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(Hatch Tech, inc.)
Iceman, Northstar and Gambit arrive at the building on an ice slide. Northstar states that he’d like some advice. Bobby asks why; it sounds like he’s made up with Kyle already. Jean-Paul knows that, but something feels off to him. He just seems a little distant. Remy reckons it makes sense. Kyle thinks there’s no place in Northstar’s life for someone like him. That would be enough to make anyone feel vulnerable.
Jean-Paul asks why he would feel vulnerable. About what? That’s ridiculous! Remy replies that it might be ridiculous to him, but he has a job that’s always taking him away from Kyle. He probably doesn’t feel like a priority in Jean-Paul’s life any more. Bobby quips that what is ridiculous is Kyle taking relationship advice from Remy. He’s always in the middle of some high-drama love triangle that never works out. “I mean jeez,” he adds. “The angst.” Remy asks if he’s done, but Bobby asks how Rogue is. Remy warns him he’s serious, but Bobby says so is he. Making Remy uncomfortable is the best cheap thrill ever!
Whilst Remy works on the door lock, Northstar asks if they can get back to his problem and asks what he can do. Bobby reckons he should keep it simple; get Kyle something nice and make him feel special.
He then asks why Remy, the master thief, hasn’t finished with the door yet. Remy replies that he is and, with a fizz of violet energy, the door drops to the floor with a ‘choom.’ As they enter, Bobby points out that the place is deserted. After those mercenaries attacked them they were expecting some activity. Remy agrees, especially as the G.P.S. tracker they took off them led them right to this building. It feels like a trap to him. Iceman reminds him of the rules. You never say that. Now they’re jinxed! Northstar does a super-quick recon of the place and informs them that there’s no sign of anyone. However, there’s something they need to see.
They head through the dark empty building until Bobby sees what Jean-Paul means. “Now that’s creepy,” he remarks. They all look at a full-scale prison and Bobby asks what this is doing in a weapons manufacturing facility.  “And where are the prisoners?” asks Jean-Paul. Remy asks, more importantly, why there is a S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem on the wall?
(New York, West 73rd Street, later)
Wolverine is having a coffee at Janet & Jiri’s when the Black Widow walks in wearing her civvies. He looks up at her as she approaches and tells her that she’s evil to have come. Natasha says she knows, but she likes seeing him out of sorts. He’s cute when he’s grumpy. He tells her it’s good to see her too and asks what life’s like these days for an Avenger. “Complicated,” she replies, “As you well know.” She reminds him they aren’t there for a chit chat and she has to catch a transport jet in an hour. “For?” he enquires. She smiles and takes his coffee, telling him that it’s just another top-secret mission. Very boring. She might have to save the world… again.
He asks what she knows about the weapons manufacturer. She informs him that Hatchi Tech used to be one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most reliable contractors. It provided advanced firearms, body armor and ammunition. It was all basic but necessary. She shows him a photograph and explains that it’s owned by a very smart businesswoman named Susan Hatchi. Several years ago, she became ill and the company underwent restructuring. Because of this they lost their contract with S.H.I.E.L.D. But, adds Natasha, she has trouble imagining that Hatchi is responsible for organizing the Marauders to attack them. Her biggest crime appears to be an addiction to designer clothing. Logan asks about the holding cells in her facility. She informs him that they used to supply prisons with specialized gear. Running scenarios is a common way of testing prototypes. Logan sighs. He was hoping to catch a break. Natasha adds that Hatchi tech has been sold around the world. Seeing it on those mercs doesn’t really mean much.
Logan still doesn’t think it smells right. Natasha knew he’d say that which is why she’s brought him a list of her holdings. Maybe it will help his investigation. She smiles and says there’s no need to thank her. She knows that she is wonderful. Warbird then enters the café and tells Wolverine that she tires of waiting in his vehicle. If they are return to the school before Prince Kubark exits his classes, then they should find their target quickly and kill him. She adds that she is also hungry. She takes some food off a tray carried by a waitress. “Ah. Thank you human,” she says. Natasha watches her with interest, enjoying the exuberances of a Shi’Ar warrior woman. She whispers to Logan that between the two of them, she could never fight in an outfit like that.
(Bryant Park)
It’s a beautiful day and Kyle is walking through the park with his phone glued to his ear. He is complaining about his lack of Wi-Fi and the fact it will take a week to install it. He works from home and not being able to access his e-mail twenty-four hours a day costs him money. He loses his patience and asks to speak to the manager. Northstar then appears and apologizes for being late. The following wind blows a guy’s hat off and ruffles someone’s newspaper.
Ignoring this, Jean-Paul tells Kyle that he had to run an errand. Kyle loses his call and cries out in frustration, complaining about his lack of internet at the apartment which means he has to lug his laptop to some crowded coffee shop just to check his e-mail. “I hate this!” he cries. Jean-Paul asks if he isn’t overreacting a little. Kyle reminds him that he is responsible for managing the Northstar brand which stands to earn over ten million dollars this year. Doesn’t that matter to Jean-Paul? “It’s just money,” he replies, nonchalantly.
Kyle replies that he guesses Jean-Paul’s job is just punching people in the face, which he clearly thinks is more valuable. Jean-Paul tries to say that wasn’t what he meant, but Kyle tells him that he might not think that what he does is important, but he does. A lot of other people would too if he made them filthy stinking rich. Jean-Paul tries to apologize but Kyle’s phone rings and he answers, greeting Mr. Cheung in Chinese. Despite taking the call, Jean-Paul continues to try and speak with him, forcing him to abandon his call.
Kyle then notes that Jean-Paul is looking ill and asks if he’s going to vomit. Jean-Paul covers his mouth and explains that he isn’t going to vomit… he’s just nervous. Kyle asks if someone died and asks if there is anything wrong with his sister. “Are we being invaded by aliens again?” he whispers. Standing beside the fountain, Jean-Paul takes Kyle’s hand and nervously replies that this is about them. Kyle thinks for a moment, not really wishing to hear the answer to his next question. “Are you… breaking up with me? Jean-Paul drops to one knee and smiles. “Hell no,” he replies. “I’m asking you to marry me.”
Kyle is speechless as he sees the gold band held out before him. Jean-Paul informs him that he came up with the idea that morning. Maybe Kyle is feeling vulnerable right now or scared that he isn’t a priority, or even that he will leave him, but he doesn’t want Kyle to feel that way. Kyle replies that he knows he isn’t going to leave him. Jean-Paul adds that this is so easy he should have thought of it before. Kyle closes his eyes and asks if he really thinks that getting married is easy. He’s come up with this… thing, that he believes will fix everything, but he hasn’t listened to a word he’s said. They are still not on the same page. Still with his eyes closed tight, Kyle tells Jean-Paul that he’s sorry, but he can’t marry him. If he did right now, as things stand, it would be a mistake for the both of them. Northstar can’t believe it and he reminds Kyle that they love each other. Kyle says of course they do, but Kyle is asking him to marry him out of not out of some sense of committed love, but because he wants to put a band-aid on their problems.
Jean-Paul gets to his feet and says that’s not true, but Kyle replies that he didn’t even think this through. Jean-Paul assures him that he did. This is what he wanted! Kyle replies that nothing about this situation is what he wanted. Jean-Paul would have known that if he’d been listening to him. Jean-Paul doesn’t know what’s going on. Didn’t he just say he loved Kyle, loudly and with a ring attached? Kyle replies that he wants them to be together forever, but the way he asked… it doesn’t look like that’s what he wants. It sounds like he’s just doing him a favor. With a tear trickling down his cheek, he tells Jean-Paul that he has to go. He’ll see him when he sees him. With that, he turns and heads off, leaving a disappointed Northstar to crush the ring box between his fingers.
Meanwhile, Kyle appears in someone’s crosshairs. “Got him,” says the guy. His boss, Susan Hatchi, tells them that he knows what to do. “Make it elegant.”
(Red Hook, Brooklyn)
Wolverine, Warbird, Gambit and Iceman are sneaking around the area in the early evening light. Warbird is itching for some action but Wolverine tells her that no one can fight all the time. Sometimes you have to investigate and ask some questions. Warbird replies that she is quite skilled at eliciting answers without bloodshed. All she requires is her tongue. Wolverine can’t tell if she’s being sarcastic or not. Remy informs them that all the east end buildings are empty and there are no signs of any weapons, secret hideouts or Marauders. Bobby adds that there are just some homeless guys who said that military Humvees have been driving in and out of the place at night. An hour ago they heard screams.
Right on cue, they hear another scream. They turn to see Blockbuster charging towards them. He looks scared to death. He mumbles quickly about wanting some help, but Warbird reacts instinctively, throwing her sword into Blockbuster’s back. He falls down dead and Wolverine pulls out the sword. “Damn it Warbird,” he sighs. “I needed to ask him questions.” She replies that in that case he should have stopped Blockbuster himself. Where she is from, the enemy is not allowed to escape. Not twice, anyway.
He hands her weapon back and leads them to a wooden door which he slices through with ease. They look inside and see a pile of dead bodies. Bobby covers his mouth saying he should not have gone to that all-you-can-eat buffet beforehand. The team looks through the bodies and finds the Marauders. Arclight has a harpoon through her neck. Remy thinks they killed each other and fast. None of them had any warning. Logan believes that someone was controlling them and getting rid of the evidence, too. Warbird notes that one of them is missing… the teleporter. “And Chimera,” adds Bobby. Wolverine then sniffs the air and turns towards an open door. He realizes the danger too late and they are all kayoed by a mental assault courtesy of Karma.
(elsewhere)
Northstar takes to the skies, wiping the tears from his eyes as he rockets through the air. He thinks that Kyle is being crazy. He’s tried his hardest to give him what he wants and it’s not enough. His job is important. He saves lives. And what does Kyle do? What does he do? He does everything. He finally realizes what Kyle has been saying to him. He flies at speed towards the ground, crash-landing in a field. He lies on the grass looking upwards, asking himself what he’s done. He apologizes to Kyle for not listening. He gets himself up and heads once more to the skies. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”
(Hatchi Tech, Inc.)
Northstar soon arrives at the facility and tries to get Wolverine to pick up his phone. He leaves a message, informing Logan that he’s back at the weapons facility and that there is some activity. He then gets a call from Kyle and, looking at a bus below, he asks Kyle where he is. “Inside,” he replies. Northstar enters the building and calls Kyle’s name. Iceman replies that Kyle isn’t there, but he is! “Let me teach you about pain,” he warns. Taking on the appearance of an icy scorpion, he lunges at Northstar, who uses his speed to evade Bobby’s massive ice fist. He asks Bobby to stop and listen, but he replies that he is a God and he requires a sacrifice. Ice envelops Northstar but, before it can become too thick, Jean-Paul tells Bobby that he doesn’t know what’s going on, but if he’s hurt Kyle, if he even touched him, he will kill him!
