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

[Assistant]
Age of X, chapter 2
Fortress X, in the dead of night. Chamber and Jubilee are on a balcony, overlooking the surrounding area. Chamber tells Jubilee that he is sorry, as he did not understand the question, or why she thinks he would have an answer. Jubilee replies that she doesn’t know, and remarks that Chamber came from way over in Europe and tells him that he has seen the world. ‘Oh yeah, definitely. Some of its more interesting gutters, anyway’ Chamber replies. Eyes downcast, Jubilee replies that the question stands: ‘What are we fighting for?’ she asks, and tells Chamber not to tell her “survival” because that is not enough, as every animal does that.
‘Bloody hell’ Chamber mutters, before reminding Jubilee that it is them against the world. ‘Seems like it’ Jubilee replies, to which Chamber tells her that on the other side of the force walls there is an army - a million strong - and they are never going to stop coming. Chamber explains that the longer they hold out, the more mental and impossible it looks. He remarks that maybe someone, someday, will hear a story about how they fought, and think “okay then”, and roll their own sleeves up. ‘Is that enough?’ he asks. Jubilee pauses, before hanging her head and telling Chamber that will do fine.
Inside, ‘I’m sorry, Legacy. But the answer is no’ Magneto tells Legacy inside the large monitor room. ‘Pryde is your prisoner, Magnus’ Legacy points out. ‘Danger’s prisoner. I merely delivered her’ Magneto replies. Legacy explains that she can question Pryde better than Magneto or Danger, for all she has to do is touch her. Legacy reminds Magnus that Pryde was outside the barriers, that she probably saw the enemy troop deployments and their latest weapons. ‘Maybe if we knew what she knows, we could go on the offensive for once’ Legacy suggests.
Magneto asks Legacy if she has asked herself why Pryde was outside the barriers, to which Legacy explains that is one of the things she was looking to find out. ‘Or what she might have brought back with her?’ Magneto asks. Legacy hesitates, ‘Ah - no. Ah can’t say Ah gave that any thought’ she claims. Magneto turns away from Legacy, reminding her that they have survived this long because they take no unnecessary risks. He declares that Pryde stays isolated until they know what her agenda is - and how she escaped from the brig in the first place.
Walking along a corridor, Legacy tells herself that it won’t do, not anymore. ‘Ah know this much: Once you start asking questions, you’re like a snowball rolling downhill. It’s the hardest thing in the world to stop. Until you hit up against some kind of an answer’. Legacy enters a laboratory, where Madison Jeffries is busy working. ‘You busy? Ah’d hate to intrude’ Legacy exclaims. ‘Busy going nowhere’ Madison replies, before asking Matilda to fix them some coffee. A robot hovering nearby replies ‘I sure will, honey bunch’, while Madison tells Legacy that he is measuring starlight, and getting the wrong answers every time. Looking at the large telescope, Legacy asks Madison how he even takes the measurements, pointing out the stars are outside the force walls.
Madison explains that he sends Matilda up about a thousand feet, as the refraction index is a lot less up there, at least, that was the theory. Matilda brings over the coffee as Rogue asks Madison to take a look at the camera. ‘Ah’d like to know if it’s broken. Or if there’s any way to access the photos. Ah just get a blank screen’ she explains, handing it to him. Madison holds the camera and talks to it - ‘How you feeling, little camera? That bad, huh? Yeah, you’ve been through some really hard times. I can feel your pain’ Madison tells the camera. Legacy watches intently, before Madison informs her that it is not broken, that there are 247 pictures, all of the blank. Matilda calls Madison “darling” and informs him that the coffee is ready, while Madison explains that someone pointed the camera at nothing 247 times and clicked the button.
Legacy takes the camera and asks Madison if he is sure - ‘No hidden messages? Encrypted data?’ she asks. ‘Am I sure? Well, let me think how to put this’ Madison remarks, before motioning to the Box armor behind him and telling Legacy that every time he gets into the armor and plugs himself in, he becomes a bit more of a machine and a bit less of a man. He tells Legacy that he is capable of a lot of things, but data error is not one of them. Legacy tells Madison that he is a good man, and informs him she needs one more favor from him - maybe two. ‘With the soulful stare and the human contact an all?’ Madison replies as Legacy stares at him. ‘Name it. Or them’ Madison exclaims. Legacy smiles, ‘Well, for starters…pucker up’ Legacy declares.
In his quarters, Basilisk looks out the window, and sees Legacy walking along a platform. ‘Thought I’d worn you out, tiger. How come you’re awake? And over there?’ Frenzy asks. Basilisk turns back to Frenzy, who is on their bed, and tells her that he couldn’t sleep, before apologizing for waking her. ‘Awake’s not bad. There’s things you can do with awake. Not long-distance, though’ Frenzy replies. Basilisk goes over to their bed and they kiss.  However, Frenzy tells him that was half-hearted. ‘I’m sorry. I just -’ Basilisk begins, but Frenzy tells Basilisk that she does not love him for his mind, but to tell her what is on it, anyway. ‘Well, since you’re asking…it’s this, mostly’ Basilisk replies, handing Frenzy a set of dog-tags. ‘Jackson. 45th infantry, 2776. You knew him?’ Frenzy asks. ‘Her. And not really. We never actually met. I just killed her’ Basilisk explains.
Shown with flashback illustrations:
Basilisk tells Frenzy that three days ago, a couple of exonims broke through by the west wall, with infantry support. As he was on wide patrol, he engaged them, but they had energy diffusion armor, which meant that he had to get a little creative in battling them. He blasted the side of rock face, causing a landslide, as he figured it would not be that easy to diffuse a couple of tons of brick and concrete. Basilisk explains that he was not particularly aiming for Jackson, but she bought it, too - one of the tin cans fell across her, broke most everything she had that was breakable. He saw that Jackson looked to be about seventeen - too young to buy beer, but old enough to fight. Old enough to die.
Present:
‘Hey, you were up at bat. They throw kids at you, you’ve still got to take a swing’ Frenzy tells Basilisk, who replies that he knows, and normally he doesn’t think about it, but he grabbed the tags because the deaths matter - someone has to keep score. Frenzy smiles and asks Basilisk why he is brooding and prowling and neglecting his husbandly duties. ‘Don’t tell me you’re in mourning for a freak?’ she asks. ‘Not hardly. But here’s the thing’ Basilisk replies, revealing that he already had Jackson, 45th infantry, 2776 in his collection, that he had for a month or two. ‘You already -?’ Frenzy asks. ‘Yeah’ Basilisk declares. ‘Far as I can remember, he was a black guy. And I left him on the ground that time, too’ Basilisk states, holding the dog tags.
Meanwhile, Legacy approaches the brig. The words “Secure Holding Facility. No Admittance” are stamped on the doors. Legacy tells herself that she has not done that in a while - kissed a man to borrow his powers, although it used to be her thing when she was young and stupid. ‘These days Ah’m mostly the Reaper. And death doesn’t flirt’ she tells herself. A computer begins an ID scan, but using Jeffries’s powers, Legacy talks to the computer, telling it there is nobody here, so the computer terminates the ID scan, before Legacy orders the brig doors opened, then the activity log erased. The giant doors being to open, and entering the facility, Legacy orders the cameras to look away, as there is nothing to see. And just like that, the cameras look away from her. Legacy approaches a console and tells it that she needs a map, specifically asking where Katherine Pryde is located.
Legacy makes her way past several apparently empty cells, when suddenly, ‘W-wait! Rogue! Is that you?’ a young girl calls out and begins waving her hands out through the bars of her cell. The girl is called Blindfold and she wears a black and yellow uniform, with an “X” on the belt. Legacy looks at her and informs her that she has her confused with someone else. ‘Ah’m Legacy’ she explains. ‘Excuse me. Everyone is confused. Everyone is someone else. It hurts to look at them’ Blindfold declares. She begins clutching at her head and tells Legacy that she has to untie it or take her back, she doesn’t mind which. I’ll be good this time. I won’t see. I won’t see anything!’ Blindfold exclaims.
Legacy puts her arm through the bars and touches Blindfold on the arm, while Blindfold exclaims ‘Oh, I miss her! I miss them all so much. You have to untie it! Please!’ Legacy looks confused, and explains that she should not even be here right now, before assuring her that she will come back, and they can talk some more. Legacy continues on, while Blindfold calls out to her: ‘It’s the scar tissue, Rogue! Ask the Professor! Where it doesn’t fit! Where everything was amputated but the patient didn’t die! Ask the Professor! Ask the Professor!’ she shouts.
Elsewhere in the brig, Danger is monitoring the cells, when the voice of X informs her that Blindfold, in cell 17, her heard rate is spiking and adrenaline levels are elevated. Danger thanks the mysterious X and replies that she had noticed the anomalies, before announcing that drones Delta and Epsilon will investigate and assess. Legacy walks past two Danger look-alikes against the wall, and after she passes them, they step forward.
Legacy comes to the cell where Katherine Pryde is being held. ‘Do you remember me?’ Legacy asks. ‘That would be a no’ Pryde replies, squatting on the floor, her hands tied behind her back, wire cable wrapped around her, a brace around her neck and a device covering her head. Legacy explains that they met briefly on the battle field, and introduces herself as Anna Marie. ‘Pleased to meet you. But if this is an interrogation, do me a favor and cut out the small talk’ Katherine exclaims. Legacy assures Katherine that she is not here to beat answers out of her. ‘Okay. So you’re the nice cop. Good to know’ Katherine replies, to which Legacy assures her she is not any kind of cop.
But holding up the camera, Legacy tells Katherine that she would like to know what she was doing outside the force walls, what she saw there, and what the camera is for. ‘You take pictures with it’ Katherine explains, but Legacy informs her the pictures are all blank. ‘Shoot. I always forget to take the lens cap off’ Katherine replies. ‘What’s out there? What did you see?’ Legacy asks. Katherine tells Legacy to cut her loose or get the stupid hat off of her so she can phase, and then they can talk.
Legacy crouches down in front of Katherine and explains that they do not exactly have to talk, that she could take what she wants just by touching her. ‘And there we are with the threats. I knew what you were the moment I saw you’ Katherine declares. ‘Ah said I could. Ah didn’t say Ah was going to. Ah just wish you’d trust me’ Legacy replies. Katherine bites her lower lip and reveals that she saw nothing. ‘But he said take a lot of pictures, so I -’ she begins, when suddenly, the two Danger drones enter the cell. ‘Legacy, your presence here is unauthorized’ one of them states, ordering her away from the prisoner. ‘Ah’m real sorry to do this, but…’ Legacy begins, before she uses Jeffries’s power once more, ordering the Danger drones to freeze. But the Danger drones are able to modulate to counter the attack, and continue towards Legacy, ordering her to surrender and submit to arrest.
