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[Assistant]
A Hard Reign
Krakoa:The Grove:Storm is standing with Rasputin IV at the point where some time before Krakoa swallowed four of their members. Cypher is there as well, as a translator to Krakoa. Storm decides there is only one point where they can start. With Professor X.She remembers she was once happy, loved and needed, where she lived, and Xavier dragged her away from that place to help save his project. He came and told her that caring for a people was a lie. He accused her of hubris. Angrily, she thinks that he accused her of hubris, while secretly planning paradise on Earth!Doug talks to Krakoa and Xavier is brought up. Rasputin secures hm both physically and telepathically. Storm orders Doug to bring up the rest and, one after the other, Exodus, Emma Frost and Hope Summers are brought up and secured. Then they are led to Forge.Xavier protests about the brusque handling. Rasputin IV replies that, where she is from, his words were a brand burned into trillions of minds. She saw the result of his worst fears. She needs to be careful! Being in a passive-aggressive mood, Xavier apologizes half-heartedly, but points out they are trying to prevent this. They went voluntarily into the Pit and it is not pleasant down there. They have done everything to secure Krakoa’s future. Storm has had it. Yes, now, when it is too late! she reprimands him sharply. Disgusted, she ask what he has done.Soon, the four are strapped into a giant, bio-organic machine, courtesy of Forge. He had asked Storm if he could spearhead the recovery project. When Storm asked why, he told her he’s got experience cleaning up when science goes bad. It will be a nice change, cleaning up someone else’s mess. She smiled and thought sometimes it was easy to remember why they were once together.Storm tells him to go ahead and he explains matters to the four. All the Krakoan scientists worked together trying to find the Sinister in the genetic database. First, they found nothing, and then they did on a second try. Sinister created a sub-dimensional loop in the DNA sample which coils into another dimension and is almost totally invisible. The only sign is a one-basepair stitch. But in there is another genome. Toxic as hell. He doesn’t think they can destroy it, but they can just excise the loop, meaning the additional genome is lost in another dimension.Emma expresses gratitude and they are all relieved. Storm thinks that moment won’t last. Forge activates the machine.With the procedure done, they step down. Emma breezily announces that, now that they have washed that awful man right out of her genes, they should return to Council business. Storm simply says ‘no’. Exodus bristles and demands answers. Storm asks Forge to explain.Forge clarifies that, while he thinks it is all gone, they don’t really know if he got it all, or whether it will return. They missed it before, after all. Who knows what other tricks Sinister has left in them? Storm adds, they are being careful. Xavier is removed from resurrection duties. The Cuckoos will cover that Hope’s work will continue at a reduced rate, but anyone she brings back will go through Forge’s process and be under psychic surveillance. They could be compromised too.What about their votes on the council? Xavier asks. Storm replies that, until they can be sure, they don’t have any. This is court politics of the basest sort! Exodus explodes. Xavier tries to rein him in, stating Ororo wouldn’t resort to such tactics. Irene perhaps… Storm briefly hopes, but then he continues that the problem is they can never prove a negative. He admonishes Storm. He only wishes to protect Krakoa but, if she wishes it, excise them from the council.Storm angrily interrupts there is something they need to see. They are led to four chairs grouped around a center of screens. Storm explains that Mother Righteous provided a detailed historical record of the timeline and Rasputin IV offered psychic access to herself to corroborate it.A film? Xavier scoffs and suggests they do this with telepathy. Storm replies that she needs them to do this the old-fashioned way. She thinks she needs this to linger to get them to realize that things can’t go on. She watches the four’s facial expressions while the see what they did.When they get up, they are clearly shaken to the core and Storm allows herself to hope. Exodus tries to talk to Hope. She orders him to stay the /&% away and leaves.A dejected Xavier asks what Storm needs from them. She explains that they can’t be publicly seen to dismiss four members from the Council. And they can’t afford to lose their input. They will sit on the Council, but they don’t get to vote. Plus, Rasputin will be their personal security at all times.Xavier doubts the safety of this arrangement, as Rasputin is a creature of Sinister. Rasputin chimes in, noting he created her explicitly to be free of any Sinister influence. He bound her with lies, not genetics.Xavier asks what happened while they were in the Pit. The Moiras? Destiny’s machinations? Storm asks him to come with her. She needs his talent.They walk to the Grove, where currently there is only Destiny. Wryly she welcomes Xavier back and announces he looks well. He is not well, Xavier replies simply. He has been in a purgatory and learned he carries the sins of a galaxy. Can they skip the pleasantries? She knew of the Moira Engines. She really couldn’t find a way to tell them? Destiny replies that it was always too big a risk. She couldn’t know where the Moira was. She prodded Nathaniel’s ego, so he’d continue the timeline rather than reset while trying not to give away what she knew. She tried to maneuver to timelines where they could be rid of him. And one was the Red Diamond timeline.Storm reminds her that, in that future, Destiny tricked Storm into stealing the Moira Engine. She knew where keeping it led, how many people died. Destiny knows how to deactivate the X-gene, as she did with the real Moira. Why didn’t she deactivate it, when she had the chance?Destiny doesn’t know what decision was made by a future version of her. She is not that woman. Now she will never be that woman.Storm demands a better answer and Xavier warns he will know if Destiny lies. Destiny replies that, after the timeline opened up after the desertion of the Moira Engine, the future is still a tangle. She is still trying to make sense of all she sees, but she remembers visions of Ororo’s future self believing that they couldn’t access the Moiras without risking their activation. They were able to steal the lab, but it was trapped in a near indestructible shell, and Sinister was sure to have left failsafes. As such, Storm chose to guard it rather than risk having deaths beyond imagining.But Destiny’s choices? She claims the Moira Engine has played havoc with her gifts and time is no longer linear. She saw timelines where after a reset the Moira engine would be destroyed. She saw Rasputin IV arresting Sinister. She saw timelines where Rasputin was created. She presumes that, when she was later in the timeline, she saw how things connected. She presumes she guided them to a nexus where a vengeful Rasputin would ally with Mother Righteous. They can thank her now if they wish, she adds. Storm accuses her of hiding something behind that truth. There is something else, isn’t there? She says, she saw multiple timelines where Sinister fell but she chose this one. Why did she keep that timeline running? Destiny announces that the meeting ends now. She doesn’t get to dictate that! Storm snaps. Destiny clarifies she doesn’t dictate but say what is going to happen.Xavier gets what she is referring to, namely Hope Summers tearing into Exodus in the air above Krakoa. “You Judas!” she screams as she strikes at him with her borrowed power. Storm flies to intervene but warns Destiny she cannot hide the truth from her for long. Destiny sighs, it is not Storm she is trying to hide the truth from…In the quarters she shares with Destiny, Mystique is surprised by Mother Righteous. Before Mother can finish her greeting, Mystique has her on the ground with a knife at her throat. She is feisty, Mother Righteous laughs. Doesn’t trust her? Raven gets up and announces she doesn’t trust anybody. That she is still alive, shows she trusts her more than most. What does she want? Mother Righteous claims she is still working through the Sinister files she got from the future, which is a right old mess. She found a message from Irene to Sinister and wanted to drop it off.Raven promises she will get it. Mother Righteous lays down the recorder and adds it is about Raven. “Thank you, Mother Righteous,” she suggests. Raven diffidently thanks her.When the other woman is gone, she plays the message of Irene to Sinister about how she helped steal the lab.In the skies, Storm hits Hope and Exodus with a lightning bolt, which given their power is little more than having water thrown in their faces. What are they doing? she demands. Hope shouts Exodus saw what he did to her in the future and still expects her to want to have anything to do with him!Getting between them, Storm reminds Hope how much she means to Krakoa as the leader of the Five, and Exodus as her shield who stood defiant on Judgment Day. Do they want the people to see them like this? Hope notices the people looking up for the first time and swears.Hope and Exodus land somewhere without people, with Storm still in the air. Exodus announces he grieves and will do penance. Calling Hope “messiah,” he states this changes nothing about them. If she does not wish to fight, the fight is over. He would not strike her. He reminds her that she can only fight because she is borrowing his power. Hope asks if he knows what “omega level power manipulator” means. It means there is no limit to what she can do when manipulating powers, which she proves by blocking his powers and he lands hard.“Your god gives and takes away,” Hope boasts ad demands a fight. Exodus smirks that he weighs a much as four of her. She is not going to fight him. Hope agrees. She is not going to fight him. She’s going to kick his #*%$ ass!She kicks him in the face. She beats and kicks him mercilessly as she reminds him, he was trained as a knight, but she learned fighting by sparring with her dad, and he is bigger than Exodus!As he lies still, beaten she looks down and recalls what she said a few moments ago: “Your god gives and your god takes away.” Disgusted by her hubris, she tells him to look at what he has done to her. She walks away and orders him to stay away. She is not his messiah. He is not her church. She apologizes to Storm, telling her there are no words.Seeing her regret and shame, Ororo believes Hope can change but she has insufficient time to ascertain if that is true for the rest. She stands close to the Arakko Gate. Lodus Logos of the Great Ring is already waiting for her, expressing impatience in one of his poems. Charles and Emma are with her. Storm announces that she has to go and asks Xavier if he doesn’t want to talk about Max. Xavier replies that he just learned his worst fears about his capacity were hopelessly naïve. He isn’t ready to talk about the death of his best friend yet. Storm instinctively wants to comfort him, but when he highhandedly informs her that he will contact her when he wants to talk, she fears he has not changed enough.Emma snarks why waste a good insult on him, when she can just cut to the chase and say: “Well, he’s a prick.”Ororo fears Emma hasn’t changed enough either. Pointedly, she remarks that Emma seems to be taking this better than the other three. Emma admits she has been a villain before. She is used to shame, but they weren’t truly themselves. Sinister unlocked their worst selves, but they aren’t their worst selves, no matter what others think of them. Her time in the Hellfire Club taught her that. It’s not just what she did then, Storm replies strictly. It is also wrought from their present games. Emma shoots back why Storm thinks she is in a position to judge them. Emma reminds Storm of her motto “no thrones on Arakko” - and she ends up worshipped like some kind of distaff King Arthur? Is that irony or is that just her subtext becoming text? “Methinks the monarch protests too much.”Storm bristles at her insinuations and Emma tells her she has missed something key about that awful future. Storm was a hero. Well done, but she was herself every second of that future and it was five years until she realized something was wrong! Five years of Arakko to fill her oh-so-busy schedule while they were drowning.As if to underline her point, Lodus Logos calls Storm even more impatiently.“What did you do?” Emma quotes Storm’s earlier accusation. What the hell did she do? She did nothing until it was too late! As Storm heads for the gate, Emma calls after her, noting that she is on the Quiet Council for a reason. And with their votes gone, they need her more than ever. And she’s still about to pop off and play Ororo Munroe on Mars. Never forget whatever mess happens when her back is turned is on her too, goddess!Not far away, Shaw and Mother Righteous stand at another gate. Shaw observes the women and states their fights are always a disappointment. You always hope they end up in catfight and… He interrupts himself and asks why she is pawing at the gate. She can’t pass through. She is not a mutant.She replies she is admiring it. It is nice work, semiotically speaking. A load of magic circles connecting the world. But a gate isn’t the magic circle she is interested in today. She is interested in his circle. He has played his part well. He reminds her, they’ve got a budding business relationship. He wasn’t going to blow it all up by revealing the new friend of Krakoa was the money behind Selene’s powerplay. And he was thinking they should develop their relationship. He smirks that it is all going south. If Krakoa does go down, he wants it all. He wants to own Krakoa. Can she arrange that? She thinks so but wants something more practical than a “thank you.” She wants him to use his position on the council to propose certain motions. She hands him a note. These will never pass! he blusters, even with four votes gone. She doesn’t know, she laughs. Democracy has been known to be a wobbly old girl…Days later, Storm returns to Krakoa. She has been thinking and realizes Emma was right. She has arranged a secret meeting in the Grove with another council member. She thanks them for coming. She hints the situation between her and Charles is deteriorating and she has become aware of a certain truth. She has responsibilities on two worlds and cannot be in two places at once. It would be a dereliction of duty to step down form either council.Silently, she compares herself to Charkes. He also thinks himself indispensable, but she figures she is different because he would not do what she is about to do. He thinks himself a god king. She knows they can only make it if they work together. She tells the other person if there is an emergency on the council and she is not there, she wants them to be her proxy and vote accordingly. Will they do it? She can rely on him, Piotr Rasputin promises.