Northstar smashes Iceman in the face, which has the positive effect of bringing Bobby out of his mental thrall. He groans and asks what the heck just happened. Northstar leaves him behind and heads further into the facility. He gets another call from Kyle’s phone and heads to the tunnels below, calling out for Kyle to please stay alive. As he enters the tunnels, he sees Wolverine and Gambit standing there blocking his path. “Too late, mon ami,” says Gambit. “Get ready to die, bub,” adds Wolverine.


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Untitled
(Central Park, New York City, now)
Kyle and Northstar’s wedding party is in full swing. Jean-Paul tells him he bets he never imagined a party like this. “Never,” replies Kyle. “Best day of my life.” Kyle reckons they’re going to have a lot of those. Away from the dancers, Bobby Drake is with Remy LeBeau and Cecelia Reyes. He remarks that it’s a great wedding. “But?” asks Remy. Bobby replies but nothing. It was great. Cecelia says sure it was, but he suddenly looks all twitchy. Bobby admits that he can’t stop thinking about Karma. The other two pause for thought.
(Lower East Side, New York City, one hour ago)
Karma has been severely injured. She struggles alone along the empty street, simply trying to remember her own name and those of her siblings. She repeats her name and tells herself that she is an X-Man. As she lies in her own blood, she thinks about what’s happened to her. She is someone she doesn’t recognize anymore. She doesn’t know what is real and what is all in her head. It’s not the first time she’s lost herself, but this time it was all so sudden. One second she was with her team with her guard down, and then something wriggled inside her head. Something… someone, stole her life.
(The American Museum of Natural History, ten days ago)
Karma is at the museum with Kitty Pryde and her siblings, Nga and Leong. Standing beside a huge whale, Nga takes their photograph. Karma informs Kitty that ever since she bought her the camera she’s wanted to be the next Annie Liebowitz. “For mutants,” adds Nga. Karma bends down besides Leong and asks him to say he loves her. “I love you,” he replies, smiling at the camera as it snaps. Leong takes a photo of the three of them together and they carry on looking around the museum.
Kitty tells Karma that she seems wistful. Karma explains that she keeps thinking about how young they are. Kitty says it’s not like they are old, but Shan replies that she feels old. Kitty asks if she remembers the time they overheard the freshman at the University of Chicago call her a cougar. That’s when she felt old. A tear trickles down Karma’s cheek and she moves towards a window, ensuring the kids aren’t looking at her. She admits that she doesn’t know what’s going on with her lately. She wishes she could start over again. They both stare at a Lion and Lioness and Kitty asks her what’s wrong. Karma looks at her brother and sister taking photos and replies, “Everything.”
As they walk, she explains that it’s been creeping up on her just how much she’s lost. Her brother, her leg… her mind. They’re all things she’s never let herself think about. She asks Kitty if she ever wonders what her life would have been like if she hadn’t joined the X-Men. Kitty replies of course. They all do sometimes. But, she wouldn’t give up all the good stuff that came from it to erase the bad. “No,” replies Karma. “Of course you feel that way.” Kitty assures her that she can talk to her, but Shan says she wouldn’t understand. “I’m your friend,” replies Kitty. Shan looks into Kitty’s eyes and decides she’s right.
She tells Kitty that if she gave up everything she’s experienced with the X-Men and traded all the good to get rid of the bad, for her it still wouldn’t help. Her whole life was a series of people making choices for her; her father, her brother, the men who killer her mother. “The men who… who...” She tells Kitty that she knows what they did to her. She was just a kid. She’d never even been kissed. That was her life before the X-Men. Kitty assures her that she’s a different person now. Karma hugs her and agrees that she’s an X-Man, but she feels old and alone and scared. With or without the X-Men, her life is a mess. She adds that she hates feeling this way. She’s never wallowed and doesn’t want to start now.
As they leave the museum wondering where to go next, a woman stumbles on a step. Shan catches her and the woman smiles at her, saying she’s such a klutz. Karma’s phone then rings and she answers to find Wolverine on the other end, asking for her time. It’s urgent. Kitty says she’ll take the kids home to Westchester for the night.
(one hour ago)
Karma lies on the floor in pain. A group of down-and-outs find her and see all the blood. A guy notices her bionic leg and wonders if the army gave her that in Iraq. Another wonders if she’s really a veteran. The guy replies that he was there, too. He’s got some shrapnel on his brain. As Karma tries to get up, another guy asks her not to move. Confused, Karma misreads the situation and believes they are looking for trouble. She uses her mental abilities to stop them in their tracks and makes her way out of the alley.
(ten days ago)
Logan is leaning against a van waiting for Karma. A little bird lands on his shoulder and he recognizes the sign. “Hello darlin’” he smiles. As the bird flies away, he turns to see Karma approaching him. Logan tells her that he likes her little spies. Karma replies that she just likes flying. She asks if he wants to explain why she had to abandon her brother and sister to lean against a van with him. Logan mentions how pre-cogs are always having visions and bad dreams. Well, some of them lately have to do with them. Shan asks if he means them specifically or is it one of those X-Men problems. Logan replies that involves the X-Men, which is why he’s called a meeting at Gambit’s place to talk about it. Shan bets he’s thrilled about that, but Logan replies that Remy doesn’t know they’re coming.
Shan pauses, so Logan asks, “…what?” Shan replies that after this is over she’s done. Bobby then turns up with some food. Shan asks what it’s for. Bobby replies that they have to feed the beast. He slides the van’s side door open revealing Warbird sitting in the back. She informs Shan that she told them she will hunt her own prey. There is prey on these streets. She has seen many four-legged creatures. She thinks they call them dogs. “You’re better off with a dumpling,” quips Bobby, “And no… cats are not edible either.”
Shan closes her eyes and places her hand against her forehead, prompting Logan to ask if her head hurts. She says she’s had a headache ever since she left the museum. Warbird wishes to leave the van and explore but Logan replies that now isn’t the time. Warbird finds that unacceptable. For better or for worse, it has become clear that she will not be leaving this world in the near future. So, she must learn about it, study its weaknesses and strengths and make it her home. Karma says she’ll walk with her. It might help her headache. Logan asks them to take Bobby too. He’s napping in the back.
Once out of the van, five blocks from Remy’s apartment, Warbird checks out her surroundings. She spots a little girl and her mother. She says hello to the child and informs her that her guardian looks like a Sidarian soul devil and asks if she knows how to kill one. The woman holds her daughter’s hand tightly and ushers her away. “But…” says Warbird, “In case they invade… she would know how to protect herself.” Bobby tells Warbird that it’s okay, but Warbird replies that it isn’t. Something always comes.
As she speaks she notices a group of soldiers hiding in the trees nearby. She doesn’t hesitate for a moment as she leaps over a small wall, heading quickly in their direction. Iceman calls out her name but Karma doubles over grabbing her head. “What’s… wrong… with me?” she cries.
(Central Park, now)
Karma staggers across a bridge and realizes by spotting a marquee tent that she’s at Northstar’s wedding. She wonders how she got there. She turns to see a woman in a short red dress flanked by two mercenaries. “You!” Shan exclaims, recognizing her from the museum earlier. “Yes, me,” replies Susan Hatchi, “Clumsy old me. The woman with her finger on your soul.” Karma tries to fight her mental control but struggles in pain. Susan tells her it’s cute that she would try to fight her, but the nanotech she infected her with makes Karma hers. Entirely hers. Karma asks why her. Susan tells her that whether she realizes it or not, she is one of the most powerful of the X-Men. She likes power and using that power. She likes owning it.
Karma tells her that it’s not that. That isn’t the reason. “It’s more than that. When you… look at me…” Susan replies that it’s true and she’s surprised that Shan doesn’t recognize her yet. Shan suddenly remembers and she reaches out towards Susan Hatchi. “I’m going to kill you…” she snarls. “Kill you for good.” She lunges at her and grabs Susan around the neck. She has her soldiers remove her, just as Logan appears holding his stomach. Karma is freed and allowed to run towards him but, as she comes into his view, Susan activates a remote control and an explosive device in Logan’s stomach goes off, ripping a massive hole in his torso. Karma is then grabbed by the mercs with one of the putting a hand over her mouth.


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Untitled
Wolverine is recovering from his injuries which came courtesy of a bomb having exploded inside his stomach. Hank McCoy and the visiting Cecelia Reyes check data on their computer and both spot a small unusual object. Gambit asks them if they know what caused the explosion. Hank replies that, if they were on another world in another universe, he would speculate that it was a very small Shai-Hulud; a fictional reference of course. Remy says he knows full well that it’s a sandworm from Dune. He does read. Cecelia calls them nerds. Bobby looks at the screen and can’t believe that blew up Wolverine. It looks like something that lives in intestines. Hank reckons some probably were in his gut. His body was infested with the things… each one a little bomb.
Jean-Paul asks what it is. Hank informs him that it’s an advanced form of nanotech. It’s so advanced that he must speculate that its origins are not of this world. Jean-Paul asks him to please pretend it is. Hank replies that he’s calling in Warbird in case she, as a Shi’Ar warrior, can identify it. Bobby asks how it got into Wolverine. Does Hank think that Karma had anything to do with it? Remy reckons they should look at Hatchi Tech first before they blame her. Wolverine, still weak as his body knits itself together again, explains that Karma was there. She watched him explode along with a handful of the same mercenaries who hit them at Gambit’s place. Hatchi Tech, Karma… it’s all tied together. Hatchi owns the warehouse where they found the dead marauders. The mercs had their tech and they got mind-screwed at their facility. He finally tracked down the owner and was going to talk to her before he went boom.
Remy tells him they’ll pay her a visit, but he turns to Jean-Paul and asks him to go home. He has a new husband who he can’t be neglecting. Jean-Paul tells him that Kyle’s the most important person in his life which is why he needs to make sure whoever hurt him and whoever used Karma to hurt him can never do so again.
(later)
Susan Hatchi is giving a speech to some members of the business community. Remy, Jean-Paul and Bobby have turned up to listen to what she has to say. She talks about how money is the bottom line in business and how if the market doesn’t respond to one of their projects, they evolve it until it’s exactly what the market needs. Bobby thinks she’s hot, but Jean-Paul reminds him that she’s probably a killer. Remy adds that either way, she’s no fool so they should tread softly on this one. Once Hatchi’s speech is over she prepares to leave, but the X-Men ask her for a word.