‘Danger, Ah can’t. There’s something Ah need to -’ Legacy begins, while the Danger drone logs Legacy’s response, before reminding her that she was asked to surrender but refused - before releasing a laser beam, which passes through Legacy. Legacy tells herself that perhaps she should feel a little ashamed, but she did not take any memories from Katherine, just borrowed a little phasing power. She then runs through one of the Danger drones, knocking it over, while Legacy decides that this power turns out to be useful in all kinds of ways as she shoots through Danger’s motherboard like a flash flood.
The drone sounds the alert, calling for back up, and orders a full system lockdown. ‘Like Ah said. Looking for answers. Exact same thing as looking for trouble’ Legacy tells herself, turning intangible just as several laser beams are fired at her, she finds the new power hard to hold the focus, hard to keep it working. ‘But pain is a great teacher, mah mom used to say. Both of may moms, in fact’ she reminds herself as she dives through a wall, telling herself that she is a quick study, usually ready for anything that gets thrown at her. Usually.
Legacy looks up to where a bald man is strapped to a bed, hooked up to all sorts of monitors. ‘This is insane’ Legacy thinks to herself, certain that she has never seen this man in her life before - but a name stirs right at the base of her brain. ‘Charles? Charles Xavier?’ Legacy asks. In her cell, Blindfold calls out ‘Ask the Professor! Ask the Professor!’ Legacy raises her hand to the Professor’s face. ‘No promises this time. No holding back’ she tells herself, deciding that she has to know, although her hand is shaking like she has malaria, and her heart is in her mouth. ‘Ah got to know’ Legacy tells herself again as she places her hand, mostly covered by a glove, except for a small square on the palm of her hand, against the Professor’s face.
Phrases flash through Legacy’s mind. ‘Don’t any more probably never did’, ‘Believe in you still less your goodwill’, ‘But if you’re there, God, you’re a coward’, ‘Whole lot of graves in a whole lot of’, ‘Why does my head’, ‘Burn the world for you’, ‘Everything, everything for you’, ‘The strength in my hands’, ‘The looks in their eyes’, ‘The strength running through me’, ‘The blasting cap is in my mind’, ‘Her face when she turned away from the girl on the ground’, ‘The hammer is my mind’, ‘Blood loos is about the same’, ‘Knife catches in the scar tissue a little’, ‘Need to find a new place to cut’.
Legacy tells herself that she cannot turn it off, ‘God help me. Ah can’t turn it OFF’ she scream inside herself. Around Fortress X, others know something is going on. Basilisk calls out to Frenzy as she lies motionless, blood trickling from her nose. Magnus looks up from his computer, while Moira MacTaggert looks at a pensive Legion. Gambit is polishing a weapon, while Wolverine is driving a knife into his own arm. Several mutants including Colossus, Dazzler and Nightmare are gathered together, and they all convulse and blood begins to seep from their noses as well. On the balcony, Chamber holds up the now motionless Jubilee, and calls out to X, ‘Code red! We’re under attack!’, while Magneto falls to the floor. ‘Legacy?’ he calls out.
But Legacy has keeled over on the floor, ‘Stop it! Stop it!’ she screams. ‘Please!’ More words flash through her mind: ‘Smash it’, ‘Have to smash it before they’, ‘Break it into pieces’, ‘Then there’s no way out’. Another Danger drone busts into the cell, telling Legacy that she must stop, as she is hurting people. But Legacy rises and announces that she has it under control. Danger believes that Legacy is too weak to phase now, and orders her to surrender. ‘Ah…Ah really can’t do that. Danger…before this place was a jail…before it was part of our fortress…it was a bank’ Legacy reveals, before using Jeffries’s power, she calls out ‘Security breach!’ and part of the Danger drone is torn apart.
Legacy makes a run for it, but more drones follow her. She uses the last dregs of Madison’s power to mess with the drones’ targeting. Approaching a large window, Legacy realizes that she is out of gas and out of options. ‘Well…almost’ she tells herself as she leaps through the window, sending fragments of glass everywhere as she falls downward. The Danger drones stand at the broken window and one of them states that as far as can be ascertained, Legacy did not touch any mutants with the power of flight. Another drone verifies that, but announces the sensors at ground level have not located Legacy’s body. ‘Danger to all stations, via X. Fugitive alert’ another drone states. ‘Legacy has attacked all inhabitants of Fortress X with a mutant power whose modality is unknown. She also attempted a rescue of Katherine Pryde, currently in isolation on Magneto’s orders’.
Hovering mid-air, Legacy clings onto the Matilda robot, asking her to set her down gently on the ledge. Matilda tells Legacy it would be her pleasure, as any friend of Madison’s is her friend also.
In the communications room, Magneto rises, while the voice of X asks what his orders are. ‘Standard protocol dictates -’ X begins, to which Magnus interrupts: ‘Yes. Apprehend Legacy. Bring her in. Using all necessary force’ he orders.
An alarm sounds throughout Fortress X, and several young mutants are gathered together - Moonstar, Eclipse, Warlock, Magma, Karma and Dust. ‘Hear that kiddies?’ Moonstar asks her comrades. ‘Just when we thought it was going to be a quiet night….’.


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

[Assistant]
Age of X, chapter 4
Magneto hovers up alongside Fortress X. ‘The day ends with a display of fireworks. Bright. Fierce. Incongruously beautiful. “Incongruously” because each of these lights…is a dead man’ Magneto thinks to himself as he observes the goings-on below. Magneto tells himself that their human enemies are afraid they might scavenge their discarded tech, so every suit of armor contains a diagnostic monitor and a suicide chip. If the wearer’s life signs are compromised, the chip activates. An ampoule of the explosion ph-boar breaks open and is exposed to the oxygenated air. And the rest, is pyrotechnics.
Down below on the battle field, that is happening right now, as Avalanche and Nightmare engage several soldiers in battle. One of them falls over, and a light signals on his wrist. ‘Aw, no! I’m good! I can still -!’ he exclaims, before the suicide chip is activated and he explodes. Magneto drops down to where Colossus, Scalphunter, Husk and Gentle have placed the injured Toad and Surge onto boards. He tells himself that even in war time - especially in war time - the goal must be to keep some small portion of your own humanity untouched and inviolate. Magneto tells Colossus and the others to take the wounded to the healers, and they watch him as he departs. ‘There must be a shrine in some remote corner of your being. A place of sanctity. Even if the rest of your soul is a butcher’s shop’ Magneto tells himself.
Nightmare, Domino and Dazzler join Scalphunter, and discuss current events: ‘Reaper and Gambit? No! That’s - that’s not -’ Nightmare begins, but Scalphunter tells her that he knows what he saw. ‘The General dumped a hundred tons of rubble on their heads. And then he made a speech of the damn grave!’ Scalphunter declares. Dazzler suggests that they may as well drop the force walls and lie down in front of the tanks. ‘If we’re killing our own, now, what’s left to defend?’ she asks.
Nearby, the Force Warriors - Psylocke, Hellion, Carmella Unuscione, Legion and Revenant are working their magic, rebuilding the force walls. Psylocke remarks that she never knew morale to be this low, and Carmella declares that it is bad, and tells her comrades she thinks Magneto committed a grave error of judgment. ‘Really?, Unuscione? Looked to me like he committed murder’ Psylocke replies. Hellion turns to Revenant and asks her how she feels about this. ‘Lost’ Revenant replies, glowing with energy. Hellion is confused and asks her what she means. ‘I was on my way home, but I got lost. Is this home? It doesn’t look like home. It doesn’t even look like me’ Revenant replies, cryptically.
Soon, Legion returns to Fortress X, where some strange looking mutants have gathered. They call out to him, and one of them exclaims ‘God bless you, son! God bless all the Force Warriors!’ Legion thanks them, before entering the quarters he shares with Moira MacTaggert. ‘What’s the matter?’ Legion asks when he sees Moira huddling on a chair, crying. Moira tells David that it is all falling apart. ‘We - we’ve worked so hard, and fought for so long and it’s all going to be destroyed!’ Moira cries. ‘We’ll lose everything! Even each other!’ she adds. Legion kneels beside her and calling her “Mother,” he tells her that they wont, that will not happen. ‘I’m not going to let it happen’ he frowns.
Magneto flies down amongst some rubble, and X calls out to him, asking him where he is, as his signal is faint. Magneto replies that he is below the fortress, checking the tunnels for mines and time-delay munitions. ‘The price of freedom is uncurable paranoia’ Magneto points out. X informs Magneto that many are questioning what he did to Legacy and Gambit. ‘Are they, now? And are you among them?’ Magneto replies. ‘By no means. This is not a time to weaken’ X replies, adding that ‘In fact, I recommended that Pryde be executed, too. She is a focus for dissent and insurrection’ X suggests.
Magneto points out that Pryde is in prison and in restraint harness which prevents her from phasing. ‘She escaped once before. The risk of -’ X begins, before starting to break up, losing communication with Magneto. ‘The mental in the walls here degrades comms signals’ Magneto remarks, adding that as do massive fluctuating magnetic fields. ‘Unfortunate, but necessary. We want no onlookers for this’ Magneto declares as he enters another tunnel. ‘Do we, Legacy?’ Magneto asks as he approaches Legacy and Gambit. Legacy asks Magneto what he wants with them. ‘Did you bring us down here to interrogate us? Torture us?’ she asks.
‘Having gone to so much trouble to hide you with that metallic debris? No’ Magneto assures her. Magneto tells Gambit that the glow of his bio-kinetic energy betrays him. ‘Killing you at this stage would feel like a terrible waste of effort. Suppose - for once - we ask questions first, and shoot later’ Magneto suggests. ‘Questions about what, Magnus? Ah don’t see what it is you’re trying to do here’ Legacy replies. Magneto informs Legacy that he is rebelling - against his own rule. ‘The irony of the situation does not escape me’ Magnus remarks, adding that he is trying to understand a paradox.
