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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
first story: Away We Go (Part 5 of 6) Who Dies Next?
second story: Time to Choose! Part 5 of 6
first story
Unknown Earth
London, Republic of Britannia
The battle-proven Psylocke takes on not one, but two adversaries, Black Cloak and Venger, simultaneously. On top of that she’s using her TK to keep her back wound closed, a wound she suffered earlier getting sniped by Warshot. While this would be a problem for most, such is not the case for this extraordinary Exile.
Black Cloak doesn’t stand a chance against the ninja-trained warrior as her mind is shut off from his psychic attacks. She knocks him aside without effort and delivers a flying front kick to Venger’s face.
Though projecting a calm, confident manner Psylocke knows she has to end this and soon. Her force-field “bandage” isn’t holding well and she doesn’t know much longer she can keep it up. Venger moves in quick delivering an overhand right that Psylocke dodges and then a flying front kick, which Psylocke blocks with her forearm. Venger introduces himself and proclaims his allegiance to Empress Hydra. Psylocke nails him in the face; a fresh wad of spittle goes flying from his mouth. She follows that up by encasing him in a TK field and tossing him at Black Cloak.
Venger’s words have Psylocke worried, wondering if Empress Hydra brought her entire gang with her. She starts to panic knowing Slaymaster must be nearby. Her fears are well grounded as her arch-nemesis, the man who has been killing alternate version of her across the Omniverse, sneaks up from behind and sinks his knife deep into her back.
“Argkh!” Psylocke cries as the blade gouges into her flesh. Slaymaster quickly removes the knife and Psylocke uses her TK to stem the bleeding. Now that they’re face to face Slaymaster says hello, his blood-soaked knife now dripping with her essence.
Psylocke doesn’t seem the least bit scared and tells Slaymaster to bring it on. The response isn’t what he expected and the look on his face betrays him. Psylocke calls him on it, but Slaymaster keeps up the bravado telling her the time has come to teach her a lesson.
Slaymaster leaps at her and feints a kick to the face. Psylocke moves to dodge it, and get nailed by his other foot. She falls off the granite slab she was standing on and lands hard on the ground. She gets back to her feet wondering to herself why things can’t ever be easy.
As Psylocke gets up Slaymaster notes the drops of fresh blood where she was lying. He renews his attack with vigor, promising her a quick death. Psylocke maneuvers about and uses his momentum against him, sending Slaymaster belly flopping onto the ground.
Slaymaster gets up quickly and the two adversaries stand face to face. This time Psylocke makes the first move and begins a multi-barrage assault. She tells Slaymaster how she’s already died once by a sword through the heart and doesn’t plan on repeating that. Slaymaster tells her she doesn’t have a choice.
Venger sneaks back into the battle, crawling up behind Psylocke and grabbing her ankles. Slaymaster continues with his punch, socking Psylocke in the face, but then yells in anger at Venger for interfereing. He begins kicking Venger in the gut, the poor guy confused by his teammate’s anger. Slaymaster explains he wants the kill all to himself. He grabs Venger by the collar and tells him no one shall get in the way. He then tosses Venger aside and apologizes to Psylocke, explaining he wanted a fair fight.
Psylocke asks if that’s why he stabbed her in the back. Slaymaster says it was to neutralize her super powers, to make it fair. He notes the tired look on her face and asks how she’s holding up. Psylocke admits she’s seen better days, but adds she’s not done yet.
Meanwhile, Devo, Hypernova and Warshot, currently located on a rooftop decide to move to the ground where most of the battle is now taking place. Rogue, sporting Colyn’s armor, comes flying in and breaks up their little conference. First, she pummels Devo, then Hypernova and last Warshot.
The three bad guys now scattered, they each get to their feet and fire energy blasts at Rogue. Hypernova scores a crack in the armor and Devo follows it up by shattering the left arm of the suit. When Warshot’s done Rogue’s entire arm, except the hand, is exposed.
The Death Commandos think they have the advantage, but Rogue takes off her helmet and tells them the armor was mainly for their protection, but since they insist… Warshot immediately turns it on, blasting her from afar, but Rogue refuses to fall or even be impeded. She forces her way forward despite the onslaught of energy raining upon her. When she reaches Warshot she takes his weapon and beats him with it.
Hypernova charges forward, but she gets a weapon to the face as well. Devo fires off an optic blast, but Rogue deflects it with her still armored right arm. Then she quickly moves in and connects with his face, crunching his ruby quartz glasses.
On the ground below, Mystiq is busy rummaging through a first aid kit and working on Cat’s injuries. Mystiq tells her to keep breathing, keep fighting, but Cat, rather weakly, tells him she’s dying. Mystiq cries out no, but Cat assures him that’s the case, not that she likes it, but there’s nothing that can be done.
As the young Exile looks up in the sky she’s surrounded by dozens of visions of alternate versions of herself. Cat begins describing the wonder of it all to Mystiq, but he says she can tell him about it later. Cat ignores him and continues discussing their beauty and how she hopes she made them proud of her, because she did her best. A Cat in a blue-gold X-uniform and a Lockheed on her shoulder tells Cat the scales of her life are balanced and she did great. With that, Cat’s eyes roll into the back of her head and the blackness of death takes her.
Nearby, the battle between Psylocke and Slaymaster rages on. Slaymaster, now sporting sais, tries slicing and dicing his opponent, but Psylocke’s too good. She even catches a sai between her hands as he drives it toward her face. Slaymaster quickly maneuvers the other sai toward her gut, but Psylocke knees him in the solar plexus, making him miss and throwing Slaymaster off balance. Psylocke quickly sticks out her leg and trips him. As Slaymaster falls she grabs his arm and wrenches it around his back, taking one of his sais in the process.
Slaymaster slams to the ground, one arm popping out of the shoulder, the other arm pinned beneath Psylocke’s boot. She kicks away the other sai and grabs it. Psylocke then straddles Slaymaster’s chest and plants both sais into the ground on either side of his neck. She leans back and forms a TK sword. She’s about to drive it into his chest when he looks up at her and starts pleading for his life. He begs her not to do it.
Psylocke pauses and thinks better of it. The sword dissipates and she gets off the man she once feared. She tells Slaymaster she’s been a hero too long and those ethical hooks are sunk too deep into her soul. Psylocke drops to her knees not far away. Slaymaster, no qualms about fighting dirty, uses his good arm to free the sais from around his neck. He moves in behind her ready to deal a fatal blow, but finds himself put into an uncomfortable headlock by the grumpiest of Exiles, Sabretooth. Just before Creed can do some damage Slaymaster activates some sort of teleportation device. “—What the devil?!” Sabretooth exclaims as his hands suddenly find themselves holding onto nothing but empty air.
Creed kneels down next to Psylocke to check on her. She asks what he’s doing there. Sabretooth jokes he needs to look after his assets and then tells her Slaymaster gave him the slip. He also states that it can only end one way for the two of them, implying the feud between her and Slaymaster will never stop until one of them ends up dead.
Sabretooth then picks Psylocke up off the ground and cradles her in his arms. She tells him she didn’t want to go there. Sabretooth replies that life isn’t fair, but then adds he’s proud of her. Psylocke agrees with him on his earlier point. She needs to set things right with Slaymaster once and for all.
Nearby, Lilandra finds herself surrounded and is given the option to surrender. With none of her warriors still standing she has no choice. Nerimani gives her one more chance, lay down her weapons or lay down her life. Lilandra stares at her coolly before dropping her sword, her head now hung in shame.
second story
Sage’s mindscape
Sage floats helplessly within her own mindscape. She barely has enough energy to breathe, let alone fight. She realizes if Diana waited mere seconds longer before coming to help she could have had her wish, total control over Sage’s body, but Sage also realizes people and life are full of surprises.
Speaking of Diana, the alternate personality of Sage come to life is kicking butt. She has no problem handling the swarm of entities constantly approaching her. She even uses one guy as a weapon, hurling him at Merlyn and knocking him down once again.
Meryln decides to take a break and let the creatures do the battle for him. This gives Diana a moment to check on Sage, jokingly asking for some assistance. Sage tells her she’s doing just fine. Diana comments on how she doesn’t seem to be getting better. Sage tells Diana she gets her wish for she is dying. Diana kneels down next to her and admits that’s what she thought she wanted, but she’s a hero and she’s going to find a way to save Sage.
Sage agrees it’s hard being a hero. Diana asks if she’s speaking from experience. Sage says she has no regrets over what she’s done, only over what she could have done. Diana points out the whole Omniverse needs help and it’s a job only one of them can do.
They stare at each other for a moment, neither one speaking. Diana tells Sage that’s her cue to offer Diana to take her place. Sage said she would, but regrettable tells Diana she wouldn’t be able to handle the job. Diana doesn’t want to hear that, but Sage points out her ability to collect knowledge like data and get answers. Diana admits Sage is right; she doesn’t have the mental capacity to handle it. Diana knows she can handle the bad guys, even possibly Merlyn, but she can’t control them. She asks Sage what the next move is then. Sage holds out her hand and suggests they follow their instincts.
Diana takes her hand and both ladies are enveloped in a bright flash of light. Immediately both heroes know what’s happening, that Diana is being merged into Sage. Sage apologizes, but Diana only laughs, pointing out her sacrifice is helping save all creation and it doesn’t get better than that. She tells Sage to make it worth it, to make her proud.