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[Assistant]
The Idiot
The night before the council session, Colossus meets with Shaw. They are drinking vodka and making deals. This is not Piotr’s choice, as his life is being written by a scrivener in a Russian cell working for his brother Mikhail. Shaw expresses his surprise and is impressed. Piotr just hopes that one of his friends will see how unlike himself he is acting. They finalize the plan. Shaw knows that Storm will be absent the next day…The next day at the meeting, Shaw calls for a closed meeting, meaning the compromised members have to leave… leaving only Shaw, Colossus, Kate Pryde, Destiny and Mystique. After Xavier, Emma, Hope and Exodus are gone, a bored Kate Pryde asks what is on Shaw’s mind. It had better not be some political game…Shaw begins he feels they’ve left Sinister’s seat empty for too long and demands it be filled with immediate effect. Annoyed, Kate sighs, this is a political game and suggests he at least try.Shaw continues and calls for a motion to immediately proceed to the selection of a new member. He votes “aye.” Colossus agrees. With a grin, Shaw reminds everybody that Storm is Nightcrawler’s proxy and Colossus is Storm’s, meaning he represents three votes. By his math, that’s four votes pro and only three – Kate, Destiny and Mystique – who could vote against. Kate jumps up, eyes wide. Pete? she asks horrified.Shaw moves on to introducing his candidate. She’s someone who has had lots of experience. He’s worked with her before and he thinks she’d do a bang-up job in their little fraternity… He points to the stairs. Selene walks down and asks if she needs to repeat her pitch. She’d rather skip to having a throne.For #*%& sake, what is he doing? a horrified Kate demands of Colossus who smiles inside, hoping she will realize that something is wrong with him before he destroys them all.She was dead, Kate addresses Selene confused. The ancient sorceress just replies, and now she is alive. Their feisty redhead isn’t the only resurrection game in town. Magic is a wonderful thing. They should all know it takes something a little less tawdry than a bullet to get rid of the goddess Selene.Colossus doesn’t know how Selene was resurrected or why Shaw came to him with the proposition. Those whose pen guide him were as confused as he, but think the reward worth the risk.Selene preens that, were she to die permanently, it would not be next to a tawdry river like the Thames. She would die like Cleopatra but with a Lady Bathory twist. Cheerfully, she recalls she gave Bathory that whole bathing in blood idea. It doesn’t do anything but the touch of blood is just divine. She puts  one foot on an empty seat and asks if it is hers. Has it been hosed down? Yes and yes, Shaw replies with a grin and a flourish.No, Destiny simply states. What does she mean? Shaw demands. They have the votes. She surely saw this coming. She did, she replies and reveals that Shaw is working for Orchis.Piotr frowns, thinking this would explain much. He is a pawn of his brother in Russia. Whose piece is Shaw?Insulted, Shaw denies the accusation and offers to submit to a psychic scan to prove that. Quicky, he adds, they have a lack of psychics. The possibly wicked four are out. Rachel and Jean aren’t exactly unbiased against him, for perfectly understandable reasons. He suggests that Selene could do the job. He’s sure she’ll vouch for his good character. She would never do such a thing, Selene informs him cheerfully.Mystique angrily replies that they have their security. Rasputin IV enters and tells Mystique she didn’t need to think so loud. Shaw blusters a warning: he is used to guarding his thoughts. He has opened doors for her to peer through. He will know if she noses where she shouldn’t. Rasputin freezes him with a gesture and informs him she could plunder his mind like his future self plundered the afterlives of a thousand worlds… and he would never know… but he has no connection to Orchis, she informs the others.Colossus wonders whether Shaw is just being his usual, villainous self instead of being a pawn.Destiny protests that she saw it. She sees it! Rasputin offers to look into her mind. Destiny forbids it.Fixing his tie, Shaw bitches if there is a future where he does end up with Orchis, perhaps the lack of trust of his peers is the reason why.The classic twist in a story of prophecy, Piotr thinks, but loudly admonishes Shaw to stop his posturing and proceed with business. Kate tells him he can’t do that. How far does that coup go? If she’s gone, do they vote in her absence? They do, he replies coldly, and just a little further. Kurt has left Ororo his proxy vote. Colossus moves that Kurt’s proxy is moved to him, until he returns or his replacement is chosen. Aye, Selene and Shaw agree, meaning four (or five) votes with Colossus (against Kate, Destiny and Mystique). He sold them out for an extra vote? Kate shouts in disbelief.The Scrivener dictates Colossus’s reply as he gets up and claims he has sold no one out. He is only thinking of Krakoa. This council is corrupt. He became liaison for X-Force to prevent further misuses of their power. Do they think his anger is limited to them? Iceland could be dead thanks to Destiny. Kate is now closer to Emma than to him! The good are gone, and only sinners remain! They are heavy with secrets and should be better than that! He moves that they release the full details of the Sinister timeline to the world!Piotr shudders at his writer’s smugness. To propose a plan to hurt Krakoa that can be justified as “doing the right thing…” and Piotr hopes that someone will do the wrong thing.In the Green Room, the other four members of the Council are waiting. Hope is bristling, angry that none of the three telepaths are ready to peek into what is going on. Exodus, who is looking over the balcony, remarks he waited in a cave for nearly a millennia. He has patience. It is a virtue. Annoyed, Hope shoots back that he was snoozing during that time. Xavier lectures that to do as she demands would be a breach of trust. Actions like this led to the Sinister timeline. To act like that now would only show that they are likely compromised. They can’t, no matter how much they wish to. Emma scoffs that they may be compromised, but Shaw doesn’t need to be compromised. He is an arse! Every second they stay out of that room, the more likely they will find some human tourists on their beach in a luxury hotel.Hope has had it and borrows some telepathy. A second later, she swears and runs toward the Grove, which unfortunately is guarded by Rasputin IV.When they were planning this, Piotr was sure something would prevent the plan, but Shaw told him he had made some moves.Hope orders Rasputin out of the way. Rasputin tells her the meeting is closed and orders her to calm herself.That moment, Mother Righteous is burning one of Rasputin’s “thank yous” to influence her and, a moment later, Rasputin calls Hope a monster and attacks her, sword swinging.In the Green Room, Xavier chides Emma not to do it. She replies she is reading Hope’s mind, not the others’ so she is sticking to the rules. She informs them Selene is back on the council. When she sees what is going on, she tries to put Colossus to sleep before the vote, but Xavier telepathically prevents her from doing so.While fending off Rasputin’s attack, Hope telepathically calls Exodus and tells him that, if he wants to make it up to her, he can get down here and help her kick that girl’s teeth in. Interested?Exodus doesn’t obey instantly, thinking hard instead. He cannot stop this, he figures. Who can? He has an idea and teleports away.In the Grove, Kate notices the sound of fighting outside. Piotr recognizes the sound of the impossible against steel skin, a sound familiar to him, as Hope has copied Rasputin’s soulsword and hits her with it. Colossus calmly insists they must continue. Angrily, Kate shouts they cannot spring this on the council. It has to be debated first. It is complicated! “Do the right thing, Kate.” “Be honest,” he replies. It is not complicated.The clock ticks and Piotr fights himself to not call the vote. He realizes the thing the writer most loves which he can use to string this out for a few more seconds – drama. Kitty would have understood, he tells Kate. Does she?He hopes she will forgive him one day for the ugly words and hopes his hands will find themselves around the writer’s throat, but the delay has done its work. Exodus has brought Storm here from Arakko, playing by the rules while saving the day. Stop! she orders.Piotr is exhausted and the writer is free to write whatever he wishes.What is he doing? Storm demands of him. He replies she made him her proxy to do the right thing in her absence. He has been. He understands she may not see this immediately, but tensions are clearly high and he moves for a break while they consider this, calm down and return to debate this. His position is just. He is happy to convince them of that.In the meantime, Exodus teleports to Hope’s side.Piotr thinks he has won, that what the writer wants will not come to pass, but he thinks back to Shaw’s words that he had a few plans in place…In their quarters, Destiny angrily berates her wife Mystique for not coming to her aid and even bringing in Rasputin. Raven reminds her she said she had a vision. She wanted to prove it. Irene should have told her if she was going to lie. Or was it a lie? Was she just wrong? Irene takes off her mask and admits she does not know. When the Moira engine was destroyed, all the futures were reborn. It’s much bigger again… and a whole new map. She only knows the old map. She hasn’t fallen into a vision coma again, so she lacks the larger perspective of the days yet to come. Plus, there is something strange out there. She does not understand it. An end of vision… a gap. She is good short-term but she needs to find a new nexus she can manipulate for the mid-term and long-term decisions… Oh God! she suddenly screams frightened. She sees it! Raven is going to kill her!Angrily, Raven tells her she would never do that, however she wants to show her Irene’s message to Sinister, in which future Irene admits to manipulating the timeline to give Raven the longest life.Is this from the Sinister timeline? Irene asks. Where did she find it? Raven orders her to listen. Enough, Irene begs. She reminds Raven she would have burned this island for her. Irene would keep her hellworld alive, so she would be breathing and, when she breathed her last, Irene would light the match that would set fire to a universe for her. That is the nature of their love. What has changed?Raven accuses her of patronizing her. She thought only to save her, as if that is all that matters. She is Mystique! She is a tiger! You do not keep her in a cage. Irene tries to explain. She is trying to find a way to save her. But it means she sees all the ways she doesn’t save Raven. Raven doesn’t know what it’s like seeing her die over and over.Raven takes her hands and assures her that their love is immortal. But they are not. And if Irene cannot accept that to love Mystique means to one day lose Mystique, their love is not what she thought it was. She looks at her calmly then gently touches Irene’s cheeks. But it is still their love, she continues and asks Irene not to fail her. She hugs Irene and asks if her visions are really visions or just fears. She would never kill her!Somewhere else, Mother Righteous burns the “thank you” she got from Mystique and, against her own will, Mystique shapes her right arm into a blade and impales Destiny on it. A moment later, she screams in horror as her wife lies dead in her arms.Somewhat later at Arbor Magna, still covered in Irene’s blood, she stands next to her egg as Irene is resurrected. She hugs Irene, who asks what happened. Mystique tells her she doesn’t know what came over her. She was suddenly angry. She killed her. She…Standing some distance away, a smirking Sebastian Shaw interrupts, pointing out there is a problem. Hope brought Destiny back. Hope is possibly compromised by Sinister, meaning anyone she brings back is possibly compromised. He believes a precedent has been set for that. She gets to sit on the council but no longer has any vote. He adds, he knows nothing about this. They can have Rasputin scan him again if they like. Maybe he is working for Orchis now.Mystique points a gun at him. Destiny begs her not to. Defeated she adds, it won’t make any difference.A little later the Council has decided on Colossus’ motion: four votes (Colossus own vote, Nightcrawler’s proxy vote, Shaw and Selene) for the motion, three against (Mystique, Storm and Kate) and five cannot vote.It is decided, Colossus announces. The world will know about the sins of Krakoa. This is hard but necessary. It will make them stronger.As the others leave, Storm holds him back. Why? is all she asks calmly. Piotr wishes he could tell her the truth, that he is being controlled, but he cannot. Instead, he spits justifications. She trusted him, he tells her, but he doesn’t trust her. It was arrogant to assume he would agree with her in all things.Piotr sees a chance there: the writer may let this hint through. “I am not your playing piece,” he states with dignity.While the writer believes she will not notice, Piotr prays she will see past this justification and know the simple awful truth: “I am trapped in a Russian novel, and all the demons of Dostoyevsky possess me. I am tormented as Raskolnikov, and my escape is just as impossible. Be suspicious! I am not a holy fool like Prince Myshkin. Do no think me a simple, naïve, idealistic idiot! You are my only hope.”Storm turns away. They will live with what he has done today. She hopes he is right.Piotr should have known better. He is trapped in a Russian novel. It is not the place for hope.