Magneto reminds Legacy and Gambit that there are heroes in the outside world - heroes greater than they - who once acted for the Human Coalition, and then came to oppose it. He states that whatever side they stand on should be assured of victory, therefore, their current stalemate makes no sense. ‘You think war has to make sense?’ Gambit asks. ‘Perhaps not’ Magneto replies, remarking that he thinks that persisting with the same failed tactics for three years is idiotic. ‘Are all our enemies idiots, then? And if they are, how have they brought us so close to defeat?’ Magneto remarks.
Gambit suggests that maybe they made some mistakes of their own, but either way, there is no point kicking against it. The world’s the way it is, non?’ Gambit asks. But Legacy points out that when Katherine Pryde went through the force walls, she said the world wasn’t even there. ‘We’re all that lefts’ Legacy remarks. ‘You spoke to her? What else did she say?’ Magnus asks Legacy. Legacy tells Magnus that was all Pryde had time to say, before revealing that she met another prisoner, Charles Xavier, touched his mind and absorbed his thoughts. ‘He remembers…things that never happened’ Legacy announces.
‘What things?’ Magneto asks. Legacy explains that Xavier remembers mutant heroes, working out in the open - a school where mutants were taught to use their powers. ‘And you…as an enemy of that place. Then it’s friend, and protector’. Legacy continues, explaining that there was a decimation that was nothing like their own - brought down on them by a witch, followed by a war, fought over a child - or maybe two wars. Legacy adds that Xavier was afraid for his son - that was right at the surface of his mind.
Magneto announces that he believes they have been lied to - and built their lives, their very selves, around the lie, as a pearl accretes around a piece of grit. He reveals that is why he sent Pryde on her mission in the first place. ‘Now it seems there may be answers closer to hand’ he adds. Gambit asks him what he means, to which Magneto holds out some blueprints of Fortress X, explaining that he took them from Madison Jeffries. ‘I built this place myself, with my own will and power of my mind. And yet there is a room here - at the very heart of this citadel - that I have no memory of. A room which serves no function I can fathom’ Magneto remarks, pointing to the room on the blueprints.
Magneto turns to Gambit, and remarks that he was once good at breaking and entering. ‘Not good. The best’ Gambit replies. Magnus asks Gambit if he is prepared to put those skills at his disposal, to find this room and see what is in there. Legacy announces that she will go, and will go alone if she has to. But Gambit tells her that he is not going to let her do that. He assures the General that he is in, before asking him ‘What will you be doing while we’re risking our necks for you?’ Magneto hands Gambit the blueprints before taking flight, remarking that if this Xavier has knowledge that could help them, he must speak with him. ‘And I have a responsibility to Ms Pryde, whose life may now be in danger’. ‘So?’ Gambit asks. ‘So, at the very least…I’ll be drawing some fire’ Magneto declares as he leaves them.
Meanwhile, in the Western Barracks, Moonstar and her Cadre are getting hanged. ‘Nobody left standing by then except me and Megs’ Dust remarks. ‘Nightmare? You had a drinking contest with Nightmare? Dis and Hades!’ Magma exclaims. X’s voice sounds over the communicator, telling Moonstar that she seems preoccupied. Moonstar hesitates, before assuring X that she is fine. ‘Maybe a little freaked out about what happened today, but I’ll roll with it’ Danielle replies. X points out that a soldier must obey orders. ‘Sure’ Moonstar replies. X tells Moonstar that she is the best of soldiers, but that if the orders given to her were compromised - ‘What are you talking about?’ Moonstar asks, interrupting X.
X states that there is a plot to bring down this fortress, and reminds Danielle that she was mobilized to arrest one of its ringleaders. ‘Legacy. Let’s use names’ Moonstar replies. X informs Moonstar that Legacy herself was acting under orders, to undermine their security and set them against each other. Moonstar frowns, and replies ‘If you say so. But who told her to do those things?’ X replies that it will be impossible to ask her now that she is dead. ‘Suspicion, therefore…falls on the man who killed her’ X states.
Magneto approaches the brig and thinks to himself that there is a quiet way to do this, a way that depends on subtlety and clever indirection. ‘At another time, and another place…that way would be my way’ Magneto tells himself as he easily rips the brig doors apart. As he makes his way through the brig, several Danger drones approach him, ordering him to stand down. ‘Your presence here is unauthorized and will result in -’ Danger begins, before Magneto easily knocks the drones over.
‘Wondered…when you’d shop up. Is this…my debriefing?’ Katherine Pryde asks as Magneto enters her cell, and swiftly removes the cables and shackles trapping her. ‘No, child. This is your rescue. But please, try to keep up. There’s a great deal still to do’ Magneto announces, destroying several cameras. ‘We’re making a hell of a lot of noise, General’ Katherine remarks as she follows Magneto, who tells her that is intentional. ‘Let all heads turn out way, and see what we see’ he remarks, before they enter another cell. ‘Katherine Pryde…meet Charles Xavier!’ Magneto announces as they approach Xavier.
Down in another tunnel, Gambit and Legacy approach a shaft that is not blocked. ‘That’s our way in’ Gambit remarks. Legacy tells him that there has to be an easier way than this. Gambit tells her that there are ten or twenty easier ways, but they all take us past junctions with cameras. ‘This way we got a little privacy’ he points out. ‘No cameras here?’ Rogue asks. ‘None. We’re off the grid’ Gambit tells her. ‘And nobody else around’ Legacy adds. ‘So we’re safe to -’ Gambit begins, but Legacy interrupts, kissing Gambit on the lips. ‘That was for luck’ she tells him. ‘It worked. I feel luckier already’ Gambit replies. ‘Also for the climb’ Legacy adds, telling Gambit as they climb up the shaft that she is as big a thief as he is, in her own way.
In the brig, Magneto levitates the machinery that Xavier is hooked up to, and tells Pryde that automated dosage systems to keep him in a dreamless sleep, while baffles and filters ensure complete sensory deprivation. ‘Someone is very much afraid of this man’ Magneto declares. Katherine tells Magneto that Xavier looks kind of familiar, somehow, but she cannot remember where she has seen him. ‘Maybe it was back when I was a kid, or something’ she suggests. Xavier suddenly rises - ‘Should - shouldn’t have -’ he utters. Magneto goes over and helps him, telling him there will be time for that later, so no need to strain himself. ‘No! No time! Listen…Magneto! Please!’ Xavier exclaims.
He continues, ‘She was…waiting. When I went inside. Attacked from behind and it all - she took it all. Turned it…inside out. I couldn’t stop her. I couldn’t stop her!’ Xavier declares. Charles looks up at Katherine and calling her “Kitty” he exclaims ‘She caught you, too. What was the radius?’ ‘Kitty?’ Katherine asks. Xavier declares that they have to find her and make her give it back, before - but Xavier passes out. ‘Great. Well, you did warn him’ Katherine remarks, before telling the General that someone is going to come and find out why all the alarms are screaming. ‘Yes, Pryde. You’re right. We’re -’ Magneto remarks as he helps Xavier down onto the bed. ‘Too late’ Katherine exclaims. ‘So it appears’ Magneto agrees as Moonstar and her Cadre surround them. ‘Perennial question. How fast can you run with a sick man in your arms?’ Moonstar asks, aiming her bow at Magneto. ‘And an arrow through your hear?’ Moonstar concludes.
Elsewhere, Gambit pushes a vent open. ‘What do you see?’ Legacy asks. Gambit replies that it is a big room, with lots of machinery, some kind of lab or workshop, perhaps. Legacy asks if there are any security systems. ‘Once. Not anymore’ Gambit replies, before suggesting they take it careful, just in case. ‘Okay?’ Gambit asks as he helps Legacy down out of the vent. Legacy replies that it doesn’t look like anyone had been here in a while. ‘Well, except for him’ Legacy declares, motioning to a man dressed in white, Doctor Nemesis, who appears in some sort of static phase. ‘Still life with mad scientist. That’s unusual’ Gambit remarks, before asking Rogue if she thinks he is alive.
Rogue replies that she could take his pulse, but somehow doesn’t think that would settle the argument. Gambit motions to some scans on a monitor and tells Legacy that the scientist was examining someone, as the scans are brain scans. He finds it strange that there is still power to this room, which is odd if it has been abandoned all this time. ‘Not as strange as this’ Legacy remarks as she finds something. ‘What is it?’ Gambit asks. It is a small box and Legacy points out that ti is right in the center of the room, and the room is right in the center of Fortress X. ‘So, Ah’d say, if we want to find any answers around this place…it’s worth taking a look inside’ Legacy exclaims as she opens the box.
Back in the brig, Magneto tells Moonstar that there is no need for them to fight. ‘You think not? But that’s what we do, General. That’s what we’re all about’ Moonstar replies. Magnus invites Moonstar to consider the emptiness and futility of this struggle. ‘The wasteland that our lives have become’ he declares. Eclipse tells Magneto that their lives are exactly what they are fighting for. ‘Did you forget that?’ he asks. ‘We didn’t choose this battle’ Magma points out. ‘Exactly! We live under siege, here!’ Eclipse exclaims. ‘And what if it were possible to lift that siege, Mr Da Costa? To live in a wider scope than four square miles of rubble? Would that be worth the risk of trusting me?’ Magnus asks.
In the lab, the box drops from Legacy’s hand - slowing falling to the ground.
In answer to Magneto’s question, Moonstar tells him that given he murders the mutants who question his agenda, she would say no. ‘I’ve murdered no one’ Magneto replies. ‘Do you think we’re fools, General?’ Moonstar asks, reminding him that he sent them to bring the Reaper down, that was their duty, and they obeyed that order. ‘But what was Gambit’s crime? That his first impulse was to help her? That he dared to stand against you, even for a second?’ Moonstar asks. Magneto tells her that Legacy and Gambit are both alive, and that he is not their enemy, nor the enemy of this fortress. ‘But such an enemy exists, right here, in our midst’ he declares. Moonstar lowers her bow and arrow. ‘They’re alive? And we’re supposed to take your word for that?’ she asks. Magneto replies ‘No’ and holds up Charles Xavier, telling her to listen to what this man has to say, and then he will bring her to Legacy and Gambit.
Back in the lab, the box continues to fall, before hitting the ground, and opening. A blue light can be seen within it.
Suddenly, Magneto is knocked against the wall, and Xavier falls to the ground, as the cell is ripped open by the Force Warriors. ‘Better stay where you are unless you’ve got a serious death wish!’ Hellion calls out. Psylocke announces that Magneto is relieved of his command, and that Fortress X is mow under the jurisdiction of the Force Warriors.