Merlyn shrieks with fury as the two beings merge. He charges them, desperate to stop their transformation. His power, his fury are nothing in comparison to Diana’s laughter of wonder and delight that reaches through the Palace and across the heavens.
Crystal Palace
Sabretooth stops in his tracks. He hears laughter, a voice that sounds like Sage.
Sage’s mindscape
Diana’s laugh strikes Merlyn like a hammer. He shatters to pieces and then shatters to pieces again and again and again until there’s nothing left.
Crystal Palace
Sabretooth seems panicked. He runs about yelling for Sage asking what she’s done.
Sage’s mindscape
Sage can hear the worry in Sabretooth’s voice. It’s nice to know he cares, she thinks, but there’s no going back for her, only ahead. With that she disappears in a bright flash of light. She admits she’ll miss her friends, but wouldn’t have it any other way.
Crystal Palace
“Sage!?!” Sabretooth yells one last time.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Begin AGAIN!
Unknown Earth
London, Republic of Britannia
The fierce battle between the Shi’Ar and Earth’s heroes is ended, the invaders having surrendered, but not without casualties on both sides. As the newly arrived Imperial Guard helps with the recovery operations, Mystiq finds his way to the medical tent, taking a seat at the side of the deceased Cat Pryde. The solemn Mystiq is so deep in thought he’s caught by surprise as the wheelchair bound Psylocke enters to pay her respects. “What the devil” he exclaims questioning why she’s there, having barely survived the battle herself. Psylocke assures him she’s fine, just felt the need to be by Cat’s side.
Psylocke wheels herself over and places her hand on Cat’s pale forehead. She turns to Mystiq and buries her face in his chest. Mystiq comforts her explaining he couldn’t bear the though of Cat being alone either. Psylocke cries that it wasn’t fair, she was just a kid. Mystiq claims that fate isn’t always fair. Sabretooth walks in on this tender moment and decides to hang back in the shadows. The expression on his face is one of sadness as well.
Some day later, Gambit is out helping some of the locals rebuild. He uses his force field powers to lift some heavy beams to the construction workers.
And on another day, the two lovebirds, Rogue and Colyn, are found flying along a restricted area of the coast, prepping for some specialized training. As they soar toward each other Colyn fires off some repulsor rays aimed directly at Rogue. Rogue dodges them and then connects violently with Colyn, wrapping her arms around the midsection of his armor. After the hard jolt, she maneuvers herself around the armor and puts him into a headlock.
Colyn easily knocks her off and Rogue accuses him of faking. Colyn admits her hit was hard, but he’s tougher than that. Then he decks her and Rogue goes crashing into an abandoned building, destroying most of it. Colyn tries contacting her over the intercom, but she’s not answering. He panics and yells out her name again. When she doesn’t answer he swoops down to investigate.
Colyn finds Rogue struggling through the rubble. Upon touching down, she compliments him on a nice hit. Colyn takes off his helmet and ladmits she scared the devil out of him. Rogue gets to her feet and goes about setting things right between them, planting a firm kiss on his lips.
On yet another day, a meeting of representatives from across the world gathers to discuss the fate of Lilandra and her compatriots. The debate within the court on whether or not to execute her and her people rages on. The majority seem to be against the death penalty.
The discussion is continued in the presidential quarters, though with a smaller audience. With Nerimani standing atop the presidential seal the president bluntly asks if her people will accept her as empress. Nerimani lists two things on her side, one, the throne was hers by birthright and two, she beat her sister in a fair fight. Her people will at least give her a chance to prove herself, she states. Having the Imperial Guard at her side helps too, she adds.
The president and Nerimani shake hands, Nerimani restating their agreement that Lilandra will stay on Earth as an exile. One of the presidential advisors pipes up, questioning that decision. He points out they face the risk of her supporters one day coming for her, and also find themselves now involved with imperial politics.
They’re already involved after this fiasco, Morph argues, and there’s no going back. Nerimani agrees, saying they need to forge ahead, first by forming an alliance between the Shi’Ar and Earth. Another advisor, Dr. Stark, asks Nerimani about the probability of being overthrown like her sister. Morph once again interjects, this time with a big grin and two thumbs up claiming Nerimani will be just fine.
On still another day, at the shorefront headquarters of the Daughters of the Dragon, the Exiles and Colyn are all gathered together. Psylocke is back on her feet looking none the worse for wear. Morph announces to the group he’s staying behind, at least for a little bit. Sabretooth turns, a look of anger on his face. Morph quickly relates how he wants to go back to the Shi’Ar with Nerimani and make sure everything works out ok.
Gambit jokes around, asking Morph if he’s trying to build himself an empire. Morph doesn’t take kindly to his comment, calling Gambit “Short-Run.” He points out he’s been doing this for a long time and thinks it might be good to stick around a bit longer and make sure everything works out. Sabretooth admits he has some good points, but he’s concerned the Exiles are short-handed. Morph understands where he’s coming from, but claims with this being a core dimension if he makes sure everything’s good it will help other realities from destabilizing.
Psylocke smiles, after all Morph is making some sense. Morph says he just wants to make sure everything is better. Sabretooth doesn’t look happy to do it, but gives Morph permission to stay behind, telling him to look them up when he’s ready to return.
Sabretooth tells the rest of the crew it’s time to go, but Rogue has a bomb to drop too. She tells her teammates she’s staying behind permanently. Sabretooth demands to know what’s going on. Rogue says she’s found love, taking Colyn’s armored hand into her own.
Morph pops a question mark out of the top of his head and questions how their human/saurian relationship can possibly work out. Rogue points out Morph was the one who told her to broaden her horizons. Ever persistent, Morph still wants to know how she thinks it’s going to work. Mystiq answers this one, telling the resident jokester true love will always find a way.
Sabretooth looks around at his troops and asks if they have anymore surprises in store for him. Rogue cozies up to Sabes and as if to soften the blow adds that she can help make sure this dimension stays straight, much like Morph wants to do. She also tells them to look her up with they ever need her help. Then Rogue takes a look at Morph and suggests that maybe there was a purpose behind his rescue of her. Morph hugs her and says that’s what his instincts told him and his instincts are pretty good.
The last day, at least for some, Sabretooth, Mystiq, Gambit and Psylocke say their farely wells to Morph, Rogue, the president as well as some of the other members of the world. They then disappear, their destination the Crystal Palace.
Crystal Palace
The four Exiles return home and find Sage waiting for them. She apologizes for what happened to Cat. Sabretooth brushes it off, saying it’s all part of the life of an Exile. Then they all stop and stare, realizing Sage looks totally different. Psylocke asks what she’s done with herself.
Sage explains she merged the essence of her being with the Crystal Palace and that from now on whenever they communicate with the Palace they are actually communicating with her. Psylocke looks at her, hurt. She asks Sage how she could have done this. It was necessary, Sage says, and steps toward her. Psylocke tries pushing her away, but her hand passes right through. Psylocke takes off in anger.
Sage catches up with her on the outside, the two flying over the shoreline. Sage tries reasoning with her, but Psylocke tells her to go to hell. That doesn’t stop Sage from trying, explaining that the Palace lost its soul and the whole Omniverse was dying because of it. Psylocke sarcastically responds, “So you figured you’d save the day.” Sage admits the Palace first chose Cat, but she was too young and scared and couldn’t handle it. And dead, Psylocke adds.
Sage continues telling her side of the story until finally they decide to set down and discuss things more civilly. Psylocke still can’t believe Sage would do this. Sage says she was just following her instincts, much like Psylocke taught her.
The area around them suddenly brims with life. Grass and flowers begin to bloom, and birds and insects appear out of thin air. Psylocke is amazed and asks where they came from. Sage isn’t exactly sure how it’s happening. She believes the Palace is reflecting the preferences of its inhabitants.
Sage brings them back to their discussion, telling Psylocke she couldn’t just sit around and watch everything end, she had to do something. Psylocke asks what happens next. Sage admits she doesn’t know, but puts forward something better might come up.
The two go walking and come across an apple tree from which they both pick apples. Psylocke flat out tells Sage she is playing God. Sage disagrees, saying she’s a long way from that. Psylocke begs to differ, pointing at everything around them that once was desolate.
The discussion of Sage’s new existence continues as they make their way past a bear wading near a waterfall. Psylocke asks how the merge process occurred. Sage isn’t really sure, she just has a sense of things and is learning as she goes, though admits she has a long way to go.
Sage dives into the water, transforming her outfit to swimming gear just before making contact with the water. When Sage’s head reemerges Psylocke asks what will happen when she does learn it all. Sage thinks she might be like the gods Psylocke met from before. Surprised, Psylocke asks how she knew about her meeting with them. Sage explains she has a sense of things, a sense of their presence and Psylocke’s together. She adds that the Exiles need to stay together for this whole thing to work.
Wading out into the water, Psylocke asks what happens if there’s no going back. Admitting she has no family and only a few friends Sage says this is something she wants to do, she wants to make things better. She leans her head back in the water, so only her face is above the surface and admits she always wanted to play on a big stage and can’t think of anything bigger.
Elsewhere, Gambit dives into the ocean and reminisces about his last time there, where the ocean came to life and he and Gambit saw an Atlantean version of Cat swimming amongst the sea life. It disappeared after that and hasn’t been the same since.