Hatchi’s overly-large bodyguard warns him to back off but she checks her phone and tells him she’ll talk to them. She knows all their names and in a flirty manner says that her heart is all aflutter. Northstar asks her to cut it out. She knows why they are there. She replies bluntly that she put a bomb in Wolverine, took over Karma’s mind and made her take possession of his new husband and the X-Men. She also killed the Marauders, or rather their most recent incarnation. “Clones are so convenient.” She looks up from her phone and asks if they thought she’d deny it.
Jean-Paul asks why she would do that. Bobby adds that they don’t even know her. “Don’t you?” she replies. She informs them that it was an experiment. She needed to test some new technology and who better to be her guinea pigs than the X-Men. If she can beat them she can beat anyone and it’s becoming abundantly clear to her that she can beat them anytime she wants. Remy tells her she made it personal. She replies nonchalantly that maybe she can be petty. She asks if they know that she used to be a mutant - a low-level telepath. She lost her gift along with most every other mutant on the planet. But, that doesn’t mean she lost her imagination.
Jean-Paul asks if she has Karma. Susan says that’s a loaded question. If she does… what then? Will he attack her in this crowded room with all these witnesses? Will he risk the reputation of the X-Men and mutants everywhere? As her bodyguard wraps Susan’s coat around her shoulders, she adds that it’s so difficult being the ‘good minority.’ There’s so much pressure and so little room for mistakes. She congratulations him on the wedding day and says her husband is very handsome. As she walks away, Bobby asks if they’re really letting her go. Remy says no. She drew the line in the sand. “And now we cross it,” adds Northstar.
Back at the school, Wolverine is now sitting up and his hair is growing back. Warbird tells him that he looks like a Gruarg vomited him from its stomach. Logan replies that if she’s going to talk about vomit it’d better be with a beer in her hand. Hank tinkers with the nano-worm and tells Cecelia Reyes that it’s kind of her to be there on her day off. On a personal note, he says it’s good to see her again. Cecelia replies that she missed him. E-mail isn’t quite the same. He asks if Wolverine offered her a chance to work there on a more permanent basis. She replies that he did but she turned him down. She doesn’t think she was ever suited for this life. Working the E.R. might be hard but the people she sees need her more than the X-Men do. She knows her friends are here, but she makes a difference there. She has her priorities.
Hank tells her that she is always true to her heart which is something he deeply admires. He returns to business and notices that the worm has a transmitter. She asks how he can tell. He informs her that the computer has been analyzing its internal structure and just found traces of a deviously small digital signal processor and RF amplifier. He explains that an individual nano-worm probably has no signal strength whatsoever, but working in unison? That combined power might allow them to reach anyone in the world. He mentions that if he can activate this one then they might be able to follow its signal.
As he speaks, the worm wraps itself around the pointer he is using and begins to transmit a signal. Hank immediately tracks it. Cecelia asks if he has any safeties in place. He asks her to have no fear. “It won’t explo…” Cecelia asks him to look out. He steps back and Cecelia erects a force field as, naturally, the nano-worm explodes. She asks if he’s okay. Hank quickly turns to a monitor and says that he was able to capture the focus of the signal transmission. They have a location. “I’ll take that as a yes,” she remarks.
(meanwhile, a little later)
Jean-Paul and Kyle are in bed. Jean-Paul apologizes to him. Kyle says it’s okay, but Jean-Paul replies that it’s not. He doesn’t want to leave him. They’ve already postponed their honeymoon. He almost wishes Hank hadn’t found that transmitter. Kyle says this isn’t like him, but Jean-Paul reckons that maybe it should be. When he saw that woman and thought about what she did to Kyle, well, things would be easier if they could just kill the people who want to hurt them. Kyle kisses the back of his hand and replies that he’s a jerk, not a killer. Jean-Paul continues to say they have an obligation to protect themselves. It used to be easier, more straightforward. When he was young, there was never any question that violence was an option that worked.
Kyle asks if that’s why he punched Iceman’s head off when he was being mind-controlled. Because he was protecting them? Or, was it because he was furious and desperate and not in his right mind? He adds that he could have killed Bobby and it wouldn’t have been for the right reason. Northstar gets up and puts on his pants, telling Kyle that he has to keep him safe. Kyle tells him that he could do that; put him in a box and hide him on a shelf where no one could ever hurt him, but he wouldn’t be the man he married. That doesn’t sound so great to him. Northstar smiles and says he’s glad they’re married. Kyle keeps him from doing stupid things.
Kyle tells him he’d better get up. JP has bad guys to catch and he has his brand to manage. Their wedding is going to generate about three million dollars in new revenue. “Love mixed with greed is a sexy look on you, Mister Beaubier-Jinadu,” replies Jean-Paul. He asks if Kyle is sure about him leaving. Kyle says he’s okay with it. This is his job and he’s good at it. Jean-Paul kisses him and says he’ll be home as soon as he can. With a blur he is gone, leaving Kyle to whisper to himself, “I know you will.”
On board the Blackbird, Bobby asks where they are. He’s slept through the entire flight. Northstar informs him that they’re in Akhalhalaki, Georgia. Hank traced the signal to an abandoned Russian military base. It’s radioactive and being used by their bomb-happy enemy in heels. Remy adds that they don’t know what they are going to find there, but Beast said their tech is advanced, even by their standards. Bobby wants to rewind to the ‘radioactive’ part of that statement, but Cecelia would rather not. Remy tells her he’s surprised she came on this mission. She replies that it’s for Karma. If they do find her there is a good chance that she’ll need medical attention. All of them will if they get around more of those exploding things. “Face it,” teases Iceman. “You just like us. You really really like us.”
They arrive at their coordinates and realize that they are going to need a distraction. Moments later, Iceman provides just that when he creates an ice monster that attacks some of the facility’s guards. As the X-Men enter the building, Warbird salutes his distraction. Bobby coughs and replies that he gets a little more awesome every day. Northstar does a quick recon and Remy asks him if he found Karma. He replies no, but he’s found something else.
He leads them to a large room filled with makeshift hospital beds. As they approach some of the people in there, Cecelia informs them that she’s a doctor and asks what happened. A bearded man replies that they were supposed to come to the place for work and that was that. A Dark-haired woman adds that they were experimented on. Remy says they have to go now, but Cecelia asks if he’s kidding. These people aren’t there of their own free will. They need help! Remy says that they will get help, but they need to find Karma. Cecelia looks around at the poor state of health of the people surrounding them and asks Remy to radio when they find her. Right now, she can be of more help where she is.
Warbird states that the enemy is close behind them. “And they’re feeling feisty,” adds Iceman. Warbird senses danger and shouts for everyone to get down. Iceman quickly erects an ice wall for protection as gunfire rings out. The bullets go through the ice as Warbird grabs Northstar and pushes him to the ground. He thanks her, but reminds her that he is faster than a bullet. “Does it matter?” she asks. Iceman tells Northstar that he thinks they found Karma. Warbird holds her swords out and tells them she will hold them off. As the others head off, Warbird roars into action.
Northstar soon enters a small room where Karma is sitting down. Her arms are shackled and she is wearing a helmet with all kinds of cables attached to it. “Oh, no,” gasps Jean-Paul. He asks who these animals are. Remy replies that they know who one of them is and Iceman adds it’s Susan Hatchi… and they let her walk away. They remove the helmet and Remy injects her with a sedative Hank gave him until they know for certain whether she’s a threat or not. They pick up Karma and return to Warbird’s location to find that she has successfully cleared a path for them. Remy calls Cecelia and asks her to get ready to move. They have Karma.
As they arrive back in the makeshift hospital, they find Cecelia asking the injured why they are just standing there. They can leave now so they have to move. One of them replies that they must please go and leave without them. They have to. Remy tells Cecelia that they have to go. Cecelia informs him that they won’t budge. She’s done everything except threaten them. The dark-haired woman says she told her already. None of them are allowed to run. An older man, sweating and desperate asks if they can take him. He can’t stay there anymore. He moves towards the X-Men, but after a few paces he steps over a set of parallel yellow lines and explodes right before them.
The explosion spreads out towards a bank of missiles. Cecelia tells the people to run towards her, but Remy grabs her and, suddenly, everything goes black. There is a massive explosion and Cecelia’s force field automatically kicks in to protect herself and the X-Men around her. The blast covers them in rubble, leaving them in a small underground pocket. “This is… really… getting old,” she groans. Up above them, the facility is completely destroyed with all the people she was trying to help dead.


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Untitled
Following a massive explosion at one of Susan Hatchi’s plants in Georgia, the X-Men are trapped underground with Cecelia Reyes, who is using her force field to protect them from being crushed. Her friends manage to joke and banter back and forth, but this only serves to distract her from keeping the force field intact. She resorts to shouting at them to shut up. She asks if any of them are hurt and why Gambit isn’t saying anything. Northstar informs her that he’s right beneath her. Can she feel him breathing? Iceman uses a thin ice tendril to brush against his ear which prompts him to wake up. Remy asks Cecelia if she’s keeping them alive. She strains as she attempts to respond, but informs him that she doesn’t know how much longer she can do this.
Northstar tells her she’s doing a crappy job right now. He can’t breathe. “Ta gueule,” replies Remy, but Northstar tells him not to tell him to keep his mouth shut. Warbird warns them to stay silent. The healer is keeping them alive. They should be grateful. She asks Iceman if he can excavate them with his power. Bobby replies that he might be able to but he doesn’t know what effect it would have on Cecelia’s force field. Remy tells Cecelia that she saves lives every day. Every day someone comes to her bleeding and broken and she makes miracles with her brain and bare hands. This is nothing. He moves his lips to her ear and whispers, “Brave, stubborn, Cecelia Reyes. You are not going to let us die.”
The words are enough and Cecilia tells herself that they are not going to die in this hellhole like a bunch of animals. She’s survived too much. She concentrates hard and pushes her force field upwards. Slowly it moves the earth out of the way until finally breaks through to the surface. Iceman creates an ice slide and the team exits the hole, breathing fresh air again.
Bobby cradles Karma and realizes that she’s waking up. She is confused and doesn’t seem to know where she is. Gambit holds Cecelia who is exhausted after her efforts. He tells her she did it. She saved them. Cecelia replies that didn’t do enough. She looks around at the devastation and says she couldn’t protect those other people in the room. “Not your fault,” Remy assures her. Cecelia isn’t sure that she believes that. She’s spent her entire life wishing she wasn’t a mutant. What if she’d spent that time learning how to use her power? Maybe she could have helped them. Remy tells her they can’t live in a world of what-if’s.
