’d give her soul to be where she was one year ago, if she had a soul left to give.
Belasco needs her medallion to open the dimensional gate. Ideally, he needs her life essence as well to conjure the final blood stones. Sooner or later, he’ll come to them and, with luck, one of them will die. If it’s him, the world will be saved. If it’s her… or is it the other way round?
She is broken out of her dark thoughts by a sudden snowfall and noise from below. Professor Xavier has released his novice class, the New Mutants, from class a little early. Illyana observes that the professor has a heart. He just prefers to keep it hidden. She studies the New Mutants, who instantly begin a snowball fight from Rahne, the youngest, to Sunspot, whom Illyana considers very cute (and he knows it) to Amara.
Illyana feels a certain kinship with the girl who is her age. Coming from a totally foreign culture, a Roman city in the Amazon, Amara is a total stranger to this society. Illyana felt much the same when she returned from Limbo, doing her best to adjust to a world she barely remembered and a reality she found totally alien. It was the little things that hurt most, realizing in her room that all her clothes were too small.
Among the New Mutants, Dani Moonstar notices Amara’s pensive look. She figures the snow reminds Amara of her mountain home and makes her homesick. She tries to cheer her up and gently uses her power to find a specific kind of image that will make Amara feel good. Suddenly, a palm tree appears before her. Amara exclaims happily if Dani only knew what happened under that tree. Okay, what? Dani asks. Ask Roberto, Amara replies. She thinks she’ll kill him first, Dani comments wryly.
Seeing the other kids banter and play. A melancholy Illyana thinks that they laugh so easily while she has forgotten how to cry. She wants to play too but she doesn’t know how to ask. The only person in the mansion she’s truly comfortable with is Kitty Pryde. But she’s away with the X-Men on a mission.
A worried Xavier studies Illyana as he looks outside the window of his study. The girl’s mind is closed to him. He cannot penetrate the barriers she places around her mind. What is she afraid he will find? She never told them precisely what happened to her in Limbo. Could it have been that horrible? Is she trying to protect herself or them?
The other kids see the professor’s grim expression. He’s been that way for the past week, Roberto observes. Amara states that she knows part of the reason. His beloved Princess Lilandra had to return to her own country to do battle with her usurper sister. Professor Xavier misses her; he fears he may never see her again.
Their professor has a sweetheart! Roberto exclaims in mock-surprise. Will wonders never cease! Dani and Sam shove him into the snow and order him to give it a rest. The boy has no respectful bone in his body, Sam jokes. More seriously, he wishes they could make the professor feel better. Dani suggests they throw him a surprise party. They could get all the fixings when they are in town for dance class and have everything ready that evening. The others agree.
Noticing Illyana standing a little to the side, Dani asks if she wants to join the party preparations. Bobby offers her his jacket, seeing she is only wearing a sweater. She thanks him but tells him she’s fine. Cold doesn’t bother her. She likes the idea and agrees to help.
Elsewhere, a threatening shadow spies Illyana. The demon S’ym decides he will have to bide his time with so many people around. He has come a long way for her. He doesn’t mind waiting a little longer.
In Salem Center, the kids quickly get their dance teacher Stevie Hunter to agree to help. As they leave, Doug Ramsey comes by, apologizing for missing Stevie’s class. Has she seen Kitty anywhere? Stevie hasn’t and asks if she can give her a message. Only that he needs to talk to her the obviously, an excited Doug replies before leaving.
As the kids squeeze into Stevie’s car, they wonder what Doug wanted. They make their way to nearby Salem Mall, a place where the New Mutants have been before. Sam is amazed that they are still rebuilding. When they fought the Sentinels, he didn’t realize they did so much damage. Stevie suggests he look on the bright side. They haven’t seen those mutant-hunting robots since. Dani wonder why.
While buying things the kids are in a great mood save for Illyana, who wishes she hadn’t come. Dan addresses her, just realizing it’s Illyana’s birthday as well. Why didn’t she tell them sooner? If not for this crazy party, she wouldn’t have had any celebration at all. She doesn’t mind, the Russian girl replies.
Stevie worries about Sam’s capability to handle all those bags but, glancing at Amara, he seems determined not to seem weak. Which means that, a moment later, he almost runs over Rahne. Annoyed, she tells him that, if he weren’t trying so hard to show off, he’d see where he was going. Chastised, he apologizes and asks if she is ok. Does it matter? she replies peevishly.
Her mood improves when they run into Diana and Tony, local kids whom they’ve met before. They introduce Amara to them. When asked where’s she’s from, Amara replies Rome. She’s never been to that part of New York, Diana replies, but she hears it’s nice.