Gambit spots something out of the corner of his eye and turns. It’s Valeria, with a breather mask over her mouth. She says hi to Gambit, saying she’s been working on her Atlantean. Gambit lifts them both to the surface via force field disks and asks, “What the devil are you doing here?!” Valeria reminds him she’s the child of two supreme geniuses. She tells Gambit she wants to help. Before their conversation can continue Sage BREEPS in with an urgent message.
Remembrance Room
Mystiq is sitting in a chair in the middle of the room looking at the holo-vids of fallen Exiles past. Mystiq never realized the cost of being an Exile could be so high, he just wishes Cat’s ending was a happy one. His time for lamenting is cut short, however, by a BREEP from Sage alerting him to some trouble.
Mission Control
The Exiles are finally together, including their latest recruit, Valeria. Sabretooth welcomes her saying they sure could use her help. Val says her dad wasn’t too happy about it, but will get over it. Sage warns Creed if anything happens to her he tells Reed. It’s his lucky day, Sabretooth replies, and then lays down the details of their next mission.
Earth #991
Vikings settled North America when Europe and North Africa were overrun by invading Mongols. Over the centuries that followed the Norse interbred with the indigenous tribes of Amerindians.
Presently, the Mongol goal is to inaugurate the 21st century by adding these two continents to their domain. The Exiles make sure this doesn’t happen.
Earth #1137
Here, the team finds a world where the sentient life forms are descended from evolved insects.
Their invading adversaries actually look more traditionally “human” but since they’re Shi’Ar on a mission of conquest, the Exiles find their choice of which side to take surprisingly easy.
Crystal Palace
The prodigal son has returned, Morph is back in the Palace checking up on his old friends. Sage is the only one available at the moment and admits they all thought they’d seen the last of him, that he found his happy ending. Morph says that’s what he thought too, but he was always worrying about them and Nerimani had an empire to run so it didn’t work out. Sage gives him a big hug and tells him that’s the way it happens sometimes.
On another fateful day, the Exiles head out on a mission that has nothing to do with a disaster in the Omniverse, but instead something of a more personal nature. Their destination, Gambit’s homeworld.
Unknown Earth
The Exiles arrive on the presidential ship where they find Namor’s body laid out on a steel table, his family and others surrounding him. Gambit runs over to his mom and apologizes. Sue says there was nothing he could’ve done even if he was there. The rest of his family isn’t as forgiving, Ari, Erin and Johnny guilt-tripping him about not being there to save their dad.
Later, Gambit is pronounced Lord Prince of Atlantis, Monarch of the Seven Seas, in full view of the Great Lords of the Deep. Gambit swears to make his family proud, then shakes hands with President Aquilla. Val thinks Gambit looks different and Mystiq gives her a smirk saying he’s grown up, real and good. “Prince Hal has become Prince Henry,” Gambit finishes, referencing Shakespeare.
Nicholas Fury fills Gambit in on the details behind his father’s death. It turns out Black Panther’s forces attacked after they developed a device to breach their force field. Nicholas says it will be a while before a replacement can be built.
Gambit turns to Sage and asks if she can do anything to speed up their response. As it turns out the resources of the Crystal Palace are more than a match for the Panther’s invisible barrier. A force of Exiles and others teleport in and catch the enemy by surprise. The fierce conflict ends with the Earth’s liberation and Namor’s death avenged.
Crystal Palace
Soon after, it’s just another day at the Palace with Val and Mystiq sitting at a table, Mystiq reading a novel titled Gidget and Val staring at a hologram of Gambit. She comments on how much she misses him. Unfortunately, his family needed him more, Mystiq replies, adding that that’s the nature of being an Exile.
They both get up and start to walk outside. Val asks Mystiq if he’s going to leave someday. He avoids the question and asks for her help making dinner.
Outside, Val tries pressuring Morph into being the waitress. Morph refuses, putting his hand up in protest. Smirking, Val says she heard he looked really cute before. Mystiq puts in his two-cents suggesting the two challenge each other for best-looking waitress. An exclamation point pops out of Morph’s head. He’s wise to Mystiq’s little ploy and isn’t falling for it.
Out on the ocean Sabretooth and Psylocke can be seen surfing amongst the waves. Val’s watching them go when suddenly they disappear. She tells Morph she can’t see them anymore and so he binocularizes his eyes. He gets an eyeful of something totally unexpected and quietly remarks the two of them should get a room.
Both Psylocke and Sabretooth have their surfboards dug into the sand. Sabretooth moves in for the kiss and the two lovers quickly find themselves making out on the beach.
Off on the other side of the coast Val’s still curious what they’re up to. Mystiq tells her to stop worrying. Then up in the sky Val spots a pair of mating eagles. Morph wonders what they’ll do for an encore.
Much later, Sabretooth and Psylocke, holding hands, make their way to the rest of the gang. Val welcomes them back, saying they look nice. Psylocke tells them Sage dropped some clothes off for them. Sabretooth adds that they’re not his style.
The sun begins to set and the Exiles are left to ponder their future. Morph asks Sabretooth where they go from there. Sabretooth says they start again, like they did before. Val looks up at the stars now forming in the sky and comments on how each star represents a different dimension. She can’t believe how many there are. And they’re the ones chosen to keep it safe, Psylocke adds. Sabretooth echoes Psylocke’s comments saying that as impossible as it seems they’ve gotta protect them all. “Cool!” Val responds.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Oil & Water
A displeased Baron von Strucker watches on the news how the Invaders and their allies are apparently successfully defeating the Pterorists. The Baron isn’t happy to find out that they no longer control the situation in Mazikhandar, despite the fact that Hydra funded the production of over 10,000 Pterorist synthetics. He tells Herr Nacht, who’s in charge of the operation, that they only funded his Axis Mundi out of deference of his father, but so far they aren’t impressed. Nacht fears that, if their program is to be determined, they’ll have to remove their other associate, Professor Eckhardt, from the battle field before it’s too late. Strucker has already thought of that, and has sent an assassin to kill the scientist.
Nacht fears that, without Eckhardt, they won’t get far. He wants to know if there really is no other way. The Baron doesn’t want that their secrets fall into the wrong hands, and therefore the Necromancer must die. Nacht wants to know who the assassin is Strucker speaks of. Strucker, with a serious look, informs the man that it’s a new recruit.
The Republic of Mazikhandar:
Eckhardt tries to reach Hydra and begs for help, but nobody answers his calls. The Invaders and the army troops drop in, and quickly overpower the man and arrest him. The USAgent does a quick scan on the professor, making it clear that they are having the right man. They do, and inform Eckhardt that he’s hereby arrested. The Invaders want to walk away, but find themselves attacked by more Pterorists. While the team battles them, Walker orders the Necromancer to shut the machines down, or else he’ll kill him. Eckhardt does as told, and the machines fall down.
Colonel Zai’id introduces himself, and thanks both Namor and Walker for their help. However, Zai’id calls Walker Captain America, this upsetting Namor. Walker tries to defend himself, but Namor won’t let him. Zai’id can’t thank the heroes enough, and hopes that they’ll take the time to explore his beautiful country. Namor isn’t interested in the oil Mazikhandar has. He says that since Atlantis has honored its agreement to eliminate the Pterorist threat, he doesn’t see the use to stay longer, unless Mazikhandar doesn’t no longer abide to the Atlantean treaty.
Walker is upset that Namor actually turns his back on them, and warns him that’s a huge mistake to make. At the back, the Blazing Skull thanks and congratulates Sulumor for his help. He jokes about getting Sulumor a super-hero codename, if he’s going to be a big player. Sulumor gets upset, since he won’t change his name because it’s the name both his father and grandfather had. Suddenly, Sulumor stops talking and falls down. He is… dead!
Wolverine stands behind him, with his claws open. Angry, he demands to know where Eckhardt is. The Blazing Skull cries because his friend is killed. Wolverine doesn’t care and quickly begins to fight the Invaders, harming the Skull and not giving the others much time to make battle strategies and defend themselves. Namor confronts Wolverine, angry that he killed his advisor. Wolverine isn’t much impressed and slashes Namor through his face using his adamantium claws. Namor picks up a heavy block and smashes Logan through the air with it. He leaves, and promises the team that he’ll deal with the mutant.
The Blazing Skull heals himself, but that doesn’t go as fast as he would like. But he’ll be okay. Not wanting to waste any time, Walker reports the events back to the Infiltrator ship. They are startled when they hear they’re dealing with an X-Man. But one of the ship’s crew reports back that there are shattered reports that Wolverine has recently joined up with Hydra. The Thin Man orders Walker and the rest of the Invaders to return immediately and bring Eckhardt with them. Walker refuses to leave Namor behind. The Thin Man stands with his feet on the ground and orders Walker to do as he says, but promises to send a reacquire team for the Sub-Mariner.
Namor confronts Wolverine, who has already mostly recovered from the blow. Namor wants to know why he attacks them, but Logan simply responds that he’s just following orders and that the Necromancer must be killed. They fight. Logan shreds an oil tank open, and sticks his claws through Namor’s stomach! Namor screams and Logan again hits him several times, but also apologizes for it since it’s nothing personal. Suddenly, Logan gets hit by bullets from the USAgent!