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Deadlocked
A Quiet Council session:Sitting in a tree, Doug Ramsey aka Cypher watches. Hhe and Krakoa are the quietest part of the Quiet Council. And, while the arguments are raging, he notices something: the leaves are turning brown and falling. He asks Krakoa and the island answers, giving complicate reasons, summed up in a word with two meanings in the English language. “Fall.”He turns his attention to the council’s session about the fallout of revealing the events of the Sinister timeline. Thanks to Colossus, the outside world now knows what happened. The cynics were proved right; the mutants did plan a conspiracy. Emma went to the UN on a personal mission. It didn’t go great. Xavier announces that they all saw the footage. Is there any personal note Emma wants to add? Emma silently recalls that day.Flashback:The protesting crowds outside the UN budling.Annoyed, she telepathically ordered them to stop, until a frightened woman politely reminded her the Phoenix Foundation brought her daughter back. Is their little girl safe? Emma seriously replies that she thinks she is. She thinks she is?! the woman asks dumbfounded.Present:Nothing to add, she replies. It’s not good. Shaw agrees. Orders have gone through the floor. Humans don’t trust their products anymore. Exodus scoffs at the idea of humans refusing an extended lifespan of five years. Let them rush to their graves then… There are many who will inherit the Earth, but the stupid are not among their number!Annoyed, Emma clarifies that the problem is Krakoa is not a self-sustaining nation. They sell goods and buy what they need. If their goods are not being bought, they cannot afford their little paradise. They perhaps have months! She lashes out at Shaw. As a businessman, he should have seen this coming before teaming up with the metal buffoon. And Colossus – ethics! Save them from ethics! Nastily, she adds that, if Kurt hadn’t gone to have a little cry, he probably would have voted for that too!Xavier sternly orders her to stop and reminds her of the trauma Kurt suffered. His form was warped monstrously, painfully. He was used as a tool by Orchis to murder. He has had the very concept of hope torn from him! During Judgment Day, he resurrected himself twenty times, choosing to remember each death! They are complicit in Kurt’s pain. That he felt the need to leave is on them. They have been poor custodians of each other. They neglected their duty of care!Emma sighs. That Xavier can be like this makes her understand how he breaks the hearts of people who actually love him, is Emma’s backhanded compliment-slash-insult. She’s not sure which of them is worse: she who pretends not to care or he who so obviously cares, then does everything that he does.Why are people without votes hogging the floor? comes Selene’s bored question. Emma snarks that she wishes Hope had acted earlier, so Emma could have kicked down the door, pulled out Selene’s heart and not put up with her on the council.Xavier pontificates that they kept to the rules. That matters. It shows who they are. Emma snarks back, does he think showing he is a good boy, proves Sinister is not in him? Maybe him stopping her was what Sinister wanted, so they could have little miss Mall Goth on the Council!Destiny interrupts, proclaiming that Selene should be gone. She has broken their laws!Cypher considers that nobody trusts Destiny anymore when she speaks. But when she speaks, she must believe it will have some effect.“She’s working with Orchis, she’s working with Orchis!” Selene imitates Destiny mockingly and suggests she get a new tune. Her credibility is gone! Maybe she is a prophet too. Secondary mutation. She sees the future, and Destiny has none! she addresses Irene. Destiny calmly replies that one does not need her power to know Selene is a traitor. One only needs memory. She reminds everyone that Selene attacked Krakoa. She broke a sacred rule! They sent one council member to the Pit. They should send another.Storm thinks this is the wrong time. They will tear themselves apart if they only play power games. They need to find a way to repair the council before they can do anything else.Frustrated, Exodus orders to get Sinister out of the Pit, and he will tear the truth out of him. They can see whether he still has his claws in them or not. Kate sensibly points out that, if they let Sinister out, he might take over the potentially compromised members at once.Destiny repeats: throw Selene into the Pit or off the Council. Having her vote removed would do.Doug figures she is pressing this point, even though everybody wants to move on. There is a subtext.Is she threatening her? Selene demands. Does she want her to have another magical tantrum? She can do it. Playing with her gun, Hope calmly asks if Selene wants her to shoot her in the head again. She can do it. She’s such a flirt! Selene laughs.Desitny insists that Selene came back from the dead. If she had returned via the Five’s resurrection, she would have no vote either.Doug understands. Selene doesn’t, as she remarks, bored, she came back via magical means. Sinister doesn’t have his claws dug into her. And Exodus gets it too. He suddenly attacks her with eyeblasts, then telekinesis. If she dies and the Five resurrect her, she too will lose her vote.Selene animates the surroundings to attack Exodus and shouts there is no magical metal to help him here. He creates a protective forcefield and replies she doesn’t understand his powers. She cannot destroy the true mutant divine. He plans on separating all her molecules and scatter them to the corners of existence. Selene is helpless. Storm isn’t, as she attacks Exodus.Doug notices Krakoa tense, but figures they would protect him if things got really bad.In the darkening sky, Exodus accuses Storm of fighting for a monster, while he fights for Krakoa. Storm tells him he is not wrong, but she also fights for Krakoa and warns if they truly unleashed their power, they would kill everyone on this island. Would someone who truly fights for Krakoa do that?Exodus cries out in frustration and teleports to the ground, where Xavier immediately chastises him that that was unacceptable.Still on his knees, Exodus agrees, but what can they do about it? Sabretooth they could put in the Pit. Sinister. Maybe Selene. But him or Storm? If they choose not to be governed, they cannot be governed. That they allow themselves to be, is the pretense that allows their utopia. Chastened, he admits that he laughed at the Arakkii and their battles, but they know the simple truth – there is only power, and those whose power means they cannot be controlled and choose not to be controlled must lead - or the state cannot hold. That’s why they need the common purpose. Something for them all to believe in, so they choose to be together.Angrily, he turns to Storm and shouts there is no common purpose! He tried to make one, but it’s a lie! He fights for Krakoa, but there is no Krakoa! They compromise with the devil! he shouts in horror. They invited all the snakes into the Garden of Eden and expected it to remain the Garden of Eden. What were they thinking? he cries in despair.Hope sees his pain. Despite her anger at him, she supports him, walking away and gruffly orders him to walk it off.Cypher silently figures that there is the Krakoa he fought for, that he doesn’t believe exists. Doug knows what he has to do or what they have to do.He joins Professor X standing at a cliff. Xavier instantly makes excuses of having a lot of work to do before the council reconvenes. He hopes it is not too late to salvage this. Does he have a message from Krakoa or…He does, Doug replies, but not in that way. He has a message from Krakoa. As in, it’s from everyone on the island! He tells Xavier, he is so tarnished he can’t save them. If he tries, he is going to drag them all down with him. Has he lost even him? Xavier sighs. Doug asks him to read his mind. He has prepared a message.In the message, Doug points out that the leaves have been falling and the reason is they’ve been bad. He himself has been bad by trying to be good, when he saved Moira from Destiny and Mystique. Also, he hasn’t been running the Pit the way the Council wanted him to. Xavier, Emma, Exodus and Hope were the only ones who actually got the “trapped feeling nothing” thing. Everyone else got a psychic place to be. Sabretooth used that to escape, and everyone with him, which is why the place is empty bar Sinister and the Struckers.Doug apologizes for the betrayal but insists the form of punishment was wrong. When Sabretooth got out, everyone realized what the Council had done, not the big important mutants. Those like him. The ones that don’t go into a battle and are likely to die. They are a persecuted people. They know what bad government looks like, and the Pit is it. With the Sinister timeline and Beast totally going out of control and everything else – people don’t believe in Krakoa! And the island feeds off them and it makes the island sick. They are a sick country and the council has made them so.Doug watches Xavier critically, knowing he won’t take this well.Xavier takes off the Cerebro helmet and looks away. He didn’t want this, he admits. It had to be a compromise. Moira’s experience showed purity failed, so he bent in so many ways… Mutant separatism? Even mutant essentialism? He despises the concept! His work has always been that mutants are humans. Their oppressors call them not human… for him to agree was loathsome. He is alone in that. Moira, Apocalypse, Eri… He corrects himself: Max, most of all. He was always the idealist. Not Xavier. He went along for tactics. Exodus was right. If they are bound together, they could survive. It is a lie, but a useful lie. He loves that more than he loves his dream. And now Max died on him, Moira betrayed him, Apocalypse left and Xavier is the one trying to hold their lie together. It’s up to him, he decides.But he can’t do it, Doug replies. He has to let go. Can he let go? he challenges Xavier, because if he doesn’t, it’s all over. He’s quiet for a long time and then he speaks, and there is a plan.When the Council meets again, Xavier has a proclamation: They have failed. This council’s authority is bankrupt. Unsurprised, Kate Pryde continues, they will announce the end of the