In the lab, ‘Legacy, what’s wrong? What’s in there?’ Gambit asks as he goes and helps Legacy off the floor. Everything, Remy. Oh, God. Ah understand why there’s nothing outside the force walls…someone stole the universe…and hid it right here!’ Legacy exclaims, as indeed, the universe appears to be swirling inside the box.


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

[Assistant]
Age of X, chapter 6
‘So this is what it comes down to. Seven days of madness, and then the end of the world. And it’s…strange, I know. But I thought it would end with a whimper’ Charles Xavier thinks to himself. Moira MacTaggert - or rather “X” - the persona within Legion - exclaims ‘They’re coming! They’re coming! Because you listened to him! You did this! You brought the walls down!’ she calls out. Indeed, outside, Fortress X is under attack from a large human army, whose tanks and flying vessels open fire on the fortress.
Inside the command room, dozens of mutants are gathered. Cannonball turns to Psylocke, Hellion and Carmella Unuscione, three of the Force Warriors, and tells them that they are going to need a miracle. ‘What can you give me?’ he asks. Psylocke replies that they have tanks, air support and a million troops all coming through. ‘I think it’s too late for miracles, Sam’ Betsy replies. Cannonball tells the Force Warriors that they are on the front line with everybody else. ‘Go to standing orders, people. Protect the fortress at any cost. Do whatever you’ve got to do to keep it intact’ Cannonball orders. He takes flight, the others follow him, either in the air or running along the ground, as Cannonball declares that they will see who’s standing when the all-clear sounds.
Legion turns to Moira and tells her that he doesn’t understand. ‘Did you do this?’ he asks. Moira replies that she had to, but that it doesn’t matter. ‘It doesn’t matter if they die. It’s only you who matters. When it’s over…we’ll build a new world. Just the two of us’ she exclaims as she starts to vanish.
Outside, the battle has begun. ‘This is insane! How do we fight against these odds?’ Iceman asks. ‘Couple of hundred thousand to one? Look on the bright side, Drake…it’s going to be really hard to miss’ Basilisk exclaims as he prepares to unleash a powerful optic blast.
Back inside, Xavier tells Legion that he has to face “Moira”, that he is the only one who can. ‘When I tried -’ Charles begins, but Legion tells him to shut up. ‘You expect me to just tear all this down? I had a life here. A life you weren’t ever a part of!’ he declares. ‘I wasn’t sick. I wasn’t an object of pity, or contempt!’ Suddenly, Magneto appears, and tells Charles to leave Legion, as he has been through enough. ‘I think it’s our turn to do something for the cause’ Magneto remarks, with Katherine Pryde at his side.
The battle rage on still. Avalanche breaks the ground up, while Iceman and Magma attack with ice and fire, respectively. Frenzy tips over a tank, while Scalphunter fires weapons at the soldiers, and Dazzler and Jubilee both unleash sparkling light displays. Basilisk fires more optic blasts, Northstar darts about, and Berserker is about to strike down with his hammer. Up in the air, Cannonball, Angel and the Sub-Mariner gather, with Cannonball declaring that they have to take out the gunships, or this is over already. ‘Copy that. But these things are shielded against anything we can throw’ Angel replies. ‘Are they shielded - against each other?’ Sub-Mariner asks as he grabs one of the air vessels and throws it into another, both of which explode. ‘Guess that’s a no’ Cannonball remarks, while telling everyone to fight like there is no tomorrow. ‘Far as I can figure it - there ain’t even a today!’
A soldier is operating a large armored vessel, and forces Frenzy to the ground. ‘This food for you, mutie? Invulnerable armor, self-repairing. Doesn’t matter how many times you hit me. I’ll still keep coming at you’ the soldier boasts. ‘Get - LOST!’ Frenzy shouts as she manages to force the armor upwards and throw it away from her. ‘Gotta love that woman’ Basilisk exclaims as he fights alongside Chamber, who replies ‘From a safe distance, mate!’ Basilisk points out that they are talking about Frenzy, and that there is no safe distance when it comes to her. Moonstar and her Cadre - Eclipse, Warlock, Magma, Karma and Dust stand to the back of the battle, with Moonstar ordering her Cadre to hold the gap, that nothing is to get to the fortress. ‘Nothing except ash’ Magma points out. But Eclipse tells Magma that if there is ash, she is not burning hot enough.
Nearby, Logan watches the tide of the battle go on past him. Charles Xavier would know his thoughts even if he could not read them. But the x-gene cure is silting up Wolverine’s veins, leaving him at the mercy of the adamantium in his bones. The poison weakening his heart to the point where a single exertion could kill him. Wolverine weighs his life against the instinct screaming in his brain - the others need him. They are dying out there. And id something doesn’t skew the odds, none of them will see another sunrise. Suddenly, there is a SNIKT! as Wolverine pops his claws. The choice was logical, in the end. And he leaps down to engage some soldiers in battle.
Inside, “Moira” materializes in a room. ‘Asked for this! Begged for it! Begged and pleased!’ she tells herself. ‘You shouldn’t have pushed me, Xavier. You shouldn’t have twisted my arm. I tried to be reasonable. I tried to be humane’ she exclaims, before opening the box and staring at the universe. ‘This…this is what comes from half-measures. Compromises. Playing nice’. She declares that she built David a home, the only one he could ever, possibly need. She flicks a switch, and a fire ignites in the fireplace. ‘The only one you’ll remember’ “Moira” remarks as she throws the box towards the fire - but she is surprised, as Katherine Pryde phases through the fire and catches the box.
‘Sorry. Coming through!’ Pryde calls out as she holds onto the box. ‘Give that to me! It’s mine!’ “Moira” shouts. ‘Right. Sure. Someone died and left you the whole universe’ Pryde mutters, before telling “Moira” to face it, that she lost. ‘What are you going to do to a ghost?’ Pryde asks. ‘Bind her!’ “Moira screams, and Pryde falls to the ground. “Moira” approaches her and states that this is her world, that she made it, and all the basic forces are here - mass, momentum, gravity, light, and they do exactly what she tells them to. Suddenly, there is an explosion, ‘ENOUGH!’ booms Magneto as he flies into the room.
“Moira” surrounds herself with a force field and asks Magneto if he missed her speech about elemental forces. ‘Or are you the pretty light show that distracts me?’ she asks. Charles sneaks up to “Moira” from behind, but she spins around ‘While this filthy little pickpocket rifles though my mind?’ “Moira” asks as she causes Charles to fall over. She does the same to Magnus, who falls to the floor, and she strides past them, ‘Are you really this stupid? This world only exists because of me! If you did manage to take me down, who do you think would hold it together?’ she asks. Nervously, Legion watches from the side-lines and utters ‘Look around you, Moira. And tell me what’s left to save’.
Back outside, the battle continues, Cannonball blasts across the battlefield, giving out orders: ‘Dazzler! Battle wagon to your right!’ he exclaims. ‘Got it!’ Dazzler replies, before Cannonball informs Northstar that Storm’s Cadre needs support. ‘Get over there and -’ Cannonball doesn’t finish his sentence as a soldier shoots him out of the sky. The soldier, wearing large armor, stands over Cannonball’s body, and informs command that he has a confirmed kill. ‘It’s Cannonball! It’s target ought-ought-two’ the soldier reports, when suddenly, Gambit appears. ‘I’m out of cards, but you can take this instead’ Remy remarks as he places a kinetically-charged advert for a taxi company onto the soldier. ‘Best I could do in these troubled times’ Gambit declares that the soldier galls backwards.
Several soldiers rush towards Cannonball, as Legacy crouches beside him and asks him if he can move. ‘Legacy! Thought you were…dead’ Cannonball replies. ‘A lot of people think that. But Ah almost never am’ Legacy replies. Sam tells Legacy that he has a head full of fuzz and is seeing double. ‘Here, see what you can do’ he tells her as he grabs her hand and places it on his face. An instant later, Legacy has absorbed Canonball’s power and begins blasting through the approaching soldiers. ‘And right there, Sam, I would’ve known you were a southern gentleman. Even if you didn’t have the accent’ Legacy remarks.
Massive tanks appear, with one soldier announcing that the fortress is in missile range. ‘You have open window! Repeat, open window!’ another soldier declares. ‘Empty the piggy bank, boys!’ ‘That thing been flippin’ us the bird for way too long!’ another solder exclaims as Fortress X is hit with several missiles.
‘Son of a -!’ Iceman gasps, as the massive fortress topples over, although everyone seems to escape the ground where it lands. Hovering nearby, Hellion remarks that he cannot believe they would make such an obvious mistake. Jubilee asks him what he means, to which Hellion replies ‘We got nowhere to retreat to now. Makes things a lot simpler’. Bodies of soldiers pile up around Basilisk and Wolverine, who exclaims 3’Hell of a fight, Summers’ as he shoves his claws through a soldier. ‘Yeah. Glad you could make it’ Basilisk replies.
Inside, “Moira” reminds Legion that she told him not to listen, that Xavier has poisoned his mind against her, filled his head with lies. ‘He showed me, Moira. I can’t pretend I didn’t see. And I hate that this is all my fault’ Legion replies. ‘Fault? What fault? Whose fault?’ “Moira” asks, reminding Legion that they were ripping pieces out of his mind, they were killing him by inches. Legion tells her that this still doesn’t make any of it bearable. Legion tells “Moira” that she took away the whole world, and left this for them. A few square miles of rubble, a tower, and a war that never ends. ‘Did you really think that would be enough?’ he asks.
“Moira” wraps her arms around Legion and tells him that she will do better, that making worlds is the only power she as and she has never used it before. ‘Of course I made mistakes. But next time will be perfect’. Charles and Magneto get up as Legion tells “Moira” that it is okay. ‘I…I’ll make things right. I promise’ Legion tells her. ‘We both will. It’s down to both of us’ “Moira” replies, but suddenly, Legion absorbs “Moira” into him. ‘D-David! No! Don’t! I want to -’ “Moira” calls out, before vanishing, dropping the box in the process. Magneto asks Legion what he just did, to which Legion explains that he called her home, and now he is going to end this.
Legion flies out to the battlefield, where the mutants are surrounding by a sprawling army. The mutants continue to battle on, doing everything they can on the rubble of Fortress X. ‘Who cares about you? You’re nothing but a pack of cards’ Legion remarks, and an instant later, the soldiers and all their tanks and vessels vanish. Wolverine, badly wounded, and Basilisk look at each other confused.