Hanging outside a helicopter, the agent defends his teammate and tells Logan that it’s always personal. Walker hits Logan with his shield, causing the tiny mutant to drop against the oil tank. Next, Walker first gets Namor into safety. Then he shoots on the oil tank, which explodes with Logan still lying in front of it! The USAgent and a badly injured Namor get picked up by the Blazing Skull, and leave together.
Below them, Logan jumps out of the fire and is unharmed. He wants to go after them, but a Hydra helicopter shows up, and a Hydra goon informs Logan not to do that, as they’ve planned bigger things for him.
At the helicopter, the Blazing Skull congratulates Walker on the quick thinking. Walker tends to Namor’s wounds, who in return thanks Walker for the help. Walker says it’s nothing, because he won’t leave anyone from his team behind. Ever. Not even if it means that Namor still can’t see beyond his sea duties. The Blazing Skull has heard enough small talk and, before he gets disgusted, he wants to know if they’re going to blow up some more oil refineries or something.


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The Rings Of Fate: Part 1: Blow By Blow
Manhattan Island…
Tigra meets up with her teacher, who is meditating at his home. She asks Dr. Strange if he needs anything, like a bathroom break maybe, because he has been meditating for hours now. Tigra tries to get Strange’s attention, but nothing works. She mocks Strange sure is living up to his name.
On that very moment, ninjas jump through the skylight window! Dr. Strange gets up and fires a blast at one of the ninjas, but the ninja manages to cast a force field around himself, which protects him from the attack. Dr. Strange tries to cast another spell, but the ninjas are faster than he is. One of the ninja’s hold his hand forward, and fires a blast at Dr. Strange... which turns him into dust... literally! Only his glasses are left.
Tigra freaks out, finding her master dead, and while crying lashes out at the ninjas, holding her claws ready. Another ninja steps forward and fires an ice blast at Tigra, which hits her and traps the young student in a giant ice cube. The ninja takes out his sword and slices through the crystal, breaking it completely apart and killing Tigra in the process!
Elsewhere in town...
Spider-Man and Mary Jane are web-slinging together. MJ makes a race out of it and enjoys herself. Peter can’t keep up and asks her to wait, but she just playfully sticks her tongue out at him and continues web-slinging. Peter has had enough. He jumps toward MJ and grabs her, and has them both land on a rooftop below. MJ is upset because of this and asks Peter what his problem is.
Peter doesn’t see what MJ was thinking, swinging off like that. MJ calls Peter paranoid, confident there’s nobody out to get him. Peter angrily corrects that there’s someone out to get the both of them! He asks MJ how many costumed heroes she sees swinging around the city these days. He angrily states that, ever since Doom killed the president, all heroes have been public enemy number one!
In that case, MJ doesn’t even understand why Peter bothers to train her. Why does he teach her the ways of the Spider-Clan if she won’t be able to use her knowledge? Peter defends he trains MJ for her own protection. If anyone comes after him, they’d be able to go after her as well. Even to her family. And Peter couldn’t live with himself if that ever happened. He knows he dragged MJ into this world and wants her to stay with him in it. MJ knows. But, as she says as she places her hand on Peter’s shoulder, she’s a big girl. To have these kinds of skills and not use them doesn’t make sense. Peter knows, and agrees that maybe someday MJ can use her powers, but now it’s best to lay low.
Suddenly, a blast almost hits the two. Peter is able to push MJ away and, as the two look up, they find ninjas attacking. MJ smiles, joking that today is probably the “someday” Peter was talking about earlier. Peter warns her to just be careful. The two web-slingers attack the ninjas together, dodging their sword attacks. They shoot webs at the swords and pull them out of the ninjas hands. Peter and MJ triumphantly high five.
One of the ninjas fires an impact beam at the water tower behind MJ and Peter. The tower falls down and the water glides out of it. Peter jumps into safety, and another ninja soon attacks him afterward. Peter decides it’s time to use the spikes attached underneath his glove. The two combatants jump at each other. The ninja is able to slice and hurt Peter a bit, but his spikes hurt the ninja more and he falls down; defeated.
Mary Jane has been pushed against a wall and finds herself under attack of a ninja. She panics and calls out to Peter. The ninja creates a whirlwind and throws his ninja stars in it. The stars are thrown at MJ from all kinds of directions, giving her a hard time to dodge them. One of the stars hits MJ’s shoulder, causing her to scream and faint. The ninja takes out his blade and wants to stick it through MJ’s chest. Peter notices and panics, but is too far to act in time.
Suddenly, help arrives in the form of... the Black Cat! The Cat quickly swipes her claws through the ninja, killing him. Felicia tends to MJ, but she’s still unconscious and can’t hear her. She kisses MJ on the mouth, joking Peter’s going to love this. Peter is shocked by this gesture, but Felicia shouts at him to save the fantasies for later and help her revive MJ. MJ wakes up and immediately asks who just kissed her. When Peter tells her it wasn’t him, MJ is disgusted, fearing she’s going to get hairballs. She angrily shouts at Felicia to stay away from her. Felicia reminds MJ she was just trying to save her life. MJ thinks what Felicia did was almost worse than death. Felicia can easily fix that.
Peter tries to calm the two girls down and not to forget about the five evil ninjas with their death rays. MJ tries to get out the star from her shoulder and Peter suggests he help her with that. Felicia cuts in, asking about the ninja with the impact beam, wanting to know where he is. Everyone looks around, and surprisingly enough... all but the dead ninjas are gone! While MJ manages to take the throwing star out of her shoulder, Felicia mentions that he is not going to like they lost the ninjas. She sheathes her claws open and decides that the vortex ring around the ninja’s finger will do for now. She cuts the finger off and takes the ring away from it.
MJ is shocked and asks Felicia if she couldn’t have just pulled the ring off, though Felicia doesn’t see the fun in that. Peter doesn’t understand the terms “impact beam” or “vortex ring” and wants to know what’s going on. Felicia explains it’s finally hit the fan: the city’s under siege. It looks like someone’s trying to take down the last of the heroes once and for all. A shocked, Peter wants to know how. Felicia states that’s a bit of a long story, and she’s not the one who should be telling it. If Peter wants answers, he’ll have to follow her. When MJ asks to where, Felicia says she’ll bring them to the person who sent her to Peter and MJ in the first place.
The two follow Felicia through the city, when Peter tells them to stop. The Fantastic Four’s flame warning signal is fired into the sky. Peter wants to go do something, because the FF need their help. Felicia warns Peter not to do it, as he’d just be throwing his life away. There’s nothing they can do on their own. It’s better if they meet up with the others, as they’ll have strength in numbers then. Peter wants to know what “others” Felicia is talking about and what’s going on. Felicia promises they don’t need to worry, as they’ll find out soon enough.
Felicia lands on a roof of a destroyed headquarters, and says this is the place. Peter can’t believe that these ruins used to be Stark Island. Felicia reminds him that times change. She opens a door and tells Peter and MJ to follow her through it. They do, and spotlights get turned on above them. The entire base is fully functioning! (“Totally Death Star”, Peter jokes). They approach another door and Felicia whispers to them to be quiet.
A man sitting in front of big television screens tells a holographic image of Sharon Carter he can’t believe what he’s telling her. She can’t leave all of the heroes out there to die! Sharon promises she won’t. She’ll just leave the Thing, the Torch and Daredevil to tend for themselves. She knows they have super powers, and they should use them. The man calls Sharon a cold witch. She knows some of these heroes haven’t used their powers in years and are sitting ducks against this blitzkrieg. Sharon thinks in that case, the heroes should have been smart and go underground like all the mutants did.
The man asks Sharon if she’s seen how bad it is out there. He shows her images of more heroes under attack, and along the way try to make sure innocent people don’t get hurt in the process. Sharon angrily shouts at the man they’ve got the same surveillance systems he has. But her resources are stretched thin as it is, and, Sharon apologizes, there’s nothing she can do. The man is angry with her, confident Nick Fury would have found a way! Sharon believes that may be so, but reminds the man there’s a new ballgame up here now. The days of the old warhorse called Fury being in charge are long since past, and she tells the man he should leave Nick rest in peace. She logs out.
Peter wants to know what all this is about because he thought this place got abandoned since Toni Stark died. The man turns his chair around, and is revealed to be... Stark himself! Stark admits that the building was shut down when his sister was killed. But he, Tony stark, is still alive and kicking. Seeing how Stark is attached to a wheelchair, MJ jokes Stark’s statement is open for debate.
Peter asks Stark what’s going on here and Tony tells Peter to look at his screens. Peter does, and sees more heroes under attack. Stark reveals that the attackers aren’t just in New York. Attacks are taking place all around the world. Someone’s trying to wipe the super-heroes out. Peter wonders why. Stark’s best guess is that it’s all part of some larger power play, going something like this: “you take out the heroes first, and who’ll be left to stop you?” Peter is shocked that they’re all ninjas attacking, and wonders if it could be Venom again.
Felicia doesn’t think so, pretty confident that Venom remains deceased. MJ asks the Cat how she could be sure about that. Felicia states that there’s a lot of things she’s certain of, like who Spider-Man is underneath the mask. Spidey freaks out, believing Felicia spilled his identity to Stark. Stark calms him down, promising Felicia didn’t tell him anything. He found Peter, Felicia and MJ all at the same time as they threw a lot of attention to themselves back in the day. He just got to Felicia first as she was more of a... free agent.