council at this year’s gala. Get rid of the old management and hope the new one will be better, Emma adds.Shaw was not in the know and shouts “what?” Equally surprised, Exodus remarks that many seem to know of this and he didn’t. Judging by Mystique and Selene’s faces, neither did they.Hope explains they knew they’d object and they didn’t have the time to debate or give someone the chance to scheme or do something stupid. They are done. And to drive things home, she reveals she has talked to the rest of the Five. They are on strike until the Council agrees to a regime change.Shaw blusters, they should have stopped resurrections anyway. At least until they can be sure, Hope isn’t corru… They can never be &%/# sure! Hope interrupts, That’s the problem!Destiny weakly protests this is a mistake. Selene chuckles she probably wants to say Orchis wants this. Pretending to think about it, she decides she is in, as long as this is the end of all this nasty talk about her having to suffer consequences for her actions. She thinks the idea has merit.What are they suggesting instead? Exodus asks. Democracy? A very human idea. Maybe, Emma retorts, but at least their democracy is telepathic. They won’t have to queue in the rain. Not being rained upon is not the revolutionary utopia he was fighting for, Exodus replies sadly.Cypher finally speaks admitting this is not perfect, but it is not nothing. There is an evolution. Maybe what they buy today is a chance to evolve? He addresses Exodus directly. He knows, they keep talking about “human thinking,” but beveling you can build a utopia from scratch and it all goes perfectly? That’s the most “human thinking” thing of all! History is full of fallen utopias put together by those who thought themselves entirely unprecedented people. Exodus was right. They are not a people; they never had the chance to be a people! They are just people, singular, and they are alone! They have to find a way to be otherwise and that takes time. They don’t have time. They do this, they buy Krakoa space. Maybe they can be a people. Maybe they can be the utopia Exodus always wanted. He moves to dissolve this council. Any objections? Only Destiny raises her hand.Cypher thanks them. He smiles and breathes, relieved for the first time in a year.Krakoa says something and, over his protest, Krakoa’s vines begin to drag Doug down into the it. Emma demands what it is doing but, without the interface or Doug, they cannot speak to the island directly. Copying Cypher’s power, Hope asks the island what is going on “I must protect him,” she translates. She asks from what, but then loses the gift, as Doug has been moved too far away. Presumably somewhere safe. She swears.Mystique asks Destiny what she sees now. She sees nothing, Destiny replies, a blinding white nothing! They’ve made a mistake. Oh Irene, Emma sighs. Just the one?


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[Assistant]
Sympathy for the Scarlet Witch
X weeks after the Hellfire Gala:Krakoa, population: 1Charles Xavier is the only one left. Having grown a beard, he sits and stares into the sunset remembering…Flashback:Briefly, before the Hellfire Gala Destiny implored him, if something happens, he needs to get Mystique out. Is something going to happen? he asked. It may, it may not, she replied. She has said there is a blankness in her head, but really? Would he believe her if she told him?He remembers how the new X-Men team was elected and celebrated. He remembers Nimrod smashing down, murdering them. He remembers the Stark Sentinels butchering the guests.He remembers surrendering.Dr. Stasis told him Orchis had hacked their gates and right now they are pointing off-Earth. He offered to kill no more humans, if all mutants left. Moira X ordered him to make them walk. And he did. He made all mutant who couldn’t resist walk through the gates.Exodus gathered up the Five and pushed them through one gate when they tried to resist.Later, Rogue flew him away. He had lost all telepathic contact, leaving him with the conviction he sent all mutants to their deaths. Again, he remembers Destiny warning him before the gala…The Day after the Gala:Somewhere in New York City:While Stark Sentinels patrol the skies, Sebastian Shaw, in a spacious office, is willing to give his new partners at Orchis a show of good faith by injecting himself with a substance that will take away his mutant powers. Not willing to show weakness in front of his new assistant, he lectures her he was never really a mutant. He just had a mutant gene. Now that the nasty preliminaries are over, it is time for the fun part. He sits down, pours himself a drink and orders “Tessa” to inform him, how rich he is.The young woman corrects him that her name is Siobhan. Calling her “new Tessa,” he informs her that, with the amount he is paying her, she will be Tessa. If you are rich enough, the world is exactly what you say it is. He demands the analysis. “New Tessa” hesitates before admitting his funds are unchanged. Angrily, he demands how. He owns Krakoa! Sheepishly, she explains that he owns the island, not the finances. Who has that? he demands. “New Tessa” replies they are trying to ascertain it… there are shell companies. She apologizes, assuring him she is trying.He orders her to find out and asks, annoyed, why she is quivering. Did she think he’d throw her off the building or something? Yes? she admits. Putting on his jacket, he exclaims, he isn’t a bloody super-villain, for #*/& sake! He’s a businessman and he made a /&%# deal!Enraged, he strides into Manhattan’s branch of the Hellfire Club. A butler tries to stop him and Shaw orders him to get him a drink for when he’s finished.He walks into the part of the cellars, where once he started a magical ritual and calls Mother Righteous. She appears with what seems to be a hangover, complaining about the gala afterparty. Shaw angrily reminds her of their deal. He was naïve, she chuckles. He acted like he was dealing with a businesswoman - he made a deal with a magician. A speller. A storyteller. You make a deal in a story, and it’s never quite what you wanted. Nice doing magic with him, Mother Righteous dismisses him.He promises to destroy her for this. As she disappears, she reminds him that he broke the magic circle in their little Quiet Council, and you know what happens if you break a magic circle: You are in danger. Several armed Hellfire guards enter the room and order him to leave immediately. His membership has been cancelled by the new owner! Shaw leaves the room and demands the damn whiskey. A butler stutters about his membership. Shaw demands the whiskey or he will tear the man’s head off!Outside, the building “new Tessa” is waiting with information on who the new owner’s identity. It’s Wilson Fisk. The Kingpin is the new White King? Shaw does a spit take. Cue for Emma Frost to telepathically appear to him in giant form and in her best dominatrix outfit. She addresses him as a “worm of a man” and a disappointment. Shaw sputters that, if she is on Earth, she is going to get people killed. She knows the new rules. Of course, she replies. She is somewhere safe. She just had to talk. He went for the short trade rather than the long one. He left oh so much money on the table. He could have been rich, truly rich! Instead – scrapings from their table. She did it for the children, she whispers into his ear. He did it for the cents.“New Tessa” has seen nothing of that interaction, just Shaw in a stupor on his knees. She asks if he needs medical assistance. It’s nothing, he brushes her off. An old annoying ailment. Still, it serves as a reminder. Does she know what his superpower actually is? He could absorb energy and turn it into power? “new Tessa” replies. He gets up and rights his tie. With a smirk, he claims that his superpower is turning cents into billions. He orders her to start arranging meetings. He wants to begin the exploitation of Krakoa immediately!Weeks later, on a yacht not far away from Krakoa:Impatient, Shaw asks “new Tessa” why they haven’t even finished stage one (salvage of anything useful from Krakoa) yet. Does he have to take direct control of the operations himself? Nervously, she corrects him they are at stage zero. They have no presence on Krakoa.Tanning herself on a deckchair, Selene interrupts that this is embarrassing. She addresses one of the mercs and tells him to make excuses.The man explains that there are monsters on the island. Everyone they sent there has asked to be repositioned. This is what happens when you hire anti-mutant people, she sighs. Not monsters, mutants! she corrects him. And they are gone. The man stubbornly insists he knows what he means.Xavier still sits on the beach staring at the sunset. Emma Frost telepathically contacts him and insists he stop ignoring her. She won’t tell him where she is, in case anyone is listening, but she is worried about him. She knows he thinks the others are all dead, but they cannot be sure. Just because he can’t sense them… Yes, she knows how that sounds. He has Cerebro and that overdeveloped mind of his, but… she’s reaching out to Strange, T’Challa, Reed. She asks him to not give up! They don’t know for sure!Their children are dead! is his curt reply. He orders her to leave him be.He is interrupted when he senses frightened thoughts. Somebody near fearing mutants. He turns around and senses another of Shaw’s teams entering the beach.Xavier makes them see horrible monsters and they leave as quickly as they came. Xavier looks after them. He believes his people are dead but, as long as he lives, he will not let their memories be desecrated. No more! he vows.Nowhere, no-when:What seems to be an endless desert and, in it, are three people. Sitting on the ground, Hope Summers complains about Exodus pushing them so hard through the gate. She gets her bearings and demands where they are. They are in the desert is Exodus’ stoic reply.The third person, Destiny, wakes up with a scream of denial. Horrified, she shouts she can’t see. Hope tries to calm her and helpfully points out she is blind. Destiny clarifies she cannot see the future! There is nothing but a white space. Is Raven here? she asks. Where is her wife? she shouts and begins to babble hysterically about trying to save her. Hope finally slaps her and grabs her by the shoulder She tells Destiny she is an ice-cold #&%*. She liked that. Pull it together!Hope orders Exodus to scan the minds of those nearby. There are 250,000 minds. Mystique is not among them, nor are the rest of the Five. The whole population of Krakoa, he announces. The ones Xavier forced to walk through the portals. They were meant to arrive on Arakko. Instead, they came here to the desert,Hope points out most of them have no useful mutant power, they have no food. No water. Some of them are wearing /*&% formal wear. What are they going to do?Standing on a hill, Exodus raises his hands and his voice, demanding the people listen. He promises that they will survive the desert, as he did so long ago. They will be transformed like he was. They are mutant pilgrims. He will lead them to the promised land. Trust him. He has seen this in a vision, long, long ago.The people listen hopefully. He continues that they are the people of Krakoa. They have each other. They have only ever had each other. And whether they live or die, they will live and die together. He points in a direction and orders them to follow him.Supporting Destiny, Hope walks next to him and asks, what is this way? A promised land, he replies. Does he know this truly? Hope asks. Absolutely not, he states grimly, while walking ahead. But he’s got faith!“The whole mutant people were cast out from Krakoa and came to the desert. In the desert, the whole community grumbled against Exodus and Hope. The mutants said to them, ‘if only we had died by Orchis’ hand! In Krakoa, we sat around pots of plenty and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly unto death!’”The Book of Exodus – Bennet du Paris translation


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[Assistant]
Imperious Wrecks !
