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

[Assistant]
From Genesis to Revelations
(the past / inside Xavier’s mind)‘This isn’t about you and me. It’s about mutants. Homo Sapiens Superior’ Charles Xavier tells Moira MacTaggert. Holding a glass of wine in her hand, Moira asks Charles if he not here in Scotland to - ‘Win you back?’ Charles asks, interrupting. ‘Moira, your letter left me no hope of that’ Charles assures Moira, who asks ‘Then what?’. Xavier announces that there are other people like him, mutants, offshoots from the baseline human stock. ‘More - far more - than we ever suspected’. Moira replies that she knows, remarking that she has catalogued at least thirty positive gene samples from Edinburgh hospitals alone.
Xavier declares that he has actually met them - not here, but in Egypt, Berlin and Tel Aviv. ‘I want us to share information. Will you give me access to your files?’ Xavier asks. Moira replies that her files are confidential, ‘They have to be!’ she exclaims. ‘Not from fellow researchers’ Xavier remarks. ‘Research? Is that what you have in mind?’ Moira asks. Xavier replies that this is the birth of a new species. ‘And birth is a painful process. ‘They’ll need our help’ he exclaims.
Moira stands up from where she is seated at a table outside a restaurant, street lights glowing in the darkness. ”The good shepherd” Moira quotes, reminding Charles that is what he was called in Korea, and declares that if she is right, this mutant race will not need a shepherd, ‘They’ll be like gods. Gods in human form’. Moira exclaims. Charles asks Moira if she thinks that it is easy, to deal with powers and responsibilities that others do not have. Xavier declares that they will need protecting - not just from the world, but from themselves. ‘From the temptations that come with absolute power’.
Moira begins to walk away from Charles, ‘You, of course, being immune to temptation’ she snaps at Charles, who grabs her by the arm as she passes him. ‘I make no claims about my own incorruptibility. But I believe that - wait’ Charles replies, until he senses something else. ‘That man’ Charles tells Moira, motioning across the restaurant, where someone is standing in the shadows. ‘He shouldn’t be here. He hasn’t even been born yet!’ Charles exclaims.
The man not-yet born is of course known Bishop, stern faced and holding a powerful weapon, ‘Xavier - you’ve - killed - us!’ Bishop exclaims as he fires his weapon, which strikes Xavier in the head. ‘All’ Bishop utters as Xavier falls backwards knocking plates and cutlery to the ground, he continues to fall - and as he falls, images of dozens of mutants flash through his mind….
(present / reality)‘This - this is impossible! And infuriating beyond measure!’ exclaims the powerful leader of the Acolytes known as Exodus. Exodus, healed of his wounds recently inflicted by the White Queen, stands at the side of a stone slab where the motionless body of Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the Uncanny X-Men, lies. Surrounding the table are three associates of Exodus - Amelia Voght, founding member of the original Acolytes, and former lover of Xavier, Karima Shapandar a.k.a. Omega Sentinel a former X-Woman, and finally Joanna “Frenzy” Cargill, a long-time follower of Exodus.
The quartet are residing in a rather bland facility, nothing spectacular except perhaps for the coldness, the steel and concrete and the dim lights. Exodus tells his companions that the bullet fired by Lucas Bishop ploughed right through Xavier’s cerebellum, that most of his brain mass has been reduced to ruined pulp, and yet Xavier is still resisting him!
‘Maybe you should just let him die, Exodus. It’s not like he ever saw things our way’ Frenzy points out. ‘Cargill, I did not seek your advice’ Exodus replies, remarking that Xavier’s mind is an asset worth saving. ‘The mutant race needs its champions and protectors - now more than ever’ Exodus declares, before remarking that he could repair Xavier’s brain - its physical structures - atom by atom, but that he needs to assess the damage to Charles’ mind, and Charles won’t let him, as he blocks Exodus’ psychic probes, as though he was already resigned to death.
‘It’s not that. It’s because of the war’ Amelia announces. ‘What war, Voght?’ Exodus asks ‘He fought in Korea. And it almost destroyed him’ Amelia explains. ‘Can you imagine it?’ she asks. ‘The world’s most receptive telepath, in a place where fear, suffering and death were the only shows in town? Where every psychic wavelength was jammed solid with the screams of the dying?’. Amelia explains that Xavier learned to put those shields up because the only alternative was to go mad. ‘It was his own personal Danger Room. The anvil on which he forged himself’.
Exodus replies that his course is clear then, if the shields are an automatic reflex, a function of Xavier’s will, he must simply extinguish that will. Exodus places a hand over Xavier’s face, and unleashes some power, until Amelia grabs him, and calling him by his true name - Bennet du Paris - urgently asks him what he is doing. ‘Finishing what Bishop’s bullet started’ Exodus replies. He then states that Xavier’s mind must be thoroughly and comprehensively shattered. ‘Then I can begin to rebuild it’.
Inside Xavier’s mind, certain phrases said by various mutants over the years: I will not allow the world to destroy us!  exclaimed Storm at some point.I am fire...and life!  Phoenix is quoted for saying.What happens when you can’t forgive me? Nightcrawler asked at one point.Take the one thing I hate the most and kill me with it!  Rogue once said.Why does everyone say my name like it means shut up? asked Jubilee at one point.There’s very little written about you, Destiny once cryptically remarked.
Frenzy suddenly declares that Xavier is a collaborator and therefore he deserves to die. Amelia quickly tells Cargill that the decision is not hers to make, and Omega Sentinel exclaims that she wouldn’t allow them to make that, as it is not why she came here. Amelia turns to Omega Sentinel and asks her why she did come here. ‘You’ll find no friends here’ she tells the short-lived X-Woman. ‘The Professor was dying’ Omega Sentinel replies. ‘I didn’t feel I could just sit and watch that after all he did for me back when I first changed’.
Karima explains that her memories of the past few weeks are clouded, that her files are corrupt and riddled with a viral code. ‘I don’t even know who you people are’ she adds. ‘We’re the Acolytes, flatscan. The vanguard of the mutant race!’ Frenzy snarls. Amelia informs Karima that her code processing units were invaded by a digital entity named Malice, a sort of electronic possession, until one of the X-Men’s students freed her. Amelia informs Omega Sentinel that the other man is Exodus, explaining that once, many centuries ago, he was a crusader. ‘He is a crusader still. But now he follows a different banner. And we follow him’.
(Flashback illustrations to “Messiah Complex” as narrated by Amelia Voght)‘You see, there was - I suppose you might call it a war. A baby was the cause and the prize. The first mutant birth since the Decimation. A spark of hope for our kind’. Referring to Cable, Amelia remarks that there were other points of view on that score, and then the baby was taken out of the equation at last, into the future - or possible the past. Amelia explains that when it seemed that the battle must be at an end, a final casualty fell - Xavier, at the hands of Bishop.
Amelia reveals that Charles was lying on the floor of the cavern, bleeding out, and the Marauders were down, the Acolytes were about to flee, when suddenly Exodus spoken inside her head: ‘So you still love him, Amelia? I wouldn’t have guessed. Have no fear. I don’t intend to let him die’. With that, Amelia teleported to Charles’ body and took him. Amelia explains that one of their team has the ability to adjust the passage of time, so they took the body and were gone before the X-Men had time to react.
(Present)‘Presumably, Exodus spoke to you, too’ Amelia suggests, ‘And enlisted your help in keeping Charles alive’. Frenzy asks ‘Why? What’s to be gained from all this?’. Suddenly, Exodus appears hovering over the trio of women, ’Not much, perhaps. But there’s always what the serpent gave Eve, Joanna Cargill’ Exodus remarks. ’Knowledge’ he then declares, explaining what the serpent gave the biblical Eve. Arms folded, Amelia asks Exodus if it is done. Her voice trails off when she begins to ask if Xavier is alive. ’Strictly speaking, yes. He fulfils that definition’ Exodus assures Amelia, who was perhaps the favorite of Magneto - leader of the original Acolytes. ‘But of the man himself. I suspect there’s little left’ Exodus announces.
Lying alone on the cold slab, Xavier’s body lies motionless, but thoughts tumble through his powerful mind: X…My…X…My X-Men…Welcome! Suddenly, his eyes flash open!
(Flashback, years ago / In Xavier‘s mind)‘All? You mean Jean - Marvel Girl - is the last of us, Professor? Five is the whole Freshman Class?’ asked a young Bobby “Iceman” Drake many years ago. ‘For a moment, Iceman, yes’ Xavier replied, while Jean, Scott “Cyclops” Summers, Hank “Beast” McCoy and Warren “Angel” Worthington III stand together. Xavier announces that there were to have been others, ‘Indeed there are others, who you’ll meet in due course. But you are the core team’ he announces, adding that they are the first year’s intake at the Xavier Academy and he knows they will make him proud.
Xavier informs the kids that they will begin today’s lesson with a combat work-out in the Danger Room, explaining that it is a team scenario to gauge how well they can play off each other’s powers. ‘Cyclops will lead’ Xavier adds. While the young X-Men go about their training in the stunning facility, each demonstrating the best of their abilities at such a young and inexperienced age, Xavier has a visitor in the monitoring area: Dr. Moira MacTaggert. ‘”The Danger Room”?’ Moira asks as she examines some blueprints Xavier has on a desk. ‘For the love of God, Charles. What are you about here?’ Moira snaps.