Legion flies down to the other mutants, telling them all that he is sorry for the inconvenience. He assures them that he will get them home presently, as soon as he can figure out how this works. ‘Legion? Legion did that?’ Moonstar asks. Basilisk helps Wolverine up, telling him that they made it, that it is over. Legacy asks Legion if he knows what he is doing. Legion holds the box and explains that he absorbed Moira back into his mind, so in theory, he can do anything she could have done. ‘No offense, but you’re holding the whole of creation in your hands. So “in theory” doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence’ Gambit declares.
Legion points out that they could stay here, that is the only alternative, but he doesn’t think this reality is even stable anymore, adding it was not very well made to begin with. He holds the box open ‘So I have to do this. And the way it works…there isn’t any way to take a practice run’. And suddenly, everything glows white.
‘This is my son’ Charles Xavier thinks to himself. ‘And I’ve never been prouder of him than I am now. As he gathers the raw stuff of universes in his mind. The same mind that has been either a battlefield or a torture chamber for most of his adult life’. Charles tells himself that although this world is crumbling into dust and despair, although it was founded on contradictions and sustained on lies and atrocities, Legion twists it like a puzzle box into the one configuration out of billions that corresponds with what they all think of as reality. And the ruins of Fortress X are soon replaced by the island of Utopia.
616 reality, present:
‘OMG! I remember this place!’ gasps Pixie, no longer Nightmare. ‘It’s…it’s called Utopia!’ Rogue declares as she and the others all gather around, once again wearing the costumes of their true lives. ‘And we lived here. I know we did. I just…don’t know when exactly. Or how’ Karma remarks. Charles tells them all that their real memories will start to return soon, and he will do his best to root out the false ones. Angel steps forward: ‘No offense, Professor…Xavier? But there are hundreds of us! Whole centuries of memories!’ Angel exclaims, while Shadowcat approaches Colossus. Suddenly, telepathic voices are heard all around, as the White Queen declares ‘He can’t. Not by himself’, and the Stepford Cuckoos announce that Professor X won’t be by himself, as he will have them.
Xavier turns to the White Queen, and introduces her and her Stepford Cuckoos. He explains to everyone that in the other world, they were imprisoned and drugged, like he was, because their psi-powers would have seen through “Moira’s” disguises in an instant. Charles tells everyone that they will be their “midwives” as they are all reborn back into their real lives. ‘But…this isn’t right! Gordon Bennett! Something’s bloody iffy here!’ Chamber exclaims, while Revenant tells him that they are pieces who don’t fit into this configuration, and there will be others.
Frenzy rushes over to Cyclops: ‘Scott! You made it!’ she exclaims. ‘Frenzy. Jo -’ Cyclops begins, while Frenzy declares ‘Come here, lover’ and pulls Cyclops towards her. They kiss, until the White interrupts, remarking that she is sure there is a perfectly innocent explanation for this. ‘And that nobody’s brain will need to be reduced to a runny puddle’ she adds. ‘Emma! I - my God! It’s starting to come back now!’ Cyclops announces. ‘That’s wonderful, Scott. Not to be completely forgettable has always been an ambition of mine’ the White Queen replies, while announcing that she is picking up edited highlights from Cyclops’s mind, so there is no need to explain. Emma and Scott walk away, ‘And I’ll give your skank a five-minute running start’ Emma tells Scott, causing Frenzy to clench her fist and frown.
Charles watches are reunions are made and repairs begin, not to mention revisions. Angel and Psylocke kiss, while Gentle goes over to console an upset Pixie. Wolverine and Northstar talk to each other, as do Gambit and Rogue. ‘And anomalies. There are always anomalies’ Charles tells himself as Storm and the Sub-Mariner eye each other up.
Charles finds Blindfold, sitting on her own and asks her what she is doing by herself. ‘Thank you. I’m mourning the dead’ Blindfold replies. ‘But…the exonim armies were imaginary. There were no dead’ Charles tells her. ‘If God, excuse me, only imagined us, we’d still think we were real, yes. They thought they were real. They lived for a day, like butterflies. They died not knowing’ Blindfold remarks. The young mutant gets up and begs Xavier’s pardon, ‘There should be a reckoning. A holding to account. It’s not as though this was his first offense’ she points out.
Xavier hangs his head, while Cyclops approaches him, telling him that they need to talk about all this, now, while they still have some kind of handle on it. ‘It’s already starting to feel like a bad ream’ Cyclops adds. ‘Yes, Scott. We do need to talk’ Charles replies, before pointing out that there is one person still missing, and they cannot very well hold a conversation without him.
Elsewhere, a voice calls out: ‘For you, David. All of it was for you. And you can have it whenever you want it. Only better. I’ll make it better. I’ll -’ the voice exclaims, the ruins of Fortress X held in Legion’s hand - but he closes his hand, then re-opens it, and the ruins are gone.


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

[Assistant]
Unfinished Business, part 2
‘You’ve got to know where to look, and what to look for. That’s what they say. They say, a man like that, a man who you can offer you a sweet deal like that, he won’t make himself easy to find. Too many people would want a piece of him if he was out in the open, you know?’ a young man thinks to himself as he stares at a wall covered in graffiti. ‘He needs to stay on the sly, so that the only people who find him are the ones who really make an effort. Because they really need what he’s got. So they’ve got to know where to look, and what to look for’ the young man thinks to himself, looking forlorn.
The boy’s name is Ronny. He walks down a dirty street, hands in pocket, slumped over as he walks. He used to be able to break things with his voice. Since he hit puberty, he could do that - always had a fine singing voice, sang in his high school choir, and also sang in a band, he had a strong voice. It got to be where certain notes, if he hit them right, could shatter a dinner plate, or blow out a window, or knock a person down from twenty feet away. The day Ronny turned thirteen, he realized he had been born with a special gift. Then, one morning, it was M-Day and mutants like him all around the world lost their special gifts. Ronny has been looking for a way to be special again ever since. But you’ve got to know where to look, and what to look for.
Ronny stares at another wall covered in graffiti - this particular wall surrounds a large abandoned building. Ronny goes over to the building and breaks in through a doorway that is not completely boarded up. ‘Hey? Hello? Is it true there’s a guy here who helps people? Is it? Can he help me?’ Ronny calls out. Four others appear before him. ‘He can’t give you back whatever you’ve lost. But he can give you something else instead’ one of them, with apparently cybernetic legs announces. ‘Like what?’ Ronny asks. ‘Like anything. It can’t be a mutant gift. He can’t do that. But it’ll be something’ the young man tells Ronny. Ronny asks what it costs, and if it costs a lot. ‘Because I don’t have -’ Ronny begins, but the young man tells him it just costs time and help. ‘You help him, he helps you’ he explains. ‘Help him what?’ Ronny asks. ‘Find what he’s looking for. What he’s really looking for’ the young man explains.
Elsewhere in the seemingly abandoned building, five young heroes enter the darkened building - Danielle “Mirage” Moonstar, Bobby “Sunspot” DaCosta, Amara “Magma” Aquilla, Doug “Cypher” Ramsey and the alien Warlock. ‘Why here?’ Doug asks as he looks around. Mirage explains that Nate Grey’s last known whereabouts was with Osborn and HAMMER, and this building was Osborn Central before the wheels came off and everyone saw him for the nut cake he truly was. ‘I gotta ask…do we really wanna find Nate Grey?’ Sunspot calls out to his friends, to which Mirage reminds him that is the assignment Cyclops gave them. ‘Feels a little like this team is just cleaning up after the seniors’ Sunspot complains.
‘Unfinished business. It’s better finished, Bobby. It’s the one important thing the X-Men should have been doing as they went along’ Mirage exclaims, adding that there are too many skeletons, too many cupboards, too many nasty surprises coming back to haunt them. ‘I guess’ Sunspot mutters, before telling his friends that Nate Grey is “freaky powerful”. ‘The dude’s scary’ he adds, asking his friends if they really want to mess with him. ‘He’s one of u. That’s all that matters’ Mirage declares, while Cypher announces that he has found something. ‘A clue, Doug?’ Magma asks as the others follow him into another room. ‘Like a clue. Only bigger’ Cypher replies as he comes face to face with Captain Steve Rogers. Several SHIELD officers are examining some equipment in the room, while Victoria Hand supervisors them.
Meanwhile, in a room lit only by a small fire, ‘Will it hurt?’ Ronny asks. ‘Hurt? No. Well, maybe. But not for long, and not so you’ll care afterwards’ replies the Sugar Man as he busies himself with his equipment. The other youngsters stand nearby, as Ronny asks ‘What kind of name is “Sugar Man”?’ ‘Mine. what’s your name?’ the Sugar Man replies as he holds up a spanner. ‘Ronny’ the young man replies. ‘Like Ronald?’ the Sugar Man asks. ‘Like’ Ronny replies. The Sugar Man asks Ronny if he is afraid of him, to which Ronny replies ‘No, Sir’. But Sugar Man declares that Ronny is scared, as he can smell it. ‘You don’t have to be afraid’ Sugar Man assures him.
Ronny asks the Sugar Man where he gets these powers from, to which the Sugar Man replies that he makes them. ‘They don’t come from your genes, Ronny, the way I’d like. They’re artificial boosts. A little tech. A radical reworking of the mutate bonding process - I see that blank look. It’s okay. It’s science, Ronny. The best I can do’ the Sugar Man explains. The other youngsters all smile, one of them holds up his extended fingers and exclaims ‘The powers are real good’, while another announces ‘We’ve all got one!’ Ronny sniffs and wipes some tears from his face as he asks the Sugar Man what he wants in return. ‘Oh, Ronny, you think I’m some kind of sick freak? Is that what you think?’ he asks, before explaining that he just wants help.
The Sugar Man’s long tongue hangs from his jagged-tooth mouth and asks ‘You know how bad you want to be the person you used to be, Ronny? I want that too. I don’t like it here, I don’t like this place’. The Sugar Man explains that he wants to go home, that he wants his old life back. ‘Where’s home? Are you from out of state?’ Ronny ask. ‘Yes, Ronny. He’s from out of state’ one of the youngsters exclaims. The Sugar Man tells Ronny that he wants to go home and that he needs his friends to help him find the way. ‘You will be my friend and do that?’ he asks Ronny, who looks at the others and asks if they help him. ‘Are they your friends?’ he adds. ‘Of course we do’ one of them announces. ‘We’re one big team!’ another exclaims. ‘Not a team…a family!’ one of the others declares.