Seemingly from nowhere, two grenades are tossed at them. Northstar quickly responds and managed to toss them clear but he and the others are shaken by the explosion. As the dust settles, Susan Hatchi appears wearing a face mask with two soldiers by her side. She finds the X-Men on their knees adorable. She doesn’t know whether to celebrate or to start ripping off their faces. Maybe she’ll start with Shan. Bobby coughs and warns her to leave Karma alone. Susan walks over to her and bends down. Shan throws up on her boots and smiles. “Oops,” she says. Susan tells her that it’s lucky she inherited some mercy from her mother. If she had done that to their uncle’s boots she thinks he might have shot her. “Uncle,” gasps Bobby. “Wait, what… you’re related?”
Sisters, says Susan. Correcting her, Karma says half-sisters and she should leave her friends out of this. Susan asks her to say please and Karma does. “Say… pretty please,” asks Susan. Karma pauses but says it, much to Susan’s amusement. She asks Karma if she would do anything for them. If she asked Karma to bark like a fog, she would bark. If she asked her to jump back into the hole, she’d jump of her own free will. “They’re not even your family!” she adds, saying that she owns them now. She owns their bodies. She might as well own their souls. “Like hell,” replies Northstar.
Susan Hatchi presses a button on a small remote control which causes Jean-Paul to scream in pain. His eyes begin to bleed and he realizes that he cannot see. He’s blind. Susan turns to the others and informs them that each of them has been infected with her nano-worms. They inhaled millions of them and by now they are in every part of their bodies. If she wanted to, she could paralyze them. If she wanted to she could cut off the oxygen to their brains. All she has to do is push a button. She could return Northstar’s sight. Northstar tells her to do it. He’ll even beg. Susan replies that she’ll save begging for dessert. She wants something else instead. She wants Madripoor! The X-Men look at her. “Huh?” says Iceman.
Susan explains that they are going to take over the island for her. If they don’t, she will kill them; and if that isn’t incentive enough, she will infect all of New York City with this technology… every man, woman and child. And she will blow them up. She won’t lose any sleep over that. A demonstration like that will make her billions on the black market. Some might even call her a hero.
Gambit asks what’s stopping her. Susan replies that she isn’t ready to be called a terrorist just yet. “That’s our job, right?” replies Cecelia. Susan tells her that bitterness isn’t a cute look on her. She wants the island as a demonstration to the world that she has a weapon powerful enough to control the X-Men; a weapon that can bring them to their knees. What do they think that is worth? What do they think that is worth to a government that wants to control its people? What is that worth to an organization that wants to control a government?
Iceman warns her that the other X-Men will come and they will stop them. Susan replies that if they do they know what the consequences will be. They will do their job fast. She wants Madripoor in twenty-four hours. They shouldn’t even think about betraying her. She will be able to see through their eyes and hear every word they say. And… if any of them move more than one hundred feet apart, they will explode.
(later)
The X-Men head to Madripoor and think about how they are going to achieve this. Gambit tells Karma that Susan doesn’t really care about Madripoor. Karma agrees. She just wants them to play her crazy games and play by her crazy rules. It doesn’t make sense but then it doesn’t have to. She’s like their father that way. Remy asks how well she knows her. Karma replies that she doesn’t. They only met once when they were children in Vietnam. Their father had two families. Her mother didn’t know until the other woman came looking for him and brought his daughter along. Remy guesses Susan Hatchi isn’t her real name. Karma tells him she was called D’ao. She was mean, even back then. She tried to stab her mother and then her, just for existing. She’s not sure she can blame her, though.  She grew up different from them. They had their father more than she did. They had his protection and she had none at all. She never saw her again after that night. She never even thought about her. She had bigger problems.
Iceman says she’s sure as hell a problem now. Remy asks if she believes that Susan can see through their eyes and hear everything they say. “Or that we’ll freakin’ explode if they separate?” adds Bobby. Karma replies yes. She believes her. Warbird asks how they know what she will not betray them. Karma tells her she doesn’t. She was nothing but a puppet once she decided to control her. Remy reckons there’s no time to worry about that. They have job to do. He lets go of a card which drifts downwards towards the wharf.
(Madripoor, the Wharf)
A soldier asks Tyger Tiger what their orders are. Tyger says she wants all the gunrunners taken alive. They will find out who is supplying them and they’ll be one step closer to taking back the city. Remy’s card then drifts across her and she grabs it. She looks at the card which has a burnt hole in the middle and, looking upwards, tells her soldiers that something’s come up. They can call her with a report as soon as they’ve made an arrest. They can handle the raid without her. There is someone she needs to find.
(elsewhere)
A water plane lands near the coast of Madripoor and Logan, in his Patch identity, steps off and onto the jetty. He reports to Kitty Pryde by radio that he’s just landed and finding the X-Men shouldn’t be too difficult. Figuring out why the hell they are in Madripoor - that’s the real question. It’s a good thing they can track the Blackbird. He asks if there’s any word from Beast on how they can remote-disable the tech that was inside him. He then asks Kitty to hold that thought as a familiar bluebird lands on his shoulder. “I think I have a lead.”
Remy leads the team to a steel factory, which glows orange from the molten metal. They discuss the situation and Northstar concludes that if they’re going to have to do this, they should bomb Madripoor and terrify its people so much they give up without a fight. Cecelia thinks he’s nuts, but he replies that he wants to see Kyle again. He wants to live. Bobby says he knows that Jean-Paul is bummed about losing his sight, but Northstar interrupts him and says it was hell. But, Kyle comes first.
Tyger Tiger then arrives and Remy says he’s glad she found them. She replies that he wasn’t subtle. She asks what he and the X-Men are doing sneaking around her city. “And,” she adds. “Why did I just get a call from Wol…” Remy shuts her up by kissing her. She tells him that he’s sexy and smart and stupendous in a fight, but if he ever tries to shut her up with a kiss again she’ll put her foot so far up his ass her toes with be in his teeth. He smiles and tells her that when this is over, she’ll probably want to do more than that. “We’re here to take over your city.”
After a brief explanation, Cecelia says it’s ridiculous. They’re not doing this. Iceman agrees. They are the good guys and it doesn’t matter who puts a gun to your head. Northstar asks what about New York? What about any other city Hatchi decides to target? Warbird agrees. This is for the greater good. Bobby says absolutely not. They give in now, it won’t stop. Northstar replies that, if they won’t act, he will. He can wrap up Madripoor in a heartbeat. Bobby warns him that he won’t let them but Northstar tells him not to get in his way. “You already tried to kill me once,” replies Bobby. Northstar points out that it was to save Kyle and he’ll do it again. Bobby asks if he’s willing to kill a bunch of people to save his sight. How about a bunch of innocent people? “You’re a coward, Jean-Paul.” Northstar snarls back at him and says he’s just pissed that he handed him his ass and didn’t even break a sweat. He tells Bobby that he’s nobody. He’s no fighter. He’s no strategist. All he’s good for in situations like this s making ice sculptures. “You can’t even get a girlfriend,” he adds.
Bobby reaches out at him angrily and extends several icy tendrils to pull Jean-Paul towards him. Cecelia calls out to them to stop this but Warbird asks her to let them fight. They need this for their friendship. Iceman tells Jean-Paul that he isn’t going to let him hurt anyone. Northstar replies that it’s his decision to live with so he can get the hell off him. Iceman lunges forwards as Northstar removes the tendrils and he falls through a thin fence and falls towards a vat of molten metal. “No!” screams Northstar as he watches Bobby fall, splashing into the vat below. “Bobby?” asks Northstar, visibly shocked. “Oh my God,” exclaims Cecelia. “You killed him.”


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Untitled
(Saigon, Vietnam, before)
Da’o Coy Manh is in a room, crouching besides a bed. Her mother is speaking with Colonel Coy, who tells her that he told her to stay away. She informs him that the money ran out and she had nothing left to sell or to eat. The soldiers were coming so they had to leave. He replies that she went to his wife first. He hears there was blood. Crying, Dao’s mother say she thought his wife knew about them. He warns her not to lie to him. He doesn’t have time for lies. He points his pistol at her temple and tells her that she has no idea what is happening here and what is at stake. Everything is coming down and, if any of them make it out alive, it’ll be a miracle.
“Please, I love you,” she cries. Without another word, he shoots her dead. He then looks down at Da’o, who fixes him with a stare. He tells his accomplice to do something with the girl. He asks about the body but Colonel Coy replies that they can leave it where it is. People die there all the time and the owners will know what to do. He places his hand on the girl’s shoulder and explains that he had no choice. Killing her mother was a mercy. She would have been tortured for information about him and so would she. Da’o replies that she is going to kill him but he says that someone else will do that.
He leaves with Da’o, who asks where he is taking her. He informs her that it’s someplace no one will find her. Powerful men want to hurt her father and they could use her to do that. They come to a stop and he apologizes for her mother. “Don’t be,” she replies. “She was weak.” He introduces her to an old woman who asks if she has a family. When he tells her that she hasn’t, she asks if she’s there from the goodness of her heart. The man says no, so the woman offers him twenty dollars, which he accepts. She leads Da’o to a room where several children are seated at computers.
(Madripoor, now)
One of Da’o’s underlings informs her that it appears the “ice mutant” is dead. He and a colleague can see everything the X-Men are doing on several large screens. He adds that the nano-worms made the confirmation before deactivating. No brain activity and no heartbeat. She checks her phone and casually replies that one less doesn’t matter. She was going to kill them all anyway. They should start, she adds with a smile. She’s waited long enough.
(meanwhile)
Warbird is furious and she grabs Northstar, calling him a fool for killing Iceman. He assures her that it was an accident. “You disgust me,” she replies. Karma tells Gambit that they’re done there. They’ve already lost. Remy says they can’t give up yet but she asks why not. She won. She stole their lives and didn’t even break a sweat. Remy says they’ll find a way. They always do. Tyger cries out that they’re all crazy.
Karma’s phone goes off. It’s Da’o on the line, so Karma puts it on speaker phone. Da’o says they are crazy, but she does love how her X-Men work. Who needs an enemy with friends like them? After Karma asks what she wants now, Da’o replies that they are working too slowly. One might think that they don’t care that lives will be lost if they fail her. So… she is tightening her rope. She wants them to take out Madripoor’s transportation hub - the airports and the marina. They have fifteen minutes or Warbird and Northstar die. Or, she adds, Northstar could just kill them himself. Furious at her remark, Jean-Paul grabs the phone and crushes it.
Immediately the X-Men hear a large ‘boom,’ and look out across the city. There are flames all around. Tyger asks what they have brought to her city. Cecelia reminds Northstar not to put any distance between them as Tyger warns them that she’s not going to let them take Madripoor. Remy replies that there is no time for this but she tells him to screw that. She thought he was her friend. She lashes out at him but Remy blocks her attack and says he isn’t going to fight her. “You better,” she replies as she tries a right hook.