Xavier admits that the name is a little melodramatic, but that the concept is clear enough, surely. ‘This will be a training room, where my X-Men can -’ he is interrupted by Moira, who is wearing a fitting yellow and pink outfit as she exclaims ‘Oh, it’s clear as daylight. But it’s a long way from “helping young mutants come to terms with their powers”!’ she points out, quoting Xavier. ‘This is - you’re training a private army, Charles!’. Calmly, Xavier replies ‘Not at all’ and remarks that it would be foolish to ignore the possibility that the X-Men will have to fight.
‘Nobody has to fight!’ Moira replies. ‘True’ Xavier retorts, but pointing out that sometimes, the other options are even less attractive. Xavier informs Moira that most of the children have been in fights of one sort or another already, and that he is just giving them the skills they need to survive - and perhaps to protect others of their kind. Flicking through some files that Xavier has, Moira replies ‘So it’s a humanitarian mission you’re on? Not a power trip?’. ‘Not at all’ Xavier replies. ‘Even though you’ve named these scraggy wee urchins after yourself?’ Moira asks.
Xavier begins to explain that the term “X-Men” refers to the x-gene that his students share, not to his name, but Moira interrupts as he explains that, asking what the annotations in the files mean. ‘What?’ Xavier replies. “Scott Summers, P.P.C. follow up soonest” Moira reads out, asking what P.P.C. stands for. “Possible Prior Contact” Xavier replies, revealing that he thinks Cyclops may have met another mutant before he found him. ‘I’m aware of someone working against me. Or at cross-purposes to me’ Xavier reveals.
Moira asks Xavier if what makes him think this someone found Cyclops first, to which Xavier replies that in the supposedly ordinary state orphanage where Scott was brought up, someone had fitted him with ruby quartz spectacles to control his eye beams. Motioning to Scott who is blasting some tech-opponent away with an optic blast, Xavier tells Moira that Scott is the best of them, untried still, and scarred by some of the things he has seen. ‘But I can heal those scars and mold him into -’ Moira interrupts once more, ‘Is it like finding another man’s boots by your fire, Charlie?’ she asks. ‘Or another man’s hat on the rack?’.
‘What are you implying?’ Xavier asks. ‘You talk about making and shaping and molding these bairns - and you’re jealous as Hell to find that someone else is up to the same game. Daring to lay his hands on what’s yours’. Moira storms away as Xavier calls after her, ‘Moira, this is bigger than my ego!’ he exclaims. ‘Is it? That’s bloody big then!’ Moira snaps back. ‘My intentions are entirely - entirely…’.
(Present)‘Brain-dead? Charles?’ Amelia exclaims. ‘I didn’t use that word, Voght’ Exodus replies. ‘Then what? What is he?’ Amelia demands. ‘Catatonic. Amnesiac. Damaged on a level deeper than mere flesh’ Exodus replies, revealing that he took Xavier’s memories from him for safe-keeping because his damaged brain couldn’t contain them. ‘Now - he won’t accept them back. His mind is inert beyond a few random memory traces, there’s no brain activity at all’ Exodus reveals. Amelia asks Exodus what he will do, pointing out that it is terrible for Xavier to have to live on like that. ‘Perhaps Cargill was right. Perhaps death would be kinder’ Amelia remarks. ‘Aye. Perhaps’ Exodus replies, rubbing his forehead. ‘Or perhaps it’s merely a question of finding the right stimulus’.
Xavier lies motionless still, until suddenly, blood begins to drip from his wound, then also from his mouth as his mind stirs….
(Flashback / In Xavier’s Mind)‘Honored, Professor, but there’s no way I’m ready for it’ a young Cyclops told the Professor. ‘A lack of self-control, that is…isn’t there sometimes a temptation…how do you resist the urge to play God?…’ the words spin in Xavier’s mind, then shift, to sometime later, when Scott asked the Professor where he was going, and why he wasn’t taking the X-Men with him. ‘It’s a private matter. And it’s not what I wanted to discuss with you’ the Professor replies, before explaining that he wants Scott to lead the X-Men in his absence, ‘To take over as teacher, just as you lead the team in combat’.
‘What? I’m honored, Professor, but there’s no way I’m ready for that yet. I don’t have your experience or power’ Cyclops replies. But Xavier tells Scott that what he has is a combination of analytical intelligence and tactical brilliance. ‘Undercut by a lack of self-control that’s occasionally disastrous. Your words from my first semester report’ Cyclops retorts. Xavier shrugs it off, replying that he has tried to suppress those tendencies in Scott, ‘To steer you away from indulging your emotions too rapidly’. Scott is taken aback, ‘You -? Wait. Steer me how, exactly?’. ‘Through my teaching, of course. What else would I have meant?’ Xavier replies.
Scott adjusts his glasses, ‘I’m not sure. It’s just - with power like yours, isn’t there sometimes a temptation, you know? How do you resist the urge to play God?’ he asks. ‘Respect is fundamental’ Xavier replies. ‘You must know that I don’t use my powers unless there’s real need’. Scott reminds Xavier that he made Hank’s family forget he’d ever existed, to which the Professor replies that there was a good reason - to spare both Hank and his parents unnecessary pain. ‘Right. Professor, don’t take this the wrong way. But can you promise me you’ve never looked inside my head? Never moved the furniture around?’….
(Present)‘And so on. Again and again. Like a rat turning in a wheel, and thinking the wheel is the world’ Exodus remarks as he leans over Xavier’s body. ‘Perhaps you think this project is chimerical. Pointless’. Exodus remarks, glaring at someone standing at the opposite side of the slab Xavier lies on. ‘I wonder myself how much more effort I should expend on it’ Exodus adds, before remarking ‘And obviously, to come to you, of all people - given what you were, and what you are now - is painful. Distasteful even’.
‘I can only imagine your distress’ the new arrival, wearing a trench coat, replies. ‘Sarcasm?’ Exodus exclaims. ‘I’ll let it pass this once, Id rather you helped me of your own free will’. Exodus warns his “guest” though that he can force him if he needs to. ‘Force me?’ the newcomer remarks, grinning, he tells Exodus that in all honestly, he’d advise against it - after all, he is Magneto!


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

[Assistant]
Untitled
The headquarters of the Acolytes, where currently, Professor Charles Xavier, once the world’s foremost telepath, and founder of the Uncanny X-Men lies on a cold slab of steel. His long-time friend / enemy Magneto stands over him. ‘So here we are again, Charles. As always’. Magneto remarks. Magneto adds that if a man’s mortal enemy is his running mate, then in some sense, and his status reflects on his own, then they both come out of this badly. ‘Me powerless, you brain-dead’ the former Master of Magnetism points out. “We are not now that strength which in old days moved Earth and Heaven” he quotes.
Noticing someone standing in the shadows, Magneto realizes that it is Karima Shapandar a.k.a. Omega Sentinel, and tells her that this is not a spectator sport, nor a public recitation. He tells her to come out where he can see her, so Karima does, apologizing and claiming that she didn’t mean to eavesdrop. ‘No? Then what?’ Magneto asks. Karima replies that she only wanted to ensure the safety of both Xavier and Magneto, and suggests that it might help if he think of her as a mechanism rather than an audience.
 ‘You stopped being that on Genosha’ Magneto retorts. Karima remains stone-faced, ‘Yes, thanks to you, and to Professor Xavier’ she replies, asking if Magneto thinks the Professor can hear them. Magneto frowns, ‘You ask me that?’ he replies, asking Karima if there isn’t enough Sentinel left in her to detect a mutant’s brain activity. Karima walks over to Xavier and remarks that there is something, certainly, telling Magneto that when Xavier hears his voice there is a response - neurons fire and chemical concentrations shift, albeit minutely. ‘You’re doing something. I just can’t tell whether it’s good or bad’ Karima declares. ‘Yes. That’s always been the problem…’ Magneto replies.
(In Flashback / Inside Xavier’s Mind)
‘Only you and your X-Men stand between mutants and world conquest! Why do you fight us?!’ Magneto exclaimed, long ago. Flanked by his young students, Xavier replied that he seeks to save mankind, not destroy it. ‘We must use our powers to bring about a golden age on Earth - side by side with ordinary humans!’.
Later, Magneto told Xavier that he was too naive, too trusting. ‘You have faith in the essential goodness of man’. Xavier asked if the future of homo-superior must be written in blood and fire, pointing out that the Earth has seen far too much of that.
Another time, ‘There has to be a better way. And I intend to find it!’ Xavier boasted to Magneto.
Again, another time, Magneto confronted Xavier, flanked by even more X-Men this time. ‘I am needed!’ Magneto boasted, his magnetic powers crackling in the air. ‘To lead our people to a better world! I’ve returned to offer you an alternative to the genocide of our race. I’m here to offer you…salvation!’ Magneto declared, before destroying Xavier’s chair with his energy. Magneto reminded Xavier how not long ago, he tried walking his path, and asked ‘Do you have the courage to do what I have done? Are you willing to walk down my path, for a time?’.
‘Perhaps before you die you will realize what I have always known. That the weak have virtually no chance of inheriting the Earth’. Magneto declared. ‘Weakness, Erik - has always been a matter of perspective’ Xavier replied calmly. ‘You can’t see? After all these years - do you still not understand?’ Xavier exclaimed, his voice getting angrier.
Time shifts, Xavier attacked Magneto with a telepathic blast, ‘Your dream, Magneto, cannot endure. Because it will forever be tainted by the blood of those you’ve sacrificed along the way - under the pretence that it was somehow necessary!’. ‘Oh, Charles, how far you’ve fallen. How very far…’ Magneto whispered, before collapsing, his son Quicksilver and two X-Men present.