The Sugar Man continues with the equipment and tells Ronny that the others are great, that they help him a lot. He explains that he needs more friends, because there is always a lot to do. ‘These guys look after the place, and keep me safe. They make sure nobody gets in who shouldn’t get in’ the Sugar Man explains. ‘S they’re busy and I need other friends to help find my way home’ the Sugar Man adds. ‘I’ll do that - I’ll do that’ Ronny exclaims quickly. The Sugar Man smiles, and stands up: ‘Okay, then. Let’s see about getting you a gift’ he declares.
At that moment, ‘This official X-Men business?’ Captain Rogers asks Mirage, who replies that they are looking for one of their own. Captain Rogers explains to Mirage that this HAMMER facility has been closed and sealed on State Department orders, that the whole site is being decommissioned. ‘Any particular reason you chose here?’ he asks. ‘Following a lead’ Dani explains. ‘Convenient’ Victoria Hand remarks as she approaches Captain Rogers and Mirage. ‘Victoria -’ Captain Rogers begins, but Victoria interrupts, ‘I’m just saying. And snooping is another word’. ‘Victoria’ Captain Rogers says again.
As the SHIELD agents continue to load some hardware into their vehicle, Captain Rogers tells Dani that the point is, there is nothing here at all, except the most insanely dangerous tech. He adds that this is the third time in a month he has had to bring support in because the decommissioning team has disturbed a fresh piece of crazy Osborn hardware. ‘We can handle dangerous, Sir’ Mirage replies. ‘I have no doubt’ Captain Rogers tells Mirage, adding that there is nobody here to find, and points out that the New Mutants could end up getting in the way. ‘Because there’s a long case history of X-kids getting in the way and making things infinitely worse for everybody’ Victoria points out. ‘VICTORIA!’ Captain Rogers declares sternly.
‘We’re not “X-kids”, we -’ Mirage begins, before informing Captain Rogers that her team does not want to cause a problem, and points out that it is already pretty clear this is not where they need to look. ‘Just had to cross if off the list’ she adds, before heading towards the door out of the room, followed by the others. Captain Rogers wishes the New Mutants good luck with their search, to which Mirage calls back ‘Good luck with this site. Miss Hand, good luck with the personality’. In the next room, Doug asks if they are really leaving, to which Mirage replies that it is a dead end, and points out that if they stayed any longer, she would have punched a government official, which would not have ended well. ‘Oh, okay. It’s just that this is the place’ Cypher announces.
Back in the Sugar Man’s lair, ‘So…show us’ one of the youngsters calls out. ‘Yeah, Ronny, show us’ another exclaims. ‘I don’t know…’ Ronny replies. Wearing a brown cloak like the others, Ronny now has a large metal piece around his shoulders that extends upwards. He opens his mouth wide - and a green energy is emitted. ‘Wow. Cool gift’ one of the youngsters remarks. ‘Feels funny. Feels like I’m choking’ Ronny replies. ‘It’s really cool’ another declares. The Sugar Man asks Ronny if her is ready, to which Ronny asks what he has to do. He follows the Sugar Man down some stairs as the Sugar Man informs him that he is going to open a door, that Ronny will then go through and tell him what is on the other side.
‘Is that all?’ Ronny asks. ‘Really quick, really simple’ the Sugar Man replies, while telling Ronny to wait here while he sets up. Suddenly, a voice from above calls out ‘If you can, you should get out of here’. ‘Huh?’ Ronny asks, looking around, where he sees someone trapped to a large contraption. ‘Who are you? Does that hurt?’ Ronny asks. Nate Grey a.k.a. X-Man replies that it hurts and he cannot get out. ‘This is the Omega Machine, and I’m stuck in it’ Nate explains. Ronny asks what an Omega Machine is. With wires and tubes attached to him, Nate explains that it opens the doors - the doors of creation, and that he is the only one who can make it do that. ‘You’re not stuck. You should get out. Get right out of here. Run’ Nate urges Ronny.
‘W-why?’ Ronny asks. Nate tells him that it is because he will either live long enough to regret ever being a part of this, or he just won’t live long enough. ‘What’s your name?’ Ronny asks, so Nate I introduces himself. Suddenly, the other youngsters approach Ronny and tell him not to listen to Nate. ‘He’s not well’ one of them remarks, before informing Ronny that Sugar Man is ready for him. Ronny asks the others if any are coming with him, to which one of them replies ‘Sugar Man told you, Ronny. We got jobs to do here. You’ll be fine’.
Meanwhile, the New Mutants walk down another part of the complex, past a wall covered in graffiti. ‘Look at the writing. The graffiti’ Cypher tells his friends. Sunspot replies that it is like any other dead lot, but Cypher explains that some of it is just vandalism, and some of it is tagging. ‘There’s wild style, which is pretty hard to extract meaning from’ he adds, before revealing that there is code here, as well. ‘Code, self-friend?’ Warlock asks his best friend. Doug asks the others if they have ever heard of the Hobo Code. Doug explains that it is a system of symbols evolved to help the homeless community - information, warnings and directions.
Doug continues, explaining that the code can tell a hobo where he could get food, or find a friendly house where there might be work- or where the cops were rough, or there was a mean yard dog. Cypher crouches down and tells his friends that someone has been leaving code marks here, for people who know where to look for them. ‘You’ve got to know where to look, and what to look for. And you’ve to want to find what they’re leading you to’ Doug adds. ‘Which is what?’ Amara asks.
Reading the graffiti, Doug replies that some are claiming they can get you tour powers back, if you’ve lost them. ‘Mutant powers? Is that what you’re saying?’ Danielle asks. ‘No, it’s what the walls are saying, and it’s probably a lie’ Doug replies. Motioning to the area around them, Doug declares that this whole place is a lie, that it is a good lie and even fooled the Avengers. ‘But reality here is false. This isn’t an empty building. There is a misprision in the language of actuality. The way certain shadows sit, the way light falls…the way reflected sound in a space doesn’t quite match the volume of the space itself‘.
‘You can see that? You can read that?’ Mirage asks. Doug replies that reality here is warped, and that there are people here who don’t want to be found unless the right people are looking for them. ‘Reality warping…’ Mirage begins. ‘That was in Nate Grey’s playbook’ Magma points out. Mirage asks Doug to read the code, to show them how to get in.
Meanwhile, in the laboratory, Sugar Man and his gang of re-powered youths stand on a platform where a portal has formed. ‘Here’s the door, Ronny. You just go through’ Sugar Man tells Ronny, who asks ‘What’s on the other side?’. The Sugar Man motions to the glowing portal and replies ‘That’s my question to you. It could be my home, in which case, I’ll be very happy you’ve found it for me’. With a rope tied around his waist, Ronny walks towards the portal - and passes through it .
‘Oh…’ Ronny utters as he arrives on a reddish barren desert landscape. Ronny walks across it, and passes some craters. He looks around the barren landscape, and suddenly, ‘Oh, my God, what the -?’ Ronny gasps as a most hideous, indescribable creature appears in front of him, barring its razor-sharp teeth.
Back in the laboratory, the rope suddenly swings backwards through the portal. ‘Shame’ Sugar Man mutters. ‘Aw well, he sucked anyway’ one of the youngsters remarks, holding up the broken rope. ‘Maybe. Still, we’re going to need another scout’ the Sugar Man points out as he walks away. He doesn’t get very far though, as a brick wall is blown open - and the New Mutants burst into the lab. ‘Oh, my God. It’s Sugar Man. It’s Sugar Man!’ Cypher exclaims. The Sugar Man grimaces and retorts ‘Damn right it’s Sugar Man! I’d ask who you are but I don’t care!’ Sugar Man rushes towards the New mutants, and his gang follows him as he shouts ‘All right, my friends! My beautiful New Mutates! Show them the door!’


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

[Assistant]
Unfinished Business, part 3
Flashback:
Cyclops stands before the New Mutants, Frenzy and several of the X-Men students and informs them that the point of these briefings is to keep everyone up to speed on any threat figures that the X-Men have faced before. He adds that if they reappear, the X-Men will not get a warning. ‘We won’t get time to Google them’ he adds, declaring that everybody needs to know what they are capable of and how to handle them. ‘So today, Sugar Man’ Scott announces as am image of the alternate-world refugee appears on a monitor. ‘mutant, geneticist, biologist. An émigré to this world from the Apocalypse timeline’ Scott explains. Scott adds that the Sugar Man is amoral and vindictive and that he perfected the mutant bonding process for Genosha.
Scott continues, informing the younger mutants and Frenzy that the Sugar Man is exceptionally dangerous, with razor-sharp teeth and claws, a prehensile tongue charged with bio energy, and can also control his body mass. ‘No pun intended, but he is also one of the most capable hand-to-hand combatants we know about’ Scott adds Danielle Moonstar raises her hand, ‘Yes, Dani?’ Scott asks. ‘Him? Really?’ Dani asks, vaguely curious.
Present:
But that was three weeks ago. Right now, Danielle “Mirage” Moonstar has the chance to find out in person just how dangerous the Sugar Man really is, as she attacks him in the abandoned HAMMER facility. The multi-limbed Sugar-Man grabs her, and forces the leader of the New Mutants to the ground. ‘Oh, you’re a little minx!’ the hideous creature declares, while asking Mirage why she came here sticking her nose in where it is not wanted. Bobby “Sunspot” DaCosta runs alongside the Sugar Man, while Amara “Magma” Aquilla flies nearby, suggesting that someone should back Dani up as she is going at Sugar Man solo. ‘What did he call these freaks? Mutates?’ Sunspot asks as he punches one of the Sugar Man’s “New Mutates”. ‘We’re not freaks! We’re better than you! Better by design!’ one of them shouts back.
Warlock blocks the energy beam fired by one of the mutates, before Doug “Cypher” Ramsey points upwards and shouts ‘Dear God, I was right! Look! It’s Nate Grey! It’s X-Man!’ and hooked up to various tubes and wires, strapped to a large contraption, X-Man pleads for help. ‘Subdue them!’ Mirage orders her team, who continue to battle the Sugar Man’s mutates. ‘Subdue this!’ Sugar Man exclaims as he extends his tongue, which smacks Danielle in the face. But the athletic Moonstar spins around and kicks the Sugar Man in the head.