Peter fears that, if Stark was able to piece it all together, others may know his secret as well. Stark admits that’s a distinct possibility. Peter also fears about his Aunt May’s life, if they are under attack. Stark opens a screen, telling MJ and Peter they don’t need to worry. As they can see on the screen, May is with Mary Jane’s mother and they have both been placed under his protection. MJ panics but Peter tries to calm her down by placing his hand around her shoulder. She still feels pain from the star that got stuck in it earlier and screams. Peter apologizes for it.
Stark suggests they go to his med lab so they can deal with the wound. Peter thanks him for it and follow Stark into the lab. They find someone healing in a cylinder, and Peter asks Stark who the person is. Stark smiles he could tell Peter that, but in that case, the man would probably have to kill him. They all stare at the man floating in the tube, who is revealed to be... Wolverine! Wolverine opens his eyes and stares at everyone...


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The Rings of Fate: Part 2: Trial By Fire
The Fantastic Four and Daredevil find themselves surrounded by ninjas, led by a female ninja in red. With Reed lying unconscious, an angry Sioux shouts at the ninjas that she’ll make them pay for what they did to Reed. Daredevil tries to calm Sioux down and tells her she needs to save her strength. It’s pointless to attack ninjas from afar, as they can dodge all day. They need to wait until the ninjas are closer and when their senses need to be more focused. Ben wonders how Daredevil could possibly know all this. Daredevil simply replies it takes one to know one. He pulls out his nun chucks and jumps at Elektra, who is ready for a battle.
Matt’s nunchucks clash with the red ninja’s blocking sword. Matt shouts at the ninja how she dares take the life of his beloved Elektra, and promises that reminding him of her death won’t lower his guard. The ninja admits to Daredevil, calling him Matthew, that they knew it would take more than that. Daredevil is stunned... could he possibly truly be fighting Elektra? Elektra confirms it’s truly her, and slices with her sword through Daredevil’s chest! Matt bleeds and falls on the ground, trying to control his pain. Elektra kneels next to him, and takes off Matt’s helmet. As Matt starts to cry, Elektra looks at him as well with sad eyes. They share a kiss.
After the kiss Elektra rises and triumphantly stands over Matt, who still rests on his knees. She takes out huge blades and recalls Matt once tried to save her soul. However, she’s sorry there was nothing worth saving. She swings with the blades and slices through Daredevil again, this time killing him!
Stark’s building...
Wolverine smiles and knocks on the tube he’s in. When Spider-Man wonders what the guy wants, Tony realizes Logan wants out and presses a button so the tube opens. Peter wonders if that’s such a good idea, as Tony just told them Logan might want to kill them once he’s free. Tony thinks it’s still better that they leave Logan out, than Logan gets himself out. Peter panics a bit, still not sure if they need to let Wolverine out at all. Tony tells Peter to relax, asking him if his “spider-sense” is even tingling or not. Peter admits it isn’t, but wonders how Tony knows about that. “Oh yeah,” Peter quickly remembers, Tony knows a lot about him.
A naked Wolverine steps out of his tube, scaring Mary Jane. Logan smiles that Stark did a good job remembering he likes redheads. Logan gently touches MJ’s chin and asks her what’s wrong. Spider-Man angrily slaps Logan’s hand away from MJ, shouting to leave her alone. Logan quickly grabs Peter by his clothes and snikts two of his claws out, threatening to kill him. Logan smiles it’s cute Peter is trying to protect his girl’s honor.
Felicia slices Wolverine a couple of time using her claws, joking that perhaps Logan should have practiced protecting his own honor. She goes to stand behind Logan, pointing her claws at him and threatens Logan to drop Peter or else she will drop her claws on Logan’s back. Logan does as told and holds his hands in the air, asking Felicia to do her part now. Felicia sheathes her claws. Logan smiles at her his back would have healed, calling her a pussycat. Felicia angrily corrects she’s actually called “Black Cat” and slices through Logan’s chest, causing him to bleed. This way, she thinks, he’ll remember her name better!
Nevertheless, the wounds on Wolverine’s chest quickly heal, and Peter can’t believe Logan’s power actually is liquid band-aid. Logan smiles he always has been a sucker for girls with big... claws. Felicia is shocked to see the wounds already vanishing. Tony thinks that’s it: the claws... and the X! Why didn’t he see it earlier?! Peter guesses they should follow the talking wheelchair guy. Mary Jane begs Wolverine to put some pants on.
After Logan is properly dressed, he meets back up with Stark asking how long he was out. “Two days,” Tony explains. Whatever it was they hit Logan’s system with, they must have wiped Logan’s healing factor pretty good. Logan knows it did a lot worse to other mutants. Peter is surprised that whoever’s attacking heroes also came after Wolverine. He wonders how the ninjas managed found Logan, as he thought all of the mutants had gone underground.
Logan confirms they had. But they scattered after everything that went down with the Hellfire Club and the Sentinels a few years back. But the ninjas didn’t need to find them. They sent some kind of virus to do their dirty work for them. The mutants were attacked on a genetic level. And now, Logan wants to know why. He asks Tony if he had any luck finding out what’s going on. Tony thinks he has just figured it out, which is music to Logan’s ears. Tony thinks Logan might need to change his tune after he hears what he has to say.
Tony shows the heroes a golden ring with a red star on it. Logan mocks he’s really scared now. Tony states it’s not just a ring... it’s the Impact Beam ring! It’s one of the ten rings belonging to... the Mandarin! Tony shows them all a picture of the Mandarin on a computer screen. Peter can’t believe the villain actually named himself after an orange. Hearing this, both MJ and Felicia slap Peter on the head. Tony reveals the Mandarin was one of his old villains... or rather, one of Iron Man’s, and both his sister and he fought the Mandarin over the years. He was a powerful madman bent on world domination. He almost succeeded a few times, too... thanks to the ten magic rings he wields, each possessing an incredible power, be it heat, light or ice.
Wolverine thinks it sounds like Mandarin is back on a tear. He asks Tony why he thinks one of his baddies is back after all the heroes. Actually, Tony doesn’t believe the Mandarin’s behind all this. His latest intelligence reveals that the Mandarin has been killed a few days ago, and shows them a picture of it. Mary Jane stares at the picture and recognizes claw marks on the Mandarin. Wolverine and Felicia stare at each other, both promising they didn’t do it.
Tony tells them both not to worry, certain their alibis will check out just fine. He was at a loss trying to figure out who would do something like this until Wolverine made a mention about his taste in women. Tony thinks it’s a safe bet to say the Mandarin’s hands were removed against his will by someone with similar “attributes” to Logan’s. And given the X that’s been carved into the Mandarin’s chest, the signs all point out to Logan’s old flame: Deathstrike!
Logan is shocked and angry. He snikts out his red claws, but quickly calms down. He apologizes for this, but he still gets itchy whenever Deathstrike’s name is brought up. Felicia asks Logan if Deathstrike is responsible for all that, and Logan replies she partly is. Ashamed, Logan reveals that he and Miss Yuriko Oyama share a bit of history together, both personal and professional. He just wants to say Yuriko didn’t react well to them splitting up. And, Tony adds, for the “X”... the “Weapon X” stands for the old outfit Logan served in. He wonders if Weapon X could be behind all this.
Wolverine doesn’t think so. The “X” may be Deathstrike’s signature, but the last thing Logan heard about her, Deathstrike had gone back to her roots and rejoined the Hand. Tony jokes that means the Mandarin’s hands have fallen into the Hand’s hands. Peter jokes to try and say that sentence five times fast after each other. Felicia asks what they are supposed to do about this. Peter wants to know if they’re talking about the Japanese ninja assassin clan called the Hand. Tony thinks so, looking at the outfits of the attackers. And with what Logan just told them, he thinks that’s a safe bet.
Peter wants to get this straight: Wolverine’s villain cut off the hands of Tony’s villain, and now teamed up with his own villains?! Tony confirms that’s exactly what happened. Logan is surprised to hear the Hand are Spider-Man’s villains. Peter explains that the Spider-Clan are ninjas, and so are the Hand. Ninja clans fight each other... it’s what they do. MJ asks Peter when he was going to mention the Hand to her. Peter doesn’t think now is the time to argue about that.
A crumbling sound on the roof is heard. Wolverine snikts his claws open and, suddenly, both the Thing and Sioux crash through it! Sue asks Ben to get up as the ninjas are still after them. Tony doesn’t think it’s any use... the Thing is gone. Peter now guesses he should have told MJ about the Hand. Everyone looks up, and spots Elektra and her associates. Wolverine wants to attack Elektra, but she wants him to calm down or else she’ll put her sword into the Thing’s head.
The ninjas start shooting arrows at the heroes, and Sioux rises up a forcefield to protect herself and Tony. Sioux tells Tony he should get out of there, as things are about to get nasty. Tony agrees with that. He concentrates, and suddenly his wheelchair starts transforming into the armor of... Iron Man! The battle continues, and Elektra sends forth one of her archer ninjas to deal with Stark. Tony tries to protect Sioux and promises her he’ll take care of this Hawkeye wannabe, while she should go help the Spiders with the ninja with the sword.