(Present / Reality)
‘Which of you was right?’ Karima asks. ‘What?’ Magneto replies. ‘The argument between the two of you has eaten up your whole lives. I’m only asking - who do you think won?’ Karima exclaims. ‘Perhaps you should ask him’ Magneto retorts. Karima remarks that she would love to have the chance, to which Magneto suggests they do it - roust Xavier from the safe little haven he has built for himself inside his own mind. Omega Sentinel asks Magneto if he thinks he can do that, to which Magneto replies ‘No, Sentinel. But I believe we can’.
Elsewhere in Acolyte headquarters, Marshall Evanstone the Third, better known as Random, a former associate of the Government’s old X-Factor team, motions to the balcony where Magneto and Omega Sentinel are and remarks that they are still going strong up there. Exodus, leader of the Acolytes, replies that it is possible that Magneto, addressing him by his true name, Erik Lehnsherr, will succeed where he has failed, and bring Xavier out of his comatose state. Joanna “Frenzy” Cargill reclines in a chair, while the classy Amelia Voght stands sullen, arms folded across her front.
‘Erik? You mean Magneto?’ Random replies. Exodus replies that he means what he says, and that Magneto died in the Decimation, when his powers were taken. Angry, Exodus exclaims that this human is not Magneto, but the shell that was left when Magneto was taken from them. ‘And if I hear that name spoken again, I will consider it a blasphemy!’ he warns his followers.
Exodus turns away, so Random goes over to Amelia and remarks that he is clearly missing something here. Amelia tells Marshall to imagine that he were a Christian, and that Christ was reborn, only to declare that he had become a Satanist. ‘Magneto becoming human was like that, for some of us’, she explains. Frenzy points out that if that did happen, you would still have the Bible. ‘And a bad preacher can still give a good sermon’ she adds. Amelia replies that she supposes so, ‘But I don’t see what you -’ she begins, until Joanna interrupts her, exclaiming that Magneto’s gospel was always clear on one point - you do what you need to do to ensure mutant survival - mutant dominance. ‘Nothing outweighs that’ she states.
Frenzy asks why they are all playing nursemaid to the man who stopped Magneto from putting mutants on top back when he still had the power to do it. ‘The man who aborted Magneto’s dream before it could be born?’. ‘These are new times. Perhaps new dreams’ Amelia replies. Frenzy turns and walks away. ‘”New dreams?”, Feels more like I’m eating someone’s cold leftovers’. she snaps. ‘Joanna -’ Amelia begins, but Frenzy tells her to leave it, and angrily warns her that if she throws one more platitude at her, then she is going to have to hurt her.
Back in the other area, ‘This - this is dangerous!’ Karima exclaims, her hand, bursting with energy, resting above Xavier’s face. ‘But can you do it?’ Magneto asks. Karima reminds him that she said it was dangerous, not that it was difficult. Karima explains that the resting potential of the human brain Is 0.1 micro-amps, and the energy field she is generating is roughly a hundred times that intensity. Omega Sentinel tells Magneto that, effectively, she is creating a local super-conductor within the Professor’s nerve tissue.
Karima adds that it will lower neural trigger-points exponentially and encourage Xavier’s brain to make connections, but it won’t wake him by itself. Magneto replies that it won’t, but that it tilts the odds. ‘That brain of yours was always your unique selling point’ he tells Xavier. ‘Now Exodus has repaired the organic damage and Ms Shapandar has tuned the engine until it hums. So if you don’t wake up now - we’ll all know you’re backing down from this final confrontation, won’t we?’.
(The Flashback / Inside Xavier’s Mind)
‘They come! Master the X-Men come!’ exclaimed Toad, eagerly, his teammates in the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants - Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and Mastermind - flanking him, with Magneto, their ruler, nearby. ‘I kind of like that, we don’t often get announced!’ Iceman exclaims as he slides into battle, joking that next time, he wants separate billing: ‘The X-Men…featuring Iceman!’. Angel swoops down towards Mastermind, remarking that it looks liked Magneto went on a recruiting drive. ‘That won’t change anything. It never does’ Cyclops replies as he fires an optic blast.
Xavier tells Magnus that it is over. ‘Is it, Xavier?’ Magneto replies. Xavier points out that Santo Marco is not the world, and tells Magneto that even he cannot hold onto Santo Marco. ‘My X-Men won’t let you’ he boasts.
Another time, Magneto declares that he doesn’t want to do this, but he has to. ‘I must be strong because you and your X-Men are too weak to do that which must be done. For this reason above all others, I have been spared’. ‘No, you didn’t say that. That was later, at - at the funeral. Her funeral - when - after -’
Magneto declares that there are many who consider the two of them among the strongest mutants on the face of the planet. ‘Stop!’ Xavier exclaims. ‘But we know better than that’ Magneto replies. ‘Those are my words!’ Xavier snaps back. ‘No hard feelings, old friend. We both know - that this is not the end!’.
(Present / Reality)
With that, Xavier’s eyes spring open, he coughs, then sits up on the slab where he has been laying. ‘Professor Xavier! You’re awake!’ Karima exclaims as she goes over to help him up, with Xavier exclaiming ‘I - my mind - not - complete - not - please!’ Karima tells him that it is all right, before Magneto asks Xavier to settle an argument for them. ‘The Sentinel wants to know which of us one our perennial debate about ways and means’.
Confused, Xavier asks ‘What? What do you -’ before he suddenly remembers part of what Magneto is talking about, but remarks that it is not easy for him to think. ‘Me head -’ he begins, when, suddenly, Frenzy appears, and interrupting Xavier she declares ‘If your head is the problem, you only had to say so’. Magneto steps before Frenzy and calling her “Cargill” reminds her that Exodus gave orders that he was not to be disturbed. ‘Cargill is my Acolyte name, you flat-scan. You don’t get to use it!’ Frenzy exclaims, pointing furiously at Magneto, before telling him to get out of her way as she is going to cure Xavier’s headache.
‘You mean to kill him. Isn’t your little war over now?’ Magneto asks determined Frenzy. ‘He’s still the enemy. The enemy of our manifesto’. Frenzy replies. Magneto tells Joanna that when it comes to political change, murder is a very blunt instrument. ‘Is it?’ Joanna snaps back, grabbing Magneto around the throat, she declares ‘I’ve studied your life, old man. That wasn’t the lesson I learned from it!’ and with that, she tosses him across the room with her enhanced strength, and he smacks his head against a concrete pillar.
Suddenly, Omega Sentinel blasts Frenzy with an intense beam of microwave energy. ‘Nasty’ Frenzy snarls. ‘Trying to cook me from the inside out’. Frenzy pushes her way through the energy beam, boasting that her inside’s are the same as her outsides, ‘Harder than steel!’ she exclaims after calling Karima a walking obscenity and smashing her in the face. ‘Harder than anything!’ Frenzy exclaims, shoving Omega Sentinel backwards, but Omega Sentinel continues to blast Frenzy with the microwave energy. Karima then gets the upper hand and is able to grasp Joanna’s head, where she proceeds to hold the microwave energy right on her. Frenzy regains control though as she punches a hole right through Karima’s stomach, and getting to her feet, holds Omega Sentinel down, before proceeding to smash her in the face repeatedly. ‘Harder than you’ she exclaims, wiping her lip.
Xavier looks at Frenzy, ‘Joanna - Cargill? I remember you’ he exclaims. ‘That’s nice’ Cargill replies sarcastically, before telling Xavier that her smiling face is the last thing he is going to see. ‘He’s thinking about your eyes’. Xavier replies, holding a hand up to his face. ‘What?’ Cargill asks, one of her fists poised above Xavier. ‘And your optic nerve. Because for your eyes to see, the channel has to stay open - all the way into your brain’. With that, Magneto grabs Frenzy and spins her around, shoving a laser beam above her face, and angry, he fires it into her left eye, which is wide with horror.
‘Was it necessary to kill her?’ Xavier asks Magneto as he helps Karima to her feet. Holding the instrument in his hand, while Frenzy’s face is still smoldering as she lies slumped on the floor, Magneto explains that this is a surgical lazer, not a weapons system, so he seriously doubts that Cargill is dead. Magneto tells Xavier that if his question is “Was it necessary to blind her and burn out part of her brain”, then the answer is yes, it was.
Magneto turns to Xavier and asks him what he thinks. ‘Force majeure versus love and peace and understanding. Which carries the argument?’ he asks. ‘You and me, Magnus?’ Xavier replies. ‘Yes, you and me’ Magneto replies. ‘With the issues oversimplified for the sake of the easy sound bite’. A tired-looking Xavier thinks hard, concentrate, and sees in his mind another reality, a false reality known as the House of M, created by one of the most powerful mutants in existence - the Scarlet Witch - Magneto’s daughter! It was she who uttered three words that would change the landscape of the real world dramatically: No. More. Mutants.
Xavier announces that he thinks he and Magneto cancelled each other out for a long time, and then finally, they became irrelevant. ‘The future walked around us’ he declares. Magneto smiles at Omega Sentinel, ‘And there’s your answer, my dear. From the horse’s mouth’ he tells her. Karima reminds the Professor that he is still weak, but Xavier assures her that he is fine, he is just tired. Rubbing his face, Xavier adds that he is not entirely here, only pieces of him are, so much is still is missing.