He reminds her that this isn’t their fault but she kicks out at him and asks him to tell that to all the people who are burning alive down there. She punches again and says she doesn’t care what he says. They brought this to Madripoor. The X-Men always bring trouble and people like her have to clean up their mess. As they move in close to one another, Remy charges a card and, as he asks her to do what she has to do, he taps her on the shoulder several times. Tyger glances down at the card. “We’ll be waiting,” he adds before they depart. Once they are gone, Tyger says, “Damn it, Gambit.
A voice from behind her tells her she sounds like him. She turns to see Wolverine leaning against a pole dressed in his civvies in his roles as Patch. She is surprised that, after all these years, he’s still wearing the eye patch. Doesn’t he realize that everyone knows exactly who he is? “I like dressing up,” replies Logan. Tyger informs him that her Morse code is terrible and so is Gambit’s, but she did her best to put on a good show. She asks what he thinks about this mess. Logan replies that you don’t destroy airports and boats unless you want to make people stay put. He wonders who Susan Hatchi wants to keep on the island… and why?
(meanwhile)
As firefighters try and quell the flames, the X-Men are confronted by another group of X-Men wearing their original costumes. Gambit exclaims that now he’s really offended, whilst Karma determines that they are just normal humans fitted out with tech. She tries to get inside their minds but realizes that Hatchi has shut down her powers. With no unnatural abilities to have lost, Warbird leads the charge as they figure that they’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way. Despite their augmentations, the interlopers are no matched for a team of seasoned X-Men even if they are powerless and they go down quickly.
On television, a reporter informs his viewers that media outlets were alerted just prior to the attack and told to go to the airport for a demonstration of power. They’ve just witnessed pure destruction. For those tuning in, he adds, he tells them that Madripoor airport has been destroyed by the mutant group known as the X-Men. An image of Karma appears on television as he adds that they are getting word on some of their identities now. An anonymous caller has informed his producer that the woman’s name is Shan Coy Manh. Watching this on television, a shadowy figure reaches for their pistol.
With the faux X-Men down, Karma berates Jean-Paul for relying on his powers too much in the past He doesn’t even know how to run without them. He asks why he would. They’re part of him. “Maybe your weakest part, Jean-Paul,” she replies. “Maybe all of ours,” adds Remy. They look around and see Tyger Tiger standing there aiming a pistol at them. She has three cops with her doing likewise and she asks them to go ahead. She would love an excuse to shoot them all.
As they are led into a truck, Remy tells Tyger that she knows they aren’t her enemies. If she locks them up, people are going to die! She tells him that she doesn’t want to hear it, but he takes her earpiece and says, “An’ if I force you to?” She orders him into the truck and to shut the hell up. As soon as they are inside, Tyger and her men are shocked to see two cars coming right at them with a guy with a machine gun letting loose. One car crashes into the truck. Inside, Northstar asks Gambit if he has a plan for this. He replies yes; it’s called shut up an’ see what happens.
The doors are flung open and several armed men aim rifles at them. “Sit still,” one of them commands. Karma asks Gambit to look at their tattoos. They’re local guys... the mob. Not Susan’s men. Remy says good. He was getting bored of them. Two of them look right at Karma and one of them, a bald guy with several facial piercings tells her she looks like him.
The truck is taken to a remote location and driven inside a large warehouse. The X-Men are allowed out and, as soon as Karma sets foot outside the truck, her eyes widen. Walking towards her is an old man carrying an oxygen cylinder. Northstar asks her what’s wrong. The man replies for her, informing Jean-Paul that what is wrong is that he is her father and he died when she was a child. As the windows shatter from gunfire behind him, he adds that it seems he is going to have to die again. He tells Shan that it’s good to see her. “Good to see you, too, dad,” she replies.
Outside, one of Susan Hatchi’s men hands her a rocket launcher. She takes aim at the warehouse and fires. Once the place explodes, she smiles and asks them to start digging as soon as the fire burns out. She wants to see their bodies.


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Untitled
Susan Hatchi wanders through the rubble of a warehouse that she’s just destroyed, looking for her father. One of her soldiers discovers another body, though it’s just a hand sticking out from beneath the fallen masonry. She replies that it’s not him. The skin looks too young. Nearby, Karma lies against some fallen beams, thinking about how she’s been silent all this time, lost in the moment and caught up in every slam, every hit and every surprise. She’s been taking it on the chin just like she’s taken every other tragedy in her life, because good girls… good little soldiers, they never complain, do they? Mind you, what would be the point, she thinks, when they’ve been raised to believe that no one will listen or care? So, they swallow the pain and silence their voices. Sometimes they can live with that silence. Sometimes. That is until the silence becomes something else. Until it deforms them and makes them monsters.
Susan makes her way through what is left of the building and finds Karma lying there. She points her pistol at Xi’an’s face but, as she does so, a gun is placed at her own head. “Pull that trigger and I’ll kill you,” says her father, standing there with his oxygen tank by his side. Susan turns and asks if he’s still playing favorites. Karma tells her father that he won’t pull the trigger. No one’s shooting anyone. Susan asks her not to make promises she can’t keep. Not unless she wants to be just like him. She thinks about it a second and realizes that all this was for him. Susan replies that it’s not exactly. She wanted to test her weapons so that was never a lie. But, then she thought, why not see what happens. She’s been looking for him for years. She never believed him to be dead, not for a minute, but she couldn’t find him. Not with all her money or all her contacts. So, she used his weakness… her. She used Karma as bait to see if he would come for her. And he did.
Their father asks if they didn’t think he knew they wanted to find them. All this time, he knew that Susan Hatchi, weapons dealer, was the daughter he abandoned - Da’o Coy Manh. He is sorry for that. “Sorry,” replies Susan, still aiming her pistol at Karma who now holds one aimed at her father. Susan explains that she hated him for never claiming her and her mother as his family; for not protecting them like he protected them. She believes that they weren’t real to him. They were mistakes, and he cleaned up that mistake with a bullet in her mother’s head. Is that what he’s going to do to her?
Her father replies that he doesn’t want to, but she should never have come looking for him. That was her mother’s mistake, too. He assures Susan that he did protect her mother and he protected her too. He was being hunted and knew too much about his brother’s enterprise; about things going on in the government and the war. Those men would have found her and her mother. They could die quick or die slow with torture. Which would she have preferred? Susan replies that it doesn’t matter now. She’s going to kill him. She won’t feel better but it’ll be justice for her and her mother.
She turns back to Karma and asks if she thinks she can stop her. Karma replies that she’s made up her mind. But, everyone else, all those people she’s threatened to kill… can’t she let them go? She made it personal which is fine, but she shouldn’t bring innocent people into this. Susan asks why not? She’s still a businesswoman.
(New York City)
Kyle is at the apartment chatting to someone on loudspeaker when he hears a knock on the door. He answers it and tells the person on the other end that he’ll call them back. “Kyle Jinadu?” asks one of two men standing there. “Jinadu-Beaubier,” he replies, “And who are you?” One introduces himself as Agent Bowman and his colleague as Agent Dillon. They are from I.C.E. Kyle says he has no idea what that is. Agent Dillon informs him that they are immigration officers and they have questions about Mr. Beaubier’s legal status in the United States.
Kyle is surprised at this. Agent Dillon tells him that they don’t really care that he can fly or that he’s a celebrity. They need to do the same checks they do for everyone else. Agent Bowman hands him something which was at his door and Agent Dillon asks Kyle where Mr. Beaubier is and will he be home soon. “Jinadu-Beaubier,” replies Kyle, correcting him once again. “You said this box was outside? It doesn’t have a return address.”
(elsewhere in New York City)
People are going about their everyday business when one of Susan Hatchi’s men releases the nano-worms. He calls her to tell her the job is done and she smiles. She informs Karma that in five minutes almost every single person in New York City will be dead. She turns to her
father and asks, “I don’t suppose that bothers you, does it?” He asks what if it did. Susan tells him that he could put that gun in his mouth and pull the trigger. If he does that she will save all those lives. Her father doesn’t reply. “I didn’t think so,” replies Susan.
Karma tells her he’s not going to let her do this. Susan says in that case, she can kill him. She can kill their father. Karma looks behind Susan and her father and sees the X-Men gathered. She tells Susan that her games are over. Susan picks up her phone and barks an order down to her agent in New York City to trigger it, now! She then pulls up an X symbol on her phone and tells them that they can all die too. She presses it and nothing happens. “Oops,” says Northstar.
Susan asks how this is happening. Her hand is then caught up in a swirl of sharp ice and she drops her phone. Iceman appears and he informs her that it’s hard to kill someone made of water. He explains that, when he transformed, it turns out her nano-worms weren’t so hardy. Karma grins and tells Susan that they only pretended to be dysfunctional. They managed it long enough to keep her distracted while Bobby went and consulted with their people back home. They figured a way to turn off her nano-worms. Northstar then makes quick work of defeating Susan’s soldiers and tells her she doesn’t feel so powerful now, does she? “Powerful enough,” replies Susan as she quickly and aims her pistol at her father. “Goodbye,” she says.
Before she can squeeze the trigger, Karma swings out and knocks the gun from her hand. She then turns on Susan and leaps on top of her, wrestling her to the ground. Xi’an asks if she thinks she’s the only one who’s suffered. Susan tells her to get off, but Karma stares at her and informs her that it’s too late. She’s already in her mind.
(Xi’an’s and Susan’s mindscape)
Memories are brought forth of the two women as little girls enjoying a picnic, Dao’s mother being shot by her father, being captured by pirates and of Xi’an using her powers in a bar. Memories of the New Mutants are then shown. Karma tells Susan to look at her and look at
her life. Both of them were abandoned and abused. They were so alone. Susan warns her to get out of her head, but Karma says not until she’s seen and felt this. They did what they had to do in order to survive. Susan says they’re still paying for the pain but Karma replies that they’re not alone. She is not alone.
They emerge from the dreamscape in each other’s arms. Karma tells her half-sister that she’s not letting her go. When Susan asks why, Karma tells her that it’s not too late for either of them, that’s why. She asks Susan to wait and take a breath. As they embrace, a gunshot rings out and Susan falls to the ground. Karma looks up to see her father standing there with a smoking gun. “Why?” she asks. “She was your daughter.” Her father replies that she was a threat. Karma asks, in that case, what is she? He tells her that he doesn’t know what she is. After all these years, he’s barely her father. Karma snaps at him, telling him that she’s barely his daughter. Maybe it won’t hurt so much if she pulls the trigger. Gambit tries to calm her down as her father informs her that she was always a gentle child; the most gentle of all. Life changes but Xi’an, not so much he thinks.