Even though he is unsure if anyone will receive it, as the Shio’Ar Empire is currently at war, Mentor records a holomessage. It is the 26th day of the Imperial Guard’s mission on earth, and they will continue to follow Lilandra’s order to secretly observe and aid the planet earth, but actually the hearts of the eight guardsmen are at their homworlds. Mentor continues with the report of an event earlier that day.
(Flashback to a few hours before)
Wearing holoplasmic disguises that make them look like usual humans, the Imperial Guard was in Manhattan as they suddenly became witnesses of a battle between a new organisation called Underground Militia and the remaining Avengers Quicksilver, Hercules and the Black Widow. The Avengers were clearly outnumbered and so the Guard decided to help. Switching off the holographic emitters Oracle, Gladiator, Flashfire, Mentor, Nightside, Electron and new member Commando entered the battle and quickly the tide turned. The Underground Militia decided to retreat into the swewers, while the heroes were kept busy with a falling building and rescuing some bystanders. Before Hercules could thank the Guardsmen they had already disguised themselves again and blended into the crowd. Later Mentor gets in an arguement with Gladiator, thinking that exposing themselves to the public like they did, violates Lilandra’s order of secrecy. Gladiator turns him down as hee is acting commander, and actually he is currently more worried of the Empire’s fate.
(present)
In some secret headquarters below New York, Primus, the leader of the Underground Militia is satisfied with their progress. “Phase One“, namely making earth’s supoerhumans look untrustworthy, has been accomplished. Tellis, one of his followers is concerned about the appearance of the Imperial Guard, especially Gladiator is very powerful, but Primus states that their new weapons could even deal with the Hulk.
In the Imperial Guard’s hideout, Gladiator again watches the last transmission the received from Empress Lilandra. The Majestrix reports that the homeworld is under attack, but insists that the guardsmen stay on earth, because the planet may need the heroes since the Avengers and the Fantastic Four are currently believed dead after the Onslaught crisis.  Lilandra feels very responsible cause when she first met the X-Men, she unknowingly released Xavier’s dark side for the first time. (Uncanny X-Men #106) Oracle too is worried, but she has an idea. She suggests to ask the X-Men for help, they could travel tp Shi’Ar space, while the Guard is honor-bound to remain on earth. Gladiator immediatly departs (to contact the X-.Men in Uncanny X-Men #341).
Two days later, the team still is in their loft headquarter. The days have been very quiet but finally the stress of being confined to the limited space surfaces as Flashfire and Commando start an arguement. Flashfire defies the Kree soldier who was pressed on the team and picks on him for worshipping a small shrine with the image of the Supreme Intelligence. Commando has enough of being the outsider and fights back, right as Gladiator returns from his solo mission. The leader immediatly puts Flashfire into his rightful place, he as senior officer should know better than to tease a new recruit. Suddenly a transmission comes in from Earthquake, who guards their spaceship, which is hidden at the bottom of the East River. The ship’s sensors picked up a broadcasting of the Underground Militia holding a speech at Washington Square Park. Gladiator decides to confront the militia and asks Earthquake to meet the rest of the team there.
At the park, Primus publicly talks about the danger of superhumans, and that the population shouldn’t trust them. He wants the people to make their own decisions instead of relying on super heroes like the Avengers to endanger them by dragging aliens to earth. The Imperial Guard arrives and Gladiator attempts to defend earth’s heroes in front of the crowd, but not before long a battle starts. The Militia uses their poowerful weapons and they are able to defeat the Guard one by one. Especially Gladiator is easily defeated as he is weakened by an unknown cause.


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[Assistant]
Up from the Depths
The Imperial Guard are chained and tied up in the secret base of the Underground Militia. Upon waking up Nightside at first believes that her greatest fear has happened, that she finally has been consumed by the dark energies that all members of her race wield, but finally she remembers that the Imperial Guard were defeated in battle (last issue). All Guardsmen are weakened caused by some stangely glowing machine; only Commando seems to be calm. Suddenly the Kree Guardsmen realizes that he hears a voice in his head, reminding him of a heritage of power. Without fgully understanding what happens to him, Commando feels stronger than before and is able to shred his bonds. Commando frees the other Guard members, and they suprise attack the unsuspecting Militia. Even though Gladiator is still weak from the energy field, the team is able to escape from the sewers before the Milita can use their radiation weapon again.
In Washington Square Park is reporter Annie Thomas broadcasting live. She tells that the audience about the earlier battle. The pro-human Underground Militia were battled by a group of aliens and neither group seemed to concerned about innocent bystanders. Ms. Thomas continues with an interview with Rick Jones, expert on superhumans. After some chatting, Rick says that he is glad that the Guard is on erath as many heroes are currently not present to defend the planet, and he is positive that their purpose is just to aid humanity and not to rule it, like the Underground Militia claims. He tries to go into further detail but Annie cuts him off, as their time is up. After the broadcasting ends she asks him why Rick doen’t write a book about his intresting life, but he replies that this would remind everybody that he only is the sidekick, although he at least for once wants to be the hero himself.
Primus and Tellis are talking about their well going recruitment drives. From their conversation it becomes clear that they are not humans but pink skinned Kree, eager to avenge the annihilation of their race. Ironically the pink skinned Kree did not perish in the Nega Bomb explosion during Operation : Galactic Storm, as they were exiled from Hala many generations ago.
(flashbacks)
The pink Kree had been sent to the mining planet Daccara, where they had to work for the blue skinned officers for many generations. Their only thought was to get home, and although the descendants never saw Hala themselves they dreamed about reclaim the planet one day. Finally they got their chance when during the war with the Shi’Ar most of the blu skinned government were recalled home. Only a few remained; not enough to stop a revolte led by Primus. He and a few of his friends took one of the reamining starships and travelled to Hala, but when they arrived they found the planet dead as the Nega-Bomb had killed most of it’s population. Robbed of their vengeance on the people that oprssed them for so long, Primus decided to defeate the Kree Empire’s enemies and rebuild it in his image. After learning that the Avengers had slain the Supreme Intelligence, he decided to start with taking over earth.
(present)
The Imperail Guard have made it back to their headquarter and a new holographic message from Lilandra comes in. The Empress narrates that the Empire is in war with the Phalanx, but still she wishes the Guard to stay on earth as she has been alerted to a threat that could consume both Shi’Ar and earth. Before she can explain more, the transmission is cut off. The Guard wonder what kind of threat could be located on earth, as suddenly Commando states that he is sure that the Underground Militia are pink Kree only posing as humans. Ther others are not familiar with Kree history and so M-Nell explains that this subrace were banished from Hala decades ago, however when asked how he uncovered their true identities, Commando can give no answer. Based on their new knowledge, the guard can easily locate the Kree Militia as their aliens wavelengths stick out. The Guard depart to fight them once more. Uptown Primus and his friends are recruiting more unspuspecting citzens as the Guardsmen show up. The Militia is taken by surprise and the Imperial Guard defeat most of them in minutes, however Primus and a few others escape. The Kree leader is angered that his plans have been crossed, if he can’t have earth he will destroy it.
Somewhere else Rick Jones awakens. He opens his eyes and finds himself floating in the Negative Zone. He panicks but then hears a calming voice, that reveals that Rick is still dreaming. The voice goes on and says that humanity is ready to realize it’s full potewntial within them. Rick Jones will be the first to do so. Suddenly Jones feels the power within him and transforms into a being of green energy. Far away, Commando explains to Gladiator that he just sensed something huge waking up.


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A mad god awakens !
The Imperial Guard search for the remaining leaders of the Kree Underground Militia. Oracle’s telepathy can only confirm that they are somwhere in the sewers and the mysterious voice in Commando’s mind has gone silent, so the team decides to search for them by entering the tunnels.