‘You know who you are?’ Magneto asks. ‘Yes’. Xavier replies. ‘And what you are?’ Magneto asks. ‘Yes. Perhaps’. Xavier replies, before asking Magnus why he came here and what it is he wants. Magneto replies that, honestly, he isn’t sure. ‘Another philosophical set-to, perhaps?’ he remarks, ‘Or the reassurance that men who’ve done and seen as much as we have don’t - in the end - die like dogs in the gutter’.
Suddenly, Exodus appears, hovering above them, exclaiming ‘That last proposition - I regard as not proven’. Exodus drops down to the fallen Cargill and asks Magneto what he did to her. ‘Speak!’ he demands. Magneto replies that he fired a high-intensity lazer through Joanna’s optic nerve into her brain. ‘Thereby saving your patient’ he adds. Exodus grits his teeth: ‘You are human, and you harmed a mutant’ he snarls, before asking Magneto what punishment he would have ordained for such a crime when it was he who led the Acolytes?
‘Oh, death, most likely. I always preferred death to a heart-felt apology’ Magneto replies, adding that in case it should become an issue, he makes no apology for his actions against Cargill. ’Then death it shall be!’ Exodus exclaims, pointing a finger at Magneto, who then proceeds to choke, and tumble to the ground. ’Exodus, you can’t -’ begins Karima, until Exodus interrupts her, ’Do not tell me, machine, what I can and cannot do. Do not presume!’ he warns her, when, suddenly, ’What? Who dares?’ the powerful mutant asks as he finds himself sucked onto the astral plane.
‘WHO DARES!’ he demands, furiously, spinning around he sees Xavier, who replies ’I dare, Exodus!’. Exodus reminds Xavier that he is only alive thanks to his mercy and power. ’And now what - you seek to challenge me, on this psychic plane?’. Furiously, Exodus tells Xavier that he is not his enemy. ’But if you force me to this, I swear it will destroy what’s left of your mind’. ’Very well’ Xavier replies. ’Let’s see how that plays!’, and with that, the two men rush towards each other, energy surging about them, ready for their cataclysmic confrontation.


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

[Assistant]
Untitled
An isolated cabin in the middle of the night, Cain Marko a.k.a. the unstoppable Juggernaut moans and clutches his helmet-covered head, ‘Stop it, stop it, stop it!’ he shouts, smashing through a wooden table. Cain then slumps into a chair, ‘Maybe you thought I was an easy mark, seeing as how I was a sleep and all. Thing again pal, nothing gets through this helmet!’ he shouts to his tormentor. The short-lived X-Man grits his teeth and exclaims ‘You were giving it your best shot though, weren’t you? Whoever you are, you got better psi-powers than I ever met before, better’n’ my crummy step-brother, even. It’s just you ain’t got squat to throw against the amulet of Cyttorak. And come morning…I’m gonna be out there looking for you!’ Juggernaut boasts.
Meanwhile, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, inside the Crossbeam Motel, on Route 10. Professor Charles Xavier is in the twelfth day of his new life - or the early hours of the thirteenth. And because he came here looking for his father, it is his sister he dreams about:
(In Xavier’s Dream)
‘Do you think there any revelations to be found here, Charles? Seriously?’ asks Xavier’s diabolical twin, Cassandra Nova. ‘Do you think finding out what Brian Xavier was will tell you what you are? Or what you used to be?’ she asks. Xavier replies that it is a place to start and remarks that the past doesn’t define a person, but helps to explain them. ‘It’s a Rosetta stone for the unconscious’ he remarks. ‘If you think that, my sweet brother, you’re running into trouble’ Cassandra replies, before remarking that Charles has scarcely more memories of their father than she has - ‘And I died here in the womb!’ she remarks, motioning around. ‘He died when you were seven. He was an absence in your life. Not a presence!’.
Cassandra tells Charles that he was the same for his own son - ‘Perhaps that’s why David felt he had to win your love by murdering the future!’ Xavier replies that he gave David what help he could. ‘And my love. Unconditionally!’ he exclaims. ‘You might have tried giving him the strength to bear his afflictions!’. Cassandra suggests, remarking that Joe MacTaggert did that much for his child ‘Although, admittedly, he didn’t do so willingly’ Cassandra adds, referring to Proteus’ possession of Joe MacTaggert. Cassandra asks Xavier about the child he bore himself - the alien Brood Queen he incubated in his own mind and body. ‘That ought to give you a unique perspective on the whole parent-child dynamic’ Cassandra remarks, suggesting that perhaps Xavier is more comfortable with monsters - the Shadow King, the Brood, Proteus - because they absolve him of any duty to care, and reduce everything to his favorite dialect of control.
(Reality)
Xavier wakes suddenly, and slumps over in his bed, reeling from the dream.
The next day, at the Ryking Secure Psychiatric Facility. ‘A gift of sorts from a father to a son’. Xavier wonders if he has been here before, and supposes that he must have, but that was in another life. ‘You got any coins in your pocket, Professor? You’re gonna need to go through again’ a Security Guard remarks as he runs a detector across Xavier as the Professor enters the facility.
Shortly, a Doctor leads Professor X along a corridor and asks him how he knows Carter Ryking. Xavier replies that their fathers worked together at Alamogordo when they were children. ‘In a sense, he’s my oldest friend’ Charles adds. The Doctor runs his eyes across some files and warns Charles that he will find Carter much deteriorated. ‘When he lost his - abilities, in what the tabloids called the M-Day Decimation, he responded very badly’. The Doctor tells Charles that it is probably best he go into this with low expectations. ‘What do you mean?’ Xavier asks. ‘I mean, this won’t be a meeting of minds - unless you brought both minds yourself’ the Doctor explains, opening the door to the ward.
Carter Ryking is slumped over against a wall which has small lines carved into it, a tally, he’s been counting something. ‘One is his - one for his hand. Knock knock knock. On the door’ Carter mumbles, rubbing his finger across the tally. Xavier stands with the Doctor and two other staff as he calls out to his long-lost friend. ‘Not here. Not here. He left. He already left. I can pass on a -’ Carter begins to say, until he turns around and sees his visitor. ‘Ch - ch - Charles?’ he exclaims. ‘Where are my manners? I hope you’re well!’ Carter exclaims, shaking Xavier’s hand.
Xavier smiles and replies that he is fine, before asking Carter how he is. ‘A little pressured for time, you know. Counting the days. Counting the days’ Carter replies, motioning to the tally on the wall he adds that he is down to one now - unless he made a mistake somewhere. Xavier informs Carter that he has come to ask a favor, and asks ‘You know my powers involve telepathy? Mind-reading?’. Carter looks at Xavier and replies ‘Mine involve pain, I think. And needles’.
Charles explains to Carter that he has lost some of his memories because of an accident, and that he thought one way to retrieve them might be to access the memories of people he has been close to. ‘People who were at me at different stages of my life’. Carter grabs Charles by the shoulders and asks him if he knows how to count. ‘Yes, Carter. I know how to count’ Xavier replies. ‘Up or down? It makes a difference!’ Carter exclaims. ‘One for his hand. Two for his feet. Three - what’s three? I don’t think I want to remember!’. Carter exclaims, before giving Charles permission to read his mind. Xavier thanks Carter, who tells Charles that he can only read the surface. ‘Just what I’m remember now. You’re in it!’ he exclaims as Xavier begins to concentrate.
(Flashbacks, years ago / Inside Carter‘s Mind)
Charles and Carter are playing with toy trains and planes, ‘And the jet goes dukka dukka dukka -  and you’re dead!’ exclaims Carter holding the jet plane up. ‘I’m not, I’m not, you missed!’ Charles exclaims, while his mother, Sharon, and father, Brian stand in the doorway, ‘More tests?’ Sharon asks. ‘No. No, Brian, I won’t let you!’ she exclaims. ‘This isn’t right, he’s just a child!’. But her renowned scientist husband replies that Charles is not “just” a child, that he has the x form of the allele - fully expressed.
Brian crossly reminds Sharon that Doctor Milbury has already explained this to her, and exclaims that Charlie is the next big thing - the thing that comes after humanity. ‘If he was “just a child”, we wouldn’t be here!’ he exclaims. Dr. Xavier adds that kids are resilient, that nature makes them that way, so Charlie probably won’t even remember any of this. Charles looks at his father, who remarks that even if he does remember it, even it if it hurts him, it is what they signed up for.
‘Aaaah!’ cries Carter Ryking as Dr. Milbury stands over him, removing a needle from his arm. ‘Yes, that one hurt a little, didn’t it, Carter?’ Dr. Milbury remarks, telling Carter to wave his arm around and the sting will fade. Dr. Milbury holds the needle up and turns to Charlie, asking him if he remember which injection comes first. ‘The blue one?’ Charles replies. ‘Exactly. Well done’ Dr. Milbury remarks, before re-filling the needle as he mumbles ‘One for his hand as he knocks on the door. Two for his feet as he crosses the floor. Three for his eyes as he finds where you’re hid…’ his voice trails off as Charles interrupts, asking why they have to have so many shots and tests. ‘Immortality, Charlie, your genes - your genes will live forever!’ Milbury replies as he sticks Charles with the needle, and a red diamond flashes on his forehead.
(Present / Reality)
‘Carter, that - that mark on Doctor Milbury’s forehead -?’ Xavier asks. Carter replies that it was always there, but that it was just energy. ‘Nobody else could see it. Only me’. Carter remarks, before declaring that his father said that too, about living forever. ‘But - I counted and it’s finished now. Almost. Almost finished’. he exclaims, rubbing his hand across the markings in the wall. Xavier thanks Carter and tells him that he has given him a lot to think about. ‘Think quickly, Charlie. Don’t dawdle’ Carter replies.