MJ doesn’t think they can handle the sword guy, as he’s too strong. Peter asks Sioux to use one of her invisible blasts to knock the ninja out or something. Sioux smiles she can do better than that, as her powers can take any shape. She has her powers take the shapes of both Ben and Reed, shouting that now the dead will have their vengeance! The “ghost” forms of Reed and Ben team-up and together manage to knock the ninja out. Another ninja jumps at Sioux and slices her, using claws, killing her!
The Torch lashes out and throws fire at the ninja. Wolverine is busy fighting another ninja and destroys his battle stick with his claws. Elektra stabs Logan in his back, which brings the feral mutant to his knees. Elektra shouts at the other ninjas that it’s time to go, and they all jump back on the roof and escape!
The Torch wants to follow them and flies up using her flame powers, but Tony activates a device on his armor, which disrupts the Torch’s powers and causes her to fall down again. But, Tony promises the young girl that she will have her revenge. The Torch cries over the loss of her sister. Wolverine wonders what all that was about. Tony thinks they just dealt with a choreographed attack. Felicia is surprised that the ninjas knew where they all were. Wolverine disagrees with Stark’s statement, rather believing the attack was too random to have been planned.
Iron Man explains that’s what the ninjas wanted them to believe. He doesn’t know how the ninjas knew, but this was an exact “smash and grab” heist. He thinks the ninja were just decoys, while Elektra went after the score. When Spider-Man asks what the “score” was, Tony proclaims, “The ultimate symbol of freedom.”
Elsewhere, at a base at an unknown location...
Elektra bows before her masters the Silver Samurai, Sunfire and Deathstrike, and they all laugh as they are handed over... the shield of Captain America!


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The Rings of Fate: part 3: Moths to the Flame
Somewhere over the skies of Japan…
Two planes are soaring through the skies, piloted by two women whose call-signs are Warbird and Diamondback. One of the pilots reports to the other that those weird energy readings they received are right below them. Warbird thanks Diamondback for the information, but that was also what she was afraid of. Carol, Warbird’s real name, hopes it somehow could turn out to be just the weather station, but somehow Rachel – Diamondback’s true ID – doubts that. They’ll have to break below the flight deck for a closer look and more precise scans. She asks Carol to follow her.
Carol does as told, and the two steer their planes toward a huge mountain rising from a snowy landscape. Carol detects weird readings like she’s never seenbefore. But at least, they can know for sure they’re not looking at the weather station! Rachel already thought so and wants to make one more pass around. Suddenly, a red alert comes through the receivers, ordering them to return to base immediately! Carol says the call sounded like all hell is breaking loose out there!
Meanwhile, at the Yokotsuka Air Force Base in Japan...
Sunfire, Lady Deathstrike and the Silver Samurai have teamed-up and attack the Air Force together, killing lots of soldiers in the process. Some soldiers in a jeep drive towards Yuriko and start shooting at her, but they all miss. Deathstrike grins at them and attacks! She jumps toward the jeep and kills all of its soldiers using her claws.
A helicopter flies towards the Silver Samurai and opens fire at him. However, the bullets all bounce off of his armor. The Samurai laughs at this, jumps at the aircraft and slices it apart with his sword! Sunfire then creates a protective ball of fire around himself and lands on a roof. Shiro’s fire melts through it, and the soldiers inside the base immediately open fire on him as well. Unimpressed, Sunfire calmly concentrates his powers and releases an immense blast of fire on the soldiers, killing all of them and destroying the base!
Rachel and Carol arrive. Carol is disgusted and tells Rachel to follow her... but angrily proclaims the burning man is hers! She gets a lock on Sunfire, who was already starting to walk away from the destructions. Carol fires a missile at him... and hits! As the missile explodes, Rachel cheers for Carol. But Sunfire has survived the blast and suddenly stands in front of Rachel’s plane. He shoots his flames at Rachel, causing her entire plane to melt... with Diamondback still in it!
Carol mourns for her fallen friend, but Sunfire wastes no time and starts attacking Carol as well. Carol manages to steer her plane into safety and after a while, Shiro doesn’t even seem to follow her anymore. Carol wonders if Sunfire ran out of juice or something. But, as she flies towards the remains of the base, she finds the Silver Samurai waiting for her, standing on a roof and holding his swords in his hand. Carol spots him too late and can’t land her plane in time. The Samurai smiles, and uses both his swords to slice right through Carol’s plane. Carol now completely loses control, and her plane crashes on the ground below! The Samurai is pleased, and puts his swords back into the scabbards attached on his belt.
Luckily, Carol has survived the crash and crawls her way out of the burning parts of the plane. But unfortunately, Lady Deathstrike sees her. Yuriko holds her all of her claws ready, complimenting that Carol is a tough little girl... meaning she is perfect to test her new toys! Yuriko points her claws at Carol and, from the claws, fires electrical shocks! The shocks hit Carol, who falls on the ground, motionless. Believing her opponent to be dead, Deathstrike rejoins her teammates, who were waiting for her. The villains all look at each other, pleased at their work and teleport away, leaving a completely destroyed Air Force base behind.
Some time later...
The attack of the base is reported everywhere on the TV channels, reporting that 3000 soldiers were killed. Wolverine shuts the computer screen they were watching on off, and wants to compliment the villains on knowing how to make an entrance. Felicia thinks this looks like the secret is out of the bag. MJ sweats, wondering if she’s the only one feeling out of her league. Torch gets angry and flames up, asking Spider-Woman what she’s talking about. They need to fight fire with fire. Logan is with Torch on this, but Felicia doesn’t. She asks Logan if he saw what the villains just did out there. They’ve got their own power now and the power from Mandarin’s rings as well!
Tony reminds his team that the villains also stole Captain America’s shield from under their noses. He wonders what else their foes are capable of doing. Logan tells Stark there’s no way of knowing when the villains will strike next. They have to end this now! Tony believes they couldn’t handle their opponent’s foot soldiers on their own turf. He promises there’s no way he’s leading this team on some suicide mission just because Logan has a vendetta. Logan snikts out his claws, calmly asking Stark who says they need him to lead the team. Felicia angrily slices her claws through Logan’s face, shouting at him how he dares say that.
Wolverine almost loses his cool and slices off one of Felicia’s arms! Spider-Man interferes and shoots a web from his wrists between the two. Peter has had enough of all of them. He takes off his mask, telling everyone they just sat here and did nothing as their friends were murdered by those psychos. He’s not going to let it happen to more heroes! He proudly speeches they’ve been given powers, and with these powers there must also come responsibility. And right now, the Hand is their responsibility. MJ touches Peter’s hands, promising her tiger she’s with him. Tony adds that goes for all of them.
Soon afterward, in the heroes’ jet...
Tony, already in his Iron Man suit, explains they’ve just entered Japanese airspace, so he should be able to teleport them all in a few minutes after he cross-calibrates the frequency the villains used. Logan asks Stark if he’s sure this is really going to work. Tony further explains the villain’s teleportation tech was clearly SHIELD issue. It was originally created out to Stark Industries. And with Sharon Carter’s current “unwillingness” to help them, Tony took the liberty of tracing the source himself.
Felicia, whose arms has regenerated, wonders if this could mean SHIELD’s in bed with the Hand. Tony says that’s doubtful. Carter may be a cold witch, but she’s as straight and narrow as they come. At the back of the plane, MJ asks Peter when he was planning on telling her he could fire webs from his wrists. Peter promises he would have told MJ if he had known about that himself. He’s as freaked out by this as everyone else. He thought the webs were connected to Venom and that creepy black costume he used to have. But now, Peter has no idea what’s going on with his body. MJ kisses Peter on the cheek, promising they’ll figure it out once this is all over.
The Black Cat sees MJ kissing Peter and doesn’t like it. Instead, she kisses Logan on his lips, who doesn’t understand what that was for after what he did to Felicia’s arm. Not giving the kiss much thought, Felicia says it was just for luck. Besides, she realizes she started the fight, so now they’re even. Logan wonders if that means he’ll get luckier if they survive this. Felicia smiles that’s a big “if” Logan is using there, but that is what all the girls tell him. Tony informs his group they’re all locked and ready to go. The Torch wonders why she has to kiss the robot guy.
Shortly afterward, all of the heroes successfully teleport inside the Hand’s base. Peter wonders if that means they’re now in the palm of the hand, but gets smacked on the head for that dumb remark. But, Peter also wonders, if they were able to track the villain’s signal, does that mean they could do the same? Tony doesn’t leave that option out. Peter is surprised Tony didn’t think of that before, but Tony jokes that’s why he wears the armor.
A voice thanks the heroes for saving them the trouble of tracking them down. In return, they promise to kill them quickly. Elektra, Deathstrike, the Samurai and Sunfire all teleport in front of the heroes, with some ninjas as backup. Spider-Man jokes he heard that bold statement before, and the battle begins!
Elsewhere, at a local hospital...
Warbird wakes up in a hospital bed, and calls out to a nurse. When nobody answers the call, she gets up and pulls off the wires that were on her arm. Surprised she just did that, Carol stares at her hand and feels a lot stronger. She pounds on a device nearby, and smashes it apart! Carol smiles this is sweet. She now can even lift up her own bed, meaning it’s payback time now!