He asks if her mother is still alive. Karma informs him that the boat he put them on was boarded by pirates. She finds it difficult to put what happened into words, and simply says that her mother didn’t make it. Police officers then arrive to arrest her father and take him away. He asks Karma to pretend he’s dead if she can. He is old and will be soon enough.
(later, the George Washington Bridge, New York City)
Northstar has flown himself, Kyle and a picnic to one of the main supports on the GWB. Kyle tells him that Shan’s lost a sister and her father, again, all at the same time. It’s incredibly sad. “Maybe,” replies Jean-Paul. Kyle is surprised by his response. He tells him that he’s not as cold as he pretends to be, but Jean-Paul reminds him that he almost lost him because of Susan Hatchi. Kyle tells him he didn’t and forgiveness is better than hate. It might not have the same rush, but it doesn’t ruin lives either.
(elsewhere)
Karma books into a cheap hotel and tells the receptionist that she doesn’t want to be disturbed. Once in her room, she removes her pants and sits down at a low table, opening up a kind of tool box. She then detaches her bionic leg and, without looking up, tells Wolverine that she doesn’t want to talk to anyone right now. Logan replies that it was either him or an attorney and he thought she’d like to see a familiar face. She looks up and replies, “Not really, Wolverine. No.” She asks if she should be running. He hands her an envelopes and asks her to tell him. She scans the letter inside and informs her that Hatchi Tech was privately held. As Susan’s only living relative, she is also her heir. Hatchi Tech is hers. She’s a billionaire. She takes a drink and Wolverine tucks into some food. “Yay,” he replies, unenthusiastically.
He informs her that Tyger called about her father. Karma doesn’t want to hear it. As far as she is concerned, he is dead all over again. It was hard enough losing him the first time, she adds, partially because she blamed him for her mother’s death. He was the one who put them on the boat. He paid for their escape from Vietnam. Later, she told herself that was selfish and that she was a bad daughter for having those thoughts. She tortured herself for years. Now, she doesn’t know what to think. Susan did terrible things but they shared the same resentment. Susan let it twist her whilst she didn’t. It’s a thin line.
Logan asks what she’s gonna do. Karma picks up a photo of Susan and replies that she’s going to waste no time hating him, that’s for sure. She’s not going to visit him, either. He asks if she’s going to tell her brother and sister. Xi’an says she won’t. She’ll tell them about Susan, a little anyway. Despite everything, she deserves that. Logan stands and makes for the door. He asks if they’ll be seeing her. She tells him it sounds like a loaded question. Like, is she going to quit the X-Men and wallow in a sea of depression and existential angst about her traumatic life and screwed-up family? Logan reckons it’s something like that. “Let me sleep on it,” she replies.
Logan departs and Xi’an looks at the photo again. “It’s not too late,” she says to herself. She then picks up the phone and calls Nga, asking if her brother is there. Nga tells her that he is, so Xi’an asks her to put him on too. She assures her that there’s nothing wrong. She just wanted to tell them that she loves them.


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Untitled
Manhattan, at an ice-skating rink, the alien called Warbird watches, seemingly unaware that she herself is being watched by someone who thinks ‘They teach you to never let your guard down around them. They aren’t like us, no matter how much we want to believe they are’.
On the ice rink, husbands Jean-Paul “Northstar” Beaubier and Kyle Jinadu skate hand-in-hand, and Jean-Paul assures Kyle that it will be okay, as he has the best immigration lawyer in the country working on his case. ‘They’re not going to deport me’ Jean-Paul smiles. Kyle tells Jean-Paul that he can’t help but worry. ‘They try to deport everyone else who’s here illegally. At least, everyone who’s brown’ he points out. ‘See? That’s means I’ve got a chance’ Jean-Paul jokes, while Kyle tells him that he isn’t funny.
The unseen watcher decides that there is no such thing as universal brotherhood, and Warbird leaves the skating rink.
Warbird passes civilians who are outside huddled around a food truck,
‘No such thing as peace, no matter how often it’s promised’ the mystery person thinks, while at the food truck, Gambit asks Dr Cecilia Reyes,if she thought he’d come. She reminds him that he said he was planning on spending Christmas in South America so he can, ‘And I quote “steal a ruby the size of my head” from a Colombian drug lord. So no, Gambit, I didn’t think you’d be here’ Cecilia replies as she passes some food from the truck to one of the needy civilians gathered. ‘You wound me, chere’ Gambit tells Cecilia, remarking that, between the two of them, actually he did steal that ruby, and it only took a minute and a half. ‘You’re that good, huh?’ Cecilia asks. ‘Pfft’ Gambit tells her. ‘Merry Christmas, Doctor Reyes’ Gambit declares as he pulls the ruby, wrapped with a bow, from his jacket and smiles, leaving Cecilia wide-eyed.
‘All it takes is one lunatic. One bad day… and suddenly people are dead and the Earth is shuddering and cities fall. I’ve seen it happen’ the mysterious person thinks .
Warbird carries on down a near-empty street, and comes to a stop outside an art gallery.
‘So we watch them all. The ones we know about. Been watching her for months. The Shi’ar alien called Warbird. Warrior race, they tell me, ruthless. Deadly. Trained from birth to kill’.
Warbird enters the gallery, where the assistant nervously asks ‘Can I…er help you?’ but Warbird just goes over to one of the paintings and looks up at it in awe. Warbird leaves, and the woman watching her stands at the end of the street,
‘All I’ve seen her do is wander. Wish I knew why. What she’s planning’ she thinks to herself. ‘Because what’s a warrior without war?’
Soon, Warbird is in the apartment that Xi’an Coy Manh a.k.a. Karma lives in away from the Jean Grey School, with her two younger siblings, Leong and Nga. Warbird sits between the children on bar stools at the kitchen counter, while Karma cooks nearby. ‘Really, you’ve never experienced snow?’ Karma asks. ‘Never’ Warbird replies, explaining that the Shi’ar cannot survive long in the cold, as their blood does not generate its own heat. ‘Are those feathers?’ Leong enquires, adding that Shan says she is an alien. ‘Yes’ Warbird confirms. ‘Cool. I wish I was from another planet’ Nga remarks. ‘To me… you are from another planet’ Warbird tells the child, before Karma announces that dinner is ready.
They all head over to the dining table, and referring to the reindeer antlers on Leong’s head, Warbird asks ‘The protuberances from his head are not real, are they?’ Karma explains that it is just part of a costume, something associated with the holidays ‘You dress as your gods, you mean’ Warbird declares. ‘Well, I don’t know if reindeer count as gods, so, sort of?’ Karma replies, before telling Warbird that she is glad she came tonight, as she knows it hasn’t been easy since she was left behind by her people. ‘I am… fine, Karma’ Warbird responds, ‘Yes, but… I know what it’s like to be an… an immigrant. A stranger in a place that I don’t recognize’ Karma explains, adding that when she came to this country, nothing was familiar, nothing made sense, it was all traumatizing. Karma tells Warbird that she wants her to know that she is not as alone as she thinks. Warbird thanks Karma and tells her that she will adapt, as she is still a Warbird, and they do not falter.
As the evening carries on Warbird glances over to a side table and sees some books. One of them has a strange design on the front of it, and she picks it up and starts to walk towards the door without so much as a word. ‘Uh, Warbird?’ Karma asks. She goes to the door, struggling to get her boots on, she calls out down the apartment hallway stairs, asking Warbird to wait. But Warbird doesn’t, and when Karma reaches the snow-covered ground outside, all she sees are footprints in the snow. ‘Damn it’ Karma mutters.
Later, Warbird is in one of the X-Men’s Blackbird jets, streaking across a cloudy sky. ‘Warbird, this is Logan. What the hell are you doing -’ Wolverine demands over the communicator, which Warbird promptly switches off. She turns her attention to the book, reading an article about the object, she sees maps and photos. ‘Impossible. We killed them all’ Warbird remarks as she gazes out the window she sees pyramids below her.
‘She’s in Egypt’ Karma announces. ‘I know. Been tracking the jet, but -’ Wolverine begins, as Karma tells him not to mind that, but to come and look at what they found in the Shi’ar database. Gambit is in the control room with them, and they look at the object which Karma has put on the screen in front of them. Karma informs her teammates that she bought another copy of the magazine Warbird took and ran it through the system, and that it was flagged almost immediately. Karma reports that the artifact discovered is in Egypt and that it is definitely alien. Wolverine asks what the problem is - why would seeing the damn thing make Warbird run for it. ‘Homesick, maybe?’ Gambit suggests. ’No. the race that made this thing was obliterated by the Shi’ar more than a thousand years ago. Like, wiped out completely. Their entire homeworld destroyed, as if they never existed’ Karma explains.
‘Why the hell would the Shi’ar do that?’ Wolverine wonders. ’Because they were scared of them’ Karma reveals. Putting different articles and photos on the monitor, she explains that the alien race had a weapon the Shi’ar believed could destroy their world, but there is no mention of what it was. ’But it could be this thing, non? Can’t take a chance, can we?’ Gambit remarks, referring to the strange object. ‘Logan. We have visitors’ Ororo “Storm” Munroe announces as she enters the room with a woman and two men dressed in black suits. ‘Now ain’t a good time, ’Ro’ Logan tells Storm, who replies that it will have to be - as it is about Warbird. ‘Who the hell are they?’ Wolverine enquires. The woman introduces herself as Agent Benzan of the SHIELD Extra-Terrestrial Task Force. ‘We want to know why the Shi’ar has left the country’ she explains, adding ‘And why she’s in the Middle East consulting with known terrorists’.
Cairo, Egypt:
Warbird wears a white hooded cloak to disguise herself as she makes her way through the civilians in the marketplace. A shopkeeper approaches her and asks her what it is that she desires - ‘Something sweet and cool? The oranges arrived just this morning as did the grapes’ he informs her. ‘What is desire… is to speak with her’ Warbird replies. Matching the man’s native tongue, she points at a woman sitting next to the stall. ‘Is that so? And what could you possible want with -’ the man begins, before the woman looks up from her newspaper, wide-eyed, ‘Oh, dear’ she utters. Warbird gabs the woman by her arm and pulls her into the building behind them. ‘You have no right’ the woman exclaims. ‘I am Shi’ar. I have every right ‘Warbird replies. ‘But - this is Earth! I’m - I’m human!’ the woman declares.