Xavier assures Carter that he will visit him tomorrow, if he will be allowed. The Doctor tells Xavier that he will see him out, and remarks that he thinks this visit did Carter some good. ‘He doesn’t normally engage with -’ the Doctor begins to say, until Carter suddenly shouts ‘Charlie! He knocked on the door last night. That’s one, isn’t it? When he knocks on the door, you’re down to one!’ a panic-stricken Carter mutters as he points to one of the lines on the wall.
Xavier makes his way along the footpath, out of the Ryking Psychiatric Facility and thinks that it is strange how the past keeps bleeding into the present. ‘Although perhaps it shouldn’t seem strange at all’ he decides, returning to his rental car as he thinks about Alamogordo - such an assemblage of talent - his father, Kurt Marko, Irene Adler, Milbury. ‘But they were all geneticists. At what was meant to be a nuclear research facility’.
Xavier is unaware that he is being watched, that a sniper holds his rifle towards him, with his back in the target zone as Xavier thinks to himself that forebodings press down on him like a physical weight, before deciding that there is something else also - something more immediate - the certainty that he is being watched. Charles’ eyes glance backwards, while thinking that the mind-scape of any place is a continuous weaving, that human minds are only a part of it, as are birds, small animals, even insects. ‘A blank space in that weaving means one thing and one thing only - it means someone nearby is using a mind-shield’.
Xavier decides that he needs to know why, and as he opens the door to his rental car, a flock of birds suddenly take to the air, Xavier uses the tools that come most readily to hand, knowing that the pigeon’s perception is that the man on the roof behind him is nether food nor threat, blends into the background, seen, and then forgotten. Xavier decides that he should probably be ashamed of this, that his rules of engagement should be more rigidly defined. ‘Like, first, do no harm’ he tells himself as dozens of pigeons suddenly swarm in on the sniper, startling him and causing him to lose focus. ‘Well, I’ll do as little harm as I can. As little as it takes to throw off his aim, and shelve this small enigma until the larger one is resolved’ Xavier decides as he speeds away in the rental car.
Meanwhile, in Manhattan, at the exclusive Hellfire Club, where Roberto “Sunspot” DaCosta, and Sebastian Shaw, members of the Inner Circle, sit opposite each other, while other men sit around them. Sunspot exclaims ‘To say that this displeases me, Sebastian - is an understatement on a monumental scale!’. But Shaw replies that he doesn’t know where DaCosta’s grievance lies, and assures him that he has been entirely honest with him. ‘After the fact’ Bobby remarks, but Shaw exclaims ‘Before the fact, there was nothing to be honest about!’.
Sunspot grimaces and exclaims ‘You kept this…device on the Club’s premises but mentioned it to no one!’ Sunspot declares that he only learned of it when it fries the brains of two men in his employ. Shaw replies that machine doesn’t relate in any way to the Hellfire Club, or to his duties as its officer. ‘No? Then what does it relate to? Tell me that!’ Sunspot exclaims. ‘It belonged to my father!’ Shaw announces. ‘Your father was a nobody, you said’ Sunspot replies, as he looks out a window. ‘I did not say that!’ Shaw exclaims. ‘A miner. A man who worked with his hands’ DaCosta reminds him. But Shaw explains that his father was a miner when he died, before remarking ‘You know he belonged at one time to the Club’s English chapter. He seldom spoke about those years’.
Shaw continues, revealing that before his father died, he told him to keep this machine by him at all times, though he didn’t say why. ‘That’ doesn’t inspire my trust!’ Sunspot replies. Shaw asks since when has trust figured in the workings of this establishment and tells Sunspot that if he wants him to look into this further then he will. ‘Do so. Find out what the device did when it activated. And report back to me personally - whether you feel it concerns me or not!’ Sunspot orders. Shaw leaves the room, and Sunspot remarks ‘Next order of business, gentleman. There’ll shortly be a vacant position in the Inner Circle. Let me hear your nominations…’.
The Ryking Psychiatric Facility, there is a scream as Carter is held back by two members of staff. ‘His eyes! His eyes!’ Carter screams while a Doctor readies a needle. ‘Jeez! Hold him still, will you!’ one of the staff tells the other. ‘Just do it, Sayles. We’re not dancing here!’ the other exclaims. ‘One. One. One…Zero…’ Carter mumbles before his eyes roll to the back of his head, and he collapses. The staff member with the needle crouches down beside Carter and tells the others that, on second thought, they need to go get the log book and the Chaplain. ‘If he’s sober’ he adds. ‘Fruit loop’s gone and died on us!’ he exclaims, referring to Carter.
Meanwhile, night time has struck, and Xavier sits in his motel room, deciding that night makes him think of death. ‘Or perhaps - perhaps it’s the photographs’ he wonders as he pours through some black and white photos. He stares at one of his father, Kurt Marko, Irene Adler and Milbury and thinks to himself that he had two fathers - first Brian Xavier, who ignored him, then after he died, Kurt Marko who bullied and bellowed and crowed Charles into a corner of his own life. Charles looks at the image of Milbury - who took more of an interest in him than anyone.
‘But to what end? Did he - in some way I can’t even imagine - influence the decisions I took? The life I’ve had?’ Charles wonders as he draws a red diamond on Milbury’s face. ‘Holding his image in the forefront of my mind, I slip in the trance state I’ve been practising…I want some answers to these questions!’ Xavier exclaims to himself. But he gets something else entirely, as his musings on death and rebirth take a concrete shape - and face - life and death herself - Jean Grey…Phoenix!
(Flashback)
‘I’m not sure if I can even describe how it felt…have you ever been under general aesthetic, Professor? Jean Grey asks as she stands naked in a cylinder. ‘Many times, Jean. Please keep still’ Xavier tells her as he taps away at a console. ‘Well, it was kind of like that. You wake up - and it’s only then that you realize you’ve been out’ Jean explains. Xavier analyzes some readings and quotes “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep”, but Jean, stepping out of the cylinder, tells him to leave Shakespeare out of this, as that is not what she means at all.
With mere thought, Jean conjures up her green and gold Phoenix costume, declaring that, for so long, she just used her telekinesis to play circus tricks, but now she can touch the atoms of the air and the spaces between them. ‘I feel like I’m kissing the whole universe on the lips’. Xavier asks Jean what it is that she is saying, to which Jean, examining her handiwork, replies that death and birth can be the same thing, that so much of life is just the routine - the default options. ‘The coffin we build around ourselves while we’re still alive’.
Xavier remarks that he can see where that might happen to the unwary, but that his life doesn’t permit of a routine. ‘I’m too busy for that’ he states as he continues to carry on with his work. ‘But that’s just it, Charles. You only see the coffin when it opens and lets some light in. When everything changes or -’ Jean is interrupted by Xavier who snaps ‘Or what?’. ‘Or stops!’ Jean exclaims, her eyes burning bright. ‘What? What do you -? Xavier asks.
(In Xavier’s Mind)
Xavier’s mind shifts, he sees Bishop, holding up a gun - pulling the trigger. The bullet explodes from the gun, and an instant later, Xavier is dead.
(Present / Reality)
Xavier, sitting crossed-legged with the photos sprawled around him, decides that something is wrong. ‘Something’s out there’ he thinks, casting his mind out like a net, looking for an owl or a dog whose eyes he can borrow. Indeed, several men dressed similarly to the sniper from earlier have descended on the motel. Xavier feels that the silence has a curdled sourness to it, an intense predatory feel. The night is empty, no animals about. ‘Perhaps…perhaps I was mistaken’ he realizes as he senses something else, he tells himself that the mind-scape has holes in it again. ‘I’m being stalked’ he decides, before picking up the phone, only for the wires outside to be cut.
‘I can only wait, and face whatever comes…’ Xavier thinks to himself, while the assassins turn the door handle, only for one of them to quietly say ‘Wait a second, it’s too dark’. Suddenly, a voice exclaims loudly, ‘You need a little here?’. All the assassins turn quickly, and looking up, they see Remy “Gambit” LeBeau, a deck of cards kinetically charged and giving off a red glow, Gambit tells them that they should be careful what they wish for.


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

[Assistant]
Untitled
The Astral Plane, where the powerful villain Exodus, leader of the Acolytes, is taking on Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men. Images flash before Xavier:
Why did you lie to me? asks a stern-faced Cyclops.
Why did you ignore me? questions the living embodiment of the Danger Room.
Why did you abandon me? cries Xavier’s long-dead son, David “Legion” Haller.
Why did you kill us? scream Petra and Sway, two early candidates for the X-Men.
Those words, why did you kill us cause Xavier to go blank, while in reality Erik Lehnsherr, better known as Magneto, and Karima Shapandar the Omega Sentinel stand nearby, watching the two motionless men battle it out in their mindscapes. Using her Sentinel-tech, Karima detects that Xavier and Exodus’ heart rates are going through the roof, as well as brain activity and skin temperature. She asks Magneto what this means, to which Magneto explains that they are fighting each other telepathically. ‘I’ve been in enough such skirmishes to know’ he adds.