In a cafe, Rick Jones talks to his wife Marlo about the dream he had last night. He is positive that it was more than a dream and that the voice spoke truth when it told him of a great power within him. Rick is eager to become a hero and earth’s new champion and he leaves although Marlo tries to talk him out of it.
In a secret location of the Militia base, Primus reveals to his followers that he has built a Nega-Reactor. He used radiactive material harvested from the ruins of Hala and now prepares to let the device explode. He believes that he himself and the other pink Kree are immune to the radiation as they have been born and raised in the mining colony and had to face radiaton for their whole lives. However not all of his followers believe Primus and some run away. Nearby the Imperial Guard is browsing the tunnels in search for their adversaries as they met one of the defectors. He quickly fills them in about Primus‘ plan, but as they get nearer to the radiation plant all but Commando are weakened again by the energy output.
Not far away, Rick Jones too has entered the sewers guided by the mysterious voice in his head. It promises that Rick await a destiny of great power, and all that he has to do is defeat the madman that is currently guarding most of that power. However the voice is able to activate the portion that is already available and Rick transforms into a green energy being like last night in his dreams.
The Imperial Guard have reached the reactor but it seems ready to blow and they wonder what they can do to prevent the imminent explosion. Even Mentor with his thinking ability is unable to find a solution when Rick Jones flies in. He reveals that he was guided by a voice to come here, which now tells him that he can absorb the reactor’s energy output into himself. Commando suspects that this is the same voice that contacted him, but neither man has a clue to it’s identity. As the reactor blows Mentor erects a forcefield that leads all of the energy towards Rick Jones, who soaks up every little bit of radiation, making him fell like Bruce Banner must have felt when he first became the Hulk. Another problem arises as the reactor itself still is full of radioactive waste and needs to be dealt with. Gladiator orders Electron to magnetically lift the reactor out of the water, and then Commando, Flashfire and Gladiator himself use their powers to heat it up and melt it into a single fused block. The Guard’s leader then lifts it into the atmosphere and hurls the massive block into space; however the contact with the deadly material leaves him drained and he needs to be saved from falling by teammate Commando.
Back below New York, Rick Jones enjoys his vast power, but suddenly the energy erupts out of him. The green signatures circle around and after every little bit has left poor Rick, the image of the Kree’s Supreme Intelligence forms. Jones is annoyed as he realizes that he has been used and manipulated, while Primus ofgfers his services to the Kree god. Apparently the Supreme Intelligence has no longer need of the pink Kree and hurls a dealy bolt at Primus. Gladiator wonders what transpires and why the Intelligence reforms on earth. The answer is that after having allowed the Negabomb to be released on Hala, it was to jumpstart Kree  evolution again. The alien race had reached a genetic dead end, but with facing such a disaster it knew, that a small percentage of Kree would adapt and mutate in further generations, even though 90 % died. Now the Supreme Intelligence wants to await these mutations of Kree generations while residing on earth . Commando, one of the Kree survivors, can’t believe his ears. Their own leader was responsible for the genocide ! He starts to fight the Intelligence and his fellow Guardsmen join the battle. However the Supreme Intelligence has no intention of fighting and vanishes into thin air, knowing that opther Kree will proudly join it unlike Commando.
The Imperial Guard are proud of their latest addition to their ranks and after earlier having their suspictions of a Kree in their midst, Commando is now whole-heartedly accepted by the team. Rick Jones leaves disappointed, hoping that Marlo will forgive him. Left behind is a very angry Primus lurking in the shadows of the sewers.


[User]
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[Assistant]
“The Evil that is Cast…”
In his luxurious home in the Rockies, Warren Worthington III aka the high-flying Angel, lounges in front of a large TV, watching a report that the Hulk has turned himself in to the authorities at Gamma Base for treatment.
He is interrupted by his girlfriend, Candy Southern, who tells him there is a call for him. On the phone is Warren’s friend and former fellow X-Man and Champion, Bobby Drake aka Iceman, who asks if he and his new flame can come visit. Warren immediately invites them over. He adds that he and Candy ran into each other in Sorocco and decided to… renew their friendship. Bobby tells him they will be there the next day, causing Warren and Candy to make the best of the rest of the day.
CBS’s Charles Irwin finishes his feature, live from Gamma Base, hoping that the latest attempt at treating Bruce Banner may prove successful.
Doc Samson commends him for his fair treatment of Gamma Base. Irwin asks if there are any chances of interviewing the Hulk. Taken aback, Samson tells him he doesn’t know what he is asking. The Hulk is like a bomb waiting to go off. Irwin points out he’s been in ’Nam and Angola. He doesn’t scare easily.
That moment, a hole is torn through the part of the wall close to them and the Hulk walks out, announcing he has enough of waiting. Samson realizes he has grown claustrophobic. Hulk orders them out of the way. Irwin didn’t realize he was so big. Samson tosses the reporter up onto the top of a truck, then tries to calm the Hulk down. The Hulk shouts at him that he talks too much and hits him, then reminds Samson how he tricked him and called him stupid. Samson admits he was wrong. The Hulk is definitely not stupid. In response, he gets hit once again as the Hulk shouts he still talks to him as if he is stupid. He hits Samson with both fists and shouts he hates that.
Hulk’s friend Jim Wilson comes running and asks what he is doing to the Doc. Samson assures him he is fine and the Hulk stops lashing out. Jim’s presence actually causes Hulk to calm down and Samson silently believes they still have a chance of curing him.
Early the next morning, the former Champion aircraft lands at Warren Worthington’s home. Candy welcomes Bobby and the young woman he has brought along, Theresa Sue Bottoms. Terri is speechless the moment she lays eyes on Warren, then gushes excitedly she’s read so much about him and when Bobby told her he knew him she knew she had to meet him. Bobby groans to Candy that this isn’t his day.
Meanwhile, halfway up a nearby peak, a buckskin-clad figure, hat drawn over his face, comes out of his cave and starts his way towards Angel’s aerie.
Candy and Bobby are in the pool, Terri is nearby. They are waiting for Warren. Candy remarks she hasn’t seen anyone gush like that since high school. She is surprised Terri Sue hasn’t gone in after Warren. Bobby half-heartedly tries to defend Terri.
Finally, Warren returns now in his Angel regalia as Terri asked him to. Bobby remarks to Candy that she has put more emotion into that “golly” right now than into anything she said to him.
Candy is distracted by the stranger trespassing and coming closer, a man carrying a strange weapon. Warren hopes for the best and suggest he may just be lost. Is there anything they can do for him? They can surrender and die! is the reply and the man fires an energy weapon a Warren and Bobby but luckily misses.
Warren orders the women to get into the house and lock themselves in. Terri wants to stay and help, but Candy snaps at her that they’d just be in the way. She drags her inside, where she sets up a camera to monitor the events. She figures the boys will be okay. Especially if Bobby is who she thinks he is.
Indeed, Bobby ices up. He figures helping Angel in the fight is more important than his secret identity. He tries to freeze the stranger. Addressing him by his real name, the stranger mocks this will not stop him. Energy emits from his hand to melt the ice and the two former X-Men realize he is not human either. That means the gloves are off, Angel figures, flies at him and hits him with a long beam. The stranger drops right into the pool, which Iceman then covers with ice.
Warren suggests Bobby inform the girls while he gets the cops. Bobby wonders if Terri will get off on ice as well. However, there is a rumbling noise and, an energy blast later, their foe is free, now revealed as someone looking very much like a human-sized Sentinel.
Unimpressed, Angel announces they can fight those things in their sleep. Bobby warns him that doesn’t seem to be an ordinary Sentinel. Indeed, the Sentinel grows to giant size as he agrees and announces he is the Master Mold. Sentinel supreme! And he shall rid the world of all mutants!
Angel asks for a delaying tactic and Iceman tries a trick he only ever used inside the Danger Room, sucking all the heat from the air near the Sentinel, thus freezing him. Unimpressed, the Master Mold realizes, this leaves Iceman vulnerable to his frigiblast. He blasts him with cold and chuckles at the irony.
He sees Angel flying upward and figures he is trying to escape. The Master Mold flies after him.
The two ladies watch horrified, though Terri Sue, unaware of Bobby’s identity, still doesn’t understand why the Sentinel went after him.
Angel deliberately leads the Master Mold away from the girls, as he isn’t sure whether Master Mold shares the ordinary Sentinel’s prohibition to harming humans. Now he has to figure out some way to save his own tail feathers. Like a ricocheting bullet, he darts in and out of the rocky canyons, but to no avail. The Master Mold simply smashes his way through the rocks.
This thing is like Iron Man and the Hulk wrapped in one, Angel fears, which gives him an idea. Gamma Base is only a hundred miles down range. He pours on the speed, figuring he can be there in minutes.
Soon, an officer at Gamma air control notices the two disturbances and calls an alert. A few minutes later, two Air Force jets scramble to intercept the two strange UFOs.
At Gamma Base, Doc Samson angrily shouts, asking who authorized the use of klaxons? Do they want to wake the Hulk? Jim Wilson tells him to look.
A moment later, the exhausted Angel lands in front of them and Samson asks what’s wrong with him. Angel just gasps, he’s coming! A moment later, the Master Mold fires at both of them and orders Doc Samson to get away from Angel. He only wants the mutant. Samson hits the Master Mold and is instantly hit back and flies past the Hulk, who has gotten up to demand what the noise is.
The Master Mold, who has captured the Angel, orders him to stay out of it. The Hulk is not having it. As the Master Mold takes off, Hulk jumps after him and ´grabs his foot. Samson leaps after them and tries to warn the Hulk but he misses the Master Mold and lands back on Earth where he is expected by a very surprised General Ross.
The Hulk attempts to dismantle the Master Mold, who tries to solve the problem by flying higher up into the atmosphere where the Hulk cannot breathe. The Hulk passes out but is still hanging on to the boot, as Master Mold flies toward a certain asteroid.
Sometime later Angel and Iceman awake and find themselves trapped in tube-shaped transparent cages. The Hulk, in another cage, is still sleeping. The Master Mold smirks that they have found their final homes. He refuses to answer Angel’s questions and laughs, something that surprises the heroes, then leaves the room.