Warbird shoves the woman against the corridor wall, ‘Pretend if you must, but I know you are not human’ Warbird declares. ‘I feel human. doesn’t that count?’ the woman asks. ‘Not in the slightest’ Warbird responds. The woman asks her what she would know anyway - as death is more flexible than a Shi’ar. ‘You’ll be able to test those words if you don’t do exactly as I ask’ Warbird threatens. Holding up the magazine, Warbird announces that she needs to enter the facility where this… thing… is being kept. ‘What makes you think I can help you?’ the woman asks. Warbird explains that the Shi’ar keep perfect records of all alien life on this planet, as well as the known associates of those aliens. ‘Pfft’ the woman mutters. Warbird points out that the woman knows men who are well-placed in this city, men who can pay the right people - men who others are afraid of crossing. ‘Do this… and you will never hear from me again. I swear it, on my honor as a Warbird’.
Later, darkness shrouds the city, and inside a sprawling building, a security guard walks past a door and unlocks it. He leaves, and a moment later, Warbird enters. The building is some sort of museum or storage facility for artifacts, statues and coffins. Warbird makes her way through the facility, and comes to a storage room. A cupboard has been opened and a tray pulled out from it - the object that appeared on the cover of the magazine sits on the tray. ‘It is true. The design is the same’ Warbird remarks, while a cloaked figure lurks nearby, as Warbird utters ‘But how…’
Suddenly, the cloaked figure lunges at her, ‘Because we knew… what was coming!’ he exclaims in his undecipherable native tongue. His sword strikes the cabinet, and Warbird leaps backwards. She reaches for her sword as her attacker boasts that they refused to let the Shi’ar win. ‘What do you mean… we?’ Warbird asks, kicking her attacker in his chest. ‘Hmmm’ her attacker replies, before sending Warbrid careening backwards into some crates and sarcophagi.
Warbird drops her sword when she is flung backwards, and her attacker reaches down and picks it up. ‘We. Plural. Inclusive’ he tells her as he snaps her sword in half with ease. ‘We, the Fianden’ he adds. ‘We who protect what is ours. No matter what it takes’. He reaches dor the object, ‘I will not let you!’ Warbird exclaims as she rushes over and pulls him away.
They start to fight again, and when Warbird pulls his cloak back, she gasps ‘Impossible. Your kind are gone’. The green-brown skinned alien replies ‘Yes. Because your kind exterminated us’. Warbird edges backwards and picks up a wooden plank lying nearby, while the alien announces that he likes to pretend he is not te last. ‘But I know that is not true’ he frowns, holding a pink orb in one hand, and Warbird rushes towards him, screaming, the alien crushes the pink orb. ‘No, Shi’ar. You will not kill me today’ the alien declares as energy from the pink orb surrounds her face, ‘What… have… you… done?’ she utters. Warbird drops to her knees, seemingly unable to move. The alien picks up the object and tells Warbird that she does not know her history. ‘The weapons we made to destroy your minds? Your poor minds, which are so empty of light. Ah, well. Dream, if you can. Though no Shi’ar ever has’.
Warbird appears almost anguished as she sees patterns of color before her eyes, and the memory of herself as a child. ‘No Shi’ar… ever dreams… except… for the ones… who are born… defective’. And Warbird starts to cry.
Later:
‘Whoa!’ Wolverine exclaims, dropping his can of beer as Warbird suddenly sits up in a bed, wires hooked up to her forehead. Karma is with them, and she tells Warbird to wait. ‘Can you feel me? Am I real?’ Warbird asks, grabbing Karma’s wrists. ‘I… yes’ Karma replies. ‘And you… you feel… real. Where am I?’ Warbird enquires as she starts to pull the wires from her body.
Karma informs Warbird that they are in a SHIELD safe house in Egypt. ‘We tried to reach you first, but SHIELD already had agents on the ground. We arrived after they’d already scooped you up’ Karma explains. Warbird announces that the Fianden took the weapon. ‘If I do not find him…’ her voice trails off. She looks at a sketchpad, ‘If I do not find him…what. What is this?’ she asks, looking at the drawing. Wolverine informs Warbird that she drew that, that her hands were restless while she was out. ‘I… did this?’ Warbird asks. ‘You kept scratching yourself. Restraints made your scream’ Karma explains, adding that, out of the blue, Warbird asked for a paper and a pen, and those were the only words she spoke the entire time.
‘When we gave them to you… that happened. You never looked at the paper. It’s beautiful, Warbird’ Karma tells her, while Wolverine asks her what it means. ‘Nothing. It is… nonsense. Weakness. Insanity’ Warbird replies. ‘Get it away from me’ she declares, throwing the pad across the room. This action is watched on a monitor outside the room, by Agent Benzan and an older woman.
‘You’ve observed this Shi’ar longer than any of us. What do you make of the situation?’ ‘Bloodthirsty in a fight, Agent Benzan, but not the type who seeks out violence for pleasure. Then again, she’s an alien. I have no idea what gives her pleasure’ the older woman replies. ‘Smart to remember that’ Agent Benzan remarks, adding that all these alien races are a snowstorm and right now, they are dealing with just a single flake. ‘What do we know about anything?’ she asks. ‘How do you handle it?’ the older woman enquires. ‘You get used to your irrelevance’ Agent Benzan mutters, adding that reading Lovecraft helps.
A tall alien approaches the woman and with the older one, enters the room where Warbird is being kept. ‘Time is running out. I need to leave, now’ Warbird announces. ‘Care to explain why?’ the older woman enquires. ‘No. it is Shi’ar business’ Warbird replies. The older woman tells her that if the stolen artifact is a weapon, then it is Earth business. ‘Is that why you brought your pet?’ Warbird asks, looking up at the taller alien. ‘My name is Sydren’ the alien announces with a few extra “s’s” in his speech. ‘You’re a Drenx. Telepath. Empath. Here to raid my mind for them’ Warbird declares. Sydren tells the older woman that Warbird is afraid, that much is the truth, and she is deeply afraid and ashamed. ‘Why?’ the older woman asks. ‘Stop this, agent. There are better ways’ Wolverine remarks, and Karma steps in front of Sydren, ‘You’re not going to do this’ she tells him.
But Sydren boasts that he cannot be stopped, as he sees the Shi’ar’s mind, twisted with pain, and that she is weak and feels violated. ‘I’ll show you violated’ Karma declares as she punches Sydren, knocking the tall alien backwards. ‘Stop. There is no time for this. I’ll tell you…what I can’ Warbird announces. She states that she doesn’t know if the artifact is a weapon, but that the race who made it was exterminated by the Shi’ar Empire, for it was essential to their survival, as the threat they posed was too great. ‘And what was that threat, exactly?’ someone asks. ‘They could…do things to the mind’ Warbird replies. ‘Telepaths?’ someone enquires. But Warbird explains that what they crafted was by hand, and other tools, with their voices as well. ‘What you call here…music’. Warbird continues, stating that it is a terrible weapon, as music distorts perception, it causes a warrior to lose focus and creates deviant thoughts. ‘Everything they did was deviant. What they made with their paints and light and carvings. What they sang. What they imagined’. She adds that all of it was dangerous, heretical, addictive and beautiful.
Elsewhere, Gambit meets with a figure cloaked by a large coat and hat. He gives the figure some money in exchange for a piece of paper. Gambit then carries on through a marketplace, and readies his kinetic energy when he comes to a building.
‘I’m sorry…but it sounds like you’re talking about…artists’ Karma remarks to Warbird. ‘Artists. Yes’ Warbird agrees. Sydren points out that the Shi’ar do not outlaw art on other worlds, but Warbird explains that the Fianden were different. Touching her chest, she states that could enter here, inside them, in ways that no one understood. ‘It was like a disease’ she remarks.
‘Damn, Warbird. I suddenly want to read a book’ Wolverine tells her, when suddenly, there is a loud BOOM! ‘That’s our cue from Gambit. He’s erased the security tapes’ Wolverine announces, opening the door to the room, while Karma reports that she has locked down every agent in the facility, but that she can’t hold them for long. ‘Go, now’ Karma tells Warbird, who rushes out into the corridor, past Gambit, who hands her the piece of paper he received, and tells her that he hopes it helps, and that they will follow as soon as they can.
Warbird runs through the marketplace, and opens the piece of paper, which gives her an address in Cairo. At the same time, Agent Benzan realizes that one can never let their guard down - but wonders what it matters if they do? For constant vigilance does not mean safety, and killing the possibility of danger does not mean that the danger is gone. There are no guarantees - except for one - that we will always be surprised at what can hurt us, and, equally, what will save us. Warbird climbs up a ladder and reaches the top of a tall building. She look out over the city, and touches a marking etched into the rooftop. She thinks to herself that she is strong, and will not falter, for she is Shi’ar. ‘I am… Warbird’. And with that, she begins to cry.


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Angent Benzan recalls how the writer Iris Chang once said: “What is not commonly seen is condemned as alien”. She decides it is true enough, that everyone is an alien, all of them outsiders in some way, to someone. She tells herself that when SHIELD sends her on assignment. It lets her humanize them, just a little, like now. A bad idea, she is sure. ‘We are nothing alike’ Benzan decides.
Cairo, in a room, an orange cat walks between canvases of artwork. ‘What do you think?’ the Fianden alien asks in his native tongue. The cat just meows at him. ‘Yes. You are right. It is… terrible’. The cat leaps up and perches on his shoulder. Glancing over at the strange alien artifact, the alien wonders if perhaps that will soon change. The cat turns and sees the alien called Warbird peer out from behind a curtain.
Warbird rushes into the room, sword at the ready, she attacks the Fianden alien, who turns to her and remarks ‘You are still alive. Fascinating’. Warbird declares that mere dust cannot kill her, and lunges at him again, although he dodges her attack. ‘Even though it has killed so many others of your kind?’ the Fianden asks, reaching for his sword. ‘Shut your mouth’ Warbird warns him, but when she raises her sword, he blocks it with his.
The Fianden announces that he remembers those days, when the only warriors of Warbird’s kind who were immune to his people’s weapons were those already infected with dreams. ‘We both know what the Shi’ar did to them after the war’ the Fianden remarks as he grabs Warbird by her wrist and forces her to the ground. He stands over her and holds his sword to her neck. ‘It did not matter that they saved the Empire. They were put down, just like the Fianden’ the alien reminds her. ‘Destroyed for being defective. Is that what you are, Shi’ar? Defective?’ the alien enquires, asking her whether she feels the pulse of beauty in her body, if she feels the urge to create? Warbird remains silent, tears fall from her eyes, then she replies ‘No’. The Fianden pulls away: ‘You lie’ he tells her, as Warbird starts to sit up, rubbing her eyes. ‘NEVER!’ Warbird shouts as she suddenly throws her sword at the Fianden’s head - it strikes him in his eye and goes through the back of his head.