Magneto picks up a large metal beam and tells Karima that in the nature of these things, the window is likely to be a short one. Karima realizes what Magneto is going to do as he walks towards Exodus, carrying the metal beam, ‘Don’t -’ she begins to say, but is interrupted by Magneto ‘Don’t interfere?’ he asks. ‘I’m hardly a non-combatant here’ Magneto replies, adding that if Exodus defeats Xavier, then Exodus will kill him. ‘All things considered - I’d rather he didn’t get a second chance!’ Magneto exclaims as he raises the metal beam to Exodus’ head, only to be blasted back across the room by a powerful surge of energy courtesy of Exodus.
‘MAGNETO!’ shouts Karima, before rushing over and helping Magneto off the floor, pointing out that just because they are fighting on the Astral Plane doesn’t mean that Exodus isn’t aware of his surroundings. ‘You forget how powerful he is’ she adds. ‘Magneto mumbles that he just received a useful reminder, before remarking that it goes against the grain to let this play out, and that it is starting to hurt. Karima checks her sensors and replies that it is going to get worse, telling Magneto that psi-energies can be measured indirectly by the deformation of cyclical alpha and mu waves. ‘Theirs are off the scale. I wouldn’t call this a skirmish. I’d call it a war…and I don’t think they’ll both survive it!’.
(Inside Xavier’s Mind / Flashback / Illusion)
A press conference plays out, Sentinels tower behind the interviewer, Professor Xavier and Doctor Bolivar Trask. The interviewer thanks Xavier for his comments before turning to Trask and telling him to go ahead. Trask states, with all due respect to Xavier, that the Professor is blind to the terrible dangers around them. ‘Or perhaps it’s more than mere blindness. Perhaps the Professor has an ulterior motive for his defense of mutants?’ Trask suggests. Xavier knows what’s going on, ‘…this is beneath you, Exodus. Trying to disorient me with images from my past. Do you think I’m so feeble I can’t -’ Xavier is interrupted by Trask who remarks that, at any rate, he has created a defense for mankind. ‘Suppose, for illustration, that the Professor is a mutant‘ Trask remarks, before clicking a remote and giving a Sentinel a voice command to take the Professor into custody and to not permit him to use his power.
(Present, the Astral Plane)
Xavier is bombarded with intense energy from Exodus. ‘No!’ Charles exclaims defiantly, shaking off the power. ‘You’re not Bolivar Trask. Bolivar Trask was killed by his own machines. And these wounds are illusionary!’ Xavier exclaims. ‘True’ replies Exodus. ‘Poison in jest. No offense in the world’ he states, before asking ‘What about these wounds?’ With that, he conjures up images of the horrific Sentinel attack on Genosha where millions lost their lives.
Population 15,521,063. Falling.
Population 11,001,467. Falling.
Population 8,290,025
Why did you kill us?…why did you kill us?…why did you kill us?…why did you kill us?…cry the voices of the dead as life after life is blown away.
800,000...why did you kill us?….763.
‘No! That’s not - please!’ begs Xavier, cowering, covering his head with his hands. ‘Please, God!’ he shouts. Exodus looms over him, telling Xavier that it was one of the pieces of his past that he had lost - the annihilation of Genosha. ‘I’m happy to give it back to you’ Exodus snarls, before declaring that he doesn’t think Xavier is weak, more that Xavier’s mind is the most powerful weapon he has ever met. ‘Your sin is that you won’t use it’. Exodus puts his hands on Xavier’s head as he asks him how hard it would have been to find Bolivar Trask’s living relatives, to kill them all painlessly with a telepathic command, there by averting sixteen million deaths.
‘That logic - is obscene!’ Xavier retorts. ‘Murder is either right or it’s wrong!’ he exclaims, before Exodus tosses him aside, ‘Exactly, and which it is depends on the victim. I must recall you to your mission, Charles Xavier. Your sacred trust’. Exodus exclaims that these are holy fires, but that they only burn lies.
(Present, Reality)
Elsewhere, Emma Frost a.k.a. the White Queen groans and knocks her glass of red wine over. Scott “Cyclops” Summers, her lover rushes to her side while others at the fancy party they are attending look on. ‘God! Scott!’ Emma cries. Cyclops takes Emma’s arm and assures her that he has her. Wide-eyed, Emma tells Scott that there are telepaths, fighting each other all-out. ‘Close?’ Scott asks. Emma replies that they are thousands of miles away, but that one of them is Charles. ‘He’s - he’s alive, somewhere. And putting out enough power to fry any organic mind within a hundred yards!’.
Back at the Acolyte’s headquarters, Karima and Magneto are tossed to the ground by the force of the psychic battle.
On the Astral Plane meanwhile, Xavier is once again confronted by scenes from the past, and again with Dr. Moira MacTaggert, who asks ‘How can you do this? How can you put these children at risk?’ she demands to know. Xavier replies that they will not be children for long and need to be prepared. He states that these children - all mutant children - are the future and that if can help mold them into good people, good examples for the ones who come after them - Moira interrupts, ‘What if they don’t want to be examples?’ she asks watching the young X-Men train. ‘What if they just want to live normal lives? To be ordinary?’ Moira asks. Charles replies that they do not have that luxury and tells Moira that living in denial will not help them.
Another series of images flash into Xavier’s mind, this time, of a quartet of X-Men on the mutant-island Krakoa. ‘So you can feel us now, monster?’ Vulcan asks. ‘Well, tonight, you’re gonna have to go for the vegetarian option!’ Suddenly though, Krakoa slaughters Sway, before attacking the others.
Flash forward to some years later, where Jean “Phoenix” Grey tells Cyclops that she loves him, and that a part of her will always be with him. ‘Jean, No! Don’t -’ Cyclops replies, but it’s too late, Jean commits suicide, screaming ‘SCOTT!’ as she dies.
Further into the future, a dying Illyana Rasputin is read a story by Jubilee. ‘Taking the little girl in her arms, she flew up with her in - in brightness and in joy, so high -’.
Even further, Colossus kills himself to end the deadly Legacy Virus, the virus that claimed the life of his sister, Illyana. ‘I’m coming home’ he whispers.
A montage of deceased heroes flash before Xavier - all asking the same question…Why did you kill us? Thunderbird, who died on his second mission. Banshee, who died a hero. Cypher, whose life was taking away tragically too soon. The Stepford Cuckoo, Sophie, carried by her mentor, the White Queen. Icarus. Dozens of students murdered in a bus explosion.
‘No. No!’ exclaims Xavier, cowering while Exodus hovers over him, asking Xavier if he yields to him. ‘Or must I go on?’ Xavier glares at Exodus, and declares that this stops - now. With that, Charles uses his powers to force Exodus out of the Astral Plane, returning them to reality.
Exodus slumps onto the floor, where not too far away lies the motionless Joanna “Frenzy” Cargill. Karima smiles at the Professor, who assures her that he is fine and asks her to tend to Magneto, as he thinks he may have suffered some internal bleeding. Exodus calls out to Xavier, but Charles tells him that this is enough and warns him that if he attacks him again he will shut down his powers permanently with post-hypnotic inhibitions.
‘You misunderstand me. I didn’t bring you here in order to fight you. Hear me out. You owe me that, at least, after I retrieved your body and rebuilt your brain’. Exodus then reveals that he did all of those things because he wants Xavier to lead the Acolytes. Xavier goes wide-eyed. ‘Are you mad?’ Xavier replies. ‘You put me through Hell and then you -’ Exodus interrupts, ‘I showed you what you needed to see’ he exclaims. Exodus points out that mutant kind lies in ruins, and Xavier’s own X-Men are scattered to the winds.
‘Lead us! Together we can find the Messiah Child and tutor her in her future duties. Bring her into her heritage!’ Exodus exclaims. Xavier turns away from Exodus, calling him a fool. ‘I am an honest man. And a warrior. A crusader for what is right and just!’ Exodus replies. ‘All those things. And still, a fool’ Xavier retorts, remarking that he saw what became of the people who fell to his care in the past. ‘You saw their suffering, and their deaths. And still you’d ask this of me?’.
‘My answer is no’. Xavier exclaims, turning away from Exodus, he begins to leave the chamber, accompanied by Karima and Magneto. ‘But -’ Exodus protests. ‘We’re leaving now. Take my advice, and don’t try to stop us’. Xavier suggests.
Shortly, the trio arrive in another part of the complex, where the rest of the Acolytes are gathered - Amelia Voght, Carmella Unuscione, Random and Tempo. ’Charles’ exclaims Amelia, going over to him and touching his face, telling him that it is good to see that he has recovered. Xavier stares blankly at Amelia and states that he remembers her name, but that it has no resonance, that if anything ever passed between them, he doesn’t remember it. Xavier tells Amelia that at least she isn’t in the tally of people he hurt and that he hopes that means he made her happy. Amelia closes her eyes bitterly, knowing too well how much Xavier has hurt her.
Exiting the Acolytes base, Xavier, Magneto and Karima find themselves in some sort of woodland, where Magneto asks Charles ‘And now?’. Xavier replies that he isn’t sure, and that he doesn’t think he is fully equipped to decide in his future, until he has recovered a little more of his past. Xavier exclaims that there are still more holes in his memories than there is substance. ‘Perhaps - with those holes filled in, my life will make better sense to me’. Xavier announces that he thinks he will visit the people who knew him, try to bridge the gaps with their memories as far as he can.