Back at the mansion, Xavier muses about Illyana’s case. From the X-Men’s account, he believes Illyana’s abductor to be an infamous 12th century demonologist. But his library contains only veiled references to Belasco and precious few of these. Perhaps Steven Strange or Nightcrawler’s foster mother, Margali Szardos, could fill in some of the gaps.
Suddenly, Xavier is startled, sensing another presence, but the contact was so fleeting it could have been his imagination. It felt different from the extra-terrestrial scanning wave that devastated him before and none of the alarms have been sounded.
 G’day, prof, comes a voice from the entrance as the demon S’ym makes his appearance. Xavier recalls from the X-Men’s account that they fought S’ym in Limbo. He’s a demon of unbelievable strength and powers. He tries to immobilize S’ym with a mindblast. S’ym slaps him aside, proudly announcing that he killed a fair number of Xavier’s mutant in his time. He wouldn’t mind at all adding Xavier to the list.
The kids try phoning from the mall to see if the coast is clear at home, but there is no reply, even from the answering machine. The kids don’t want to barge in and have the Professor discover the preparations. Illyana volunteers to scout the grounds to see if they have to make themselves scarce as the professor can’t read her mind.
As she walks towards the mansion, Amara comments to Roberto that Illyana is very strange. Is she a mutant? They don’t know, Sunspot replies. Her brother is. Amara adds that Illyana reminds her of Selene, the demon mutant who preyed on her people. Stevie immediately defends Illyana, but the others look after the girl worried. Roberto comments that even the X-Men seem afraid of her sometimes.
Illyana heard every word and is furious. Who are they to judge her? But she acknowledges the essential truth of Amara’s words. She has much more in common with Selene than with any of the New Mutants.
Carefully, she slips into the dark hallway, thinking to herself that maybe she should leave the X-Men before the evil Belasco planted into her corrupts and destroys those she loves as well. She calls out the professor’s name and muses that of them all, only Kitty accepts her as a friend without any reservations. She chides herself of thinking too much of herself. She should have noticed that something was wrong. Possibly the professor’s silence is due to an attack. She’d better get the others.
That moment, S’ym grabs her arm, informing her that Belasco sent him to bring her back. Illyana knows spells that would kill S’ym but, at his touch, all knowledge and courage flee. She can think of nothing save how when she was a little girl and was bad Belasco sent S’ym to punish her.
Her magic fails her. Her mutant powers don’t. She reaches out with her mind and a teleportation circle appears beneath Stevie’s car, hurtling it and the New Mutants into Limbo. The kids are surprised to find themselves suddenly in a hellish landscape.
Crouching nearby, astonished at seeing them is a girl they recognize as Illyana in an outlandish costume. But she is far too young to be their Illyana. The next moment, they teleport again, as their Illyana brings them (and the car) into the mansion’s living room. S’ym is crushing the air from her lungs. He’s always enjoyed hurting her. With her last scrap of awareness, she sees the mutants arrive and prays she hasn’t summoned them to their doom.
S’ym tells them annoyed he only came for Illyana. For their own health, he suggests they not get involved.
Of course, Sam instantly flies into action, trying to hit him with all he has. S’ym is unimpressed, as Cannonball’s impact fails to flatten him. Instead, Sam falls down, out of it. Roberto changes to his solar-powered form, hoping to flatten him with a blow, as none of the girls can match S’ym for raw power. If Sam and he can’t defeat S’ym, the fight is as good as over, he fears. S’ym is merely annoyed and slaps Robert back. That little slap hurtles Roberto out of the house into the snow.
Already aware of the fact that her attack will probably be useless, Rahne nevertheless transforms into wolfform. S’ym merely swats her away with his tail.
Dani swears to herself that they are a team. Attacking solo is suicide! She orders Amara to wait for her cue. She’ll create a spiritform of whatever S’ym is afraid of – if there is anything! While he is distracted, Magma is to nail him. It works, but Dani is shocked at the result.
Before them appears the form of the demon lord Belasco. He announces his displeasure at S’ym. Can he not depend on the demon for the most trivial of errands? “Belasco!” S’ym screams and cowers, begging for mercy and assuring him of his loyalty. How sad, for that means he is truly doomed, Belasco replies as his form changes into that of a demonic Illyana. If S’ym serves the Darklord, he must therefore be the sworn enemy of his Darkchild. Either way means a betrayal. Either betrayal will cost him most dear.