The Fianden drops to the ground. ‘Oh… no’ he utters, as wires protrude from his eye. ‘You are not…organic’ Warbird remarks. ‘You are not Fianden at all’ she realizes. The cat bounds over to the alien and sits by him, as he looks up and reveals that he was made by the Fiandens, that he is their child. ‘You are a machine’ Warbird declares, raising her sword overhead. ‘You are nothing’ she exclaims, bringing the sword down, stopping just before it reaches the alien’s head. ‘But I am all that is left’ the alien-robot points out. ‘Is this mercy, Shi’ar?’ he enquires as he pulls at the sword in his skull. ‘No’ Warbird replies, withdrawing her other sword. She informs the Fianden that his weapon did something to her, it altered her mind. ‘I want you to make it stop’ she tells him. ‘And then I will kill you’.
‘How generous’ the Fianden replies, suggesting to Warbird that she kill him now if she can, as there is no cure - no way to undo what was done. ‘That you are standing here means you were damaged long before my weapon unlocked your mind’ he explains, while Warbird looks over at the artifact sitting on a table nearby. Warbird tells the alien that she doesn’t believe him, and raises his sword to his back as he stands up. ‘You would not’ he points out, wrapping a bandage around his injuries, he adds ‘But let me guess… as a child you loved to draw? You…found a job in it? You craved beauty?’ If you feel too vulnerable to answer -’ he begins, but Warbird, her sword still pointed at him, declares that she does not. Warbird admits that she did those shameful things, felt those deviant emotions - but she cut them from her. The Fianden turns to the artwork in the room, ‘How sad. To be born with such a precious gift, and then throw it away’ he tells her, asking if it is so terrible to write a word or paint a picture?
The Fianden crouches down before one of the canvas artworks. ‘This world rejoices in what you profess to hate. It gives me hope’ he tells Warbird. Looking at the cat who is sitting next to the device, Warbird asks the Fianden ‘Does that give you hope as well? Hope that the Fianden, at last, will be able to destroy the Shi’ar?’ to which the alien replies’ Insanity’. ‘Is it? I have seen records of this device. It was feared -’ Warbird begins, as the Fianden tells her that this is no weapon. He stands up as Warbird faces him and asks for what other reason would he want it. ‘To bring the Fianden back to life’ the alien announces.
Suddenly, someone at the rear of the room clears their throat, and Warbird and the alien turn to see Remy “Gambit” LeBeau standing in the doorway. He holds a playing card between two fingers and announces that in about thirty seconds, SHIELD agents are going to be coming through the window - and the front door. ‘Might want to discuss this somewhere else, non?’ he suggests.
Indeed, outside, choppers are descending over the building, while Warbird reaches for the device, until the Fianden grabs her hand. ‘You will not take this from me’ he tells her, and both leap out a window onto the rooftop below, where two women are hanging some laundry. The choppers have landed, and SHIELD agents stands ready.
Warbird tells the Fianden that if they run and do not fight, they have a chance, as the soldiers will not risk civilian lives. ‘And you?’ the Fianden asks. ‘I am a warrior. Not a murderer’ Warbird responds, while one of the SHIELD agents tells them to halt. ‘And yet…if ordered… you would… commit genocide’ the Fianden points out as he follows Warbird, they push past several of the SHIELD agents, knocking them to the ground, Warbird leaps off the edge of the rooftop, and through the window of a nearby building, startling the family inside. ‘You talk too much’ she tells the Fianden. ‘There!’ a SHIELD agent positioned between two of the buildings calls out as he points up and sees Warbird and the Fianden leap across onto another rooftop.
‘Call it in!’ another agent orders, when suddenly, Gambit tosses something that is kinetically charged towards them, sending the agents flying through the air when the object explodes against them. Gambit calls out to Warbird, ‘This way!’ he shouts as he stands next to a car. ‘Heads down…’ Karma, who is at the wheel, tells Warbird and the Fianden as they get into the backseat. ‘…and hold on’ Karma adds as she speeds off down the street.
They drive for some time, out into the desert, and Karma tells them that SHIELD has too many agents watching their jets, but that Wolverine has “contacts” in this area - of course. She explains that they have agreed to move both of them across the border. Warbird opens a bag and pulls the device from it, while the orange cat pokes its head out of another bag. Warbird asks the alien if it is true he can use this to resurrect the Fiaden. ‘Yes’ he responds. ‘How?’ she asks him. The alien raises the bandage covering his damaged eye and starts to push some of the wires back into the socket. He replies that he is no scientist, and is made of gears, but that he cannot invent them - all he knows is what he was told. The Fianden informs Warbird that what she holds is salvation, and that he has searched this world a thousand years to find it.
‘I could destroy the device right now’ Warbird announces. The alien-robot puts something into his eye socket, tinkering with the damaged wires, and replies that nothing was made to last forever. ‘Just…long enough’ he adds. Suddenly, he shoves the sharp device into Warbird’s shoulder. Karma calls out to her teammate, concerned, while the Fianden grabs the device. Warbird head-butts him, but he punches her in the face. She smacks his damaged eye and responds by biting her hand, drawing blood. ‘Hey!’ Karma shouts as the Fianden leaps out of the car, carrying the device, he heads off across the barren landscape.
However, the robot-alien comes to a halt when he sees Wolverine a.k.a. Logan standing with a couple of dozen armed men. ‘It’s all right, Karma, we got him’ Wolverine radios to his teammate.
Karma and Warbird arrive on the scene shortly after, and everyone piles into trucks. Wolverine sits opposite the Fianden. The orange cat climbs on Wolverine’s shoulder. Karma and Warbird are in the back of one of the other trucks, and they look at the device. ‘You aren’t really going to destroy it, are you?’ Karma asks. ‘What if he’s telling the truth? What if an entire race of people could be saved?’ she enquires. Warbird asks if they were saved, then what would the risk be to the Shi’ar? ‘Would you ask me to betray my people, Karma?’ she enquires. Karma puts a hand on Warbird’s shoulder and tells her that the Shi’ar aren’t so different from humans. ‘You know what’s right’ she adds, and Warbird puts a hand on Karma’s.
Later, night has fallen, and the trucks have come to a stop near some hills. A campfire has been made and everyone gathers around it, except for Warbird, who sits away from the group, the object next to her. She has drawn a pattern in the sand, and turns slightly when the Fianden, with his cat on his shoulders, approaches her. He announces that he has been sentient for over a thousand years, and no matter how hard he tries, he has never been able to create even that much, referring to the patterns in the sand. ‘All I can do is imitate. And desire’ he explains. He sits down next to Warbird, his arms are tied behind his back and suggests to Warbird that she accepts that she was born with the ability to create. ‘Perhaps that is your destiny. Not war’ he remarks. ‘I am a Warbird’ Warbird replies, rubbing away the markings in the sand. ‘You are anything you wish to be. Is that not the gift of life? Even for a machine like me?’ the robot-alien asks.
Warbird scowls at him and tells him that he says this only because he wishes to soften her resolve and make her weak. The cat goes over to Warbird, while the Fianden tells her that she could have fought him until one of them lay dead, but instead, she argued, she talked and listened. ‘Your resolve is already weak’ he points out. Raising her hands, Warbird wonders if the Fianden is right - she is defective. She hangs her head and there is silence, broken when the Fianden tells Warbird that she has been released, that she has been broken of her conditioning, and that disobedience is not death. ‘It feels like it’ Warbird responds. Suddenly, Wolverine alerts everyone to the fact that they have incoming. ‘Untie me’ the Fianden instructs Warbird as they look up at the choppers swiftly approaching.
Two spotlights shine down at the campsite, and when the choppers land, the older female agent, accompanied by others, step out. The locals are rounded up, while the older woman goes over to Karma and Wolverine. ‘You can’t stop this, darlin?’ Wolverine asks Karma. ‘See those devices stuck to their heads? Must be creating a disruption field. I can’t get through to possess them’ Karma explains, while the older woman tells Karma that, thanks to her, she has a headache. ‘And Wolverine, you are a headache’ she remarks, before asking ‘Where are the aliens’. Warbird and the Fianden are running across the sand nearby, Warbird clutches the device, while the orange cat clings to the Fiaden’s shoulders. Suddenly, a blast of energy strikes the Fianden from behind and he falls to the ground.
Warbird turns to the SHIELD agent responsible: ‘You shoot a warrior in the back? Coward! What have you done?’ The agent holds his weapon towards Warbird and explains that it should only stun him, but that if she doesn’t stand down, he will do the same to her. The agent is distracted, and screams when the cat leaps at him, giving Warbird the distraction she needs to punch him in the face. ‘Give me the device’ the Fianden calls out to Warbird, who has placed it on the ground next to the cat. The robot-alien’s voice sounds strange, ‘Threats mean nothing to you’ he remarks to Warbird, informing her that what she holds is a gift, not a weapon, but the final song of the Fianden. ‘Do not be the one who destroys them forever’ he asks. ‘For life. For another chance. Please’ he pleads with Warbird, who looks down at him, then hands over the device, which the Fianden alien-robot places in his chest. Energy bursts around him, and Warbird shields her eyes. The cat sits at her feet.
The energy pours skyward, lighting up the darkened desert. Warbird falls to the ground, the cat crouching at her side, as the ground around her begins to solidify and crack. Energy bursts up from the ground, shattering it. Warbird shields herself, but looking up, in the energy, sees a vision of herself as a child, and many Fianden. ‘Warbird? Are you okay?’ Karma calls out. Out of darkness… light. From flesh and bone… and machine… creation is discovered And rebirth.
‘Where is the other alien?’ Ag ent Benzan asks as she, the older agent and others approach Wolverine and Karma, who stand with Warbird, the orange cat perched on her shoulders. ‘You are… looking at him’ Warbird explains as they stare at the strange, unique structure that has risen from the ground and energy.
Later, at the Museum of the Lost Fianden, in Egypt, people walk through this newly created structure. Some examine bizarre sculptures, others paint and some look up at the large state of the alien-robot Fianden, complete with bandage over his eye. Angent Benzan knows now that it was a bomb, a bomb that would let the Fianden live again - not in flesh, but in spirit. The spirit of their art and music - everything that mattered to them…hared with others, in celebration…and love. The orange cat is at the feet of the statue and someone puts a bowl of food in front of the cat.
Make love, not war. Isn’t that what people say? Unless all you know is war. Maybe something else is required, then. A jolt, a lightning bolt. Illumination, revelation - inspiration. And then, everything is different. And you are never the same. You are awake. Warbird sits at her desk at the Jean Grey School. Canvases of artwork surround her. She looks down at her desk and slowly reaches for a box of pencils and paper. She pulls a blue pencil from the box, and puts it to the paper….