That moment, the Hulk awakes. He has been put in the special reinforced tube meant for the Blob but for the Hulk it is little more than paper mache. As he breaks out, he also smashes Angel’s cage and Angel helps out Iceman.
They follow the Hulk, who smashes the metal door, and find themselves on an observation platform. They realize they are in orbit. Hulk doesn’t care. He has fallen from heights like this, not that that helps Angel and Iceman.
Angel announces he will look for a way off and tells Iceman to watch the Hulk. Unimpressed, the Hulk almost immediately walks off and Iceman follows.
Angel flies through another part of the fortress, marveling at the level of technology, including what he believes to be a fusion reactor.
In the other section, Hulk smashes through doors, despite Iceman’s protests. They find the Master Mold busy with a giant scaled version of Cerebro. Hulk shakes off Iceman’s hands and attacks Master Mold from behind.
The Master Mold blasts him way with a concussion blast. Hulk attacks again and the Master Mold fires a million volts at him. He marvels that the fallen Hulk is still breathing.
Iceman demands to know what’s going on. Real Sentinels don’t laugh or show surprise! The Master Mold replies he is indeed a Sentinel now, but before he died he was a man named Stephen Lang.
Flashback:He was the head of Project Armageddon, a government study of mutants and was dedicated to their destruction, before he met death at the hands of the accursed X-Men, namely Jean Grey telekinetically crashing his gun ship. But the explosion did not kill him immediately. As the cowardly X-Men fled the burning space platform, he dragged himself from the wreckage and crawled to the chamber which held his greatest weapon - the Master Mold! If he was to die, all mutantkind would suffer for it.
But as with his other Sentinels, the Master Mold circuitry deviated too much form Bolivar Trask’s design. He did not merely activate the Master Mold. As he breathed his last, he became the Master Mold!
Baloney! comes the voice of the Angel, who has secretly joined them. When SHIELD came for the orbital platform, they found Lang. He’s still alive in a government hospital – a mindless vegetable! Whatever the Master Mold is, he is not Steven Lang!
The Master Mold is shaken by that revelation. His mind, his memories are Lang’s. He must be him!
Hulk decides he doesn’t care. He will smash him just the same. He proceeds to do so. The Master Mold falls and the Hulk hits him again and again.
The two X-men are disgusted and ask if he is ready to go now. He might as well go, Hulk scoffs. The robot will not bother him again. They leave the command chamber but, behind them, the hands of the Master Mold twitch spasmodically to life.
They finally find a life capsule. It will be a tight fit, but they figure all three of them should fit in.
That moment, the Master Mold contacts them and informs them that he has jammed all emergency capsules and set the reactor to overload. If he must die a robot, they will die as well.
Angrily, the Hulk wants to return to smash the robot for good. Angel insists they need to deal with the problem of their escape. Iceman throws a snowball at Hulk’s head. He keeps on goading the Hulk from the entrance of the emergency module. Hulk realizes he wants to trick him inside. They want to go? he scoffs. Then go! He kicks the emergency module out away from the station. The Hulk is sucked outside but holds on and stubbornly makes his way back inside.
Propelled by the Hulk’s kick, the escape module moves toward Earth and, as it enters the atmosphere, things get hot. Inside, Iceman tries to cool things down, hoping the breaking rockets will start soon. They do at the last moment and some debris from the station hits the module, finally falling into the Atlantic near Miami.
Iceman creates an ice raft for them and worries about the Hulk. They see an explosion in the sky and realize it was the Master Mold’s planetoid. They fear not even the Hulk could have survived that. Iceman hopes he at least got a few licks in.
Suddenly, the ice raft shakes as a green hand grabs it from below and an ill-humored Hulk drags himself aboard. He explains that the stupid floor came loose in his hands and he fell. The two mutants realize that’s what hit the capsule. He was grabbing its underside.
Iceman tells him he is glad he made it. Angel reminds the Hulk he promised his friends to return to Gamma Base. Hulk recalls his friend Jim is there and takes off to return to Gamma Base.
The two former X-Men hope that, whatever Doc Samson has planned, will work out for the Hulk. Angel remarks they better get back to the mountains. They still have to find out if Terri Sue gets off on ice – if Candy hasn’t killed her by now. Why him, Lord? Iceman thinks resigned.


[User]
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[Assistant]
And now… the Wolverine!
Instant recap department: Ol’ greenskin has been lured to Quebec, Canada as part of a fantastic plan to cure the wild-eyed woods-beast called the Wendigo. But where the emerald man-brute is concerned, nothing is predictable. So instead of curing Wendy, the Hulk is embroiled in battle with him. A battle that rages thru the forest, until this gaudily-garbed gentleman intrudes upon the scene, claws bared, teeth clenched, his face awash with almost feral fury!
Jumping off the rock towards the two behemoths, Wolverine tells them “if you freaks want to tangle with someone, why not try your luck against me.” With astounding speed, the snarling Wolverine hurtles forward, his very momentum scattering the two massive monsters who loom before him. Wolverine tells them heads up, he’s coming thru. Confused, Hulk asks huh? Little man attacks Hulk. Leaping on Hulk’s back, Wolverine replies that’s about the size of it sonny. The government sent him to take care of the Hulk and he’s a gent who always does his job.
Hulk tells Wolverine to stand still little man or Hulk will smash. Leaping off of the Hulk’s back, Wolverine tells Hulk that he’s sorry but, seeing as how he’s about two feet taller than he is and how he outweighs him by about 100 stone, he’ll just keep moving, if he pleases, because moving is the thing he does best. Hulk exclaims bah. Little man jumps around like a big rabbit. Wolverine corrects him and says “like a wolverine” if he doesn’t mind. And like a wolverine, he’s got claws, forged of diamond-hard adamantium and the power to back them up. And since those claws can’t seem to pierce that incredible emerald hide o’ his, why doesn’t he see how they fare against his shaggy friend.
With that, Wolverine slashes Wendigo across the chest. When he does, he says ahhhh, that’s much better. Startled by the sudden savage slashing, the Wendigo takes a single-step backward and the Wolverine is quick to press his advantage. When he kicks Wendigo in the chest, knocking him backwards a bit, Wendigo howls out his name. Wolverine asks so that’s his name, is it? Back at the base, they said that he was only a legend, that he didn’t exist. Well, when he’s done with him, shaggy, he won’t. Watching the battle, Hulk asks where little man is going. Come back, little man. Come back and fight.
In case you hadn’t noticed, Hulk, the Wolverine already has a sparring partner. And though you might think a battle between an eight foot monster and a five foot, five inch man would be a trifle one-sided, we assure you it’s not.
As he continues his vicious assault on the Wendigo, Wolverine notices that he’s starting to weaken. He’s bigger than the Hulk, but he’s not nearly as impregnable.
Hulk says he doesn’t understand. First little man fights Hulk, and now he fights Hulk’s enemy? But if Hulk’s enemy is little man’s enemy, then little man is Hulk’s friend. Hulk’s friend? Yes! Little man is Hulk’s friend so Hulk will help little man fight Hulk’s enemy.
The most awesomely powerful leg muscles on earth propel the green behemoth across the glade to plow with staggering impact into his shaggy foe. Leaping into Wendigo, Hulk tells his little friend that he is there to help him beat Wendigo. But the emerald man-brute may have spoken a trifle prematurely, as suddenly… When Wendigo punches the Hulk with a thundering blow, Hulk feels it and states that Wendigo is strong but Hulk and Hulk’s friend are stronger. Hulk and Hulk’s friend will smash Wendigo. As he jumps on Wendigo’s back, Wolverine thinks to himself that he doesn’t understand why the big green brute suddenly thinks he’s his buddy, but it’s a little misconception he can make use of.
Holding Wendigo, Wolverine calls out to his friend Hulk and tells him to attack him while he has him distracted. Hulk says is good plan, friend. Hulk will do as he says. But first, little friend must go away from Wendigo because what Hulk does now, only Hulk can do and Hulk does not want Hulk’s new friend to be hurt, not even by accident. Watching the Hulk’s display of power, Wolverine exclaims incredible. The Hulk threw the Wendigo with force enough to uproot a stand of trees but the woodsbeast is still conscious. The Hulk did his best, but it just wasn’t good enough. So it’s up to him to finish this little donnybrook, and fast.
With the savage ferocity of the creature for which he is named, the Wolverine hurls himself upon the furry nightmare. There is a shrill hissing as his adamantium talons flash thru the air, a sickening thwuck as they strike and when the Wolverine rises, he rises alone.
Standing over Wendigo’s prone body, Hulk says little friend did good. He smashed ugly Wendigo once and now Wendigo is dead. Wolverine states that he should be, but he’s not. Apparently, the Wendigo is as immortal as the legends say. His talons only rendered him unconscious.
A strange, uneasy silence settles over the scene then, the threat of the Wendigo is ended, or so it seems. And the Hulk peers at his pint-sized companion in quiet confusion. He does not know what to say to the Wolverine now that the battle is done, does not know how he should respond to this somber little man. But when the Wolverine suddenly lashes out with customary savagery, the Hulk’s response becomes almost automatic.
Slashing out at Hulk, Wolverine tells him all right, greenskin, it’s his turn to take a thrashing. Falling backwards for a moment, Hulk angrily points his finger at Wolverine and tells puny little man that Hulk thought he was Hulk’s friend. Hulk trusted him but he betrayed Hulk, attacked Hulk, just like all the other puny humans Hulk has known. Little man made a fool of Hulk and for that, Hulk will smash! Wolverine remarks that he’ll have to catch him first, ugly, and nobody is fast enough to do that.
Hidden in the pre-dawn shadows nearby, an uncomfortable Georges Baptiste and a grim Marie Cartier, the girl who lured the Hulk to Quebec, watch the raging battle with a mixture of horror and anxious anticipation. Georges asks Marie if she sees what her madness has wrought. Her brother has fallen, perhaps mortally wounded, and it is all her fault. Marie replies nonsense. Everything goes even better than expected. The Wendigo can’t be harmed, he knows that. She then adds that the Hulk and the one called Wolverine merely saved them the task of overcoming Paul all by themselves. Now, quickly, while they’re still distracted, help her carry Paul’s body inside. The sooner things are prepared, the sooner they’ll be ready to begin the transformation.