In his fear, S’ym has dropped the real Illyana. Stevie reacts instantly and tries to draw her away, asking the mutants to cover her while she gets Illyana out, then disappear themselves. No heroics! This is way out of their league.
Magma, in the meantime, creates a mini-volcano in the middle of the living room, having it spurt lava at S’ym and bury him in molten lava. How is that? she asks triumphantly, as she turns to Dani. She’s cooled the magma, so now S’ym is encased in solid rock. Suddenly, somebody taps her shoulder. Amara looks around to face a very annoyed S’ym.
In the meantime, Stevie has dragged the catatonic Illyana into the elevator. Hearing Amara’s scream, she fears the worst. She intends to get to the transit tunnel from where she can get to the hangar complex and send an emergency signal to the X-Men. However, she finds that S’ym is pulling the elevator cabin up.
She jumps outside with Illyana and takes the brunt of the fall. Hobbling thanks to her injured knee, she finally falls down. She can no longer walk. S’ym has caught up with them and is out of patience. He intends to take it out on Stevie, promising the X-Men will find her bleached bones.
He is stopped by a magic blast. Don’t make promises you won’t be able to keep, Illyana snarls at him. She finally decided to fight for herself? he asks mockingly. He’s glad. The lesson he means to teach her is long overdue. Illyana remembers that when last they met she buried her Soulsword in S’ym’s breast. He should have died. She should have made sure.
She unleashes magical energy at him. It’s the first time she’s unleashed her magic since returning from Limbo. She’d forgotten how good it feels to use them, how empty she feels when she doesn’t. She binds S’ym with mystic chains. They don’t hold. He’s madder than ever, which was actually Illyana’s plan. She wants him to think only of destroying her. When she’s taunted him enough and is seemingly backed into a corner, she summons her Soulsword, forged in part from the essence of her very being. With it she nearly killed Belasco, but chose to let him live. S’ym may not be so lucky.
She holds the blade to his throat. He begs for mercy. Was he as gentle with the X-Men? Illyana taunts. He is a demon, he replies. And she is not, Illyana muses as she lowers her blade. His life has a price. He must renounce Belasco and serve her. S’ym agrees, as she is the new mistress of Limbo. What of the woman? She has seen and heard more than she should. Shall he dispose of her? Illyana teleports him away, threatening that she might just reconsider and decide to avenge her butchered friends.
Horrified, Stevie asks if the X-Men are dead. In a way, Illyana replies. Time moves differently in Limbo. Past, present and the future get muddled up. There were two groups of X-Men, doubles of everyone but her. One escaped, the other didn’t. What has she become? Stevie asks. She really doesn’t want to know, Illyana replies and uses a minor spell to reconfigure Stevie’s memories so that all she remembers is that Illyana’s mutant powers – her teleportation circles – saved the day, sending S’ym back where he came from. Her sorcery is a secret she intends to keep for herself for the moment.
Later, the mutants consider cleaning the mess in the living room but decide to have the party instead. All things considered, they figured they’d deserved it. They were just getting started when the X-Men returned home. Seeing the volcano and the car in the living room the X-Men are flabbergasted. Can’t leave these flamin’ kids alone for an instant, Wolverine comments. Is he to assume Wolverine doesn’t approve of their redecorating? Xavier asks amused. The X-Men decide to join the party and are curious about what happened.
Xavier moves towards Illyana, who is standing away from the others. They all put up a magnificent fight against S’ym. He’s very proud. They were lucky, she replies and wonders if he knows what really happened. Seeing S’ym must have been hard, Xavier continues. A reminder of her exile in Limbo, opening wounds perhaps barely healed. If she ever wishes to talk about it… Maybe someday, she replies.
Xavier gets up and asks if she’d do him the honor of sharing this waltz. They are halfway through the dance before Illyana and all the rest realize what has happened. Xavier’s legs are finally fully recovered. He can walk. Happily, she hugs him and Xavier tells her there’s hope for them all. He knows, Illyana realizes.
Kitty, standing next to a window, is happy to see Illyana finally relax. She sees somebody at the window outside, it’s her friend Doug Ramsey. She runs outside and tells him to com inside. Is that a mountain in their living room? he asks. Ask Amara, she built it, Kitty deadpans. Doug tells her why he’s here. He has fantastic news. He’s been offered a full foundation scholarship. He’s flying up to the school for a final interview and he’d like her to come along. Why her? Kitty asks. She was a student there, if only for a week. And he respects her judgment more than almost anyone’s. It’s the Massachusetts Academy. Horrified, Kitty thinks that the place is run by their enemies, the Hellfire Club. But how can she tell Doug?