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Rings of Fate: part 4: Raising the Flag
The heroes and villains all continue their battle. Elektra slams her sword against the throat of Iron Man, who tries to push it away. As the Black Cat and Lady Deathstrike slash their claws against one another, Wolverine and Spider-Woman try to dodge Sunfire’s flame attacks. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and the Torch team up against a sword-slashing Silver Samurai.
The Samurai tries to hit the Torch with his sword, but she protects herself using a force-field created out of flames. The Samurai remains unimpressed, though, and mocks that the Torch’s powers are nothing compared to those of Sunfire, whom the Samurai has defeated countless times in battle. Spider-Man tells the Torch that he’ll take care of the Samurai, but the warning comes too late. Torch was already heating up to fire a blast, and fires it against the Samurai. The Samurai ducks and the blast hits the wall Spider-Man was hanging on, but he luckily manages to jump to safety. The Samurai decides to take advantage of the confusion and manages to hit both Spider-Man and the Torch against a wall, worrying MJ.
Sunfire explains to the rookie hero that Spider-Clan members never get to lose their focus in battle. But, Shiro mocks, he will always make sure that the Spider-Clan members will burn! He fires a powerful blast at MJ, who is too scared to run away. Wolverine notices and catches the blast. He gets hit and falls down on the ground, and has some burns over his entire body. MJ is stunned by Logan’s actions and wonders why he did this. Logan smirks that he likes his redheads hot... not well done!
Lady Deathstrike, on the other hand, is glad to face Felicia, noticing Felicia doesn’t seem to get so fast distracted as her teammates. Felicia has seen the burns Wolverine took, and tells Yuriko that from what she has heard about the man, she thinks Logan will be just fine. Yuriko agrees, but won’t let the same happen to Felicia. The two combatants attack each other, and Felicia rips her claws through Deathstrike’s chest, causing Yuriko’s black blood to spurt everywhere across the room! Felicia mocks Deathstrike she should have added a little red to her cheeks. At first, Felicia doesn’t understand what Deathstrike means by that, but she then looks at Yuriko’s hair and...! On that instant, Felicia collapses on the ground! Lady Deathstrike triumphs.
Iron Man tells Elektra to put her opener away, as he won’t allow her to get into his tin can. Elektra withdraws her swords, surprising Tony. Elektra explains she’s just moving out of the way to try out something a little more... shocking. Hand ninjas attack Iron Man and place green devices all over his battle armor, which unleash powerful electrical shocks on him! As Tony drops on his knees, Elektra wonders whoever said boys get all the toys, and kicks Tony in his face, defeating him.
As the Samurai manages to easily defeat MJ, both he, Sunfire and Deathstrike drag their defeated enemies to Elektra. She knew they wouldn’t have any problems with this. The Samurai smiles these heroes fell as easily as the others. Yuriko doesn’t think the battle is over until these foes are dead as well. A mysterious person appears from the shadows, noticing that Deathstrike is always ready to live up to her name. Spider-Man tries to get up, but Yuriko kicks Spidey on his head, taking him out again. The mysterious figure adds that these heroes will be killed in due time. She wants the heroes to know who killed them!
Outside the villain’s headquarters...
Warbird, wearing an Army uniform, is busy climbing up the mountain entrance of the headquarters. She knows the hero murderers are in there. She can feel them with those new powers of hers. She feels like she’s being drawn back to the source. She reaches the top and jumps inside. Next, she crawls dawn a shaft and thinks this is something like “the prodigal daughter returning.” But she’s confident the villains are going to regret they let her live. Once below, Carol stares through a small window, and gasps when she sees all the defeated heroes surrounded by the triumphant villains.
Despite having new powers, Carol still thinks she’s going to need a little more firepower for this. She finds an exit from the shaft and jumps down it. There, she finds a trophy room, in which the villains stored some uniforms and weaponry of all the heroes they killed! Carol recognizes some of this stuff, and stares at it. Unfortunately, she doesn’t see Elektra sneaking up on her from behind, and the deadly ninja hits Carol on the back of her head!
Surprisingly enough, Carol is unharmed, meaning she’s invulnerable, too. She grabs a guitar and hits Elektra with it. Elektra drops through a glass, and Carol is ready to finish her off. Elektra sees the helmet Daredevil used to wear and cries over the loss of her former lover, realizing what she has done. Carol picks up a sword, and literally slices Elektra’s body in half! Before dying, Elektra thanks Carol for the gesture. Carol smiles that those swords sure come in handy in a fight, but she finds something that will make a statement: the uniform and shield of Captain America!
Meanwhile, Lady Deathstrike wants to start killing the heroes and wants to start with MJ first. MJ’s still unconcious and Yuriko tries to wake her up, and slaps MJ hard in the face. Spidey tries to stop Deathstrike from hitting MJ but, as MJ wakes up, she tells Peter not to do anything foolish, as too much blood has been spilled already. Wolverine is fully recovered as well and jokes he’s starting to like MJ more and more now that she’s said that. MJ is glad to see Logan okay, who mentions he is but he’s still not strong enough to brake the bounds around his hands. Iron Man tells Logan not to bother to try, as he discovered their chains are state-of-the-art power inhibitors. And the villains nailed him with a handheld EMP mine, which hasn’t even gone into sanctioned production yet. In that case, Wolverine wonders who’s in bed with the Hand.
A familiar sounding voice states that would be here... Sharon Carter?! Tony can’t believe it. Sharon’s the head of SHIELD and told him his team has the same “surveillance systems she has.” And that SHIELD would naturally have access to the same weaponry as well. Given Sharon’s refusal to help the heroes during the attacks, Tony now realizes he should have seen this one coming.
Sharon reminds Tony it’s true when people say they have to watch their back, but, she laughs, it must be harder when you don’t have one! The truth is, Sharon adds, Nick Fury hated all the heroes, too. He couldn’t stand playing second fiddle: watching the heroes fly in, save the day and take all the glory. He just never had the stones to go out there and do something about it. So, once Fury was out of the picture, and SHIELD fell under Sharon’s control, everything she needed to wipe the heroes out fell right into her lap. With all of Weapon X’s data at her fingertips, creating a virus to neutralize the mutants was almost child’s play.
Wolverine angrily swears he’ll kill Sharon for this. Sharon explains SHIELD started going after the villains next, as they knew no one would miss them. One would probably just think the villains would kill each other. The coup de grace came when they discovered Fury’s personal files, which contained the secret identities of almost every hero on the planet. Then it was simply seek and destroy! And, Sharon triumphs, how thoughtful it was of the last “rebels” to waltz right in here and save her the trouble of coming after them.
Spider-Man asks Sharon, if she’s the big reveal, the mysterious villain behind all this, he wonders if he’s the only one who thinks that’s lame. He means, who wants to die at the hands of some chick in a skirt-suit like Sharon. He wonders if they at least can’t call Dr. Doom and see if she’s free. Sharon sees that Peter is witty until the end, and suggests she tries to see if she can do something to make him feel more comfortable about the situation. Sharon takes off Spidey’s mask... and kisses him! With now both MJ and Felicia mad at her, Felicia jokes that Dr. Doom wouldn’t have used tongue to give a last kiss before dying. She shouts at the Silver Samurai to start with the bug, but he has to kill all of the heroes!
“It would be my pleasure,” the Samurai grins. Stark shouts at Sharon she won’t get away with this, but she isn’t impressed by that remark. She speeches that a new day is dawning and that Stark won’t live to see it. The Samurai walks towards Spider-Man and swings his sword close to his head. Spidey wonders if there’s not a chance he could try to bribe the Samurai, but he ignores it. The Silver Samurai lifts his sword up in the air, and swings it down, almost killing Spider-Man!
Luckily, the sword gets intercepted by... a female Captain America?! A sweaty Spider-Man thinks he’s looking at an angel wrapped in a flag. The Samurai starts to fight Cap, but his sword bounces off on the shield. Instead, the sword slices Wolverine’s chains loose, but ends up stuck in his arm! Carol quickly punches the Samurai away from her, who falls against Sunfire and Lady Deathstrike. Carol wants to help heal Wolverine, mentioning she has some medical field training. Wolverine smiles it’s okay, as his healing factor already took care of the wound, and he easily takes the sword out of his arm without even screaming. Logan snikts out his claws, wanting to use them to free the others.
After freeing Iron Man, he notices that the new Captain America is a lot stronger than the one he used to know. Carol smiles she’s a lot more female as well. Tony wants to know who’s under the mask. Carol introduces herself and mentions she’s part of the United States Air Force, here for some payback. Tony tries to get back up, but can’t. He explains he’s going to need a few minutes to reboot his systems, and to allow the nanobots to repair the EMP damage. Carol promises she’ll do what she can. Sunfire tries to attack the two, but Sharon blocks the fire blast using her shield and gives Stark the time he needs to recover.
Wolverine is impressed, and jokes that’s his kind of woman. Spider-Man jokes Carol is his type, too. MJ is upset hearing Logan has a thing for blondes now. Stark asks Carol if she ever met the real Captain America. An excited Carol cheers she has, and that was the proudest day of her life. Tony asks Carol if she ever saw Cap fight. Carol smiles that she’s with the military. There, they watched videos about Cap’s fighting non-stop. In that case, Tony suggests that Carol leads them into battle. Carol wonders if she can say it. Tony agrees for it.