Xavier and Magneto shake hands, with Magneto remarking that Xavier is likely to find a lot of contradictions that way, as he has been both loved and hated. ‘Isn’t everybody?’ Charles replies, before bidding Magneto goodbye and thanking him for his help. Xavier calls out to Karima, thanking her also, but telling her that she cannot accompany him as he has to do this alone. ‘If you say so’ Karima replies, before asking the Professor to answer at least one question for her: ‘Exodus had you beaten. You were losing. Almost dying. Your heart was hammering and the blood vessels in your brain were about to burst. Then - you scrapped up some strength from somewhere. A secret weapon. What was it? What happened back there?’.
Xavier replies that it was nothing profound. ‘Nothing redemptive’ he assures Karima, explaining that Exodus simply missed. Karima asks the Professor what he means by “Missed”. Xavier explains that Exodus’ strategy was to show him his own folly. ‘My own weakness. He made me relive every mistake that Charles Xavier had ever made. Every scrap of guilt that could be laid at his door’. Xavier turns and begins to walk away from his companions, stating that the man who made those mistakes is dead. ‘His failings and his failures died with him. I have the chance - the possibility - to be someone better’.
Meanwhile, in Kooroowi, Eastern Australia, inside a gas station, two men notice a female bike rider pull up. ‘Well, lookie out there, Tucker’, one of them remarks. ‘You’re engaged to be married, John’, Tucker replies. John retorts that he is also not a pervy bludger and tells him to mind the till as he heads outside, ‘Can I help you with that, Miss?’ he asks the woman. ‘No thanks, just topping her up’ the woman replies. John asks her if she is going into Scotchman, to which the woman replies that she is going the other way.
John tells the woman that he means no offence, before asking if she perhaps missed her turn-off, as there is nothing out that way except for six hundred miles of desert, and her tank is only good for two hundred or two hundred and fifty miles. ‘I wouldn’t want to see you run into trouble’ he remarks. The woman raises the visor on her helmet. ‘Ah got a way of doin that, sugah. Probably too late to change’ she remarks, before Rogue drives off into the lonely outback.
Elsewhere, in Manhattan, at the exclusive Hellfire Club. Somebody remarks that appearance of virtue may be better than virtue itself. Ms Cabot declares that it is certainly easier to maintain, to which Bobby “Sunspot” DaCosta points out can be usually bought more cheaply. ‘The market price for real virtue is ruinous’. One of the staff, Baxter approaches DaCosta, apologizing for interrupting, but wanting to know if he may speak to Sebastian Shaw. Bobby tells Shaw to do it outside so they rest of them can continue their dinner party. ‘Of course, Roberto. It would be my pleasure’ Shaw snarls, before leaving the others and following Baxter into the hall.
‘I take it this is important?’ Shaw asks. Baxter replies that the apparatus in room seventeen has activated. ‘You asked to be notified’ Baxter reminds him. ‘The apparatus in -?’ Shaw asks, a little confused, before remarking ‘Oh. Yes. Did some of the dials move, then?’ he asks. Opening the door to room seventeen, Baxter replies that they did, and flashed in sequence. Entering the room, Baxter declares ‘And then this happened. I await your further instructions’. Shaw looks around the room, small fires in amongst a huge mess, the room has been destroyed. A large glass dome is mostly broken, and there are horror-stricken bodies littered across the floor. Shaw tells Baxter to remove the bodies, seal the room and bring him the manila file from his desk drawer. ‘The one marked “Coronus”!’.


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

[Assistant]
Untitled
The dead of the night, ‘Wait. Aren’t you the guy who…’ begins an assassin, flanked by others, he is interrupted as Remy “Gambit” LeBeau kicks him in the face, telling him to keep his questions for the end so they can get through this a lot more quickly and painlessly. One of the assassins cries out in pain, ‘Well, quickly, anyway’ Gambit jokes. Standing outside the motel building, Gambit finds himself slightly overwhelmed, after taking down several of the assassins, there are still more standing. One of them orders him to throw his gun, which he swiped from one of the assassins, down on the ground. ‘You’ll be dead before you can aim it!’ he warns him, before shoving his gun into Remy’s neck.
‘Probably right’ Gambit replies, smirking as he remarks it is a pity, as he hears these things are very useful in a fight. ‘I said - on the ground! The assassin shouts. ‘You got it, homme!’ Remy replies as he uses his power to kinetically charge the firearm, confusing everyone with the flashing light, before he drops it down on to the assassin’s foot, where it explodes. Gambit leaps out of the way, joking that it saves him from having to say “Pick a card”. Remy returns to the assassins and picks one of them up by the collar, exclaiming ‘Now, let’s talk about who sent you and what you want with -’ Remy is interrupted by a crashing sound from behind, where an assassin was about to knife him in the back, until they get struck over the head by Professor Charles Xavier.
Gambit thanks Xavier for the save and tells him that it is good to see that the rumors of his death were exaggerated. ‘Do I know you?’ Xavier replies blankly, ‘You don’t look -’ he begins, as he uses his powers to enter Gambit’s mind. ‘Don’t look what? What was I going to say?’ Xavier asks himself, before deciding that it doesn’t matter anymore, as Gambit‘s mind unfolds on first psi-contact, spilling out images and moments. ‘And with an instinct that‘s becoming stronger each time - I home in on myself‘ Xavier decides, as images of Gambit’s past flash through his mind - battling Sabretooth, then of Gambit a pawn of Apocalypse, transformed into Death.
(Flashback - takes place during the “Shattering” storyline)
The X-Men - Wolverine, Cyclops, Phoenix, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat - are assembled before Professor X, as Cyclops remarks that, even in light of the way the Professor has been acting lately, sending them away doesn’t make any sense. ‘I don’t need to explain myself to you, Scott. Under your leadership the X-Men have consistently disappointed me. It’s time to end this farce!’ Xavier shouts. ‘We need more than that. We’re owed more than that!’ Cyclops exclaims.
The dirty sunlight barely beams into Xavier’s dark office, shimmering upon the X-Men as Xavier tells the X-Men that they are owed nothing, as long as he owns this mansion, adding that he is answerable to no one’s will but his own. ‘I’m asking - no, I’m ordering you to leave!’. Cyclops is annoyed, ‘After all you’ve done to shape us, to define us -’ he begins, but Xavier tells him that persisting in a mistake makes it worse, not better. ‘Define yourself. It’s what grown-ups do!’ he bellows. ‘That’s it! I’m done trying to reason with you, Professor. You’re not God. And the X-Men don’t stop existing when you close your eyes!’ Cyclops tells him before he follows the rest of the team out of Xavier’s office.
All but one, however, leave - ‘Gambit, you’re still here. You’re unusually slow at taking a hint’ Xavier remarks. ‘No. I just don’t buy it’ Gambit replies, before telling Xavier that Cajuns can spot a liar, and they even applied a big lie - if it is well told. ‘This one -I’d give it a slow hand-clap’. Xavier asks Gambit if he doesn’t think he is being serious, to which Remy  replies ‘Serious? You ca fool an honest man like Scott, Professor. But you can’t fool a thief’.
Gambit remarks that it is like that trick where you shuffle the ace of spades into a deck and it keeps finding its way back to the top. ‘You keep coming back here. To this place. To these people. You asked Cyclops to define himself without the X-Men, Professor - you want to take that test yourself?’ Remy asks Xavier, holding up the ace of spades card.
(Present)
Checking one of the assassins, Xavier remarks that, luckily for him, Gambit is a long way from Louisiana, adding that Gambit didn’t seem too surprised to see him alive. Holding his staff behind his neck, Remy replies that someone was paying to have Xavier killed - which is usually a good indication that one is not already dead. Gambit reveals that the New Orleans Assassins’ Guild was offered the job. Remy explains that he still has his ear to the ground in New Orleans, so he hard about the offer, and decided to come along to see how it played out.
‘Damn. Too much to hope for this. This man knows nothing, not even who he’s working for!’ Xavier reveals after attempting to read the mind of one of the assassins. Gambit replies that he cannot help, as the Guild works double-blind. Pulling a list from his trench coat, Remy tells Xavier that he is part of a “bulk order”, and remarks that he is in strange company. Xavier looks at the list, only one name on it surprises him. He sans it with a sick sense of inevitability, stopping at the third - Sebastian Shaw; Cain Marko; Carter Ryking; Charles Xavier. Xavier puts the list in his pocket and walks away as Gambit remarks ‘Juggernaut, Shaw. If there’s a link, I don’t -’ Xavier interrupts him, declaring that there is no time for speculation, as one of the men on this list is powerless. ‘If these killers come for him, he won’t stand a chance’.
Soon, at the Ryking Facility, a senior doctor tells Xavier that he is sincerely sorry, and informs him that he has wasted his time coming here, as Carter Ryking passed away last night. Somewhat surprised, Xavier asks how Carter died, to which the doctor reveals it was from a brain hemorrhage. ‘Unfortunately I’m not allowed to show you the -’ he begins, cut off when he was about to say “file” as Xavier messes with his mind. ‘I - I mean - here, take a look at the medical notes. I know you have some training in the area’. The doctor says.
Xavier flips through the file, ‘A spontaneous rupturing of every blood cell in the brain?’ he asks. The doctor replies that it is unique in his experience, and tells Xavier again that he is sorry for his loss. ‘If there’s anything else I can do…’.
Soon, Xavier and Gambit make their way through the corridor. ‘You disapprove of my methods?’ Xavier asks. But Remy replies ‘Not my call’, before adding that he remembers a time when Xavier would have handled the situation differently. Xavier replies that, somehow, he feels a terrible sense of urgency about this. ‘I failed to save Carter. But I believe other lives - many other lives - are also at stake!’.