At that moment, Cypher and Warlock race towards the machine which X-Man is strapped to. ‘Nathan? Nate? We’re X-Men from Utopia. We’re here to rescue you!’ Doug calls out. ‘X-Men…’ Nate whispers, while Warlock exclaims ‘Do not struggle, new-friend’. Examining the machine, Doug asks what it is they have strapped X-Man into. Warlock points out that the mechanism is neural bonded, and detaching equals extreme risk. Nate Grey wants to tell his apparent rescuers that this is called the Omega Machine and that Norman Osborn fused him to it. He wants to tell them, but his mouth cannot manage the words. Nate Grey has been wired into this machine for months - he is mutant fuel to keep it stoked. It channels his mutant powers to warp reality and open doors to other places - it hurts so much. X-Man was Osborn’s plaything before the fall of HAMMER. So was Sugar Man. When the walls came down, Sugar Man escaped from his cell and found the Omega Machine in the rubble. He found Nate Grey, and Nate became the Sugar Man’s plaything instead.
‘What are you doing with Nathan Grey?’ Mirage calls out as she flips backwards over the Sugar Man, who replies ‘Whatever I want to. He’s my ticket home!’ ‘Home?’ Dani asks, before telling the Sugar Man that he is not going anywhere. ‘Amara, behind you!’ Bobby calls out to Magma as one of the mutates sneaks up on her. ‘LOOK OUT!’ Sunspot shouts as he rushes over and kicks the mutate over. ‘I saw him’ Amara tells Sunspot, pointing out that Mirage is the one who needs help. As the Sugar Man grabs hold of Mirage, Bobby tells Amara that he cannot take a shot, as he will hit Dani. ‘Dammit!’ Magma exclaims as one of the mutates fires a blast which strikes Sunspot. ‘DON’T FORCE US TO HURT YOU!’ Magma shrieks as she unleashes a massive burst of flame, which cuts the ground between her and the mutates.
‘Do not make us hurt you. For the love of God’ Amara warns the young mutates. Sunspot tells them to do themselves a favor and listen to her. At that moment, Moonstar attempts to skewer the Sugar Man in the face with two arrows. ‘Dammit!’ the Sugar Man mutters, before knocking Dani back with the flick of his tongue. Moonstar darts around him and then shoves an arrow into his nose. The Sugar Man lashes out at her and draws blood across Dani’s face. But Danielle is relentless and continues to fight the Sugar Man. She kicks him in the head. ‘Holy crap!’ one of the mutates exclaims. ‘Madre de dios…’ Bobby gasps. Moonstar reaches for another arrow, but the Sugar Man knocks her backwards. Blood trickles from both hero and villain. ‘Okay. You’re pretty good’ Moonstar tells her opponent.
‘…kill me…’ X-Man utters. ‘Warlock! Stop! You’re killing him!’ Doug calls out as he sees Warlock tugging at some of the wires. But X-Man explains that he is asking them to kill him, as he cannot bear this anymore. Cypher tells Nate to listen carefully as he assures him that they will uncouple him from this machine alive, and extract him from this location. ‘This will all be over soon’ Doug adds. ‘No…he won’t let us go’ X-Man replies, looking down at the Sugar Man. Everything has been about Sugar Man finding a way out - a way back to the iteration of reality where Apocalypse rules. The villain has forced Nate to open door after door, searching for a way. The Sugar Man has manufactured mutates out of the poor and vulnerable, and sent them out like guinea pigs to scout each new world he finds. He is so desperate he has tried everything. ‘So what happens if you give him what he wants?’ X-Man wonders.
Mirage leaps onto the platform where the portal is opened, and the Sugar Man follows her on to it. ‘What happens if you put all your strength and willpower into that? Is that how you get him to leave you alone?’ Nate wonders, as he suddenly glows with energy. ‘What’s he doing?’ Doug calls out as he and Warlock step back from X-Man. ‘Danger, new-friend! Neurodes are burning out!’ Warlock exclaims. The portal spins, and the Sugar Man turns to it, knocking Moonstar aside as he does. ‘I know that light! That air!’ the Sugar Man booms as he walks towards the portal, grinning wickedly. ‘I told you, you’re not going anywhere!’ Danielle calls out as she runs after the villain.
‘Gnaah!’ the Sugar Man calls out as he and Danielle fall through the portal, and land on a rooftop in the horrid reality. ‘Yes! Yes! This is the place! This is it!’ the Sugar Man exclaims excitedly. Mirage looks around, before the Sugar Man knocks her aside, ‘Just let me be! This is what I wanted! Just this! Go back to your own miserable world! Leave me the hell alone!’ he shouts. ‘Is that too much to ask?’ the Sugar Man demands as he extends his tongue. ‘After all you’ve done? YES!’ Mirage shouts as she grabs the Sugar Man’s tongue and shoves and arrowhead through it his tongue. ‘BOBBY!’ Mirage shouts out through the portal. ‘Do it!’ she calls out.
Sunspot appears at the portal, and releases a blast of energy, knocking the Sugar Man over. Mirage then pulls the Sugar Man back through the portal - by his tongue. ‘Get Commander Rogers’ Dani orders her team. ‘What are -’ Cypher begins. ‘Now, Doug!’ Moonstar orders.
Shortly, Commander Steve Rogers and Victoria Hand stand on the platform next to the portal, while SHIELD officers have rounded up the mutates and the Sugar Man, containing him with a device that prevents him from opening his mouth. Steve Rogers looks at the portal and asks ‘This was here all along? All of it?’ Mirage explains that it was concealed by an illusion, as the machine generated its own disguise field. ‘It was real’ Victoria declares. ‘It was reality warped’ Moonstar replies. Commander Rogers informs Moonstar that he will take Sugar Man into custody, to which Moonstar warns him to be careful, as he is very dangerous, before informing Steve that Utopia will provide a full and annotated case file of species crimes that he may want to consider in relation to the Sugar Man’s activities.
Motioning to the mutates, Moonstar tells Commander Rogers that they will need care and treatment, too, adding that their upgrades must be removed as soon as possible. Victoria looks at the Omega Machine and remarks that what concerns her is the one who was doing all this reality warping. ‘We’ll definitely be taking him into custody for -’ she begins, but Moonstar interrupts her: ‘No. He’s coming with us’ she declares. ‘And my Dad’s bigger than your dad. Blah. A reality warping mutant is a matter of international security. I have my orders’ Victoria replies. ‘And I have mine’ Mirage announces, before informing Commander Rogers that Nate Grey is a member of the Summers family. Commander Rogers looks pensive, before informing Victoria that she can consider her orders revised. ‘A reality-warping mutant -’ Victoria exclaims, but Steve interrupts - ‘Is X-Men business’ he announces.
Looking down at Nate, who is being lifted on a stretcher by some SHIELD personnel, Mirage thanks Commander Rogers and adds that he is also no longer a threat, as it looks like his power has gone, burned out. Commander Rogers asks Moonstar to tell Scott that his thoughts are with this “relative” of his, and that he hopes he recovers quickly. ‘His health. He means his health’ Victoria points out. As Moonstar strides away from them, Steve calls out to her ‘Good job, by the way’.
Later, on Utopia, Cyclops and Moonstar observe X-Man who is lying in a med-lab bed, while Doctor Nemesis stands over him. ‘He’s a mess. Osborn’s machine friend him’ Mirage explains, adding that there was acute nerve damage, meaning his powers are chopped back to residual telekinesis. ‘He’ll learn to accept this change’ Cyclops replies. ‘It’s not easy’ Mirage replies. ‘You did it’ Scott points out. ‘Well, I’m very special’ Mirage tells him. Scott smiles, and as he enters the room where X-Man is, he calls back to Dani ‘Mutatis Mutandis, managing change is our speciality. Thank you, Dani. I’ll take it from here’.
Scott stands at Nate’s bed and remarks ‘Nate…uh…hi. Listen…I know we’ve never been close, but I…I just want you to know that you have a place with us, here’. ‘Your metaphorical family of X?’ Nate replies. ‘No, just whatever we are’ Scot tells him. Cyclops admits that he knows things have not been very smooth between them, and tells Nate that he cannot close the book on family. ‘It’s a conversation that never ends. There will always been unfinished business between us’ Scott adds, before assuring him that this is his home whenever he needs it to be, starting now. ‘Home’ Nate utters as he looks up at Cyclops. Mirage watches them through the window, and Nate muses ‘You know, I understand people will try almost anything to get there!’


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

[Assistant]
Untitled
Utopia, on the landing deck, a man in a suit, with a “cowboy” style hat steps off a jet, and tipping his hat, calls out ‘Well, if it isn’t the famous Dani Moonstar’. He thanks Danielle “Mirage” Moonstar for inviting him here, and promises to be on his best behavior. Moonstar approaches the new arrival and thanks him for coming, adding that she doesn’t want his best behavior, just his regular behavior. ‘God, no one wants that. Usually ends up bloody’ the mysterious arrival replies. ‘I want bloody. I want you go to for the throat’ Danielle tells him. ‘Do you really?’ he asks, smiling, before remarking that he doesn’t know how useful he is going to be. He points out that they are likely dealing with a range of specific issues that he has no experience of. ‘We’re all people’ Mirage smiles. ‘That’s the truth’ the mysterious stranger replies.
‘He appears to be both a cowboy and an Indian’ Emma Frost a.k.a. the White Queen remarks as she and Scott “Cyclops” Summers observe, from the main control room, Mirage and her companion on the landing deck. ‘The preferred term is Native American’ Scott replies, revealing that his name is Gus Grim. ‘Then he appears to be both a cowboy and an Indian and he has a stupid name’ Emma replies as she continues to examine the surveillance monitors. Scott explains that Gus Grim is a cognitive therapist from Colorado, and that Dani knew him years ago, as he used to work in the Cheyenne communities. ‘Like a social worker?’ Emma asks. ‘I suppose’ Scott replies.
Emma asks if this is a visit from an old friend, but Scott explains that Gus is here to work with the more damaged members of Mirage’s team. ‘As a therapist? As a therapist?’ Emma enquires. Scott tells her that this is Dani’s call, but Emma is not impressed: ‘You let her bring in an external therapist?’ she asks, annoyed. Scott replies that it is important that he supports Dani’s command, and remarks that she wanted someone impartial. ’I think she’s conscious of how incestuous our community is sometimes’ Scott explains.  ‘But he’s…’ Emma begins, but Scott interrupts, ‘Please don’t say he’s “not one of us”, because we know how positive that philosophy can be’ Scott replies.