With all the heroes appearing proudly behind her, ready to kick some serious butt, Lieutenant Carol Danvers, aka the new Captain America, proudly proclaims: “Avengers, Assemble!”


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The Rings of Fate: Finale: Assuming Control
The Silver Samurai fires a blast from his hands at Captain America, who blocks it using her shield. In the meantime, Wolverine and the other heroes face Lady Deathstrike and Sunfire. Wolverine tries to help Carol out, but the Samurai notices him and fires an EMP blast at Logan, who manages just barely to jump out of the way. Felicia jumps on Iron Man’s back and teams-up with him, while they attack Sunfire together. Spider-Man and Torch work together to take out Deathstrike.
The Torch fires her flames at Yuriko, but she casts a spell to move the flames away from her. Spider-Man hopes that they have better luck at defeating the villains than last time. Torch thinks that cooler heads will prevail. Spidey jokes at Torch she’s got to stop using lines like that, and warns her for the ice blasts Yuriko starts shooting at her! The battle continues, and Spider-Man manages to hit Deathstrike in her face and take the Mandarin’s rings off her finger. He tries to cast a spell with them, but doesn’t seem to know the right words for it.
Peter holds the rings in the palm of his hand and suddenly notices MJ standing behind him. He asks MJ what’s wrong, as she’s being so quiet. MJ lifts a sword and apologizes to Peter for doing this. As Peter becomes worried, MJ slices through Peter with her sword! Peter starts to bleed profusely and drops the rings on the floor. He can’t believe MJ just did that. MJ wants to finish the webslinger off, but gets hit by Captain America’s shield and collapses.
Carol thinks something is wrong with MJ. Peter agrees with that, but warns Carol of an incoming attack. The Silver Samurai has taken over Wolverine’s mind, and has him hit Carol! He tries to slash Carol with his claws, and luckily Carol’s shield partly protects her but the claws still hit her shoulder a bit. Carol guesses that means she isn’t entirely invulnerable.
Iron Man thinks he knows what’s going on and doesn’t get how they could be so stupid. He asks Felicia to try to count the rings on the villain’s fingers, but Felicia’s mind has already been taken over as well! She growls and uses her claws to scratch through Iron Man’s helmet! He loses control and starts crashing down, where he is attacked by the Torch, who has also been taken over. Tony hopes that his suit’s reverse thrusters are up to the job. He activates the thrusters in his gloves and boots, and quickly flies backwards. Felicia didn’t suspect this and falls against the Torch, which knocks them both out. Iron Man thinks he just made a new, perfect maneuver and wonders what he’ll call it: the Furball Special or the Fireball Special.
Meanwhile, Carol does her best to block the attacks from both Wolverine and the Silver Samurai. Iron Man spots Carol in danger and flies towards her, and lifts her up in his arms to fly them both into safety. Carol thanks Tony for the save and wonders if he knows what’s going on. Tony believes someone is using the mind control ring, which was the Mandarin’s most powerful ring. They reach Spider-Man and Carol thinks they need to rescue him as well. Tony doesn’t think so, and believes Spider-Man is tough enough to handle himself. He suspects that Spidey’s ninja training and Carol’s military training must be enough to block the ring’s power. And the built-in protection in the Iron Man suit protects Tony.
Sunfire starts following Tony and Carol. Tony realizes they’ve got to hold Shiro off. He explains to Carol he’s got a neuro-dampener wired in his chest plate. He keeps trying to expand its range to transmit feedback pulse, but needs to find an amplifier of some sorts. He lands on a balcony and notices some stairs that lead to an exit in the ceiling. Tony rips the stairs off the wall and thinks they should do be enough. He fires a blast from his glove at Sunfire, who flies away from it.
With Wolverine and the Black Cat running towards him, Tony explains to Carol that the alloy of the stairs should conduct the neural pulse and knock everyone back to themselves. Tony places the stairs into his chest plate, but Logan and Felicia still keep running towards him... it’s not working! He throws the stairs away and fires a blast at Logan and Carol to keep them away from them. Tony tells Carol they need to come up with another plan, but now, Carol’s mind has been taken over as well, and she hits her shield into Tony’s chest plate. The alloy in the shield is enough for Tony’s chest plate to power up, and the powerful blasts coming out of the plate bring all of the heroes back to normal!
Carol tries to apologize for what she just did to Tony, but he tells her not to be. He explains her shield acted as the amplifier for the pulse that brought everyone back to their senses. He gives Carol her shield back and tells her to put it to good use elsewhere. On that moment, Sharon collapses on the ground! Tony helps her up, and believes given Sharon’s reaction, she may have been under the same mental control MJ was. Peter doesn’t think so as Sharon’s eyes weren’t so freaky blue. MJ tries to apologize to Peter for what she did to him, but she tried to fight the mind control as good as she could. Peter knows and is just glad MJ didn’t hit anything vital.
Iron Man checks out the back of Sharon’s head, and discovers light-dampening lenses to hide the glow! That means she’s been under someone else’s control the whole time! Felicia wonders who else could be involved in this, but Logan states that halftime is over. He says that, with everyone’s head back to normal, they need to bring it back into the game. The heroes and villains all face each other. Peter puts his mask back on, and corrects Logan that this isn’t a game anymore. He picks up a sword from the floor, and proudly states this is about life and death. MJ is shocked, but Felicia tells MJ to let Peter go. She saw him like this once before and it’s best not to get in Peter’s way when he’s like this. She tells MJ to watch Sharon, and she promises to watch Peter’s back.
As Torch and Sunfire face each other, and Lady Deathstrike faces Wolverine and the other heroes, Spider-Man continues to walk towards the Silver Samurai. He is glad it looks like he gets to kill the little ninja after all. He takes out his swords, and Spider-Man and the Silver Samurai keep on fighting each other for a while. Eventually, Spider-Man manages to stick the sword through the Samurai’s left eye, which is enough to kill him!
In the air, Sunfire tells Torch it’s no use: he can burn hotter and longer than she can. Iron Man flies past Torch and tells her the trick is to cool Sunfire down. She has to use her powers to absorb Sunfire’s flames and snuff him out! Sunfire hits Tony with his flames, causing him to fly into a wall. Torch flies closer to Sunfire and absorbs his flames, just like she was told to do. Sunfire screams and falls down, hitting his head hard on the ground.
Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike continue to fight each other. Logan sticks his claws through Yuriko’s stomach, causing her to bleed. In return, Yuriko sticks her claws into Logan’s right eye! As he growls, Yuriko gets hit from behind by Captain America’s shield. Seeing how stunned Yuriko is by this, Logan takes advantage of the situation and slices her body in half!
The heroes have won the battle, but aren’t too cheerful. They all quietly stare at each other, and MJ helps Sharon up. She finds nine of the Mandarin’s ten rings lying on the floor and picks them up. Tony explains to her that, with the Impact beam still at Stark lab, it means all the rings are accounted for. Sharon still wants to know about the mind control band. She’s ashamed to admit this is all her fault. She thinks she let this happen, and that Nick Fury would never have let things escalate this far. She’s ashamed that most of the heroes are now dead because she took over control from SHIELD and fired Fury. She’s so sorry for this.
Carol gently places her hand on Director Carter’s shoulder, and tells her not to be so hard on herself. She knows Carol wasn’t responsible for all this carnage. The Hand was. And with their assassins now dead, the guilty have been punished. Sharon smiles at Carol, realizing she’s the new Captain America now, and jokes that looking at breasts in Cap’s costume will take some getting used to. A stunned Carol promises she didn’t mean any disrespect. She just found this costume and shield in the trophy room, and thought it would help in the battle against these psychos. She thought it would give her an edge, no matter how stupid that sounds. She only saw this as a one-time deal.
Sharon asks Carol how she would like the idea of being Captain America full-time. Carol thinks about it. Wolverine wants to know where that leaves the rest of them. Spider-Man agrees, adding that they are kind of empty-handed after everything that happens. Not hearing any laughs, he wonders if anyone got the joke. Felicia and MJ angrily slap him on the head. Carol suggests they go and make a team out of this group. She thinks they need to go out there and figure out who’s been pulling the strings this whole time. Someone needs to answer for this. Felicia mentions that some of them aren’t really team players.
Iron Man believes that the world could always use a team of new Avengers. Spider-Man thinks that the term “Survivors” would be more appropriate. Torch jokes they would be more something like “the Magnificent Seven.” Wolverine rather agrees with Stark. He speeches that the fallen will be avenged!
Elsewhere, on a dark, hidden location...
Watching the heroes on a video screen and hearing Wolverine’s statement, a voice laughs at that. He notices Logan still has his sense of humor. He adds this is priceless, wiring his associate with optic video feeds he paid off in spades. Nick Fury believes that, if avenging is what these last heroes want to do with their remaining days, they can be his guests. But he hopes they’ll prepare to get busy though, because there’s a whole lot more death heading their way. He asks Felicia if she agrees with that.
The Black Cat steps out of the shadows, and smiles to Nick that, the sooner she can help Nick get rid of those losers, the happier she will be. Fury asks Felicia if she’s sure the heroes don’t suspect a thing. Felicia gives Nick a kiss, and promises him the Avengers have no idea what they’re in for!