As they make their way through the main reception area, Xavier and Gambit do not see the man talking on his cell phone - Sebastian Shaw, who tells whomever he is talking to that he will not hold. ‘You can tell Da Costa I’m a Las Cruces!’ he snaps, adding that he is making progress and may even be close to the source. ‘That’s for his ears alone!’ he remarks, before asking the person he is talking to, to tell Da Costa that the energy field that passed through the Hellfire Club has spiked twice since. Shaw explains that it is a regular cycle, peaking every twenty-three hours, and this time, coinciding with the death of a - Shaw is interrupted as he sees Xavier and Gambit walk past him.
Shaw looks concerned, and tells the person he is speaking to that he will call them back. ‘There’s just been a very interesting development’. Shaw gets up to follow Xavier, just as a woman approaches him and lets him know that the doctor will see him now. ‘No need. I’ll pay my respects to the dead another day’. Shaw tells the woman as he puts his phone in his pocket.
Later, driving along a narrow stretch of road, a dusty red glow emanating from the ground and sky, Gambit asks Xavier why it is they are heading out into the desert. ‘Because of the names, Gambit. The names on your list!’ Xavier explains. Xavier informs Gambit that Carter Ryking, Cain Marko and he all had one thing in common, the only person who doesn’t is Sebastian Shaw. ‘Our fathers worked at the nuclear research facility at Alamogordo - so it makes sense to look for answers there!’ Xavier declares. Gambit replies that he is happy to play chauffeur.
Gambit suggests they see if the mess they left behind them at La Cruces has made the news yet, and switches on the radio, where a song is currently playing, and the lyrics strike a chord with Xavier: Remember the breakwaters down by the waves? I first found my courage knowing Daddy would save… And Xavier’s mind flashes back to the past:
(Flashback)
‘Keep your mouth shut you stupid sow! Didn’t I tell you? Didn’t I? You don’t understand anything!’ shouts Kurt Marko as he looms over Sharon Xavier who has fallen to the floor. A bottle of alcohol sits on a nearby table as Kurt stomps around the lounge. Sharon holds a hand up defensively, ‘Kurt, please! I only said - for the children’s sake, we should leave here!’ she pleads. ‘You want me to start on you again, woman?’ Kurt bellows as he tells Sharon that Milbury is not going to let anyone leave. ‘That’s why you’re Sharon Marko now instead of Sharon Xavier!’
The abusive drunk pours himself another drink and mumbles ‘You know what he calls the project now? Cronus, after some Greek God who used to eat his own kids’. He asks Sharon if she thinks that is funny. ‘He thinks it’s funny, can’t stop smiling every time he says it!’. Sharon pulls herself up from the floor, telling Kurt that she will not let Milbury do it, not to her Charlie. But Kurt replies that it is out of their hands now.
‘Anyhow, it might not be Charlie or Cain. It could be any of them’ he declares, before striding over to Sharon and telling her that, whoever it is, she is not getting in the way of this. ‘If it works for him, it’ll work for all of us. And the dying is something that happens to other shmucks!’ he booms as he raises a fist to Sharon - unaware that Charles and Cain are watching from nearby….
(Present)
Gambit remarks that he may need to take a creak at some point, if only to get his bearings, as the desert is hard driving in the dark. ‘The - what?’ Xavier replies, confused. ‘Never mind, Professor. Go back to sleep’ Gambit tells him, to which Xavier apologizes and remarks that he has a lot on his mind. ‘Or what’s left of it’.
Watching Xavier and Gambit from up on a ledge, looking down on the road is a beefy, muscular figure with a hood on, covering his eyes. He carries a massive weapon, and speaks into a communicator on his wrist, announcing that the target is acquired. ‘He’s heading East along 82’. ‘Like a homing pigeon’ the voice on the other end of the communicator replies. The muscular, hooded man asks if they should intercede, but the wrinkled face on the communicator tells him not to, telling him to wait until they stop and get out of the car. ‘There’s another four hours before the next wave-peak. Plenty of time - so let’s make absolutely sure they’ve got nowhere to run to!’.
After some time, Gambit pulls the car over to the side of the road, and noticing something wrong with the Professor, he calls out to him, but Xavier assures him that it is a headache, though admits that it is getting worse. ‘It’s like - static inside my brain. I’ve never felt anything like it’. Helping Xavier to the dusty desert, Gambit places Xavier on a large rock and tells him to sit here while he makes a fire and brews some coffee.  Xavier thanks Remy and remarks that he is sure it will pass in a moment or two. Unbeknownst to Xavier and Gambit, the muscular man watching them quietly orders some of his assassins into their places, ready for an attack. ‘Move up on the left!’ he tells one. ‘I want you behind that ridge until I give you the word.  Then take out the car!’ he tells another.
Soon, the fire is flickering away as night falls upon them. Huddled in a blanket, Xavier sips his drink and asks Gambit what it is he makes the coffee from out here in the desert. Gambit replies that he has to have his secrets, and suggests to the Professor that he doesn’t drink the bottom inch or so.  ‘They destroyed everything. Everything they touched’ Xavier declares. ‘Who did?’ Remy asks. Xavier apologizes and explains that he was thinking out loud. ‘I meant my parent’s generation’ he reveals. ‘Whatever they thought they were doing at Alamogordo, they left us nothing but pain. Cain becoming Juggernaut, and whatever happened to Carter - it was all because of them!’.
‘What about you? You think you still carry anything with you away from that time?’ Gambit asks. Xavier replies that he thinks it is hard for anyone to see his own beginnings. Gambit agrees, remarking that he never even got close to finding out what his were. Xavier reveals to Gambit that it is possible - more than possible - that the Alamogordo facility was run by Mister Sinister using the name Nathan Milbury. This shocks Gambit, who exclaims ‘My God! You’re sure? But back then - you wouldn’t even have been a mutant. Why would he have -?’
Xavier interrupts, explaining that Milbury was a geneticist, and believes that he may have assembled people who carried the x-gene - to see what would happen when they had children. Xavier admits that he has known some of this for a long time, but that he put off coming back here, year after year. ‘There was always something more urgent for me - and the X-Men - to do.  Now I have - no excuses left’ Xavier exclaims, pressing his fingers to his head. Gambit asks if it still hurts, to which Xavier replies ‘Worse than ever. I need a moment or two to - to - collect - my - thought…’.
(In Xavier’s Mind)
Xavier finds himself in a war-torn wasteland. ‘Impossible. This feels - so real. Every texture. Every smell, even. But it can’t -’ he tells himself, when, suddenly, a voice calls out ‘Squaaaad atten-hut! When the siren sounds, you will advance in a platoon order. Do not wait for a signal. There will be no signal!’ Xavier turns and peers around a boulder, where he sees himself, dressed in an army uniform and sitting in a wheelchair, with several figures standing in front of him. The other Xavier exclaims ‘Some of you are conscripts. Some volunteers. The war does not distinguish! The war loves you all alike. But it doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to me!’.
‘Soldiers - move out!’ the wheelchair-bound Xavier orders, and his soldiers, naturally, are revealed to be members of the X-Men - Cyclops, Wolverine, Phoenix, Storm, Colossus, Archangel, Nightcrawler, Banshee, Thunderbird and others. As the X-Men follow their orders, Xavier sees this and calls out to Scott, running to catch up with him as Cyclops shouts ‘Come on, X-Men! Do you want to live forever!?’
The heroes move towards the opposing army, tankers fire at them and guns blaze. Cyclops unleashes his powerful optic beam, Wolverine unsheathes his claws, Banshee forces his powerful sonic scream into the airwaves. But the first casualty is struck - Jean Grey. Shot from behind by a coward. ‘Scott!’ she screams. ‘JEAN!’ Scott cries. More X-Men fall by a mass-fire from a tanker. Banshee. Thunderbird. The embers dart across their bodies.
Xavier watches this, and exclaims that it is not real, that these are not his memories. But his other-self in the uniform explains that they are not memories at all. ‘They’re metaphors’ he explains. ‘This was how it all seemed to me, Charles, as I watched you. Your strategy. Your achievement. You sacrificed the young, as old men always do. For what it’s worth. I approve’. Xavier frowns and looks at his doppelganger, ‘Who are you?’ he asks. ‘At the moment I’m nobody. An echo. A seed’. Comes the reply. ‘I potentiality…but soon I’ll be so much more!’
(Present / Reality)
‘Professor…you need to wake up. Now!’ exclaims Gambit, just in time, as the assassins move in on them, unleashing gunfire. Gambit lunges at Xavier, forcing him to the ground, to protect him from the ambush. ‘Go for the old man! The other one doesn’t matter! shouts the muscular hooded assassin. The assassins lunge at Xavier and Gambit, ‘You wounded my feelings. That was stupid!’ Remy jokes as he fends off the attackers, kicking one o them in the neck he remarks ‘Always go for a vital organ first!’ before tossing several kinetically charged playing cards into the group of attackers, knocking several of them backwards.
Suddenly though, one of the attackers grabs Remy from behind, ‘Got him!’ he shouts, before knocking Gambit’s playing cards out of his hands. ‘No you don’t, Cajun. We’ve seen your lousy card tricks already!’ he declares. At this time, Xavier has managed to stumble across some sand dunes, but falls over. When he looks up though…he is no longer in this realty:
(In Xavier‘s Mind)
A young Charles Xavier looks wide-eyed, as the powerful Mr. Sinister looms over him, scalpel in hand, Sinister exclaims ‘Good boy. We’re almost done…’.