Meanwhile, in the Danger Room, a recent arrival on Utopia, Nate Grey a.k.a. X-Man stands in amongst various blocks, a small flare of energy crackles around him as he mutters ‘I can do this! Come on! I used to be able to lift a tank! Now I have trouble lifting you?’, before asking the control system to put him in a combat simulation so he can push himself past this. ‘Request not permitted’ the computer replies. Up in the observation booth, Mirage tells Gus that Nate Grey is new here, and technically is the son of their leader, Cyclops, but from another dimension. She explains that his powers were almost off the scale, but since they found him, his powers have been mostly gone. ‘Issues of loss, then? Of self-worth?’ Gus asks.
Mirage explains that Nate is still getting adjusted to the very limited TK talent he is left with. “Tee Kay?” Gus asks. ‘Telekinesis’ Mirage explains. ‘Silly of me’ Gus replies, before Mirage informs him that she would like him to talk to Nate sometime. ‘What do you think?’ she asks him. Gus replies that the most interesting question is who that is watching Nate with such indecent intensity. Mirage looks over to another observation booth and sees Hope Summers looking down at Nate. ‘You could say she was the mutant messiah, if you wanted to be trite’ Dani tells Gus, adding that she was the first new mutant born after M-Day, and that her powers are in a class of their own. ‘Not actually my call to let you talk to her, but I can ask’ Dani tells Gus, who asks what the connection is.
Mirage explains that Hope has so far refused to meet Nate, and that Hope was raised and trained for years by a man named Cable. She tells Gus that this training took place in the future, and now Cable is dead. With a lot of hand-movements, and even looking slightly dubious herself, Dani informs Gus that Nate and Cable are the same person, but from different dimensions. ‘He looks like a younger version of the man she thought of as her father’ Dani points out, before telling Gus that she is aware how this must sound. Gus replies that they are definitely dealing with a range of specific issues he frankly has no experience of, to which Moonstar suggests that start with something a little more linear. As they walk out of the observation booth, Gus tells Dani that, for what it is worth, she should let Nate fight something real in there if he wants to. ‘Let him hurt himself’.
Soon, in the secure wing within the infirmary, Sam “Cannonball” Guthrie sits on his bed and looks up at Gus, telling him that he is mistaken. ‘I didn’t quit’ Sam declares. Gus sits down across from Sam and points out that he stepped down as team leader, and Danielle Moonstar took his place. Sam replies that the team could not be in better hands. ‘They could be in your hands’ Gus points out, before informing Sam that he has reviewed mission profiles from the period known as Age of X and tells him that he excelled as field leader of the X-Men. Sam glances sideways and replies that he does not want to talk about that. ‘Neither do I’ Gus replies, adding that he has got one day on Utopia and lots to cover, so he doesn’t want to waste time chatting.
‘Wow. Great attitude, Mr therapist’ Sam mutters, to which Gus tells him to whine about his approach when he is not here to listen. ‘Focus. It’s tough to untangle PTSD from feelings of guilt. That’s a basic fact. There’s trauma, and there’s a reluctance to expose yourself to trauma’ Gus explains. Pouring himself a glass of water, Sam asks if he has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. ‘Man, I hope so. Otherwise this is just self-indulgent’ Gus replies. ‘You are &%*$%& unbelievable!’ Sam shouts. ‘Anger. Okay. At last, an actual emotion shows up’ Gus remarks. ‘You resigned as team leader. You placed yourself in a secure ward, and requested psychiatric observation. Well, here it is. This is what you asked for. So shut up and listen’ Gus tells Cannonball.
‘Where the hell do you get off with this?’ Sam asks. ‘I was burned hard! I pushed myself too fiercely for too long!’ he shouts, adding that he endured torture, that he saw stuff - and as a result, his leadership was compromised. Gus casually tells Sam that is just a bunch of excuses. ‘Your ability to lead isn’t in doubt. So this must be about willingness’ he suggests. ‘Willingness? Are you kidding me?’ Sam asks, getting really annoyed. He then shouts that he cares about his friends and teammates so much that he doesn’t want to risk putting them in any danger. ‘You’re tired and you’re messed up. But your real problem is that you’re conscientious’ Gus explains. He remarks that Sam is so desperate to do things right away, that he has taken away his opportunity to fail. ‘There’s another word for that, and you’re really not going to like it’ Gus declares.
A short time later, inside the therapy unit of the infirmary, Xi’an Coy Manh a.k.a. Karma is crouched beside the mutant called Face. Karma introduces him to Gus and explains that he is sense deprived - everything except touch. ‘No sight, no smell, no sound’. Karma declares. ‘You know that because you’re a telepath and you’re in his head?’ Gus asks. As Face sits on the floor, Karma explains that his only means of articulation is to express chronic frustration by violently discharging energy. ‘He exists in a world he cannot engage with’ Karma adds, explaining that her bond with him provides the only externalized interaction Face can ever know - his only route for perception.
‘So that means he really makes you special, doesn’t he?’ Gus asks. ‘What? WHAT?’ Karma asks, wide-eyed. Gus points out that this is one of the few places on the planet where there are telepaths and empaths everywhere you look. ‘But this has to be you. Why?’ he asks. ‘Because I can - because - how dare you!’ Karma exclaims, annoyed. Gus tips his hat to Karma as he leaves the room, ‘I’ll let you think about that. There are others that could help you. You don’t have to carry this alone’ Gus tells Karma, asking her why she is doing so, and suggests she try forming an accurate answer that doesn’t involve the word “selfish”.
Soon, inside the restraint block in the brig. ‘I do not want to converse with you’ Illyana “Magik” Rasputin tells Gus as she frowns at him while sitting on the floor of the restraint block she is contained in, shackles around her wrists. Gus tells Illyana that was the most honest response he has heard since he got here. Glancing sideways, Illyana informs Gus that she was not talking to him. ‘I don’t understand. What do you -’ Gus replies, before he begins to convulse. He drops to his knees and hugs himself as energy courses around him. Suddenly, Gus’s mouth opens and he vomits up several demons in a blaze of fiery energy. ‘Hurry! Hurry!’ one of the demons urges its companions. ‘We’ve come to rescue you’ another tells Magik as he clings to the see-through door. ‘Hurry! Limbo awaits your return!’ a third shouts. ‘Get you out of here! Hurry!’ the first declares.
The demons stand at the see-through door and exclaim ‘You are sorceress - Queen of Limbo! Humans hold you captive here, on the mortal plane! It is a disgrace!’ Another explains that there is very little time, but that they will release her. ‘We will be gone before they even realize!’ the third assures Magik. But the young mutant holds her head and just looks at the demons, telling them that she doesn’t want to go, that she doesn’t want to be rescued. ‘What?’ the first demon utters, surprised. ‘Nonsense!’ the second exclaims. The third short, goblin-like demon tells Magik that this is the perfect moment. ‘We found this human who was coming here anyway and -’ he begins, but Illyana interrupts, telling the demons that she wants a life, that she wants to be a person with life. ‘If I am going to have any hope of that, I need my friends to trust me again’ she declares.
Illyana frowns at the demons and tells them that they will not screw this up for her. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about!’ one of the demons replies. ‘They’ve twisted your mind!’ another tells her. Illyana suggests to the demons that it is time to activate the protocol that Doctor Strange taught them. ‘What are you saying?’ one of the demons asks. But Illyana replies that she was not talking to them. ‘I was talking to Danger’ she reveals. ‘Protocol of warding and banishment enacted’ a robotic voice announces as mystical energy courses through the room, tearing the surprised demons apart. Demon remains splatter against the glass, as Magik thanks Danger.
The robotic warden of the brig informs Magik that she was hoping she would try to escape, so she could see if her restraints worked ‘Another time, maybe’ Danger remarks. Illyana suggests to Danger that she fetch Dani, as Mr Grim probably needs a cup of tea and a sit-down. Danger leaves the brig, as Mr Grim stands up and asks Magik ‘Do I want to know what that was about?’ Illyana replies that the demons had been riding inside him since before he arrived. ‘You were their way in. A Trojan Horse’ Magik explains, before narrowing her eyes as she remarks ‘I don’t suppose you’ll be coming back to Utopia now, will you, Mr Grim?’
A short time later, on the landing deck, Mirage tells Gus that she was hoping this initial visit would lead to regular sessions. ‘This has put you off, hasn’t it?’ she asks. Gus looks at Dani and asks her why she would want him to do that regularly, pointing out that he went after her team pretty hard. ‘I didn’t make any friends today’ he adds. But Dani tells him that it is not about friends, and reminds him that in the community he always dealt with problems clean and quick to minimize damage. ‘If you ever took time to be anything other than direct, lives got hurt, or lost’ Dani points out. Mirage declares that she has been given a team to lead and that it is a mess. ‘Dani, sometimes people need time to -’ Gus begins, but Dani interrupts him, ‘We’re X-Men, Gus. I think that approach suits us. We will never have time to sit around feeling sorry for ourselves or nursing wounds. We need to get fixed up so we can keep moving’.
‘Well, okay. But I don’t know what you expect’ Gus replies, before they shake hands and Dani tells him that she expects to see him again next week. ‘In the meantime, we’ll think about your advice and see where it gets us’ Dani calls out as she walks away from Gus.
Later, in the Danger Room, X-Man is now battling several drones. A computer voice announces that the safety protocols have been disengaged. ‘Reengage immediately!’ it calls out. ‘Nhhh! God -!’ Nate exclaims as he finds himself overwhelmed. Suddenly, a massive surge of energy is fired through one of the attacking robots. ‘Room - shut down’ Hope calls out as she walks towards X-Man, telling him that this was dumb. ‘You don’t have much in the way of powers, and you don’t know what to do with them anyway’ Hope tells Nate, informing him that she didn’t have any powers until recently, that she was trained to get by without. She adds that even now she is not comfortable using them.
‘Nathan Summers spent all of my childhood preparing me to face the rest of my life. Would it be okay if I taught you some of the things he taught me?’ Hope declares. X-Man looks forlorn, before replying ‘I…I’d like that’ as he rubs his head. ‘Room? Restart’ Hope orders as she and X-Man look at each other.