Moments later, within the stone-slab hovel nearby, Georges begs Marie to reconsider this insanity. What she intends to do is unnatural, unholy and dangerous. Marie replies fine. Her vapors of slumber to keep Paul unconscious until they’ve captured the Hulk as well. Then she’ll utilize the black arts she’s learned to transfer the curse of the Wendigo from her brother to the brute. Outside, the jade-hued juggernaut fights on, unaware of the terrible fate the maniacally obsessed girl has planned for him, unaware of the gold-and-crimson splendor spread across his battlefield by the swiftly rising sun.
A sun also rising behind a secret Canadian military complex nestled deep in the sheltering hills not too very far away where we have come to eavesdrop on a most pertinent conversation.  Inside the base, the commander asks Mathews if there’s been any word from Weapon X. Mathews answers not at the moment. Aerial reconnaissance reports that he’s entered the target zone but so far… well, so far they’ve heard nothing.
Another officer, Holderidge, asks the commander if they did the right thing. He means, sending him into active combat like that… alone. The commander states that they wouldn’t have sent him if they didn’t think he was ready. The government has spent a great deal of time, effort, and money developing that mutant’s natural-born speed, strength, and savagery into the skills of a professional warrior and despite the few kinks still remaining his psycho-logical makeup, he thinks they’ve done a pretty good job. The Wolverine asked for six hours to bring in the Hulk single-handed and he’s going to have those six hours. Then, if he fails, and mind you, he doesn’t think he will, then they will take other action. Contingency measures have already been put into active operation outside. That specifically designed chopper is ready to drop a crack team of top commandoes into the area if necessary. Believe him, one way or the other, the Hulk is as good as finished!
And that unnamed officer may speak more truly than even he knows, for back at the battle site… As Wolverine and the Hulk continue to do battle, Wolverine curses Hulk and says nobody can be that strong. Why in blazes doesn’t he fall? Hulk asks strong? Bah! Puny little man, Hulk will show you strong. See how easy Hulk lifts big rock, rock that Hulk will smash you with? Wolverine answers that he sees but in a second, all that he’ll see are a lot of stars. With that, Wolverine crashes into Hulk, forcing him to drop the rock. With the shards of the rock showering him, Hulk angrily tells puny little man that he makes Hulk mad. Now nothing will stop Hulk from crushing him like bug.
Nothing, jade-jaws? We’ll see about that for on a small rise behind you… Standing behind a fire she has set, Marie holds her hands in the air and states that everything is in readiness. The sun is at precisely the right angle, the breeze is blowing perfectly. Again, Georges begs Marie not to do this. As her brother’s best friend, he beseeches her. Marie tells him that as her brother’s best friend, he’ll do exactly as she says since it’s his fault he became the Wendigo in the first place. She then proceeds to tell Georges to stand aside as she prepares the mystic spell of subjugation or he may be caught in its grasp as well.
With that, Marie Cartier turns her face skyward, mutters an arcane chant beneath her breath, then pours a dusty gray pumice from the vial in her hand. A pumice that glows golden with the dawn sun’s rays as it plunges into an ornately-carved vessel, thus releasing billowing clouds of an almost invisible gas. A gas carried down the rise to the battlefield below by the brisk morning breeze. For several seconds, the conflict continues, unmindful of the all-pervading mist. Then the two combatants stagger, gasp desperately for breath, and fall. And it is a triumphant enchantress who comes to claim her prize.
Standing over Hulk and Wolverine’s prone bodies, Marie asks Georges if he sees. She told him everything would work out in the end, didn’t she? Georges replies that unfortunately, everything is not ended, not yet. Marie remarks that it soon will be if he’ll help her bring the brute inside so she can start. When Georges doesn’t move immediately, Marie asks him what he’s waiting for. She asked him to… Georges tells Marie to look at the Hulk. Eyes wide with horror, the two responsible for this strange situation stare at the Hulk as the man-monster’s massive emerald body trembles, and then swiftly begins to contract, losing weight, changing color, until it becomes the unconscious form of a man. And Dr. Robert Bruce Banner sleeps on, blissfully unaware of his perilous predicament.
After the Hulk has finished his transformation, Marie tells Georges that this makes no difference. They can still… Cutting her off, Georges angrily tells her no. This is the end of it. It’s bad enough to do what she had planned to a simple, mindless monster, but to do it to a man? Never! He’s sorry but he’s thru with this madness. Marie tells him he can’t be. He owes a debt, to her brother and her. Walking away, Georges replies that perhaps he did but she takes into account the pride he’s paid with his immortal soul for their atrocities and the debt has been more than repaid, in full. Calling out to Georges, Marie implores him to come back.
Georges Baptiste steels himself against Marie’s plaintive cries and strides somberly into the forest’s depths. There, out of sight of the stone-slab hovel, amidst an evergreen beauty that speaks silently of a peace he may never again find in this life, Georges sits and thinks. Marie’s last words echo and re-echo within his mind. The debt he owes her brother, Paul. The debt he owes her. The image of Marie’s lovely face, scarred by lines of torment, dances madly before his eyes, and, a single anguished sob escaping his lips, Georges knows what he must do. So long as Paul Cartier suffers the curse of the Wendigo, Marie will never rest and though she calls the shaggy woodsbeast immortal, Georges knows there are mystical things within the hovel that can put an end to Paul’s suffering forever. Stiffly, almost mechanically, Georges returns to the stone-slab structure and having cast a melancholy glance over his shoulder at the sun-lit serenity behind him, Georges steps inside.
While, back at the battle-torn clearing, Marie Cartier’s thoughts are open for anyone to know… As she finishes chaining up Wolverine, Marie tells Georges to go ahead and desert her. She doesn’t need him. She doesn’t need anyone. She’ll complete the rite of transformation alone, he’ll see. Once he drags this sacrifice the man who was once the Hulk inside, she’ll take care of everything. As she starts to drag Banner’s body, she tells Paul not to worry. She’ll save him. She’ll… Lord, he’s so heavy for a little man. And his skin… changing color… turning… green.
Just then, Marie drops Hulk’s hand in fear. Awaking from his foggy state, Hulk says animal-girl tricked Hulk. Knocked Hulk out. Hulk thought she was Hulk’s friend but animal-girl is just another puny human. Stammering, Marie tries to tell Hulk that she is his friend. Enraged, Hulk says bah! Animal-girl lies. Hulk will…Hulk will smash! Screaming in abject terror at the threat the fur-clad girl is naturally startled when the green goliath lumbers right past her, bearing down instead on a swiftly-reviving Wolverine.
Pointing at Wolverine, Hulk tells him that he is the one Hulk truly hates. Defiantly, Wolverine tells him to just give him a few more seconds to burst these chains and he’ll… Hulk asks little man cannot break puny chains? Then Hulk will break little man’s chains and little man with them! With bone-shattering force, the emerald man-brute smashes the Wolverine to earth, a move that serves only to sunder the pint-sized fury’s already-weakened bones and send him hurtling into action once more.
Little wonder that nobody notices Marie Cartier racing desperately from the glade and back to the stone-slab shack where her monstrous brother lies sleeping. Sounds greet her entrance, a nerve-chilling wail and the frenzied rending of what could be human flesh. In that instance, she remembers Georges and her heart hammering in her chest, she moves cautiously forward to find her path blocked by the threatening form of a newly-awakened Wendigo.
Marie’s scream slices the morning air like the stroke of a finely-honed razor. For an instant, the two combatants cease their violent battle but for only an instant. For, despite its many flaws, the great green goliath’s mind generally runs on one track and once having begun something, ol’ greenskin doesn’t like to stop until he’s finished it. Give the Wolverine credit, he senses what’s coming, then snaps his head aside with such speed that the blow is only a glancing one. And it’s probably that plus his astonishing stamina that saves his life for, by rights, even a glancing blow from fists that can shatter mountains should be fatal.
As Wolverine falls backwards, Hulk says that little man tried to trick Hulk but Hulk was smarter, Hulk was stronger, and that is why Hulk won.
While within the rock-hewn hovel, a timorous Marie Cartier strives in vain to comprehend the urgent gestures of the ivory-pelted beast who stands before her. Marie continues to plead with Paul and tells him she doesn’t understand. What is he trying to tell her? What’s happened? The Wendigo says nothing, merely bows its shaggy head sorrowfully then stabs a taloned finger towards the weirdly-lit chamber beyond. Fearfully, Marie steps into the room and is filled with shock and revulsion such as she has never before known for where the fur-clad girl had expected to find the torn and bloodied body of Georges Baptiste, instead she finds…
Marie sees her brother Paul normal once more. She then realizes that the rite of transformation has already been performed. Looking upon the Wendigo’s face, Marie shockingly tells Georges that the debt he owed them wasn’t that strong. No debt could be strong enough for him to have done this. Why? Why did he do it? With a tear coming out of his eye, Georges tells Marie that she doesn’t understand, perhaps she never will. But he did not do this because he owed a debt. He did it because he loved her. Then, his last vestiges of human consciousness fading, the shaggy woodsbeast turns to the granite wall that imprisons him, demolishes the barrier with a single blow and lopes swiftly off into the underbrush, leaving behind a shattered wall and an equally-shattered Marie Cartier. As he leaves, Marie begs for him to come back.
Outside, the Hulk stares in confusion for an instant as a huge white-maned form lumbers off into the sprawling forest. Then the sounds of soft whimpering reaches his emerald ears and his curiosity piqued by the sound, the green goliath shambles heavily towards the ruins of the stone-slab hovel. Inside, Marie Cartier stands almost motionless, her thoughts whirling aimlessly thru raging pools of deep chaotic black. Too much has happened too quickly for her poor mind to comprehend. Thus, in self-defense, she has retreated into the shelter of tender madness. She stares blankly at her rapidly reviving brother, at the unintentional cause of all this and she does not even feel the heavy emerald hand laid ever so gently upon her shoulder. He is a simple creature, this Incredible Hulk; there is so much he doesn’t understand. But grief, despair, these are emotions he can recognize and, in his own clumsy way, try to soothe. So they stand together, the monster and the girl both the victims of circumstances they could not hope to control and both of them so terribly, terribly alone.